I'm home!!!

Well I have made it home!!! It was a long trip (thirty hours to be exact, from the time we arrived at the Jo'burg airport to the time we landed in KC)...but I was ready to be home!!!

I'll write more later, but I wanted to post some links to some photo albums...hopefully they work!!!

Here are pictures from the Safari...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079270&id=82400997&l=228e1

Here are pictures from Cape Town...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080491&id=82400997&l=fb709

And here are some pictures from around Johannesburg...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080420&id=82400997&l=ff418

Last Day in South Africa!

Wow!! I can't believe that it's my last day here in South Africa!!! We're trying to catch up on some emails and then we're going to go start packing...and I'm praying that everything fits!!! It has to!!!

The rest of our Cape Town adventure was beyond amazing!!! Robbens Island was fantastic...our tour guide (and all the other tour guides) are past prisoners of the Island. I don't even know how to describe the feeling you get while listening to these men talk about their experiences just twenty plus years ago. Anyone who goes to Cape Town HAS to go to Robbens Island! We saw Nelson Mandela's cell where he stayed for twenty years (I was wrong about the number of years earlier, he stayed in two other prisons after Robbens Island which then totaled 27 years). It was just an amazing place to be, with such history....

The next day we did a wine tour and it was SO much fun :) I totally want to go to California with a group of friends/family and do that someday (soon)!!!

I'll write more when I get to Atlanta, but I have to get going now!!! I love you all and I'll see you very soon!!!!

Cape Town is AMAZING!!!!!!!

Well, I can't type too much because I'm in a little itty bitty internet cafe...but I wanted to let you all know that I am having a WONDERFUL time in Cape Town!! This place is beyond gorgeous, I have never seen anything like it!!

The first day we went up to Table Mountain which overlooks the city (and the Atlantic Ocean). It's literally a flat mountain and a cloud covers it most days (which they call the table cloth). Then we went to a place called Camps Bay Beach, and I currently look like a tomato :) But oh well, it'll be a nice tan shade here soon hopefully!!

Yesterday we did a tour of the Cape peninsula and went to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope which is the southwestern most part of Africa. BEAUTIFUL!!! We spent all day driving all the coast, down the west side and then up the east side...ahh I can't wait to show you pictures!!! There was a place called Boulders (close enough to Boulder!!!) and they are known for their African Penguins...so cute!!!!

Today we're going to Robbens Island which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for about 25 years...we're both really excited we were able to book tickets, because apparently they sell out constantly! We're going to spend the rest of the afternoon on the waterfront and doing some shopping :) I'm already hurting on the cash flow...oh well!!

Tomorrow we're going on a wine tour to three different vineyards! I'm sooooo excited, and even more excited to bring a couple of bottles of wine home with me :)

Love you all and I can't wait to see everyone...just a couple more days till I'm home!!!!

Last Day at Johannesburg General

Well today was our last day at Jo'burg General Hospital :( I was a lot sadder than I thought I would be!!! I don't think I realized how much the nurses enjoyed having us there until today when we were all saying our goodbyes!! We got a lot of really great pictures with everyone that I can't wait to show you all! I really enjoyed working on the Trauma ICU here. Things were different and I had to adapt to that, but overall I had a GREAT learning experience and I've created relationships and memories that will last forever!!

Tomorrow we leave for Cape Town, so I have no clue whether I'll be able to update this thing!! Just know that I'll be having a great time on the beach and at the vineyards :) Sorry, I had to rub that in!! We'll be there until Monday, and then on Tuesday we leave to come back home!! I'm totally dreading the back to back nine hour flights, the five hour layover in Atlanta, and then the short two hour flight back home...but I'll make it!!!

I hope everything is going well for everyone!! I'll post soon hopefully!!! Love you!!!

A great weekend in Jo'burg!!!

We have had a great weekend in Jo’burg! On Saturday we visited the Cradle of Humankind in Maropeng which is about an hour away from Jo’burg. It’s a museum that shows how life has evolved over time, and was incredibly interesting! We spent a couple of hours there just soaking it all in. I couldn’t help but think back to my days in the biology courses (especially microbiology)…it’s all quite fascinating; I only wish I knew more about it so I could’ve appreciated it more!

We also went to the Sterkfontein Caves which is where thy have found the earliest fossils of humankind! The caves were a little freaky, but only because I was psyching myself out. We were 60 meters (I guess around 180 feet) below ground and it was super cold! It reminded me of the time when I was at a softball tournament, we went into the caves in northeastern Missouri where Tom Sawyer had spent his time. I remember feeling that same fear of, “Oh no, what if this cave collapses?!” Oh and then in the cave, there was a body of water that was like 40 meters deep (120 feet) and our tour guide told us a story about scientists that explored the water about thirty years ago and one got lost and they never found him. Yikes! I stayed clear!

