Officially Official

Alright, it's official. My flight is booked. Now all I have to do is pack and finish the preparation. Right now I am most excited about the 12 hour flight to Dubai so I can hopefully get some good rest. How sad is that, I am excited to get on a plane to sleep. Over the last few years I have become very good at sleeping on planes. It doesn't matter what seat I have, I can easily fall asleep before takeoff. I can thank ski racing for that talent. :) Although, my Swedish teammates have mastered the art of sleeping in any position, anywhere. I am not quite there yet. If you ever need sleeping advice talk to Caroline Bergstrom... seriously.

I will be spending a day in Dubai on my way to Johannesburg. I will for sure go skiing. I might even go to a water park, they have the world's largest waterslide. You get up to 80KMH (about 50mph) on it!! Now that sounds like my kind of waterslide! What a perfect way to kill time during a long layover!

After my Dubai adventure I will have an 8 hour flight to Johannesburg. After a long day of activities I am sure I will sleep on this flight just fine as well.

Remember, no matter where you are in the world, you should always follow the fun.

I forgot to mention that SkiDubai is in the middle of a mall. They should add a ski area to the Mall of America! It could be the size of Buck Hill!

So it is beginning to feel real. Either today or tomorrow I will book my flight. I will most likely fly through Dubai. I will have one day in Dubai to explore. They have an indoor ski area called SkiDubai. I think I will check it out! I will either do that or go check into one of their amazing hotels and lounge by a massive pool all day. Either one works for me. :) Above is a picture of SkiDubai. Kinda funny looking if you have actually been skiing in the mountains before. But I am up for a new experience, and with global warming I think that indoor skiing will become very popular in the future.

This is Andrea and me 2 years ago at the Southernmost tip of Africa. It is where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet.



This is in Kruger National Park. Giraffes are beautiful animals. It was surreal to see one so close somewhere other than a zoo. I am not sure if I will make it to Kruger this year. I hope so, I want to go find some big kitties. :)

Packing

I am currently in the process of sorting through my things and organizing what I will bring with me to Africa. Packing for a year is going to be quite a challenge. I am writing this to reach out for suggestions on what/how I should pack.

In a perfect world airlines wouldn't have luggage weight restrictions.

The Start of it All

I have decided to start a blog after receiving many request to do so. For those of you who don't know, I am going to South Africa for a yearlong internship. I will be shadowing some of the best sports psychologists in the field. I will mainly be working for a company called MatchWorld as they prepare for the upcoming World Cup. But I will also be working with SA's (South Africa) Olympic Committee, the South African Sports Science Institute, SA's figure skating and ice hockey team, and with their triathlon federation. Needless to say, I am very excited about this opportunity and will make the best out of my time in SA.
One of the wonderful things about this opportunity is the doors that it will open for me in regards to sports psychology. I am planning on going to grad school after this internship adventure and the experience that I will gain over the next year will certainly help to prepare me for it. I am also stoked because I will be at the World Cup, both as a fan and an employee. For those of you who know me, you know how passionate I am about my soccer. Being in South Africa for a year, I will be able to witness firsthand the buildup to the World Cup and the excitement and buzz during the event. This is cool stuff!
It is my goal to keep my blog posts as interesting as possible. I have had the pleasure of following a few of my friend's blogs and they have done a fabulous job. It is fun to see photos and videos. My friend Rowena has done a great job with her blog and I enjoy seeing her new pictures, videos and blurbs. If at any point my blog becomes redundant and boring please don't hesitate to tell me. I will do my best to fix it. Maybe I will add videos of baboons chasing me.. that is always quite a site!

Thank you for taking the time to read this!