Classes Classes Classes.

First Day Of Classes.

Getting lost is extremely easy on a campus the size of NMMU. It takes me about 25 minutes to walk to campus and another 10-15 minutes to actually find my class. I also think that the way we have to register for classes is very unorganized. Today when I picked up my time table in the international office it said that I had no classes today, but they told us to go by what the internet says. I just don’t understand why they would approve classes if we couldn’t take them because of a conflict or other reasons. So basically I think I missed my botany class today because I thought that it was only in term 2 which starts in about a month and a half. I am going to pick up my new time table tomorrow and I will go to where botany is suppose to be on Wednesday just to make sure that I don’t have it in term 1. It is just all so confusing compared to what we do in the states. I guess when you start at NMMU as a freshmen and you declare your major you are told what classes you will take all four year straight away making it very easy to register. Today I also stood in line for my student ID for over an hour. On the upside of things I had my first meeting seminar for volunteering in the local townships. I am going to be volunteering at a homework club and I will be given one or two children to work with the entire time. It is on every Wednesday only for a few hours, but it should be really rewarding. Poverty here is unlike anything I have ever seen. The townships are very obvious out on the city limits with their thin steel roofs and one room accommodations. I can’t wait to get started with the volunteering! I walked back from school by myself for the first time today. Walking in a big group you don’t really realize what is going on around you, but on my walk today I noticed that I am definitely the minority here being a white American. I could feel eyes following me all the way home, but at no point did I feel unsafe because there were just so many people around, mostly all students. Once I got back I was sweating from the heat (sorry everyone back home for what I am about to say) so I put on my bathing suit and laid by the pool the rest of the afternoon to de-stress from the rough day. I cooked dinner with a few girls and now I am exhausted. Since my camera broke last weekend my lovely parents are going to send me a new one as soon as they can. I would buy it here, but things like electronics and clothes here are very pricey. It would probably just be cheaper for them to ship me a good quality camera instead of me searching for a nice camera. Well that is about all I have for today!