Departure time close, closer, closest

It's now crunchtime!
With my flight scheduled for this coming Monday evening, I am realizing more and more how much I have to do. Packing, packing, packing as well as homework, homework, homework are my main agenda. I feel it is also really important to catch up with all the people I won't be seeing for 3 and a half months (and for some a YEAR), which is why I am driving up to Goucher tomorrow for a couple days. While the little vacation will make my to-do list even harder to complete, I know I'll feel a lot more at peace with the trip if I can say some "farewells" to those who are important to me.

SO... Bring on the adventure!
The study-abroad program I am going on is with SIT (the School for International Training) to Uganda and Rwanda for the Fall semester to study "Post-Conflict Transformation", which is fitting since I am a Peace Studies major (for those of you who didn't already know).

Basically, we (all 29 of us) will be learning about the history, culture, language and conflicts of each country. Specifically we will study the civil-war in Northern Uganda which "ended" in 2003, and the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The semester will be full of emotionally charged experiences so I am going to try and use this blog as a way to process and share what I feel is appropriate with those who want to follow my journey. I'd love it if you could "follow" me through blogger so that you can comment on my posts!

If anyone is interested in knowing what exactly my program entails, click on the countries map on the right hand side of the blog and it should link you to the SIT webpage.

The scariest (and probably most rewarding) part of this whole journey is that at the end I will conduct an Independent Study Project. Basically a 30-40 page paper accompanied by a presentation on a detailed topic of my choice in either Uganda or Rwanda. That means I will be living on my own for 4-6 weeks while I conduct interviews and research on my topic.. and of course actually write it! AHHHhh. I'm feeling like it will be impossible now, but I think that is to be expected since I haven't even gotten there or had my first class yet. Obviously I will let you all know how that ends up.

Well, I'm off to read read read and take some breaks to pack of course!
Post again after Monday once I'm in Entebbe, UGANDA!