So I am about one and a half days away from heading on my journey to Kenya and Tanzania and I’m a bit of a mess (and, perhaps, that is an understatement). If procrastination wasn’t already my middle name, I believe that this week I’ve earned the title with flying colors. Many (vital) tasks that I had shoved to the side for about two months have pushed their way front and center on my list of to-do’s of getting ready for this trip. Now tasks that are normally easy and non-threatening have turned into the monster hiding in my closet. I waited about two weeks before I got the urge to start collecting vital items for my trip and I will not be done until Friday (the day before I leave for the airport, procrastination at its finest!). Trying to find a water resistant watch that also has a built in alarm can send me into a panic, trying to fit everything into two suite cases haunts me in my sleep, and the threat of leaving America and realizing that I left a vital item back home that I will have no access to on a camp site in Kenya makes me dizzy. The threat of malaria is turning me into the most intense hypochondriac known to human kind.

Packing at a more controlled time in my living room. This photo was taken at a more, reasonable, moment in my epic packing duties. Now, my unorganized and chaotic mess has started to eat up my living room. 

Although all of this packing and preparation nonsense has been eating me alive, the weather that has plagued the Philadelphia area lately is rubbing me the wrong way.  I am NOT a fan of constant snow and below zero temperatures. Last night we got pummeled with another five inches of snow and my car is covered in about a foot and a half of snow. I have a difficult time enjoying the snow; in fact I can hardly stand it. So now, whenever  I am in the midst of an packing crisis and feel like I want to give up, I look outside at the white terrain and remind myself that  my destination does not have this problem (and when I say problem, I mean the snow)!  

What I awoke to on Wednesday morning, (and if you are wondering, yes it is snowing in this picture). How thrilled I am to be trading my normal cold and snowy Philadelphia winter for an equatorial fall in Kenya and Tanzania. For those of you poor souls who will still have to walk through the polluted street slush, my sympathies.  

So I have turned myself into one of the most epic messes of a human then I have ever been. I am nervous, full of anxiety, but most of all I am above and beyond excited for this upcoming semester. Hopefully tomorrow I can be completely finished packing and I can relax and enjoy my evening, but knowing me I will not be done packing until Saturday! 

 So on Saturday it is off to Newark airport to face a two day flight (including layovers in London) before I can even step foot in Africa.So I suppose that this is my official bon voyage to America! Wish me luck! 

Location: Havertown, Pa