December And Still No Snow!?

Well, my 1st semester of my senior year is over. Woah time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday my parents were moving me into the dorms. For how much I say I don't like my school, I'm glad I chose it because without going here I'm positive I wouldn't have had some of the most amazing opportunities and experiences I couldn't even dream about. With everything winding down, it's time to think about my future and I know that future is going to include lots or traveling, running and elephants! OH YEAH. And Yuengling came to Ohio!!!!



My last volleyball season ever was great! New coach made it a bit different, but nothing to complain about. I didn't play as much as I would have hoped, but then again I didn't play volleyball for an entire year. My first week of practice was hell because I wasn't into it anymore and had to get the rhythm back that I had lost. All in all it was a good season with some good people! We obviously didn't win as many games as I'm sure everyone would have liked, but that to me doesn't make a difference. Senior day was great, except I would have wanted Baba to be there. I cried basically through the whole game because the day was filled with tons of "lasts" "finals" and any other word that meant volleyball was coming to an end. It's weird because towards the end of my volleyball career I was getting less interested in it, probably because I knew I wouldn't be playing competitively forever. I was "over" volleyball, yet I was still so upset to be all done. I have been playing since I can remember (the third grade maybe?) and it is just a weird feeling to have something in your life, to be part of you, for that long and then it's just over "like that" one day. I'll still play every now and then, mainly in bar leagues or just pick up games, but it will never be the same.




My horse class is another aspect of my fall semester that deserves some reflecting upon. I've already described how out of place and lost I felt in the class, but by the end I was confident being around the horses and I'm so very happy that I took the class. I don't think I have ever learned so much in any other class or have ever dedicated so much of my time either. Every morning I woke up Monday through Thursday at 5:30am and was at the barn by 6:45am at the latest so that I could finish all the chores we had to do in time. I usually left the barn by 9:30am every day. Multiple about 3 hours every day for 4 days a week by 14 weeks for the semester and you get A LOT of time spent in the barn. Not to mention two Saturdays where I had to work the entire day. Sure I didn't always enjoy getting up that early, but I did like it once I was done with everything at 9:30am so that I could stop back and see what I accomplished before 10am. This is what I hope to be doing with the elephants, daily chores and husbandry for the ellies. It was a nice parallel and I know that I will be successful in my future career because of my dedication and love for animals, especially the ellies!






Running, on the other hand, hasn't been going so well. I feel like I haven't had as much time on my hands as I use to. Now with volleyball over and me home for winter break, I should be able to pick up where I left off and get back on track for my training. I am hoping to do the Toledo Marathon and qualify for Boston, but if that doesn't happen, I'll at least be able to say that I FINALLY ran a LEGIT marathon. I'm thinking of also joining a running club, just so I can be apart of a team again! My future goals for running are pretty simple, I want to stay in shape, get good times in, maybe even place at some races, and I would also like to get some sponsorship at some point. I've also decided that I am going to run one marathon this summer on the road, and do at least one ultra on the trails. And if I can manage, I would like to do a 100 miler. Possibly the Burning River 100. Everyone said while I was running the BT50K that if I can do this race, I could do the 100. I want to see what its all about, if I hate it, then I won't do anymore, but I've heard once you do one... you are hooked... so we shall see. I want to be able to use running as my excuse to travel. This way I can chose races that are in destinations I want to see and when I pay for the race, it usually includes your accommodation. Then I would just have to pick up the plane ticket! Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!




Lastly, I wanted to talk about Baba and her recent diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer. Sure the disease doesn't have a good track record because it doesn't show signs or symptoms early, but Baba is one of the strongest women I know and I'm positive she can kick this cancer in the ass! She is back living with us and she has her own room downstairs with everything she needs. My mom has her on a strict schedule which includes about 100 pills and lots of food and water. Now it's my job to make sure she sticks to that schedule while I am on winter break. Hopefully Baba doesn't tell at me too much!!! Everyone has been sending cards and even some family is coming to visit. All the chachas were at the hospital today with her and arguing as usual! The last time they were all together was when I went back with Baba for Memorial Day two years ago and I drove them around to visit all the cemeteries. They argued about everything then too!

Christmas is right around the corner, two weeks, and this year we finally got a real tree! We are going to make this Christmas the best one we've had in awhile!!! All the decorations will be up sometime this week and all the gifts better be under the tree before Christmas Eve night!!!





That's all for now!!! To all who read this, have a happy holiday and enjoy your family!!! <3

From Elephants To Horses.

So I've been back from a trip of a lifetime and now I'm working on something new. Every since my time at the elephant park I have been preparing myself for a career involving elephants whether that be traveling back to Africa to study them or working at a zoo as an elephant keeper. I have one school in mind for a masters degree, but I won't say anything yet because I don't want to jinx it, but hopefully I'll hear back from them soon enough to see if I can study under the head of the biology department working with African elephants.

