Underwear is Everywhere...

...or How to Dry Laundry in Hungry.

...and other activities you learn to do shamelessly while traveling for too dang long, including but not limited to:

1) Hanging your underwear on your balcony in the middle of a music school (also similar to hanging jeans outside a 7th floor hotel window in a public square)

2) Taking hand sanitizer baths because you are way to bored/irritated/tired/unenamored with the idea of taking ANOTHER shower (ok, maybe I am the only one who did this. and I don't recommend it because my skin sort of feels like a cornflake)

3) Not drinking, but eating 3-in-1 instant coffee packets from Trader Joe's. Lectures are long, days are long, and water isn't always a possibility. This is clearly just a matter of survival adaptation.

4) Cooking on a clothes iron in a hotel because I really need a home cooked meal. I have yet to actually do this one, but you will most certainly have pictures/recipes when I do. Mostly, I am just waiting to be in a place with both an iron and a roll of aluminum foil. Then we will go to town--grilled cheese, fried eggs, fish fry, steamed vegetables, you name it!

Tonight we are staying in a hostel in the forest. Twenty two American kids go to Europe and stay in a forest hostel...I think we have heard this story before. It never ends well. But luckily I am a mountain woman, so even if it does, I will carry the team on my back. Anyway, if I have all those kids on my back, Wifi might not fit as well, so don't be surprised if there are a couple days between now and the next update.

Also, just as quick interjectory observation, right now it is raining and yesterday it was cloudy all day. It is insanely beautiful, so maybe I am getting over my rain apathy. You never know though, if this goes on for much longer and I don't get to see the sun, I might go into a rage. The hostel horror movie will actually  be starring me as the deranged lunatic who really just needs a vitamin D fix.

In the past 48 hours, I have visited this place 4 times. Don't ask me where it is because I really have no idea. But that is sort of the point.

 The panoramic ap on my phone might be one of my favorite things. It helps take pictures like this after hiking in Tihany National Park.

The view from this inner lake of the Tihany National Park was beautiful, but I was sort of transfixed by all of the baby gophers in this field. Do you have to declare gophers at customs?

Paul loves nature.

 Remember my love of eating nature? Well, imagine my sheer euphoria when the nature is actually supposed to be edible. All of the cherries in this picture are gone now because I ate them.

For the honor and glory.

Electric Fences and Sensation Time

Now I will tell a funny joke.

There once was this girl who was going to spend 8 weeks in three different countries, 15 different cities, traveling by bus, tram, and plane. And she said she would update her blog everyday.

BAHAHAHAHAHA. Too funny. Really, I split my own sides.

So, how about a quick summary of life after the point that I left you last time, which was just moments before a dinner boat cruise on the Danube River. Let's do it in a list too, because that is just how they do it here in Hungary (do not try to add this fact to the Hungary Wikipedia page. I may have made it up) Also, don't expect these to necessarily be in chronological order...this place/trip has sapped me of my ability to keep track of time in any sort of normal manner...

          1) Dinner boat cruise on the Danube: Eating traditional Hungarian food with our home stay hosts and seeing the lights of both sides of Budapest (Buda and Pest) at night made for a really incredible experience. I ate goulash (real goulash, not the kind that kids make of all of the leftover food at the lunch table in the cafeteria) and these little noodly things made from smashing dough through a strainer, which I think even had some spinach in it, so naturally I wanted to eat all of it to get my daily 123456 servings of green stuff. There were not that many servings for me to eat. So instead I talked to my home stay, Orsy, and learned that getting to know someone when there is a significant language barrier is difficult, but very rewarding and worth the effort. 

               2) The actual home stay: Orsy is 20 years old and a student on the Buda side of Budapest. I was slightly nervous when she told me that for the evening we would be going to a "hooge party and having sensation time." I am not a partier myself and I wasn't sure what sensation time was (sensational), but I got to stay with her and her grandmother for the night and it was stellar. I was the first American that her grandma had ever met, so let's talk about some pressure with the weight of an entire nation on your shoulders. It was fine though, more than fine actually....right before bed, I was saying a rosary and Orsy asked me to teach her the prayers in English and she taught me (well, I repeated after her) in Hungarian. It was really cool that even though we had known each other for only a few hours altogether, our religion was able to bond us, language barrier or not. It really was rather sensational.

