I thought it fitting that my first post title was questioning my arrival (I’m in Africa?!) and now my possibly last post title is questioning my departure from this lovely place.  Time has flown.  In less than 6 hours I will leave Windhoek for a week in Cape Town, South Africa and in 8 days I will be on a plane bound for home.  When did that happen?

I don’t have any idea how to start a post that sums up my experiences here. They were overwhelming. Eye-opening. Enlightening. Beautiful. Upsetting. Heart-warming. Frustrating. Humbling. The list goes on. But ultimately, because of the good and the bad, this semester has been wonderful.  Every day presented a new adventure.  Every adventure had a lesson to be learned.  I know that I will continue to learn from my days here long after this, especially in my first months back at home.  People always tell you that studying abroad will change you and your life, and while I can’t say for sure, I can foresee myself agreeing with that statement.

I’ve been working on this post for two days and I’m still at a loss for what to say.

My housemates, my homestays, my travels, my classes…they’ve all given me more than I could have imagined in one semester.  The question I think we’re all struggling with though is how to take it all back.  At this point everything I’ve learned is still pretty overwhelming.  Just know that when you ask me how my semester was, the short answer that you’re expecting won’t even begin to skim the surface of how my time here went.

I’ll leave you with the link to CGE Namibia’s blog which we were required to write in throughout the semester.  I don’t know why I didn’t think to post it earlier, but it will give you much more insight into what we learned about here than my blog has.

We’re off to the airport in a few minutes and I have no idea when, if ever, I’ll be able to return to Namibia.  I’m not sure that I have really realized that yet either.  Since I’m doing a terrible job at summing things up here, perhaps I’ll give it another try when I get home.

Thank you Namibia and CGE for giving me the best semester yet of my college career!

So you’re planning on studying abroad or at least considering it…

If you’re anything like me you’re pretty excited at the opportunity but can’t help thinking “[insert location here] is so far away!”   (I am approximately 7,579 miles from my home in Pittsburgh right now!)  No need to worry, studying abroad is well worth traveling the distance.  And in case you’re still worried, I’ve got a few tips for how to cope with the distance!

#1. Know your chocolate source! Haha, we asked some Americans working in Namibia their tips and this was what one of the women said. She was half joking, but I’m not.  I’ve eaten more chocolate here than I do at home.  Also, Cadbury seems to have the chocolate monopoly here and they have so many delicious chocolate bars! (I recommend coconut and cashew)

#2. Know and love the people you’re living with. Being in one house as a living-learning community means I constantly have 22 fellow students to vent to when necessary.  It occasionally means conflict as well, but that’s inevitable.  There are plenty of programs where you don’t live in a big community like this, so I can’t speak from experience, but I suggest making some close friends who you can go to when you’re having a rough day.  I certainly wouldn’t have been able to cope all on my own. And I can’t imagine what living in this house would have been like if I hadn’t bothered to get to know everyone.

#3. Skype! I’m sure you all know this by now, but it’s a wonderful little invention that allows you to talk to your family and friends…for free! And if you’re lucky enough to have decent internet, you may even be able to video chat. (Don’t always depend on that in Namibia) There’s always the good old telephone, too.  But skype is just a nice step up.  Especially for your cheap college friends who you don’t expect to pay for a calling card.

#4. Bring DVDs. I didn’t do this, but luckily some other people did.  Sometimes you just need a taste of your favorite movie or TV show. (Gilmore Girls)  They’re also good for nights spent in when you don’t want to do your work!

#5. Become familiar with your surroundings. For me, getting to know my way around town at least a little makes me feel more at home.  That way you won’t get lost while on a walk or be totally confused when your taxi driver can’t find his way to your neighborhood.  And you can find the best way to the convenience store with the delicious french fries (aka spice or hot chips) or the place with cheap gelato.

#6. Figure out what you can’t live without, then live without it. This was the serious piece of advice that the American workers gave us.  Depending on where you study, you may or may not have access to things that are a regular part of your life at home, especially technology. And some staple foods. (A perk of Namibia – they have peanut butter and lots of it! This house goes through a ridiculous amount every week. I hear it’s a bit harder to come by in Europe…) I hate to admit that I’m a little too attached to my cell phone at home, but I don’t even have one here and I don’t care one bit!  You will survive, I promise. (Although it is a bit tough on those days when I just really want some triscuits.)