We went to dinner at Mike’s Kitchen (our favorite place to dine, oh wait…and our only place to dine) with a group of people Saturday night. It was Tina’s last night in Jo’burg before she headed off on like a three week tour of the coast of Africa and then to Kruger (ahh, I’m so jealous)!! She’s from New York and is super super nice!

On Sunday morning we did a tour of Soweto (the Southwestern Township of Jo’burg) and I really enjoyed it. This area is home to nearly 3.5 million people. There are just houses (more like shacks) that continue on and on and on. We got to walk down some of the streets and they reminded me of the homes in Las Pintas. There’s no electricity and there’s one running water hole per street, so that means about three hundred people share one water hole. Can you imagine? There is all sorts of history that I could go into about Soweto, but if you want to know more about what I learned about…either email and ask me or Google search “Hector Pieterson.” He was thirteen years old when he was shot and killed in a protest on June 16th, 1976. There is a photo of an older boy carrying him and his sister running alongside them. This photo is what many say brought on the global attention to South Africa and the apartheid that was going on. I learned a ton, and I’m so glad we were able to do this tour…

That evening we went out to a nicer restaurant called Moyo’s and it was delicious! Those that went besides Alison and I were Pieter (from Sweden) and his girlfriend that arrived that day for a visit, Rebecca (from Scotland), and then the rest were from Germany…Ralph, Ann, Sandra, and a new guy, Alex! All but three of us did the buffet and we walked out feeling as stuffed as humanly possible. We got into a really good table discussion of different holidays celebrated where each of us were from…it was really interesting to hear everyone’s traditions! I’m totally biased, but based from what I heard I think America celebrates the best holidays!

Well, two more days of clinical and then Alison and I are off to Cape Town for five days…and then I’m coming home!!! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone!! I miss you all!!!

Almost time for Cape Town!!

We just confirmation of our booking for our hotel in Cape Town. You can check out the website here...

www.tudorhotel.co.za

We were talking to one of our friend's Tina who is going to Cape Town a day before us and she is going to do a tour of a vineyard where you can make your own wine and then they send it to you a year later (or more)! Alison and I both thought that would be really fun!!

Yesterday, we went to Sandton City which is just a nicer area of Jo'Burg . We did some shopping and I did a little bit of damage, but not too bad! I got a super cute dress that I'm going to bring to Cape Town and hopefully we'll have a nice dinner out one night :) I got a few other little gimmicks that'll remind me of my days in South Africa throughout the years as well...

I can't believe that I'm going to be home in just 12 days! I feel like I've been here forever, but honestly the time has just flown by. I've missed a lot of occurences back home, but hopefully I'll be able to catch up when I get back! I especially can't wait to meet my newest little cousin, Dawson Patrick Miller!!

This weekend we're going to a place called the Cradle of Humankind which is a museum that displays how humankind originated in Africa and you can do a tour of the caves with the drawings and such! We'll do a few other tours, and hopefully be able to relax some before work on Monday/Tuesday and then off to Cape Town!!!

Only two more weeks here!!

Wow…I can’t believe that I’ll be home in just two weeks! I know I haven’t been here that long, but it sure seems like I have. I’m sure most of that is due to just always being so busy! Anyways, I’m still working on getting a mass number of pictures up and not just five, but I hope those five gave you a glimpse of how great my safari trip was!

Alison and I have booked our flights to Cape Town and we leave next Wednesday! We are incredibly excited. Everyone here (visiting students and locals) have told us that if we’re in South Africa then we have to go to Cape Town. So, we took their advice! We’re still trying to find a place to stay, but that’s a minor detail because we already know all the things we want to do! We want to visit Robben Island which is where the prison is that Nelson Mandela was in for 27 years. We also want to go up to Table Mountain and hopefully go out to a vineyard, cross your fingers!! Other than that…I’ll be laying on the beach!!!

Clinicals have been going well here. I’m still struggling at times dealing with the differences in the way nurses do things here as opposed to back home. It’s hard to explain to all you “non-nurses,” but there are just some things that have been researched over and over and proven that are good practices versus bad practices. So when I see one of those bad practices implemented here, knowing that it’s hurting my patient…I’m having a hard time conveying my concerns to the nurses without seeming condescending and disrespectful. It has really made me appreciate the way that we do things back home in healthcare. I’ve learned a whole lot and I’ll take some things that they do here back home with me.

I’ll write some more later…Alison and I work the next day or two and then we’re going to do some things around Jo’Burg that I’ll tell you about in the next post!

Oh and everyone be praying for and thinking about my cousin Erin and her husband Donnie on Thursday…they’re going to be new parents!! I’m so disappointed I’m not going to meet my newest little cousin for two more weeks, but I’ll be there in spirit!

Here are a couple of pictures to tide you all over! Don't forget to read the previous blog....

