Monday, August 19, 2013

BACK HOME!!! AT LAST!

So I'm home again and it feels great.

My last day in Tanzania was on Sunday, August 18th. After collecting all the necessary paperwork from my students and writing my final evaluations, I was all set to go home.

So my itinerary included a 2 hour flight from Kilimanjaro to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Then, a 2 hour layover in Ethiopia. Followed by a 15.5 hour flight from Ethiopia to Washington D.C (with a refueling layover in Rome). It was such a long flight I was dying by the end of it. I was also getting really annoyed because every time I fell asleep, I was getting woken up by the flight attendents trying to serve me food. Sorry, but I just don't have an appetite at 3 AM. I honestly would have preferred to skip the airplane food for sleep, which I desperately needed. The flight was also very hard on me, my feet especially. I didn' leave my seat the entire flight (not even to use the restroom) so when it was time to leave the plane, my feet were so swollen I couldn't put on my shoes without loosening them as much as they could go. I felt pretty stupid because it's so unhealthy to remain sedentary for that long (blood clots)!

My mom greeted me at the airport and the first thing we did was stop by Costco so I could get some grapefruits and smoked salmon to appease my cravings. When I got home my Grandma already had borscht ready for me. I pigged out on all the foods I loved when I got home and it was wonderful.

Anyway, my plans are to come back to Duke on Thursday after a short rest. I have a couple of research days I need to do before school starts. I still haven't figured out where I'll stay yet since I'm not allowed to move into my room till Friday. I'll just be playing by ear :)

CLOSING WORDS:

Thank you all for reading my blog this summer! Knowing that I have such a large support group back home helped me extraordinarily, especially in my most stressful of days! Hopefully I will be returning next year. We will see how things go :)

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