A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E - Colby-Sawyer College

My study abroad experience was full of these moments:
difficult to describe, but overwhelming in feeling. There is
something about living abroad that makes you see every layer
of yourself. Being in a completely unfamiliar environment, surrounded
by strangers, makes you seek to understand yourself
in ways with which other experiences simply cannot compete.
I have come to realize that when people ask about my experience,
I don’t tell them a story from start to finish. My time in
Tanzania and Kenya is the culmination of thousands of little
moments that moved me more than any other time in my life.
When I think of Tanzania, I remember losing my breath to elephants,
holding local children in my lap during field lectures,
and falling in love all over the place.
When I think of Kenya, I remember the cutting call of ibises
in the trees, watching the land explode into life with the onset
of a short rain, and sobbing in an airport because I couldn’t
imagine letting go of it all. East Africa was the best and hardest
teacher I have ever had, full of lessons I am only now beginning
to understand.
Nov. 24, 2010
I found a small bird in the bathroom sink today. The
bathrooms are outdoors, so it seemed the bird got confused
and smashed into the mirror. It looked like it had
been struggling to get out for a while and I was scared
it had permanently hurt itself. I threw a shirt over it,
scooped it up, and sat with it in a quiet corner of camp.
When I unwrapped the bird, it didn’t try to get away. It
eyed me for a while, then dozed. I cradled it and thought
about how my time here is coming to an end. I wondered
what lay ahead of me in America, what my next steps
would be. I tried to push these thoughts away and just be.
I don’t know how long I stayed with the bird, but just
as my feet were beginning to fall asleep it woke up. Stood
up and shook itself. Flew away. Nothing to it. It’s funny
how nature shows you how to move on. ■
Jeanne J Clark Cl k ’11 1 graduated d t d with ith a BB.S. S degree d iin
Environmental Science in May. She plans to focus
her career on global environmental issues.
These are the bandas at the site in Kenya. They were more simple and rustic
than those in Tanzania, and provided homes to several other rommates that
I would have preferred not to know of (large spiders, nesting birds, armies of
beetles and the occasional snake).
Seeing S the wild dogs in Tsavo West National Park was an amazing gift we were
able a to share together.
Below: B A mother elephant and her baby in Amboseli National Park.
SUMMER 2011 31