In order to prepare myself to work with elephants I have opted to take an equestrian class here at the college so that I can gain some experience around larger animals. This class is what I am going to focus my blog on for the coming weeks. I am the only person in my class of twenty that isn't an EQ major and I'm one of the few with little to no experience with horses. Sure I took lessons once a week when I was about seven, but that was so long ago! Basically, this class involves the general care for horses like cleaning their stalls, taking their vital signs, bandaging, saddle fit and other various things. This week was my first week since our first week of class I miss the very first day because I wasn't signed up for it yet. That Tuesday was our lecture day and I was given a list of things I needed to buy for the class. I dropped about fifty bucks at Tractor Supply just to buy my horse, whose name is Robert, about 15 brushes which I still don't know what they are all used for. My horse Robert is all black and is the oldest horse that the school owns, born in 1988. I can't tell you to much about him other than all the EQ teachers say he is a good boy. He is very laid back, but he knows that I have not a clue what is going on so he takes advantage of it. This week I have finally been able to get into a routine of things at the barn. Robert must be turned out (which means take them out to the paddock (and paddock means like the pasture they hang out in while I clean his stall)) with Harper, his stall neighbor. We walk them out and since Robert knows I can't be mean to him, he will bend down and eat as much grass as he likes, he will also nudge me and he doesn't come when I call him (I haven't tried my puppy voice yet). Once he is out in the paddock, I scoop all the poo out of his stall (which is a lot smaller than elephant dung) and lay down new bedding. I then clean out his water dish and feed bucket. This doesn't sound like much, but since I've only clean a stall a total of two times in my life to date, it takes me quite a while. Once its about 9 o'clock, we walk back out to the paddock we left our horses in and bring them back to their stall. I'll then attempt to groom him. I use my curry comb to get all the dirt to the top of his hair then I'll use my stiff brush to flick it off him. And those are the only two brushes I've used so far. After I'm all done with that, I'll try my best to pick his hooves, but this is where I always get a little nervous, the way he picks his leg up always makes me think he is going to kick me, plus I don't know if I am hurting him. I guess I'll figure it out eventually!

So far I like the class and I've already learned so much, mostly by trial and error, but I'll get the hang out it. This is a great experience and I hope to also take a riding class in the spring! I'll most likely try to update weekly because everyday is interesting at the barn seeing as it isn't your typical college student day (atleast for a non EQ major!)

As for the rest of my classes, I am taking a piano class, which today I was introduced to the world of the bass clef. It's going to be tough trying to play piano with my left hand. I'm decent at reading the treble clef because I have experience with the trumpet, but everything else... forget it! Animal behavior is my other class which is simple enough, lots of videos and lectures. Volleyball is going well, we have our first game tomorrow and we get to play one of my old teammates. The season so far as been very easy and we actually don't practice much, which is good for me because once it comes time for me to start training for my marathon in October, I won't be so tired! Going off that topic, I plan to race in the Toledo Marathon and hopefully qualify for Boston for the following year. I have my training plan all set and am just waiting for the date to come around and to get going! I'm super excited to start running again and I think my legs have finally recovered from the 50k back in July!

That's all for now! Cheers! Oh and sorry no pictures! But I'll try my best to start taking some at the barn!

Back For An Entire Month

Welp, It's been a little over a month since I arrived back on American soil. Needless to say things aren't much different, but I did experience some culture shock when I arrived back home. Firstly, let me thank my parents for allowing me to go on such a life changing journey. I found out when I got back that my mom and dad didn't believe I would actually go when I presented them with the idea so many months before my departure. They thought that I would just forget about it, but am I glad I didn't. I learned so much while I was abroad, not only about a different culture and place, but also about myself. I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful opportunities like this at such a young age and also to have the two greatest parents anyone could ask for!

Back to my reality check: When my parents picked me up from the airport I obviously cried, because that's just how I am and I have never been so excited to see them! I even got to meet up with Krista and her family since she was flying in at the same time as me (weird, we didn't plan it I swear). As we were driving home, I kept thinking about how odd things were, like driving on the opposite side of the road and the driver being on the opposite side as well. It was late, but when we pulled into my house there were balloons everywhere and a huge sign greeting me home, it was wonderful! Baba was waiting outside and she was so excited to see me and told me never to go away again, but I can't promise that! We stayed up really late talking and I unpacked all my gifts and African things to show them. The puppies were so excited to see me as well and they basically tore my arms off. The next few days I just relaxed and enjoyed hanging out with my family and seeing all my friends!





I love the comfort of home and knowing my surroundings, but being at home takes the adventure out of everyday life. My time in South Africa was basically one huge adventure and each and everyday was never the same. Simple things like going food shopping would be a huge task. I could go on and on about this topic forever about how SA and America lifestyles are different, but I'm sure that is obvious!

