Last Day in Africa

So this will be my last post from Africa.  I started this blog with the intention of sharing my experiences here with those who couldn't come with me.  I am really happy about my time here. Now I know people are going to ask me "Oh you went to Africa? Did you learn anything?" My answer would be yes. I have learned a lot.  But I'm going to talk about 3 of the most things I learned while here.

       1: Patience.  I have always been impatient.  I always rush to get things done, and to get to places.  When I came to Africa I immediately became irritated by all the long lines and inefficiency.  You would wait in a 20 minute line just to pay for dinner then wait in another long line to get your food because there is only one person serving food.  When in a restaurant my friends and I would play cards, because it would take a really long time to bring out our food.  This place just moves a lot slower than everywhere else and because of that I had to become patient enough to deal with everything. I feel that once I get home, all the lines will seem short, and I will have more patience with people.

      2: Tolerance.  Being a minority here means that I received a lot of attention whether it be wanted or unwanted.  I've had to be able to smile and listen to a person I clearly don't want to talk to.  If I screamed at every guy who hooted and hollered at me, then I would be coming home dumb from all the yelling.  People say that you have to pick your fights, and I've definitely applied that here.  There is a time and place for everything. Instead of getting in a fight with every person I don't get along with I ignore them and continue on with my life.  Another place I learned tolerance was with my roommate.  We have very different sleeping habits.  For example, we have a rule here (UB) that you are not allowed to have people in your room past midnight.  My roommate has on multiple occasions had people past midnight, and has had study sessions until 2 in the morning.   Now if you don't know me very well then you don't know how much I like sleep. Seriously, I love it. I'll go to bed at 11 and wake up at 10.  But instead of telling my roommate off, which I did once, I simply ignore the 7 people she has and try my best to go to sleep.  Also in the morning she prefers to wake up around 7 or 8 and then have people over.  In the beginning of the semester, I woke up every time she and her friends started talking, but now I sleep through it.
       3: Appreciation for my home country. Now I already do appreciate the states, but I've learned to appreciate it even more here.  One aspect of the appreciation is how clean the states is.  Here they don't know what recycling is, or what a trashcan is.  People use the ground as a trashcan and leave  trash on the tables in the Student Center and anywhere else.  In the states everything is clean, and you get fined if seen littering.  I also really like how the states has banned smoking in restaurants and other locations.  Here the people are slowly moving in this direction.  Stores are beginning to ban smoking and restaurants are beginning to ban smoking inside as well.  Still though i don't like sitting on the deck of a restaurant breathing in someone else's smoke.

     I've learned a lot this semester but those are the three most important ones.  Now the second question I'll probably receive is "Would you recommend going there?" My answer to this question is this: If you are looking for a relaxing easy going location where you don't have to work and people help you, don't come to Botswana.  Besides orientation I have not interacted with my host coordinators.   They are suppose to be there to guide you and help you if you need it yet I've figured everything out on my own.  This place does not allow to you to be held by the hand.  You have to be able to do it yourself.  Botswana can be really trying at times you can't break down every time something doesn't go your way.  That doesn't mean you aren't allowed to feel homesick on occasion, I'm just saying you can't lock yourself in your room and mope all day.  Of all the trips I've been on here, only 2 day trips have been planned by the international office.  The rest I've done with my fellow international students.  This place is wonderful and all but you need to be able to do things by yourself because no one will tell you what you need to do or how to do it.  I feel that I've become a lot more independent by being here, just because I've learned to do things by myself.
      The last question people will probably ask me is "Would you do it again?" My answer would be YES!!!!!! I have loved being here. I find being in a place so different from my home fascinating and I adore learning about new cultures.  This place is beautiful and the people are so nice.  Being here was an amazing experience and I will never forget it. If  I can come back to Africa I definitely will. I want to see more of it and meet new people.  I recommend studying abroad to everyone. It is an experience that I feel everyone needs to have.  I've always heard people saying that their one big regret from college was not studying abroad.  And it makes perfect sense.  You learn so many new things while abroad and you get to try so many new things as well.  I have loved being here, and I hope I get the chance to travel more in my future.

5 Days

I am now done with my finals, and have the rest of the week to do nothing except say goodbye and pack.  I cannot believe how the time has gone by.  It seems like only yesterday I was stepping off the plane into the sun.  Despite the challenges I've faced here, I really have grown to love this place.  This post is going to be about the things that I really like.

 1:  The pace.  Now when I'm at home I am always on time and I move fast.  My life seems to be constantly in motion with little time to slow down and breathe.  Here though, everything moves at its own pace.  You take your time going places, and enjoy the view.  Dinner isn't a meal its a gathering.  The food doesn't arrive as quickly so you have more time to talk to your friends and relax.  You're never in a rush to get somewhere, you get there when you do.  Don't try and set a deadline or a time limit because it won't happen.  People relax here, and enjoy life.
2:   The people.    The people here are very nice.  They're very curious about me and why I am here, but for the most part it's just that.  They don't want anything from me except my insight on their country. My friends and I have hitch hiked plenty of times and the people that give us the ride are always courteous and friendly. I have never been turned away when asking for help.  If you stop somewhere and seem upset, someone will come and offer you help.  You don't need to be afraid to approach someone (except maybe on occasion guys).

