School's Starting and Melanie's Birthday!

School starts this week! It’s been a hilarious process, we tried to register for classes a couple days ago and it took about 4 hours of our time and we accomplished nothing. My school, UKZN, is a very good school but things aren’t quite as efficient and accessible as I’m used to in the U.S. Registration is all on paper, and we need signatures from the head of the department for each class we want to take. So the day of registration, we all gathered in a room, chose our classes and wrote them down. As easy as this sounds, it was so stressful. Credits are different, and its not easy to convert UKZN credits into Miami credits. Our next step was to go to each department, I needed Psychology and History, and obtain a signature. Not knowing my way around the campus made this step pretty difficult. Luckily for me I got both signatures I needed, but a lot of the other head of departments were “gone” for the day (funny that they chose registration week to leave) so a bunch of the other international kids didn’t get the signatures they needed. So these first steps took about 3 hours, but we finally got everything we needed and the last step was the have the Dean sign our paper. Get this—the Dean was out of the office. So everything we did that whole day didn’t count because the Dean was gone. So I start class tomorrow without being registered! It’s pretty comical to me, I kind of enjoy how different the educational system is so far. In America, everything is almost too efficient, but here everyone and everything is a little more laid back, less stressful.

Last night, Sunday, it was our friend Melanie’s birthday and it was a blast! We went to a place called Joe Cool’s, this restaurant turned bar at 7 pm right on the ocean, such a sweet venue. It was so much fun because our entire group of foreign exchange students came! All 20 of us, plus our good friends Tubs, Lunga, Thando, and Clarence. We took up the entire dance floor! Sunday nights are big nights here, its pretty funny. It’s so interesting to see all the different crowds out at different places. I talked about “Cool Runnings”, the crowd was a lot more laid back, but at “Joe Cool’s” it was such a funny scene! It’s pretty popular to have a faux-hawk going on in a lot of guys, and this is exactly the kind of crowd that was at this place. All the guys were dressed with Ed Hardy shirts, greased mohawks, and dressy shoes. I snuck a picture so I’ll upload it to this post! And the girls that were paired with these guys looked pretty hilarious, ratty looking straight hair with the shortest dress you’ve ever seen, showing as much cleavage as possible. Another fun thing about this place was the outside part. There was the bar/dance floor, then a porch area outside. We hung out on the porch when we were tired of dancing and we looked out by the ocean and saw a group of little boys dancing their ass off!! I kid you not these kids could show up anyone from any dance movie ever. I took a video I’ll upload onto facebook because my words wouldn’t do it justice. These kids could moonwalk better then Michael Jackson. I was sitting with Clarence (Tubs’ friend) and he just said to us “Welcome to Africa!” Made me smile pretty wide. My favorite part of the night was when the DJ played the World Cup song, by Shakira. Every single person you’re around goes crazy when that song is played, it is an absolute blast. “This time for Africa!” Ah, such a good one. I don’t think I’ve had more fun dancing to a song in my entire life. It feels so good to be here after the Cup, every South African has such pride knowing their country hosted the biggest sporting event. Thando was explaining how it felt to watch SA score their first goal, he was out at a bar and everyone’s glasses dropped to the floor and the bar erupted with screams. Part of me would have loved to be here for that, but it feels pretty amazing being here in the aftermath of it all, such pride and accomplishment is felt for this country. The Durban stadium is outstanding! Liz and I watched a club rugby match the other day right next to it!! So spectacular.

Cool Runnings! It's starting to really hit me I'm in South Africa..

The last couple days have been really cool. I’m starting to feel like I know this place a little better. We had orientation for my school and it was with all the international kids, which I thought would be more but actually there’s only about 20 of us. We started with a bunch of lectures about health (mostly HIV/AIDS) and safety on campus, and then went to a brie (pronounced like the beginning of BRIde) which is basically a social party/BBQ. This was so much fun, the diving club on campus threw the brie for us and they are sosooso nice, we had scuba lessons!! I went scuba diving in a pool!!! And it was really relaxed, they all were drinking which I thought was funny, it’s a school sponsored club. That night we went to a spot called “Cool Runnings” which is this Jamaican style restaurant/bar, and it is the coolest place I’ve been to yet. Thursday nights are the drum circle nights!!! This group of people just jam out with drums, and occasionally a couple people will get up to dance to the beat of the drums! It was absolutely crazy to watch them, so much talent. I played the drums in the drum circle!!!! It wasn’t even as scary as I thought, this guy got up from the circle and just handed me his drum (it was a little one) and I just tried to keep up with the beat! Pretty difficult, my hands were throbbing after. But worth it! This place was very different from the spots we’ve been going to. I feel very very very out of place everywhere I go, but this place was definitely the most noticeable. Race here is very interesting, a concept I’m still trying to figure out so I’ll explain better when I’m more familiar with it. But like I said in a previous blog South Africans are excellent at picking out where you’re from, so it was a little uncomfortable being 1 of 5 white girls in the bar. It was pretty cool because this wasn’t just a tourist attraction, it was a place where locals like to hang out. I did feel very out of place but it was nice to know that the people around were interested in where I’m from, not in a creepy way but in a genuine way.

