postcard-text.rtf

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\f0\fs32 \cf2 Intro - flying out and arriving
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 You\'92re about to spend 4 months traveling through Africa, just because you want to. You\'92ve spent a lot of time planning, packing, and taking care of your immunization. While you\'92re over there, your partner is moving across the country and beginning grad school. The two of you decide to keep each other updated on this stage of your life through a series of postcards. As you sit on the plane in Boston, you can\'92t help but feel a bit nervous. At least your arms don\'92t hurt anymore from the seven shots.
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 South (sand dunes, Victoria Falls, Robben Island)
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 You start your trip in southern Africa. The first place you stop is Swakopmund. Here, you get to ride a quad bike through the sand dunes. Being surrounded by sand for miles creates an almost otherworldly feel, almost like you\'92re on Mars. The sky is bluer than you\'92ve ever seen. After traveling to Zambia, you make a pilgrimmage to Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall on Earth. It\'92s so misty there that it feels like it\'92s constantly raining. You\'92re soaked. It\'92s worth it. After resting up a day in South Africa, you take a ferry to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was kept imprisoned. In his cell, there are three thin blankets and no bed. You hear it gets cold there in the winter.
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\f0\i\fs30 \cf0 Tell about the dunes, the falls, or the prison island.
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 Central (Kilimanjaro, safari, scuba diving)
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 You travel north into a more central region of Africa. You\'92d climbed mountains before, but this is the first time you\'92re climbing something as ambitious as Kilimanjaro. You decide to rest up at a guesthouse with the other climbers the night before your climb. You have a grand time, almost as enjoyable as the view from the top of the mountain the next day. The day after, you go on a safari and spot lions, a rhino, and even a leopard. What\'92s more, a friend you\'92d made at Victoria Falls just so happens to be on your tour bus! You decide to go scuba diving with him. However, you don\'92t realize he\'92s a novice diver, and he tires too easily and almost drags the two of you out to sea. You both survive, but your friend vows to never dive again.
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\f0\i\fs30 \cf0 Tell about Kilimanjaro, the safari, or the scuba disaster.
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 North (pyramids, Church of St. George, Erta Ale volcano)
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 You take a bus to the pyramids in Egypt. Once you get off the bus, a man grabs you and does not stop yelling that the only way to get to the pyramids is a $200 camel ride. Once you arrive, you see plenty of tourists arriving on foot. The next day, you go to the Church of St. George in Ethiopia, which is carved out of stone underground. On the way, you see a girl sitting in the street, probably no more than 10 years old. She holds your gaze until the bus departs. On the last day of your trip, you visit Erta Ale, a continuously active volcano with a lava lake, which is a pretty big deal considering that there are only 6 lava lakes in the world.
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\f0\i\fs30 \cf0 Tell about the pyramids, the girl, or the volcano.
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 Outro - flying back to Boston
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 Your 4 month long trip has come to a close. You\'92re staring out your window at the ocean as you fly home. You recline as far as your seat will let you and reflect on the things you\'92ve done and seen. Your mind goes back to the postcards and your partner. The two of you have spent a third of a year living wildly different experiences. Will you be able to relate to each other? How much was left unsaid? You close your eyes and doze off.
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\f0\fs38 \cf3 Partner postcards
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\f0\b0\fs32 \cf2 South-dunes
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 I finally moved into my new apartment! It seems a lot smaller in real life than it did on the website. Luckily, I don\'92t have much stuff to fit in it. I still appreciated my dad coming with me to help me move, though. When we were done, we got Chinese takeout and played cards like when I was a kid.
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 I\'92m glad your flight was safe! How does it feel to finally be in Africa? I know you\'92ve wanted to do this for a while, and I\'92m super stoked for you. Those sand dunes sound cool, but I hope you were being careful on the quad bike. Remember I told you my cousin broke her arm?
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 South-falls
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 I finally moved into my new apartment! It seems a lot smaller in real life than it did on the website. Luckily, I don\'92t have much stuff to fit in it. I still appreciated my dad coming with me to help me move, though. When we were done, we got Chinese takeout and played cards like when I was a kid.
