Arrival and Orientation

I started my long two day flight journey on December 31, 2009. I left Seattle at about 3:30pm and arrived in San Francisco at about 530pm. My flight to New York JFK took off at 10:20pm, so I had a few hours to kill in the SFO airport. I wandered around for a bit, looked at endless magazines, and eventually bought one. I had a nice and simple dinner at the Anchor Steam Restaurant in the airport. I wandered around some more and eventually found my gate and took off to JFK on a plane. On this overnight United plane, they had movies and great service. Apparently this was what’s called a Premium Service flight, a special only to a from JFK to SFO and Los Angeles. I was in the very back of the plane, but I had a seat with extended leg room. I did not sleep much on the plane and it even got into New York about 30 minutes early. So I had 4 hours to kill in JFK before my next flight took off to Johannesburg, South Africa. I thought about going into the city as I had to go through security again anyways, but decided against it when the people at the JFK Airlink connect to downtown Manhattan told me that since it was new years day, service was extremely irregular. So I waited for a few hours in JFK before boarding my plane to South Africa. The airport was so busy even on New Year’s Day. I left JFK at 1030am and was due to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa at 8:35am Jan 2. During the flight I slept a little, and watched almost 4 movies. It was a long flight, the longest ever in my life. 15 hours and 5 minutes. Got into and through the passport control at Jo’burg (as locals call it) and had a 3 hour layover. I took a nap on a bench and then went to my gate. Here I met my roommate, Eric, and my director Ouma, and an assistant to the director, NJ. All four of us took the plane from Jo’burg to Gaborone. It was a quick one, before I knew it I was on the ground again in Botswana after a total travel time of roughly 35 hours. When I stepped out of the plane, I thought to myself here we go, just a little over 4 months in Botswana. The heat was a bit stifling as I stepped out of the plane, I thought to myself, I wonder if its going to be this hot during my entire stay here. It was about 90 degrees at 1230pm. Walked onto the tarmac and around the soon to be new airport, and through customs. All of my baggage arrived safely and we headed to our rental car. Sitting right next to our rental car was an old Volkswagen rabbit probably from the late 1980s. Apparently you could rent that car.
As I was driving through Gaborone, I started to notice some things right away. There were no sidewalks and very few traffic lights. I noticed that there were no cross walks. People walked on dirt paths and quite frequently got in and out of these mini-van type things. Later I found out these were called combis and are Gaborone’s transportation within the city. From now on I am going to refer to Gaborone as Gabs. I noticed that houses had fences all around them. I kept seeing these security signs, saying Group 4 Securior protection. I noticed that there really were no tall buildings. In reality there are three buildings, what we in the states would call mid-sized skyscrapers. And of course the major thing was that they drive on the left hand side of the road. I knew that funny left hand drive thing was going to take awhile to get used to. From my observations I knew I was in a totally different world.
We got to the “lodge” we were staying at during our orientation. We stayed at a place called Lalowopa Lodge, which was right next to the University of Botswana(UB). My new roommate, Eric, and I shared a room. This room had a huge bed stuffed in it as well as a small one. Luckily it had air conditioning. After lounging about in the lodge for a bit, we decided to go to the Riverwalk, about a 5 minute drive from UB. At Riverwalk, I had not so tasty milkshake. Later that day, we went into the city center to whats called the main mall. The main mall was the city’s first mall developed in the 1970s. It is a bit ancient, but at the end of it, sits the Botswana Parliament. There is also a Spar on the main mall. Yes a Spar. For those of us who were in my CIEE group last semester we all know about Spar. I thought they only existed in Europe, but I guess not. Spar is a grocery store for those who don’t know. At the Spar in Hungary, everything was obviously in Hungarian. At the Spar in Bots, everything is in English, a nice change from a foreign language. Don’t get me wrong, the Spar in Hungary was quite interesting to navigate and I always ended up getting what I want. Later that night, we had dinner at this place called newscafe, where if you buy a drink, you get free internet for an hour. After dinner, I crashed and finally got a nice long night of sleep.
The next morning, we went to Newscafe for breakfast and then left for a day excursion. This gentleman picked us up in a Land Rover and drove us around Gabs and the surrounding area. We had a tour of the film spots for the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency, a film that is based in Bots. We also went to Mochudi, a village about 20 km north of Gabs. Here we saw a kgotla, a central meeting place for the people of the village. Punishments and city/governmental proceedings take place at the kgotla. It is a very important cultural tradition in Bots. In the village, we hike up a small hill and got a gorgeous view of the surrounding area. For being extremely hot, Botswana is very green. Greener than some places in the US. After the day excursion, I ran into a German exchange student, Caroline, who was staying in our hotel and studied at UB the semester before. She invited us and we went to a place with live music on Sunday nights. I also met her local friend Montle, and we have been hanging out ever since. Also I met my friend Kabo, who occasionally performed at this place. It’s a very local scene, except that some members of the live jazz band were from Zimbabwe. It was a fun night to celebrate officially being in Gabs. The next day was full of orientation stuff and what not. Also I went shopping for some dorm room essentials. My most expensive purchase was my $30 fan. Later that night, I met some more international students, Lucy, Ayumi, and Machy. We went out to this place called Bull and Bush. Here we had ribs for about $9. The next few days involved more orientation and figuring out which classes to take. At the end of the week, I was ready for orientation stuff to be over. A whole bunch of the international students went out on Friday for some fun. On Saturday I continued to meet more locals. And on Sunday I went back to the same place that has live Jazz on Sunday nights. A packed first week indeed.