3) Partying in a Budapest club: This is not recommended. Of our entire group at the club, my friend Olivia and I were the only ones yelled at by the bouncer. He bounced us back IN when we tried to sit outside to avoid the smoke and general yuck that comes with a bar. Who gets bounced back into a club? Dumb.

4) Eating at a buffet: In the United States, I despise buffets. In Hungary, buffets have unlimited amounts of spinach and other vegetables. In Hungary, I love buffets.

5) Snetberger Center: Yesterday, we left Budapest and drove two hours to the Snetberber Center in Feloors. Budapest is wonderful and the architecture is beautiful etc etc, but I am so excited to be sitting in the middle of a forest in the mountains at a music school for young Roma musicians rather than in the city. I was starting to feel a little sapped, but after multiple hikes and wildlife time, I feel recharged. Last night, I led my travel companions on a nighttime hike up a mountain and through a tick infested field. For a group of smart kids, this seemed sort of dumb of them to follow me but they did AND there was only one tick issue. On a side note, I have somehow managed to adopt more mountain woman tendencies than I was back at home. I have used my teeth to open a coke bottle and rip a plastic bottle in half so I could catch a frog. Then I caught a frog. Maybe I will give into my mountain woman tendencies and come live here with the ticks and the frogs and the utility jackets (my windbreaker with sewn in straps and lights and caribeners and more dorkiness than you can possibly imagine) and the teeth of steel. Watch out wilderness.

6) Looking at cows in Holloko: Apparently, it is a good idea to question whether a fence surrounding cows might have electricity coursing through it. Otherwise, leaning on one might lead to a shocking experience (bahahaha)  

7) Some last musings on food: Yesterday, I was served mushroom soup that had a mushroom perogie at the bottom. I am Polish. I died of excitement and proceeded to yell at everyone who wasn't finishing their soup. (bahaha, they didn't realize that that hike was revenge for their wasting good Polish food heeheehee) Oh. And three words that actually made me scream in a grocery store: toothpaste tube mustard. See below and feel my happiness radiate from the picture. 

And as always, some pictures to finish off:

Welcome to Budapest!

So I may have taken this particular picture from a castle. That is sort of cool.
The lovely 2011s. And for my mother's sake.... from the top: Amy, Shannan, Eric, sort of Katherine if you look closely, Paul, Patrick, Lily, Cody, Gabi, Jacquelyn, Nick, Dylan with his hand on the wall, Lee, Shantanu, Jasmine, Donovan, Julia, Olivia, Cary, Aman. Whew.

Again, taking pictures from a castle is just one of the perks of European travel.  

 We went to a museum. They gave us fancy booties. We looked so cool.

We had a find lunch on your own afternoon. This particular lunch made my day.  Yes, that is mustard in a toothpaste tube.

I also caught a frog. This wouldn't be as cool as taking pictures from a castle if I hadn't made this little cup with my water bottle...using my teeth to rip it in half. Not only is it cool then, it is pretty Macgyver/badassery.

                             We got out of the city and into the woods. I couldn't be happier.

For the honor and glory.

Szia and Zero Sleepa!

Sunday, May 27th

Since Friday, I have become insanely fascinated by the idea of time zones. It blows my mind that write now, at 5:46 pm on Sunday in Hungary, my family in Mesa is sitting in 8:30 church at St. Tim's, also on Sunday. Who sounds like a little wet-behind-the-ears-internationally-travelling-infant? Probably this kid, but I can't get over it. Maybe my fascination stems from the 4 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Everything becomes freaking fascinating at that point.

Yesterday we got into Budapest (pronounced Budapesht if you are feeling Hungarian today) at midnight last night, so naturally we decided to go for a walk after we checked into the hotel, as well as eat some sandwiches and drink some sparkling water--which is a commodity in Arizona, but pretty much the only option here. I couldn't be happier.

