To anyone who actually reads this, my apologies. I had good intentions, I really did. I even went so far as to keep a running list of things I wanted to blog about while I was in the UK. But time seems to have gotten away from me. Since my last blog in April, I finished my classes for my MA, traveled to Liberia to do field research, and then spent a hellish month and a half writing 6-8 hours a day trying to complete my MA dissertation. No excuses – I just preferred to play spider solitaire or watch a mindless tv show during my down time than write my blog. My brain was disengaged. Going home to MN at the end of the whole ordeal was both a welcome change and a chance to relax, and a transition to the next step in my life, which proved much more stressful than I’d imagined. Again, no motivation to write.

So, I will start again with my new adventure, life in Liberia. I want to write this blog both so I can share with you all a small slice of my life, but also to help me to really live and experience my life. Writing has a way of helping me to see the little things that shape my experience here, and also helps me to be more aware of what is going on around me and how it affects my life. These are the things that I have always written – either in my journal, in emails and letters to friends and family, or in my sporadic travelogues. Blogging is a new medium, and I hope I can make it work for me and be interesting to someone out there.

On to the new chapter.