Here I am at Blyde River Canyon...it was amazing!!! The next morning I zip-lined across another part of the canyon...so scary but SO worth it :)

Alison and I were constantly looking out to the sides, and is little guy caught us off guard because he was right in front of us!

This zebra (along with a TON of others) and so impala were the first to greet us at Kruger National Park!

We came across some VERY angry hippos...luckily they were pretty far away. Look at those teeth!!

This is probably my favorite of all the pictures I took...I kind of fell in love with the giraffes :)

Hopefully I'll find a way to post all my pictures soon, but if not I'll be back in just two weeks and do it then!!!

Simply AMAZING!!!!!

Well I am back from probably four of the best days of my entire life!!! I can’t even begin to describe in words how amazing the safari was…but I’m going to do my best! I think I’m going to try and do a little day by day description.

Day One…

We left Jo’Burg at 6am and ventured northwest to the state of Mpumalanga (which means “where the sun rises,” I’ve become obsessed with that word). We stopped in a town called Pilgrim’s Rest to have lunch, this town was filled with history! Our next big stop was at Blyde River Canyon to see the potholes…but not the potholes you’re thinking of! The potholes were created over millions of years from the running of water through the canyon. All I can say is that it was the most gorgeous site ever!!! It was like the Grand Canyon, but it was SO green with water flowing…just one of God’s most beautiful creations, I swear!!
Then we went to the Three Rondawels (which look like huts, except they’re enormous mountains)…and it was so surreal, because for about five minutes Alison and I were the only ones at the lookout point. We were still in Blyde River Canyon, and we could see much further from here J
We stayed in a little town called Graskop for the night. The hotel was lovely and even had it’s own little art gallery in it! We ate at a restaurant (that I already forgot the name of) across the street from the hotel, and were stuffed! We went to bed pretty early because we had to get up early to go to a site called God’s Window…

Day Two…

Well, we were pretty bummed because it was incredibly cloudy/foggy…we were about a mile above sea level at this point, so apparently it’s quite rare to find a day where you can “clearly” see through God’s Window. But when you can see through it, you can see all the way through the canyons and into Kruger Park!!
Then, you’re not going to believe what I did next…I zip-lined across a part of Blyde River Canyon! Can you believe it?! I was absolutely terrified, but the view was AMAZING and I would’ve regret not doing it!
Next up was the drive to Kruger National Park, now the safari was really going to begin!! We were driving past a private game reserve when we spotted our first animals…some giraffe and zebra!! We were already off to a great start….and then when we entered the park we were greeted by an entire herd of zebra along with some impala! Our tour guide told us he was surprised with how lucky we were this early on in the search. We drove around for three hours spotting everything from giraffes (which have become my personal favorite) to warthogs (pumba!) to waterbucks and then a solo elephant just walking down the road! We were amazed!!
We settled into our lodge in an area called Satara, which was just the picture of a safari campsite! We stayed in a little round bungalow J We went back out with our tour guide and went to the eastern most edge of Kruger so we could see the country of Mozambique, which was just as gorgeous as South Africa! We barely made it back for our evening night ride, and I’m SO glad we made it! We saw some ostrich and jackel at one point and then we some hippos that were not so excited to see us…apparently hippos are incredibly dangerous if you’re anywhere close to them, so they’re faster than you may think. But luckily we were far enough away, and they just gave us a lot of great poses (the photographer in me LOVED this trip)!!
We went back to our bungalow and went to bed…because our wake-up call the next morning was even earlier than the one we experienced on this day.

Day Three…

We woke up at 5am but it was TOTALLY worth it to see the South African sunrise in Kruger Park!! Ahh just gorgeous!! We started off the drive by seeing two hyenas, which are incredibly hard to come by apparently. At one point we came across an elephant on the side of the road, and we just kind of sat by and watched for awhile and then he turned and faced us and did a sort of “charge.” Needless to say, it freaked all three of us out a little bit, and we maintained our distance from there on out! Driving down the road we came across probably thirty baboons in the road…they basically owned it. Some of them were fighting; it was quite entertaining to watch!
We came to a look out point and got out of the car…with the windows still rolled down. Whoops! There were lots of little monkeys around and next thing we know there are three IN our car and then they’re out…with Alison’s bag of chips and her cough drops! I was just so glad they didn’t take my smaller camera because it was sitting in the seat! It was hilarious though and we couldn’t stop laughing! The monkeys were jumping in and out of people’s cars and people were completely oblivious to what was happening because they were busy looking out into the distance!!
We had breakfast at another campsite before leaving Kruger and heading to our next destination, Tshukudu (which means “Rhino” in some South African language!) Lodge which is a private game reserve and by far my favorite place we went to! We were greeted with tea and cookies (I’ve become quite the hot tea drinker since being in South Africa)…the people here were SO nice! We laid by the pool for about two hours before heading out on our evening night drive.
We went out with a family of four from London and a couple from Canada…they were all super nice and all really good spotters! We ran into a family of elephants…mom, dad, and baby. Well, the mom wasn’t too thrilled we were there. Alison and I were sitting in the back of the jeep and the elephant was so close we could have reached out and touched it! It kind of charged our vehicle and our tour driver stepped on it! The best part is, I got this all on video…my screaming and all!! We had a great outing though…we saw a lot of rhino and a lot of waterbuck. The sunset was GORGEOUS, our driver took us to a great spot to watch the sun go down J
We came back for dinner, and oh my goodness I don’t think I have ever had such a delicious meal. They feed you VERY well at this lodge. The chef prepared everything from ostrich steak to ribs to mushroom pancakes…all of which I tried, and loved! After dinner we went to watch the porcupines eat our left over food! Now when I think of a porcupine I think of a little guy, but these porcupines were huge!! With their needles (or whatever you call them) spread out, they were probably about the size of a grown golden retriever!! A couple of jackel came out to see us as well while we were there.
We went back to our little room and slept under our mosquito nets…the bugs were kind of bad here which was a bummer. We had another early morning, so it was an early night for us as well!

