Home Safe and Sound

Despite the fears of many family and friends, I made it home in one piece without any scars from large animal bites, any strange diseases, or extraordinary mental conditions. After traveling on 4 airplanes, taxis, subways, buses, and cars and spending several days re-entering American culture in New York City (where I visited one of my roommates who is living there for the summer), I am back in Minnesota enjoying warm lakes, bicycle rides, sweet corn, and sunshine with my family and friends. Everything that seems so familiar really has changed in the last 6 months- people have graduated, married, had children, gotten new jobs, or grown 3 inches taller; buildings have been erected, trees have been cut down, roads have been repaved and most of the flowers have already blossomed and died until next year. Neighbors have moved and new neighbors have come and all the birds are getting ready to migrate again. I never assumed that all things would stay the same while I traveled around the world for half of a year, but it is really interesting to return home to discover what actually changes in a period of 6 months to surprise you in a place that is mostly familiar.

I want to say thank you to all of you who have so faithfully read this blog. I hope that it was at times entertaining, at others educational, and that it was never frightening to those who wanted me to return home safely. I feel so lucky to have been able to see such a different part of the world and be welcomed by so many people into cultures that were very different from my own- and I hope that sharing these stories simultaneously satisfied and stimulated all of your wanderlust. I tried to share the best, most ridiculous, most humorous, most tragic, most overwhelming feelings that I had on this trip with you all on the blog, but I have many, many more that I would love to share with anyone who would like to hear more about this trip. On AUGUST 2 from about 6 until whenever I am planning on making a slide show of my favorite pictures and telling stories. Feel free to come join my family and friends to celebrate my brother’s graduation and my return (and birthday on the 3rd!) for a little potluck. Just send me an email anna.santo@oberlin.edu, give my house a call 651-714-8384, or put a comment here and I can send you directions.

For those of you who are in Minnesota this summer, I would absolutely love to see you and catch up on your lives. I will be here until late August, though during the week I will be living and working at a biological research station in Central Minnesota (near Bethel, MN). I plan to be in the twin cities on the weekends and would love to get together.

If this is your first time visiting this site, welcome and I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures. And if this is your last time visiting the site, thanks again and I cannot wait to start a new blog with new adventures!

Last, but definitely not least, I must publicly proclaim my most sincere gratitude towards all of the staff and students of SIT Study Abroad, the Wildlife Conservation Society, all of the wonderful people I met in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Malawi and Kenya, and to my best and at times only companion in East Africa, Mr. Christopher Rice. This experience was unbelievable and would not have been the same without you.