Well, since I've been home I have done and few things and had a few revelations. Firstly, I made some good money (because I have NONE right now) working two volleyball camps with my new coach. Time spent in the gym was a lot of fun and I was lucky because I got to make up some lost time with my new coach. Everyone else on the team got to know him all throughout the spring season and unfortunately I was out of the country. He makes next season sound really exciting and I'm looking forward to it. A small side note: I am now a vegetarian and have been going strong for almost a month now. It is not as hard as it seems and meat actually looks disgusting to me now. I don't miss it at all, even when I am working. I just need to fined a way to take in more protein because I feel as if my energy levels have dropped over the past few weeks, or maybe I am havingi withdrawal from Africa. Also, I ran my first ultramarathon, finally making me an "ultramarathon runner"! It was the Buckeye Trail 50K (about 30 miles) through the trails of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Lauren, Jess and I all went into it together and made it out alive. It was the most pain I have ever been in, period. I think that I ran a good race up until the halfway point (mile 15) or the turn around and that is where I met my downfall. I didn't take in enough salt, so I was cramping. Then when I finally got enough salt, I became dehydrated because I wasn't drinking enough. I also didn't eat as much as I should have at each aide station causing me to, as I said to Lauren, become loopy aka dizzy and delusional. My hips were the main part of me that was cramped so it was affecting the way I was running which was putting pressure on everything else. Needless to say this was a great learning experience for me physically. I now know what to do in the future to prevent all the terrible things that went wrong with my body. Mentally though, I think I was there 98%. I say 98% because, as Lauren can vouch for, when I was dizzy I was talking nonsense, but I should get some credit for the fact that I kept moving forward. Mentally I know that I can run these crazy races, but physically I need to realize that I do not have super powers and I need to do the small things to keep my body moving. Crossing the finish line was the best feeling in the world! A metal was put around my neck and we headed straight for the food! Sitting down believe it or not hurt just as much as standing did. Even through all the pain I still had the time of my life, and plan on doing more races at this distance, and hopefully when I am a little older finishing my first 100.




I also went to my first Indians game of the summer for Rachel's birthday!!! And had an amazing cookout with my BFF's. Thank god we are all 21 now! :) And even got to visit the beautiful Becca! My BFF from Africa. Not only did we eat together every night but we went on lots of adventures and being in the US is obviously not going to stop us! I'm just glad we have cars now instead of having to ride our bikes everywhere! Oh and there is no ocean around which means she can't ask me to go everyday! haha :)








Last week was also pretty epic because the ASHS had their first alumni volleyball match against Falls. I had a great time even if we lost in 3. It was great that we had so many parents from previous years come out and support us and we even made some good money for Special Olympics!



Over the next few weeks I am basically just preparing myself for the volleyball season and my last year of college. I have recently decided on a career path of zoo keeping, hopefully mainly working with elephants since I had such an amazing experience at KEP. I am in the process of putting things together for my future and updating my resume. Wish me luck!
Thats all for now! Cheers!

KEP

I know I haven’t written in awhile, but that is because I’ve been pretty busy and without much internet! I’ll go back to finals. They were very stressful, but thank god I made it through them. I’m still not sure if I have passed, I don’t even know when we get our marks. I won’t go much into final exams, mainly because it’s not fun or interesting. I studied nonstop basically for about 2 weeks. Then we celebrated the end of finals and everyone going away on the 15th. It was a lot of fun! I don’t know how I managed to get up on the 16th and leave for the elephant park at 6am. We (Breana and I) made it to the bus stop just in time, as the bus was pulling out. Our cab driver actually got out of the cab and stopped the bus for us. We hopped on and made our way for 2 and a half hours to Plett, which is where I had done the sky diving. We were both going to Knysna Elephant Park to volunteer for 10 days with the African Elephant Research Unit (AERU). We arrived on an odd day. The wild vet came in and was taking xrays of the elephant named Tosha. The verdict of her limping was that she had a fractured knee and the bone that was chipped off is just rubbing the wrong way. It was hard to watch because they had to restrain her and give her drugs to sedate her. It was all for her own good though because I guess she has been hurting for awhile now. We got a tour of the park after everything had settled down a little and went out on the tractor and fed the elephants fruit. When a tractor comes all the ellies know to run behind the barrier because they are getting treated with fruit. It’s amazing how smart these animals are. Each ellie has a different personality as well. Sally is the leader of the bunch, while Nandi and Thandi (mother and daughter), Keisha hangs out with the babies, Thato, Mashudu and Shungu. The boys, Shaka and Clyde give rides to the guests and spar all day long, though Clyde doesn’t like to play as much as Shaka. And in the orchard camp, Harry, Namib and Tosha. Tosha is there with the bulls because she is hurt and Namib and Harry are the biggest elephants so they have to be monitored all the time.




I wrote in a journal and broke each day down into what we did, but I can’t rewrite that all because it would take days! I’ll just give you an insight into a normal day. Wake up was around 6 and Breana and I would have some breakfast and we had to be at the boma by 7am. Once the ellies were out on their training ride, the volunteers could go in and do one of two things, start cleaning or take dung samples. We were assigned to do one of the other. The dung samples had to be taken from certain ellies after they had been followed (activity budget) and it had to be from a warm pile and in the middle. It wasn’t as gross as I thought, because elephants only eat grass and branches, so that is basically what there dung looks like, except in a cylinder shape. After cleaning we would be split up into shifts, so like two people would follow an elephant from 7-830 and then the next group would continue with that same elephant from 830-1030 then alternating every two hours until the went back into the boma around 1700. During the times we weren’t doing the activity budgets, we would be entering data into the computer or doing some other task that the park needed done, like melting coconut oil for the elephant’s skin. When doing an activity budget basically you just keep an eye on your elephant at all times and write down what you see. So that includes every time the elephant eats you mark it down and then once it changes its behavior, then you mark that down as well. Also, recording interactions were very important because all of the elephants have relationships with each other and also with the guides. All of this data is entered into the computer and will be analyzed to see how the elephants behavior has changed over time. I wish I could have been there longer to actually see for myself how their behavior has changed.



