My First Week in South Africa

So I was trying my very hardest to not give in to the peer pressure of writing my own blog because they tend to be hard to follow and rather long, but I gave in. That being said, please do not feel obligated to read the whole thing unless you absolutely want to. This blog was created so that my friends and family could follow me through my adventures in South Africa. Now that this has been prefaced, I will really begin this post about the time leading up to this trip and my actual first week:

I applied for this Study Abroad program over a year ago and have had it in the back of my mind since I started school at Azusa Pacific University four years ago. As a nursing student, the only chance to study abroad is this semester and this is the only place we could go. My nursing cohort of forty people had the highest interest in this program that APU has ever seen. There are only 12 nursing students accepted and 24 from my cohort applied for Spring 2011 in South Africa. I turned in my application over a year ago and put it in God's hands. If it was God's will for me to go, I knew that He would make it happen. I received an email from the chair of the School of Nursing last spring while I was with my brother in my Dad's office at work. I had to have my Dad read the email because I was so nervous. I knew it was in God's hands, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to see what God's answer was. When my Dad told me I was accepted, I can't even begin to describe the way I felt and the mixed emotions that overwhelmed me. I told him that he must be wrong and made him read it again as I read over his shoulder. I was most definitely accepted and I have been preparing my heart for this trip since that day. God is good. :)

Why did I come to South Africa? I came here to be broken. I came here to grow. I came here to meet God in a foreign country. I came here to be God's hands and feet in a new place as a student nurse. Break my heart for what breaks Yours, Lord. The group left America on Wednesday, January 19th and landed in Johannesburg on Thursday, January 20th. Loooooooongest travel time of any of our lives. We are 10 hours ahead of Pacific Coast Time back home and we all adjusted to the time rather quickly because we landed at night and we were exhausted. There are 55 students total - 12 nursing girls, 32 girls who have other majors, and 11 guys. I'd say the girl-guy ratio is pretty even. Haha. The nursing girls are the oldest students here, as we are all in our last year of school and everyone else is Kyle's age. We reside at the African Enterprise Conference Center in Pietermaritzburg that Azusa Pacific International rents for the school year. It has only been a little over a week and I have already fallen in love with this country. The people here and the sites and animals are so very amazing and I do not think it is possible to ever get sick of it all. We get to go running through a game reserve right by the campus whenever we have the time to. The reserve has all sorts of wild animals, the main attraction to us, however is the monkeys..... OH MY GOODNESS!!! As I am writing this, a monkey just walked past the door of my place. Monkeys are like squirrels here... they are everywhere and they are cute and cuddly.... but they are NOT friendly. The staff here gave each floor a can of pepper spray to protect ourselves. They seem to like the high-pitched screams of girls more. Hahaha. I do not plan on getting attacked by a monkey.... OH MY GOSH!!!! Another one just walked past! I got to go! More later!