So in September 2008, I moved to Nairobi Kenya from Paris France to work. Talk about culture shock! But during one of the first weekends there, I met Matt, a cute military guy, and he invited me to hike a "small hill" with him and some friends. Small hill--HA!!! We drove an hour and half from Nairobi into the Great Rift Valley to Mount Longonot, near Lake Naivasha. It was very arid and brown and dusty, different from the lush green of Nairobi. We parked and I looked up at the extinct volcano ahead of us that we were going to climb. Matt and his friends Marc and Fabiola (evil Canadian chick who didn't sweat!) had no problems scaling the mountain. I lagged behind but I did it and it was amazing. We got to the top and I could see all over the place. It was kind of trippy to look down and see the giraffes and zebras walking around below us.

I was so proud when I got up the initial hill but then Marc said that we had to walk all around the rim. This is not an even calm walk. Oh no. This is climbing up to another peak and summit at 9000 feet. Me, that high up. It was amazing.

All in all, it was a 12 mile hike. I was sunburned and dusty and sweaty when I got to the bottom but it was ok--I had done it! Fabiola could have Matt--I'd conquered a mountain!