Dumelang

Today was an adventure! I finally got up in time for breakfast.  It was delicious!  I had eggs, toast, oatmeal, and tea!  I went immediately to the registration office and started figuring out classes.  I only had to run to the education office in order to get information approved.  I also got my student ID today after waiting in a long line or "que" as they are known here. My Id has a nice yellow picture of me.  I think maybe the camera wasn't set right for white skin and blond hair.  Oh well.  I'm working it.  After going back to the registration office and haggling for more classes I was satisfied with my coarse load.  I think I may go tomorrow to the nursing school and see if I can add a class about aids/hiv but if I don't get it, I'm not worried.

After lunch, I set off with a group of people to hike Kgale Hill. The experience finding the place was an adventure in itself. We walked across campus and jumped in a combi. ( Combis are these little white van things that everyone travels in. They are cheap, costing 3.30 pula each ride. I only spent 2 American dollars traveling to and from Kgale.) The combi took us to rail park mall,  where we walked to another combi location, hopped on a second combi, and got dropped off at the base of the hill.  While slightly lost and confused, people were very nice to point us in the right direction. .. or most people anyway.  At the base of the hill, we explored for quite a while trying to find the trail.  We saw baboons!  Yes, real live baboons just chilling on dirt hills and crossing the road.  Amazing!  We also saw cows roaming around and grazing by themselves.  They had huge bells around their neck and could be heard from a good bit away.  The hike was petty steep but not too long and the view from the top was amazing.  It showed a view of Gaborne. (pronounced hab ah roni) We also had a view of several beautiful hills and the desert.  It was such a great sight!  It was just one of those moments of  "WOW, I'm in Africa!!"

After climbing down, we walked to game city.  It is the newest mall.  I got a loaf of bread because our free meals end tomorrow and we get our meal stipend.  We can eat at the dining halls which cost about 15 Pula each meal.  (2 bucks).  I'm going to try and eat breakfast and lunch in my dorm.  I don't have a microwave and I'm working on getting a fridge, so I'll see how that goes.  I figure peanut butter sandwiches will last me a while!  There are two dining halls (Refactories) on campus, two other food places, and two malls within walking distance.  The malls have a nice selection of food but take about 25 minutes to walk to.  Although, everything is just a short combi ride away.


I start classes tomorrow but apparently nobody usually goes.  I'm going to at least see if I can find these places.  oh boy!


Oh and here are just a few pieces of info that people have asked me:

• I bought a phone for 200 pula which included 20 or 30 minutes.  That's around $29 dollars.  When buying more minutes, each pula you pay equals about a minute.  Texts cost 25 thebe.  (100 Thebe = 1 dollar.)  
• As for the weather, it changes rapidly depending of if the sun is out.  At night it is pretty cold.  I'm guessing it gets to around 45-50..?  It's enough to make me layer up and snuggle under my blankets at night.  (Check for bringing a long sleeve shirt!)  During the day it is beautiful.  It is warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt but won't have you sweating like a maniac.  
• My dorms are called Las Vegas.  They were named that way because of all the lights around them. he he.  You know what they say.... "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"  :) 
• There are around 70 exchange students but 20 or 30 of them are CIEE and they pretty much do their own thing currently.  The remaining people are in Isep or they have come directly from their university.  We have people from Sweden, Finland, Germany, Austria, Australia, Canada, Japan, and of course the states.  Most people are from the US but it's nice to have some variety!
  

Review:

• Botswana is the country
• Batswana are the people of the country
• Motswana is a person from the country
• Setswana is the language

(If you notice they all have "tswana" in them.  Tswana are a type of people in which Botswana was named after.)

 To say Hello in Setswana:

• Dumela - one person   (Pronouced  Do Mel Ah)
• Dumela mma- to a woman
• Dumela rra- to a man
• Dumelang- to a group of people

Interesting right?!
That's it for now.  More to come later. 
Peace out cub scouts!

P.S  I changed my settings so anyone should be able to comment now!

Time to catch up!