3: The temperature.  I HATE snow. I don't like it. I don't mind the cold as much as I mind the snow. So coming here while it was still winter back home was a godsend. I love waking up to the sounds of birds and cows outside my windows.  The sun is always shining and when it rains it only rains for about 20 minutes before it clears up again.  It is hot here, but not a humid heat.  It's the kind of heat that makes you want to sit outside having a picnic.
4:  The culture.  This place has great culture. It's very rich, and old traditions are integrated into the modern society.  I love how the music is a mixture of some of the popular hits, i.e Adele, is mixed with an African drum beat.  Most people except for those in the city live in traditional villages.  I love watching the traditionalism and the modernism mix together.  I think it's fascinating how their language Setswana is still be spoken despite the fact that English is the official language.  This country tries and succeeds at holding onto its roots.

5: The beauty.  The sunset here is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.  The vibrant colors mix with the suns rays and the clouds creating a entrancing tapestry across the sky.  (Impressed at my poeticness? Because I am).  Anyways I love the flowers here.  They are bright and colorful and everywhere.  I also really like seeing cows, donkeys, and goats everywhere. They wander the country unsupervised.  I ususally  wake up to the sound of cow bells and moos.

13 Days a.k.a This Mortal Form Grows Weak, I Need Sustenance!!!

I've met a lot  of really cool and awesome people here.  I hang out with a lot of them, though there are 2 people who are the closest to me.  Their names are Meredith and Ali. If you've read this blog before then you've seen pictures of me and them, and you've read some of our adventures.  That being said they deserve a post because we spend so much time together.

       When I first got here I flew with someone else and we had to wait for a third person to arrive before our guide would bring us to the campus.  The third person was Meredith, and that is how we met.  Because we arrived after Orientation started the three of us kind of stuck together. Even once Orientation was over Meredith and I stuck together.  We're in a math class together so I see her at least once a day.

  Normally I see her at least twice a day.  Meredith is a morning person.  She never sleeps in (it's like her body won't let her sleep past 9 am) and every morning she would smile and say "Hello" in this voice which I have decided is the quirky Meredith voice.  Usually I would grunt or mumble in response (I am not a morning person in the slightest).  She's really nice, and always always always smiles.  When I say always smiles I mean SHE ALWAYS SMILES. Even a person is hitting on her and not taking the hint that she wants to be left alone she smiles.  She's really sweet even when she tells you to fuck off.  Add her blond hair and she could charm anyone.  She is as weird as me.  She makes plenty of weird faces, and says really funny things.  She laughs as much as she smiles, and can sing along with the best of rappers.  We get along quite easily, and always have a good time together.  Almost all of the trips, except for the safari, was with Meredith.  She never fails to make me laugh or cheer me up.  She is also really smart and everything comes naturally to her.  We are the only white girls in our class, and because the teacher can see how smart she is she is called to the board a lot.  If I have a problem in that class I go to her.

   The next person I hang out with on a daily basis is Ali.  Ali is a lot like me.  When it comes to our relationships we both wear the pants, yes that's right I'm not afraid to admit that, and we have very similar taste in men, our  boyfriends are pretty much the same.  She is a political science major so if I have any questions about politics I go to her. Because of that she is very opinionated and isn't afraid to speak her mind.  She is strong and very self assured. I wish I was a lot more like her.  She doesn't back down from a fight, but at the same time she can be soft and silly.

 She has this trade mark pose which has been dubbed the dinosaur.  She, much like me, makes weird noises.  She is a bartender and she is the person who got me to drink while over here. She has helped decide the type of alcohol I like and takes care of me when I need it.  She is a lot of fun to be with and always does her best to make sure I'm having fun with her.  I do feel very ignorant compared to her, and I ask a lot of questions. I don't really remember exactly how I met Ali but I do remember that we were walking back from something in a group together and we started talking. We instantly bonded over Dr.Who (even though I prefer the 11th doctor and she likes the 10th).  After that we started talking and found out we had a lot in common.  I think we really stated hanging out because she was friends with Meredith via drinking and I was friends with Meredith as well  so we would all hang out.

            Between the three of us we have all the bases covered.  Ali is the sassy one, Meredith is the sweet charming one, and I am the highly sarcastic one. I am the best at getting rides, Ali is the best Haggler, and Meredith is the best at charming people and best at knowing where we're going and how to get there.  I have never been anyone except myself and while I know they think I'm obnoxious at times (especially when I drink coffee) I know they are my friends.  I feel more at ease with them then I do with some of my friends back home.  They know how clumsy I am and we joke about it a lot.

 They always tease about pushing me down a hole on the side of the road, but I never take it seriously because I know they will take care of me and have my best interest at heart.

