Orientation week was crazy busy. The best parts of orientation were Tsitsikamma weekend adventure (where we were able to visit Storms River, sleep in a building in the mountains, and go zip lining), meeting new people from all over the world (the majority of the international students were either German or French), and the party they threw us before school began. It was called the garden roof party, and it was beautiful. We had dinner and music and a place to dance on this roof that overlooked Port Elizabeth and the ocean at night.
Starting school was a bit stressful, but everything turned out okay. The way NMMU (my university in South Africa) had us select classes was very different than at home. I had to change my schedule three times due to credit, course, and time. I had to make sure what I was taking was okay with my university. The time difference complicated the communication with departments from my home university. The university was much bigger than my university from home, so I got lost multiple times in that first week. Certain parts of the school could be a little disorganized at times, but for the most part, I was very impressed with their efficiency. The international office especially impressed me. I went there so many times with question and concerns and I always left reassured. By the end of the week, they knew me by name! On the first day of school, there was a student protest, so classes were canceled. It was such a weird sensation- I felt like I was cutting class by being at the beach on what was suppose to be the first day of school. When classes did start the next day, I enjoyed seeing that I was in classes with mostly South Africans, and not just international students. Classes were different than what I was use to, but honestly, I enjoyed the structure. Talking to my friends from Europe (mainly Germany and Switzerland), they told me that this is similar to how their classes work. Students attend lecture and take notes if they want to or not, then there are the exams at the end. Students either put in the work to pass, or they fail. While NMMU was similar to that, we did have a couple of homework assignments and a couple more exams throughout the semester. It was different compared to the classes in the US in the way that I did not spend hours and hours a day doing homework. It made school less stressful and more enjoyable, honestly. In that first month, I also started a open water diving course. I have been interested in scuba diving for a while, and the prices looked good. The diving course took FOREVER to complete due to bad water visibility. It was really annoying. I have to say, this may be the only part of South Africa that I wish I thought more about. The water was incredibly cold (due to it being winter in South Africa). The courses also took up a lot of my weekend time, which I would have preferred to use going and discovering different places in Port Elizabeth.
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