I'm Coming Home!

Hello everyone,

This will be my final blog post, as I am currently sitting in the Schipol airport in Amsterdam waiting for my connecting flight to JFK. The past few days have been packed full of emotions, and I can't believe that I'm actually going home. Here's a recap of my last few days at Moyo Hill Camp!

On Monday we had our community presentations. We turned the dining hall into a presentation hall by clearing all of the tables, setting up a projector, and filling the room with chairs. It was rainy all morning, which made setup quite fun (we also put three large tents up with a bunch of tables and chairs for lunch). We didn't start presentations until 11am (instead of 10) because very few people showed up right away; this was probably due to the rainy/muddy conditions affecting the roads. Presentations, once they began, took twice as long as they normally would since our translator had to translate every few sentences to the mass of locals in the audience....this meant about 30 minutes per presentation including questions. My group was the first group to present after the tea break around 1pm. I think we did really well, however, we were the only group that didn't get asked any questions (I don't know if this was good or bad). Overall, these presentations were a really positive experience, as the community was genuinely interested in all of our findings! Local officials and many familiar faces were in attendance: including Stanley and Bruno (our translators in Makame), Mark from Carbon Tanzania, men from the Maasai market, and the man who led our Iraqw cultural lecture! These officials commented that they wish to use our research to improve wildlife management throughout the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem. All presentations were done by 4pm, followed by a large outdoor lunch, cleanup, and pictures with my fellow Kiffner DR students. We then played volleyball and I spent the evening watching Nascar (which was postponed from Sunday).

On Tuesday we completed online program evaluations after breakfast, then participated in farewell activities and reflections until lunch. Most of the afternoon was spent packing, but I also got pictures of myself from the academic computer, signed the mural, ate brownies and fried bananas, and put my hair in a man bun (more like a tuft than a bun). I also gave my "lions on location" stuffed Nittany Lion to Hugo, Dr. Theisinger's 2-year-old son and Lenny's brother. Our grades were released at 4pm...I did pretty well but was a little frustrated with some of my classes. Like, I got a 3.7 GPA for the semester which is still really good but I'm competitive and wish I did better. I told myself though, I came to Tanzania for the experiences, the lessons, and the memories, not necessarily the grades. We then had a student vs staff volleyball game AND a student vs staff soccer game before dinner! And guess what??? I scored a goal! This made up for the fact that I reopened my previously-scraped up knee and had blood dripping down my leg for half of the game! After dinner I checked-in to my flight and printed my boarding pass. I also read all of the notecards that the other students wrote for me (they were very sweet!) and worried about how I would pack my bow (which was too long to fit in my checked luggage).

Last soccer game!

On Wednesday I woke up at 6:30am to get my bags ready to put in the lori. I discovered that I left my shoes outside overnight and they got drenched...so I ended up putting them in a Ziploc bag and wearing my hiking boots to the airport instead. We had our final breakfast and packed our lunches for the final time. We then said goodbye to the staff before driving to Arusha where we picked up our semester t-shirts, got some snacks in the shopper's plaza, and said goodbye to Reilly, Eden, Ali, and Erin K (who are traveling some more)before driving to the airport. We couldn't check in until 6pm (we arrived at 1pm), so the wait was arduous! I ended up watching some of "Jurassic World" with Alma and readjusted my bags. Each checked bag had to be 23kg or less and my bags were 22kg and 27kg, so I ended up giving some of my things to Emily, who graciously took them and will give back to me in the US! Good news: my bow made it through security just fine and I didn't have to pay an additional fee! Once on the plane, I sat next to Liv, Dori and Siobhan, watched three movies ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "A Star is Born", and "Bambi") and slept for four hours. This first flight was an hour to Dar es Salaam, followed by an hour wait in the plane to refuel, followed by a 10-11 hour flight to Amsterdam. We got into Schipol airport at around 7:30am, and after going through security said goodbye to a few other students who had different flights. During the four hour layover in Schipol, I typed this blog and bought a nip of alcohol (LEGALLY!!!) and Stroopwafels (which are delicious and you should look them up!). It is now Thursday around noon and I am about to board my plane. I can't believe that I will see my parents again in less than 10 hours! It doesn't seem real and I'm definitely starting to experience some reverse-culture shock.

The wavulana!!!

Overall, these past 3.5 months and Tanzania and Kenya have been unforgettable. I learned so many things about wildlife, wildlife management, local cultures and environmental policy, but most importantly, I learned a lot about myself. I think I grew a lot as a person this semester and tried my best to go out of my comfort zone. I will forever remember all of the great times I had, whether it be expeditions, soccer games, nights at the campfire, lectures of all shapes and sizes, hiking Kili, hand washing my clothes, or having great conversations with friends. I will miss everyone that I have met during this journey, and I hope that we all stay in touch. But for now, I am ready to get on this flight to JFK and sleep in my own bed tonight!

Thanks as always for reading my blogs. I hope that you "experienced" some of my adventures through my writing, and thanks for joining me on this "African Adventure" of a lifetime!!!

Best,
Matt