First Entry

Hello! Welcome to my blog!
This is my first blog and I hope to record my thoughts, feeling, and reactions to my time spent in Tanzania. I will try to blog daily (starting the Jan. 13th) but I'm not sure how reliable the internet connection is. Also, this blog will probably be more for me than you lol. I'm pretty sporadic when it comes to journaling and these random thoughts and entries will probably end up helping me organize my thoughts more then it will help to give you an informed and ruminative record of my time spent in Africa.
I'm really looking forward to studying abroad and can't wait to learn about Tanzanian life and culture. I'm not quite sure what to put for this first blog entry so I'll just put some questions and answers from this nifty little book I had to buy from the Wartburg Bookstore. Its called Study Abroad: How to Get the Most Out of Your Experience... for the most part its a cheesy work book but it does have a few good points and some thought provoking questions!

Where are you going and what will you be doing?
For those of you who don't know, I'll be studying abroad in Tanzania for three months, starting on Jan. 13th. I'll be staying mainly at the Lutheran Junior Seminary (LJS) which I understand is a k-12 school and technical college (or whatever the African equivalent is). I'll be taking four classes: Elementary Swahili, Contemporary Ethnic Culture, and Religion Across Cultures. That's just a fancy way of saying I'm going to try to live and study in Tanzanian culture.
What made you choose study abroad?
I'm not quite sure... I have heard amazing things, I'm always looking for something new and exciting, and it just fit perfectly into my academic schedule.
What people were influential in making the study abroad decision?
Mainly other students and professors. Specifically, Dr. Boss. I took her IS 201 class - Africana Studies. I found it extremely fascinating. Dr. Strickert has been an amazing inspiration. Additionally, my boss from camp Dana always spoke fondly of Tanzania. And, of course, my parents - they have always supported me in whatever I do.
What do you think you will really enjoy while you're living and studying in a foreign country?
1- Environment (plants, ANIMALS, geography, everything)
2- Culture (peoples, customs, and behaviors are always fascinating, especially for a pysc. major)
3- New and exciting place, different then anything I have experienced (freshman year I studied in Germany for a May term, but I don't think it will be anything compared to studying abroad in Africa).
What do you think you will be challenging while you're living and studying in a foreign country?
1- Language Barrier
2- Being a big, fat, white skinned, blond haired, American guy in Africa
3- Food (see #2 for reference)
4- HEAT- I sweat... a lot... (see #2 for reference)
5- Making friends (see #1 for reference)

All those questions were from the first chapter "Personal Development". The second chapter is "Learning About Your Culture", don't worry... I won't bore you with random facts about America lol. The third chapter is "Learning about Another Culture". This chapter shocked me because I knew surprisingly little about Tanzania! Oh well, I guess thats why I'm going there :)

I guess that concludes my first post. It was fun for me, I hope you learned something about me and the aim of this blog.