Submitted by Darlaine Paul on the 2018 winter session program in South Africa sponsored by the Department of Behavioral Health & Nutrition…
Coming to South Africa, I really didn’t know what to expect and how it was going to be. All the way up until landing in South Africa, I thought that I would see lots of dirt roads and not much big infrastructure. However, that was not the case at all. Once I landed in Johannesburg, also known as Joburg, I was in immediate awe about everything around me. I saw huge buildings, highways that are like those in America, skyscrapers and so much more. The landscape of Pretoria where we are spending our first week is absolutely amazing and beautiful as well. There is just so much open space and the mountains in the distance just make the view even better. I have experienced so many new things from just my first week of study abroad and it’s just unbelievable. I have seen a cheetah close up, explored a cave called the cradle of humankind which is where the first piece of human fossil was discovered, visited a couple orphanages, visited a town called Soweto where we got to observe the upper, middle and lower class of that town, visited the Hector Pieterson Museum and played rugby which is very popular in South Africa for the first time.
Also, a very touching moment for me was definitely visiting the orphanages. It was just wonderful being able to play and talk to these children who have been abandoned by their parents or lost their parents to HIV/AIDS and they have the biggest smiles on their faces just because we are playing with them. The amount of things that I have got to experience in only my first week makes me feel like I’ve been here for a month already.