What a Hungarian opera house looks like at 2 in the morning.

Well, I thought I couldn't be happier, but then as we were roaming around this afternoon, I saw this.

More precisely, I saw about 10 of these beautiful pokey little happy plants as the center pieces of all of the tables in a restaurant near our hotel. I could have cried. Instead I screamed, ran across the street, and excitedly took pictures, probably concerning the restaurant owner. 

Other than cacti, during our excursions today, I also got to see St. Stephen's Basilica (Szent István-bazilika), Heroes' Square (Hősök here), and a segment of the Berlin Wall. I also ate peach soup. Can you really get much better than peach soup? 

Maybe....but only because when I read an email from my mom a half hour ago saying that they made roasted tomato cannelloni and broccoli for dinner last night (that isn't all it said, though it would be vaguely entertaining if my family sent me updates every time they eat for the next 7 weeks) I may have 

drooled a little. Not that that is out of the ordinary...I am a mouth breather, don't judge me. Plus, I haven't eaten spinach or broccoli or green beans in nearly three days. We are going on a river cruise tonight for dinner and to meet our future host stay families for this week, and I would be thoroughly pleased if they just served me a giant bowl of steamed broccoli. Or a trough of spinach. I am about to go into a green deficiency rage. 

Watch out Budapest. 

On the note of host families though, I was relieved to learn that they switched up the process of who stays with who this year. The Flinn Hungromania trip has always involved at least a couple home stays which is absolutely fine with me and an excellent way to meet lovely local people. Apparently though, in the past, the pairing of hosts to guests was determined at this boat dinner orientation meeting after everyone mingled for the evening. Does this not sound sort of like third grade kickball teams at recess? As in, everybody line up on the fence while we pick teams, and if you can't pronounce your Hungarian double constants correctly, guess what, you're getting picked last. Well, all of my Hungarian constants want to come out a little bit too French, so needless to say, I am glad that this year we have already been paired up. 

So we will see how that goes tonight and I will let you know, but for now I must say szia! 

(and that's "tzia" unless you feel like getting picked last =D)

My church buddies bright and early this morning at St. István's.

Now how about a side view.

This piece of the Berlin Wall was a gift from Germany to Hungary for removing their border defenses during the Cold War for East German refugees. 

                    Look at all those happy faces. They must have just eaten some peach soup. =D

For the honor and glory.

A Brief Visit to Prince William and Harry

Saturday, May 26th

Now that we have made it into the lovely Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 (this took one 9 hour plane ride, one subway shuttle thing, and one bus ride, driven completely on the wrong...I mean British side of the road). Twenty-four hours into this tri-country excursion, I have just a few observations and thoughts to share.

Observation: In London, there are not rolls of toilet paper, there are squares. Imagine a roll of American toilet paper, ripped up, and placed into a stack. I am thinking about instituting this method upon my return home so my little sisters will use less toilet paper. 

Observation: I am an ADD movie watcher. I cannot handle just watching a movie without some sort of distraction, preferably a crossword puzzle. This isn’t a new phenomenon for me, it just became greatly amplified on the plane ride over here when I proceeded to watch the first 25-37 minutes of about six different movies and two tv shows. 

Thought: I am very proud that I have yet to set down my passport, boarding pass, phone, wallet, bags, stuffed lamb etc and lost them. This may not sound that impressive, but trust me, it is quite a feat. 

Thought: This was the cutest collection of vitals provided by British Airways at 2:15 am Arizona time. I appreciated both the probiotic shake, the strange protein raisin biscuit, and the mint. They clearly know that the key to this girl’s heart is happy guts, strong muscles, and fresh breath.

        Upon further observation: (actually, upon peeing about 10 more times in the Heathrow bathrooms...) My earlier observation about toilet paper may have been true only to Terminal 5 in the airport. Terminal 3 apparently did not care about saving toilet paper, so they just had the big rolls. Just so you know. 

We’ll see when I actually find some free wifi so I can post this, but if you are keeping track of days, as I am writing, it is 3:54 pm, London time on Saturday, 5/26.

