My last blood drive....

When I was 16 it was on my bucket list to donate blood but I couldn't do it until my senior year in high school because of the under 18 height/weight requirements. I'm sure anyone who was there remembers how awful that blood drive was...

Fast forward almost two years and today I donated blood for the fifth time. It went off without a hitch because now I know exactly what I need to be a successful blood donor. Unfortunately, I won't be able to donate blood again until after I graduate from Sweet Briar. According to the Red Cross guidelines you have to wait 12 months after traveling outside the US/Canada. When my year for Burkina Faso is up, I'll already be in Spain. I'm kind of sad, because saving lives is awesome, and check out this cool shirt!

If you can donate blood, please do it! You might not like blood and needles (I sure don't) but people don't like dying either so....

I promise it is not that bad, as long as you know what's going on. If you have any questions, please ask me!

Also, 24 days until I leave, and I'm SO EXCITED!!

It's the final countdown....

It feels like just yesterday I was posting at the "6 months" mark and now we have ONE MONTH to go! I was a little nervous, but since spending most of the morning getting all my documents together I have gotten more and more excited. I'm starting to work on a packing list as we speak. It is interesting trying to balance school and planning this trip, but I guess that comes with the territory.

This is my to do list:
1. Get my anti-malarial (my mom is getting a prescription from my doctor at home today)
2. Buy a French phrase book (if only Spain colonized Africa...)
3. Make a million copies of everything
4. Contact my bank and tell them not to freeze my card
5. Enroll in the STEP program with the embassy
6. Do my preparation readings
7. Finish up research readings
8. Make a packing list and buy the things I don't already have

I'm nearly positive that isn't everything, but we shall see.

Any packing tips? I think I'm going to bring my backpack and my (smallish) suitcase, as it's only 2ish weeks.

Sheltering Wings Orphanage

While I hurry up and wait...

So my feelings about this trip change hourly, but right now I'm feeling good. The following article explains the plan for the transitional government, which should be set up in the next few days (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30046413). This is very good news and their plan of action sounds good to me. Maybe if they can get a stable government going, the rest of the country will prosper? I hope so.

If anything, at least now more people know that Burkina Faso actually exists right? Well, maybe not because most news outlets in the US aren't covering that, which is really frustrating. I feel like we have a very skewed view of the world in the US. Maybe I shouldn't generalize, but I can promise that 90% of what I know about the rest of the countries in the world is from 1) Playing Sporcle and 2) my own research (I'm kind of a documentary and research nerd but what else is new). I think we'd all be better off if we realized that the world is bigger than our country, or our town, or our school, or ourselves. There are 7 billion other people on this planet, do you care about their lives? Do you have any interest in the way they live? Their cultures and language? I could go on, but that's a paper for another day. This is why I think every. single. person. who is able should travel or study abroad.

How many do you know??

 Ok, rant done.

Anyways, with all this cold weather, I'm looking forward to the warm already :)

Got anymore travel tips for me? Also, if anyone needs gift ideas (cough cough mom) I need some long skirts, sunscreen, and stuff to do while traveling (24 hours each way!!)

Take care <3

Holly

PSA: I'm waiting this out

So I'm sure you've heard about what's going on in Burkina Faso at them moment. If you haven't, please enlighten yourself, BBC News is a fantastic source. The cliff notes version is that the president of Burkina Faso wanted to seek another term (he's been ruling for 27 years) and protests forced him out. The government was dissolved and the military took over. The African union says that they have 2 weeks to get their act together.

At the moment the US has placed a travel alert on the country (http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/burkina-faso-travel-alert.html), this basically means you should wait and see what happens before you travel. I am hoping that everything will be cleared up by January because I want nothing more than to go. My heart is broken because the trip is in jeopardy, though I hope that a new government will help get Burkina on its feet again.

I am optimistic about the trip but I realize it the current situation travel is impossible. Please pray that this is resolved quickly and peacefully and that I can go come January. I don't think very many people understand the time and energy and love I have put into this project, and it really is like loosing something or someone important. (Thanks for understanding Tiffany!!) I'm literally exhausted from trying to figure this out and trying to stay positive after waking up each day to bad news, though today things are looking up. And hey when there's a will there's a way, right?