The other night a random, small world moment happened. I ran into Ross from the hostel two nights ago! We were going out to the same bar! Ummmm can you say fate? Such a happy coincidence, it was so great to see him again! I didn’t get to talk with him too long, but the fact that I happen to run into him in this huge city was crazy! But that was a bad night because my phone got stolen! It’s so incredibly common that it’s not a safety hazard it’s regarded more as just an inconvenience. We just went to a street market and bought new ones, which were all stolen phones as well, Annie and I jokily tried to find our exact ones. It only cost us 120R, which is about $15!! I was really upset at first because I was more in the US mindset that if my phone got stolen it would be such a hassle and a lot of money, and would mean that I was in a dangerous part of town. But here people just assume that if you have a cell phone, you have the money to replace it. They figure they need the money to support their own family more then I need it to enjoy my time here. But still, I hate how easy it is to get stuff stolen, I was holding my purse and he still managed it, it was our cab driver home. They are so stealth about it. I just have to start keeping my money and my phone on my body, instead of in my purse. I know you guys are probably thinking its just one more thing that I didn’t keep track of because all of you know me well and know I lose things, but I want you all to rest easy knowing that I am very responsible. I misplace things at home because its safe and I don’t really have to think about my personal safety. But South Africa is a very dangerous place, something that no one could have explained to me, I just have to experience it. Being put into a situation where anywhere you walk all eyes are on you with people thinking “here is a rich American on vacation, in that purse she has a camera, phone, and money”. All essential things to carry around (I leave my camera home a lot though), so I am constantly aware of how close people are to me, what exactly is in my purse, all of these things that take a huge emotional toll, but really necessary. Basically what I’m trying to explain is that I know that a lot of you guys are worried that I won’t be safe here but I am! You can’t afford not to be. And it’s been such a learning experience, so rewarding. I’ll update again soon, thanks again for following!!

HOSTEL!

Hello friends!! Warning: sliiight chance I may never come home. Get excited to hear about this blog, all about the hostel!!! Our amazing cab driver Akay hooked us up and recommended this place called Mantis and Moon, a straight paradise set inside a jungle. Right on the beach, every aspect of this place was packed full of relaxation. Alright, so we get in around 4 pm on Friday and get settled, the guy who greets us is a chiller from Seattle who has traveled to everywhere in the planet. The guys who work the place have the best life I could dream of. They’re travelers who are looking to stop and work for a while, but since it’s illegal for foreigners (unless you have a Visa that allows you to work) to work in SA, they can’t get paid. So instead they help out (cook, welcome guests, bar-tend, teach surfing lessons) and in exchange get a free place to live and free food and drinks. It’s amazing because they get to meet people from ALL over the world. Just in the three days we stayed we met guys from Australia, London, a lot of local South Africans, Scotland, and some other Americans. So all of the guys running the place are the coolest, most interesting people I’ve met. Stories of their travels have made me just want to drop everything and see the world!! I’ve realized how sheltered America is and there is SO much out there!

The first thing we did when we got there was jump in the INDIAN OCEAN!!! How many of you can say you’ve done that?? It was pretty spectacular. We swam around for a little then headed back and ate this amazing dinner the hostel prepared for us, the food so far is not too exotic, pretty similar to what I’m used to, a lot of chicken and vegetables for every meal. After dinner all the guests got together and hung out at the bar area. We met a friend, Colby, who is from Durban and just graduated from our school! She was so excited to meet us and the feeling was mutual! We walked off and started a fire and she came to meet us later saying “Where are my American friends??” We talked for a while around the fire, she explained a lot of SA culture to us. I told her how it’s a little scary and caught me off guard to have everyone immediately know where I’m from and from that base a lot of conclusions about my character. Colby explained that South Africans are impeccably good at figuring out other people. This is a country bursting with diversity, skin colors/accents/clothing, even the way people walk are indicators that South Africans can read really easily. She said that while some people here definitely hate white people as a leftover sentiment from Apartheid, most of the people here are just thrilled and interested to meet you, knowing you traveled so far to make it to this wonderful country. She told us to “be ourselves, because phony’s are ellgghh”, and we all had a good laugh, a huge relief. She promised to take us out to the best spots in Durban. The most amazing thing about this culture is that the random people you meet never stay random. Every single person I’ve met and had a connection with, I’m still in contact with. So there’s no fakeness floating around the social scene. If you spend hours talking to a person and truly enjoying those hours, there is no reason to not spend more hours of your life doing just that. Crazy thought huh?

