I'm here! After some intense traveling, I safely arrived in South Africa three nights ago. It wasn't too bad, although the 11.5 hour flight down did get a bit lonely. I was extremely happy to arrive at school and be met by Hannah, my friend from ISU, who came a week ahead of me (on the scheduled program date). My jet lag is just beginning to hit me, but the past three days have been quite the experience.
A little background - Hannah found this program last year and asked me to come along. I gladly said yes, but other than knowing about the Service Learning courses I wanted to take, I was largely (intentionally) ignorant about what to expect. Not knowing exactly what to expect has made the experience more fun I'd say!
Stellenbosch University is slightly smaller than ISU, in the town of Stellenbosch, about 30 minutes from Cape Town. It is not "Africa" as you might picture, but a ritzy university in a bubble of a town. The majority of students here are white, and I would say it is similar to what the entire country was 20 years ago. There is a significant shantytown on the edge of Stellenbosch which is where I get the feeling the bubble ends. But that is something I will continue to explore as I attempt to dive into the real Africa - the dusty, impoverished, not so pretty continent with so much to share.
This semester is actually the beginning of the school year for the university, and from what I can tell, classes are rather rigorous. No, this will not be a study abroad where I skip class and tour the whole time - this university is prestigious and demands a lot from its students. Classes are a bit odd - they don't start all at the same time and we have first meetings, where we go to the class to see if we actually want to register for it.
The first meetings have already wowed me. The professors are great - they are obviously passionate about their subject and the best part - they aren't just lecturers, they are practitioners of their subject. For example, they are founders and leaders of activist or non-profit organzinations, they work for the UN, they have been a part of making history on this continent. It really excites me to be have an opportunity to learn from these type of people. I can already tell this material will go beyond the classroom into something so much bigger.
