Does the day-in day-out routine of school have you down?† Do you wonder if there isnít more to learning than the inside of a classroom and PowerPoint slides?† Well I want to let you all in on a secret.† It is a simple way to escape the repetition of campus life while simultaneously expanding your mind and broadening your horizons.† Leave!† The best professors make a habit of this and call it a sabbatical.† However, in that context of students, the practice has not yet become widely enough practiced to have an official term attached to it.† Maybe ìstudy abroadî is the term in use, but that seems to leave so much out of the experience.† Taking your studies abroad is much more than a continuation of your studies in a foreign location.† It is a complete recharging of your academic soul.† It is an escape from what is known in order to learn from the unknown.† At least that is how I interpret my study abroad as a Fulbright Fellow.† My Fulbright Fellowship sent me to the village of Bigodi, Uganda to learn about grass-roots conservation efforts next to a major national park.
 
Are you starting to think you would like such a change?† Compare your campus routine with Bigodi and decide which is more stimulating.† For me, just getting to Bigodi was the beginning of new learning experiences.† The journey requires endurance and stamina but never lacks for excitement.† In Uganda, the roads, which at times are marvelous, are at other times mere patches of ancient tarmac stringing together miles upon miles of potholes.† The journey to Bigodi began on such a road leaving Kampala, a fast paced and crowded capital city of over a million people.† From there, the road led 300 kilometers west to the relatively sleepy town of Fort Portal.† Fort Portal lies in the shadow of the spectacular Rwenzori Mountains, the ice capped, equatorial mountain chain which separates Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.† Bigodi is forty kilometers southeast of Fort Portal along a winding, bumpy dirt road.† Using public transportation, the journey from Fort Portal to Bigodi is one and a half hours.†
 
The road from Fort Portal to Bigodi passes through the beautiful countryside of western Uganda.† This is a land of hills which roll out of the Rwenzori Mountains.† As the road winds up and down, it passes through expansive tea estates.† The flat, low tops of the plucked tea bushes allow a person to enjoy the contours of the land and see the mountains beyond.† There are endless plantations of bananas, fields of maize and potatoes and lots of green pasture.† Looking at the two room mud houses which dot the landscape it is common to see children playing in the front yards, and always there are coffee berries laid out to dry in the sun.† The volcanic history of the region has left many crater lakes along the road, some of which have become popular tourist attractions.† Finally, the road passes through Kibale National Park.† Kibale National Park is 766 square kilometers of mostly forest.† To the unscientifically trained, the forest is best described as an amazing collection of sights, sounds and smells that permeate even the road passing through it.† This is so much so that one gets the feeling the forest actually enters the vehicle before you are able to drive completely through it.† Actually, there is always the chance that it will.† It is common to see hundreds of baboons along the roadside in the park and they are quick to board vehicles carrying food.
 
After leaving the park, it is just a few short kilometers to Bigodi, my classroom for six months.† What did I learn in Bigodi during this time?† Of course I learned quite a bit about grass-roots conservation in rural Uganda as I had hoped.† Residents of Bigodi have protected a small, forested wetland full of primates and birds of every description.† The wetland is used as a tourist attraction and tourism revenue has built a school in Bigodi and pays for teachers there.† In the case of Bigodi, I learned that conservation pays.† But more importantly, I learned that education is not confined to a college campus; through making friends in Bigodi, I learned the value of cross-cultural interaction and that we are all brothers and sisters here together; and through conversations with Bigodiís elders, I learned the importance of wisdom gained after years of experience.† Finally, upon returning to my college campus from Uganda, I learned that my experiences as a Fulbright Fellow have made me a better student.† I am recharged and full of vigor!† If you will accept the world as your classroom, I am sure this is something you will learn too.†