Hey! I did not forget about this or you. Everything is wonderful here and I miss you all dearly, promise. I am just too caught up in life to sit down and rehash it on here. Or, when I do have time to sit online, I waste it all on facebook like the terrible adolescent that I am. I have been slightly better at uploading pictures though, so check out flickr if you want an overview of things.

Yikes, has it really been over a month? So sorry, again, for neglecting to update. What's happened lately... hmm. I went on safari one weekend at Saadani National Park. We mostly saw giraffes ("twiga" in Swahili - isn't that a lovely word? I think it suits them perfectly). Our campsite was right on the ocean. Full moon at night, beach sunrise in the morning. I love every moment here; I won't be able to adequately describe how beautiful I find everything, but I promise to sit down and try soon.

Classes are tricky. Not so much academically difficult, just logistically. Rooms and meeting times change arbitrarily, I've dropped some and added others. As of right now I've settled on Community Based Conservation, Environmental Policy and Planning, Herpetology, Ornithology, and Swahili. That should be the final set up. I hope so, at least. The semester is about half over, after all.

Also tricky - being vegan. So, long story short, I'm not. I've been eating dishes that have eggs and milk (I discovered that I'm lactose intolerant now, to the surprise of  no one). My usual ingredient-reading neurosis is hard to entertain when I'm constantly a guest in someone else's home. I'll go back to vegan when I go back to the states. Nearly everyone here thinks being vegetarian is a joke of a lifestyle, but that's okay. I did unintentionally convince one friend here to stop eating meat. It's fairly easy avoid meat here, really - everyone loves rice and beans anyway. Teasing from his family is probably the biggest obstacle he'll face, but that seems to be the case where ever you are [sidenote: how's the veg lifestyle going back home, Ryan?]. So I think my animal-rights karma is still in balance... I might eat a few more animal products, but now there's a new Tanzanian avoiding meat for the sake of morality. At least, that's the logic I've been using to ease my terribly guilty conscious.

What else...

I spend most weekends staying at my friend Sulea's house. Living on the UDSM campus with my assigned family hasn't been all that great, but I've found my own world of people to spend time with, so it doesn't matter. With such a short amount of time here, there's no use spending it in any state or place of negativity.

Two weekends ago I spent some time in Stone Town, Zanzibar. A friend of a friend had a place we could stay for free: a wonderful apartment mixed right into the city's labyrinth of old buildings and narrow alleyways. My friend Amanda and I loved it so much we're going back this weekend. If you have a chance to stay on a beautiful island for cheap, there's really no reason not to make the most of it.

I am suddenly very aware of how much time has passed and how much more I want to do before I leave. Here's what I have tentatively planned for the upcoming weekends:

May 27th - 30th: Zanzibar

June 10th - 13th:  Udzungwa National Park (visiting a penpal!)

June 17th - 20th: Zanzibar again for the international film festival

June 24th - 27th: Tanga, to visit the Amboni cave system

July 1st - 5th: Camping and walking safari in Ngorongoro Crater

Then finals are mid July. After that I have a few weeks to kill, but I've still got to sketch out what I want to do for that time.

That's all for now. Sorry, again, for not updating for such a long time. But I have to say, you are all welcome to comment on these entries... communication is a two way street you know! Hah, I'm kidding. I know I have just been slacking. Sorry again.

Best wishes <3