OMG We Have Friends!

We woke up at 6:30am and called our mentors to pick us up at 7 to go to the hospital. Sami, Sarah, and I were put into a rotation group with our three mentors, Anna, Devon, and Megan, and two of their guy-friends. Our group started in the vascular unit of the hospital where we and some 5th-years followed a doctor around to several different patients while he explained their situations and questioned us, but mostly the 5th-years, on each problem, the implications/diagnosis, and the treatment. Very cool! **(Our mentors are currently 3rd-years, meaning they are our age, but instead of undergrad they hop straight into their 5 year medical school program. Aka, they know a lot more than we do about actual patients, diseases, treatments, etc.)We were told later that a lot of the patients are too intimidated to come to the hospital to get care until their pain and severity of the condition are necessary for surgery, so most of the patients we saw had amputated legs, feet, etc. Not so cool :/

Our group was split so Sami, Sarah, Cherade, and I saw a 5th-year take blood from two patients, continued to the exam rooms to watch the previous doctor meet with a few vascular patients, and then we went to our first class. It was just an introductory class so we didn't learn anything, but it was very much like an American classroom. Apparently the (roughly) 60 students in the classroom have all had the same schedule and classes since they started the medical program, so they all know each other, and they all sit in the exact same seats since all of their lecture halls look exactly the same. How redundant.

Anna and Megan took us later to a grocery store in a mall we aren't able to walk to, and they invited a lot of their medical school friends to join us at a restaurant. They are all very similar to us, except with much cooler accents! We later were invited to a girl's apartment to watch the World Cup with them and were all giddy with excitement after we returned home from our long first day. We've been here 5 days and I'm already dreading the day I have to leave!

My "Raspberry Teapot" cocktail. How adorable. 

Ham and Mushroom pasta

Jetlagged

Saturday and Sunday were days of laziness. We woke up late, ate lunch, read our books (which I feel like we’ll be doing a lot of. Good thing I passed my flight time by watching Frozen, Hunger Games 2, and Game of Thrones instead of reading), napped, and tried to recover from our jetlag hangover. We received working dorm cards, bought some ethernet cables from the “big mall,” and I went for a jog around campus. (and if you know my curious personality at all, this just means I wanted to go explore and casually absorb all there is to see. My jogging stamina is also pretty lacking so "went for a jog" means I walked for the majority of the time.) Also, tomorrow is our first day at the hospital! Yay!

Tick, Tick,...Bloem!: Welcome to the Home of Fun!

            Upon arrival to Johannesburg, Sarah discovered that her flight had changed to an earlier time and was rushed to the front of security so she could make it in time. I had about 2.5 hours before my flight left so I wandered the airport, exchanged some dollars to Rand, and ate a waffle almost identical to those served at Waffle House, but at a sit-down steakhouse restaurant. My meal was about 28 Rand and I tipped 6 Rand, but I had no idea what I was doing. Still don’t. I met Sami on the bus that took us from the Johannesburg airport to our plane to Bloemfontein.

In one of our two group meetings this past spring, Dr. Jones said that Bloemfontein is comparable to Nebraska, and of course I replied “How exciting!” with a thick layer of sarcasm. I can’t justify my opinion because I haven’t actually seen Nebraska from land or an airplane, but I’m not sure I’d give Bloemfontein that much credit. ;) Johannesburg was a lot like Arizona from what I remember of it – brown and flat with random large mountains scattered around and perfectly aligned houses and neighborhoods – but not as square, and Bloemfontein would be a lot like Arizona if nobody lived there. The city of Bloemfontein looks as though a bomb of civilization went off in one particular spot, and a circular city was formed around it. After a short wait in the Bloem airport, Sarah, Sami, and I were picked up by someone (we have no idea who he was, but he knew we were from App State so that was good enough for me) and taken to our dorm at UFS. On our ride from the airport to the UFS campus I saw a billboard featuring a cross between a mardi gras, 20’s flapper, or can-can girl party theme that read: “Tick, Tick, Bloem. Welcome to the Home of Fun.” Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture, but I thought it was hysterical after seeing the city from the airplane.

