Week Two: Time for Classes!

It’s been a busy week for our students as they settled into classes and daily life in Iringa. Although bucket showers and Swahili haven’t become second-nature yet, everyone is starting to get the hang of things here. After a quiet weekend, the students started classes on Monday. Classes here work a little differently from some study abroad programs, since Tanzanian students operate on a very different class schedule from American universities. Their semester doesn’t start until late September, so our students are on a slightly different schedule from them!

The typical Monday looks like this:

8-8:55am: Pre-History, Myths and Legends of East Africa

9:30-10:25am: History of East Africa

10:30-11:25am: Kiswahili

12-12:55pm: Research Methodology

1-2pm: Lunch Break

2-2:55pm: Poverty Analysis for Socioeconomic Development

Our Tanzanian professors have been with the program for multiple years and are used to accommodating the different style of learning that American students are used to. Most Tanzanian university classes are heavily lecture-oriented, minimizing discussion and questions. That’s a little different from how most of our students are used to learning, so our professors integrate their style of teaching with a US-based method to ensure everyone’s success.

Although it’s a full day on Mondays, students get the afternoon off on Friday and have a guest lecture on Tuesday afternoon to break up their class schedule. With their afternoons off, most students use the time to catch up on homework, explore a new part of Iringa, or volunteer with one of the local non-profits in town. There’s plenty to do here during the week!

Weekends are an opportunity to go on excursions and relax a bit. This weekend, we’re headed to Isimila Stone Age site, which is a beautiful rock formation in the hills outside Iringa. Pictures to follow next week!