When I'm having a bad day it these two people I turn to.  When I had an interview at 10 pm and didn't have internet it was Ali that walked with me to Riverwalk Mall so I could do my skype interview there.  When I needed someone to cheer me up and play card games with me Meredith is the one I call.  Every trip, except one, was done with these two. I am really going to miss them when I go back home, and I do intend on visiting them.  Thankfully they don't live too far away from me.                                  

Mozambique!

           So this is a time out from the count down. Over Easter break 2 friends of mine and I went to Maputo Mozambique.  We left Wednesday before Easter.  Getting to Maputo consisted of multiple modes of transportation. First we took a combi from UB to the station.  From the station we paid 190 Pula to take another combi from the station into Johannesburg.  It was a 1/2 hour to the Botswana boarder were we had to get out fill out a form and get our passport stamped.  Then we walked to the South Africa boarder and did the same thing over again.  Once this was all done we got back in the combi and continued onto Joberg which took 6 hours.  Thankfully the ride wasn't too uncomfortable.  I was able to read until it got dark and then listened to music.  We arrived at Joberg around 10 pm.  As one of my friends eloquently said "Joberg is the armpit of Africa". And it's true.  The smell of burning rubber saturates the air, and there is trash everywhere you turn.  Add in some run down buildings and creepy people and you get one sketch place.  Our combi driver took us to our hotel, oddly enough this hotel is the exact same one I stayed in when I was last in Joberg.  We spent the night there and the next day we flew out of the OR Tampo Airport into Maputo Mozambique.  The flight was fine, an hour long and food can't really go wrong.
          We ran into multiple issues once we got there. The first being this: All the websites we looked at said that to pay for the visa you can pay in any currency. We got to the visa spot and found out that was not true.  So we had to leave our passports with the visa guy and get escorted to an ATM where we had to take out there currency and then get escorted back to the visa spot where we paid for our visa's.  Once this was over we went over to where the hotel was going to pick us up.  Only there was no one there.  So we found a taxi and showed them where we wanted to go. Our hotel was the Catembe Gallery Hotel.  What we didn't realize was that the hotel was on a peninsula and we would have to take a ferry every time we wanted to go to the mainland.  So then the taxi took us to the ferry, we took the ferry and finally arrived to the hotel where they claimed I didn't pay for our reservation.  This issue wasn't resolved until the day we left where I showed them my bank account and showed that the money was taken out.

       The hotel was beautiful in my opinion.  Our room had a single two person bed in one area and then a single bed in a different spot. Our room overlooked the pool and the ocean.  The room had these really cool lizard lights that I adored.  The hotel had this little restaurant area.  The pool was the cleanest I've seen here, and had palm trees and chairs around it.  Then a walk way would take you to the bar which sat in the ocean where you could get drinks and watch the sunset.  Mozambique itself is beautiful.  The palm trees and beaches give it a sense of serenity and quiet.  The sky is always blue and it's always warm.

      We went into the city a lot and just walked around.  The city could be as beautiful as the country.  There are plenty of old Victorian buildings, and plenty of parks.  However the people don't keep it clean.  There is trash everywhere, maybe on par with Joberg.  At one point my friend asked a local where a trash can was and the lady laughed and told her to just throw it on the ground.  I took a bunch of pictures of some of the rundown buildings because I felt as though that they could have been really pretty.
              The city in my eyes is made up of two parts.  80% of Mozambique is slums and it shows in the lower part of the city that was closest to the ocean.  That is where it was the dirtiest and where we saw roads and decided not to go down them.  We also saw a lot of homeless people and people begging for money.  Now the other side of Maputo sat high on a hill and had a great view of the ocean.  This is where the rich people would live and it showed.  It was cleaner, and the buildings were taken care of.  This is also where the craft market was.

      The craft market was about 3 times longer than the one in Zimbabwe if you stretched the one in Zim out.  It was 2 rows of stuff and stretched on for so long.  We spent a decent amount of time here buying things, and we only walked the entire distance once, because there was so much stuff.  I personally loved it.  I got a cool bag and some stuff for my friends and family there.
Once we were done shopping and haggling like a boss we got lunch there and then got ice cream.  We took this weird taxi thing back to the ferry.  Pretty much its a car that is open on two sides and has one wheel in the front and 2 in the back.  The driver uses something similar to a motorcycle handlebars.  It was the  cheapest transportation and the most fun.

