Farewell, I'm off to Ghana!

Tomorrow morning I meet with the rest of my class for a last-minute orientation and packing of certain supplies, and then in the afternoon we head to Baltimore Washington International Airport, from there to JFK in New York, and from thence to Accra, where we'll arrive early Thursday. Making this my last blog post for some time.

I hasten to point out that they do have internet access in Ghana. The country as a whole is completely into the 21st century, and they have more cell phones than people. That said, I will not be bringing any electronics along (except my iPod, which I could not brave a 16+ hour flight without). They would be too much weight, trouble, and risk for a first-time study abroad trip. So this is the last you'll hear from me for a while. I have a post or two scheduled to go live while I'm gone, but the last time I tried scheduling posts on Blogger it didn't work.

Until April 8th, then.

I hope to have lots of interesting pictures and stories--including some from Capacity Rural International, for which my student group did a fundraising project to support microloans for rural women and scholarships for qualifying youth-- to share with you all when I return.

In the meantime, here are some cool sites to check out:
FreeRice.com uses advertising revenue, generated as you play simple games testing vocabulary, math, and art history, to fund food programs around the world. It's a great way to pass the time with a little bit of brain activity and a little bit of good.

Anthologybuilder.com allows you to select short stories (including genre & classics) from a database to build your own collection. Their cover art selection is stellar as well, and I'm not just saying that as I won their 2009 Match-That-Artwork story contest in the youth division, although that did happen.

Thuum.org, a community dedicated to constructing the language of the Dragons from Skyrim. It's run by my friend, a talented programer, blossoming conlanger, and major Skyrim fan--while I don't play myself, I had some fun times sitting at his shoulder watching him run through the beautifully designed world. I've seen movies less gorgeous. Speaking of gorgeous, that website design! Anyway, it's a site you might want to check out if you're also a fan of the Elder Scrolls, conlangs, or crowdsourced projects in action.

Until April, then!