Okie Dokie.Here are the events of my life since Wednesday!  Sorry it's so long!

Wednesday I flew from Columbia to Washington to Johannesburg and then to Botswana. It was a 1.2hr flight, a 17hr flight, and a 30 minute flight.  The 17 hour one was not fun!  At first I was super stoked about the tv’s and being able to watch hunger games (woot woot) but then the fun faded.  It was sooo hard to sleep.  I was served three meals total but the food was gross.  I had requested a vegetarian meal when I ordered my ticket because I wasn’t sure about the meat but it turned out to be vegetarian/vegan.   That meant no cheese and no desert! They did have hot tea though!  (Tea is popular hear.  During  orientation we had a “tea break.”  Now that’s what I’m talking about).  All in all the flying experience was good.  All flights went as planned and I showed up at the Botswana airport with two travel partners.  Luckily one of them had contacted UB (University of Botswana) and there was someone there to pick us up.   I was so excited to be in Botswana.  I just remember thinking the guy who picked us up had the coolest accent.  We drove (on the wrong side of the road and with the steering wheel on the opposite side) back to the dorms.  

                Okay,  I have to admit.  The dorms are a bit “janky” (a new word I learned yesterday).  Our rooms are nice with a big closet, window, and desk area. Yet, the bathrooms are special.  They were pretty dirty and smelly when we got here but thanks to the two most awesome people ever they are now clean.  We have 1 shower, 3 toilets, and 3 sinks to split between four double rooms.  The shower is hit and miss.  Usually you get cold showers.  I’ve been lucky enough to have one warm shower! Heaven.  This morning I woke up and there wasn’t any water…. (sorry teeth).  I just think of living here as upscale camping.  Even though there isn’t heat and showers can be cold, I have a warm bed to lay in, a big closet, and a toilet!    Oh and there isn’t toilet paper anywhere here.  You have to carry your own.  Plus there is usually no soap.  Yay for hand sanitizer. 

                Okay, back to the update.  We got dropped off at the dorm and it was only my two travel partners and myself. They roomed up together and I took the room across the hall. We pretty much went right to bed.  The next day (Friday) was orientation.  We sat through lectures for the first part of the day and then did a tour of the campus and a tour of the city.  This was a fun day because I got to meet a lot of people who have done some amazing things.  That night a large group of people went to a friend of Kevin’s house.  (Kevin is our student leader, he lives in our dorms, and is our go to guy.)  This house was so nice, like probably nicer than mine. It had a pool, a hammock, two flat screens, and beautiful (manly?) decorations.

                Saturday, the plans were for everyone to go to the mall.  Unfortunately, my alarm clock did not go off and I missed the bus.  I did sleep until 2:30 in the afternoon though!  It was wonderful.  I took my 2^nd cold shower and waited for everyone to return.  We went to eat and then that night hung in  Kevin’s dorm.  Although some people were going out, I bailed out early.  I was so tired, I went straight to sleep. just to wake up again two hours later. I tossed and turned for three hours before I fell back to sleep. My body is very confused. 

                Sunday was a chill day.  I slept in and then welcomed the new girls who moved in around us. (yay people.  Most of the exchange girls are in block A of the dorms, which isn’t very far, but they aren’t neighbors.)  Later,  I happened to catch a group of exchange students who were walking to a nearby mall.  My two neighbors and I tagged along.  I bought a phone, a power adapter, a chain for my closet, PEANUT BUTTER, and some peanuts.  The mall was really nice!  It has a movie theater in it, a supermarket, electronics store, and lots of regular shopping places you find at a mall.  After the trip to the mall, I came back and socialized with people.  We have a pavilion in the middle of our dorms where people like to congregate.  My roommate arrived.  She’s been in Costa Rica all summer and now she’s in Botswana!  How great is that?  We went for a run, talked to people, and headed to dinner.   After dinner, some people went to bed, others watched a movie, and I just found a group and talked under the pavilion for awhile. 

