Debating Cape Town vs Namibia ...

Hi, all! Just saw Charlie's post about Cape Town. Anyone else decided on Cape Town? How about Namibia? I'm trying to decide whether to go at all, and if so, which trip (not sure I want to drive 300 miles solo). Anyone interested in tacking on a few days at the beginning or end of either trip? I talked with Brian at Mango Safaris today and he said it's doable, assuming flights are available.

And, like most, if not all of you, I heard all about the Kruger visit, which sounded like quite a thrill for the girls. Jenna sounds like she's really enjoying the semester so far, despite being one of the girls who came down with a stomach virus. I heard about a township school visit. Jenna was a bit saddened by the condition of the school (old, wooden desks, orange plastic chairs, only a blackboard on the wall, and not many books), but she very much enjoyed the visit. She said when she took her camera out, she was swarmed by kids who wanted to see their picture on the back of the camera. I'm sure all girls who had their cameras with them experienced that! Jenna said they are having a drought (unlike central Africa where it's flooding), and it's sunny every day. I can tell she already misses the rain. :-) They've slept out under the stars several times, and have seen the Southern Cross. The truck has a cheat sheet on southern hemisphere stars so they can figure out what they're seeing. On Saturday, they had two local girls teach their Afrikaans class.

Despite talking to Jenna for 15+ minutes, I still feel like I'm missing so much of what they are doing. If you've heard additional stories, please share! :-)

Cape Town anyone?

We just had a wonderful talk with our daughter Hannah yesterday morning at 3:00am. She explained that the phones are often tied up during the mornings and evenings with other travelers calling the states. While I remember some of the call she sounded thrilled about the trip, and the other girls. They have become quite a team apparently. They did get to witness a lion taking down a gazelle while in Kruger NP as well as viewing all the big 5 african beasts.

Hannah went to South America last semester with TTS and is a senior this year. She lives to travel and has a huge interest in cultures and international poliltics. She loves skiing soccer scuba diving and having a drivers license. She to is heavy in planning college visits and international relations degrees/courses etc. She very much enjoyed Carlton College in Minnisota, as well as Georgetown in DC.

Just curious who might be planning on the Cape Town trip next month.
I will be traveling with Pellagia Mulliba a Zimbabwean women that works with an organization called Partners Worldwide. Partners is a business to business mentoring NGO that connects US business people with developing country business' in hopes of making connections and sharing good business practices. She is a very close friend of our family and especially our daughter Hannah. If fact Pellagia has a lot to do with Hannahs initial interest in traveling abroad.

So we will be visiting the girls for the 4 days in cape town and hope to connect ahead of time with anyone else planning to go. Unfortunately we will not be enjoying the adventures in the game parks. We will be heading to Kenya to connect with Pellagias work.

Love to read about other reports.
Thanks
Charlie Royce

A little about Heather

Heather is one of four children and the only girl. She has two older brothers who are 19 and 21, and younger brother who is 13. They all love soccer and music. Her other interests are snowboarding, skiing, hiking, camping and a little horseback riding. We moved to Bozeman 3 years ago from Green Bay, WI. Yes, Heather is a cheese-head. The move was a bit of a challenge for Heather but she emerged more self confident and independent. Heather loves a challenge, has a smile that lights up a room and is all about "fun". Before we left Green Bay we kept telling Heather she has "best friends" she just hasn't met yet. Our hope is that she will meet more "best friends" throughout her adventures in South Africa.

while we wait to hear ... introductions

Hi, all! I'm Jenna's mom. Like you, I'm anxiously awaiting that next phone call or email, while dreaming of the girls' wonderful adventures!

It was nice to be able to put names to the faces (thanks, Whitney!), and it would be great to get to know a bit about all of the girls, especially when stories start to roll in. So, to kick things off ...

Jenna is in 10th grade this year, and turned 15 in June. We live in Bellevue, WA, just outside Seattle, with three pugs. Jenna's dad, stepmom, 5 year old sister and 1.5 year old brother live in Wenatchee, WA. Jenna loves soccer (has played since first grade, although sat out most of last season with a hip injury), tennis (played for the first time last year on her school's JV team and had a blast), reading, photography, piano, and, of course, travel (NYC and Amsterdam are her favorite cities; she would be happy to move to either at a moment's notice, :-). She is a dedicated student, and is already looking into various colleges (any tips on that process welcomed!). One on one, she can talk your ear off, but tends to be reserved and quiet in larger groups (she's hoping to change that this semester). She's caring, thoughtful and pretty even-keeled. She has a quirky sense of humor (loves The Office, Scrubs and SNL) and has turned into quite the Seahawks fan. And, she is THRILLED to be able to partipcate in this experience!