The second day we had surf lessons!! I surfed in the Indian Ocean! I got up and surfed those waves! So much fun, I think the days of surfing when I was little really did help! we ate another amazing dinner and the second night was fun, because we were better acquainted with the people who worked at the hostel. I really have a hard time calling it work, because we chilled with these guys and they did everything we did. I was particularly interested in a guy named Ross, he’s from Scotland and he is a “tree surgeon”, which he tried explaining but I still don’t get it. He was one of the most interesting people I’ve met in my life. We got along so great, it was awesome to realize that some things (humor, music, optimism) are universal. I’m not trying to jump to any conclusions here but I’m almost positive Ross is my future husband. His Visa is about to run up so he’s traveling to Mozambique for a week and heading back into SA for 3 more months. He’s such a cool guy, it is so interesting and amazing to get away from the American way of getting to know someone. Here, people seem to be so much more interested in a life story. A thousand times more honest and genuine, at least so far I’ve been lucky to meet people who make me feel this way about their culture. This hostel (I’ll put up pictures!) is the most amazing place on the planet, and we definitely made up our minds about staying there again.

Getting to Know Locals

This place is incredible!! We’re settling in a lot and getting to know the area better which makes it a lot easier and more fun to get around! We’ve been getting to know a couple locals who go to the university with us and I cannot explain how much better it is knowing people who’ve grown up here. I’m getting close one of them especially, his name is Tubs. The first night we met we went dancing with all of our friends and had a great time, then all came back to the dorm and stayed up late talking. Liz, Tubs and I were chilling in my room and Tubs was telling us how and why we can come off as offensive because it’s really hard to sometimes not say the wrong thing. Tubs was saying one thing in particular is to not assume South Africans know nothing about America. A couple of the kids here are from Maine and Liz and I said something like “He doesn’t know where that is” referring to Tubs being unfamiliar with the states like Maine (as in not a more well known one like New York or California). We didn’t mean it offensively we meant it more as a respect thing, we didn’t want to be self centered assuming everyone knows everything about America but it came off as us thinking he was ignorant of America. But it was a really emotional talk with him because we all have been feeling a little like the locals here think of us as stupid Americans and its starting to take a little bit of a toll sometimes. Just imagine going out and any where you go people instantly know you’re foreign and assume your stupid and easy to take advantage off. I was starting to feel really bad; if I insulted Tubs then I might have insulted a lot of people accidentally. He said something that made me feel so much better, he said “why should you care if you insult a stranger on accident? They will forget about it in a second and you shouldn’t waste your time worrying about how you make everyone feel. Everyone in America wants to be friends with everyone, caring about how all of these people think of you. But you can’t be friends with everyone! Just worry about how you make your friends feel. I am your friend, I felt comfortable telling you that that was insulting.” And it really got to me, it made me tear up because I really did feel he was so welcoming and I needed to hear him say those things. Last night we all went out and had an amazing time. We went back to the “Booty Bar” and had an incredible time enjoying each other’s company. At one point we suggested drinking games and one of Tub’s friends said “All you Americans always want to play games when you drink, why not just drink?” Which is such a hilarious concept. So much laughter last night, it’s really feeling great to fit in a little better here. We’re off to a hostel for three days! We rented a car and are driving to this amazing spot on the beach, it will be such a fun time!!

Day Three

Hello again!! Durban has been absolutely incredible. The only thing is we haven’t been able to connect to the internet. For one thing there isn’t wifi in the dorm that we’re living at (aannd facebook is banned during the day) so whenever we would want to connect to the internet we have to go to the library but that hasn’t been working for any of us. So I’ve been writing these blogs on a word document and saving them. But if you’re reading this it means we finally connected, yay! And I keep running out of minutes on my cell phone, so no internet and no cell phone, yikes!! It’s bringing us a lot closer though, we have nothing to do but entertain ourselves together! Having no internet at our dorm means we’re going to be going out a lot more to avoid boredom, so that’s the silver lining!

