Welcome to Botswana!

Airport pick-ups

Monday, January 16 - The air was dry and hot when the first CIEE students finally touched down. One by one, they all briskly walked through the airport sliding door, luggage in hand to meet some of the people they would be spending the rest of the semester with – the CIEE volunteers who had been waiting for hours. Despite the fact that everybody was exhausted, the chatter of excitement filled the air as we all exchanged introductions and churned out questions about each other’s home villages/hometowns, colleges and  college majors as fast as we could. This lasted until the homestay students’ host families came to whisk them away and continue the conversations while the volunteers did the same with the dorm students on their way to the University of Botswana, affectionately known as UB.

Orientation week

Tuesday, January 17 – Friday, 20 January – As always, orientation week kicked off with mandatory introductions. During these, some of the exchange students and student volunteers shared familiar glances and warm, encouraging smiles to help beat the nerves of telling a room full of 20 plus people about themselves. This was followed by an array of workshops on the homestay and dorm experience, safety & security in Botswana, culture shock and adjustment, Survival Setswana and shopping tips. In between these workshops, the CIEE students got a chance to apply all the knowledge they got from these workshops as we went shopping at a local mall, went on two cultural activities and participated in the highly anticipated Gaborone Amazing Race and Welcome dinner!

Welcome Dinner

Friday, 20 January – Everybody loves good food and great company!  Needless to say, the welcome dinner was amazing. The dinner was hosted at Avani restaurant – a walking distance from UB. We all departed from the university at 1830HRS sharp in a shuttle in arrived at our destination in 3 minutes. Everybody was dressed to the nines and excited to have more delicious food. Once in the restaurant, we were met by a buffet of delicious food including stir-fry, flatbread, chicken curry and beef stew. We immediately dove into the starters and welcome drinks then later progressed to the main meal and dessert while getting to know our CIEE family better.  I can safely say no one left the restaurant disappointed.

Amazing Race

Saturday, 21 January – Everyone woke up bright and early, excited to explore the city and use public transport for the very first time. The CIEE exchange students were all put into groups of 3 or 4 with each group led by a student volunteer. We were given the race instructions sheet and at 9AM, we were given the green to begin the race. Off we went - giggling, laughing and most importantly RUNNING with the hopes of clinching the prize of an all-expenses paid dinner at the luxury Rodizio Brazilian Restaurant in Gaborone. Some of the tasks included visiting and learning a few things at the local museum, taking ‘creative’ pictures around Gaborone and successfully identifying important combi & taxi routes that will be frequently used by the students and interviewing locals about what they like most about Botswana. The teams were judged on both speed and creativity. A few weeks later, the winners were announced. Although we all squabbled over and jokingly argued that the other team(s) cheated their way through, we were all happy for the winning team. I’d like to echo everyone’s hearty congratulations to Green Team - Tessa, Kiernan, Adrian led by student volunteer Deji!

Homestay braai

Saturday, January 28 – This event was made to give dorm students a feel of homestay life. This was hosted at the Thari family’s house, where current exchange student Adrian lives. We had a braai, known as a BBQ. This was a potluck and everybody brought a dish, with pasta being the most popular choice. In the pasta department, we were definitely spoiled for choice! We mixed and matched different pastas with braai’d beef, grilled chicken and salads. We cooked and socialised with Adrian’s host family and our CIEE family. After everyone ate, Adrian was kind enough to take everyone on a tour of his neighbourhood and a lot of the students took the time to play soccer the kids in the neighbourhood. We later danced the night away with good music. In short, we ate and were merry!

 Published by Entle Mmipi