Bound for Botswana

It's hard to think that in a little over 13 hours I will be on my way to Africa. All of it is set: took four shots, notified my bank, got prescriptions for traveler's diarrhea and malaria prevention and my luggage is packed. Mom's been stressing out over ever little thing that's getting packed, but I know she's just making sure that I have everything for smooth sailing through airport security and the flight. I know this first post is rather boring, but I promise to get pictures up and spruce up the look of the blog.

Until then, I'll just fill in those of you who don't know too much about my trip. I'm taking a course in thermodynamics taught at the Univ. of Botswana. Why might you ask? Well, its actually just another version of a required course offered by CWRU for my major, chemical engineering. There's about 20 of us that are going on the trip I wanna say. There are some kids I've become friends with beforehand and some new faces that I'm sure I'll get acquainted with before this trip is up. I will spend my time studying, safariing, touring, and footballing.

For those of you who don't know, Botswana is situated just north of South Africa. Its an Anglophone country, so English is one of the official languages. Much of the country is covered by the Kalahari Desert, so I've been told that its a dry climate. It's actually winter over there now, or rather the dry season, but its suppose to stay relatively warm during the day but get cold enough for a jacket to be worn during the evening hours. Botswana is one of the more developed countries due to its vast game preserves for tourism and a thriving diamond mining industry.

That's a good summary I think. If you want to read more, I'm sure you can look up the wiki article for Botswana. I probably won't post anything until I land in Gaborone and get situated in the dorm. After getting to JFK in NYC, I'll hop onto a South African Airways flight and land in Johannesburg 15 hours later. From there, I'll hop onto one of the hourly flights to Gaborone. It's gonna be a long DAY of flights tomorrow.

-Gone to Gaborone Greg

P.S. It's pronounced "Gab-boh-roh-nay." I'll double check with the Batswana friends I'm sure to make.

P.S.S. Batswana is the demonym for a Botswana national.