Day Four…

We woke up at 5:45am and set out on our morning walk in the bush with two lion cubs. This private game reserve has some domestic animals that they have rescued from various villages and such so these two cubs were five months old and walked alongside us the entire time. It was SO much fun! Plus, they were the first lions I had seen since being in Africa! The morning walk was more about learning how to find animals via their tracks and poop! It was actually very interesting!
We came back to eat breakfast (amazing) and then headed back out on our jeeps to the leopard and lion breeding farms. So again, this isn’t like a zoo because these animals still hunt for themselves but they have these separate areas for certain leopards and certain lions because they were brought up around humans so therefore they have lost their “fear” of humans and can’t hunt for themselves (at least that’s what I was told). So we got to see two leopards and then a family of lions. We found the male lion first…Simba!! Oh, I was SO excited…it made me think of my Charlie J Then we finally found the mama lion and two of her cubs. These cubs had to of been like two months old, they were so tiny!
On the way back to the lodge we came across so many groups of giraffes! I was in heaven! We also found some more impala and waterbuck and zebra…geez, the more I think about it the more I realize just how lucky I was that I got to see all of these amazing animals!!
We left Tshukudu Lodge around noon…we were incredibly sad to leave. We absolutely did not want to leave to go back to Jo’Burg. But here I am, typing this out to all of you…at least I’m reliving it just thinking about it!

I sure wish all of you could have been there with me. I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m sure I’ll never get the opportunity to do it again…I just think about how blessed I am to have this opportunity! I’m going to try and find a way to put ALL of my pictures up on a website and then I’ll post a link. Are you ready for this?! I took 800 pictures!! Oh and I also took almost 50 videos!

Okay, this was super long and I apologize. But I swear it could’ve been like ten times as long and STILL not have done this trip justice! I hope all of you are doing well! Love you and miss you!!!

Well...keep your fingers crossed! I'm supposed to be leaving for that safari on Thursday morning, but there have been some mix ups. Oh geez, I sure hope it works out! Everyone be thinking happy thoughts!!!

On to happier things...I had a great day at clinical today. I had a really sweet patient who is just the definition of a South African struggling to get out of the crime that has plagued Johannesburg. We had some good chats and prayed with the other sister (his nurse). Working on an ICU you just don't usually get that interaction with the patient that I so desperately need! I'll always talk to my patient and tell them what I'm doing and ask how they're feeling. But when they can respond, it just feels so much better. So he was taken off the ventilator this past weekend and he's about to move to floor status, but I was glad I got to be with him today. I think we both needed each other today :)

So...if I don't post for awhile that means I'm on my safari! If I post again soon, you'll know I'm super bummed and that I'll be hoping for the best!!! Miss you and love you all!!!!!

Sunday Evening...

Well, it's Sunday evening and we had QUITE the day. It started off pretty early, we left around 9am for the Apartheid Museum and an amusement park called Gold Reef City (yes, I know...we went all the way to Africa to go to an amusement park...it's crazy)!!

The apartheid museum was unbelievable. They had a Nelson Mandela Exhibit, I could've spent hours in there. I don't even know how to describe it. I had goosebumps nearly the entire time! I journaled a bit how my favorite part had to do with sports and I guess that's just in my nature. Anywho, Mandela was elected president in 1994 and then South Africa won the rugby world cup in 1995. Before the game, Mandela arrived at the podium (for opening ceremony, whatever) wearing the jersey of the WHITE captain on the team. (This was all on a video that I watched.) The crowd, that was 95% white, was silent and then you heard the chant start..."Nel-son! Nel-son! Nel-son!" Oh geez, just amazing. I truly could've spent the whole day there. Then we went to a silly amusement park, haha who goes to Africa to go to an amusement park?! Oh well, we had fun...and I got some sun, finally!! Alison and I were real excited because a girl from the Wits Nursing Program came with us! Her name is Kerry and she was super sweet and a real help at the Apartheid Museum because she would tell us about different people and different events. Here are a couple of pictures I took....

