Briana's Travels

Yes, I'm finally here! Actually I've been here for nearly 48 hours now. I just haven't had a chance to write yet... My flight over was uneventful. Peter dropped me off at the airport, and even waited on the line for security as long as he could with me. Both of my flights were full, and I had the pleasure of having not one, but two crying babies within three rows of me on my Amsterdam-Nairobi flight! Thankfully, I was so tired from not having slept a wink on the first flight that I slept a lot on the second one. I watched the Golden Compass too, which I enjoyed. Stepping off the airplane into the airport in Nairobi, and I felt right at home. It was great! I sailed through the immigration line since I already had my visa, and got a good spot with my cart at the baggage claim. There was a really friendly airport attendant helping an elderly Kenyan woman in a wheelchair, she was positioned next to me. I realized with a smile that I understood a lot of the Swahili they were spe...

This bridge is on the University of Minnesota campus. It's pretty cool - well, it was actually pretty hot, since it's enclosed and it was hot out! But it's cool because lots of student organizations from the university paint advertisements on the bridge walls, beneath the windows. I found myself musing about the different experiences of going to a small college, like I did, and a huge university, like this one. I loved going to college at Bryn Mawr, and I wouldn't trade my experiences there for the world, but there are likely more, and different, clubs and organizations at a big school. Like the opportunity for weekly torch juggling. Lots of activist and political societies; the "swingers" club (for tennis players); the hurling club (no, not for people getting sick after frat parties!); and clubs for students from various countries around the world, like Cambodia, Sudan, and Peru. I don't even know if there was one student from any one of those countries i...

I took this kinda washed-out picture of the Metrodome, which is where the name the neighborhood my hotel is in comes from. Across a bridge, though -- the bridge from which I took this picture -- in Kilimajaro Cafe country, is a whole different neighborhood with tons of Ethiopians and other darker-skinned Africans. I went for a run when I got to my hotel - well, after it had cooled off a little - which is one of the ways I like to get to know a city. And I saw a lot of Ethiopians! I'm pretty sure Ethiopian women are the most beautiful women in the world.

The Kilimanjaro Cafe is across the street from a store with colorful kayaks in the window, which caught my eye.

Now I have a chance to catch up on my blogging... After walking to the metro, to a bus to Dulles airport, changing planes in Detroit, I arrived in Minneapolis. I took the light rail into the city, since there was a stop about half a mile from my hotel - cheaper and greener than taking a taxi. As I was walking from the light rail station to the hotel, I passed a restaurant called Kilimanjaro Cafe (see photo). Cool! Of course, I ended up eating there. It said it was East African food, but it was Ethiopian, specifically. Don't get me wrong, I love me some injera and deliciously-spiced goodness, and having a veggie combo for one for under $10 was pretty rocking. But I was hoping for Kenyan or Tanzanian food, since, uh, last time I checked, Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania. But I'll be getting enough of that soon...enough. (Sorry - had an Austin Powers moment there. As in, allow myself to introduce...myself. That line never fails to crack me up).