      We also went to Inhaca Island.  It's a 2 hour ferry ride to the island on a tiny boat that rocked with the waves a lot.  Once we got closer to the island we had  to get out and walk the rest of the way because the tide was too far out for the boat to go all the way.  So everyone had to carry their stuff and walk through the water to get to the island.  The water here was blue compared to the brown water at Maputo.  The island was beautiful, and reminded me of what I thought paradise would be.  Palm trees, and beaches that wrapped around  the island, with coral reefs in front of it and blue blue water everywhere.  We went snorkeling over the coral reefs and saw a lot of fish.  It was really cool seeing the reefs.  I had this one stupid small yellow and black fish follow me around for a little bit.  it would scare the crap out of me every time I turned and it would be there.  I also had grilled calamari for the first time here. It was really good and definitely a new experience.
       People in Mozambique speak Portuguese, and a tiny bit of English.  So communicating was difficult sometimes.  I got to use my "teacher" voice and would explain things very simply and slowly.  We would hitchhike from the ferry point to our hotel and one time we got a ride with a woman who couldn't speak English at all.  It was quite an experience trying to communicate.  I was able to get across that I studied math by saying "one plus one is two".  We were able to talk to some people in the little Spanish that we knew, but for the most part we just repeated what we said in English multiple times.
        When we first got to Maputo we wanted to exchange our Pula.  However no bank would do this.  Most people and banks didn't even know what a Pula was.  This I found interesting because the Pula is a lot stronger than the Meticai which is what Mozambique uses.  The people we talked to had no idea what Botswana was let alone where it was.
    We went home on Monday where we flew out of Maputo then to Joberg and then  took a combi to Gabs.  Overall I really enjoyed this trip. I loved seeing a new country and experiencing a new culture.  It was really relaxing to just sit under the sun and do nothing.  The heat in Mozambique was welcomed since it is starting to turn into winter here at Gabs.
                  Here are some more pictures:

30 DAYS!!!!

       This place has been a great confidence boost.  "Why," you ask? Well, I'll tell you.  Imagine a five year old who just got a new toy.  This little boy/girl will find it fascinating and will not put down this toy for more than a moment.  Well, I am that toy and the little five year old boy/girl are the men here.  Now before I continue I have to reassure all you guys that nothing has ever happened. I've never been touched inappropriately, never been grabbed, etc.  So now that is cleared up and I HOPE that you are all less concerned for me I am going to continue.
       Botswana is made up of mainly black people, I'm not being racist, that's just what it is.  The international students here make up maybe <1% of white people.  Because of this we attract a lot of attention.  I'm going to tell you some of the things that have happened to me, and to my fellow white girls.

      I have a friend, we'll call her R. Now R and a few others walked to main mall one time.  On the way there a guy approached her and grabbed her wrist saying that "R was the most beautiful thing he's ever seen and will she please marry him?" Well, R like any other girl approached by a stranger replied "No, I'm sorry" the stranger then went on to ask R "if she would at least reproduce with him."  First off, I don't what guy in his right mind (and maybe that's the point) would ask a random girl to marry him or to reproduce with him.  I mean seriously dude? You're just setting yourself up for failure.
      I was doing laundry one day and decided that while I was waiting I was going to paint my toenails.  A guy saw what I was doing and asked me if he could paint my toenails for me.  Now while this isn't a creepy sexual story or anything, having a random guy ask me if he could touch my feet is kind of creepy.
     My friend M has the unfortunate pleasure of having blond hair here.  Because of this she attracts more attention than I would.  One time she was at the station (where all the combis gather) while walking a guy from across the street continued to yell " Yo blondie! Yo English!  Blondie! Blondie! I don't speak English very well but you are beautiful!"  In a crowded place surrounded by strangers the one thing you don't want is someone to be yelling to you and drawing attention to you.
       My friends M H and I went to the bar on campus (not one of the best ideas in my opinion) and got some drinks.  We decided that we would sit at a table across the road from it (because you're not allowed to drink anywhere else except that everyone does!) and play cards. After a few minutes people began to notice us.  We would get groups of guys coming up and asking if they could play cards with us.  My friend H would tell them it was a girls night and that boys weren't allowed.  Oddly enough a bunch of them insisted that they were gay (which is illegal here) or transsexual (which is also illegal) and because of that we should let them join.  We would just laugh and tell them to go away.  I decided that I would keep a running tally of how many guys came and hit on us (just hit on us, not being friendly and talking). After 2 hours we were up to 20 guys!
     One other night my friends M G A and I were drinking in A's room.  We decided to go to Bimbo's (the only fast food restaurant open at midnight).  We saw that one of our fellow international students Peter was also going to Bimbo's and we bummed a ride off of him and his 3 friends that we didn't know. This was not one of our finest ideas.  We got to Bimbos and found out that 2 out of 3 of his friends were drunk.  One of them kept talking to me asking if he could talk to me alone.  I mean no! Why would I walk away from my friends in the dark to talk to you alone.  I kept responding that whatever he had to say to me he could say in front of my friends.  He continued to try and lure me away.  I continued to beguile him and reject him. At one point he took a hold of wrist looked me in the eyes and said "You shouldn't talk to African men like that" I then responded " I will talk to men anyway that I want to". Just because they treat women like their dirt here does not mean they can expect me to be submissive as well.  He then asked my friends if they could "release me so that he could talk to me alone". I responded stating the fact that I was not some dog that could be let off it's leash. Eventually we got  away from them and went to a gas station to wait for a taxi.  There 2 more guys decided they could try their luck with us.  By that point we were in mood to talk to guys so after a few minutes of intense hatred they went away.
      These are just some stories.  Usually a guy will just come up to me talk to me for a few minutes, ask if i have a boyfriend (you always say yes, or that you're married) and then once I rejected him he would walk away.  We do get a lot of honks directed our way when we walk which is quite obnoxious.  The attention was nice at first, but now I'm kind of tired of it.