This was just on a plaque randomly in the useum, and it's everywhere you go honestly...

This was the "sports event" I was talking about. I believe that sports can bring people together in ways that people can't quite understand...and this event truly speaks to that. Ahh, goosebumps again!

Oh you know, just another photo opp :) This was on our way out of the museum...I wanted you to see how incredibly large these words were on this wall!!! And they're great words in fact!

Well this is quite the disgusting picture of me. But we're on a ferris wheel and we had a GREAT view of Johannesburg...which is what the picture is of below!!

So yes, our first full weekend in Johannesburg was a great one. However, next weekend is going to be the best of them all because we'll be on our four day/three night safari in Kruger National Park!! Alison and I are SO super excited and can't wait to see all sorts of wildlife! We're driving the "panoramic route" which is supposed to be gorgeous. Here is the link for the website of the company that we're going through...

http://www.krugerparksafaris.za.net/wild.html

No worries, I'll take lots of great pictures and share them with everyone :)

We're back to work this week Monday, Tuesday Wednesday...and then off on our safari!! I'll keep everyone posted!!!

Gorgeous Saturday Afternoon :)

Well, today Alison and I woke up early and headed to the Market Theatre area which had a flea market so we got to do a little bit of shopping :) I did a lot of bargain talking and got a lot of great deals!! We also went to Museum Africa which covered everything from the beginning of Africa to the build up of Johannbesburg and then it had a visiting Croatian Drawing Gallery which was amazing! Honestly, it was just nice getting out and seeing a little bit of Jo'burg. We took a "safe taxi" and our driver's name is Preston...we've already arranged for him to take us to a place called Gold Reef City and then to the Apartheid Museum tomorrow.

Last night Alison and I begun our search for the safari trip to Kruger National Park. We're hoping for a four day/three night tour and we have to make sure we get picked up here in Jo'burg. A lot of students have been renting cars and just driving the park themselves, but we're far too scared to do that! Hopefully by this evening we'll have something arranged...

Here are a few photos...we'll see how many it'll let me post!

This is a photo of Johannesburg Hospital (from behind) where I am doing my clinical at in the Trauma ICU. This place is HUGE and there are always people everywhere!! But most of the other international students here for med school are at Baragwanath Hospital which is the largest hospital in the world....

Here we are standing on sort of the courtyard area of the medical school and straight ahead is are the residence halls on our campus, we're in the one on the far left called Reith Hall.

This is at the Museum Africa...it had an exhibit on the apartheid time here and I thought this little puzzle piece was interesting. It made me really excited for the Apartheid Museum tomorrow....

Anyways, I'll post again soon....I heard the Chiefs hired Todd Haley, yay!! I sure can't wait for next season :) Haha, I travel across the Atlantic and still all I can think about is Chiefs football!!

Hello!

Well I'm typing his fast because my computer is going to die and I have no way of charging it :( And we can't figure out how to hook Alison's computer to the internet!! Geez, for those of you going to Las Pintas or who have been before...I have used an abundant amount of flex powder!! It's quite hard to not get frustrated, because all I want to do is communicate back home!!

We had another good day at the hospital :) We talked with the manager and coordinator of the ward about the ways in which they do things here and then the ways we would do them back in the states. I can assure you things are quite different here, but overall they're the same...just trying to give the best patient care possible while being their number one advocate!

I can't seem to post pictures right now...which also sucks. I guess worst case scenario I can post pictures when I get back :)

I better get off this thing before it dies!!! Talk to you soon hopefully....

This morning...

Good news!!! We’ve found a way to get internet on the third floor of our residence hall!!! YAY!!! This guy name Peter from Sweden is an absolute saint and he helped up figure it all out. So hopefully I’ll be able to post more often and such 

Let’s see, yesterday was quite a bust for Alison and I. We were going to plan our trips to Kruger and Cape Town, but weren’t able to because we didn’t have the silly internet. (But now that we do I think we’ll plan those after we get done with work.) We went ahead and decided to go over the main campus via the bus that takes students. There is a planetarium over there and a museum called Human Origins. The planetarium was closed so we were bummed about that, but we did get to go to the museum. It was SUPER interesting. It’s basically a museum saying that humankind originated in Africa. I sent some links to my dad in hopes that he could use if for his class, but then realized the whole teaching evolution thing probably wasn’t going to go over to well!!

After I typed this I managed to nearly cut my charger cord in half for my computer! Geez, the computer God doesn't like me too much :( Oh well, I'll figure out something...hope all is going well!!

Miss you all!!!!

Kinda behind....

This is from yesterday morning......

