Pietermaritzburg!
This is by far the most beautiful place I have seen in my entire life! It is incredible. This is the closest thing you can get to a rainforest without actually being a rainforest. APU’s campus is located at the African Enterprise. There is a conference center, where we stay as well as a big Christian organization that is run out of this campus. There is a water hole, two water falls, monkeys (which are horrible), large fields. Essentially it looks like a scene from Jurassic Park or LOST.
We had the South Africa leg of our orientation today, made a trip to the local mall (our first outing in Pietermaritzburg!) Their malls are very similar to the States, however instead of departments there are places like Game that looks like a Wal-mart to me. We also had our first South Africa history lecture, and had an adventure at the water hole before dinner.
The monkeys are a problem. They get in through the windows, we have to leave the windows so we can have air circulation because there is no air conditioning. We have screens, but they seem to work around them. They have made it into three rooms in less than 24 hours. African Enterprise says it is an increasing problem and they are trying to come up with the best solution to deal with them.
I hear so much American music here. It is so funny. I think I have heard more American music here then African. It is also interesting because talking about race is a normal part of life here. It is 100% acceptable to call someone colored or as the South Africans would write it coloured.
As incredible as it is here, I still miss home and everyone there.
I also added pictures to my two previous posts, I did not have time earlier but I hope I made up for it :)
