Orientation Week

Let’s go through the last few days. Tuesday was orientation but that night we went to Cubana’s for drinks and appetizers. Thirteen of us (Americans, Germans, Dutch, and maybe a French guy, I can’t keep track) hopped on a minibus and rode it down to the boardwalk. We walked a little ways down to the restaurant and took pictures of the sunset over the ocean. I cannot get over how BEAUTIFUL it is! Every night is picture worthy so expect to see a lot of them on facebook. We had a few drinks and smoked some hookah. Fun fact: when you call it hookah here, people think you are saying hooker which can change the direction of conversation drastically. After dinner, half the group went to back to Annie’s while the other half went to Barney’s, a beachfront karaoke bar. I was in the more musically inclined group and went to the bar right away. We signed up to sing but it took too long and we got tired so we went home. Apparently I missed a great night out but I’m sure there will be a few more in the months to come.

Wednesday, I registered for classes. That is to say, I pre-registered for the courses I want. I just wrote down the times of the lectures and will now show up. I hope they tell me if I act6ually got into the classes I want because that part of the plan hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Again, this whole experience feels a lot like summer camp and I hope decisions become more concrete during the school year.

Wednesday night, Germany and France were playing a friendly match so I went with 15 Germans and 5 or 6 French to a sports bar on the Boardwalk. Although the game didn’t mean as much as some of the others on, the owners put it on the big screen because there were so many of us watching it. Two of my friends, a German and French, decided there wasn’t enough riding on the game so they made a “Slap Bet”, like in the show “How I Met Your Mother”, which is apparently huge in Germany. Whichever side won got three free slaps at the loser. This can happen any time throughout the semester and since Germany won 2-1, my French friend will be watching his back for the next few months.

Yesterday was another boring orientation day but it’s Ladies Night at one of the clubs here in PE so we went out for a few hours. The clubs here are so insane! They are open until 4am so you get there around 12:30 or 1 in the morning and dance your pants off for a few hours. The dancing here is a little different; a little less grinding but I think it’s more fun dancing with a big group. Everyone is included here and it doesn’t feel like an awkward middle school dance if you don’t have a partner.

Today we were supposed to have a tour of another campus of our school but the bus didn’t show up. NMMU has five campuses: North and South Summerstrand (where I am), Bird Street, George Street, and Missionvale. We were headed to Missionvale but now I’ll just spend the day at the beach (poor me).

Saturday is the big day! We’re taking a township tour and going to The Red Museum, which shows the history of the apartheid in South Africa. Then, at night, we’re going to the consolation championship game of the Africa Cup of Nations between Ghana and Mali. Ghana was favored to win the championship but lost in a shootout to Burkina Faso so this game is going to be great! I’ll have a separate blog post about this in the next few days