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[botswana-and-i]

Thank you so much for the information :) I totally would not have thought that it gets cold, thats good to know, especially for me I am a baby when it comes to those things. I guess certain questions would be, is there anything in particular I should bring? Mostly importantly though I am worried about taking classes at UB. I go to a small private university where there is no more than 20 people in my class. I don't know what type of education you receive, but how did it differ? Any suggestions?

Tampons.  They're impossible to find.  You'll be able to trade them like gold with other Americans, too.

As for academics, they are UBs strong point compared to what we were all used to in the US.  I went to a huge, public, state school, so the size was something that I was prepared for.  However, multiple students in each of my classes would turn in an entire paper copy and pasted from Wikipedia, then they would put clip art borders around it.  I still don't really understand.  It was definitely an academic experience, but I wouldn't say that was the highlight of my trip.  However, if you're going to public health, it's a little more academically rigorous from what I heard.

Some of the professors were more like cool dudes that I just wanted to listen to, and I learned a lot from their lectures even if the testing was complete nonsense.  One of my professors was arrested in Zimbabwe for ANC  spy work or something, but now he's just a chill dude.  

Also, they tell you this when you get there, but it takes forever to sink in.  African time is a real thing.  It's completely fine for a student or professor to show up an hour later (or not at all) if they ran into their cousin on the way and decided to stop and chat.  Not joking.

[botswana-and-i]

Awesome to see you went to Gaborone with CIEE! I plan to do that my next semester as well to study at UB. I have so many questions I can't even name them all, my mind moves a mile a minute with excitement. So basically, in your opinion what is the most important thing to know before going? You know.. if there is anything you wish you could have changed or been prepared for. Whatever you would like to share :) It would be awesome to hear back from you.

It was an amazing program and experience!  One of the most important things to know is that the culture is much more Americanized than CIEE tells you at first.  We were told that we wouldn't be allowed to go out and drink or wear short shorts, all of that is a lie.  You get to have a lot of fun and wear anything you want (except during the week in Mochudi).  Are you doing homestay or living in the dorms?  Both are amazing.  The best bars are Bull N Bush and Linga Longa.  Just don't be afraid to go out, it's the best way to get to know the culture.  My CiEE group was 21 people (and honestly, they're still some of the best friends I have), and we generally went out together for security reasons, I recommend that.  There are other study abroad groups and they're somewhat like cliques.  Don't bother getting caught up in it, just roll with it.  

Don't be afraid to try the hot dogs from the street vendors.  You might get "runny tummy" (they actually say that) the first time, but it's worth it.  You'll have plenty of time to travel around the area.  We had "spring break" but also just took a weekend to go to the Pans.  I heard that the trip to Mozambique is one of the best in the world.

And most importantly!  It'll be cold the first few weeks! The whole Africa = warm thing isn't true at first.  It gets well into the 30s overnight (with no heat, of course) and barely into the 60s during the day.  None of us were expecting that part.

Also don't plan on any of your clothes being clean after the first couple of weeks.  Just a fact.

Let me know if you have other questions!

[botswana-and-i]

Hey! What's up! I'm an American that attends VCU in Richmond, Va and I'll be going to UB for the fall semester this year! I'm pretty stoked to find your blog!

I am so sorry I just saw this!  I have no idea when it came in?  Anyway!  If you're about to go - ask me anything!  UB was a great experience.  If you've already gone - how was it?  

[botswana-and-i]

Venice :)

Venice was one of the cities I was most excited to get to.  It didn't disappoint.

When we first got there, we were a little disoriented because of the layout of the city, but we were able to figure it out fairly quickly -after all, it wasn't Vienna.

We found a sketch one-star hotel that made us walk up a number of stairs before even getting to reception - perfection.  Our room even had a view of one of the canals. It was gorgeous.

We just ate that night and enjoyed a lovely wine bar before turning in.  The next day we spent walking around this complex little city and loving every second of it.  It was extremely confusing and we got lost more than a few times, but it was still enjoyable.  Not to mention that we made sure to have our breakfast, post-breakfast, pre-lunch, lunch, post-lunch, pre-dinner, dinner, post-dinner, and dessert here.  I think it is safe to say that we perfected the art of eating.

