"Pass on right, keep left"

See it from my point of view.

It is truly a beautiful day in Johannesburg right now, 55 degrees F and sunny.

I never would have guessed it would get this warm today, considering I woke up to frost on my bedroom window this morning. It is definitely difficult adjusting to the cold weather and non-insulated rooms in the mornings and at night, but that’s why electric blankets were invented, right?

This was taken inside my beautiful room at Life on 3rd in Melville, which is located in the heart of the Johannesburg Metropolitan area, South Africa. 

I guess I should start from the beginning though. Why the heck am I even in South Africa anyway?

When Dr. Shenid Bhayroo, my audio visual newsgathering professor, suggested the South Africa study abroad trip last semester, I was extremely intrigued with the thought of working as a foreign correspondent in such a different culture.

Focusing on a wide range of topics while I am here, I will be writing magazine style articles, doing short broadcast multimedia pieces, and working on a longer documentary with a group member. I am here with 10 amazing students from Temple, and I could not ask for a better group to go through this experience with.

Our orientation days last week at TUCC in Philadelphia consisted mostly of preparing our story ideas and documentaries, as well as getting to know each other and the culture in which we will be exposed to for the next month.

I can’t say that I was worried or really nervous at all for this trip during the orientation days. Yes, our intense syllabus pretty much scared the hell out of all of us, but the opportunities Dr. Bhayroo is exposing us to are so amazing that the excitement overpowers any other feeling. It also definitely helped having my family supporting every step I took in the preparation for this trip.

The plane flight out of JFK airport in New York City was about 15 hours long to Johannesburg, South Africa. It wasn’t until I sat down in seat 52 A that my emotions hit. I think it was a mixture of being tired, saying goodbye to my dad on the phone, and realization that I was going to be stuck in a very uncomfortable seat next to someone I didn’t know for more than half of a day.

I realized quickly how kind and caring South Africans are when the man sitting next to me got up, without any questions or second thoughts, and switched seats with Dr. Bhayroo. It was definitely a relief, and made me much calmer, to be sitting next to someone I knew. Our flight left at 11:30 AM and we got to South Africa around 2 AM.

I’m not going to lie - the flight was not my cup of tea, but it really was not as bad as I imagined or even expected. I slept for a few hours, watched two documentaries and a few movies, listened to music, and simply gathered my thoughts. We ate three meals, all of which weren’t amazing but also weren’t terrible. I had my first South African soda called grapetiser - it was sparkling grape soda and tasted amazing!

It was interesting because once we boarded the plane, we were instantly on South African time, which is +6 hours of the US. Therefore, we had dinner not long after we boarded, lunch around 6 PM, and breakfast at midnight.

I, luckily, had the window seat right on the wing of the plane. I saw the brightest stars I have ever seen and watched the most beautiful sunrise. We had some turbulence in the middle of the night, where we all were asked to put on our seat belts, but it never once made me nervous.

A few of us in the airport right after arriving in South Africa. 

When the plane landed, it was hard to even believe. It still is really hard to grasp the fact that I am in South Africa.

Once we got into the airport, we exchanged our money. I still don’t really have any concept of money here in South Africa. I am definitely struggling with the conversion, but hopefully I will catch on soon.

We all piled into the van Dr. Bhayroo has rented for the trip, and quickly realized how close, literally and figuratively, we were going to be for the next month.

Dr. Bhayroo is actually a pretty good driver!

In South Africa, the cars are very similar to those in America, except the driver sits on the right side of the car and drives on the left side of the road. It was funny to see a sign that read, "Pass on right, keep left."

My first thought while looking out the van window was, “It is really brown here.” It is also interesting to see how everything is fenced in, with electrical wires for security, almost at every residence or business building.

The bed and breakfast is absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t ask for a better place to stay while living in Johannesburg.

My roommate, Becky, and I have to walk up these steps to get to our room.

I am technically sharing a room with Becky, but it is more like suite-style living. We pretty much have our own, private living space with queen size beds, we just have to share a bathroom. We live on the top floor in the guest house, and my room has a ton of windows, letting incredible natural light in. (There are also wonderful screens that I can close to keep the light out when I sleep).

Our rooms here are heated with space heaters. They don’t work very well, and considering it is the dead of winter here, it is not very easy to get out of bed. But, it is manageable with some warm sweatpants and warm socks.

After getting settled on our first day in South Africa, we went to the mall to explore the mall culture. It is surprisingly very similar to malls in America, except I think the clothes are better here.

Me and Siena had our first interaction at a restaurant by ourselves. It was quite funny because people here have a hard time understanding our American accents.

We went to the grocery store and the beer store, and drove around the area a bit. Here, you have to pay for plastic bags when you buy something, so most of the time, people don’t use plastic at all. It is actually a really awesome concept that I think every state in the US should adopt, which not only would help the environment but also the economy.

We’ve been able to experience some nightlife around the area every night since we’ve arrived, while growing closer as a group.

Siena and I at Cool Runnings in Melville. 

While most of us were battling jet lag on Sunday, we went to the Lanseria airport for lunch with Dr. Bhayroo’s family. We plan to fly out of Lanseria when we go to Durban in a few weeks. We saw the Sunday brunch experience, where people come to the area to have a nice breakfast or lunch and watch the planes take off outside.

Everything tastes better here. Even chocolate. The B&B provides breakfast for us every morning, and it is amazing, and also so filling! We are welcome to fresh fruit and delicious, healthy rooibos tea or hot chocolate whenever we’d like. I think I’ve already had about 5 cups of tea today and it’s only 13:30!

Some of us at breakfast at Life on 3rd. 

Today, we all woke up pretty early, met for breakfast, and read some SA newspapers. There was a commentary story about the Casey Anthony trial, which was very interesting to read from a South African’s perspective.

We all discussed our story topics together, and brainstormed new ideas. I am currently trying to contact a hairdresser and ambassador from Hairdressers of the World Against Aids for my first multimedia piece. I plan to post all of my work on this blog, as well as the Philadelphia Neighborhoods news site, where you can find the rest of the SA summer abroad participants’ work as well.

Goed gaan, for now!

PS: Feel free to comment on my posts and ask questions about anything you want to know about South Africa!