Winding up of Europe 2010

In 15 days Joss and I will depart on the next adventure. Our time in Sweden has been at times too short and at other times too long, but any way you measure it has been a rewarding experience. We've made some great friends, had some fantastic adventures survived being apart and thrived while being together. It hasn't been our most crazy adventure but it has been a memorable one.

For the next two weeks Joss and I will push forward and wrap up as much as we can order to make the transition to Rwanda. I am working hard to compile as much information as I can for my thesis that is due a year from now. Joss's mum is here visiting just before we hop on the plane. Like usual there is a lot to do and a only days to fit it all in.

We land in Uganda on July 1st and will spend a few weeks traveling. We've booked a room at the Red Chili backpackers and will use it as our base. We're looking forward to many amazing things such as safaris, white water rafting down the Nile and repelling (I might have to push Joss of the cliff, but it will happen). I can't wait. We have our travel book and bird book. East Africa is known for having amazing birds, so we are looking to pick up a pair of binoculars before we head out.

Emily will meet us in Uganda on July 9th and we'll we will make our way to the south west and head towards Rwanda. Once we make it over the boarder we will only be a few hours from Kigali where we will call home for the next 6 months. Right now we are looking for a place to live and we are finding the cost to be more than we had expected. The good news is that we have made contact with a few people living in Kigali and they have been a great help. One of the people we have been emailing is actually a former LUMIDer and she responded to an email I had posted in a group forum. She had no idea that I was in the LUMID program but a few emails back and forth soon revealed a common connection to Lund University.

Last week Joss and I took a quick trip to Prague on our favorite WizzAir. We ended up couch surfing with a family we found online. They were the most generous and fantastic family we could have found. They lived atop of one of Prague's hills, so we got plenty of exercise walking to and from the city each day. Prague is an amazingly beautiful city and every turn reveals an amazing piece of history. We had 3 full days to enjoy the city's parks, pubs, museums, restaurants, street vendors, cafes and sunshine (something that has been disappointingly missing this year in Sweden). We could have easily spent a week in the city and would have loved to have the time to visit some of the towns dotted in the surrounding mountains. We hope there will be a next time!

Joss's Mum arrived in Denmark from the Faroe islands last night. Joss will spend a few days in Copenhagen with her and then she will come as stay with us for a week and a half in Lund. We have a few trips in the region planed and hope the sun will show itself for our last days in Sweden.

A year from now I will graduate from the LUMID program. You are all more than welcome to join me here in Lund to celebrate the accomplishment. So have a look at your calendars and mark a trip to Southern Sweden for early June 2011!

April in Sweden

Hej San everyone,
Today was the first day of my last course of my first year of Grad school. Very exciting. In less than 2 months time I will be half way through this journey. It's crazy how fast the time in one's life goes by. I'm so lucky to be living a life that is equally exciting and fulfilling.

The snow has finally melted and early spring flowers are popping all around Lund. The city has put out the flower boxes and filled them with Easter daffodils.

Joss and I stocked up on food and wine for the long Easter weekend. I've had the last week off for Easter break and it has been nice to have rest before the last push of the school year. In 2 months time I will have completed my first year of Grad school, with one more to go. I am 95% sure that I will be taking the Internship offer in Kigali, Rwanda. I've also been offered an Internship in Uganda, but I am more interested working in Rwanda. If possible I will work something out where I can work at both locations, but that is up in the air at this point. Other LUMID (my program) students have worked in Rwanda and I've exchanged a few emails with them. They have enjoyed their time there and one stayed on to work with a UN organization.

The plane tickets to Rwanda are very expensive, so most likely Joss and I will fly to Uganda and either take a bus or fly from there. It will save us about half of the cost doing it this way. Given our finical situation we need to take advantage of savings where we can. Also, this way we will be able to spend a week or so in Uganda. Times are exciting for us. We are working out our visa and getting our shots. Seems it will is wise to get our Yellow Fever shots before we head out. Actually they won't let us in without them.

In the mean time we are enjoying Northern Europe as best we can. Last weekend we hopped on a ferry to Rostock, Germany in the former East Germany. It's a lovely little city on the Baltic Sea. We were fortunate enough to stumble the Easter market where we were able to enjoy bratwursts, sauteed mushrooms with garlic sauce, fried potatoes with apple sauce (yes a bit strange indeed), curry sausage, and a variety of beer. Needless to say it was an enjoyable day. On Sunday we headed to Warnemunde, which is a seaside resort town that was a favorite vacation get away back in the day for leaders such as Castro. Today it is a cute little port town where you can walk around eat, drink and shop. A really nice little get away. It was a bit cold where we were there, but I'm sure in the Summer time it is lovely.

Anyway, I should be getting to my studies so that I can work out what this development thing is all about.

Enjoy the photos and drop me a line when you can.

Also, when you get the chance follow this link....
http://llamatown.wordpress.com/ Joss's blog, he updates it every so often. It is his account of our life. Take some time to read it over, and stop by from time to time.