The whole week was such a great experience and I’m glad I got the opportunity to be so close and work with these amazing animals. I also got to meet some spectacular people in the process from all over the world. I really enjoyed working with these large animals and I hope to do something similar to this for a profession.



We stuck to the same schedule, just with different elephants all week. It was very cold and I was still chilled even with five layers on. On the last night, Breana and I were given keys to the luxury suites in the lodge for a night. The rooms were amazing and even had jacuzzi tubs, so I obviously took a bubble bath. The rooms are located in the same building as the boma so you get the experience of sleeping with the elephants. This seems like a great idea, but I unfortunately I didn’t get any sleep that night because all I could hear were the elephants snoring and farting and moving.



We had to be up early on the day we were leaving because we were promised an elephant back ride. I was so excited! I had requested to ride Sally, mainly because she is born in October of the very same year I was born! I climbed up on her and when she stood up it was so slow and since she is so big, I thought I was going to fall off one side and then the other. She towers over all the other lady elephants and I was looking down on everyone. We rode out towards the valley and the sun was rising so it was beautiful! What a great way to end an amazing experience and even a better way to end my stay in South Africa.



I am currently sitting at JFK in New York waiting for my flight to Cleveland to depart later on tonight. My total time spent at JFK will amount to about 14 hours by the time I leave. I think that sometime next week I will write one huge reflection on South Africa and my experience abroad after I have had sometime to adjust to life back in the states. It’s weird already, hearing the American accents and having to convert the money to rand and then back to dollars. I’m now going to enjoy some American food for lunch! Cheers!

Only 3 Weeks Left!?

In 3 weeks from today, I will be getting on a plane and heading back to the United States. I can’t believe how time has flown. These past 4 months seem like a blur. I keep thinking to myself about what I will miss about living in Africa, and what I can’t wait to do when I get home. I’m torn between wanting to go home and wanting to stay for awhile longer. To stay means that I would have more time with all the wonderful friends I’ve made here. It is going to be weird not seeing them once I get home. I’ve been with them basically every single day for the past 4 months and we all do everything together. I’ll also have to go back to the easy way of life. When I say this I mean that I can hop in my car and drive anywhere I want to and at what ever time of the day I please. Here, I do not have a car and it is very dangerous to walk after the sun sets. I’ll also go back to my smartphone as opposed to my 90 rand, no T-9, shit phone (which I happen to like!) I’ll have unlimited electricity, unlimited internet and unlimited calls and texts. I’m leaving the close proximity to the ocean and the thrill of living in another country. I won’t be able to walk into a store without my shoes on and most importantly I’ll be the only one in a 60 mile radius to be on Africa time (Becca I’m not really sure how far away you live, but you will be the closest one on African time with me!) Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely excited to go home because that means things like seeing my family, friends and puppies. Also, I can eat my favorite dishes like perogies, chipotle, and home made pizza! I can’t tell you how I feel because right now I want to go home just thinking about it, but at the same time I’ll be leaving a lot behind here in Africa, which is difficult to come back to seeing as I’m thousands of miles away. In a few weeks I’ll be back to reality which means work, volleyball, a schedule and responsibilities. I’ve enjoyed the exhilarating lifestyle here in Africa. Weekend trips which included sky diving, bungy jumping, swimming with seals, a canopy tour, a wine tour, and many other crazy activities that I would never even think about doing at home. I only have 3 more weeks to live it up here in Africa and that is plenty of time to make even more memories to last a life time.

Plett

This past weekend went fast, but it was one of the most exhilarating few days by far. We kicked of the weekend on Friday night with a birthday party for Giovanni, one of our friends from Angola. Everyone met at their apartment and we drank, ate and sang “Happy Birthday”, which was sung in at least 6 different languages in order to accommodate all the nationalities present. We then headed to the opening of a new nightclub in central called Dash. It was a lot of fun, and I am glad I went seeing as it may have been one of the last times that we could all go out in South Africa. Everyone has final exams coming up and I know at least for me, I will be in my room studying almost everyday until the 15th of June (which is my last exam). We got home sort of late Friday, but we had to be up early the next morning to make our way to Plettenbergbaai, aka Plett. We traveled along the beautiful garden route which is just the N2, a major highway that stretches all along the coast of South Africa. We made it there in about 2 and a half hours and went straight to Robberg Peninsula, for our 4 hour hike. The day was beautiful without a cloud in the sky, or that we could see. We walked along the cliffs of the peninsula and could see the entire bay of Plett. The water was relatively clear and even from about 5 stories up we saw the outline of a shark!