Hey everyone!!
I’m pre-writing this silly thing again in hopes of sending it out sometime today. It’s early morning right now and I’m sitting in my room with the window open to the fresh smells of Johannesburg. It rains here quite frequently in the afternoons so the smell of fresh rain is going to be something that I associate with South Africa for sometime to come.

I am having just the greatest time I could have possibly imagined! Last night we went out with a lot of the international elective students (whom are all medical students, I think Alison and I are the only international nursing students here). I haven’t laughed so long nor so hard in forever! I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the guys better. We met some new people as well though. Rebecca is from the U.K. and Peter is from Sweden, and they both actually work at Jo’Burg General which is where I’m doing my clinicals at right now. Everyone else is at a hospital called the Baragawanath (I may have mentioned this in an earlier post), which is the largest hospital in the entire world, but it’s also a mad house! We met two guys from Australia, Isaac and Abe, who are at the Bara as well.

Guess what I found out!! I have another American football fan here with me, Jacob, and I’m so disappointed because he said he would’ve found some way to watch the Superbowl had be known I would’ve watched it with him! It was quite hilarious Jacob, whom is originally from India but now lives in London, was attempting to explain the game of American football to Peter who just had this incredibly confused look on his face the entire time! Jacob did quite well though, but he also lived in Cleveland for three years so he’s been to some games and wasn’t completely clueless 

Let’s see, yesterday we had tea with the Wits University Department of Nursing and it was SO wonderful. There were about eight faculty that joined us and four students. The questions just rolled, but Alison and I were thrilled to answer all of them. The students were especially curious about the states. Oh and I have I mentioned that EVERYONE asks us about Obama!! When we went to the ICU the first day, we were introduced as, “This is Cara and Alison, they are from the U.S….they’re Obama girls.” I love it though  It’s nice to know that people are just as excited as we are about Obama. So back to tea haha, the students invited us to a gathering of some sort on the main campus on Friday night so I think we’re going to do that. I’m so excited to get to hang out with some people that are actually FROM South Africa, and nursing students none the less!!!

Well, we’re about to head to breakfast over at a place called Mike’s Kitchen with the group! Then Alison and I are going to plan our trips to Kruger National Park for a safari and then to Cape Town as well!! We’re super excited for those two! I’ve already been having the time of my life so I can’t imagine how amazing it’s going to be when I’m on a safari and then when I’m on the southern most point of Africa!!!

I’ll post again…hopefully soon!!!!

Above is a picture of the entrance to our residence hall, I'm hangin out my window a bit :)

Well, still no internet access for this poor traveler L I’m in a woman named Maude’s office who works for the Department of Nursing at Wits University (the school that is accommodating us and treating us so well)! So this is another pre-written blog! We’re hoping for internet access very soon…so cross your fingers!!!!

I started on the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at Johannesburg General and I had SUCH a great experience the first day. My favorite part was the very beginning…the nurses (or sisters, as they are called here in South Africa) sing and pray every morning. They have the most beautiful voices and they dance around and clap, oh it’s just wonderful and so uplifting J The patients we get up there are incredibly sick & injured. The crime of Johannesburg truly shows I this ICU. Motor vehicle accidents (which also include pedestrian vehicle accidents, as my patient was the first day) and gun shot wounds are all we really see up there. I’ll spare most of the details since I know not all of you are reading this with a nursing mind like I have as I type this out! For those that are interested, I’ll tell lots of stories when I get back I promise!!! I already have a TON to tell and I’ve only worked two days!

Alison and I started planning our days in Johannesburg and are going to make reservations hopefully on Thursday for a trip to Kruger National Park for a safari and then a trip to Cape Town at the end of the month! Every person we’ve talked to says we HAVE to go to Cape Town before we leave. This weekend though we are going to Gold Reef City and the Apartheid Museum on Saturday. Then on Sunday we’ll be going to Museum Africa and Market Theatre which we’ve heard have amazing African art exhibits and then some great African music! So we’re excited to spend our first weekend in Johannesburg!

We’ve met a couple of other international students, all of which are studying medicine. Jason is from Australia and he has been such a help in getting us adjusted to Jo’Burg. We learned quickly that we couldn’t function here without a phone so we went and bought a “pay as you go” phone. There is also another Aussie name Catherine who is so nice, she actually asked us to join her for dinner the night we arrived which we were so grateful for because we were starving by then! Craig and Johnny are from the U.K. and are just hilarious. They’re like an old married couple honestly! Then there is Jacob who is from London who is just so sweet as well. The other guys make fun of him because he takes the security thing in Jo’Burg very seriously…but that’s a good thing we have learned!!! The bummer part is that those guys leave at the end of this week, so hopefully we’ll get to know some new international students as they arrive.

Tomorrow we are having tea with some faculty and students from Wits Nursing. I have a feeling that they are super excited that we are here, they have been SO good to us and I only want to learn as much as I can from them!

