Monkeys and Tea Time

We arrived at Pietermaritzburg today; the city in which the school we are studying at is in, and here are some of the highlights:

Monkeys: The campus is basically in the middle of the jungle, well not really a full out jungle, but close enough. There are monkeys here like there are squirrels at a park in the U.S.. The locals hate the monkeys and we are slowly learning why. One of them pooped on my friend's pillow. The way we defend ourselves is with pepper spray and biodegradable paintballs that do not harm the monkeys. Regardless of their abnoxious behavior, they are very cute and I even saw a baby monkey!

Jogging: There is a 3 mile trail that we have commited to running or walking often throughout the semester. The best time to go is in the morning because that's when the buck and the zebras are roaming around. The trail also passes by a river that has a small waterfall leading into a watering hole. It's so cool because it like a naturally-made pool and it's on the campus!

Tea Time: Part of our schedule is a tea time in between breakfast and lunch and a tea time in between lunch and dinner. Regardless of what class you have at that time, everyone makes their way to the dinning room for tea and pastries.

Orientation: Among the plans they described to us are an overnight safari (notice I said overnight, as in we camp out where the animals are roaming wildly, animals including lions, rhinos, giraffes, and leopards), and an overnight stay at a Zulu tribe where we will sleep in huts and meet the chief. There's also a mall run almost every week. In what other country of the world can you go to the mall on Thursday and to see lions on Friday? lol

While most of the adventure is just plain awesome, there is a price to pay. I keep waking up in the middle of the night because I'm not tired at all since in the U.S. it's the middle of the day. It's still summer here and there is no AC so it's ridiculously hot. There are bugs everywhere. Our small houses/cabin things were living in are slightly crowded and not very modern. We have to cram a semester's(15 weeks) worth of academic work into 6 weeks so some days I have class and lectures literally all day long. T. I. A., I'm not going to let that ruin my trip.