So, tell us about your daughter ...

just for fun

Hi all,
I'm Emily's mom... miss her like crazy, but am thrilled that she is having such an amazing adventure!

seems there have been few blogs of late... I just wanted to direct you all to a really fun youtube video, as the girls head to Kruger. Go to youtube and search "kruger" or "lions, wildabeasts and crocodile"... the video made the rounds this summer (so many of you may have seen it) and is totally amazing. It's especially fun as our girls will soon be in the same place.

Emily sent us a very brief email 3 days ago. She was only allowed to as she is doing applications to college and needed us to get some info. for an early decision school. However she ended by telling us that while she misses us she is "having adventures (we) can't begin to dream of"... it sent chills up my spine. I'll add: I was sitting at the computer when her email popped up. It was so thrilling to know that while I sit here in Bellingham, WA, she was at a computer around the world... I wanted to climb thru' the screen and give her a hug.

Dawn Q. Landau

Posting in...

Hi, all,

I'm Rachael's mom, and am making a concerted effort to improve my communications with other families for this trip. Our family has had 3 previous trips with The Traveling School. Rachael went to South America Spring '07 and her sister, Erin, went to Southern Africa Fall '06 and New Zealand Fall of '05. I'm *notoriously* bad about communicating by e-mail or bloggers. Feel free to nudge me if you'd like any info regarding our previous experiences and I will try to oblige and overcome my natural dislike of keyboards. Truly, I'm not quite as curmudgeonly in person...I don't think!?

I heard from Rachael this morning and she is in good spirits anticipating the days ahead. Her sister, Erin, is very jealous and dying to relive with her the people and location that she came to know and love on her trip. I have a feeling Rachael will be using her phone opportunities to call Erin at college, rather than us :-(. Rachael said that the scenery is somewhat like eastern Montana, though with a few more mountains.

Have a good day dreaming of the girls' first days in their adventure.

Laura Johnson

Jealous

Hard to imagine how cool it must be to be looking forward to all this. Why isn't there a parent semester abroad program?

After using this blog some last semester I would like to suggest to any and all participating that we try to effect some type of schedule. I am planning to review and post to this on Wednesday evenings. That way we can perhaps create some more timely dialog among us grownups. Post anything you hear or learn from your daughter or about what they are up to. In a few weeks we will all be clamoring for any news of their adventure.

Just an idea for you all to try on.

Already missing Hannah Christine

Charlie

They are in Africa!

Their plane left Tuesday, Sept 4th from DC at 1:00PM. The group traveled for the 17+ hours and landed in Johannesburg this morning. On arrival, two of our good friends, Joanna and Gideon, picked up the girls and the group traveled by bus for about 2 hours to Waterval Boven. The school will stay in a rock climbing hostel called Roc N Rope http://www.rocrope.com/ for the next two weeks in dormitory style accommodation. In Waterval Boven, they will go through orientation, begin classes, rock climb, rappel, zip-line, go mountain-bike riding, and complete a community service project with a local high school.

Next they will board a safari truck and travel north to Kruger National Park http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/ . While in Kruger, they will camp for several days and expect to see giraffes, lions, cheetahs, rhinos, and many more animals.

We'll keep you posted as we hear their news from overseas!

All the best,
The Traveling School

From Washington DC

Hello from Washington, DC!
I'm writing to you from our airport hotel -- we are a few hours away from boarding our plane to Johannesburg, South Africa. The girls are all excited (and a bit nervous): we've gotten their bags all packed (we even fit in all the books!), we've talked about how we're going to travel as a group, and all we have left to do is get on that plane.
I can't tell you how excited we are to spend a semester with the
girls: they are all lovely, bright, and impressive young women, and it will be a joy to get to know them.
Whitney Lonsdale is going to be running things from the United States; her email address is whitneyrenn@hotmail.com; her phone number is
(828) 606-8409. I will be in regular contact with her from Africa, so please talk to her if you have any questions. She will be writing to you soon, as well. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have; just realize that my access to internet will be sporadic, especially through certain sections of our adventure. I will respond to you as quickly as I can.
I am attaching a few pictures of our group from our orientation, so you can begin to see what things look like around here.
You'll hear more from me soon!
Take care,
Claire Hirschmann
claire.hirschmann@gmail.com
Academic Program Director
The Traveling School