                Today (Monday) has been hectic.  We were supposed to register for classes.  I went to the international office and after looking through the course catalog, I found that most of the classes I had signed up for are not offered this semester.  I picked a few classes and was told to go to the biology department to get them approved.  After (thankfully) finding the biology department and wandering around the halls looking for people, I found a lady who told me my times were wrong and I needed to sort them out.  I went back the international office, I tried to get a student ID, I tried to pick more classes, and finally I just headed back to my dorm.  There I ran into a group who was heading to a different mall.  Since I bought the wrong power adapter, I tagged along.  This was Main Mall and it was pretty cool.  It was outdoors and there were a lot of venders set up.  There is so many things I want to buy already! We took a combi back to UB.  These are little buses that people cram into.  It cost around 50 cents to ride.  After the mall I looked at classes again.  I really didn’t want any classes on Fridays so traveling would be easier but I may have to jump off that horse.  The biology classes all have labs and I’m not sure how many labs I want to take.  I want this semester to be easy.  I know I might sound like a slacker but I want to have time to enjoy where I am.  I also want to take classes that are unique to Africa.  I am thinking about taking random history classes or something… who knows. I can take anatomy anywhere, but I can’t take Ecotourism anywhere.  I’m refusing to look at it anymore tonight and I figure it will all work out regardless.    

                Anywho,  After dinner a group of us sat around and talked for a bit and then went to the basketball courts.  More people joined us and we started playing soccer.  It was so much fun!   After a bit, we came back to the dorms.  I’m now chilling out writing this.  I think I’ll go to bed soon.  My goal is to catch breakfast (6 to 8) which I haven’t achieved since I’ve been here.  I hear they have cereal!  YUM.  The food here isn’t bad but it’s the same thing everyday.  We are eating in a side room of one of the dining halls until classes start.  (Woo free meals)  When classes start, we are on our own.  Each meal at the dining hall cost 15 pula.  There are 7.4 pula to a dollar, so that’s only around 2bucks a meal.  I heard they serve the same thing there and it will get old fast.  With that fact in mind, and that hope to save money, I’m going to try and eat stuff in my room most of the time.  I’m working on renting a fridge now.   The normal meal here is rice or this white stuff that I can’t remember the name of, two kinds of meat, a sauce for the rice, and some small serving of veggie.  It is very much a meat and start society. 

                Boy I feel like I just wrote down a bunch of stuff.  Sorry I wasn’t able to update sooner.  I’m really loving it here.  I can’t wait to tell you guys more about it!   I will try and get pictures up soon.

I'M HERE!!!

Hello Everyone!

I'm here and loving it! I am so happy I made the decision to study abroad.  I can already tell I'm going to learn so much!   You know the quote  "The world is a book and those who never travel read only a page"  Well I completely believe in that!   I finally have an ethernet cord and therefore have access to the outside world!  Yay!  I want to update you guys on all the details but I'm tired right now.  It's only 10:30 here but I am still pretty jet lagged.  I think I must be in the hardcore honeymoon stage because I'm in love with everything.  I'll try and update you guys tomorrow.  For now it's bedtime!

Keep living the good life!

Two days before take off

Holly Torpedo,

Two days!  TWO DAYS!?

Am I nervous?  Am I excited?  Am I in awe?  Am I in denial?  Am I ecstatic? Am I dumbfounded?

Yes, to all of the above.  It's so hard to wrap up my emotions.  Mostly I'm excited, yet I can't believe I am actually getting to do this!  I've talked about it, planned it, waited for it, packed for it, and boom  the time is here!!  I am leaving everyone and everything I know and heading to another part of the world!  Some may call me crazy (cough cough dad) but I am in love with the idea of traveling and pushing myself to the limits. I want to be challenged and come back a stronger, smarter person.   This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I'm pumped!