In between eating we did get to see some of the sights.  We took a gondola ride like the proper tourists we were and it was definitely worth it. Our gondolier was very Italian and had a good time, too.  Saint Mark's Basilica was beautiful.  It's the only religious establishment that I was on this trip that I liked more than the Cologne cathedral.

We also went to midnight mass at St. Mark's. It was all very touristy and clearly put on for tourists, but it was still amazing.  The line to get in was disgustingly long, but we got in early enough to get good seats and enjoy the whole thing.  It was my first (and honestly, probably my last) midnight mass, but I'm so glad I got to experience this one.

Then, within just a few hours, Felicia headed home and I was on my way to Nice, France!

[botswana-and-i]

Ugh. Vienna

What a let down. Everyone told Felicia and I that we would love Vienna and it was gorgeous. False.

We get off our train and walk out of the station, after not seeing any tourist information booths in the station (already a bad sign).  Turns out that we aren't anywhere near any hostels. (2nd bad sign)

We find a sort of info booth that tells up how to take the train to the real information office that turns out to be about a half hour of a bus ride away. (miserable)

Once we finally find a place to stay, it does end up being a nice hostel.  It's also across the street from a really nice food market.  Vienna was also, by far, the coldest place we had been.  The buildings in the city were gorgeous... there's no way around that.

During out full day there, we went and found another wonderful Christmas market with some delicious Austrian food that we loved. We saw the Austrian Museum of Modern Art and looked at the cites that all tourists are supposed to see.

That night, we waited in line at the Vienna Opera House (look it up... fabulous) and paid 4 Euro to see Sleeping Beauty the ballet. It was phenomenal and almost made up for Vienna sucking the rest of the time.

Let's just say we were both pretty excited to get to Venice next!

[botswana-and-i]

Prague

Prague is a beautiful city. It's gorgeous and amazing and beautiful.

Everyone warned that I would love it and no one was wrong. 

We got off to a rocky start when our train couldn't get into the city center because of downed trees and we had to walk, in the rain, in a dark city, where none of us knew the language or had any Krona.  Yeah it was lovely.

Eventually we got to the train station and got to a hostel, and it was a really nice hostel.

We spent a lot of time looking around the adorable Christmas markets (which were much larger than the others we had seen) and just looking at how adorable the city was.  We went to the museum of torture and and Prague wax museum - a little anti-climactic, but still entertaining.  We got to see the Charles bridge, which is a historic site in Prague that was covered in tourists and vendors.

I also had the opportunity to spend my 21st birthday here!  We decided to do a pub crawl to celebrate and that was a glorious story on it's own :)

The day of my birthday we went up to Prague Castle - the largest castle that's still in tact in the world. Again, absolutely gorgeous.  We also went on a tour and got to see the cathedral, the palace and the area where all the vendors and workers lived - including Franz Kafka's old house :)

We also went to the John Lennon wall and saw some pretty awesome graffiti. It's good to know that people will continue to spray paint stupid things on walls all over the world (I believe we saw "limp bizkit" up there even).

It seems a little anti-climactic now, but we did a lot of walking around and just enjoying the city.

This is also where Felicia and I said good bye to Shea :(

On to Vienna!

[botswana-and-i]

Cologne

Cologne was the unplanned city on our trip.  We got to Luxembourg and were trying to find the cheapest ticket to Prague and convinced ourselves that a night in Germany would help.  It had no effect on the cost at all, but we were all pretty glad we went.

The cathedral is gorgeous.  Apparently it was the only thing left standing at the end of WWII, and you can really tell that it's the oldest part of the city.

We got to walk around and see the Christmas Markets as well, which became some of my favorites.

The people were friendly. Our hostel was really nice and it was in a super convenient location for a good price.  There were also more natural red heads than I have ever seen in one place before.

We spent less than 24 hours in Cologne, so I don't have much on the city... but I really liked it and would love to go back!

[botswana-and-i]

Luxembourg!

I have been obsessed with the idea of Luxembourg since we studied it in high school for a very short period of time. It's a tiny, little, French speaking country that is surrounded by France, Belgium and Germany.  They still have a Duke who runs things and they're super wealthy.

I see no problems with this.

As promised, we got there, and it was teensy.  There was only one hostel (which turned out to be fabulous) and the train station was the smallest one we had seen yet.  This also turned out to be the first place we got rained on and, well, it sucked.  But, we did manage to have a good time walking around the city and stuff.  We even got to walk up to the front door of the royal family's palace and pretend to open the door (alright, this was before we noticed the guard with the giant gun not too far away - but he didn't care).

