Jambo!

Today was my first full day of lectures here at the field station.  I had Wildlife Ecology this morning with Dr. Kioko.  It was primarily a review of the ecology class I took at University Park but he also talked about the some of the field experiences coming up this semester that we will be participating in.  My next class was Swahili, so you can probably guess what that funny word at the beginning of this post means.  Although the language is partly based off of english, in addition to arabic and tribal languages, it will definetly require a lot of practice.  Interestingly, swahili uses all the same letters as english except for ‘q’ and ‘x’.  My last lecture of the day was Environmental Policy.  Today we covered a basic review of economics and a historical context of Tanzania as country.  The material may be a bit dry but I do find it fascinating to compare what I know about natural resource policy in America and Pennsylvania to how Tanzania handles thier natural resources.  It was then that it really hit me how heavily culture and other extenuating circumstances affect how natural resources are managed.  I feel this will be one of the most important understandings I take away from this program.

I feel like I am adjusting to life in the field station pretty well.  I share a room with three other guys which contains only two closets, a small table, and a two bunk beds.  The shower is interesting to say the least.  A total of about 5 small streams of water shoot out at obscure angles from a shower head in the middle of the bathroom.  Its definetly going to be an interesting 3 months.  The weather here is beautiful and everyone is really nice.  Internet connection is pretty slow so I appologize in advance for not posting more pictures.  I have not seen a whole lot of wildlife yet but the song birds in camp are pretty interesting.

Looking forward to getting the most out of this trip I can!

Location: Karatu, Tanzania