First Three Days

Day One—A Slightly Rocky Start

Well I have finally made it to the University of the Free State after over 24 hours of plane rides, waiting, and unsuccessfully trying to find comfortable ways to sleep sitting up. Zach and I met up with Jon in Johannesburg and the three of us continued on to the final flight to Bloemfontein. Once we reached the airport, we collected our bags and looked around for the person who was supposed to pick us up and take us to the campus, only to find out that there wasn’t actually anyone there for us. Fortunately, there was another group of students on our flight who were being shuttled to campus from the airport, and the driver was more than happy to take us as well, even though we weren’t on his list. Once we got to the university, we were faced with another inconvenience because no one actually knew where we were supposed to be. The shuttle driver was kind enough to stay with us while we called the only contact we had here as well as one of the girls who went on this trip last year in order to figure out where we were supposed to go. We ended up going to the security office and they sent someone to take us to a temporary guest residence hall, and this is where I am now. I’m told that someone is going to come by my room and fill me in on what exactly we’re supposed to be doing and where we’re actually supposed to be. In the meantime, I’ll be trying to regulate the sporadic sleep cycle that I have developed over the course of nearly 20 hours on a plane. Tomorrow I plan on exploring campus and on Monday we’ll begin our program. Here’s to hoping that the rest of this month is a little more organized than these first few days!

Day Two—Still Not Really Sure What to Do

So I waited up for our contact who was supposed to come to my room and tell me what I need to know about starting our program, but no one came so I just went to bed. I fell asleep around 8 PM, was up for about two hours around midnight, and then slept until noon. I think I’m finally back on a semi-normal sleep schedule, but we’ll see what tonight brings. Later in the afternoon, I met with Jon and Zach and we set off in search of food, but everywhere on campus was closed. Just outside campus we wandered upon a small strip mall with a grocery store and a few restaurants, so we were able to find food and get some water. After lunch, we decided to head to the library to see if we could get on a computer since none of us had access to the internet from our residences. We saw that the library was closed and even if it were open, we would need a security card to get into the building, and then a username and password to log on to a computer, both of which we did not have. We then went back to the security office to see if there was any way they could help us out. They told us that if the library were open then they would be able to get us in, but they couldn’t do anything about us not having a student ID and password. They did instruct us, however, to go to the International Office so we could at least get access to the internet and hopefully get in contact with someone who knows what we’re supposed to do and where we’re supposed to go. Unfortunately, the International Office isn’t open on the weekends, so we’ve decided to go first thing tomorrow morning and hopefully they can help us out.  

Day Three—100 Times Better than Days One and Two

First off, we finally have internet! It’s been a rough few days trying to communicate with people both here in South Africa and back home, but we’ve finally got everything sorted out! It began this morning when we ran into a girl who had actually spent three years studying at App State, so she was so excited when she learned that we went there as well. Her name is Pashy and she is so incredibly friendly and helpful. She directed us to the International Office and then took us shopping at one of the malls here in Bloem, which actually wasn’t that different from American malls. She has also invited us back to her place later this week because she wants to bake scones for us and make sure that we enjoy ourselves while we’re here. Once we got to the International Office, we were relieved to learn that there actually were people expecting us. We requested access codes to log on to the internet (now we’re just borrowing someone else’s username) and tomorrow we will get security cards so I will no longer get locked out of my building (it has now happened twice and I think the RA is getting annoyed by me). We also finally got to meet the med students and they are fantastic. They are so kind and genuinely concerned for our enjoyment and well-being. We met them this evening at one of their apartments for a Braai (which is basically the same as a cookout). It was a lot of fun and it was a great experience to get to know the students who will be hosting us. As for classes, we will start attending lectures tomorrow afternoon after we get our security cards sorted out. I don’t think I could have asked for a better group of students to spend the next four weeks with. Everyone we met today was so welcoming and they all felt terrible about us being left on our own for two days. Today’s experiences more than made up for the first few days, and I’m really excited to see what else this month has to offer!