Orientation: Day 1

Last night was my the first time I came close to eight hours here. I have never been affected by jet lag but this trip changed that. I walked to campus with a few friends for our first official day of orientation at NMMU. I came half an hour early to use the school WiFi and check who had won the Super Bowl. It sounds like it was a really exciting game even for those who didn't care about the teams in it. Blackout during the game...WHAT???


Orientation began with confusion. Apparently, the auditorium was double booked and the other group was kicked out. This was only told to us afterwards so I looked like a lost puppy playing follow the leader as I wandered the buildings in search of the correct location. I always felt like I couldn't get lost because of my size but if Africa has taught me one thing, it's that I am terrible at navigation.

After a short welcome, we were given a sandwich for lunch and then left for a campus tour. This was the longest tour of my entire life! We took a loop around the campus which was about 4 miles. NMMU is the largest university in land mass in the southern hemisphere because it's located on a nature reserve and game park. After sweating half my body weight, we returned to the international office and were told to wait for close to two hours for an early dinner.

Tonight, I'm going to take a taxi to the Port Elizabeth Stadium for football (soccer)  tickets. The Africa Cup of Nations is being hosted in South Africa this year. Last Saturday, the South African national team, Bafana Bafana, lost to Mali so there are plenty of tickets available for the game. I'm going with some of my new American and German friends to experience the match. Bafana Bafana was the power house and it was a huge upset for Mali. The remaining countries are Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. The game I'm going to is the between the losers of the matches in two days. They will be playing for 3rd place but it should still be a great time.

Pictures will come soon so get ready!!