Finally Here!

Greetings from Arusha!

After the easily most grueling travel experience of my life, we have arrived!

I began my journey as I left San Antonio, Texas on Sunday, June 22^nd 4:30pm, then had a layover in Houston, was delayed, then arrived in NYC around 1am. It took 30 minutes to get my luggage and then another 45 minutes to get a cab! That line was seriously the length of a football field. Although JFK is an insane airport, New York has that energy that I just love – so much that I didn’t mind waiting. Well, didn’t mind as much as I would have somewhere else.

I checked into my Holiday Inn in Queens around 2:30am, napped, showered and left to go back to JFK at 8:30am on Monday, June 23rd. Then I got on my 13 hour flight to Dubai, where we arrived around 9am on Tuesday (Dubai is eight hours ahead of the East Coast). I wish the layover had actually been longer because Dubai is incredible! It’s on an island in the Persian Gulf and as we flew in, I have never seen such beautifully colored water. It’s also a huge city, with a giant skyline. Of course, you couldn’t see much because of the heinous amounts of smog – it was worse than LA. We flew on Emigrates Airlines which was amazing! The 13 hour flight wasn’t even that bad because the airline was so nice – and we were in coach, too! We had these personal televisions and could watch a ton of movies, TV shows and listen to CDs – and good stuff too, like Flight of the Conchords. It was fantastic. Plus, the food was actually pretty good. Surprising, right?

Once we got to Dubai, we had to book it across the airport because our connecting flight to Nairobi, Kenya was already boarding. We got the gates, where they checked us in and took us onto a bus. The bus drove across the tarmac and we boarded the plane as I will call “Presidential Style” with a set of steps to walk up, like the President does as he board Air Force One. As we boarded, I couldn’t believe that I was standing smack dab in the Middle East. I really would like to see more of it someday.

The flight to Nairobi was another five hour trip and not quite as nice as the first one, but it wasn’t too bad. We landed around 2:30pm Nairobi time (which is 7 hours ahead for the East Coast, 10 for the West Coast). We got our transit visas, gathered our bags, and headed out where the shuttle was waiting to take us to Arusha, Tanzania. The shuttle was driven by someone else from Arcadia University, and aboard it were the 13 American students who flew together on the group flight I was on, plus our 2 program directors who were also on the flight. We also met up with our professor, her husband and their 15 month old son, as well as another girl in the program who is from South Korea, but flew in straight from Peru as she has been there for the last 3 weeks doing volunteer work. We also met up with another guy in our program who flew in from Rwanda and met up with us.

It was quite the effort leaving the airport as we had to put all of our huge and heavy bags on the top of the shuttle and strap it down for the ride. I felt sorry for the men hoisting up my bags… so heavy. I thought we were going to have about a 3 hour ride, but no – I was gravely mistaken. We set off for Tanzania around 3pm and didn’t arrive at Arusha until 10pm tonight! Yes, it was another 7 hour shuttle ride. The first half was pretty incredible because of all of the sights. As we drove out of Nairobi, I was in awe of the way in which the people were living. Of course I knew what to expect, but it’s one thing to watch it on a documentary and another to be seeing it with your own eyes. Everything just looks so old, dilapidated and dirty. Half of the roads are not paved – which is the big factor in why the shuttle ride was so long.

As we left the outskirts of the city and headed into the grasslands, it was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. We were driving through in late afternoon, at sunset – and all you can see for miles and miles are the grasslands, with small bushes and trees, the occasional houses and huts, and littered with herders and their goats and cows. There were faint mountains in the distance, and since it was partly cloudy, you could see the actually sunbeams as they broke through the clouds and spread over the grasslands. It was just like – yep, you guessed it – the Lion King. We could also recognize the Massai people distinctly – they are herdsmen and wear long, brightly colored robes, usually red and orange. We could see them out in the fields, blots of color in the brown and green rolling landscape.

We had a couple moments of excitement as we caught a little Safari preview. In the distance, we saw a herd of Zebra grazing. It was so strange to see them in the wild, just grazing like a bunch of cattle or something! Alongside them were several herds of antelope. It was just so surreal. We actually had a moment where an antelope ran out in front of our shuttle! Luckily, they can run so fast and that we didn’t hit it – but it was pretty frightening.

We had to stop at the Kenyan border to submit our exiting paperwork and then again on the other side on the Tanzania border to purchase and receive our Visas. We then finally arrived, bleary-eyed and starving, at the Meru Inn where we’re staying in Arusha around 10pm. They helped us bring in our bags and then served as a delicious Indian meal of rice, curry and vegetables, flatbread, potato cakes, salsa and salad. We then were led up to our rooms in the Inn. To be honest, they are going to take some getting used to. I’m usually not uptight or picky about things like this, but it just feels a little eerie here. To make it worse, my roommate isn’t coming until sometime tomorrow because apparently she’s having some horrible travel experiences and is stuck somewhere – which is obviously unfortunate for her, but it also sucks that I have to spend this first night alone.

Tomorrow we’re having breakfast, then heading off to the Center – The Nyerere Center for Peace Research – for a morning orientation session, and then getting a tour in the afternoon from Arusha natives who will show us where the best stores, ATMs, bars, etc. are in the city.

I can’t believe I am actually here – I had a moment where I had dozed off in the shuttle and then woke up, startled as I saw the rolling plains of Kenya all around me. This is going to be such an incredible experience, and I can’t wait to get to know everyone in the program, as well as get to know Tanzania and Arusha.

Hope you all are doing well! Love you and miss you.