Trip part 1

The first leg of my trip will begin in a few minutes. I've stuffed everything I think I'll need in the next two months into a very large suitcase. After dragging it out of the basement, I'm thankful the thing has wheels. We're driving up to New Jersey to stay with my family before dropping me off at JFK on Saturday. I'm so excited!!

Welcome

This is the first post on my new blog, Shajara! Shajara means "journal" in Swahili, one of the official languages of Tanzania. This is where I'll be documenting my two month internship and research trip to Tanzania. I will be spending most of my time in Dar es Salaam, which, while no longer the capital, is still the country's largest city. I will be working with CARE, a rather wonderful (and large) international NGO (non-governmental organization). My plane leaves from JFK on Saturday and will arrive via Switzerland in Dar late Sunday evening, local time.

For those of you who can't easily point to Tanzania on a map, I'll include a few links for your reading pleasure:

BBC Country Profile
Embassy Website
And of course, Wikipedia