I'm so thankful that I have the freedom and funds to do this. Funds.  Yes, lets talk about funds.  I knew when I choose to study abroad, that it would be more costly than a regular semester at Clemson.  But I still can't help but entering panic mode as I have to pull from my savings and a college account in order to cover costs.  (Yes the eye twitch pops up occasionally.) There are costs associated with tuition and plane tickets, but there are also the small cost that add up such as passport, shots, prescriptions (no malaria for me!), a new pair of shoes, essentials to pack, etc.   I just keep reminding myself that this opportunity is obviously worth it.  Plus, I will be in debt up to my eyeballs for years to come with vet school.  Therefore, I'm trying to push aside the Kaylee tendency to obsess over money and just enjoy my "vacation".    I use vacation loosely.  In my mind it's vacation even though my dad kindly reminded me that I was going over there to take classes! :P

Another small rant... Packing!  What do I pack?  My paperwork says dresses and skirts are appropriate dress, yet on some of the pictures I've seen students are wearing jeans and shorts.  I will be getting there at the end of winter.  It is currently 70's during the day and 40's at night.  It will soon get HOT! I've packed 2 pairs of jeans, 3 caprees, 4 shorts, a workout outfit, pj's, leggings, 5 t shirts, 4 nice shirts, 3 dresses, 2 skirts, 1.5 weeks worth of socks, 2 weeks worth of underwear, and 1 jacket.  Plus, I'm packing stuff like towels, lotion, sun tan lotion, bug spray, conditioner, hair spray, protein bars, flashlight, locks, etc.  Who knows if this is the stuff that will still be in my suitcase tomorrow.  I keep analyzing everything.  I'm only taking one suitcase, (I promise mom, this is a good idea!)  I don't want to be burden down by my stuff.  Plus I want to buy things there and have room to bring them back.

Thanks guys for reading my blog!  Don't be afraid to ask me questions!  I'm going to try and keep you updated with details!

ADSA

I'm back in Columbia after spending four days in Clemson and six days in Phoenix, Arizona.  I attended the National American Dairy Science Association meeting with some awesome people from the Clemson Dairy Science Club. Phoenix was definitely different from South Carolina!  It was great to see but I'm not sure I would want to live there long term.  The architecture tended to match the surroundings which was pretty cool.  We did well with quiz bowl and I got to see several interesting presentations! I really enjoyed this trip and I'm glad that I decided to go even if I am leaving for Botswana in less than a week.

First, we started off our trip with free breakfast at Chick fil a because we dressed like cows!  Who cares if we were the only people over the age of 8 dressed up in the building.  If  anyone should participate it should be the former and current president of the dairy science club! Yay cows and yay free breakfast!

 

  We submitted this scrapbook!  Cute right?  Get it "Moo-garitavile"!!??  Cheesy, but you like it!

 

Here is a view from the convention center.  Phoenix is pretty flat but it is surrounded by mountains.  Kind of neat.   

The farm we toured was milking 8,000 cows and supplied all the milk for subway!  This is one of their two milking parlors.  It was a double 25 I believe.  Being the biggest farm I'd ever toured, I was excited to take it all in. 

 This is the awesome group I went with. They are pretty much amazing.

 

And last but not least, this trip was great because I got to spend time with Emmalicious, one of my besties, my roomate, finisher of my songs and my favorite fist pumper.  *Umch Umch* 

Shall I store you in my suitcase and take you to Africa?

 

Now that my trip is done it is time to start packing for Botswana!  

What to take?  What to take? 

In the meanwhile, bridesmaid dress shopping tomorrow.  

Yes that's right.. BRIDESMAID!!!  Am I old enough for this?

Summertime and the Livin's Easy

My time before I leave is winding down!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  I've been loving my summer! Here are a few things I'm grateful for!

Being able to babysit old friends and learn new dance moves

 

 Fixing yummy meals

  

Spending time with my hot mama

 

Falling asleep with these two boys everynight

(Words from my mother: "You aren't the crazy cat lady but you do collect crazy cats")

  

Finally being able to see this girl who never ceases to impress me.  

I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

 

Bingo night at Triple T's with these awesome people

And tomorrow I'm off to Pheonix, Arizona!

It's a good life!