What a Riot!

Hello friends,

So the past few days have been quite hectic and if you have been keeping up with my facebook status', you  would understand why.

In a nutshell, the Student body here at UB is unimpressed with the multiple changes going on campus. This includes things like: the on campus bar potentially being closed, the ending of supplementary exams, canceling inter-varsity sports, and the medical school not being up to date on the curriculum or the resources to provide students with. 

Because of the these issues, the students began to protest last Thursday, gathering in the student centre to start open discussions which turned into a lot of rowdiness quickly. 

Soon after, a ban of students became a mob and starting running through campus shouting, yelling and blowing horns in hopes of getting noticed and hopefully in light of being heard by the board. 

It died down during the weekend but sure enough, picked right up again yesterday with angry students in mobs running and chanting all over campus, picking students out of class to join them. 

Professors let students go early from class in fear of being attacked, some professors didn't even show up to class in fear of being harassed. 

Needless to say, SHIT GOT CRAY. 

I ran at least 5 times out of the cafeteria, open areas and out of class. I nearly once thought people were going to hit me- they looked angry as hell.

Later yesterday, I decided to go to class with a friend and a girl walked up to us and said " what are you doing?, you know if you go down there you're going to get shot". Immediately, we started walking back to residence ( no way in hell I'm going to class when I could be safe)

The police did get involved yesterday evening because of the barricades the students made to block cars from coming through and preventing cars from leaving campus. 

The police had to come fully enforced with their gear and they did some damage control.

Unfortunately, the mobs and riots are out of hand to the point where the University of Botswana has declared an official strike and classes are cancelled until Monday of next week. 

Though, at first this seemed very exciting and new, I did start to get tired of running from people every where I went. I do want to just go to school and learn without interruptions.

But on a happier note, because of this break, the international students are treating it as an early spring break to explore places close by, and have some adventure! 

A few of us are going to take a road trip to Sun City in South Africa tomorrow and stay there until Sunday night!! Sun city looks exquisite and apparently it is an oasis vacation spot in Southern Africa- so hellz yes I'm on that! Hoping to do some swimming and safari tours as well.

So here's how you take something negative and turn it into a positive

- yes, pitbull is to blame for that line! 

I'm attaching some pictures of Sun city- start getting Jelly! 

Tata 

Baby Steps

Hellooo, 

Sorry its' been a while since my last post, this week has been quite jam packed and lengthy so I haven't had enough time to do a full recap.  Last weekend I went on a retreat for 2 days to the village of Kanye. Yes, Like the rapper! Except I'm pretty sure it was named Kanye before he was! 

So at this village, we had the opportunity of meeting the chief and having him speak to us about the tradition within the village and amongst the tribe. After this, we hiked to a see a gorge that was pretty breath taking. We visited another small village reserve called Thamaga that evening, where the women and men welcomed us with traditional song and dance and even taught us some of their moves! Everyone stayed overnight either in tents or chalets ( modern day huts -with beds and a washroom inside). The next day we went to visit the Oldest tree in Botswana named after David Livingston- a missionary from Scotland who came to educate, help treat locals and convert them to Christianity. After this we got to look at ancient rock paintings that dated back 2000 years, these rock paintings were significant because it showed which tribes had made it to that point and which tribes had left their mark. 

After this we went to Mmokolodi, a Safari reserve where we went on our first game drive! Let me tell you that was the real African Lion Safari ( Canadian Joke) It was incredible, the amount of different national animals we got to see in their zone just lovin' life. 

There is a lot I haven't mentioned that we did in that small amount of time, but you get that I was pretty busy and having a great ol' time. This week has flown by super quickly thinking about it now. I'm starting to meet more interesting people in my classes who seem to like getting to know me as well. I am still in this transition stage but I can see myself being more confident around campus, and acknowledging more faces. I'm sort of hoping I get homework this week.... I miss it a tad! I am also hoping to do some research on a place I can volunteer at in the city of Gaborone, some place I can invest my time when I'm not with students, I think it will make the trip more well rounded in experience for me. 

So for now, I think I may go to sleep or perhaps catch up on Modern Family with a light snack before bed! Yes I'm a wild one on  a Saturday Night! Wish you all a great week ahead! 

 The Alligator is the totem symbol for the people of Kanye

 The Gorge

 The women and men at Thamanga welcoming us

 Rock Paitings!

Game Drive:)

Du Mela

Hello friends,
or rather, I'll say Du Mela - the formal greeting for "Hello" in Setswana.
I have been here for a week now and what a week its been!

The journey was lengthy with 4 flights and 26 hours of flying time, I was pretty exhausted but so incredibly excited to land in the beautiful Bots!
The first week has flown by both quickly and slowly; I've taken that its probably because there is nothing and everything that needs to be done all at the same time.
There are about 80 international students this semester from all over the place including the States, Sweden, Germany,Bosnia, Switzerland, China, and me- the only Canadian... bulllettt!
They seem like a sweet bunch of people, ready to learn and open to experience- so I'm excited for new friends! yay! :)
The first trip we took was to a small opera house theatre where they served us a traditional Botswanian meal. There were plenty of delicacies, amongst them were the infamous "Mupane worms".
Essentially, a fat,long and black maggot fried and seasoned with spices and sauces.
Most people know, I'm normally down for anything especially with food- but for some reason, this meal was too new and exciting for me to devour.
I did try and managed to eat the whole worm and thought it was pretty decent ( minus the fact that I knew it was worm the entire time) Will I try another one before I leave Botswana? I'm going to try and avoid it, that's for sure!
After the traditional meal, our international leaders/volunteers decided to show us some native dances, songs and games to the country,which were incredibly cool and made me jealous that we don't have as many of those in Canada.
Apart from this one evening trip, the rest of the week has consisted of getting to know campus and going to class. The first week is a write-off at UB- you're usually lucky if your professor shows up to class this week!
The people in Botswana are extremely friendly... sometimes overly friendly! But they have a light about them and are high spirited, so making friends with locals shouldn't be a big problem.
I have yet to feel completely settled but I know that by next week, I will report with a lot more confidence on what the scene is.
For now, I'm off to celebrate a friends birthday on the rooftop of the school! ( I don't think we could ever do this at Laurier) Should be a sceeeeennnne!

Have a beautiful weekend!

side note: My camera is having trouble uploading pictures and videos- but I'm working on it cause yall need to check out some footage for sure!

On Route!

 Hello!!!!

This is the first of my blog entries for my exchange to Botswana for the next 4 months.
Where do I even begin to explain how excited I am for this wild ride!
After countless list- making sessions and medical checks I can say- I'm ready for the trip of a lifetime!


I'm going to try and update with posts once a week, doing recaps of exciting and new things, along with putting up photos and videos.

I'm so thankful for this great learning experience, for the people I'm going to meet and the time I get to spend embracing a new culture.
So stoked to start 2012 with a great venture like this!

So for now, its' off to the airport!
See you on the other side


Salut!