For now, these are what I can think of as some of the most important.  If something else essential comes to me, I’ll update this post.  For me, the best thing is hanging out with my housemates because they’re hilarious and they keep from thinking too much about the distance.  But when I am thinking about it, writing to people back home keeps me connected and happy.  Receiving mail is pretty awesome, too!

The places people live here (and plenty of other countries) continue to amaze me.  After class on Thursday, we headed south to go camping for the weekend and we stayed in a few towns that really are just plopped in what feels like the middle of nowhere.  The landscape of the south is much drier than the north and it is a pretty good display of Namibia’s low population density.  If you’ve ever wondered what the Earth looked like before humans took over, the South of this country is the place to look.  You can stand on top of a mountain and see nothing for miles in all directions. (I know, I did it!)

All of our trips are not only chances to see more of the country, but also to learn more about the people, culture, history, and development of Southern Africa.  During this travel seminar, we stayed at two community run campsites and a private game lodge that practices social and environmental responsibility.  The layout of Namibia, both with land and people, lends itself to practicing natural resource management combined with tourism activities like campsites

Brukkaros Mountain near Berseba, Namibia.

and craft markets.  It was particularly interesting for me as the first two campsites are actually run by the organization I intern for, Namibia Development Trust.  It is still up in the air if this is an effective development strategy, especially in a place that is so spaced out.

Becca Hertz playing with a local child.

Our second campsite was probably the coolest (except for these tiny green bugs that attacked us and everything we owned).  It was near the base of Brukkaros mountain, which isn’t very tall, but still pretty awesome.  Most of us woke up early in the morning and hiked to the top.  It was my first mountain climb!  The view was beautiful and the climb was a great workout early in the morning. I’m still feeling pretty sore but it was well worth it.  We were a little intimidated by the 8 or so baboons that were not pleased by our presence, but luckily they let us pass.

After our climb on Saturday morning, we met up with a group of high school kids from the school in Berseba and helped to repaint an old school building that they are trying to rehabilitate.  It was actually more of an opportunity for us to interact with community members which we appreciated.  An important part of this program is learning about life here from Namibians, not just our teachers, so being able to talk to them about their town and their school was enlightening.  There was also a community meeting happening later in the day, so it seemed like the whole town was there and all the little children had a ball running around with us.  Best of all, the high school kids were in their school’s choir so they sang to us and it was amazing!  Every time a group of Namibians sings to us, I am in awe.  The title of this post comes from the lyrics to a song that they sang – and one we were able to sing with them.  Being in Namibia certainly is a worthy reason for celebration!

It’s hard to believe, but this trip was our last big group travel in Namibia for the semester.  We only have 3 more weeks left in this beautiful country before we head to Cape Town, South Africa for a week and then it’s home to the States.  Of course I am finally settled in and I have to start thinking about leaving…

The final installment of my adventure blog is about my rafting trip on the Orange River! Sorry this took so long!

CGE allows us just over a week to do our own traveling wherever we may want to go.  Most people in our group headed to Zimbabwe and Botswana to see Victoria Falls.  That was the trip I had originally planned on taking, but when we discussed our Spring Break options, a few relaxing days on a river just seemed to call to me.  Truthfully, I really want to go to Vic Falls when I can sit in the pool on the edge, but that’s not an option in this extra-rainy season!

Myself and two Clark University students, Amanda Major and Katie McGonagle, drove all the way to the South to reach the Orange which forms the border between South Africa and Namibia.  As usual, the landscape continually amazes me and this trip was no exception.  While we were in the North, we saw flat, flooded, grassy lands.  Now we were seeing the exact opposite.  The lands became desert, like on our trip to Swakopmund, but this time the land seemed more orange than brown.  Eventually we hit a long series of plateaus that seemed so out of place.  After 9 or so hours, we reached the border in over 90 degree heat!