We only stayed one full day, so before it got dark on the second night, we walked around the area our hostel was in.  It turns out that we were right by the giant wall that was built as a way to keep intruders out of the castle area; part of the wall is still remaining.

I loved Luxembourg - significantly more than Shea and Felicia did - and would go again in a heartbeat.

Unscheduled trip to Germany next!

[botswana-and-i]

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is one of my top three cities from this entire trip (the Northern Hemisphere part of it, that is).

When we first got there, the train station was huge and decorate and the people working at the tourist information desk were extremely helpful - we soon learned that this was not common.  The Amsterdam Centraal Train Station is located right in the heart of downtown, so we walked and found a hostel within about 10 minutes. Bob's Youth Hostel. We had read about it in my travel book and figured that we would stay there for a night and explore more in the morning to find a different one.  The next day we found the Aroza Hostel in an even better location and couldn't have been more pleased.

Yes, our first stop after the hostel was a coffee shop - The Grasshopper, if I remember correctly.  In true Amsterdam fashion, it was pretty entertaining. We also made sure not to go back to the same coffee shops during the time we were there so we could see what all the varieties were like.  After that was dinner and some exploring of the city.

Over the next few days, we managed to see all the touristy aspects of the downtown area, find some amazing places to eat, and actually partake in the cultural parts, as well.  We went to the Anne Frank Haus and it was different than we had all expected. Yes, it was one of those sights that seems significantly more real once you're there... and we learned some stuff about the Frank Family that was really interesting. Fun Fact: Back in the day, when everyone was short, Anne was almost my height... I think she was about 5'7".  But it was really just strange to be standing in these people's hideout spot of so many years.

Amsterdam reminded me a lot of Portland, honestly.  Everyone rode bikes, their tram is above ground, pedestrians always had the right of way, and, well, the smell is one that you find in Oregon quite often.

Leaving Amsterdam was hard, but we all know I was pretty stoked to get to Luxembourg!

[botswana-and-i]

London

Getting to London was the first reminder that we were back in our element again. It was cold and felt like Christmas time outside and I was so excited.  We were lucky enough to have a friend of mine from when I was younger, Anna, offer up her floor for us to stay on.  Her dorm was in a super good location and it was wonderful to save that much money :)  (Turns out the Western world is more expensive than we remembered, too).

We went to Big Ben and the Parliament building and Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace and all the other lovely touristy things.  We got to see the changing of the guard, too, which was pretty fun.  Our last afternoon there we spent at the British Museum seeing the Rosetta Stone and looking at the exhibit on Africa.

We also got to go to Chipotle for the first time in over 4 months which was a brilliant start to our vacation.

We got to have lunch with one of my mom's former work study students, Terra, who lives there now.

Next stop: Amsterdam.

[botswana-and-i]

12 Grapes

Hey from Barcelona!

I just heard that the tradition is to eat 12 grapes at midnight and if you can do it within a minute, you get a wish!

(If you don't, then it's badluck)

Guess I'm off to Catalunya Square and to buy some grapes!

More details about every country will come after the new year and I am settled and back in Portland.

Happy New Year!

[botswana-and-i]

Thus far:

Johannesburg, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Cologne, Prague, and Vienna.

Still to come:

Venice, Nice, Barcelona, London, and back to Portland.

I'll post more about each individual city when I'm back in the real world.

Until then... Happy holidays everyone!

[botswana-and-i]

CIEE Fall 2011 Univeristy of Botswana - Gaborone, Botswana

Well, family, we did it. It's December 3rd and we're actually done at UB.

As Batsi put it last night, there will never be another group like us.

I'm terrible at good bye's, so this is a universal one. I'm glad that every single person was on this trip and I wouldn't change anything for the world.

For the new few months, I really hope we all randomly post on the Facebook group page for this and remember how awesome we all are.

Remember: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

The great words of Felicia. Or maybe Dr. Seuss. But mostly Felicia.

[botswana-and-i]

Doxycycline

Don't mess with this shit.

[botswana-and-i]

The Okavango Delta. If you ever get a chance to go in life - do it.

[botswana-and-i]

Until Thursday...

Tomorrow morning we head off to the Okavango Delta until December 1st.

Looking forward to one of the most amazing weeks of my life with my 5 month family!