Final exams (again) and visitors

I am officially done with exams for the semester! Woohoo!!! I think they went well, but who knows... last time I thought the same thing and then our whole class did quite a bit worse than we expected even though we all prepared like crazy. Oh well. What a tough academic semester. Seriously, I don't think I've ever done this much work in a semester. I guess it's mostly due to the fact that we are cramming all our learning into a shortened semester, and we are also shortening it even more because the last part (starting now) is dedicated to our directed research. I'm so excited for the research! I have to pick my topic and write a proposal tomorrow- so the work never really ends- but I'm not sure what it will be yet. Something about tourism and its effects on wildlife conservation because of the economic incentive it gives people to protect the animals. I think I'm going to try to base my senior film thesis on the research I do here... would be a lot of extra work but so worth it! 

On a different note, yesterday some girls appeared at our camp- mzungu girls! They said they had seen us in Mtowambu and that they were doing research there with SIT and had asked about us and how to get to our camp. As it turns out, as we talked we found out that the SIT program in Tanzania is completely and totally different from the SFS one. I never would have guessed they would be so drastically different- I almost applied to the SIT program, thinking they were similar! Apparently, they barely have classes, have had one paper and one test, and have a very lax program. They stayed in Arusha with host families, wandered around the city alone, and went out clubbing in the city at night! Our program doesn't even let us out after 6pm, and we have not stayed in a city. The SIT program also sent these three girls off for a month to do their own research in Mtowambu, where prostitution is known to be common and there is a big drug scene. While I am jealous of their freedom to wander and explore and do homestays and get to know the area better in a more independent way, I also think it seems quite unsafe! Sometimes I know that the things I wish I could do and am not allowed to do here are actually things that I should not do in the first place. This program just ensures that everyone stays safe and behaves according to the local cultural norms. Still, I wonder what it would be like to stay in an extended homestay here or take public transportation or explore a city. I guess every program has its pros and cons. Our pros far outweigh the cons: not only are we safe, but we do ridiculously cool things every day and get a fantastic education on top of it that will really prepare us for the things we want to do. I feel lucky every day to be here! We played soccer today after a long time of not having enough time to play, and it started out sunny and then a downpour came all of a sudden and drenched us in water and mud. So much fun. I was so elated to just be there running around in a soccer field surrounded by cornfields, and slipping and sliding and being in Africa. Life is good.