In only 12 hours, I will be on a ferry watching Stone Town become smaller and smaller…not knowing when I will see its horizon again.  This is my final time with internet before returning to America, and I have not prepared my complete thoughts on my entire summer experience (though I am sure those of you who have followed my blog since June already have an idea of what I may say), so I will make one final post within a week of my return to North Carolina.

For now, I feel it is important to emphasize how much I will miss this island: the people, their culture, the food, the beaches, Stone Town, and the S4Si girls.  Not a moment has been spent here that I will not cherish in some way.  These experiences have molded me into a shape that I can not yet discern…I feel like the final step in this journey begins when I arrive back in America and begin to juggle my love of both worlds and find a balance of peace and passion.  Already, I can feel myself caught between the greedy pull of the West and the vivacious tug of the East (I use this term very loosely and with the greatest awareness of its connotations, though it is worth noting the extremely heavy Indian and Arabic influences here on Zanzibar), and I am unsure of where to place myself on this continuum of priorities and passions.  Though this may take a while (or the rest of my life) to discover, I can be certain that this place has changed me for the better.

Kwa heri Zanzibar (Labda baadae!)!!

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