Oh, and by the way, happy birthday, Mama. Sorry I am missing it! I hope your day is the best!

For the honor and glory.

Maybe I enjoy packing too much

So, we are less than 48 hours out and I am surprisingly ready to go. Or at least prepared. Visas are here, passports are in hand, bags are packed. The Africa Pile of crap in my bedroom has evolved into the Hungromafrica Pile of luggage in the living room. The only problem with this is that I keep wandering around the house adding random things to the pile. Here are some of today’s additives as the pile progressed:

Stuffed dog (a goodbye present from my kids and coworkers at Dobson)

Harmonica (because I can't bring a guitar)      

 Stuffed monkey (partially inspired by Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible, which is also coming with me. And because, one should never leave the house without a monkey sock monkey)

 Stuffed lamb (Second day in a row that awesome things have shown up on my front porch. Thanks Mrs. Sauerman!)

French Dr. Seuss!! (to read to kids at the orphanage. Or just to myself. Whatever)

Rosary. (Sort of a no brainer. I'm a Catholic--I hardly leave the house without one let alone the country)

Cigar box. (to hold the 80 picks I bought for the music school. Why a ziplock bag won't suffice, I don't know. I just like cigar boxes)

Wow, I have a whole day left tomorrow, plus most of Friday so who knows what will wind up in the pile before I finally set foot out of the country?

Do you know what I would like to put in my bag though?

Maybe this puppy that I visited today. Sorry to anyone who keeps reading this because they think it is exclusively a travel blog, but how can you resist posting pictures of a creature with a face like this? Also, the current names of the hour are Liam or Leo. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Short, but pretty dang sweet

Lookie what I found on my front porch this morning:

(Apparently, I have this tendency to look like a chipmunk after a wisdom teeth extraction when I am very excited. But this was important enough, dear readers, that I put aside my pride and posted it anyway =D)

And it was early to boot! Thank you Jesus, thank you embassy, thank you FedEx, and thank you you for whatever happy thoughts and prayers you directed this way.

Darn though. I bet after yesterday's blog you were looking forward to my alternative blog if this whole traveling business didn't work out:

"Compost Cooking with Julia"

Maybe next summer =D

For the honor and glory.

Creature Comforts

Since becoming a vegetarian three-ish years ago, my eating habits have shifted a bit from their carnivorous upbringing. Most people joke that vegetarians eat like rabbits, but that doesn’t quite describe me completely. Sure, I eat about 2+ pounds of spinach a week (I am not exaggerating, and I have Costco receipts to prove it) and salads are works of art around here, but what has really changed is what looks good to me now. For example, apple cores.

And corn cobs.

And the white part of the orange peel. 

And lemon rinds.

And tree bark. 

Or the little bean pods that are on the trees.

My friends actually offer me their apple cores when they “finish” their apple; until recently during a very long hike, I politely declined their offers as they made me feel like a pig on a farm. If we have corn on the cob with dinner, my family has to throw the cobs away before I can get them, otherwise they suffer through the sight of me gnawing on them like...well, a pig on a farm. And don’t even ask me what the tree bark thing is--I am not doing it for attention (like the kid in everyone’s kindergarten class who would eat sand or grass on the playground), I am just genuinely freaking curious! 

So I guess I would describe my diet as more like that of a woodland creature. Not a rabbit, but a squirrel. Or due to my tendency to pretty much eat garbage--not like junk food garbage, but actual garbage--and random foliage, I guess raccoon would actually fit best. 

Ha, and you people thought this was a travel blog!

No, really, it does tie in a bit. Check out this transition from eating bark to traveling the world:

First, I leave in 4 days and I can tell you that besides my family,  one of the number one things I will miss is spinach. I drink a spinach shake every single morning, I eat spinach salads for every lunch, and last Saturday, I made a chocolate cake with spinach and garbanzo beans. Don’t judge, it was freaking delicious. So there is the rabbit speaking.

