So today is laundry, packing, last minute shopping, etc. I spent the week catching up with friends and family in CT who I haven't seen in a while thanks to 1L year in middle of nowhere Ithaca. I leave Sunday morning from NYC and arrive in Arusha Monday night, after 25+ hours of traveling. I am soooooooo nervous!!! The most traveling I've done is France twice and Guatemala once, the continent of Africa is a big jump for me. But I'm also really excited since it's been my dream to work in Africa, so an internship is definitely a step in the right direction.
My internship is at the ICTR, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a tribunal set up by the United Nations designed to prosecute individuals who perpetrated the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The tribunal has been shutting down its courts slowly, since it has been operating for quite a few years now, and plans on shutting down in two years. It still has a few important cases moving through though, so hopefully I will learn a lot and get a chance at some real legal experience. Either way, I'll be in Arusha having a fabulous time.
Arusha is a large town/small city in Tanzania, a country in Eastern Africa that borders Rwanda. The tribunal was implemented in Tanzania since, at the time, Rwanda was considered not stable enough to house the tribunal. I am excited to be staying in Arusha, since that is the starting point for most going on safari or hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro. So it is a relatively safe place to call home for the summer. It is supposedly also not too difficult to visit traditional tribes and national parks in the surrounding areas to obtain a real view of Tanzania, less the foreigners. It seems like the perfect location to me!
So I created this blog mainly to share pictures and neat facts while I'm there, so next you'll hear from me will be from Arusha! :)