Also, further along we could again glanced down and catch a glimpse of the thousands of seals that surrounded the peninsula. As we hiked, we stopped to take pictures of various things because the park was so beautiful! We made it to the point of the peninsula and saw up close a bunch of seals playing in the water. It was very windy and there are even signs that warn of rouge/freak waves that sometimes crash into the coastline.



Apparently there was a shack “Point Shack” that once use to sit at the tip of the peninsula, but was taken out by a freak wave at one time. I don’t mess around with waves, so I didn’t get as close as Becca and Donna did by going out on to a rock that was 5 minutes later covered in water. We decided we needed to get a move on because it was going to take us quite sometime to trek back on the other side of the peninsula to the entrance of the park, and it gets dark here around 530/600 and it was already about 3. Once we turned the corner, there was a black storm cloud in the distance. Once I saw that I knew we needed to hurry because it was already looked to be raining by the entrance to the park. We didn’t stop and take as many pictures on the way back, but even though the day had made a serious turn around, the area was still beautiful. The wind picked up so sand was being blown in our eyes, then it started to rain and we were basically being blown around everywhere. the rocks became slippery and it got very cold. We made it back a lot quicker than it took us to get there, but that is because we had our heads down and just trucked it back.




We were so cold that when we got back to our hostel, we all sat around the fire and drank huge cups of hot chocolate to warm us up. This backpackers, was one of my favorites because the people were so friendly, and we even got a 6 person private room to ourselves. They were located directly across the street from the Plett airport so we didn’t have far to go in the morning for our skydive adventure. Our jump was scheduled for 9am, so we made our way over and watched on as one person made her way back from her jump. She slowly glided down with a soft landing and made it look so easy. It was our turn next, and Chelsea and I were going up first. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this, but I was a lot less nervous than I thought I would be. We got strapped up and hopped into our tiny 5 person plane, which consisted of Chelsea and I and our two tandem jumpmasters, and the pilot. We got ready for take off and right before we were about to lift up off the ground, our two guides told us to look at the tail of the plane and all of a sudden we went straight up and my stomach dropped and I screamed as loud as I could. It took me by surprise and obviously Chelsea too since she screamed just as loud as me. We had about a 20 minute plane ride so that we could reach an altitude of 10,000 feet. As we went up, our guides told us interesting facts about the area and we got a scenic tour of the coastline, which was absolutely gorgeous! We could see the peninsula that we hiked the day before and it was obvious why this was considered one of the most scenic jumps in the world. I wouldn’t have wanted to jump out of a plane unless I was getting to look at something on the way down, and this was a perfect choice!

Once we got to 7,000 feet our guides started to hook us up. My guide Jeff, talked so fast that it was hard to understand him, but I actually wasn’t all that nervous just yet. It seemed like we were just going for a ride in an unusually small plane. Chelsea was first to go, and once they opened the door it was hard to hear anything. Once Chelsea fell out, that is when I got nervous because I guess I realized it was time for me to fall out too. We got set and put out feet out onto the bar and Jeff rocked us backward and then flung us forward and out the door. 35 seconds is a long time to free fall and it felt like forever. As we were falling I got a little frantic and waved my arms every which way and was obviously screaming, but it was the coolest feeling of just floating on air. Jeff had a camera in my face the whole time so I can just imagine what I look like. Once we reached about 4,000 feet, Jeff pulled the parachute and we shot back upwards and then began our 5 minute float down to the ground. It was a stunning view of Plett from above and what I saw on the ride down was worth every penny and every bit of anxiety I had. I took out my camera and snapped some photos on the way down.

I couldn’t find Chelsea on the way down until just before we landed to take a picture of her. The landing was smooth and I didn’t have to do anything but put my feet up and stand once we touched down. I went over and hugged Chelsea immediately and was thrilled that I could check this off my bucket list! I didn’t feel as much adrenaline as I did after the bungee, but I was still a bit shaky when we got back. The only problem I had was my left ear would not pop and I could barely hear out of it for the rest of the day. Sara and Donna went up next, and they had the same experience as us. We waited and I snapped some pictures of them coming down. What an amazing adventure and a great way to sort of end my time here in South Africa.





We decided to make the day even more exciting and go snorkeling with the seals we had seen the previous day in the Indian Ocean. We took a speed boat to the peninsula and saw up close the thousands of seals that call Robberg their home. And yes this is where we saw the shark from the previous day, but our guide had a shark repellant and also a gun just incase anything were to happen. We jumped into the water with out wetsuits, goggles, snorkel and flippers and swam around with the playful animals. I kept my life jacket on just incase, since I am not that great of a swimmer! Seals are equivalent, intelligence wise, to dogs we were told. They were also just as playful. They would swim up very close to you and pop out of the water, smile at you with their razor sharp teeth and then quickly turn away and flip back under water. They were curious enough to get that close, but too scared to actually get any closer. I was touched by a fin or something and they would also swim under you and blow bubbles. The pups would get even closer and I found myself face to face with a bunch of seals a couple of times. I stayed by the group though, because the waves were big to me and I didn’t want to get carried into the cliff that was only a few yards away. We swam and played with the seals for quite a while, but the water was between 15 and 20 degrees C so I got very very cold towards the end. We all climbed back into the boat and took a frigid ride back to shore. Beaching the boat was also an adventure because the skipper had to kick up the speed in order to pass over the sandbar and get out of the water. I swear we were air born for a few seconds. We were all freezing cold and got changed as fast as we could and jumped into the heated car. Swimming with the seals, I feel like was a once in a lifetime experience and I am so glad that I was able to do that this weekend, even though we hadn’t planned on it.




