I can’t fall asleep in cars, trains, planes, or any other mode of transportation. So the thought of flying for 22 hours without the comfort of my perfectly horizontal bed is a little…daunting. But the chronic neck pain will be worth it. I’m still in shock that I will be flying out of the states to beautiful Malawi, Africa. I’ve never flown internationally by myself before, so this will be a very new experience for me. But I’m so thrilled to be doing this. Myself and 5 other interns have been preparing tirelessly the first few weeks of summer. We called the Oshmann Engineering Design Kitchen our home as we familiarized ourselves with the devices we will be bringing on our internship.

During the first part of our trip, we spent 11 hours in Frankfurt, Germany and it was such an amazing experience! It was so different from home; everyone was on biking  from one place to another, shopping with friends, sitting outside and eating, it was just so busy and I really loved it!

We took a boat ride down the Main river and seeing the city was unbelievable. The bridges we went under were so close to us, we had to duck our heads to avoid being knocked out.

It was a little bit of a struggle buying things (we did a LOT pointing and signaling) but we got some awesome food there (of course I had to get ice cream).

We are now currently sitting in the airport, waiting for our plane to Johannesburg, South Africa (another ten hour flight, another ten hours of chronic neck pain). It’s crazy to think that we will be arriving to Africa soon, I mean just yesterday I was home with my family just imagining what this trip would be like. Well, I’m excited to see what is in store for us tomorrow!