I'll leave you with some good news of Burkina (it's a fantastic read):
http://melissa-brooks.blogspot.com/2014/11/burkinathe-story-of-today.html

Ladies and gentleman may I have your attention please!

Hey everyone!

I have fantastic news: I have received an approved visa, bought my plane tickets, and bought my travel insurance. Is it time to go yet?

I am literally SO BEYOND EXCITED for this trip, not that I want to rush the next 2.5 months because Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Also my birthday.

Anyways, that's all I have to say about that. I'm just excited.

Now, any tips on occupying myself on the plane? It's going to be about 24 hours of travel time each way...


~Holly

Making Progress....

Last week I went and got my three shots done, Hepatitis A, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever. They weren't bad, and the man who did them was very nice. I didn't have any immediate reactions (except the ones I made up in my head as I was driving home), but I have had a few over the past 5 days, which rest assured are only mild and relatively common. They all are from the Yellow Fever vaccine, and I'm guessing it's because 19 is the cut-off to get the adult dosage. The place where I got the shot is red, I've had an on and off head-ache, I've been tired, and what feels like a low fever. These symptoms appear in 1 out of four people and can last up to a week. I'd much rather have these symptoms than whatever is going around my school and as long as I'm good for my half marathon on Sunday I don't really mind.

I finally got around to organizing my travel binder, with all my information, copies of documents, receipts, budget, checklists, etc. I may be needing a bigger one!

I also just mailed out my visa application, which is a relief because I feel like that is the one dead line that was looming over me with every passing day. After triple checking everything it is on its way to DC. Now we wait.

I pretty much have my flight ready to go, I'll be flying KLM Royal Dutch and Air France. On the way I'll have layovers in Amsterdam and Paris. The reason I haven't bought the tickets yet is that I'm working with Tiffany in International Studies to see if we can work out a brief home-stay in Paris (a couple days) on my way back. My layover on the way back home would be ridiculously long and we have a program there so why not stop while I'm there? I'm under-budget at is it. If I do that, I'll alos have two direct flights on the way back-Ouagadougou to Paris and Paris to Boston. Breaking up the 23 hours of travel will be nice.

Next up? Work out the Paris details and get my plane ticket and then my travel insurance. As we get closer I'll also need my anti-malarial.

Now that I have a lot of the paperwork done I can relax a bit and enjoy the planning process :)

The Checks Are Coming! The Checks Are Coming!

Good news folks, we get our grant money TOMORROW! Well, I don't because I have to send it home and wait for my parents to deposit it because *surprise surprise* Greylock doesn't have a branch down here. I'm SO excited to get to work on solidifying the (travel) details of this project.  I thought for this blog post I'd give you all a look at my time line for organizing the travel portion of my project.

1. Call Fellowship Travel: Tiffany Cummings (the director of Int'l Studies here) had them come to a dinner we had and talk about their business. They offer discounted flights for students, specifically those traveling for humanitarian reasons. They also act as a full travel agency so if I get stuck in Timbuktu (more like Istanbul, but anyways) I'll have them to get me home.

2. Vaccines! I'll need to make an appointment at Walgreen's to get my vaccinations for the trip. I need; Yellow fever, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, meningococcal, polio, and typhoid (I believe I already have Hep B and the meningitis ones, but I'll have to check). I also need to ask about anti-malaria medication.

3. Plane Ticket: After I talk to Fellowship travel I'll be able to book my plane ticket :)

4. Travel Insurance: I'll need to purchase travel insurance for my trip, Sheltering Wings recommends Travel Guard so that's probably who I'll use.

5. Visa: I can apply for my visa once I have my proof of Yellow Fever Vaccine and my travel dates set.

I'm beyond excited for this trip AND I just found out that 1) my school may be running a trip this summer to Tanzania and 2) my dance professors are going to Denmark in July for a conference and we're invited to go with them.

Also, for those who are concerned with the Ebola outbreak, there is still no warnings or advisories in Burkina or Turkey (which is where I'm flying into): http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/ebola-west-africa.html


That's all for now!!

Holly <3