Liesje
Blue Crack Addict
First of all, let me say that I realize how spoiled and blessed I am to even HAVE these opportunities in the first place.....
Now, as some of you may know, I spent January in Tanzania with a group of 20 from my school. We studied the church's (Lutheran and Catholic) influence on development in Tanzania. Basically, we stayed in various hostels and visited churches and NGOs throughout the northern part of the country. We also did other things like visit the Masaai, hike down Kilimanjaro, and go on a 4-day animal park safari. It was insanely awesome....and insanely expensive! I took out two student loans, additional to my regular ones, to help fnd the trip. It was such a great experience, but I was sick for the first 2.5 weeks of the trip and felt tired, hungry, and exhausted most of the time. When I did a three-day antibiotic treatment, it cleared up immediately and I enjoyed the last week even more.
Now, there's two faculty members going back to East Africa (Uganda) for the 2006 January term. From the basic course description, it sounds like they're doing a lot of the same types of things, just in a different country. I REALLY want to go back, but I REALLY don't have another $3600. One of the reasons I want to go back is that it would be nice to go without being sick most of the time. I'm glad I went to Tanzania and had a blast, but while I was there it was hard to focus and grasp the experiences when I couldn't keep anything in my stomach.
I don't know if I should try to think of a way to afford to go back, or just drop it right now because I already got to go once. I know I can't save up enough on my own this summer because I still have to finish paying off this semester's tuition, but I feel like I'll never have opportunities like these again in my life. Is it worth another $3600 in debt? (I'm already around $50,000 in student loans). I don't know what to do and if I want to apply, I have to do it my May 1.....
Now, as some of you may know, I spent January in Tanzania with a group of 20 from my school. We studied the church's (Lutheran and Catholic) influence on development in Tanzania. Basically, we stayed in various hostels and visited churches and NGOs throughout the northern part of the country. We also did other things like visit the Masaai, hike down Kilimanjaro, and go on a 4-day animal park safari. It was insanely awesome....and insanely expensive! I took out two student loans, additional to my regular ones, to help fnd the trip. It was such a great experience, but I was sick for the first 2.5 weeks of the trip and felt tired, hungry, and exhausted most of the time. When I did a three-day antibiotic treatment, it cleared up immediately and I enjoyed the last week even more.
Now, there's two faculty members going back to East Africa (Uganda) for the 2006 January term. From the basic course description, it sounds like they're doing a lot of the same types of things, just in a different country. I REALLY want to go back, but I REALLY don't have another $3600. One of the reasons I want to go back is that it would be nice to go without being sick most of the time. I'm glad I went to Tanzania and had a blast, but while I was there it was hard to focus and grasp the experiences when I couldn't keep anything in my stomach.
I don't know if I should try to think of a way to afford to go back, or just drop it right now because I already got to go once. I know I can't save up enough on my own this summer because I still have to finish paying off this semester's tuition, but I feel like I'll never have opportunities like these again in my life. Is it worth another $3600 in debt? (I'm already around $50,000 in student loans). I don't know what to do and if I want to apply, I have to do it my May 1.....