Going to Africa...by myself?!

So basically, I somehow ended up flying all the way to Africa through 4 international airports by myself.  Thanks, snow.  I couldn't get to Newark to fly with the rest of the group, so finally on Thursday, two days after I was supposed to leave the country, I flew from Boston.  During my fourteen hour layover at Heathrow, I took a nap at this place called the Yotel, which is a hotel within the airport.  However I was so paranoid about what was to come that I could barely sleep, despite being so tired.  My anxiety was justified when this African man in handcuffs at the back of the plane to Nairobi had a sudden outburst.  We were all watching the security video on how to buckle your seatbelt, as if there's someone out there that really doesn't know, and I nearly had a heart attack when he started screaming at the top of his lungs.  He kept repeating how he was going to die if they sent him back to Africa and how he had no family there and that he was not a killer.  He was pleading with all of the passengers to do something and praying to God.  It was pretty disturbing.  Since we were about to takeoff, we had to return to the gate and he was escorted off the plane.  That only made us like 45 minutes late...  So then I was off to Dar Es Salaam where I had to recheck my bags and obtain a Tanzanian visa.  They charged me a hundred bucks because my bags were so overweight.  Luckily it all worked out.  I was so scared that I was going to forget to do something important since I was traveling by myself on zero sleep.  I had another layover for 4 or 5 hours and then flew to Kilimanjaro where I met a staff member who was picking me up.  We stayed the night at a hotel in Arusha which was actually really nice.  The room was spacious, unlike in Europe, and the food was really good!  I'm a huge fan of the tea (chai in Swahili) that they have here.  On our way to the camp site the next morning I truly experienced Africa.  I saw really young boys hearding dozens of cattle on our way through Maasai territory.  They were so friendly and waved as we passed by...and then, GIRAFFES.  There was a legit, real-life giraffe ten feet from the Land Cruiser.  Of course I took a million pictures, and of the zebras, baboons, ostriches and camels we saw on the way too.  In the middle of writing this a mouse just came into the room, great.  When I arrived at the site everyone immediately ran over to greet me.  I was so glad that everyone was so welcoming and they're all really cool people.  I have two roommates, Jess and Margret and they're both really nice.  My banda (room) is nicer than my dorm at Holy Cross in some ways - we have our own bathroom.  Today we just finished orientation and then headed to the town of Karatu and went to the local pub.  The beer here is really good, I had a Tusker.  Tomorrow we start classes...lala salama! (Good night!)