Packing like crazy!

I was so afraid I would have too much stuff, but as I'm slowly getting things into Ziploc bags and laying out clothes, it seems frightening how little is actually traveling overseas with me.  Packing has made me a bit nostalgic for my early days at Luther.  Compared to what I brought with me on move-in day August 2005, one suitcase and a hiking backpack seems a bit scant.  But reliving memories of making the transition to college in Iowa has given me a new perspective on the upcoming semester in TZ.  I oftentimes catch myself forgetting that one of the primary intents of the trip is to experience going to college - which I am a veteran of by now - but in a different country (hence the name "study abroad").  I think this means although I will be in a new environment and faced with unexpected surprises and challenges from unfamiliar cultures, I imagine there is something to be said for the possibility of a common "college culture" shared between institutions of higher learning no matter where you are.  

For example, at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) I will live on-campus in a residence hall, I will eat in a cafeteria, I will have to buy books (ugh), I will get to study in the library, I will have to keep track of keys or receive fines for losing them, and I will need to re-establish a social circle and meet friends with whom I can share this experience - all of which I started doing three years ago when I moved in at Luther.  Aside from the fact that I'm moving into school a little over a month earlier than I would otherwise do at Luther, thinking of the trip in this sense has made the upcoming transition seem more normal.  But as my good friend Zach, who also studied abroad in TZ for a semester, always says about the study abroad experience, "The minute you think you know, you realize that you really have no idea!"