Studying, Scorpion and Serengeti

6/27/12

We’re getting close to the end! This morning we had a wrap up lecture and we split up into small groups to each make a presentation on one of the topics we’ve studied. Listening to all the presentations was a good review for the final on Friday. After the presentations, we had a short review session for the exam. We had the rest of the day to work on a paper, but I finished mine pretty early so I made a trip to the tailor and took a nap. One of our professors just got back from his trip to Kenya and he brought us marshmallows! They were a bunch a different flavors, but he also brought one regular kind. I tried apple and strawberry, which were pretty yummy but had a lot of sugar.

6/28/12

This morning we had off as time to study for our exam tomorrow, but I could only will myself to study for about an hour. It’s so hard to just sit and study in Africa! After lunch, we had a few hours for community service, which were doing at the orphanage. The orphanage had just recently moved locations, so they have fewer kids than usual because not all the facilities are ready. They don’t even have a working bathroom currently. As soon as we got out of our cars all the kids rushed up to greet us. It was super cute! We were then welcomed with a few songs and given a tour of the orphanage. They had a large area in the back that needed to be cleared of brush and rocks so they could eventually have a garden and playground in it. I started moving rocks from smaller piles around the perimeter to a large pile in the center, which was going to be used as a foundation for the shop they wanted to build. It was the hottest day of the program so far, so people got pretty tired and sweaty. I was filling up a bucket of rocks and when I picked up one rock, it really hurt my finger so I dropped the rock right away. I thought I had a thorn in my finger, but when I looked at it I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. Then I looked at the ground and saw a scorpion! I quickly told our student affairs manager that a scorpion had just stung me so she gave me some painkillers and Benadryl. Although the scorpion was only two inches long, I got a pretty good dose of venom. The pain worked its way up my arm. It was only really painful in the tip of my finger and the rest kind of felt like pins and needles similar to when your arm falls asleep. After a couple hours, it just became a dull, aching pain in my arm and a sharp pain in my finger. After we had finished at the orphanage, we went to the old orphanage site that they’ve turned into a store. It had a bunch of pretty paintings and sculptures, but I didn’t have any money with me. After dinner, a couple of girls had coordinated a jeopardy game as review, but I had taken more Benadryl so I went to bed pretty early.

6/29/12

Final exam day! I can't believe we're already taking our final! We had the morning off to study and then had the exam at 2. I think it went pretty well but I guess I'll have to wait and see. After the exam, I went to tailor to have one last thing made and then played volleyball until dinner. Tomorrow we get to prepare for camping in the Serengeti!!!