I hope I can get on here and blog again soon! I’m loving my time here so far, and especially loving the weather! There’s an occasional afternoon thunderstorm which I don’t mind so much J I’ll talk to you guys again here soon…miss you all!!!!!!

Below is a picture of Johannesburg from our campus...a little overcast :)

I'm HERE!!!!

Wow!!! So sorry it took so long to post but we haven't been able to get the internet!!! Here is something I typed up last night...

Wow!!! I’m writing this little blog entry ahead of time because it turns out I don’t have internet access where I am staying :( So here is my recap of the beginning of the trip to right now…this could be a bit long, sorry!!

I woke up at 4am to catch my 7am flight to Atlanta. We picked up Alison and I was just all full of excitement. We got to Atlanta and wandered all around that massive airport since we had a nearly six hour layover. I got real excited and child like when I heard my first South African accent. Granted it was in Atlanta at a ticket counter, but I was satisfied for the time being!

The flight from Atlanta to Dakar was about 9 hours long and I filled it with two movies, a number of rounds of “in flight trivia,” and then I did an itty bitty amount of homework. We talked to a guy name Lowe who is from Dodge City and was visiting Jo’Burg because he had lived there back in the seventies for two years. He was super nice and gave us lots of advice and informed us we had to go to Cape Town.

We landed in Dakar and by this time it was midnight back home which made it 6am in Dakar. I had been up for twenty hours and I was getting sleepy and sick of being on a plane. The problem in Dakar is that we weren’t allowed to get off the plane, so we sat there and waited as new crews came on and maintenance checked the plane and refueled. I took two Dramamine and hoped that would knock me out for the flight but I because suddenly overcome with this pressure in my sinuses. It was weird, I can’t explain it…but it hurt, really bad. So I took two Tylenol PM and thankfully I was able to get some sleep and not concentrate on the pressure build up. The flight was filled with tosses and turns because I sure couldn’t get comfortable in that tiny economy seat. Let’s just say I’m super glad I don’t have to make that trip for another five weeks!

We were greeted by a guy named Michael who had our names on a sign  One quick thing about the airport, there was a HUGE crowd there so I asked Michael what was going on. Apparently, South Africa’s cricket team had just had a big win in Australia and came back and was greeted by a ton of fans! That warmed my little sports-loving heart! Oh and here’s a great one, when we went to get into the car I tried to get into the passenger seat until I realized it was the driver’s seat!!! Michael just laughed at me and asked me if I wanted to drive, but I declined! The drive to our residence hall was quick and we checked in without a glitch!

We were hungry and had no idea what to do for food though. Luckily we ran into a girl named Catherine who is from Australia and is doing a 6-week elective for medical school. We went to this AWESOME restaurant called Mike’s Kitchen, and it was super cheap so I think we’ll be frequenting that place quite often. We got home and showered and went to bed and then….

We were awoken at 5:30 in the morning!!! Apparently we live in an all girls freshman dorm and this is the weekend they moved in (they just got off summer break). They were running down the halls banging on doors to get people up. Obviously they missed the memo that the second floor is for international elective students!! This early and VERY loud wake up call did however cause us to meet a guy named Jason, whom is also from Australia and in medical school. There wasn’t much time for chit-chat though as we were all ready to go back to bed.

At about 9am then we decided to catch a bus to a place called Rosebank that we were told had a supermarket-like place and also internet cafes. Well, we ended up taking the wrong bus not once but twice so we decided to go lay down and try it again in the afternoon. This turned out to be a good idea because Alison wasn’t feeling well. So around 2pm we hopped on the bus (Alison was feeling much better), and headed to Rosebank. However, since it was a Sunday most all of the shops closed at three and therefore the last bus came at three. So we grabbed some snacks and stuff to do laundry, but didn’t have time for the Internet Café  When we got back we walked around the campus and crossed the street to the next campus (the business campus, we’re on the education campus) to go and eat at Mike’s because we still hadn’t eaten. Well, we busted again because Mike’s closed at 5pm and we walked up to the door at about 4:57pm.

We walked back to Reith Hall (our residence) and saw Jason sitting outside with a few other guys. We sat around and talked for about an hour and learned quite a bit! Jacob, who is a medical student, is from the U.K. and is working at Jo’Burg General which is where Alison and I will be starting tomorrow so he had a lot of good advice for us...including how to get there! Then there was Craig and John whom already knew each other and are from the U.K. as well. Those two and Jason are “at the Burrow.” I have no idea how to spell the name of the hospital but I can assure you I’m thrilled that I won’t be working there. I won’t even begin to tell you the stories they told us about this place. Let’s just say that in the two years I’ve been in nursing school I’ve never heard such horrific things happen. I’ll go into detail for those curious minds, but my jaw was on the floor for pretty much every story they had to tell. Jacob seemed to enjoy Jo’Burg General so I know I’ll still be getting a lot of good experience.

