:)

Dumelang!

Good news y’all. The blog restriction is 30 minutes per day, not for the whole time :D Hehe.

Picture Incident/Hotel Gaborone/ Mma Ramotswe

Friday, we went to look at the government buildings. We had to walk through the Main Mall to get there. The Main Mall is a polyglot of street vendors that lines this huge walkway with established stores on either side. During the weekends, there are sometimes performances in a couple open spaces along the drive. As Larry was explaining the meanings behind the symbols, I tried to take a picture. As I did a security guard walked over to us. After exchanging the greetings, he explained that we weren’t allowed to take pictures unless we had a special permit. I offered to delete them, which I guess he figured was a reasonable enough charge. I mean, what could I have done with them? At any rate, we turned and walked back through a little park area to the Mall. We had tea (well, afternoon beverage- I had tea) at the Hotel Gaborone, overlooking the Mma Ramotswe tea corner. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series has definitely been embraced here.

Mokolodi/Cheetahs

On Saturday, we got up super early to go to Mokolodi Game Reserve, about 15 minutes from UB. We saw a few different types of animals, mostly various species of antelope as well as a few ostriches. However, highlight of our trip was by far getting to pet cheetahs. They felt a lot like a normal housecat would, although I could never forget that these cats were way different in temperament from normal housecats. Larry didn’t seem quite as wary as we were- a couple times I really thought he was going to get swiped. Our guide was very nice and helpful and it was overall a great experience, although I didn’t get to see that many animals. Everybody’s going on safaris with their moms right after this, although one girl is going with her whole family, so they are all excited to see more animals, but I won’t get a chance to do that since I’m starting UW pretty much right away. Plus, Mom did her safari thing last year.

Football Game/bar

Saturday night, we ended up watching the Barcelona vs Manchester game. Acacia and the two other girls from her spring semester program had been interviewed on the radio. The radio guys kinda folded them into their clique and had been hanging out with them a lot and invited us to watch the game. I was thinking we were just going to be in some sort of bar/pub – the place, O’Hagans, is a bar that is supposed to resemble a British pub- I guess it succeeded. When we got there though, there was a massive queue and the radio DJ we were with just walked to the front and gestured us through. We then went into this VIP room where all the media and Heineken suppliers were sitting. The tickets our DJ hookup had gotten for us were VIP tickets, entitling us to 6 Heinekens each. I definitely didn’t drink that much since we were only there for a few hours but it meant we got free Heineken for the entire time we were there. Pretty sweet. The game was, of course, riveting, and we were in the minority cheering for FC Barcelona. I started the Ole, Ole, Ole! cheer after one of the goals, which I’m pretty proud of. It was a great night J

Jar Jar Binks?

Kgola Hill

Sunday morning we got up to climb Kgola Hill. It starts near a quarry and then goes up. It reminded me a lot of Arthur’s seat, although the path is way rockier and less established, although it’s probably hiked just as often. Oh, and there are definitely no BABOONS on Arthur’s Seat. I was trying to figure out the best way to deal with a baboon attack. They’re pretty vicious, but luckily nothing happened while we were there. We got to the top and had a nice sit-down with some gorgeous views. While the mountains aren’t very tall where we are, there are a lot of hills that I wasn’t expecting. Our professor is pretty athletic and competitive so he was going pretty fast up and down. Perri and I took our time on the way up and Clair joined us on the way down. The path was really rocky and I definitely didn’t want to sprain an ankle or worse if I misstepped and slipped. Larry says next time, he’s going to run it. Jeez.

Me, at the top

The quarry

View from Kgala Hill

View from Arthur's Seat

The similarity is astounding, no? Well, except for the bush/city difference. No big.

New Flatmates

We also got 2 new flatmates this weekend from North Carolina, Lauren and Caitlin. They’re really nice girls on a program designed by their school. They’re taking Setswana, International Public Health Policy, and International Communications, and get to travel to Maun, a village in the north, to stay for a couple weeks. It sounds like a really interesting program. We had dinner at the cafeteria with Lauren last night and got to know her better, and she invited us clubbing with her group. Apparently, they have a van that’s dedicated for their use. Nice.

The Fate of Africa

I started reading this book that Acacia has called The Fate of Africa. It’s really good, explaining about modern politics in Africa starting from the early mid-20^th century and the independence struggles that most of the countries faced. I’m only a few chapters in, but I would definitely recommend it.

