One day left.

Tonight I ate my last cheeseburger. The washing machines at the Adam’s Inn have been constantly occupied as we prepare for our U.S. departure. Our time in D.C. has been foreign, but most of us have enjoyed having a CVS around the corner, or familiar foods in the grocery store down the block, and leaving “home” has taken on a new meaning as we prep for our upcoming African experience. Off to Tanzania a day after tomorrow.

The IHP experience is fairly new and different. The past 18 days has felt more like a semester--a whirlwind of information and chock-full of "seriously!?" For our economics class we’ve visited the World Bank; for ecology, the NRDC (National Resource Defense Council)and the USDA (US Dept. of Agriculture); for an anthropology assignment we spent a day at the Capitol, interviewing whomever we could as an “ethnography,” attempting to gain some perspective of life on the Hill: my brief encounter with East Texas Rep, Louie Gohmert, was pretty unexpected and surprisingly good-natured. Last Saturday a bunch of us drove out to Virginia to visit Polyface Farm, the star of the recent novel, Omnivor’s Dilemma. It was definately a highlight for me; there's just something about Shenandoah Valley air and organic farming practices. Sigh.

D.C. has been an incredible intro to the months ahead. I've learned more about US policy and practices than I really wanted to know, and look foreward to seeing them spread out globally. Ah yes, onward to Dar es Salaam.