Munene, the journey...

Before the weekend of November 4-6, I did not know that College Park was deemed a food desert. A college town that comprises mostly students, most people do not have access to grocery shopping within a mile radius, the definition of a food desert. Forest Garden As an international student living in the area, I attest to the truth in this statement. Getting fresh food for me involves a Lyft or Uber to the groceries shop, something I cannot do every week because it is expensive. Other modes of transport to the 1.4 miles away mega farmers market are irregular and very inconvenient. This however, represents a narrower view of the entire food justice issue. At Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro, I learnt the model of Community Supported Agriculture. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation runs a not-for-profit farm, where food grown is shared among some members of the community who pay a fixed amount per season and those who put in some hours of labor and get a share of the crop. The rest of the...

If you read my previous post on surviving graduate school, you would have been thinking that there's probably more to surviving than what I posited. Well, I think there is, here are some more thoughts. Connecting the dots Early on in graduate school, I have learnt that I need to connect dots. There's a lot going on here, and no one will decode it on your behalf. Graduation starts when you are admitted; and so the job search begins as early. Keeping up with the email This is the most common means of communicating news and information from the school. Professors use it, administrators use it, the President uses it, sports and activities use it, the health center uses it, the police department uses it. About every department, and there seems to be a lot of them in the University, sends information via email. Going through it, making sense of it, ignoring some, archiving others, responding to others is an important task I have learnt to do at least once a day. Working in...

Graduate school is different from other levels of education, more so the intense American system that requires constant vigilance on the part of the student. As an international student pursuing a public policy program that requires a lot of study, I have learnt some skills to survive. Prioritization The best intentions are for the student to get all the readings done on time, and then read some more extra on the side. This, however, is not possible with the amount of writing, research, practical work one needs to do. Learning to prioritize on what needs to be done as the most urgent is the only way to keep up with all the activities of graduate school. Writing well Writing is a core aspect of graduate studies. Writing well, however, is required to survive and avoid rewrites and poor grades. Obviously, the more the practice, the better I get at it. Reading, fast and wide With tomes and tomes of required reading, I have learnt to read faster than I thought possible. I have vora...

The past 2 weeks have provided me a great learning experience. The difference between Kenya and America are striking. To my past me, I would have emphasized the following lessons: Buy your own hair clippers: Cutting hair in America is expensive, an average of USD 20 depending on where you are. I don't know why, but I think minimum wages (USD 8.75/hour) are to blame for such high prices. That is the equivalent of about 10 hair cuts in Kenya at my kinyozi (at the rate of KSh. 200 per hair cut; assuming 1USD = 100Ksh.). I have already bought one, and I am now in the processing of learning how to cut my own hair. Learning to cut your own hair will save you a tonne of money Be prepared to eat odd things: every time I eat a burger, I know I am eating frozen meat from as far as Australia, fish from China and so on. The fast food business is booming and is not about to die. I have learnt to enjoy Chinese food including General Tso's chicken; all this while missing ugali and m...

America has some odd things about it: Mechanical systems: when opening a bank account, the customer service officer will literally rap to you what accounts are available, what features and so on. People who sell fast food as well, seem to be in a trance-like state, mechanical even. This is perhaps due to the fact that they have to serve multiple people in a day, so no dilly dallying. This reminds me of Kenyan waiters who we keep waiting for 5 minutes while deciding whether we want mbuzi kaanga  or mbuzi choma . Queue at a popular fast food joint Strange names for some things: football as we know it is called soccer, taps are called faucets, a bonnet is called a hood, a boot is called a trunk, petrol is called gas, takeaway is called takeout and many more. Address systems: one of the easiest systems of navigation is the house numbering system widely employed in the US. This simple and obvious system is so useful, that it is impossible to get lost if one knows the address...

A few things that are making my life easier while trying to adjust in University of Maryland, College Park. Shuttle Bus and Metro System: I am using Google to know which bus number is going where I want to go. The buses are tracked by satellite and you know when one is running late. This is a proper "public" transportation system. A Metro bus going somewhere Lyft and Uber: even though these work in Kenya, these services have been very helpful on those odd trips to unknown places like looking for a place to live. Airbnb: the cheap alternative to hotels and motels has proved very useful. I have also met very interesting people from all over the world. Airbnb Motorists are very "sane" on the road: A STOP sign means stop; in Kenya, we always ignore most signs. Pedestrians and cyclists are accorded right of way, without much hassle. A STOP sign Internet is very fast: yeah, like the Fios I am using at the Airbnb.

My plane landed at 3.40pm(GMT -4) on American soil. And with this touchdown, was a sense of exhilaration, anxiety and sadness. Exhiliration at the opportunities that lie ahead, anxious about the uncertainties before me, and sad because of the connections I had left back in Kenya. Some things stand out in the country: The roads, infrastructure It's hot: temperatures reaching 36 degrees celsius attributed to the Summer season. The place is organized: even from the airport, things just seem to work. Signs are well done, instructions clear, and directions very visible. This caused a bit of jitters in me, it seems a bit, mechanical. The highways are wide, clean, well marked and well, beautiful. People talk funny (the "r's" we ignore in words, are very pronounced). I am also made to repeat some things I say, "Sorry, what did you say?" 8pm looks like early morning, the sun is still out, and every place is bright. And even though the place is strange,...