We have arrived in Antananarivo, Madagascar!  We landed here after flying for about 30 hours straight on Tuesday afternoon.  The flights were extremely long and tiring, as we were stopped for security at every possible point.  We made it, though!  Today (Wednesday) was spent sleeping, exchanging American cash for Ariari (which is a 2,000 Ariari to 1 American dollar exchange rate), getting a go-phone which is ridiculously expensive (so unfortunatlely I won't be calling much, family) and meeting lots of interesting people.  We are staying at the guesthouse Tana Jacaranda, which is a very nice place to stay as it is cool, quiet, and somewhat sheltered from the crazy, noisy, smelly streets of Tana.  Don't get me wrong--the city is amazing.  There is so much life, so many languages I have never been around before, new foods, and winding roads that you have to look at constantly to make sure that you aren't going to trip over a brick or fall into a gaping hole in the concrete.  People are everywhere, and most of them are trying to sell you something--cards, watches, clothes, food...others are asking you for money, and still others are going about their own business of school, work, or errends.  The people in the capital speak a combination of French and Malagasy, neither of which I know.  I can understand a tiny bit of French just because some of the words sound like words in English, but Malagasy sounds like a made-up language to me.  There is no similarity to English at all, so I am very grateful that Zach is fairly fluent in Malagasy.  In Maroantsetra, which we are flying to at 9:00 am tomorrow, the people speak only Malagasy.  So speaking to locals will be very difficult, but that's part of the experience.  We will be spending a few days in the city of Maroantsetra before we begin hiking to the field sites.  Those days will be spent getting our gear in order, getting enough food for 2 weeks in the forest (we will come back to the city after a few weeks), and meeting guides/porters.  I might have time to get in a few interviews with the Malagasy people, which for those of you who don't know, is the interdisciplinary part of my thesis.  I will be asking the people questions regarding their feelings about conservation; whether they understand the concept as I do, whether they believe it to be important, and so on.  I will also be asking them whether or not they see stray cats in the village, and if they think those cats are hunting in the forest.  This will suppliment the data I use from camera traps, which I will survey for feral cats and domesticated dogs.  Ultimately I will be attempting to correlate population rates of feral cats/domesticate dogs to some endemic animal population, perhaps rodents.  There will be alot more on that later, if anyone was confused or wants to know more.  For now, I just want to say that I am so excited to be here in Madagascar, to meet new people, to do interesting research, and to experience life in a country that most Americans know nothing about.  I will try to keep updating, but I have been told that the internet connection in Maroantsetra is terrible; when I can, I will post blogs all at once.  I will also try to email certain people, so keep looking at your emails, those of you I'm thinking about :).  If anyone wants me to email them, you can send me a facebook mesage with your email and I will try to shoot you one.  Those of you I love and miss, know that I love and miss you! 
~Chelsea
p.s. - I will be unable to post any pictures due to the terrible email connection.  As soon as I am back in Tana before coming back to the U.S, I will post them!