Bags Packed, Ready to Go! (And a new friend!)

Tomorrow, I depart for my adventure! Along with my friend and classmate, Patrick Banks, I will board a 6:30pm flight from JFK International Airport in New York City. 11 hours and 5,000 miles later, we will be in Cairo, Egypt!

Of course, Cairo has nothing to do with my International Public Service Project, but we figured we would take advantage of the opportunity to see a new part of the world on the way to Kenya. Along with our other classmate, Ryan Ubuntu Olson, who will meet us there, we will spend three days in Cairo - soaking up the culture, enjoying the food, and visiting the pyramids! Fun.

As you can see from the picture above, all of my possessions for the summer fit into two bags - a duffel bag embroidered with my initials that I received as a high school graduation present, and my trusty laptop bag. It is so liberating to be responsible for just two bags of possessions for the next ten weeks. I can go anywhere with these two bags....nothing's holding me back!

I'd also like to introduce you to another friend who will be accompanying me on my adventure - my very own Flat Stanley! Flat is the main character of a popular 1964 children's book, and has stuck around in popular culture ever since as a world wide traveling companion for thousands thanks to the Flat Stanley Project, which was started to promote cross-cultural understanding and literacy for schoolchildren throughout the globe. For the past few years, the Clinton School has partnered with Arkansas First Lady Ginger Beebe to bring the benefits of the project to schoolchildren in Arkansas. I'm pumped that my very own Flat Stanley will be sporting the lovely colors of the Kenyan flag - green, red, and black, as well as the yellow of the sunshine in Kijana's logo! And of course, he's looking good with not only the name of my partner organization across his chest, but a very powerful word, idea, and state of mind - Kijana, the Swahili word for Youth. That's what Flat, Patrick, and I are working for this summer - youth - which in my opinion, is the world's most valuable resource. It's not just a time in life, but a way and quality of life - the place where creativity, imagination, idealism, and fun come from. The world needs more of this thing called Youth. And Kenya needs more Kijana.

You'll be seeing more of Flat right here on this blog, but if you're hankering for even more, my classmates and I will be collectively sharing updates of Flat Stanley's travels throughout the globe on all of our projects. Click over to Flat Stanley Travels to see what's going on (and to see Flat's travels last summer with the Clinton School Class of 2010)!

Other than that, I've been chillin' in New York for the past several days, visiting my dear and amazing friends, Caleb and Samantha Hawley. They deserve a shout out - I couldn't ask for better friends. That's all! The next time I post will probably be from Cairo, so until then, stay beautiful!