Soccer, Classes, and Lions

On Wednesday night, a group of about 10 of us attended a soccer game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium where the 2010 World Cup was played. We watched the Kaizer Chiefs (the favorites) take on the Jomo Cosmos (the underdogs). It was by far the biggest soccer game that I have ever attended. And I have never seen fans so into their sport. It was a mass of yellow and black, and even though we were in a "neutral" territory, there were almost no Cosmos fans. Vuvuzelas are indeed a hit. They were everywhere. I even tried one and struggled because it is quite a bit harder than it looks. The stadium was gorgeous! It is open air, but since we are in Port Elizabeth, aka the "Windy City," they built it up to minimize the wind inside. It was quite a relief since it is so incredibly windy outside all of the time. Anyway, the game ended in a tie. It was quite the South African experience. I'm looking forward to attending more games in the future!

Thursday morning the morning of our first Marine Biology class. It will be my most favorite class by far of this semester! The other courses that I am taking include South Africa Literature, South African Music, and Intercultural Ethics taught by the professor from our school that came along on this program. This biology class is already incredible. We get to learn not only about marine animal and plant life, but also about the physical features of the land including sandy beaches and rocky shores. And we get to look forward to taking a boat trip to some of the islands at some point this semester. Our lectures are taught by students who are completing their PhDs and the one who lectured for this class was very enthusiastic and interesting to listen to. The rest of the classes are also pretty good, but I think Biology will be the class that steals my heart.

Today was fantastic! We went to the Sea View Lion Park. We started off by driving through the nature reserve and driving within feet of animals such as wildebeest. We then got out and we were able to walk around the cages of animals such as the big lions and tigers. It was really cool. We continued our drive past zebras and giraffes. We ended at the area where you have the opportunity to actually play and pet the lion cubs. It was an extremely awesome experience, especially because I will probably never have the opportunity again! It was an overall incredible experience and it is still hard to believe that we are still at the beginning of our trip. We have done so many things and it still seems surreal that I will be spending the next few months here. It first couple of weeks have already flown by! I hope time slows a little bit so that I have the ability to accomplish as much as I can.