Success

I'm going to just give a short post. Yesterday was our bake sale and it went great! At the sale itself we made $225 dollars which equals four in a half food parcels which means we just feed about 31 people for a month in South Africa!! Then with some of the left over I took them to my leadership class to just give away and Brian donated $2 for the cookies I made so we technically made $227. Catherine and I are literally like one shirt away from distributing the link to the site where we are selling shirts. I can't believe there are only 14 days left of the semester! Same time that means I'm freaking out about finals. All in all the fundraising is going great and I just want to say thank you to everyone who has donated so far!

Goodnight to all the little birdies. I love you!

Open Arms

I realize that I haven't yet mentioned this on my blog. While we are in Guguletu we will be working with Open Arms to deliver food parcels to families. Open Arms is an organization in Minneapolis that makes 75% of the meals for an individual who is suffering from cancer, AIDS, MS, and other serious illnesses and the dependents of this person as well. They raise money throughout the year to provide food parcels for families in Guguletu. While we are there we're going to spend one day compiling all of the food parcels that have been purchased and deliver them to those who need them most. We also are the main fundraisers to purchase the food parcels. There is going to be a bake sale in Coffman on this upcoming Wednesday, and Catherine and I are setting up an online store to sell shirts. 

Of course one of the fastest ways to raise money is from donations. Each food parcel costs $50 and will then feed one family of 7 for one month. If you are interested in helping the best way to purchase a food parcel is to do it online at the open arms website. http://www.openarmsmn.org/donatenow  Under "Donation Information" click the circle that says "Food Parcel-South Africa" and in the comments section please indicate that this is for the U of M group. Although $50 is the amount for one food parcel, you can donate any amount. 

Last thing is to keep your eyes open. I'll be posting the link for the shirts we are selling both here and on Facebook in the next couple of days!

Less Than 30 Days

Last Saturday at our pre-departure meeting we went around the group and each shared one song that we like to listen to when we're in a pensive sort of mood. Today at my one to one with Aaron he gave me a CD of the songs we each had shared. Most of the songs were ones that I hadn't heard of before, but after listening to them realized I enjoy them quite a bit. As with any time I start talking about the trip I get really excited. Of course I'm excited about all the things I'm going to learn about South Africa such as it's history, the people, the culture, the food, but I'm also excited about the things I hope I get to experience like Sky diving, shark diving, shopping, seeing wild penguins on the beach, and what ever else might pop up.

I do have some concerns though. At the moment my biggest ones are more logistical type of concerns; primarily how I'm getting home from the airport. I'm also concerned about the safety of my computer. I love my Mac and since I bought it with my own money I treat it more like a wad of hundreds. I would never leave a wad of cash unattended in a highly public area, I would never let someone else "hold on to it" for me, nor would I dream of carelessly showing it off to others, so I don't do any of that with my Mac either. Bringing it somewhere where I'm not positive I have control over makes me uneasy, but Aaron has assured me it will be safe so long as I use common sense. My brother's birthday and eagle scout ceremony are literally days after our return to the states so I'm also super concerned about what to get him as a gift. I think right now since I'm trying harder to focus on finals, and the random Ochem midterm I have on Monday,  my only concerns at the moment are logistical ones. I'm sure the second my last final is done and I start packing more concerns about safety and unmarked cabs (which my doctor was adamant I don't get in which I wasn't planning on doing) will arise in my mind.

3 weeks to people like my family who will be concerned the entire time I'm gone will seem like a long time. However for myself I already know that the time won't be long enough and it'll go by as fast as I wish the semester would end. I originally had wanted to go with the leadership minor to Ireland, but I feel like South Africa is so different from anything I have experienced so far that I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by. Some people have expressed concerns that the experience we go through are going to change us so much were going to have a hard time relating/transitioning back to our regular home lives. My mind is still in Ochem frenzy mode so I haven't really worried about this at all, but I'm welcoming of that sort of change. What I took as the main thought of the group is that when we experience the epidemic that is HIV/AIDS were going to come home and find things we were highly concerned about before leaving to be really trivial. I sort of want this to happen to me. My older sister and I have been having a decade or more long unspoken sort of fight between us, and I wouldn't mind coming back from the trip realizing that with everything else that's going on in the world, what I'm sort of holding as a grudge against her is really trivial and hopefully I'll be able to put it behind me and we can move forward. Of course she has to be willing to put the grudges shes holding against me behind her as well, and a part of me worries no matter how much I change she wont want to do that.

For those of you who might be interested, the songs on the CD I got from Aaron are as follows:
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Home - Michael Buble
Flaws and All - Beyonce
When They Come for Me - Linkin Park
Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie
Why Georgia - John Mayer
Rising and Shining - Sailship
If Today was Your Last Day - Nickelback
Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine
Indiana - Jon McLaughlin
All In - Lifehouse
Everyday - Dave Matthews Band
Secrets - OneRepublic
Everlong (Acoustic Version) - Foo Fighters
Travelin' Thru - Dolly Parton
In Love, Not Limbo - Of Oceans

If I cannot change when the circumstances demand it, how can I expect others to? - Nelson Mandela 

Ready To Go!

A while ago I was bit by the travel bug, and since then I've had a hard time staying in one place for very long. Just a few weekends ago I was in Kansas City, and few summers ago I was China. As you can imagine I am more than excited about spending 3 weeks in South Africa. I'm also excited about having this blog because sometimes when I travel I get so caught up in everything I'm experiencing that I forget to let people back home know what I'm up to or that I'm okay. It's actually an assignment that I post at least twice a week (I'll probably do more than that) so check in often and see what I'm up to. From the meetings we've had so far and talking with some friends of mine who have already gone, there are so many things I can wait to see and do.

I'll be traveling with 14 other students also in the leadership minor. My roommates are Kelsey and Chelsey and were staying at the Riverview Lodge in Cape Town. Here's a URL: http://riverview.co.za/accommodation/ As it gets closer to the date I get more and more excited! I'll be celebrating my 20th birthday on the plane high in the sky and also a little bit in the Amsterdam airport, which I've heard really great things about! I'm planning on documenting my trip and making a video out of it so everyone has that to look forward to. All I have left, apart from packing, that I need to make sure I do is open a delta SkyMiles account so I get points for the flight.

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine