First Weeks Worth of Notes

Hey guys, so this is the first time I've been able to access internet since arriving in Pietermaritzburg. And so I have a lot to tell you all!

Johannesburg Airport!!

 25 January 2010

I’m sitting in the airport in Johannesburg. It’s been about 30 hours since I left SFO. So far, this trip feels surreal. It’s like I’m watching it all happen from somewhere else. It hasn’t really hit me that I am in Africa. The flight to London was cramped but I slept most of the time. We arrived early at Heathrow due to a tail wind of over 100 mph and a cruising speed of 650mph. Once in London, I wandered around the airport before finding a restaurant to eat at. English food is very different from what I am used to. Lot’s of meats and soggy greens. I had a poached egg and black pudding salad. I don’t even know what black pudding is. I think it was some sort of sausage. It wasn’t bad… just meaty. No rather filled of spices with the consistency of sausage.

The flight to Johannesburg wasn’t bad either. There was a lot of room to lie out. I had a window seat which was perfect because I was able to watch us land. It was so beautiful. The vapor stream trailing off the wing tip and a rainbow arching its way across the sky. Everything is green and lush. The people in the airport are beautiful; the language is beautiful. Its so bouncy and musical.

Granted all I want to do is find where I’m living and take a shower. This is a long trip!

So until it’s time to board. I will sit here and drink rooibos tea. It’s so sweat and smokey and tasty. I feel like I stick out like a sunburnt zebra. The fact that I am exhausted is making it difficult to understand people and I have a GIANT backpack… not to mention my other bag was 12kilos overweight. Oops!

 

 

First Day in Pietermaritzburg

 

26 January 2010

Today was a long day. Not in the sense that is was drawn out and tiresome, but in the sense that I feel like I have been in Pietermaritzburg for more than just 24 hours. I thought I was going to be homesick, exhausted, uncomfortable, however, I am excited, energetic, and at ease. Maybe it just has not hit me yet that I have arrived. Everything seems so surreal. I have been planning on visiting South Africa for three years, yet, I am having difficulty realizing that I am actually here. Of course I miss my family and friends back home, but this is an exciting new adventure and one that will have a tremendous affect on my life.

So far I have met all the study abroad students attending UKZN with me. There are about 15 UC students and 8 Rutgers students as well as a few from University of Illinois, Michigan, and St. Mary’s. We had orientation today, but besides that have been getting to know the lay of the land and figuring everything out. I’m not quite used to the rand and exchange rate with the dollar. The exchange rate is about 1 dollar to 7.5 rand and is greatly in my favor. But it’s difficult for me to realize that when I see 11 rand for a beer or 30 rand for a burger. I keep having to remind myself that if I do the conversion, everything is relatively inexpensive.

Everything in Africa is huge (or at least appears that way). There are cockroaches crawling around the dorms. The first time I saw one was walking into the bathroom. I literally jumped three feet and did a little jig before I gained composure and reminded myself that even though they’re gross, they are completely harmless. No offense, Mags, but I don’t think you could handle it. There are also giant moths that are beautifully colored and about 6 inches across. The sky is huge and emits huge rain drops that drench the vast expanse of land. It’s not a light drizzle but, rather, a monsoon that, even with an umbrella, soaks everyone straight through. The trees are huge, with vines twisting their ways up the enormous branches, and I know this is a really bad stereotype, but I keep thinking of the Lion King and the Circle of Life song.

The people and the language are beautiful. Everyone is friendly and helpful. Everywhere I look people are full of energy, laughing, and smiling. I do not fell shy or nervous around anyone but rather great the people I meet in the hall and strike up a quick conversation before going on my way. Contrary to American culture, no one is in a hurry here. Time moves slowly and everyone is willing to take a few extra seconds to help out another or enjoy the spectacular scenery.

It’s been 24 hours in Pietermaritzburg and I can already tell this is going to be an excellent semester. I’ll keep you all posted! Lots of love!

 

Homesick

 

27 January 2010

We were walking home from town and I was suddenly overcome by homesickness. I do not know why is just suddenly hit. But now all I want to do is cry and I want a hug from my mama. The problem to is that its only 6am in California so I can’t even call my family to tell them I miss them. Well, I could but I don’t think that want to be woken up.

