Africa!

So about two weeks ago the notion came to me that I would like to go to Africa. Now, I tend to have plenty of fanciful notions that never come to pass. This, however, is an exception. It's been a week since I attended a meeting about the field study opportunities in South Africa and now I am well on my way to making it a reality. I have finished the application process and am waiting for the interview. The program is perfect for me, even better than my original plans for study abroad. I would live with an African family in a village called East London on the very southern coast of Africa. The program lets you create your own research project and volunteer with a local organization while earning credit for your major at the same time. My volunteer work would be in a village school called "We Must Do Something." It was started by a village lady in her one room shack and has now extended to where 200 children want to attend. I'm going to work with her and research how to help other villages start their own schools. I also talked to one of my museum professors and she's going to give me lesson plans that teach children about their own culture, so I would be able to implement the Humanities part of my major as well. I'm thinking about getting an African Studies minor because it only requires three other classes plus the French that I'm learning anyway. It's going to be an amazing experience and it will open up doors for me to get involved with international education, which is what I have been thinking about as a graduate program. Right now I am trying to figure out my summer situation because I have to take a prep course during spring which could interfere with my EFY job. The people in charge of the program said they are willing to work with me on that. Not many people have applied so the likelihood of me getting accepted and receiving funding is pretty high. I know this is a huge decision in my life but I feel really good about it, so I am just going to continue to prepare for it and if it doesn't work for some reason then I'll know there's something else for me. It's so strange though because it came out of nowhere suddenly and it totally changes my plans for the next year. Right now I'm thinking that I will live in an apartment and go to school spring, work for EFY and live in the dorms summer, go to South Africa Fall, and then take winter semester off to earn money for a mission that I would leave for in the summer. That would mean that I wouldn't be at BYU for 2 and a half years! All my friends would be gone but Vilja who would get back from a mission at the same time. It's so weird that my life plans have totally changed I the last week but I feel really good about it, better than I have about all my other plans so far. Life is so exciting right now!