Before Arriving in Tanzania

Hello! Welcome to the blog I'm keeping for my study abroad trip to Tanzania! I'm hoping to update it at least once a week with pictures and stories and whatever else I end up writing. I've been stuck in airports and airplanes for the past twelve hours, so I've written a bit of an introductory post about why I chose to study abroad and what I'll be doing during my time there. It feels completely surreal that after thinking about this trip for over a year and a half, I'm finally halfway to Tanzania!!

During my second semester of freshman year, I decided I really wanted to study abroad after I asked the author Barbara Kingsolver what advice she had for an aspiring young writer and environmentalist. Her answer was to travel as much as possible. Around the same time, Amy, an admissions counselor from The School for Field Studies, came to my Applied Environmental Analysis class and gave us a presentation on all of the opportunities SFS offered. I was hooked once I learned that the majority of the classes offered are field-based, meaning most of the student's time is spent learning outside the classroom in the beautiful SFS program locations. I chose the East Africa Wildlife Management program because it had the most in common with my interests in environmental studies and economics. I also wanted to go to a place with a non-romance language, because, as cool as Latin is, I've always wanted to be able to carry a full conversation with someone in a different language. Also, lions, zebras, giraffes, elephants, you know, all of those cool things.

Here is a little bit about what I’ll be doing in Tanzania:

I’m going through a program called The School for Field Studies, which runs study abroad trips around the world focused on environmental studies and sciences. The Tanzania program is a Wildlife Management program. The five classes I’m taking are Wildlife Ecology, Techniques in Wildlife Management, Environmental Policy and Socioeconomic Values, Introduction to Swahili Language and East African Tribal Communities, and then a final Directed Research project that will start during the last month of my stay.

            One of the most interesting things about SFS’s programs, in my opinion, is that each has something called a Five-Year Plan (5YRP). The 5YRP focuses on local challenges and then brings together members of the community, SFS faculty, and outside researchers to investigate solutions for these challenges. The Directed Research projects at the end of the semester are small portions contributing to these 5YRPs. According to the SFS East Africa Program Manual 2015, the over arching research question for the 5YRP is:

            How can changes in land use and resource availability in the Maasai steppe of Kenya and Tanzania be managed in such a way as to foster the well-being of local communities whilst safeguarding and promoting biodiversity conservation?

I don’t know what the options for Directed Research projects are yet, but I do know that I will get the chance to choose between either a field based research with lots of data collection or community based research with more social interactions with local people.

The SFS Tanzania “campus” is a three-acre camp, complete with dorms (four people to a room, two rooms per building), lecture building, and dining area. There is running water and electricity, though I’m told power outages are fairly frequent. A small, rural village is close to the camp, as are many National Parks, including Serengeti, Lake Manyara, Tarangire. and Ngorogoro conservation area. While there are some lectures in the classroom, most classes are field based and involve trips to these beautiful parks. At one point, we will spend five days camping in the Serengeti!

Currently, I’m waiting for my flight to Kilimanjaro with a couple of other SFS students. There was a winter storm right on my heels since leaving Cleveland (thank goodness I made it out of there!) but now I don't have to deal with winter anymore! One of my favorite thing to do these past few weeks, especially when the temperatures were hovering below zero and people were complaining about the weather, was loudly exclaim that I was traveling to the southern hemisphere soon. I know my family greatly appreciated it.

I think the most surprising thing for me, leading up to the trip, was the absence of intense emotions. Although I am completely aware of how incredibly lucky I am to have this experience, and I know it will the adventure of a lifetime, I haven’t really been hit with waves of excitement or anxiety while preparing for this trip. Once I get to Tanzania, hear Swahili, see the unfamiliar landscape, then I’m sure the emotions will come. What I’m most looking forward to is building a connection to an entirely new environment and learning Swahili.  For now, though, I’m going to enjoy the company of new friends, read some Jorie Graham poems, write a bit, listen to music, try to learn more Swahili, and not to get too impatient over the next 12ish hours of travel!