33 Days

So I know I complain about Africa a lot.  You have to understand. I love this place, with all my heart, but somethings just make me grind my teeth. This post is going to be about ... INEFFICIENCY!!!!   There are a lot of inefficient things over here.

                So I might as well start with the school. When the local students here and international students register for class it is done by hand.  Meaning that the local students have to line up and wait (sometimes for days) to enter a room  where people at a table will ask you what classes you want to take. They will then write you down for that class. Sometimes though you go to class only to see a sign that says the class isn't being offered...yet somehow you managed to register for it.  Also because it's by hand it means that you're not alerted if the combination of classes  you want to take makes sense, i.e taking a prerequisite for a course and that course at the same time.
           In order to use the wifi here you need to register your laptop.  In order to register you're laptop you need to go to the department IT office you're under and get them to register for you.  In my eyes it would make a lot more sense to have a single location where everyone can register their computers. The offices here have really weird hours, and often times after taking a 2 hour long lunch break leave around 2 hours earlier.

         Most buildings at a university make some sort of sense. And if you don't know where you are then there is a map to guide you.  At UB the buildings are numbered.  Now you'd think that if they were numbered then 480 would be next to 479 or something like that. That is not how it works here.  480 is on one end while 479 is at the other end of campus.  So you need to wander around hoping to stumble across the building you need. If you get lost you could attempt to look at a map...except there aren't many maps oncampus and if you do find a map it isn't updated.  So you're pretty much destined to ask the locals, who have no idea where anything is.
      When you need to print you need to buy a card at one location.  Once you have a card you need to put money on this card by traveling to multiple locations.  Then you can go to the library and print.
      There are a few stores in the student center.  They had to close one store for 2 days  while taking inventory and another store closed the entire week.  Why these stores couldn't possibly take inventory while they're closed is beyond me and I don't understand why it takes a tiny store more than one day to do inventory.
   Now as I've said before I do love this place but sometimes it makes me a little crazy.  The first time I skyped my parents from here my dad told me that this place would  teach me patience. And it certainly has. After waiting in a line to get dinner for around a 1/2 hour the lines back home will seem like nothing. I have never been patient but thanks to this place I might return more patient than when I left.

38 Days

My time here is almost up and I still have so much that I want to do.  I am going to Mozambique over Easter break. It should be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it.  My friends and I wanted to go to Madagascar over Easter break, but the flight was too expensive and we would've had a hard time figuring out how to get there and what not. So we decided on going to Mozambique which is pretty close to Madagascar considering the fact that Madagascar is an island.  I've been doing research about Mozambique mainly what I wanted to do there and stuff. And from what I've read it seems to be very different from Botswana. Botswana is a developing nation compared to Mozambique which is an under developed nation.
         We are going to Maputo which is the capital of Mozambique.  We are hoping to go snorkeling over the coral reefs nearby.  The hotel that we are staying in is right on the beach and I am looking forward to lying on the beach simply enjoying the sun.  In order to get to Mozambique we are taking a combi to Johannesburg South Africa. This is a 6 hour drive I've heard, and basing on a normal combi ride will probably be very uncomfortable.  However it is pretty cheap and leaves every hour on the hour which is really convenient.  We plan on leaving for Joberg (Johannesburg if you weren't able to figure that out...) Wednesday afternoon April 4th. 2 of us have classes until 1 so we will probably leave after that. Once in Joberg we are spending the night in this tiny hotel.  Ironically enough it is the same one that I spent the night in while coming to Gaborone.  Then on Thursday we are flying from Joberg into Maputo.  It's only like an 1 and 1/2 hour flight which shouldn't be too bad. We found a rather cheapish flight.  The flight itself was $99 but there were a lot of fees. As it is the flight was still cheaper than if we were to go to Madagascar.  The economy in Mozambique is better than it is in Zimbabwe but still really bad so I'm hoping that I won't spend too much money while over there.

      If the exam schedule stays the same as it is right now (the actual one comes out April 10th when they figure out if there are any conflicts and what not) then I will have the last week of school off.  That would make me inexplicably happy because I leave May 4th at 3:55 pm and I was afraid that I was going to have conflicts with my exams and I wouldn't have any time to say goodbye to people. But if my exams are over when they say they are right now then I really want to travel one last  time.  I just want to experience as much as possible while over here. I would love to go to Namibia but it is such a sparse country that I'm not sure how I would get places. I'm contemplating Cape Town in South Africa but going there would be a very stupid idea so I'm hoping I can find someone who would want to come with me. Either way I've done so much here and don't regret a single moment. I am even contemplating getting an addition to my moon tattoo. It would be a sun to represent my time "under the sun" here in Africa.  This place will stay with me always I don't want to forget a second of it.

41 Days

The internet in our dorm room has been out since Monday...It's now Sunday.  So this makes my life a lot harder.  There is wifi on campus but only in select spots.  The library, science buildings and the business buildings are areas that I know have wifi.  So whenever I want to go online to do anything I have to pack up all my stuff, then lug it to the business center which is the closet place to my room.  And there I sit. Until I have done everything I need to online, or until my butt hurts from sitting on the ground because there really aren't that many chairs in this building.  I don't understand why this campus can't just fix things when they get broken right away. Another example of that is the laundry machines.  They have about 14 machines, yet more than half are broken.

