A Glimpse of Africa
Things are going splendidly in Botswana. As each day comes and goes, I am feeling more and more comfortable in my skin in such a new place. I have made some really good international friends with whom I will get to do some amazing travels (we're hoping to start planning our midsemester break to Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta this week)! I have also met some wonderful locals of UB and Botswana. Knowing that I have people here who I will have some once-in-a-lifetime experiences with is really enthralling.
Classes are finally officially kicking off this week. I had to do some shuffling around last Friday, but my official classes will be Setswana (which I'm enjoying already), Sustainable Development, Politics of Southern Africa, and African Traditional Religions. I decided to drop a sociology class I added last week to replace a politics class that was cancelled because it's just too big and overwhelming for me: I just can't get used to 150 students packed into a big lecture hall. From my first day of Politics of Southern Africa, which is taking its place, I can tell it's going to be a great class. It will be an excellent way to learn about specific relations between nations in particular parts of Africa.
This Saturday and Sunday the international students went on a cultural excursion to a traditional village court, looked at ancient rock paintings, and stayed overnight in another village called Mmankgodi. It was a neat experience--one of the women of the village had an interesting conversation with us about the tensions between preserving the customs of traditional Botswana life and the younger generations' flocking to modern urban areas. She highlighted some important opinions about the AIDS pandemic in Botswana and how that ties in to this issue of preserving cultural traditions. We also did some dancing and had an amazing meal of meat,vegetables, a grits-like corn dish which name I cannot remember at the moment, bread, and salad. Sunday morning we awoke to another delicious meal (my first scrambled eggs since being in Africa) and went to the Mokolodi (not far outside of Gaborone) for a game drive (when we first arrived we were served champagne and orange juice!) and a final meal before heading back to campus. Though we didn't spot as many animals as the reserve holds, such as hippos and rhinos, we did see a few impalas, ostriches, warthogs, and zebras. It's so different seeing them in the wild, and not behind a fence at a crowded zoo. I hope to see a lot more when I do some traveling in the northern part of the country.
I think that is all I will write for today's update. Thanks for reading, and I will continue to post about my Botswana experiences!
Classes are finally officially kicking off this week. I had to do some shuffling around last Friday, but my official classes will be Setswana (which I'm enjoying already), Sustainable Development, Politics of Southern Africa, and African Traditional Religions. I decided to drop a sociology class I added last week to replace a politics class that was cancelled because it's just too big and overwhelming for me: I just can't get used to 150 students packed into a big lecture hall. From my first day of Politics of Southern Africa, which is taking its place, I can tell it's going to be a great class. It will be an excellent way to learn about specific relations between nations in particular parts of Africa.
This Saturday and Sunday the international students went on a cultural excursion to a traditional village court, looked at ancient rock paintings, and stayed overnight in another village called Mmankgodi. It was a neat experience--one of the women of the village had an interesting conversation with us about the tensions between preserving the customs of traditional Botswana life and the younger generations' flocking to modern urban areas. She highlighted some important opinions about the AIDS pandemic in Botswana and how that ties in to this issue of preserving cultural traditions. We also did some dancing and had an amazing meal of meat,vegetables, a grits-like corn dish which name I cannot remember at the moment, bread, and salad. Sunday morning we awoke to another delicious meal (my first scrambled eggs since being in Africa) and went to the Mokolodi (not far outside of Gaborone) for a game drive (when we first arrived we were served champagne and orange juice!) and a final meal before heading back to campus. Though we didn't spot as many animals as the reserve holds, such as hippos and rhinos, we did see a few impalas, ostriches, warthogs, and zebras. It's so different seeing them in the wild, and not behind a fence at a crowded zoo. I hope to see a lot more when I do some traveling in the northern part of the country.
I think that is all I will write for today's update. Thanks for reading, and I will continue to post about my Botswana experiences!
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