Lab/Setswana

We started our lab work yesterday after our Setswana lesson, although it was really after tea after our Setswana lesson. It seems like we’re not going to have that much to do since none of us have our own projects. It’s basically 5 people (Kelvin who’s a grad student here at UB, and the 4 of us American girls) doing one person’s job. Clair (and Larry) is leaving in a week so that will alleviate it a little, but it still is going to be interesting. I might see about getting my computer set up with the campus’s wireless internet (which doesn’t reach this far) so I can do research while I’m there, if that’s something Larry wants us to do. I expect we’ll have a lab meeting at some point, although he’s been in a lot of administrative meetings, trying to find funding, cutting through red tape. It’s hard for him to adjust to the fact that everything moves much more slowly here- he’s still pretty uptight about timing and it’s driving Acacia, who’s been here for 4 months already, nuts. She is definitely on Botswana time and is getting used to that schedule.

Weather

The weather is pretty amazing- its really chilly in the mornings but hot in the afternoons. Our apartment is quite cool, which is nice. I woke up this morning to a sound that was rain-like, and since the sun wasn’t quite up, the sky looked grey. I was worried it was raining for a second, especially since I didn’t bring my rain jacket, but the sky is blue now and the sun is out.

I’m starting to feel a little homesick, but also really excited for what we’re going to do each day and a little more comfortable here. I’m not sure that I’m falling in love with this city/country/continent (I think Edinburgh already stole my heart) but it definitely is a comfortable and nice change of pace. I’m really glad that I was able to come here, and I love talking with Acacia and Perri. Overall, I would say that I’m doing really well. Or in Setswana, ke tlhotse sentle (I am spending the day well).

Bisous! xx

Pictures from Dubai

Good news y'all! It's 30 minutes of restrictions per day, and this port I'm in now doesn't filter at all! Hooray!

Dumelang bo-rra le bo-mma!

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 5^th 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

Botswana!!

My friends, we meet again. I returned safely to Edinburgh from my amazing ski trip and then returned safely home, although have decided I hate Chicago airport with a passion.

This past semester was amazing- full of new opportunities and adventures. I fell back in love with Scripps and CCBDC, and was sad to see my seniors graduate, although they're all off to bigger and better things!

Some of those new adventures are beginning NOW. I just got back from Catalina Island where I was doing a weeklong summer conference with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a group that I am involved with at school. It was amazing, but also made my schedule a little hectic/ stressful.

So we got back from Catalina on Saturday, had dinner and saw a movie, and then returned to our leader's house for a sleepover. Which is when I realized that I hadn't remembered packing my passport. Which wouldn't have been a big deal, except I'm going to Africa. Today (Monday). So yesterday I went home, searched my entire room, then frantically flew back to Ontario, CA with my mom so we could look in my storage unit. Mission, accomplished, thank God. This meant that we were left in LA overnight, so we drove down to LAX, returned our rental and got a hotel for the night. My mom left at 4 am this morning, but my flight isn't until 4:45 PM tonight, so I've still got lots of time. To spend alone, at the airport :( The worst part is, my mom had a really cool birthday happy hour celebration planned for me :'( Oh well, as she said, I have the rest of my life to drink. I'm mostly sad about not getting to see anyone- I hardly had time with Dad (and it was all stress-filled) and I didn't get to see Malcolm at all... I guess God just wanted to remind me how wonderful of a family I have- everyone was super helpful with tips and organizing everything.

So anyways, I'm in my hotel room, all lonely-like, chilling until I have to go back to that awful airport and wait for my flight. I also realized I forgot to pack my Pokemon game in my haste to find my passport :( Now what will I do when I'm listening to TBTL?!

I just realized I've not even said what my flight is for! I'm going to Botswana to do vaccine research at the University of Botswana in Gaborone. I'll be working in the same lab that I worked in after freshman year. Here's a little blurb:

A new method used in this lab for making vaccines for various diseases involves the tobacco plant. Epitope sequences code for the attachments to the virus’s coat proteins that are recognized by the host animal’s antibodies. These sequences can be inserted into the sequence for the coat protein of the tobacco-mosaic virus, which is used as a scaffold to express these antigens, using PCR. This creates a vaccine that presents very few side effects for the host. This process is very inexpensive, fast, and can be done on a large scale. What I worked on in the summer of 2009 was researching epitope sequences for rabies and rift valley virus. I also assisted students in their endeavors to successfully express epitopes on the tobacco-mosaic virus for lumpy skin disease and rotavirus. This summer, I'm continuing this research. Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a bovine disease which is similar to foot-and-mouth disease. This disease is a huge problem in areas like Botswana, where cattle is a main source of wealth, because there is no current treatment for the disease. The Vaccine Development Institute is collaborating with the University of Botswana to develop a new vaccine for LSD to prevent the economic losses caused by it. My project proposal is to design two new epitope sequences that can be used as vaccine candidates for LSD. I would then order the DNA primers necessary for the PCR process in the United States before travelling to Botswana to work with Dr. Sununguko Wata Mpoloka in the University of Botswana’s lab. While in Botswana, I would perform the gene cloning steps of the vaccine development procedure and insert this vaccine into tobacco plants to begin manufacture of the vaccine. Prior to my departure, I expect to be able to extract these vaccines and begin testing their viability as vaccines.