We thought there would be other students on our trip because it was a special student price, but it ended up just being the three of us and our rafting guides!  Pine was a 40 something stereotypical adventure guide and Frans was 24 and new to being a rafting guide.  Pine also brought his crazy girlfriend Kelly.  The three of them made for a great time!  We woke up the next day and had to go back to the border post and stamp back into Namibia since our trip would be ending on the opposite side of the river.  We finally set out on our trip and I knew it was going to be great – the water was warm and calm and the scenery was beautiful.  We spent the next 3 days navigating the Orange while swimming or drinking whenever we pleased and sleeping under the stars and the full moon.  Talking to our guides about their lives in South Africa was also a highlight of the trip.  Pine had been in the forces fighting against the Namibian freedom fighters in the 80s, so it was definitely interesting to get his perspective since we’ve been studying so much Namibia history.

When it comes to deciding on your own travel, I say go wherever your heart desires!  I still would love to go to Victoria Falls someday, but rafting called to me as soon as I heard about it.  And I don’t regret it one bit!  It was nice to get away from the big group for a while and I had an amazing time!

OH! I forgot to mention before that my friends and I got our picture in the Namibian, the newspaper here!  We were at an Elemotho concert at a local restaurant (he’s pretty good, by the way!) when they took our picture, and sure enough it turned up in the “Faces and Places” section the next week! We all thought it was pretty exciting.

Our free weekends are dwindling in numbers, so I’m off to find something new to do in this place before I run out of time!

Only one, but I had been starting to lose hope about seeing any, and then finally it was right there, eating a tree! It was wonderful.  Some friends headed to Botswana later and were able to see a lot more, but since I didn’t, I was happy to see any at all!

I should backtrack and say that this happened in Etosha National Park which is where we spent the last two days of our trip to the North.  It’s one of the best places for wildlife viewing in Southern Africa and we saw plenty of zebras and giraffes and everything else you can imagine that you probably saw in The Lion King.  It was amazing.

The best way to share my experience is through pictures, so I’ll post a few here and the rest on my Picasa! The pictures really don’t do the animals justice; it really is something you have to see for yourself.  Going to Disney’s Animal Kingdom is pretty cool, but it doesn’t get nearly as good as seeing these animals in their true environment!

I could have watched these giraffes all day long.

So if you look very closely under the tree on the left, you can see lions relaxing underneath.  We watched this giraffe and his friends play chicken with these lions for a good 20 minutes. This was really all the farther the giraffes got, but we couldn’t figure out why they would want to get that close at all!

One of my favorite photos of zebras at a water hole.

This was all I truly wanted to see!

Vultures snackin' on some giraffe.

Needless to say, Etosha was breathtaking and certainly something I’ll never forget! Now I’m going to donate my laptop to the good of the house so we can relax and watch a movie, but I’ll provide a summary of my spring break trip on the Orange River soon!

We’re leaving in half an hour for a two week trip to the north of Namibia!  We’re heading to Ovamboland, which is the most densely populated portion of Namibia. (Not saying much for the 2nd least densely populated country on Earth.)  We’ll be doing a rural homestay for about a week, which should definitely be an interesting, but amazing experience.  We’re also going to Etosha National Park and if I don’t see elephants, I will be quite upset!

This will certainly be the biggest adventure of our semester yet.  Then I’ll come back for a day then head out for a rafting trip for spring break.  I’ll try to update you in between, but until then, I’ll be out of touch!

And that’s probably because we were.

Our 4 hour journey to the lovely coastal town of Swakopmund highlighted a few of the reasons why Namibia is called “the land of contrasts.”  As we left the lush green mountains of Windhoek, the land became a bit more flat and at one point we passed a few giraffes!  About halfway there, the landscape made a pretty quick transition to tan with some plants and then eventually just brown as far as the eye could see, dotted with small bushes.  We had hit the Namib Desert and it was beautiful in a whole new way!  I was particularly mystified by the miles of sand interrupted by random mountains…it made me want to study geology. (I hope my roommate from school appreciates that!)  Then of course we finally reached our destination and could see the waters of the Atlantic Ocean spreading out in front of us.

If I begin to write about this short trip, I may not stop.  So instead, I’m going to highlight our days with pictures.  You can check out the rest of my photos on my picasa page!

The beautiful sunset we arrived just in time to see.

