Saturday Means Field Trip Day

Hellooooo! On Saturday we went to a little place called Birds of Prey that took in injured birds from the wild and nursed them back to health. 

Some of them were sweet... 

Some of them were fierce...

And some of them were just super creepy and balding...

(Rachelle, there were birds all over- this would be your personal hell.)

Where this place was located had one of the prettiest views I've ever seen. The background looked like a fake backdrop.

Which means photo op.

This is still blogworthy despite my awkward body movement.

My personal favorite from the day...

Next on the list of places to go was the train station that started Gandhi's political career / mission / life.

This station was beautiful and super cool.

It also had the prettiest rusted gate I have ever laid my eyes upon. (I know that's weird)

Super pretty right?!

Sorry I'm a lameo and I'm not including pictures from a very important historical site.  I'll try not to do it again.

Moving on to the next stop, we went to a place called Worldview.  

I'd like to call it Pietermartizburg's version of Mulholland Drive without the curvy drive.

Again, the view from this place was unreal.

ROOMIEZ! Our chalet is named John Wilson. And so is he!

This is what happens if you jump off that little rock wall and go exploring..

You find a sicky bench in the woods.  Poor Destiny's eyes are closed :(

And then you run back acting like an airplane :)

And end up in a beautiful field of course.

And there you have it folks.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE WONDERFUL SHELLI MARR FOR LETTING ME STEAL ALL HER PICTURES AND FOR BEING AWESOME. All photo cred goes to her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!!

Today it is my beautiful mother's birthday.
Everyone who knows her better send her happy thoughts wishes today :)

Love you mom :))))

Water Fottle.

A few days ago the sun came out to play.

Obviously we jumped on the chance to frolic in the water.

And obviously there is going to be a great story to go with it.

The Tale Of The Water Fall:

Pre-anything, about to walk over to the swimming hole!

After swimming around in the water hole. Check out that super clear water. Actually the picture does not do it justice, just imagine a mud puddle and it's basically the same idea.

So after the swimming hole we decided to walk over to that beautiful water fall behind our chalets to play in it and possibly climb up it. This next picture is crucial. First take note of my hot friends, then take note of the people climbing the slippery rocks behind us.

And this is what happened at my first attempt at climbing. Uhh... oops? 

But no worries, there was soft layer of rocks at the bottom apparently because I felt nothing. And then I braved the slippery rocks and conquered the water fall with much help from the homies. Thanks guys. All in all that was a happy, laughter-filled, and blog-worthy afternoon.

(Also, a special thanks to all those whom I stole these pictures from.)

Enchanted Forest

The past few days have been filled with hiking through the neighboring animal reserve, taking trips to the mall, and starting classes (ew).

So about this game reserve, it is apparently the home to lots of zebras and other neat animals.

But I have yet to see any :( 

Except for Bambi and fam:

*Shoutout to Rachelle- my little Bambi on ice.

But don't worry, we found other cool things. Like a field...

And the Bridge to Tarabithia...

And pretty flowers...

Rain > Sun:

These past few days the weather has been SOOOO great.  It's been kind of overcast and it'll stagger between mist and rain on and off all day.  It's not that hot or humid at all.  It's the perfect jungle weather and it also reminds me of this one particular scene from The Parent Trap.  You know, when they move in to the isolation cabin together and it is super rainy...

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Last night a small group of us went to the mall to see a movie because it's pretty darn cheap and it is super refreshing to get off campus.  (Also if you're wondering, an African mall is pretty much the exact same as an American mall.)  It was a British film telling the story of the Equal Pay Act for women and how it passed.  I would highly recommend it to anyone (especially you Molly Mac / Aims).

Click Click?

Classes have started and no one is in school mode but it'll be forced upon us soon.  Starting next week my bio class will go on safari every Thursday. Yay!  

And if you were wondering, people actually do talk in clicks in Zulu (the language that we all attempt to learn).  So if you want a good laugh then imagine being in a class setting and trying to pronounce words with clicks in the middle and be serious about it... Hope all is well in the states everyone :)

Joburg & Summer Camp

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED.
My mind is processing everything in slow motion and is kind of all over the place so I'll do my best to give a brief summary of the happenings so far.
Johannesburg: 
On Friday we spent the day traveling through Joburg and had a hilarious tour guide and a great day all together. 


First things first: gotta take a bus picture.  

 And theirs was just so happy I had to include it also!

 Nelson Mandela saying hello.  This was painted on a super sweet building.

 Yes, he's playing out of his nose.

 Driving through Soweto.

 Me and Reagen, one of the life coordinators on campus; we matched! (Ignore the awkward hands.)

 I'm not really a kids person but... LITTLE KIDS HERE ARE THE CUTEST.

 Uhhh...

 This might be the most disappointing picture I've ever taken.  If you ignore the fact that I'm in the bus and the boys head in front of me, behind all that lies the ticket booth and the stadium for the World Cup. If only I was here 8 months ago... It was SOOOO sweet and huge.

 Pietermartizburg:
After traveling around Johannesburg for a bit, we hopped on another plane to Durban where we had a beautiful drive to Pietermaritzburg.  This is where the campus is and where we'll be staying for the next ten weeks. It seriously feels so good to be in our own place finally.

Our backyard is a waterfall.

This is the main building with the dining hall, lounge, library, and classrooms.

 My chalet! I live in the bottom floor of this one to be exact.

My wonderful, hilarious, goofy, weirdo new roomie Shelli.  (It's really fun if you say Shelli in the chalet.)

The chalet again because it's just so cute. And it's in the jungle.

These next two pictures were what was waiting for us when we piled off the bus from the airport.  Probably the best hello and welcome I've ever received.

The campus is wonderful and so stinkin pretty.  These pictures DO NOT do it justice.  I wish I could telepathically send you the things I see.  I feel like it's a grown up summer camp in the best way possible.