A story about the internet

I’m sure many people are wondering why my blog has not started earlier. Well there are a variety of reasons as to why this is the case. I would have started it before I left the states, but time was an issue. I had an 11 day turnaround between my European adventures and leaving for Botswana. Also for the first week, I had lots of orientations and errands to attend to. I was only able to get on the internet once that week and only for about a half hour at a restaurant. Once in the dorm, the ethernet jack did not work. University of Botswana (UB) does have wireless access, but only in a small part which is not near the dorms. I was able to gain an access code to the wireless, but again had limited time. I It took until last Thursday to get my jack in my room working, well sort of. I had a weekend excursion in which I detail below, on Saturday and Sunday. When I came back Sunday, the internet jack does not work. I have been in the process of trying to get it fixed as I write this. Let me explain how this process works. You have to go to the IT department, meet with someone and then wait until they have the time to service your room. I have had a busy week with classes and hanging out with new people. It will work out eventually, I’m not bothered, its such a small annoyance. That’s the deal about the internet and why all of this stuff is coming at once.

Just A Brief Introduction

So as many of you know I am currently studying abroad in Gaborone, Botswana. This marks my second consecutive semester abroad. While the University of Denver is on the quarter system, every place outside the US is on the semester system. Most students at my school only study abroad for only a semester and it is usually during the fall of their junior year. Very few students go abroad for the entire year. One of the reasons that I can go abroad for the entire year is because I have not taken any classes that don’t count towards my major. Back in the fall of 2008 I knew I had wanted to study abroad. I have to give credit to my friend Roy, who gave me the idea to study abroad for the entire year. He is also studying abroad for the year as well. Last semester he studied in Florence, Italy and is now going to be in Oman for the second semester. Last semester in Europe, I was fortunate enough to meet up with him and another friend in Paris, Normandy beaches, and Brussels, Belgium. Roy, if you are reading this, that was such a memorable trip, I had so much fun. So anyways, I figured out that I could study abroad for the year and was extremely excited. I knew I wanted to do a European experience during one of my semester s. I decided to go to Budapest on CIEE (Council for International Educational Exchange) program and absolutely loved it. I had so much fun with everyone in the group and traveled a ton.

So why Africa? For my second semester I wanted to go somewhere unique and a bit off the beaten path. Botswana topped that list. I had considered going to South Africa, but I figured I would be a little adventurous and try a country where I knew absolutely nothing about. Only one other student from DU has studied at the University of Botswana. He partially studied here last semester. Also DU had an affiliation with a program called Interstudy. Insterstudy attracted me for a variety of reasons. I could pick all of my classes, got to live on campus, and included in the program was an orientation and several excursions within Botswana. So far it has been excellent. Botswana is full of adventure and endless travel opportunities. As I go through the semester I hope to fully discover what life is like in Southern Africa

I have created this blog to detail my experiences throughout my semester in Gaborone, Botswana. I think it is important to document and share your memories. I think that Africa is a bit of an unknown for most people and I would like to share my stories so that you have a maybe a slightly better understanding of what Africa is. I warn you know that I am certainly not the best writer, but I will always try hard to produce something I think you would like to read. Also I have never done a blog before. Always feel free to contact me through email, facebook, and even skype. I am always open for contact, especially if you are particularly curious about something.