  The campus is also trying to block websites. I've tried to get on to imdb which a very legal website and when I tried to get on it a screen comes up telling me that the university blocked it because it was entertainment.  Then I look at the screen thinking "really? really? you're seriously going to do that?" I mean come on blocking a LEGAL website because it's entertainment is really stupid and unfair.  They also try to block facebook.  Now, thankfully the school isn't very good at blocking things and I can simply sit the refresh button or then just hit the back button and try again.  But that is besides the point.  We need internet, and we need to be able to do what we want on it. Now I'm not saying this in the sense that the internet is the only thing that offers entertainment. No, it's much simpler than that.  The internet offers communication.  And as an international student, I go on facebook to talk with my friends.  Then I go on my email and email my parents.  The university doesn't understand this.  But we really do need the internet. Also because the internet doesn't work, skype doesn't work.  So for anyone who has a skype date they need to find a new location to do that, or then just reschedule the skype date.
            Blocking things online is stupid. We have the right to do what we want online, and we have the right to visit whatever website we want to.  Who are you to tell me that I can't do something.  The university is not in any place to tell me what I can and cannot look at. Now I've heard that the university is blocking things in order to get the students focus on academics. And I totally understand this. Plenty of students don't go to class and only show up when there is a test.  But there are better ways to get students to go to class.  At my home university most teachers allow a certain number of days students can miss before they start deducting points from their grade.  This works well because most students feel the need to do well in school.  So this is a system that should be tried over here.  This whole internet business is kind of frustrating. Thankfully the university has told us that hopefully by monday the internet will be working in our dorm again. Hopefully, but it probably won't happen until Wednesday, because that is just the way things work over here.

42 days

"Today's topic class is..." the food.  Since I've gotten here I've had more chicken and rice, or chicken and noodles then I'd care to admit.  Most of the food at the dining halls for each meal is either rice,pasta, or pap, chicken/beef, some form of vegetable.  I usually get a pie and juice for lunch and then suffer through a real meal. The food really isn't that bad. Granted it's not that good either, but it really isn't horrible. But if you eat it for every meal every day you can get tired of it very quickly.  So, my friends and I usually go out for dinner at least twice a week. Thankfully we have 2 malls within walking distance and the restaurants are open pretty late. 

      Right outside the gate of UB (that's University of Botswana, if you haven't figured that out yet you might wanna reread my previous posts) there a few stands with homemade food. I haven't really eaten there except for this one pizza place we affectionately called "Ms.E's Pizza".  You would order what type of pizza you'd want, I usually get the Chicken supreme which had onions green peppers chicken and cheese, and then they'd make it right there.  They had their own brick oven.  However that pizza place went out of business recently and we're all very sad about that.  Besides the pizza place I really enjoy going to Nando's.  Nando's is a chicken place.  Not like the dining hall chicken, though you could get it that plain if you wanted.  They offer sauces ranging from Tangy Tomato to Extra Hot. I usually get a chicken burger, which has cheese tomato lettuce, pineapple on it in the Hot sauce.  Their chips(fries) are delicious and I usually crave it at least once a week.  

        Since I've gotten here and had the cultural dinner I haven't eaten another worm thankfully.  They do sell them in the market and you can get them by the bagful if you'd like.  I have gotten in the habit of asking for a fizzy drink instead of water.  To them soda is soda water aka seltzer.  Also fries here are chips, not just potato chips but french fries as well.  The one food that I crave the most, and will be included on the car ride home from the Boston airport is American Chinese Food.  I miss Orange Chicken and Pork Fried Rice like I was a little kid who lost their favorite blanket.  

43 days.

So before I came here I had to do an advising agreement.  I pretty much choose the classes I wanted to take and had to go to each department they were under to make sure they would transfer over.  Once I got here I registered for those classes.  Now, I took Calculus I last semester, and registered to take Calc. II  here.  On the first day of classes, I quickly realized that something was fishy.  The first few classes focused on an continuation of power series. Only, I didn't even learn the basics of power series in Calc.I like the locals here did. So I came here lacking knowledge I was suppose to have in order to take the class.  However, the teacher I had was very good at teaching and soon I caught up. I had to learn a few things on my own, but once I did I had no problem. And I still don't have a problem.  I really enjoy the teacher because he makes what could be a difficult topic easy to understand.  He also has a great sense of humor and often tells a story somehow, except sometimes not, relating to the topic we're learning.

   I'm also taking Linear Algebra. The first thing that we did was matrices. Which is something I did in high school.  So this topic was fairly easy for me.  I really do not like this teacher though. He is sloppy, has the worst hand writing, and really doesn't do a lot to help the students.  A lot of the class failed the first class, and I believe that a students grade reflects the teachers ability to teach, so if most of the class failed, what does that tell you about the teacher? Every time I get out of this class it makes me want to bang my head against something heavy until I can't feel anything. And i say that a lot.  But I guess I can't really complain because so far the topics we have been covering are really easy.

