Day 1: Preparing for 18 hours of flight time

Well, today is the day. In an hour, I depart for the Detroit airport to board the first of three flights that will carry me 10,000 miles from home to South Africa, a place so beyond my comprehension that I can barely believe I am going. I have read, talked to people, caught up with local news, packed and repacked what I think I will need, and yet this day is so surreal. I am getting on a plane and going to Africa today.
Back in January, when I attended the first interest meeting for the South Africa collaborative professional experience, me going on this trip seemed like a total impossibility. The cost, the weight of professional responsibility, the accountability to and representation of my respected faculty members, the distance, all of these things blurred together as I considered the opportunity. I decided to apply, and vowed to take out the student loans needed to do it- and here I am.
As an undergrad, I had no idea what study abroad even was, nor that it was something accessible to me. The semester before junior year came quickly, and I watched as one after another friend chose exotic destinations- Australia, Italy, Spain, Chile, Belize, England- and headed off for six months' worth of adventure. I remained dutifully in Richmond, shackled to my absurd number of extracurriculars, reading emails and looking at pictures of my friends' experiences around the world.
Choosing Michigan State had a lot to do with what I saw its faculty and students doing with their summers- even though our program is only two years long, many students chose to study in other countries and states, in all types of different settings, and that yearning I felt as an undergrad to travel the world rose up again. I remember watching a slide show of photographs from last year's trip to South Africa. Classmates and faculty walking through the Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela was held for 30 years; holding lion cubs; standing at the base of Table Mountain; gazing off the Cape of Good Hope into the distance. I knew I had to go.
I like to think that my world traveler friends will be proud of me for this- I'm stepping out of my comfort zone (about as far out as I can imagine) and doing something I never imagined I would do as a grad student or otherwise. I am going to another continent, working in another educational context, seeing the world in a new way. I am nervous, anxious, excited, and overwhelmed. I am going to Africa today, and I feel so lucky. I hope you'll read more about it when I get there!