I am really enjoying myself here and I’ve only been here for 72 hours--- so why do I miss home so bad? It’s that psychological thing of knowing that I have no way of seeing my family and friends in California for 6 months. Oh and get this, the EAP program is messed up. The university in Pietermaritzburg closes June 6 and the dorms are going to be rented out for world cup. EAP told us we couldn’t leave until the end of July so that’s almost 2 months of no idea what’s going to happen. Granted, there are enough of us here that we will all be in the same boat and I want to travel around so hopefully it will work out fine. Plus, a certain friend is going to visit me and hopefully stay for a while so we can travel around together. That would be nice… well more than nice—wonderful, amazing, fantastic--- you pick the adjective.

We walked to the center of town today. It was a 3-4km walk down the main street, Chief Albert Luthuli St. I’m still not used to cars driving down the left side of the street. I keep forgetting to look left and have had a few near misses. Oops. I’m getting better though. It takes about an hour of walking around before I become acclimated to it. The cars don’t stop for pedestrians either, which can become quite scary when we are crossing the street. We are about fifteen in number, mainly from UCs and Rutgers, that have been gallivanting around together.

The sun is strong and many of the fairer skinned students are becoming extremely sunburned. I don’t mind the humidity; I just constantly feel sticky and dehydrated.

We have registration tomorrow which will finally provide us with access to the campus facilities (i.e. internet), which will let you all read this and allow me to send much needed emails. I’m excited to pick classes and finally have a schedule. I’m also planning on volunteering and playing soccer so hopefully I will have a lot of things going for me in a few weeks time.

Lots of love and miss you all!!

P.S. I’ve been kind of nervous to pull out my camera in public areas which is why I haven’t posted pictures with these posts yet. But, hopefully, I will become less nervous with that type of stuff soon!

 

Registration-- what a pain

 

28 January 2010

We’re so spoiled in the United States. I’ve said this before and I’m certain I will say it again. Today was a realization about how fortunate I am to live in California and attend the university that I do. Something as insignificant as signing up for classes has demonstrated to me how advanced technology is in the United States compared to South Africa. At home I complain about classes being impacted and the online system being frustrating but I will NEVER do that again.

Registration, today, took 7 hours and was all manual. We started at 7am and had to walk around various rooms to the different departments and have them sign off on our classes. It was so overwhelming because EAP didn’t prepare us for this and I was unable to take the classes that I wanted to take. Therefore, I had to go to the departments that were relevant to my area of studies and ask them to recommend classes for me, which was something that they were not supposed to do. After finally finding 5 classes (2 agriculture courses, biogeography and climate change, globalism and soccer, African literature) I had to walk to the finance building and have them stamp my papers, then I had to wait in line for the dean of the agriculture and science faculty to approve my classes, and then I had to go to another building so they could finally enter everything into a database. Finally, I had to wait in an hour and a half long line to obtain my student ID card. Oh, but I did sign up for soccer and what they call mountain, which is a club that provides opportunities to hick, rock climb, cycle, and go on day excursions, so I am excited about that.

After that was all settled, I was really excited because I thought I finally had access to the internet. Well, I thought wrong. Again, I am a spoiled American, having access whenever I want. But here, the University only allots each student a certain amount of usage per day. Therefore, each student needs a passcode to sign on. Unfortunately, when I went to sign on, it wouldn’t grant me access. So here I am again writing to all of you without actually being able to show you what I am writing for another day. I haven’t had internet since the 10 minute access in the Johannesburg airport. It shouldn’t be a big deal but it is. I want to be able to communicate with people in the States.

I hate that this is all overwhelming me but I think the fact that I am completely homesick makes it a hundred times worse. I am so happy to be here but it’s hard. I have never been in a situation where I am not able to travel home whenever I want. Even though Santa Barbara is 6 hours away from home, I am still able to jump in my car, at the drop of a hat, and go home. The fact that I am unable to return home for 6 months is really weighing heavily on me. I just have to stay busy and not think about it. I know that sounds terrible, but if I think about home I just want to cry. So I can’t.

Tonight we decided we’re going to cook a big meal together. We’ve been eating out most days and the food is okay, but I haven’t found anything really amazing yet. Granted, I haven’t had the opportunity to eat braai, which is barbeque, and I think that will be delicious. The Indian food is really good; there’s a dish called bunny chow which is a hollowed out bread filled with curry, rice, and pickled onions, which is delicious and cheap, but that’s about the most South African food I have tasted. We went to a steakhouse for dinner last night, called Spur El Sombrero and whose logo is a Native American, and I had fajitas, which weren’t terrible, but it’s weird having fake Mexican food in South Africa.

Well, I'm trying to think of there's anything else that I should tell you all but I think that's about the jist of it for right now. Hopefully tomorrow we will be heading to Durban. I'll fill you in soon!!