   My last math class is Differential Equations.  I found out the first week that Calc. II was a prerequisite for this course. So that is one strike against me.  I needed to know how to differentiate partially, and we're just about to cover that in Calc. II. It is also a junior level course, and I am only  a Sophmore, so a lot of the other students know things that I don't.  This class is kicking my butt hard core. I am trying so hard to do well in this class, and I gear that my efforts will be for nothing.  If I can pass this class, notice I say pass and not pass well, I will consider it one of my greatest achievements.  Thankfully the teacher is very willing to help me succeed and I hope that together we can have me pass.

   My last class is Intro. to Setswana.  This class is for international students. I've been in this class since the beginning of the semester, and only now are we covering sentence formation.  The teacher is nice, but we cover very little topics.  I do like learning it and although we only learn a tiny bit, I love being able to understand what the students are saying.  Granted the locals speak tens times faster than I would like, and I only pick up maybe one word in a sentence I still feel cool for taking a class in Setswana.

  Now the grading system here is a little different. An A is considered 100-80, then B 79-70, C 69-60, and a D is 59-50, then F 49-40.  I think there are two lower grades but I'm not sure what it is.  While this makes my life a little bit easier it also means that the tests are a tiny bit harder.

So I thought I would include some pictures because a post without at least one picture is like a zebra without stripes.

The count down begins...44

So with 44 days left here. Yes, that's right, 44, I figured I would do a count down. I can't really say what will be in the posts, I won't know until I start typing. So yeah, that's plan.  This one will be focused more on the people. When I say people I mean all people.  Fellow international students, the locals, and  the coordinators.
         When I first applied for this I expected  that once I got here I would be helped.  Any questions would be answered and I could to them with any problem.  I got here and did the orientation.   That and the first week was the only time I saw the coordinators.  They helped us register took us on a few trips, then released us to muddle our way through.  I would have loved it if they had told me during registration that I was about to take the prerequisite and  the course at the same time. This was not information provided to me.  The only time I see these  people is when I pick up my stipend check every other month, when I needed a form signed, or when I'm checking to see if I have mail.  But maybe perhaps because they have left me to my own devices I was able to find my way better than if they held my hand the entire time. I am traveling on my own, and have been to many different places, and perhaps if the only time I went on a trip was with them, I wouldn't know how to plan a trip. So, as much as I really wish they provided more help, I'm grateful at the same time.
         The locals here are interesting to say the least.  The girls are often curious as to where I come from and the guys are curious to know if I have a boyfriend/ if i do do I want a local one. I don't have too many local friends here except for Dean and Kevin who have gone on the trips with us and help me when I need it.  The accent these people have is rather thick and even now I still have a hard  time understanding them.  I receive a lot of attention for being white, and at first I found the attention really nice, but now I tend to shoo the guys away when they approach me.  The locals here are very nice, but I desperately wish that they knew/wore deodorant because being under the sun for so long creates some very bad body odor. About every other day I open the door to my room and walk into a wall of B.O because my roommate has a lot of friends over in our very tiny room and all of them stink.  Also, the students here don't really seem to know where anything is. Whenever I need to find something I tend to wander for a little bit and hopefully come across what I need.  But for all my complaining the locals are very nice and make this place what it is.

        There are over 30 people in my program (ISEP) and at least 20 others in one other program.  I do not know how many people are actually here.  I know most of the people's names but I don't know everyone's.  I hang out with only a small chunk of the people here, but I am close to them.  Most of the international students here LOVE to party and really enjoy drinking as well.  I don't often hang out with those guys because I am not big on partying.  Most of the international students here are from the states, and I have met a girl from CT.  All of the international students are really nice, and I really liked the week long camping trip because I got to know them better.   I will miss a bunch of the group when I go home and I hope that at some point in time I can visit the others from the states, or vise versa.  I also hope that I keep in contact with all of them once we part ways.

Victoria Falls

 On Friday we went to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. It was around a 1/2 hour drive from Kasane. After a stop at both the Botswana boarder post and the Zimbabwe boarder post we were on our way.
        The first activity that I did was the lion walk.  It was this incredible experience where you could pet the lions and walk with them for a ways.  However, you are constantly reminded that they're not tame; your not allowed to pet above the neck.  It  was so cool to be in such close contact to the "king of the jungle".  The lions we walked with were around 8 months old and they were already so big.  We took a lot of pictures with them.  They really did their own thing and we couldn't make them walk where or when they didn't want to. But this was perfectly fine with me, because I was just in awe to be so close to them.

 On the right is a picture of the two lions we walked with. One is a boy and the other a girl.  They are not siblings.

 This the group of us who wanted to do the lion walk.  By doing this activity we kind of isolated ourselves from the rest of the group and just ended up doing the rest of the activities together.  I almost thought it more fun with a smaller group than a bigger one.

 The last stop on the walk was a little river where the lions stopped for  a drink. As for the stick in my hand, we were all given one before the walk. It is not to beat the lions with or to poke them.  If a lion came up to you and wanted to play and you didn't want them to you would tap the ground with the stick and say "no" in a loud firm voice.

