Let's pretend we're old friends

...and I will update you on "what I'm up to."

This is the "old friend" or "old family member" conversation that we all (sometimes fortunately, sometimes unfortunately) experience. This won't be awkward, I promise.

This is actually super convenient since I have super awesome news! (Yeah, yeah, yak, yak, I initiated this conversation, but hey).

I've been sort of floating for a couple weeks now, because I found out I'm going to need a passport very soon. In February, I applied for a faculty-led study abroad adventure in Kigali, Rwanda; in mid-March, I learned that I have been accepted into the program. I am still floating.

This is unbelievable for numerous reasons: One, I have never been out of the country (except for fishing in Canada, where, I'd like to mention, I caught the biggest fish), and two, the itinerary for the program is breathtaking. It's odd to describe an itinerary - a schedule, yuck - as stunning or inspiring, but this itinerary is the X factor.

In summary: We are going to spend 3 - 4 weeks in Kigali to attend classes (mine will be gender studies) and explore the post-genocidal society. We will each be responsible for an internship that is relevant to our interests and studies, and then produce a final project based on our experiences at said internship.

As far as my big plans go (remember?), this experience will be - to use a horrible metaphor - a very important canister in fostering the seed.

Now, to obtain the canister. See, I'm paying for this trip with out-of-pocket cashola, and I'm being creative, but I'm suddenly at a loss for ideas...and now is when I shamelessly (is this illegal?) ask for any input for generating travel funds. Any ideas?

Well, I'm done yak yaking on this topic. Thank you (absolutely thank you) for any input.

Yanna

An introduction

Let me first clarify one thing: my name, spelled J-o-a-n-n-a, can be pronounced "Joanna," "Yanna," "Banana," "Nanner," "JoJo" (not my favorite), "Jo-Mama," (really not my favorite), "Yoyo" or "Yaya." I think names are important, and I learned this early in life. (One of my best friends in kindergarten was named Majesty. So great.) My name - since we're on the subject - comes from my Polish grandmother, Joanna (pronounced with a soft "J"), who worked as a librarian in Warsaw, Poland. I never met her, but I like to think we have a lot in common, starting with our name.

Now - whoosh! - fast forward to present day. I want to tell you a tiny bit about myself.

First of all, I am a college student, pressing through the days with coffee grounds splattered on my shirt and three important items (always somehow) missing from my itinerary as I hop, skip and jump from one class to another, one work shift from another, etc. I am studying magazine journalism and gender studies at the University of Missouri, and here, today, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am almost there (the real world?), and I've got big plans (more on this later).

I've also got a fistful of wild friends.

This dude in my life. (The one staring at the photographer, a.k.a. me).

A family that can only be described as eclectic and goofy. (From top to bottom: Mom with replacement daughter, Frida; Dad and I at sculpture garden, Minneapolis; Brother and I about to embark on kayaking adventure, La Jolla, CA; Step-dad with replacement daughter).

And an eye for this stuff. Hmm, what am I trying to say? ...I'm trying to say that I'm always looking for humanness. For playfulness. For wishes. For rawness. For nature to remind us how small, small, small we are.

Maybe you've already put two and two together. It's those people (see above) who inspire me to see these things (see immediately above). These things propel me toward my big plans. Those people and these things fill me with wanderlust. Confused? It's okay, this is just an introduction.

Yanna