Sand, flat, sand, flat, Mountain?

The Rossing Uranium mine pit. As deep as the Eiffel Tower is tall. Nearly a mile long!

This is the old bucket used for shoveling. The new ones are even bigger!

The lagoon is formed by a long sand peninsula sheltering it from the ocean.

There were so many flamingoes and they were beautiful!

We climbed the second highest dune in Namibia, Dune 7!

For our free day, some of use went sea kayaking and saw tons of seals.

We thought the top of the dune was a pretty cool place for our VALPO picture!

So our trip was amazing, but it wasn’t all just fun and games.  We continued our theme of Nation Building, Globalization, and Decolonizing the Mind by touring the mine, hearing from speakers about economic policy, and visiting some wellness centers for adults and children.  Check out these links to find out more about where we went!

Rossing Uranium Mine

Mondesa Youth Opportunities

Export Processing Zones

I wish I could have spent my whole semester there, but we are back in Windhoek and back in the swing of things for a week before starting nearly 3 weeks of travel. Just have to make it through these 5 days!

After a week of too much school work, too much procrastination, and just enough dancing in the living room (to prolong the procrastination), the weekend finally arrived! However, there is nothing too exciting to report about this weekend because it’s been full of lounging by the pool and enjoying each other’s company.

Friday night half of us stayed in and just relaxed and watched some movies. On Saturday, a few of us went to the Namibia Crafts Centre which was completely overwhelming! I loved it, but now I think I need a whole other suitcase to hold everything that I’m going to want to buy friends and family…and myself too. A lot of the stores hold similar, typical African souvenirs; but there is one very large center with multiple vendors that has so many amazing, original works. I’m not planning on going back until right before we leave here or else I’ll blow my whole budget!

The rest of yesterday and this morning have been pretty lazy. We really wanted to go hiking this weekend, but it’s slightly complicated to find transportation to the trails without planning in advance. And we can’t go just anywhere because some of the mountains are not safe for tourists. Today, I’m just enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather. And there is nothing wrong with that!

A lot of advice from past students tells us to get out of the house whenever we can, which I intend to do as well. But my favorite piece of wisdom said “Don’t let anyone make you feel bad about what you choose to do – be it traveling, clubbing, or spending time in the house – whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it in Namibia and that’s way cool!” I wholeheartedly agree with this statement I think that it is a statement that should guide anyone’s travels to whatever continent they choose! (but don’t forget to wear sunscreen!)

I think I’ve repeated it 10 times in two days, but I really cannot wait for Wednesday when we leave for the coast! Looking forward to great long weekend in Swakopmund!

The past 10 days I’ve been with my family on my urban homestay in Windhoek. It was slightly less eventful than the first few action packed weeks, but it was a good time nonetheless!
For the CGE program, homestays are an essential part of our learning process. We did the 2 day one in Soweto, this one for 10 days, and in about 4 weeks we have a 5 day rural stay in a northern village. They serve as a chance for us to be really immersed in culture here. Although, one of the things I’ve learned is that Namibian culture is just as diverse as American; every family has a different story, language, and life. Life in general is similar; my family watched TV to wind down, ate a lot of meat and rice, and everyone enjoys a good party. The struggle is in learning to accept the little things like driving habits, waking up early, and the smell of food.
Some tips for a successful homestay:
-Have a big appetite for dinner or else make sure you serve yourself! The food was good, but it was always more than I was hungry for.
-Be comfortable with using your hands and a spoon to eat! It is actually quite freeing to be able to pick apart your chicken without worrying about what someone will think.
-Accept that there will be times when you will be utterly confused about where you’re going and what is going on. Between the language barrier and spontaneous friend visits, you’ll end up lost at some point.
-Learn to love to watch soccer or get good at faking it. (I certainly didn’t mind!)
-Bake a recipe from home if you’re homesick, but check ingredient availability first.

Sometimes the language and cultural barriers are tough and each experience is unique. Whether good or bad, they are more than worthwhile. Now I’m ready for a week and half of a near normal schedule before we head to the coast!

My host mother, Renathe, and one of my host brothers, Donovan.

And if you want to listen to some popular South African House music, check out Liquideep’s “Alone”!