Tag Archives: Work

Life or something like it

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and I apologize for that! I’ve been super busy with course work and whatnot for the last two weeks, but that’s all done now so back to the posting. 

I submitted my first assessed works this week. My first essay was a 2000 word essay question for my Sexuality, Subculture and Stigma module that revolved around the stigmatizations of gender and sexuality as signposted by 19th century law and culture (and the development of sexology). I got way too into it and spent a lot of time doing enough research to write a dissertation, not a 2000 word essay. My other essay was a 3000 word one for my International Politics module regarding the UN and its failure to meet its Charter aspirations. I didn’t like the subject, I don’t particularly enjoy the module, and I was so engulfed in my previous essay that this one got a bit shafted. I think it ended up being decent enough, but I prefer to worry about classes I really enjoy and feel gain more from so I’m not bothered. 
Halloween was good fun. I never go out at PSU because a) I’m underage b) the costumes for girls don’t appeal to me and I would freeze and c) I prefer to watch movies and avoid strange people 😛 It was lots of fun here though. We had a mini-party in the flat across from me and then Bertie and I went to the theater just before midnight to see Paranormal Activity 2 since we didn’t want to go clubbing with everyone else. 
I had my 20th birthday last week, too! My birthday’s on the 11th, but I was going to London, so my friends and I celebrated it on Tuesday the 9th. We did a half-Otley run (Otley run is an 18 pub pub-crawl) beginning at 6pm and had a blast. It was a great night and my friends gave me homemade cards and a plate and mug that they decorated together and signed to commemorate my year here. It was really sweet. My friends made a balloon man named “Party!Paul” that had to be carried around all night and if someone popped one of his limbs they had to buy drinks:
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I went to London the following day and stayed with Bertie. On Thursday, my actual birthday, he took me out to a nice lunch and we went to Camden for a bit so I could hunt for a record bag. We didn’t find any before we had to head to Leicester Square to see the premiere crowd for Harry Potter. It was insane. We got there just as Emma Watson was arriving and she looked awesome. We stayed until all the big names showed up then grabbed a quick dinner before going to see a show called La Soirre. It was a good night overall. We spent the rest of the weekend loitering around London and having a Lord of the Rings (extended versions) marathon for 12 hours complete with movie theater popcorn that we went to a cinema to buy. Yes, they thought we were odd. 
Aside from birthday shenanigans, it’s been pretty quiet for me with mid-term assignments due. I’ve been keeping up with my belly dancing class (just got back from a social with that where we went and saw a performer), making movies in filmmaking (I’m acting and producing! Basically, my life goals), keeping up with work, cooking a lot of spaghetti, and wondering what to do with my life. 
Am off to Vienna in a little over a week, so expect a post when I get back from that!
xxx

Location: leeds, uk

Only 2 weeks left?!

Hello all!

In exactly 1 week from today we will be leaving or preparing to leave the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Center here in Mang’ula and will be on our way to Dar es Salaam! I am actually going to be really sad to leave the UEMC. We have great locals who work with us and it is pretty comfy. We have all made multiple comments about bringing out cook, Justin, back with us to the US. This guy does amazing things with food. It’s all so healthy (other than the carb overload) and yummy – I will miss him!

In exactly 2 weeks from today I will have been home for almost a full day! How crazy is that?! I can’t believe we are this far in. When I first signed up for this study abroad experience, I thought I would be ready to go by now but I am not at all! I’m already trying to think of ways I can make it back to Africa in the future. I’ve got the travel fever.

 Now it seems like things are moving so quickly. We have our big semester projects to complete before Friday plus a paper due on Tuesday and paper due on Saturday! Wheww! It is going to be an intense workweek here in Mang’ula.

We have all decided and finalized our semester projects. We have such an array of topics being covered. Some are working with the village of Tundu – creating design projects for water runoff, roads, population growth and alternative fuel usage. We have some people working on projects for the UEMC here – designing an alternative fuel demonstration and creating a mock website for marketing the park and local village to tourists. My project is really great for my two majors (management and community development). I will be creating a management guide-booklet for development plans. I am pretty excited about it but I have A LOT of work to do – a lot of people to talk to and a lot of information to find. Plus we don’t have access to internet so we are forced to work with what we got. It should be a huge growing experience. In the real world we may not have internet or alternative databases to work with communities. It really forces us to work harder and stretch ourselves.

Amidst all out work here we have been finding time for some fun. Last night we went into town to watch the USA world cup match against Britain. Although it was something so normal, it was exciting. I’m not really sure what type of building there was but the set up was great! A projector was playing the live game up against the entire wall. We all sat back in our lawn chairs and enjoyed with some locals. It is great how interested people are in soccer. I know we have big fan bases for sports in America but it kind of makes me wish we were a big soccer country. It is a pretty interesting (and impressive!) sport. Plus the US tied so we were able to walk away with some bit of pride. It is just so interesting how a normal day activity can be something completely new.

I made another attempt to post pictures but it failed miserably. So sorry.

I don’t really know if I will have any time or any subject matter to write about for the next few days but you can expect to hear from me once I make it to Dar. Wish us luck on our work and travels!


Location: Mang'ula, Tanzania