Something about myself...

Something about myself that no body knows. Well, some people do know this but I'll write it anyways because it is one of the more interesting events in my life thus far. Two summers ago I went on a six week conservation program to South Africa and Mozambique. In South Africa, we lived on a game reserve for four weeks and in Mozambique we camped out on the beach for two weeks. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had. I remember the first morning on the reserve, we woke up to a herd of wildebeests outside the window. Everyday, a family of warthogs would crawl under the electric fence surround the campsite to drink water. I have seen enough of wild zebras, giraffes, and impalas to last a life time and developed a new fondness of elephants. Here is a somewhat gross tidbit I enjoy telling people. After the first week on the reserve, we ran out of running water (still had bottled water for drinking) because we were using too much between delivery times. After that incident, we all had to decide what was more important, showering or flushing the toilets. We decided flushing the toilet was more important so all of us only showered once a week. What would you have picked? At least it was winter at the time, so the weather was not hot. 

After South Africa, it was off to Mozambique for scuba diving. We literally camped out on the beach for 2 weeks (some people stayed 4 weeks) and fyi: sand is not soft when trying to sleep on it. Unfortunately when we were there, the weather was not very good. The waves on the Indian Ocean were very choppy and there were many cases of seasickness when traveling to our dive site and getting all of our gear on. I must admit, diving down the first time I had a panic attack. The sensation is frightening because it goes against all of your natural instincts, plus the first time I went down I was still motion sick from being on the surface. Motion sickness + staying underwater for a half hour = not fun. With each dive after that, it became easier and easier and I could finally enjoy the wonders of the coral reefs. As you swim over the reefs, it feels like you are flying , because you can freely move in all directions. Looking down, you can see all sorts of fish darting around, parrot fish, angel fish, surgeon fish, lion fish, etc... A potato bass even swam right into the middle of our group and if you don't know what a potato bass is, look it up, cause they're huge. During my last few dives, I didn't want to come back to the surface and wished I could have stayed underwater for like, 5 hours instead of 45 minutes. So by the end of the 2 weeks, I fulfilled all the requirements to get my license as an open water diver, although I haven't had the opportunity to use it since then. I guess that's expected when you decide to hang out in Illinois for a while.