Well, the boys left for a movie and we kindly declined their offer to join them because we wanted to greet the three med students that were coming from KU. They were pretty exhausted when they got here, so they pretty much took a shower and went to bed. I don’t blame them, they have a full day ahead of them tomorrow while Alison and I had a day to adjust when we got here.

Okay, I think that’s it for now. I really really really hope that I can get this posted tomorrow (Monday 2/2), but we’ll see. Oh and I’m going to bed tonight very upset because I’m missing the freaking superbowl!!! Okay, sorry this was so long. Hopefully I’ll find a way to get to the internet more frequently. I miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!


TODAY....
This morning we did a little "orientation" to the hospital and the nursing department. They have just treated us like royalty today, you can tell that the nursing department has been really excited to have us come. Alison and I both will be in an ICU and will get an opportunity to do a shift or two in Trauma/ER and then also in a community setting (yay!!) so I am beyond thrilled!!!

I will try and get on again here soon...we'll see :) LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU!!!!

...8 hours from departure...

Well, I think it's begun to hit me! I've tried to hang out with family & friends the past few days and I can't tell you how much it means to me that I've gotten to see SO many of the people I love :) Thank you all SO much for supporting me in this adventure, I know it's going to be great for me and I can't wait to share it with you.

It is 11:10pm and I'm leaving in just under eight hours!!! My mom is taking me to the airport and we're picking up Alison (the amazing & incredible girl that I am sharing this journey with) at 4:45am!! I suppose I better get to bed here soon...it's a good thing I'm pretty well packed!!

We get into Atlanta around 10am and then we don't leave until 3pm for Johannesburg, so I'm sure I'll update a little on here on how the first (and shorter) leg of the flight went :)

Ahh, off to bed!!! However I highly doubt I'll be able to get much sleep!!

Hello Wheatridge!!!

So this entry is for my dad's eighth grade science students at Wheatridge Middle School in the Gardner-Edgerton school district...

Hello all you young and eager to learn students!!! I hope my dad hasn't given you too much homework already since coming back to school from winter break. I want to let you know that I am going to try and answer ALL of your questions you send my way, and we're really hoping that while I'm in South Africa we can set up a video chat with your class through a website called Skype. I look forward to hearing from all of you...so start thinking of those questions!!!

Love you dad!!!

Stress Overload!!!

Well, this weekend I went to Denver, Colorado (for those of you that don't know, I'm planning to move out there after graduation). A group of us gals looked at different hospitals and began to realize that nursing school is coming to an end soon and that we'll be in the real world soon. I began to feel overwhelmed with the thoughts of graduating, passing boards, finding a job, moving to another state, etc...

So I have been a little stressed after getting home and realizing all the things that need to be done. I had a talk with my mom & dad and realized that I just need to have faith that everything will work out. I have this amazing opportunity that is just TEN DAYS away!!! I hope to get a lot done in these next ten days so that I can truly be 100% present while I'm in South Africa. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I absolutely refuse to let the craziness of my life get in the way it :)

I decided to start packing tonight, and my room is a disaster. But I don't care, because I know starting a little early is going to be what saves me come next Thursday night (the night before I leave)!!!!

Here's a picture of my room...and you can't even see all the stuff on my bed!!!

Anyways, I'll keep everyone updated on my stress level over the next few days. My goal is to have a lot of my course work done before I leave so I'm thinking a day or two in the library will do me some good!!!

Three Weeks Away!!!

It's getting closer!! I think it's starting to become a bit more real...

I bought a little "South Africa for Travelers" book yesterday at Half Price Books, and I'm realizing there is SO much that I want to do!! Here are a couple of pictures of the places I would like to see...

Kimberley's Big Hole
The city of Kimberley is located southwest of Johannesburg and is home to the largest man-made excavation, the Big Hole. It was dug between 1871 and 1914 in an effort to discover diamonds.

Golden Gate Highlands National Park
The eastern part of Free State is filled with sandstone cliffs, streams, and green hills. Although there isn't as much wildlife, the landscape is what visitors truly come to see.

These are just two sites that I hope to see. I've already discovered that there's more that I want to see than I at first thought! Hopefully I'll get to cover at least half of them!!!

Happy 2009!!!

Well, I'm leaving in just 26 days!!! I'm finally beginning to think about all the things I need to go before I leave. It's actually beginning to feel a little bit real. Let's just say I'll be glad to get out of this cold Kansas City weather...

I had a wonderful Christmas and even got a couple of things for my trip. I got a new camera that'll be super handy because it'll tuck in whatever pocket I have!! (For those of you that don't know, I have my "big camera" that the photographer in me LOVES, but I'm not set on whether I'm taking it with me quite yet!) I got everything from sheets to towels, and a super cute pouch too that keeps my passport...oh and some $$$$

I've already begun to compile a list of people I need to thank for all of their support. I'm getting incredibly excited, and I can't wait to share my stories with you!!!