In Zanzibar did Alex a stately pleasure trip decree

I came to Tanzania at an interesting cross-roads in my life. A bridge over mildly bubbling water.

In December, I completed my Honours B.A. Degree in English, finally putting the wrapping over five and a half years of studying and working professionally at university. As I didn't learn quite enough in that half-decade, I then applied for a Master's in Communication/Media/Vagueness at three universities in Canada: York (Toronto), Western (London) and Concordia (Montreal).

My heart is set on York, as the city of Toronto pulls at my vein-strings and the thought of studying with the faculty of two top-tier Canadian universities warms my intellectual blood. This joint program with Ryerson would begin in September, which left me with January-August to fill my time productively.

Since the start of 2010, I've done OK – I came to Africa to “blow my mind” and that's about it. When I return, though, my living situation will be a bit up in the air. So this update serves, in part, to let people know where, if, when, how, why, and what my domestic plan is for the next chapter of my life.

I won't hear back about my university applications until sometime in April. Presumably not on April 1, unless the academic administration have some cruel sense of humour. The track of my life depends rather intently upon this sneaky little month.

Upon my return to Canada, one thing is certain: I'll be living in Newmarket for most of April.

I will then await a reply from my Master's applications. If I hear successfully from York, I plan on moving to Toronto to a central apartment I have my eye on. As this is my first choice, it's my current plan if not for the cautious pessimism that prevents me from putting all my eggs in the same basket. If only Western, Concordia or no university replies in affirmation of my acceptance, I'll try to settle myself in Waterloo for the summer.

As my plans of action have developed further since I left Canada – and now I may never be returning permanently to what I considered “home” back in February – it will be interesting to see how I cope with the “reverse culture-shock” that can occur when one returns to their home after an extended stay abroad. Perhaps I will go completely insane. Newmarket, with its highways, cineplexes, shopping malls and stock clearance warehouses represents the polar opposite of what life has been life in Tanzania, so abject madness is quite possible.

More likely, hopefully, is that my journeys in Africa will have better prepared me to the nomadic lifestyle that I may be subjected to upon my return to Canada.

“But you've only stayed in one place this whole time!” I hear you cry. Well, apart from my five-day safari into the heart of East Africa's national park territory, I also have a final excursion ahead of me – this one experienced on my lonesome.

On March 22 I'll be taking a ten-hour bus from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city, for a night's stay at a backpacker's inn. Come morning, I'll hop on a two-hour ferry (hopefully the speedy Sea Express at 7 a.m.) and make my way to Zanzibar, birthplace of Freddy Mercury and the African slave trade.

I'll be staying at a cozy little place in the shadow of the House of Wonders, the island's most famous landmark and once the tallest building on the continent. It's not that big though. After three nights' stay, I'll head back to Dar Es Salaam by afternoon cruise and spend another night there before taking an early-morning bus back to the centre of the universe, Arusha.

While I'm most excited to see the cultural phenomenon that is Zanzibar, I'm also intrigued to see how interesting its port, Dar, will be. It's nickname in Swahili, “Bongo”, refers to the fact that to survive in the city, you need “wits”. My Rough Guide assures me that the city is an under-appreciated gem, so I'll give it a fair shot.

Regardless of how the trip pans out, I'm excited at the prospect of doing some independent travelling, something that faintly resembles “back-packing”, but with the security of luxury bus lines and the comfort of a light luggage load.

My only real paranoia is that, in spite of my meticulously organized scheming of this trip (which has been narrowed down to where I will eat each night), something will go awry and I'll have to respond with a change in plan. The schedule is a pretty firm house of cards though, so I doubt that anything but a serious roadblock could truly topple the deck.