 Sami and I share a room while Sarah has a room to herself on a hallway across an outside corridor. We were given temporary UFS student cards but unfortunately none of them worked. You needed a card to get in/out from the lobby to outside, in/out of the lobby to the stairs, and in/out of the stairwell to the hallways containing the rooms. Needless to say, we were trapped in different parts of the building several times trying to find a solution or anyone that could help. Speaking of which, we all expected there to be other people in our dorm and were thoroughly upset when we realized we were practically the only people in the entire building, as all the rooms were empty. As Drake would say: “No new friends.” Our RA Layton propped some doors open for us and we began a trek to the mall. After leaving the campus we ended up on some back roads, but finally found the mall with help from some locals. We stopped a couple who mistook my “rich accent” (his words, not mine) for an Australian accent (he’s clearly never been to southern American, but hey, Australian? I’ll take it any day. ‘Ello mate!). We finally arrived at the mall (which we now know is the small mall), bought some bath towels for about R100, and sat down to eat. Once again, we had no idea how much to tip or whether we were supposed to ask for our check or not, but our meal was a combined R220 and we tipped a little over R20. Stingy? Maybe? We returned to our dorm in the dark and went to bed at around 8pm. Honestly, I’m surprised I made it that long because starting at 7am on Wednesday, I probably got a combined 6 hours of sleep until that Friday at 8pm (or 2pm EST, but still). I had already hit my brick wall and started functioning off delusion, but sleep is for when you’re dead, right Emily?

Johannesburg from my window on our AirFrance Air Bus (meaning it was two stories and HUGE)

My Waffle House-like waffle in the Joburg airport

To show how tiny our plane from Joburg to Bloem was, here's my view of the pilot. Also, I was instructed how to open the door of the plane in case of emergency. (Umm, okay lady.)

Another view of Joburg

South Africa has different flavors of Lays than we do!

Just because it's pretty

Welcome to Bloemfontein

You can see the edge of the "bomb of civilization" I was describing

A township (community of shacks for very poor people) in the distance.

Charles de Gaulle - 31; Sarah and I - 6 (but who's keeping score?)

Sarah and I met up in DC and flew to Paris for our 12.5 hour layover. Our adventure in Paris was interesting to say the least. It took roughly an hour, if not more, for us to locate a baggage locker and exit the airport. Needless to say, the airport was HUGE, and any direction we were given was just enough information to make it to the next section of the airport to, once again, ask for more directions. It was pretty rough. Upon leaving the airport, we caught a bus to the Arc de Triomphe. While the original plan was to ride another bus from the Arc to the Eiffel Tower, we decided to walk instead and were both very happy about this decision. Sarah had pre-purchased a lift ticket to the top of the Eiffel tower so I explored for about an hour down below. During my purposeless wandering, I met a young couple from Charleston, had a very awkward exchange with a local, and saw a young man, who had asked me to take his picture with the Eiffel Tower not 20 minutes prior, get interrogated by 6 police officers. The awkward exchange took place at a small produce market when I attempted to buy an apple; here's our conversation:

Me: Hello! Do you accept US Dollars here?

Him: *Puzzled look* Something in French

Me: America?...Dollar?...American Dollar?...

Him: Long sentence in French

Me: EErrrmmm...*Pulled out a dollar to show him*

Him: Ahhhh Dollar!....No no no.

Me: Kay, thanks, bye.

We returned to our bus stop at the arc just as the bus was pulling up, which was tremendously lucky as we had no idea how often the bus stopped there and it was a 45+ minute ride back to the airport. Before I got on the bus I realized I wouldn’t see Paris again for several years, if at all, so I took in my last views of the Arc de Triomphe, the cobblestone roads, the people who looked as though they were dressed for their own personally unique fashion runway show later that day, the historic residential buildings that lined the streets, along with luxury clothing stores that filled the gaps between. Then, I stepped on the bus to hear the lyrical genius of Jason Derulo’s “Wiggle” playing, laughed hysterically to myself (thanks Emily), and immediately felt like I was back in the States. What a bummer. We made it back to the airport around 5pm, boarded our flight from Paris to Johannesburg at 10:45pm, and arrived around 11am the next day.

The Arc from our bus

Crepe stand...because why not

One of the people starring in their own fashion show.

The lovely couple from Charleston took my picture

You parked a little close there, buddy

Flights on Flights

Today, I began my South African journey starting at 10am and am not scheduled to arrive in Bloemfontein until midafternoon on July 27th (42 hours later). So far, I've played checkers with a middle-aged businessman on the flight to DC (we're BFFs now), and met some college-aged students going to Namibia, a neighboring country, for mission work. Currently, I'm waiting in the Dulles International Airport until my flight to Paris at 9:30pm. Riveting, I know.

About Me...and My Blog

Hey there! My name is Rebecca Gates and I am travelling to Bloemfontein, South Africa for an Honors International Experience/Internship with the Appalachian State University Honors College. I am a rising Senior majoring in Exercise Science with hopes to go to medical or a health-related professional school. Although not hugely relevant, I will also mention that I am the treasurer of the ASU chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi, which has made a huge impact on my life. Other than a Caribbean cruise, I have never been outside of the United States, but could not be more excited for the adventures that await. For those of you unfamiliar with country music, the title of my blog is based off a song by Brad Paisley titled "Southern Comfort Zone," and I thought it described my standpoint pretty well. Hope you enjoy my blog!