This past weekend we went to Jinja on our last trip of the program. The scheduled activities were white water rafting down the Nile and bungee jumping over the Nile. Rafting was good fun for everyone, except two of us who wanted the boat to flip the least each fell out of the boat. My flip happened on the very last rapid of the day and involved a few minor injuries. The experience reinforced just how much I'm not cut out for outdoor activities. I much prefer seeing and experiencing nature from a safe distance, not as up close and personal as being sucked underwater in huge rapids. But that's beside the point. Most of the day was fun and I'll simply be avoiding rafting for the foreseeable future. On Sunday, people had the opportunity to go bungee jumping. As you can probably guess from my previous comments, that's not an activity for me. I have absolutely no desire to leap off of a platform hundreds of feet in the air, feel like I"m going to crash into the water, or be jerked back up by the elastic bungee cable. Instead, I enjoyed watching my friends take this crazy leap from a safe distance. While they all really enjoyed it, my favorite part was hearing the screaming and cursing that occurred as they made their initial fall. One guy even touched the Nile river upside down--and by touch I mean he was dunked up to his waist. All in all, it was a fun weekend, but we all left exhausted.
As much fun as I had, the end of the weekend signaled the very significant reality that our program is almost over. We have been on our last trip with Dan and Centurio, taken our last drive out of Kampala, and are now down to 11 days of exams, papers, and presentations before our program in Uganda officially ends. Thrown into the last week are 3 birthdays which should be great fun! But aside from that, it's hard to believe that we've been in Uganda for 8.5 weeks and our time as a group is quickly coming to an end. It feels like I'm just starting to get the hang of this city and now the program is over. Luckily, most of the group is actually planning to stay for some portion of the summer. I think only 2 of the 9 of us are set on leaving Uganda for good next week. I'm looking forward to having people to spend time with once the summer is upon us. And, as much as I have loved this program, I'm also excited to finally be able to focus on my research. Our lectures and trips have been great, but it's hard to really settle in and get involved in a project when your time and focus are constantly being pulled in multiple directions. As our program comes to a close, I'm sad to see certain experiences end and people leave, but I'm looking forward to what the summer will bring.
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