Haha yes, that was taken from one of my applications. At any rate, it's pretty exciting stuff.

I'm not sure what my internet will be like when I get there, but since I am at the University, I think I'll have internet at least part of the time. Au revoir, my friends, and bon voyage til we meet again.

LeeAnn xx

Academics, I vanquish thee.

I just got out of my final final. All of them (Chem, History, and Cell Bio) went decently. I'm pretty sure I'll get As in Chem and Bio but I'm really not sure about History. I know I wrote decent essays for the exam but we'll see. And at this point, who cares?!

I am totally, completely, and utterly brain-dead.

Also, a ski bunny :)

My parents sent me ski gear as part of my Christmas present. There were two envelopes in the box as well, but I think I'll wait until Christmas to open those.

Aggghhh I almost don't even know what to do with myself now that exams are over. I could start packing up, go to the gym, walk around, go shopping, chill at home, go to a coffee house.... The possibilities are endless!

Can't wait for the rest of my vacation here :)

xxx

LeeAnn

LIBRARY

I think I should change my permanent address to the library. I spend all of my time here now...

In fact, there's practically nothing to say because I've done nothing other than revise. Here's the highlights- but are they really lowlights? I'm going to do a round of Awesome Not Awesome for you all. This is a segment from TBTL- if the thing is Awesome, it gets a "RAWR" and if it's Not Awesome, it gets a "C'MON!" Here goes:

Chem final RAWR

could have gone better (the practice tests online were easier than the real tests) but I think I still got an A (which is a pretty easy feat in this grading system for science students, actually)

Working out after Chem final RAWR

Spending 12 hours in the library on Wednesday C'MON!

The beautiful natural light is the only reason I tolerate this place.

Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception RAWR

Getting a pinched nerve in my thumb from writing so much C'MON!

it's kinda getting better and I'm pretty much done writing for revision. On the plus side, my notes are beautiful- look at the pretty colors!

Skyping yesterday with Tasha, Marissa, and Faith (seperately) RAWR

Inheriting things from Tasha RAWR

I'm getting her fridge, hot water kettle, fuzzy blanket, lamp, and lounge pillow while she's abroad :D

Discovering the leak in our flat did not get fixed C'MON

the security guards came by yesterday and said the flat next door had a leak, which was supposedly fixed last week when they disabled our shower. They are not doing that again-they can wait a gd week until everyone leaves for Christmas break and noone's home.

Christmas episode of Glee RAWR

Snow partially melting C'MON

as much as I'd love to see the snow gone, this leaves a layer of water over the refrozen ice, making walking about a million times more difficult than it was yesterday

Recurring dream about leaving C'MON

in this dream, which I've had 3 times, I find myself at home having left the UK in a hurry. None of my things are packed properly and I've not said goodbye to anyone

Scripps housing crunch C'MON C'MON C'MON C'MON C'MON C'MON

this gets a millions C'MONs. Scripps needs to get their act together. Noone wants to live on south campus Pomona. This whole problem could have been avoided if they stopped admitting so many gd freshman and started using the waitlist more. SERIOUSLY. I had better get a room on Scripps, even if it is a double.

So, it seems that I've done more than I thought, although I really have been spending all my time at the library.

This is my "Finals Bemuse me Face." I'm off to get a coffee from the library cafe...

Long Time, No Blog

Hello my peoples.

I am very sorry I have been remiss on posting to my blog- so much as been happening! I will try to be better about it from now on.

Sooo- I will be posting a few blog posts all at once, to be found under this one. I know- SO OVERWHELMING.

Here's a recap of the new ones (this list is least recent to most recent but they're posted most recent to least recent, ie "Nat visits" is on the second page- scroll down and click "older posts"). I recommend reading them in the order listed below:

Nat visits

Maria visits/ St.Andrews

Spring at Scripps

Dad visits

Audrey visits

SNOWMG

Revision

Christmas Homesickness

I now invite you to kick back, put on some Christmas music (that's what I'm listening to), perhaps pour a glass of wine or tea, have a seat by the fire, and catch up on my goings-on.

Or you can stay where you are and just skim them, looking at the pretty pictures. It's up to you.

Love,

LeeAnn xxxx