We dropped Sara and Donna off at the backpackers to stay with Maria and Terrance for an extra night, but Chelsea, Becca and I headed home so that we could go to class on Monday (which is our last day of classes!) We got back around 530/600 ish and went food shopping since we had the car. This was a great weekend and I enjoyed every second of it! We did so much in such a short amount of time and it was a great LAST weekend trip for me. Now it is time to study my ass of over the coming weeks so that I can ensure my time abroad wasn’t just me going on awesome excursions the entire time. Yes people, I am actually studying here! Enjoy the warm weather back at home and Happy Memorial Day! Cheers!

Beer Olympics

From today I only have 35 days left here in South Africa. My time is dwindling and I still feel like I have a lot more I want to accomplish. Last week was hectic for me and this week we have just started will be even more so. I have tests, projects and practicals that I have to study for basically nonstop from now until about Friday. It was nice to have this past weekend off from studying and assignments though.



We kicked off the weekend with a tiny braai and I got to sleep early since I knew I had a big day on Saturday. We have been planning beer olympics for about a month or two now and it was finally time for the games to begin. There were twelve teams, each with five players. The games in the order we played them were: Team chug, speed quarters (or 5 rand), flip cup, dizzy bat and beer pong. Teams consisted of people from either Annie’s or the Bantry and had to contain at least one team mate that was international. No puking was allowed or you lost points for your team and basically everyone just got drunk. I couldn’t believe that the games actually happened because when we started out it was very hard to get organized. Once the vuvuzela sounded the games had begun and in a line each person chugged their beer as fast as they could and once you were down the person in front of you went until you reached the start of the line and everyone was done. I believe we got second and this determined our seeds for the rest of the day. I felt confident in our team (Maria, Patrick, Neil and Shawn- who wasn’t there yet) after this since we got second place. Our team name was the paralytics and we had matching team shirts that we had all bought for St. Patrick’s Day. One of the paralytics was 8 beers deep at the start of the games and was basically hammered by 3pm. Luckily some of the paralytics were either good at the games or were considered a professional “chugger”. We made it to the second round of speed quarters, but unfortunately lost to some Germans who barely chugged a beer since they had brought their own plastic cups that held about half a beer. Next up was flip cup and I thought that this was going to be our bread and butter, I was wrong. One paralytic had some problems flipping the cup seeing as I’m assuming he was already blacked out. At this point Shawn showed up so we were full caliber, but immediately following flip cup we lost two of our comrades due to unforeseen activities. We waited sometime before dizzy bat could be arranged where two teams would run the stretch of Annie’s courtyard (for lack of a better term) spin quickly with their head on a bat and run back to their team. It was a relay so the whole team was required to play, which was a huge problem for the paralytics. Two were MIA and we needed five to compete which meant that we had to recruit two more players to run with us. In the end, one of the the newly recruited paralytics took out the volleyball in a complete wipe-out. Lastly, it was time for beer pong. One more paralytic was lost after we started so the revamped team consisted of myself, two Norwegians, a Swede and another America (who was sober). The games were intense and we were 4-0 at the end of the night (which was only 10:30). Annie’s Cove was a complete mess in the morning with beer cans and bottle scattered all over the yard and even in the pool. Paralytics ended up coming in 2nd place overall and it was a very successful evening. If only I were drinking Yuengling, then the night would have been 100% perfect!



Sunday I woke up at 5am and made some pasta for breakfast and dozed in and out the rest of the morning. Thank God I wasn’t hungover, but I didn’t do much at all the rest of the day except work on a zoology presentation due on Tuesday. All in all it was a great weekend and I felt like the American’s did the United States proud showing the other internationals who can drink!

