I Can See For Miles Miles Miles

Speechless.
Truthfully. When we had to set up our tent around midnight, before dinner, on our first night, I was speechless.
As well as when I woke up to the sunrise over Mt. Kilimanjaro and ate dinner to the sunset over Mt. Meru. My experience in Africa so far has been more than I had ever expected. I've seen zebra, elephants, impala, been less than ten feet away from giraffes, and watched a baby wildebeest find its way back to its mother. I've watched the sunset from a tree house, hiked a mountain to learn about the Savannah, and purchased jewelery from Massai tribe women.
The campsite we stayed at during orientation week, Ndarakwai Ranch, is just beautiful, and as you can assume from the title, from my tent, in the middle of the field, I could see all the way to Kenya. seriously. The black hills of Kenya were just off to the distance in between Kili and Meru.
But we came back to Arusha after our week in the bush, and other than being a little overwhelmed I'm adjusting to the city well. At first I was concerned about food, theft, getting lost. But I'm happy to report that my second day in the city is going much smoother. I've acquired a cell phone (yay) and gotten somewhat used to the harassment from the Tanzanians who would like you to buy their products. Its very similar to cities in America in that respect. 
This morning we had our first Swahili lesson. The language isn't too difficult, but when you are trying to talk to the locals, and you screw up, I've found they just laugh and walk away. I guess right now, to you I would say Habari za mwema, because most of you are sleeping. (pretty sure its about 6:00 AM - which is the time we wake up every morning here...) Anyway, this means -- how is your night? Tanzanians don't usually use this phrase because you would only ask someone who is in the middle of the evening this question, and they would most likely be asleep...
Anyway, I've already made some really great friends on this trip. I'm sitting next to my friend Jenny in an Internet cafe right now. She is a singer too and she hails from Chicago. We're going to a karaoke bar tonight! So, there are twenty-eight students on our trip, and I've pretty much gotten to know each of them. We had some free time during orientation, and we would play games, cards, or just sit around and chat, which I think was a very effective way to get to know my new classmates. 
Okay well, Ill be on safari in either the Serengeti or Norongoro crater next week, so It'll be about a week until my next post. Hopefully Ill be able to do that on my own computer so I can post some photographs!!
I hope everything is going well wherever you are,
I miss you all!!
kwa heri!
Emma