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 I\'92m glad your flight was safe! How does it feel to finally be in Africa? I know you\'92ve wanted to do this for a while, and I\'92m super stoked for you. That\'92s so crazy about the mist at the falls! I was so afraid it was gonna rain while I was moving, but luckily it was only pleasantly cloudy.
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 South-island
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 I finally moved into my new apartment! It seems a lot smaller in real life than it did on the website. Luckily, I don\'92t have much stuff to fit in it. I still appreciated my dad coming with me to help me move, though. When we were done, we got Chinese takeout and played cards like when I was a kid.
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 I\'92m glad you arrived safely! But oh my gosh, I\'92m always appalled to think that human beings can be so cruel to each other. You said Mandela was on that island for 18 years? It wasn\'92t even too long ago in history that this even happened. I bet some of those prison guards are still alive today.
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 Central-Kilimanjaro
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 I started grad school this week. Man, and I thought undergrad was taxing. There\'92s so much I realized I don\'92t know about the thing I\'92ve been studying for 4 years. And it\'92s only the first week! How am I gonna survive this?
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 But honestly, hearing about you having a great time before climbing the mountain gives me a lot of hope. If you can make it to the top and have fun doing it, I\'92m sure I can too! Especially if the reward is as great as the view you got to see.
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 Central-safari
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 I started grad school this week. Man, and I thought undergrad was taxing. There\'92s so much I realized I don\'92t know about the thing I\'92ve been studying for 4 years. And it\'92s only the first week! How am I gonna survive this?
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 But hey! The good thing is that some of my friends from undergrad ended up getting into the same grad program I\'92m in! Isn\'92t that funny? You also ran into a friend of yours! The world is pretty small after all, isn\'92t it?
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 Central-scuba
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 Oh my gosh. I can\'92t believe what you went through with the dive. Are you ok? Did your friend ever put you in any danger? I get that you wanted to help him, but you have to look out for your own safety too, ok? I don\'92t know what I\'92d do if I ever got the news that you weren\'92t coming back.
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 I know it can\'92t compare with what you\'92ve just been through, but I started grad school this week. Man, and I thought undergrad was taxing. There\'92s so much I realized I don\'92t know about the thing I\'92ve been studying for 4 years. How am I gonna survive this?
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 North-pyramids
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 It\'92s kind of hard to talk about this, but I feel I have to tell you. My dad died yesterday. It feels almost unreal, like it\'92s just a bad dream and he\'92s going to walk through the front door with Chinese takeout again. I guess all I feel is numb. Maybe it hasn\'92t hit yet.
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 Hey, that\'92s horrible that someone could want to take advantage of you like that with the camels. Like, I get that tourists are pretty easy targets for scams. But come on! How can someone look at a person and value them only for the amount of money they can get out of them? 
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 North-girl
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 It\'92s kind of hard to talk about this, but I feel I have to tell you. My dad died yesterday. It feels almost unreal, like it\'92s just a bad dream and he\'92s going to walk through the front door with Chinese takeout again. I guess all I feel is numb. Maybe it hasn\'92t hit yet.
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 Maybe that girl lost her parents too. I can just picture her, drifting from street corner to street corner, feeling as numb as I do. I wonder, does the numbness fade with time? 
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\f0\fs32 \cf2 North-volcano
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\f0\b0\fs30 \cf0 It\'92s kind of hard to talk about this, but I feel I have to tell you. My dad died yesterday. It feels almost unreal, like it\'92s just a bad dream and he\'92s going to walk through the front door with Chinese takeout again. I guess all I feel is numb. Maybe it hasn\'92t hit yet.
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\f0\fs30 \cf0 That\'92s really cool about the volcano though. A lava lake, huh? Maybe when I\'92m done with grad school, we can go back and visit it together. My dad had always wanted to see a volcano, so maybe I can finish that journey for him.
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