Victoria Falls. Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

The past week has been very hectic with trying to get stuff done for classes. I’ve had tests and assignments that having been keeping me plenty busy, which is why I couldn’t wait until this past weekend because I have been looking forward to it since I’ve gotten here. Our destination was Livingstone, Zambia to view one of the seven wonders of the world, Victoria Falls. Our flight was at 610am from PE to Joberg so we had to be at the airport pretty early so I was up at 330am. I skyped with my parents for awhile then packed my stuff and headed out the door. The flights were pretty smooth, but I don’t really care to much to fly so I try to just close my eyes and sleep, but that never really works. Once we got to Joberg we had about two hours to wait until out next flight to Livingstone. We looked around at the shops and I saw somethings that I might end up buying when I am on my way home (which is only in about 5 weeks or 40 days!) We hoped on our flight to Livingstone and arrived at about 130 or so. Hannah and I were having problems with attaining money because we both have mastercard and the atm wouldn’t accept it, only visa. So we had to go into the bank and run it as like a purchase then we got money in return. We had to pay $80 (yes US dollars!) for our visas to get into Zambia, but I also needed Kwacha which is Zambia’s currency. When the banker first gave me the money it sounded like I was rich because for every dollar it is 5,000 kwacha. So I had literally hundreds of thousands of kwacha in my possession. But even though you have that much, it gets spent a lot quicker. For example, a breakfast at our backpackers cost about 15,000 to 25,000 kwacha. But in reality that is only about 3-5 US dollars. After we figured out most of our money issues we got our free shuttle to the Jollyboys backpackers in Livingstone. It was such a cute place decorated beautifully! They had a desk that specialized in activities so we signed up for the booze cruise that night. They picked us up around 3:30pm and we drove down to the Zambezi River and hopped on our boat for the next 3 hours. The Zambezi River is one of the largest in the world and it runs into the Chobe River where the four countries Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia meet. This is also that river that flows over the magnificent Victoria Falls.






As we propelled slowly up the river against the current we were treated to an open bar and a new beer to try called Mosi. It was a very nice beer and it is made in the area so all the locals love it. During our journey, we stopped to view some hippos, although they were mostly submerged under the water so all we could see was their heads. We reached our final stop where most of the other boats traveling down the river stopped too so that we could watch the sunset on the Zambezi. It was amazing to see and obviously everyone took a ton of pictures. We had a meal on the way back up the river which was some chicken and sausage that was grilled on an open flame on the boat which was very delicious! We also had some coleslaw which apparently they love in this region because I had it three times on this trip.




The way back up the river went a lot more quickly because we were gliding with the current this time. It was over before I knew it so we grabbed ourselves some extra beers and went into the sand bar on land and had a couple more drinks. The whole evening was a lot of fun and I enjoyed just floating up the river and meeting some people from the area and having a great time!
We all went to sleep very early, mainly because we were all drunk, but we also had to be up extremely early the next morning for our safari trip in Botswana to the Chobe National Park. We took 18 people in a bus that should have fit about 12 for about an hour to the border of Zambia. We piled out and made our way into the immigration office and had our passports stamped. The whole process seemed way to easy, but I assume it was because we were American that they didn’t give us a second glance. The whole area looked very shady because there were so many people just standing around doing nothing and some people who got their passports stamped from Africa only had a regular sized piece of computer paper. I think that if we didn’t have our guide from the backpackers with us, we might have gotten confused and probably hustled or robbed or something. We all got into a small boat so that we could cross the water which was the point where the four countries meet and also the two rivers. There were a bunch of larger boats that were shuttling semi trucks and cars and even some people across the river so it was a very congested area.





Once we were into Botswana, we went through the same routine and got out passports stamped and hopped back into our safari vehicle. We drove to their office and had a hard time paying for the safari because their card machine wasn’t working, but eventually they figured it out and we enjoyed a light breakfast and some coffee and tea while everything was sorted out. We then walked down to the river and jumped into our safari boat that would take us down the river to view everything from elephants, hippos, baboons, birds, impala, kudu, buffalo, giraffes and crocodiles. I can’t post all of the pictures I took, but here are a few of the better ones. Some highlights from the safari (since pictures do more justice than my words) was the baby elephants we saw trying to drink water. The guess was that he was about 3 months old so he wasn’t able to use his trunk yet to drink so he had to dip his whole head in the water and drink with his mouth. He also had a hard time standing and was overall very clumsy, but cute to watch! We also saw baboons drinking down at the river, which they lay on their stomach to drink so that they can see if a crocodile were to sneak up and attack. That way their reflection isn’t blocking their view of the waters surface. The large packs of impala we saw would only include one adult male to about 50 females and he was guarding them. All the facts our guide pointed out were very interesting and I feel as if I learned a lot on the trip and it was worth every penny!










After the safari we headed back to the hostel the same way we came, through customs and over the river and back into Zambia. We were all exhausted from the day, probably mostly from the heat since we haven’t felt the Africa sun for sometime now because PE has been so cold. We all went to bed extremely early again, but for good reason because Saturday marked the day we were going to see the falls. I got up earlier than everyone else and ate some french toast for breakfast and we hopped on the shuttle to the falls around 10am. They took us to the Zambia side of the falls and it was at first a let down because we took the wrong path that just basically showed you a glimpse of the falls and more so of the bridge that crosses over the river downstream of the falls. On the bridge they have a bungy and gorge swing, but I wasn’t really interested in doing either because there was so much else we had planned! Once we found the other path that got you up close to the falls I felt exhilarated to finally see my first of seven wonders of the world, and with all the water the thundering it made when it hits the ground is also breath taking. The sigh of it was masked by the mist from the falls. Since we went during their winter, there was much water flowing through as compared to their summer when it is dry and water is barely trickling over the edge. We rented a poncho for a dollar and looked incredibly ridiculous, but it was worth it because of how wet we were about to get. We had to cross a bridge to make it to this island that allowed you to be as close to the falls as possible, atleast from the front view. You could be standing in one stop and be completely dry and move about a foot to your left and be drenched in mist. The pressure from the water and the mist was crazy and I could feel myself being pushed by it every once in a while. I’ll never forget the sight I saw when I turned to face the falls and the mist cleared for about 3 seconds and I my entire line of vision was consumed by the falls. It was clear as day for only that short period of time and then I saw nothing but mist from there on out. I didn’t dare take my camera out to take pictures in this down pour because with my luck it would have broken. Here are some pictures from the Zambia side of Victoria Falls.





