Required field must not be blank: [Life Round Here]

{Settling In}

So I've been in South Africa for two weeks now but, it feels like I've been here way longer. I definitely feel at home here. My fellow students are now becoming more comfortable with each other so personalities have been coming out. It has been such a joy getting to know my classmates and I'm sure it will only get better. The people here are extremely friendly, all I want to do is be in town and get to know all the different people. It's literally the best thing to be able to learn the language of the people here and then go out and use it with them. So I'm not this typical American in their country, I actually can communicate with them and find commonality. When I greet them "Sawubona! Unjani?" their faces lighten up with the biggest smile and it makes all the frustration of learning a new language so much more worth it.

So if you're wondering what we do exactly, allow me to explain. We are ending our second week of classes. We have four more weeks to go for the main classes we are taking. I am taking three courses. My classes are Biology: Humans and the Environment, History and Culture of South Africa, and isiZulu (I have to take this class for eight more weeks because I'm learning a completely new language so it requires more time.) My biology class, if I can just brag for a minute, literally takes a field trip every week. It is the most amazing experience seeing what we've learned in the classroom and applying it in real life. Like we went on a safari this week. NO BIG DEAL...but really it was the coolest thing. During the week, when we are not "doing homework" or in class, we spend our days going to the mall, trying new restaurants, or exploring/hiking around the many acres our campus has. Our weekends are spent traveling into the cities and seeing historical sights or going to cool places. We also visit our service sites on Wednesday. There are four different service sites, we get to visit each of them once and in four weeks (once we've finished classes), we choose one to work at. They each have different focuses, but a lot of them do work with people with AIDS or focus of community development. Teaching the people how to be self sufficient. And yes, because we are in Africa they do have a lot of focus on the youth/children. So you guys will surely be finding out which one I choose and then get to follow my experience there, meeting my fellow classmates that work there with me, and meet people that live in that township. Through the good times and the hard times. Visiting the different towns and service sites definitely brings about a huge culture shock. It's been something that has been difficult for me to see. But I will get more into that when I start working at mine in a month.

I will say one thing...it's a rant kind of. But I honestly miss American food more than anything. Like...I just want Mexican food sooooo bad! Or spicy food. They spicy food here is not spicy at all. I literally have to get "extra spicy straight from satans butt crack" and it does nothing to me. If package shipping wasn't so expensive I'd be begging for some snacks. (Okay, I'm done)

Alright, I don't really know what else to add. If you have questions I'm more than willing to answer shoot me one in the comment section below. :)

But here are some pictures from the week:

My professor (left) and Dan the safari driver (right)

Our ride through the game reserve

We took a lunch break at the side of this beautiful waterfall and pond area. The water was questionable, but it was incredible.

View from the side of the vehicle. It was literally the highlight of my week.

I thought I share this one, because if you know me, literally high tops are my life. So these babies go everywhere with me in Africa. Only death can separate.