First Stop: New York City

So here goes nothing! This is my first blog, and so I will apologize now for my lack of writing/journaling skills. Biology major…  Also, I feel like I’m already awkward enough in person, so you can only imagine how awkward my writing personality is. So enjoy!

I’m currently on the first leg of my journey. I am spending the next two days in New York City with my parents before boarding my flight to Johannesburg Monday morning! We have quite the weekend planned! So far we plan to enjoy a matinee production of War Horse, ride bikes through central park, and of course, do some last minute shopping for South Africa. This is also going to be a great time for me to practice using my new Canon Rebel. I am so excited to share my experience with y’all through (hopefully good) pictures!

For those of you who don’t know exactly what I’m doing, let me fill you in. I am flying into Johannesburg and will arrive Tuesday morning. For the first two weeks I will be volunteering for a wildlife veterinarian, kind of in the middle of nowhere, about 3 hours northeast of Johannesburg. I’m going to be able to get some crazy hands on experience with animals ranging from buffalo to (if I’m lucky) ELEPHANTS. There won’t be much of a schedule since our work is based totally on when calls come in, which is really exciting to me! As of now I know for sure there will be four girls total volunteering. One from Canada, another from Australia, and finally, my new friend Kaitlyn who studies at Cornell! I say new because we have just met after finding out we’d be working at this project together, and we will have plenty of time to get to know each other on our 15 hour flight! Also, lucky for me, I will have unlimited internet access these two weeks! So lots of blogging and lots of pictures… get excited! However, I will then be transferred to my second volunteer project where there is no internet, sadly. The second two weeks I will be volunteering at Khulula Care for the Wild, where I will have a much more structured schedule that revolves around feeding, cleaning, and bonding with the animals at the center. Again, there will be a lot of diversity in species at the center, and it should be incredible experience in caring for all types of animals! I’ve heard awesome things about this project, especially about how much time you have to just bond with the animals. I’m ready to get my snuggle on… no joke. I will be able to maybe blog once or twice while I’m here, so expect pictures from Khulula after I return! I fly back to JFK on June 20^th, and then will be back in the great state of Texas the 21^st of June!

So to you great people reading this blog, first I want to thank you, for supporting me financially, emotionally, and spiritually. I can honestly say I have the BEST family and friends in the world. I also want to give a shout out to my incredible parents for believing in me and helping me reach my goal and LIVE MY DREAM! Finally for those of you who don’t know or haven’t figured it out yet, I’m slightly obsessed with African animals, especially elephants. This trip is an absolute dream come true and a great way for me to get my feet wet. As of now, I could definitely see myself doing wildlife veterinary medicine, but I have not had much experience in this field. So you’ll get to join me in figuring out if I’m cut out for this!

Thanks again for everything, everyone. I’ve made it to New York, and I’m going to get some rest to prepare myself for an awesome day tomorrow! Love you all.

--Llewy