It was a long journey, but it went by really fast. I ended up watching a ridiculous amount of movies on the plane (no judging). The “overnight” layover in Dubai was not really as cool as it seems, although I did end up getting to go on a night tour of the city. Dubai reminded me of Las Vegas, although without the gambling and drinking. The tour was basically a lot of hotels, plus the tallest building on Earth, plus the owner of Emirates Air’s house. Well, it’s actually two houses, because he has two wives, and they’re both covered in streams of fairy lights.
Luckily, I met up with another girl, Claire, who is with our group at LAX before we got on our first plane. We were on the same flights, except for the short one from Johannesburg to Gaborone. Since we got to Gaborone at different times, we had trouble finding the driver who was taking us to the University of Botswana. We went outside to see if we could find someone, and almost immediately two guys who organized the taxis started hitting on us. Record?
We finally found the girl who was supposed to meet us and got to the University, where we met up with Perri (another girl with our group) and Larry (our professor). Perri, Acacia (the 5th person with us), and I are in a flat at UB because we’re all staying to about the same time- although Acacia and Perri are doing safaris after with their respective families. Larry and Claire are leaving really soon- they’re only staying til the first week of June, although Claire is going on a safari after that as well. Acacia has actually been here since January since this is where she was studying abroad. It’s really nice to have a local with us- she knows Setswana already and where everything is. It’s been really cool to hear about her experience, and still almost makes me wish I had come here for study abroad. I think everything worked out the way it was supposed to though, because I probably would not have chosen to go to Edinburgh on my own.
So the first night, Perri and I just went to get dinner (we’re eating at the Uni’s cafeteria until we get our grocery stipends) and tried to keep each other awake until it was a respectable time to fall asleep. We got up the next day and went around the uni to where our Setswana classroom and lab were going to be. Then we went to a mall to get some things for our flat and took a combi (a van-taxi) to Botswanacraft, a store that sells souvenirs and art. We had our first Setswana lesson today, which Perri and I were SO excited for. We learned a lot of random vocab and greetings. Our teacher is so nice- Phono. After class we had bread and tea and went to an outdoor stall mall- the main mall. I got in trouble, kind of, for taking a picture of the seal on the Parliament/capital building and the guard came over to make me delete it. We also had an afternoon beverage at the Botswana Hotel, which some of you might recognize from the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
I slept almost 12 hours last night, so hopefully my jet lag is gone by now. It’s a little overwhelming to be here, but I think it will get better once I know more Setswana. Our routine of Setswana lesson then lab work will start on Monday, so that will also help. I keep trying to superimpose my Edinburgh experience onto this one, made a little easier by the fact that Botswana was originally colonized by Britain and still carries a lot of British traditions (including tea and driving on the left side of the road!). I keep having dreams about Edinburgh though, which is quite confusing and sad.
One last thing- apparently UB doesn't trust their students, or something, so I might only have 30 minutes of internet that I can use for blogs for the entire trip, and I think they're in 10 minute chunks each time, so I might not be able to blog very often/if at all. I'll try to spread my next couple out, or delete cookies or something. Le sigh.
Bisous!
LeeAnn
Take lots of pictures! xoxo
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