Cultural Differences: Positives & Negatives

This is “grandma’s brother” at a cultural excursion to a village that teaches people about traditions of villages in Botswana.

Dumela! I have already been in Botswana for almost two months now and I am so excited for the next few months to come. Although I feel like I will never be able to fully understand everything about the culture and Motswana people, I have learned such a great deal so far. The first most basic and obvious cultural difference is the food. I was hoping to come and and have the best food of my life and want to bring back different spices so I could make the food at home.. that is not happening at all. Most of the food here I do not like, especially at the refractory (Mogul) which is where I have my meal plan. They serve the same thing every day for lunch and dinner. Usually it is something like: pap (a traditional porridge like stable made from maize) or rice, then you choose chicken or beef (prepared the same way every day) and then carrots or a beat salad. Sometimes they have a couple different things, like some people eat fish from the special diet section but I dont like fish, or sometimes they have dumplings instead of pap which is a boiled bread, that I love. The other international students and I love going out to eat when we can afford to, there are so many placed to eat that serve delicious food from all different cultures, including a lot of American food.

Colorado to Cape Town: 36 Days

After a whirlwind finals week at the University of Denver, my (short) summer has finally begun. Throughout the chaos of papers, projects, exams, and packing, it was easy for me to forget about the adventure in Cape Town that soon awaits me. However, somewhere during the “see-you-in-January-goodbyes”, reality started to sink in and I was reminded about the trip that will commence in just 36 days. Between the looming what-if questions that are unavoidable for nearly any student planning to go abroad and my Type-A personality, I’m anxious to be in Cape Town simply so I can stop stressing about the pre-trip nerves and tasks.

Destination: Cape Town

In two months, I will be in Cape Town… I never thought I would ever get a chance to travel to Africa – a destination that seems so distant, mysterious and unattainable for a girl who grew up in a small town in South Carolina and now at small college in Maine. Yet, through the wonderful opportunity of ‘study abroad,’ I will be in Africa in July.