Alright, so it is day 3 and we had our first night out last night! Interstudy hooked us up with the awesome cab driver, Akay, and he is the most caring helpful person in the world! We went out to dinner in the city last night and he took us over and gave us his welcome lecture; “you can do anything you want in my cab, the only thing I won’t allow is that three letter word.” He almost brought us to tears because he was so kind and helpful. Durban isn’t exactly the safest city (sorry Mom, you might want to skip this next bit, I love you! I’ll be fine!) and pick pocketing is super common, so he told the girls to keep our money in our bras and just always be on the lookout. But anyway, we go to this Italian restaurant Akay recommended and it is the chillest atmosphere! The weather couldn’t be better and the restaurant was really open, all the walls were windows. And to top all this off we have the most gorgeous waiter, like the kind of attractive where I couldn’t look at him without giggling. So we finish dinner and ask this gorgeous waiter where we should go next and he recommends a place called “The Booty Bar,” so of course we go because 1. How could you ever turn down a place with that hilarious name? and 2. We told him to meet us after he got off. So we get the this bar and order some drinks and fumble around with the Rands like stupid Americans. The one kind of bad thing about being here is that it is infinitely different, almost opposite in culture/customs. Which means people automatically know we’re foreign and when we talk it’s obvious we’re Americans (who have a really bad stereotype here, we jut kind of get in the way). But anyway we get our drinks, which are super cheap, 17 rand which is about 2 or 3 dollars. Everything is so cheap here!! We start chatting with these boys sitting next to us, Australians! We hit it off and talk with them all night. My favorite one was a boy named Jack, who has dreds and works as a carpenter. He kissed me goodnight! And to top of all this fun our cute waiter came to meet us!! Liz chatted it up with him and they exchanged numbers! Go Liz!!

Today we sat through 3 hours of orientation, which wasn’t too fun after a long night out. But we toughed it out and after that we went to this restaurant “Joe Cool’s” which was RIGHT on the ocean!! It keeps reminding me of San Diego, but in a more tropical/exotic way. When South Africans aren’t in a hurry to get places they are very very chill and sarcastic to interact with. I LOVE the humor down here, an example is a sing of a pool I saw the other day: “Welcome to our _ool: notice there’s no P, try to keep it that way”—classic!! I don’t think there’s a prettier city in the world then Durban. It’s so colorful with tall, unique shaped buildings. Combined with the tropical warm weather and being right on the Indian Ocean, it’s paradise. I can’t wait to show you guys pictures.

I have a feeling it’s going to take me a while to get used to getting around. There’s a couple different modes of transportation, “taxis” aren’t like the taxis in the U.S., they are more like huge vans that carry 13 passengers. They sit on busy street corners and wait until every single seat is filled until they can go. It costs 5 rand, which is less then 1 dollar. But they run generally on specific routes, so you can’t tell them exactly where you want to go. The buses are pretty easy too but it was hilarious because today we didn’t have enough coins (it was 4 rand, about 50 cents) and we held up a long line of annoyed locals. But I figure we’ll get the hang of it soon enough.

So sorry this is so long, there is so many new experiences happening here it’s crazy! Thanks for following, love you guys!

First Thoughts

Hello!! I am settling into my new life here! It’s been super interesting so far. First of all, who knew they hook you uppp on an international flight? I sat down for my 18 hour flight and we’re talking free movies/T.v. shows (kenz/sara/linds—I watched arrested development! The one where tobias was trying to be like ms. Doubtfire, priceless), a nice blanket, socks, toothbrush, eyemask, and ten thousand meals. But still it was a little rough being on a plane for a full day! When we finally landed in Durban the Interstudy people where there to meet us, they could not be nicer! The main person who helps us out is Anita, she’s either Dutch or English (can’t quite tell yet) and is the funniest/cutest old lady you could imagine, I’m adopting her as my grandma while I’m here. And the other students studying through interstudy are super nice!! It’s so great having Liz, a friend from Miami, here with me. It’s one thing to go to Ohio not knowing anyone but it’s actually pretty scarily independent here and knowing someone right off the bat really helped. Today was our first real day here and we set up bank accounts and shopped around a little. The atmosphere here is so tight! My favorite thing about South Africa so far hands down is what they call stoplights: a “robot”. As in “at the next robot take a left,” awesome. They drive on the other side of the road here! Durban is a city RIGHT on the ocean, we drove through a little harbor today and near the water the scenery really reminds me of San Diego, very tropical. Durban has these big monkeys everywhere, like as common as how the U.S. has squirrels, kind of freaky at first because I thought we took a wrong turn and landed inside a monkey cage at the zoo. But I’m growing to love them! We all just finished unpacking and are about to go out to dinner then a night on the town. One of the girls here studied in Durban two semesters ago so she’ll bring us to all the happening places. We’re just hoping the whole country isn’t in a huge World Cup hangover, because we’re ready to party. Thanks for following my blog, I’ll write again very soon!! xoxoxo