 The next activity was the Gorge Swing.  The picture on the left is off the gorge which is towards the end of the falls.  The Gorge Swing is kind of like Bungee Jumping except you are attached at your waist instead of your feet. Also once you reach the length of the rope after a free fall you begin to do a tarzan swing across the gorge. The drop is 120 meters, and this was one of the most terrifying and awesome things I've ever done.  The group of us that did were talking when I suddenly noticed the guy hooking me up the a rope connected to the ledge. I had become the first one to jump.  Once on the ledge and after the guy gave the safety briefing he asked me to walk towards the edge. I said no constantly but continued to walk. Once at the edge he  said "5,4,3,2,1" and that was it, I was off. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out.  There was no belly in your throat feeling like with a roller coaster, it was just the ongoing sensation of falling. Once at the bottom I swung across the gorge and was able to fully enjoy the incredible view.

   
     On the right is a picture of me all geared up and ready to go.  I had been slightly terrified from the second I decided to do this, which was 2 weeks before we left for this trip.

 This is me about to jump into the gorge.

 After the gorge swing we went on a tour of Victoria Falls.  We decided to get the wet part over with.  Now, when we went it was at the beginning of the high water season and at some parts the mist was so thick you couldn't actually see the Falls.  The wet part, was very very very wet. By the time we were done with the wet part we were all drenched.  With each step I took bubbles emerged from my sneakers.  Victoria Falls is one of the 7 World Wonders and is the widest waterfall in the world. It is considered one of the great among Niagara Falls and another one I can't remember.

 This is a picture of me in front of the falls after the wet part.  Clearly you can see that I am drenched.

 Victoria Falls was breath taking.  You could see a rainbow almost where ever you viewed it, and the view was stunning.  I've never seen something that came close to its beauty.

Victoria Falls had multiple falls to it all connected together.  Among the Falls there were the main falls, the devils cataract, the danger point, and a bunch other that I forgot. All together they make up Victoria Falls.  Zimbabwe and Zambia each have a claim on Victoria Falls and while you can walk more of the distance on the Zimbabwe side, Zambia can claim more of the actual falls.

Monday through Thursday of the Safari trip

 Monday was spent driving  from our first campsite to the next one.  We spent Monday night and Tuesday night in the mababe side of the Chobe National Park.  Now Chobe has the largest population of elephants in the world! And it showed.  After driving for an hour on this dirt road we began to see elephants everywhere!  I took so many pictures of Elephants.  The campsite we slept at was in the bush.  When I say in the bush, I mean in the bush.  We were at least 4 hours away from the park entrance, and there was no sign of civilization anywhere.  Once we got to the park on Monday we unpacked and then went on an afternoon game drive where we saw a lot of animals.  That day also set the pace for the week. I would go to bed around 9 pm then wake up around 5 am.  Get some breakfast, get into the car, go on a game drive, get lunch, another game drive, then come back for dinner and down time.
The food that we had on this trip was amazing.  I find it so funny that the food we ate in the middle of the african bush was better than any meal I could get in one of the dining halls on campus.

 So this was the first elephant I saw.  A lot of the elephants were really close to us.  None of them seemed angry at our presence and most of the time just kind of ignored us.

 Another elephant picture.

 The sunsets I saw were beautiful.  I've never seen any as beautiful as the ones over here. I took so many pictures of them, but the pictures can't even come close to actual thing.

 I was so excited to see a hippo.  I never did get a very good view of a hippo out of water, but I was just excited to see them.

 Impala...everywhere.  Pretty much wherever you turned you could see impala.

 I really didn't see that many zebras but I did a bunch of really good pictures.  I decided that Zebras are my favorite African animal.

 It was so cool to see Giraffes.  We saw a few giraffe babies as well which were really cute.  I found out that a group of giraffes is called a tower. I find that really funny.  We also saw baby elephants, baby warthogs, baby buffalo, and baby hippos.  All of them were really adorable.

  The park doesn't allow people to drive past 7 pm.  But just as we were heading towards our campsite we came across two lions!  One of them was hiding in the bush preparing to hunt some of the impala. We never  did see it kill any though.  The other one was just chilling in the grass.  Later that night we heard lions on the edge of campsite.  They were really close and a few people from our group were really nervous about them coming.  However, they never did grace us with their presence, but I am certain they passed right next to our site.

 On Thursday we went on a river tour of the Chobe River.  It was as if we were in a painting.  On the edge of the river you could see baboons, buffalo, elephants, giraffes, antelope and a lot more coming to get a drink of water.  It was very surreal.

 The buffalo.  One of the big 5.  The big 5 consists of buffalo, elephants, rhino, lions, and leopards. If I remember correctly the big 5 are called this because way back in the day hunters found them the hardest to kill. I unfortunately have only seen 3 out of the big 5.  I hope one day to see all of them.

 Another picture of a sunset.  If you haven't figured it out yet, I really like taking pictures of the sunsets.

And lastly a picture of a warthog.