Second, with the raccoon in my head constantly suggesting I eat some strawberry hulls, tree branches, or apple stems, I am looking forward to all of the new foods I will get to try while abroad, especially in Benin. I will probably be eating some meat just to maintain social politeness, but I am also absolutely fascinated by the idea of eating bugs. Most of the world does this with no qualms whatsoever, and yet even the people in the U.S. who are all about reducing carbon footprints and being green and saving the planet by consuming less would probably gag a bit if they watched this video about some of the insect dishes in Benin (http://www.southsouthcooperation.net/dvd/88-edible-insects-from-benin-to-costa-rica.html). So, I am not necessarily saying I will be chowing down on garlicky grasshoppers or maggot soup, but God help my friends and family here if I do try these things and enjoy them. Then they would have to not only stop me from indiscriminately sampling the random flora, but also from lifting up rocks in the yard to find a snack. 

On another note, FedEx was true to their word last week, getting my visa application to the the Benin embassy in Washington D.C. just 12 short hours after I dropped it (semi-frantically) off last Thursday. I called the lovely gentlemen at the embassy Friday morning and they said they were working on it. Just keep up the prayers that anything was in order, otherwise, I will have to start my bug eating experiments in my backyard instead of in the bush of Benin. Not quite as socially acceptable...

And now...some pictures of recent developments in my life. 

        Welcome to my fumigating tent. I had to spray my clothes with some beyond strong mosquito repellent called Permethrin. It says it is non-toxic, but it's about 100% DEET so add a little prayer to the one about my visa that I don't grow an eleventh toe or get hair on my stomach or anything else unnatural as a result from this life-saving spray-human lives that is, the mosquitoes die on contact (I made that last but up I think, but it is a funny thing to visualize)

Also. My puppy was born this weekend. And here it is. Feel free to put this as your desktop background and die a little bit from happiness every time you open your computer. That is what I do at least =D

For the honor and glory.

How to (Potentially) Cancel Your Tri-Country Excursion in Two Simple Steps

First, don’t realize that you need a visa to travel to one of your destinations until a week before you are going to leave.

Second, once you realize your oversight, send your passport away to Washington D.C. with only a hope and a prayer that it makes it there, is processed, approved and shipped back by the day you leave. 

Not that I would know any of this from experience....

Before getting into this too much, I would like to let everyone know just how much the Humanity Exchange (the organization I am traveling to Benin with) and Sundance Travel (the travel agency that set up my multi-country flights) are NOT AT ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR MY STUPIDITY! The lovely folks at Humanity Exchange sent me a pre-departure manual way back in November of last year when I applied originally and very high on their list of things to accomplish before leaving was the visa application. When the very sweet Charlotte of Sundance Travel sent me my itinerary, there was definitely a note about the visa as well. Clearly, the fault is mine...despite looking over all of these materials, until four hours ago, I was unaware of the visa requirement. As far as the manual goes, I began working on getting everything in order near the end of my first semester of college last year, and was actually ahead of schedule; Christmas break was used to make appointments with travel health clinics, create packing lists, and book flights. Then school and work began again in January, and my priorities once again returned to grades and keeping children from running away (I work in a high school special needs class). And then with the emailed itinerary from Sundance, my time-saving/terrible tendency to skim emails apparently came back to bite me.

Smarting from that bite, I spent the afternoon on the phone with the Benin Embassy in Washington D.C., Sundance, FedEx, and a courier. Requirements for a visa application to Benin include:

1. The application (it was primarily in French)
2. A passport picture (I didn’t have one)= trip to Costco
3. A money order for $140 (fresh out of those as well)= trip to the bank
4. A photo copy of your round trip plane ticket (...nope.)= a call to Charlotte, who couldn’t have sounded more alarmed that this hadn’t been taken care of already
5. My actual passport (I had this, but it was difficult to think about the idea of sending it far, far away eight days before my first ever international flight)=stress
6. Proof of my yellow fever vaccination (FINALLY! I had this!)=gold star

Oh, the embassy takes three business days to process the application, so a trip to FedEx in order to super-duper-fast-fast-overnight (that’s the official FedEx name) the whole package was necessary too. And don’t forget the prepaid return envelope as well.

