Yesterday a thing called the first week of classes at the University of Botswana started. HA. The first week seems to be a very casual, show-up if you want to, week. As put by a local student "It is add and drop week, so why would we go to class?". Just like in the states, there is a period where you are allowed to add and drop classes. Here, that is this week, and apparently students do not usually show up to classes until schedules are finalized, so teachers do not really hold lecture. Yesterday I got up early, got out my map, brought my notebook and my pencils and headed to class. I got there easily, however the door was locked. After asking some people if they knew where my teacher was, a male student overheard me and told me we had to go up the stairs, go down a hallway, and enter a room that was basically hidden. How did I not know that was where I was supposed to go? This was my intro to art education class. The professor was very cool. She had super long dreads and was wearing what seemed to be more traditional Setswana clothing. She went over the syllabus VERY loosely. She asked the class if the meeting time worked for everyone's schedule. 3 students said that the time did not work for them, so we spent the next 30 minutes voting on new meeting times. It was crazy! I explained to the guy sitting next to me that this would never happen in the U.S. The class could not all agree on a time, so we decided that some students would come from 9-11 and some would come from 10-12. I'm thinking I will go to the 10 o' clock one so that I can sleep in more! This time switching thing is very common across all classes here. They do not expect you to sign up for classes that do not conflict. You sign up for whatever you want, and hope that the times change. Very relaxed. The guy that I was sitting next to was a law student, in his fifth and final year here. He is in the process of applying for law schools in the U.S. His top choices are Yale and Harvard, but his third choice is New York Law School!!! How crazy P?! I told him that my sister goes there and he seemed very impressed. Attending this class made me truly feel culture shock for the first time; I really felt like an international student. Although the class was taught in english, when they were debating the time changes they spoke in Setswana. I just sat there and looked at my notebook while they all talked about the times. It is weird to be such a minority that you do not even understand anything that is going on around you. The teacher did a very good job though of filling me in at the end and making me feel like a part of the class. My second class was an african children's traditional games class. The class sounds very cool, and the professor was awesome. She studied at UCLA for 9 years, and then went to UW-Madison for 3 years! It's crazy that within two hours of my day I met two people who talked about locations in the U.S. that were meaningful to me. As far away as you get, there is always a sense of home. I feel that little connections like that are what help me become less overwhelmed that I am so far away. I unfortunately cannot take that class because it is a 400 level class, which is restricted to 4th year students, but I really enjoyed the hour that I did spend in the class. The third class I went to was the Setswana course. I am actually going to be dropping this course as well. Although it seems very cool, the professor (and other students) said that the class focuses mostly on old grammar that is not used today, and also focuses on written translation. I am thinking that I will just work very hard to learn about the language from the local friends I make. Our schedules are still not done, so I still have two days to figure out my classes; it is very stressful! The course catalogue is very confusing, and we have little help with our schedules. I think that when I return to the U.S. I will make areal effort to get involved with the international students, because there are a lot of little things that just seem to slip through the cracks here. I have made a couple of friends here who I think will end up being good friends of mine. Their names are Nkamu, Gwizzy and Goms. We call Gwizzy weezy, although her name is truly pronounced gee-whizz-y (like our saying gee-whiz!). We met them in the cafeteria one day, and we have been hanging out with them a lot. They area super nice, and very fun to talk to about their culture. Although I think the best part is that we are now past the stage of just asking questions. I have realized that the process in making friends here is difficult. Whenever we meet someone, we just spend a lot of time asking them questions about Botswana, rather than actually talking to them like they are a friend from back home. Last night however, we spent a lot of time just talking about soccer, shoes, and other things that I would talk to friends about. It feels really good to actually start to progress towards a real friendship with someone from here! Two of them do not know how to swim, so Laura and I told them we would teach them-how fun! They are very excited to learn. One of them has never been in the water and is very scared of the water, so I am really excited to help her learn.
Today, I did not have any classes, because my schedule is just messed up, so I slept in until about 12. It felt very good. I spent the rest of the day however in a pretty frustrated state of mind. The lack of organization rarely gets to me, however our schedule and ID process is very frustrating. Let's just say that I spent most of my day trying to figure out my schedule, get my ID, and help Laura get signatures for her add and drop form. It was a lot of walking around today! The best part however, was that I went swimming for the first time! A swimming pool has never felt so good. Today was incredibly hot, so it was great to go swimming. There is an olympic size lap pool, and then a smaller pool next to it for just hanging out in. A group of us just swam around in the smaller pool (with our swimming caps on, don't forget!). I got a chance to kick around which felt really good on my knee. I think that going there will be an every day occurrence. I am now back at my room, just waiting for a sub to be delivered. A pizza and sub place here is SO good, so once and a while we order some food. No matter where you are in the world it seems, pizza delivery is always available. No animals to tell you about today, other than a lizard, but I did find out which end of campus I can go to to see monkeys so I am very excited to do that!! As always I hope the snow is treating all of you very well, and that you are finding fun ways to enjoy it! I miss all of you very much, and will update again soon!
P.S. STILL NO SUNBURN! Even after swimming in the pool-I think you should be very proud (mom, dad and Saskia)
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