It looms ahead, coming nearer and nearer each day...

I feel as though this initial entry should have an introduction of sorts, so here goes. I leave New York on September 1st and come back on December 16th, and during those four months I will be doing “Swahili Studies and Coastal Cultures,” to summarize using the course name. We’ll be in and out of internet café territory, which tends to be the bigger cities, making this blog most likely a somewhat sporadic affair. But I’ll do my best to keep you posted on life in Kenya and I guess you'll just have to take what you can get.

So. It has come down to this: just over a month until my plane flies out of JFK, prescriptions to fill, vast quantities of sunscreen and hardcore DEET products to buy, rabies shots to get and some major mental preparation to do. To be quite honest, I have no idea where to start on that last one, although something tells me that at least part of the answer lies within my required reading books which are sitting on my shelf, virtually unopened.

Thankfully, as of today I have my Polio, Typhoid, Hepatitis A and Yellow Fever shots over with (and a set of flulike and uncomfortable side effects, as well as two bruised arms, to show for it). I also was relieved to find out that I’ll be taking the anti-malarial drug Malarone rather than Lariam, which I have heard horror stories about. Side effects seem to include, in some cases, long-term psychotic reactions and suicide attempts. So that’s good news, although it means I have to take it every day instead of every week.

One exciting development: last week I got my itinerary. Briefly, it is as follows:

Kenya: Swahili Studies & Coastal Cultures
Fall 2007 Program Schedule

9/2 – 9/6 Program Orientation & Introduction to Swahili Language: Mombasa

9/7 – 9/19 Rural Village Homestay, Community Service Tree Planting Project, Swahili Language Training and Game Safari: Kaloleni Village & Tsavo National Park & Malindi

9/20 – 10/8 Intensive Swahili Language Training, Coastal Studies Seminar & Field Study Seminar, Dhow Safari, and Swahili Tutors: Lamu & Kiwayuu

10/9 – 24 Mombasa Homestay, Coastal Studies Seminar, & Field Study Seminar: Mombasa.

10/25 – 10/27 Preparation & Meetings with ISP Advisors: Mombasa

10/28 – 10/7 Educational Excursion to the Island of Zanzibar via Tanga and Dar or the Sultanate of Oman

11/8 – 12/8 Independent Study Project

12/9 – 12/15 Independent Study Project Presentations & Program Evaluation

12/15 End of Scheduled Program

Note that the beginning of the Educational Excursion falls right on my birthday. That is quite exciting for me, although it occurs to me that I will be spending both my 20th birthday and this Thanksgiving on a continent I’ve never been to, with people I’ve only known for a couple of months, for the first time in my life. And that is a slightly scary prospect.
But we’ll see how it works out. As my mom would say, it’s an adventure.