Hi everyone!  For my first couple blog posts, I am going to go back an update you on what we’ve been up to for the past six weeks in Southern Africa.  We’ve gone to so many interesting places and learned so many things that I couldn’t leave it out.  I hope you enjoy and I hope these get your mind going!

Let’s start from the very beginning with the seventeen hour flight we had to take to get to Johannesburg, South Africa.  It was actually more enjoyable than expected.  Between the company of the people in our group, the entertainment system on the plane, and the constant flow of food, I kept busy (the time that I was awake).  Before I knew it I was lugging off all my luggage into the incredible airport of Johannesburg.

We were greeted by Janessa, our resident advisor, and Nespect a professor and guide for Augsburg College’s Center for Global Education.  It was a group effort to make it out of the airport and I must say I was the weak link.  (When they recommend you pack light, you should listen).  But, we finally made it outside and were hit with a surprisingly cold air.  It was still winter in South Africa and just days before we arrived it had been snowing!

We piled into the vans and headed to St. Peters Place—our home for the next week, an old brick building with dorm style rooms, a center court yard, library, and dining area.  It was really cute, but had no heat.  That night, we settled in wearing several pairs of socks, huddled together under blankets and clinging to cups of hot tea.  Not at all what I expected , but an extremely intense game of “mafia” helped keep our minds off the cold and I was happy to find that our group felt very natural and we seemed to “click” immediately.