Redhead Steps Around the World

Our first day in London was a total success! I'll try to keep this brief because I am pretty much dead tired... Hey I only traveled halfway around the world today. Yesterday and today have blended into one giant long super-day with 3 to 4 hours of plane sleep in between. It's 10:23 pm right now in London yet only 4:30 pm in the states and my body feels like its 2:00 am. Bleh. The flight over was actually pretty awesome! I watched the first half of Les Miserables, the first 20 minutes of Finding Nemo, then blasted some Beethoven while reading up on some  African Friends and Money Matters  for Kenya. I finally got some shut eye when the flight crew turned off all the cabin lights including personal overhead lamps. Well if you twist my arm... ;) Also, I enjoyed some of the best food I've ever eaten  at 30,000 ft in the air. I ordered a "Special meal" and ended up getting a "Hindu dinner" which consisted of some of my favorite Indian dishes: chicken ti...

Woke up this morning and didn't want to get out of bed. I was so warm and so sleepy and it's summer so what do I have to do anyway. Oh that’s right.  I'm going to Kenya. I ate a last "American" breakfast of fruit and blueberry muffins with a good friend, who has been lovingly hosting me in her home between the end of school and my departure. We discussed hopes and plans for our respective summers, although they look quite a bit different. I was glad to have the extra time with her and the chance to see off several of my closest friends as they headed off to their summer plans. It's much easier to say goodbye to one or two people at a time rather than the whole group at once. :) The four of us student team members met at the Wheels lab at 10:00 this morning to begin sorting and stuffing our gear. We shuffled around data collection binders and heart-rate monitors and clothes until each bag reached its 51 pound limit or got dangerously close to bust...

So its the night before I leave on a grand month-long adventure to Kenya.  In less than 24 hours I will be in London. Craziness. I keep trying to go through everything in my head: Do I have it all packed? Do I have the too much stuff packed? Did I forget to do something before I leave the country? My malaria meds are in that one bag... The sunscreen is in there too... My passport still hasn't disappeared from my backpack no mater how many times I frantically check for it... Okay, I think I'm good.  I'm definitely not worried about the trip itself, actually being in Kenya and all. In fact, I'm pretty dang excited. I think I'm mostly worried about packing the right things, if you couldn't tell already. My clothes and stuff is split between one check bag and one carry-on duffle bag with some wiggle room in each for Wheels equipment. I hope my duffle bag meets the carry-on measurements. I should probably look for that online...  The team is meeting tomor...

Hey family and friends!  So as some of you might know, I'm heading to Kenya, Africa this summer for three weeks of undergraduate research! I'm leaving this Wednesday and will be returning June 3rd. If you'd like to keep up with pictures and  updates about our team research and experience, you can follow the LeTourneau University Wheels Project facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/LeTourneau-University-Wheels-Project/189752314390350 Peace,  Emy T