The Story Goes On...

I'm going to Rwanda!

Although it's been about a month since I found out I will be traveling to Rwanda this summer, I still don't think I'm able to completely wrap my head around it yet. Sometimes I still feel like I'm working on coming back to Earth after studying abroad in Scotland last fall (that sentence makes no sense literally, I'm sorry). I think I may be turning into one of those people who can't stay still... As soon as I begin to feel comfortable with anything I feel the need for something new. Who knows. I think at the moment it's safe to say only God can see what's coming for me - which is fine with me. As one of favorite quotes puts so nicely:

"I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it."

Now, some followers of my previous blog made an occasional [read: repeating] remark that I should finish out the story of my travels, since I never properly concluded it ;) Well, I think this new blog can serve as my response - my story doesn't end! It was merely on a hiatus.

Anyway, I'm mostly roughing out this first post in order to check a few things about this new blog site. Part of our assignment for the trip is to blog about our experiences, and this is the site we are supposed to use, so I can't continue writing from my old site. I'm hoping to get everything figured out so that family and friends can see whenever I post a new blog again. I'll just include a few basic details about the trip here, but I promise more will be soon to come.

The program I am participating in is directed by Dr. Keino of ISU, with the help of a student who went last year. Eleven other students are going as well, with a slightly uneven gender distribution - 10 girls, 2 guys. We leave Ames on May 9th, just after finals, and come home on May 30th. The focus of the trip is service; we'll work with kids in orphanages and schools in different parts of Rwanda, do some conservation work in a national park, and hopefully I'll be able to do a little medical-related work as well. Oh, we also get to go guerilla tracking a la the movie "Guerillas in the Mist" and end our trip with a safari in Tanzania. It's a very jam-packed, exciting adventure, and I'll be sure to give plenty more details before I go.

For now though, I'm going to sleep. As I seem to try to forget, I'm still in school here too.