Getting Ready!

This summer I’m headed to Palau, a small island nation in the Pacific. I'm studying abroad on an archaeological dig. It’s actually the same program I did two summers ago in Nevis in the Caribbean. I had fun documenting those adventures (http://trowelsandtowels.blogspot.com/). I've heard that we'll have to pay for internet in Palau, but I’ll do my best to blog this summer, too!

If you missed the Survivor that took place in Palau, let me tell you what I know about it. Palau is a small country made up of hundreds of small islands. It’s 500 miles east of the Philippines and 2000 miles south of Tokyo. I think that it's 13 or 14 hours ahead of the East Coast.

The country has a population of about 21,000. After WWII it was under US control, and it gained independence in 1994. So it’s a young country, and they use US currency. English is an official language, along with Palauan.  

So it should be an exciting summer. I’m not sure anything could top my internship at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History last year. DC, the Smithsonian, Georgetown Cupcakes, and the amazing people made for the summer of a lifetime.

Summer 2011 at the Smithsonian

But Palau should be an amazing experience. It’s one of the top scuba diving destinations in the world, so I’m really looking forward to that. Plus kayaking, snorkeling, WWII historic sites, and everything else Palau has to offer. I hear it’s beautiful.

I’m leaving for Palau on Friday May 18^th. I’m flying from Raleigh to Houston to Honolulu to Guam to Palau. The trip out there will take me about 30 hours. It should be a crazy start of the trip, but I can't wait!

Hope you enjoy the blog. Thanks for reading!