beans, virgins, and delays

Today is the first day I have had enough internet strength to actually blog about what has gone on so far. So, I will start from the beginning. I left Omaha, Nebraska at 5:10 pm on Tuesday, July 10th. From there I went to Chicago. That layover was smooth, short, and not stressful in the least. The flight from Chicago from London was long, but I had a seat open next to me. I was optimistic that I would get some sleep because of this new discovery. I was also sitting next to a nice man from Norway who spoke to me during the first portion of the flight.  A few seats down from me was a young man from the  Middle East. He got up during the flight and ended up not coming back. Knowing these facts, I was slightly scared he was off doing something that could potentially bring the plane down, but after a while I pushed that racist thought from my mind and relaxed. I ended up scooting into the next seat so I had an open seat on either side of me. The two seats made for easy sleeping on the long flight.

Once arriving in London, we went through customs and all the other fun lines that airports make everyone go through. I had an 11 hour layover, so I found a place to sit and proceed to sleep with my carry on. If you have never been to London Airport, it is very ritzy. They sell Coach, Prada, and other big name labels. They also do not have free wifi or a decent place for people to sit. They just have a huge circular room for everyone to congregate to. After the insanely long wait, our flight was being delayed by the bad weather. Go figure, right? The flight was 11 hours long, overnight. I did not really sleep on this flight, however, because the overnight was not my overnight. It felt like day time to me so I watched movies and read and stared at people. All of this happened while the douche, who seemed to know nothing about riding a plane, proceeded to hit his touch screen (which is right behind my head) as hard as he possibly could all night. He also enjoyed sticking is feet and knees into my back as many times as possible. I think he was sent there just to tourment me.

We finally arrived in Johannesburg....late. Yes, late, so we missed our next flight to Port Elizabeth. At this time there were 4 of us who were supposed to be on that flight. We stuck together until arriving at Port Elizabeth. We ran all over the place with these guys who worked at the airport who pushed our carts of luggage. When we finally knew what we were doing, the men said "ok, you pay us now?" Pay?! You did not say we had to pay you...we had be scammed. The guy told me "give me 30 American dollars" I said....um no? and I eventually gave him 5 euros and 3 dollars. No was I was giving that guy 30 American dollars. Right.... So after that adventure, we were put on standby and waited to see if there were any open seats on the next flight. Unfortunately, there were not. We ended up getting a hotel room, ate on an airport voucher, and slept in nice beds that night. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:30 am the next morning. I suggested being ready and down in the lobby by 4:30.  The girls with me, however did not want to listen, they thought it was to early and decided on 5:00. Well, needless to say, it took time to check out, we had to get to the ticket counter, then some of us had problems with our bag and needed to go to another counter and pay (I was one of those people...nothing goes right for me). I ran to the counter to grab my boarding pass, then headed through security, which actually took the least amount of time, if you would believe it. By the time we got to the gate they were boarding (we should have left earlier). We made it though and that's really all that matters. We flew the hour and a half flight to PE.

After arriving we got our bags and waited for the shuttle to pick us up. After about an hour, they arrived and we took off for campus. The rest of the international students were waiting for us to arrive so we could leave for the weekend orientation. They waited for us for almost 2 hours, without being told why they were leaving. We rushed around getting our accommodations, packed a small bag, and left for Tsitsikamma (land of many waters).

The drive was about an hour and a half in the rain. It was quiet, since not many of us knew each other. We got to the "adventure camp" and unloaded into the main building and picked rooms. It was freezing, little did I know that the buildings here do not have heat, because they are not used to cold weather. That means, I did not pack the right type of clothes. We were all freezing for most of the weekend. The best part of the weekend was zip lining. I did not take any pictures because of the rain, but it was great! The rest of the weekend was just talking to other internationals and sitting around. It was raining so bad that we left early because we could not do anything else.

Saturday, I picked up some food and hung out with my flat mates (flats are like apartments...kind of). Sunday, I went to the mall, Greenacres, with a few of the Danish girls that live on my flat. I bought a blanket, because sleeping in all of my clothes was not my favorite thing.

Monday, orientation started. I was all day and a lot of talking about things that no one really cared about...which pretty much sums up orientation in America! We went to a local bar/restaurant, Barney's. It was fun, but I did not stay long. 

Tuesday, orientation continued. It was most of the day yesterday. Continued with things that I didn't care about. Finally, we left and went to Pick 'n Pay. It is a grocery store that is close to our flat. I got tired of eating toast and cereal, so I got a little more food to actually cook. I made dinner and ate with 4 German girls then we headed to the guys' place. They have an actual house and it is beyond nice. I can say that I am pretty jealous of where they are living.

Today I got up and left the flat around 10 til 10. We have been walking to campus, which is about a 30 minute walk. Upon arriving, I went to the international office to see if I had to pay any fees to register for classes. Luckily, I did not. From there I headed to my first "lecture" which was about lectures and how to site sources...pretty much everything I have known for quite some time. After that we went on a "campus tour", which included us walking a bit and our guide pointing at buildings and telling us what they were, but we probably would never use them. I was very helpful.....*read with sarcasm

Today was the first time I walked home alone. They have been telling us not to go anywhere alone, but what was I supposed to do? So, I walked home, very unsure of where to go and what would happen, with a key in hand, in case an unknown assailant attempted to hurt me. Since being home, I have been writing this book that probably no one will read.

A few things, in case someone reads this who will be studying abroad in the future.

• There is no heat in the house, if you come from July-September, you will be cold. Bring blankets and some winter clothes. If you can bring your winter coat, it is probably a good idea.
• Bring an umbrella, it rains
• You should have a washer, but it takes forever for clothes to dry because there is no air moving around, just be aware of that.
•  The beds have no bedding, bring sheets and a blanket if you can. 
• Bring at least one towel, you can buy crappy ones later
• Don't forget and adapter and converter for the plugs. You can buy the adapter pretty cheap here but if you want it right away, bring it. 
• There is a very high crime rate here, which I did not know, just know that before coming
• The sun goes down around 5 pm here, which means everything pretty much closes at 5
• Write a blog, just this one entry has helped
• Be social with other people, not Americans, don't form the clicks with the people your used to being around. You can hang out with Americans when you get home, expand!

Well, I hope this was not too terrible to read and that at least one person reads it. Till Next time