Officially in Tanzania! I cannot begin to express the excitement I have when it comes to expressing how I feel about being here. First thing first, it’s amazing how friendly the people of Tanzania are. I expected myself to be very nervous and anxious because I do not speak Swahili nor do I understand it. I will admit that the  very first night spent (which was in Dar es Salaam) here, I did feel conscious about the language barriers. But Lately, everything has really been turning around. I am so proud to say that I have picked up a few terms! For example, I know that if I wanted to say, I would like some water then it would be “U-ni taka Majhi.” Well I least I hope that’s it (in my defense, I’m still learning so cut me some slack!).

There is so much I want to say and write about but don’t even know where to start especially because the access to internet here is very limited so in a sense, I have to pick and choose the most exciting parts of my day to share. I will say that so far, what my group and I have been experiencing is incredibly cool. Just yesterday, we slept for a night in the “Mikumi” national park of Tanzania. It’s the third largest park here and it was great seeing animals such as elephants, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, warthogs, and elands. Oh…don’t even get me started on the different type of birds I saw. I typically don’t identify myself as a bird fanatic but yesterday, you should have seen me. My favorite one by far, was the lilac breasted roller. The different hues of this bird were just breathing. A Google picture definetely can’t do it any justice. It was just so refreshing seeing these animals in their naturals habitats without the constraints of being in cages.