Day 7

Internet is becoming more readily available to us so there will (hopefully) be more blog updates.  It all will depend on what kind of free time I have once classes start.  Speaking of classes, I will be taking African Philosophy, history of South Africa and Marine Biology!  I am very excited to start learning all about the culture and history of where I am!  As those of you who have my mailing address know, I live in Hilltop Hall, which, believe it or not is, actually located at the top of a hill!! The walk is quite a trek in the mornings and evenings but the view from my dorm is AMAZING!  I’m literally waiting to wake up one morning, look out my window, and see a giraffe grazing beyond the fence!  It’s absolutely incredible!  Not to mention that just behind my residence is the coolest bird hangout I’ve ever seen!  Just today I saw a cute little Grey Lourie, an awesome blue and black bird (which I have still been unable to identify), and a Hoopoe Bird.  Seriously, Google Image that last bird.  It may be the coolest most amazing bird I’ve seen in my entire life!  But while I was creeping through shrubbery to get better pictures of these birds, two stray dogs (a mutt and a German Shepherd) spotted me and have been following me around all day!  They are two of the cutest dogs, and they have been making sure I get everywhere safely and they patiently wait outside until I come back!  It’s hysterical.  I may need some protection at night though, so maybe it’s a good thing that they found me hiding out on the bushes!  

Another thing I forgot to mention earlier.  We can’t drink the water here because the government put lower grade chemicals in the water to purify it because they were cheaper.  So it is definitely unsafe to drink and will make you ill.  We do have filtered water readily available to us in the dining halls and bottles of water are very cheap here.  The weather has been cooler the past couple of days, but today it finally warmed up.  Next month is when it is supposed to really start getting noticeably warmer, according to the locals.  We have been going out quite a bit at night to the local pubs and meeting some of the local people who live in Grahamstown as well as some other students studying at Rhodes.  Things are going really well here!  Stay sunny and warm in Ohio!!