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.