We exited the Zambia side and made our way walking towards the Zimbabwe immigration office so that we could cross over and view the falls from that side. The process was all the same, although we had to pay to get into Zimbabwe. The walk from Zambia to Zimbabwe was across a bridge and long road. It was considered safe because it was between borders and people we checked before they crossed, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling of someone robbing me so I made sure to walk as fast as possible and one guy even asked where I was from and I made sure to say Canada. People usually associate Americans as having a lot of money, making us a target of being robbed, which is why I said Canada because some people from that area might not even know where that is. Once we went through customs and immigration on the Zimbabwe side we walked up a long road towards the town of Victoria Falls.




It was a cute town with lots of shops and places to eat which is why we went. We got some pizza at some pizza place and relaxed a bit. It was weird paying in dollar though because I’ve become accustom to everything seeming more expensive that it actually is, but here it was the actual prices and there was no converting necessary. Once we all were finished eating Shawn still had some fries on his plate so some teenager that was sitting outside the restrauant asked if he could have the fries. Shawn let him and Patrick even took a picture with him because the kid was wearing a Joe’s Crab Shack tshirt from the states! We did some shopping and as we were walking (and this happens to everyone) people walk next to you and try to sell you anything they can, and they ask a million times even if you say no thank you. I can understand that they need money, but you can’t buy something from everyone so there isn’t must you can always do. I felt uneasy the whole walk back to the falls because people just kept following us, but there were police officers around so that made me feel a tad bit better although I’m not one hundred percent sure if they would actually help or not. I kept my head on a swivel the entire time and had myself ready to run if the occasion called. We made it to the falls safe and sound with plenty of time left before the sunset (which was when we needed to be back at the cabs by) We followed the path and the first sight we saw was absolutely amazing! The opening showed us the entire view of the falls and it was so clear that you could see all the water falling. Iw as seriously in awe with everything from the sound of the thunder water and the sight of the mass amounts of it falling right in front of my eyes. Also, there were rainbows everywhere in my line of vision and no matter where I looked I could always see atleast one. It was the prettiest thing I have ever seen in my entire life and this sight made coming to Zimbabwe worth it! We kept walking and every opening view just kept getting better. Once we reached the end of the trail it started to rain a whole lot more and we had to turn back because it was getting late. I honestly can’t describe the sights I saw and I know my pictures don’t do it justice. I think that everyone should make it a point in their life to visit this area of the world and really embrace all its beauty because this was one of the best weekends of my life and we were only in the area for 4 days. Here are some pictures from the Zimbabwe side.








We left the park and went back through customs and immigration and grabbed a cab to drive us across the bridge and to the border of Zambia. We then went through the same process again and got out passports stamped and grabbed another cab back to the hostel. We did a lot of walking on this day and I was tired as soon as we got back, but we all ate together and stayed up chatting for awhile and meeting some people at the backpackers, who are always very interesting to say the least. I took a quick shower and we all went to bed fairly early again. The next day we woke up early hoping to go to the market, but we walked around town, which again I didn’t feel very safe doing just because we stick out like a sore thumb, but we ended up not finding the right market some people grabbed a cab and took it to the central market where people from the town actually shop (not the tourist one). I gave my money to Sara and she bought me seven “chitongas” (African fabric that women wear as a dress) I’m not sure on the spelling since I’m sure the word is in their language of Nyanja. The one cab driver told us that within the country there are around 75 languages, although most are similar, and he knew all of them. But English and Nyanja are the two main languages in the area.

We left for the airport kinda early so that we could ask to sit in the front of the plane (first class) and have the larger seats, which we did indeed get. I decided to drink plenty of wine on this plane ride (although I don’t like it all that much) so that I didn’t hear all the noises and become paranoid like I usually do. I think that I got drunk on the plane from Livingstone to Joberg because I don’t ever drink wine so it hits me like a bus, but at least I didn’t freak out; this is my new therapy for every time I have to fly. We got back around 730 or 8 pm on Sunday night and I was so exhausted. My room still is not finished and I intended to call someone if nothing is done about it by tonight. I have only a month and a week left of my time here in South Africa and only two weeks of classes! It is so crazy to think that in 40 days I’ll be back in the states and back to my normal life or working, school and so on! But I am super excited to see my family and friends although I think that when I go home I will be more likely to be on “African time” walk EVERYWHERE and enjoy life a lot more! All in all this was the best weekend that I have had since I’ve been in Africa!