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Trip Start Jan 06, 2009 Previous
Entry Trip End Ongoing

  Raleigh, North Carolina
Monday, March 30, 2009

It's been almost two years since the first time I went abroad. Back then I was tired of the trivial hypotheticals and rote memorization of the academic world. It was superficial and fake. It was a game to be mastered. Memorize the formulas and practice tests, go to office hours, talk in class and with this the GPA improves. At the end of each semester my knowledge was negligibly increased - maybe some things had stuck but much was quickly discarded for the next round of facts and figures. The papers I wrote did little besides take up space on my hard drive. I had played this game for too long - almost my entire life - and it seemed self-perpetuating, a glorified treadmill.



Today, however, I miss it. These last few months in Africa have been too real and too intense. The soft landings were gone - replaced by a cruel and unforgiving reality. I fired four people. I told a twelve year old boy about his positive HIV test. I refused requests for lunch money because I had no money to give. I had typhoid. I kicked kids out onto the street. I saw too much. I'm worn out and beaten down. Its fitting that climbing Kilimanjaro was the chosen vacation for ending the trip. After the climb I spent a day in a hotel room convulsing from fever. A thirty six hour stretch of 30+ miles of walking, a summit push, and one hour of sleep had left me exhausted and wrecked. While proud of the accomplishment I was overwhelmed by a single certainty: Never Again.



If given the choice of redoing this semester I wouldn't change it. It was a fascinating experience in a bizarre place. Just like climbing Kilimanjaro I am glad that I did it. However, I again leave with an absolute certainty: Never Again.

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