    =120 dollars worth of shipping = a coronary

So, 1 hour, 10 phone calls (literally), 3 stops, and $265.35 later, my application was in the mail, with a promise that it would be on a desk in the Benin Embassy by 8:30 tomorrow morning. During one of my calls with the embassy-I made three separate ones in that hour- a nice gentleman told me that he would have it done and shipped hopefully by Wednesday. 

Which means I could literally be waiting for the FedEx man to come on Friday afternoon (I paid for the super-duper-fast-fast-overnight though so hopefully Thursday) with a couple pieces of vital luggage before I can meet up with the rest of my group headed to Hungary and Romania from Sundance at 4:15.

That should be fun....

Perhaps not. BUT! This blog is now fun and interactive for you! It now has an exciting game called “Track Julia’s Visa.” To play, just use the tracking numbers below on FedEx.com and watch my ability to go on this trip fly back and forth across the country!

Number for the package to DC: 8001 0836 6236

Number for the return package back to Mesa: 8001 0836 6247

I really couldn’t feel stupider at this point, but what can we do now besides hope and pray that the Father and FedEx come through to help me out with my major mistake? 

Throw up?

I think we already established in an earlier blog that that is really never the best option. It’s really just a mess. And we’ve already got one of those on our hands.

For the honor and glory.

Future Talk

Humor me for a minute and let's play a game. In this game, you go away from home for 8 weeks-missing lots, learning lots, becoming lots-but if you do it all right, you get a prize. The prize could be anything. What do you want? A car? All of your textbooks paid for for fall semester? It's a game, so you can let your imagination run wild.

How about a puppy?

I am a sucker for puppies.

I'll take the puppy. Thanks. 

That was a fun game.

Or maybe it wasn't a game.

But, as per usual, I've gotten ahead of myself.

A couple of months ago, I decided that as part of my honor thesis that I will be working on this coming school year, I was going to get a dog and train it for therapy purposes. I am a huge dog person (since 3rd grade, the one consistent plan I have always had for my future is to run in the Iditarod someday...), but my mom has always said that it is cruel to get a dog before you have a backyard. She was smart enough to know that since I have never lived without a dog in all of my nineteen years, I would probably wind up with one as soon as I started college, no matter how impractical it would be to raise a puppy in a dorm room bathroom. Well, then I lived at home my first year of college and had this brilliant idea that maybe I should live at home another year, because Mom never said that the backyard that I have to have to have a dog had to be different than the one that I have always had. Yeah, when I told her that, she looked at me the same way you just looked at that sentence when you reread it to count all the "have"s. 

But, that didn't stop her from accompanying me to an Australian Shepard breeder today, where we proceeded to pet Aussies for an hour and a half. We met Amy and Abe, the parents-to-be next week, as well as Colleen and Dick Wilson, the sweetest couple who have been in the business for a very long time.  We did lots of Googling and research to ask all the right questions when meeting a breeder, but honestly, I was sold within about 10 minutes. You know how I told you I am a sucker for puppies earlier? Well, turns out I am also a sucker for old people who raise dogs with as much love as their children and grandchildren and pronounce the nation's capital like "WARshington." Apparently my mom felt the same way, because as soon as we got back in the car, gone was the skepticism, replaced with "Maybe when you really move out, we'll get one too." 

So, with only 10 days left before my trip, this is no time for fun and games. 

Let's get serious.

On May 25th, I leave for Hungary, Romania, and Benin.

On July 20th, I get home.

On July 21st, I get a puppy.

=D=D=D=D=D=D=D

For the honor and glory.

The Africa Pile

For the past five months, a large pile has been accumulating on a bookshelf in my room. Ever since I applied to go to Benin (it's in Western Africa, don't feel bad if you just Googled a map) with the Humanity Exchange, the odds and ends that I decide are necessary for my one month stay scheduled for this summer have found their way into this growing mound. Everything from bug spray (to deter the mosquitoes) to a perscription for Doxycyline (to deter the malaria) to band-aids (to deter my own fingers when I ineveitably get stung by the malaria-bearing mosquitoes and want to scratch my skin off) now occupy the space where action figures (because I used to geek out a bit over Lord of the Rings) and figurines of hand-painted dogs (I also liked dogs...and painting apaprently) used to stand so prominently. Gone are typical desk trinkets, taken over by a best-and-worst-case-scenario pile of preparation. But 21 days away from the day that I depart for my 8 week marathon journey, I realize that maybe a little bit of me is trying to bury my inhibitions about this trip under a pile of utility jackets (more on that later) and anti-diarrheals.

But allow me to digress a bit. I have a thing for bullet-pointed lists, so please allow me even further to digress in the form of such a beautifully organized list.

1. My name is Julia King. I am a Catholic, one of four girls in a six-member family, a do-er, and a student at Arizona State University. And that's pretty much the way my priorities line up too.

2. I am a very, very proud native Arizonan who has never been outside of this country. I am a big fan of the sun, the colors brown and cactus green, and while I enjoy a monsoon shower or two, too much rain at one time or for too many days in a row sort of makes me throw tantrums.

3. The longest I have ever been away from my family is about 7 days during 8th grade science camp. By day three, I was homesick. What can I say, these people are pretty dang cool. (I was also incredibly distraught about all the snow, which for a person who doesn't enjoy rain in excess, is basically death)
       
    INHIBITION #1: It doesn't matter what I put in that pile in my room, there are 5 people who just
                                         won't fit in my bags. I also can't take them as personal items on the airplane.
                                                                                  This is unfortunate.

4. So keeping that in mind, in addition to a three week trip to Hungary and Romania with my scholarship class, I decided to tack a four week trip to Africa onto my summer travels. (They call the the period between March and July the "great rains" in Benin...)

     INHIBITION #2: I hate water. One week during my junior year of high school, it rained for a week
                             straight and my poor dear friend Stefanie who walked with me to all of our classes had
                              to listen to me complain (there is a b word that would probably fit better here...) about    
                             being wet and not seeing the sun the entire week. So, the rain doesn't necessarily worry
                              me for my own sake, just for the locals who might encounter me during one of my rain
                              rages.

5. My mom has handled of this very well. (Except for the minor freak out we had when the travel agent accidentally sent me to Nigeria instead of Benin....see, you weren't the only one who didn't know where it was...)

6. My activities in Benin will include helping out at a local music school-CIAMO (Centre International d'Art et Musique de Ouidah)- volunteering in one of the many local orphanages, fully immersing myself in the wonderful world of the French language, and trying to stay dry. I am ridiculously excited about this entire list, except the last part, because honestly, when the humidity is usually at 100%, why bother?

So, with a disturbingly short time between now and the time that my pile becomes a packed bag (12 DAYS...(!!!!!!)), I can't decide whether to jump for joy or to just find somewhere to throw up. Am I nervous or scared? No, not really. But I have never done this before, so bear with me while I figure out the appropriate actions and emotions. Don't worry, I am already leaning towards throwing up not really being one of the best courses of action.  Instead, I will write this blog for you, to detail my travels and update you on how I am coping in the rain without the best five people in the world. Haha, I'll try not to be too melodramatic about it all, but that is sometimes a side effect of a Julia Rain Rage. Honestly though, there will be way to many incredible things to write about for me to mention the weather more than ten or twelve times each blog (kidding!), so you won't get too bored with my meteorology ramblings.

While abroad, I hope to update at least every other day, but we'll see how feasible of a plan that is once I am actually in country. Feel free to ask me any questions about anything-the preparation, the countries, the cultures, etc- and I will answer you via comment or maybe even a full length blog.

In these last 12 days before I go, I will try to post a couple of other entertaining tidbits about the preparation I have done thus far. Until then though, you can watch some of the video blogs I created a few months ago when I first started getting ready for the trip:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9-yWbGjGFQ
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2vMV5NyI_s&feature=relmfu
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knO0iNBa4mo&feature=relmfu

For the honor and glory.