Europe

On Monday December 12^th I left for my Europe trip. I bought a train pass and made good use of Europe's excellent train network, which I was very impressed by. First stop was Berlin, in eastern Germany. Berlin has a fascinating history, and it was interesting to hear of everything that went on there and see the remains of the Berlin wall. I did a free walking tour of the city, which was very informative. I also went to the Pergamon museum, which has some amazing big artifacts, including the Pergamon Altar.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

On Tuesday I took a night train to Cologne, in western Germany. Cologne has an incredible cathedral which started construction in 1248. It is incredibly gothic and was absolutely stunning to look at. I spent a long time walking around, and also went up one of the towers. Its incredible to think of the resources to build such a structure during that time, and it took over 600 years to complete. 

Cologne at night with the 'High Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Mary'

I also visited the 4711 Cologne house, home of the perfume by the same name of course. I also visited Aachen for an afternoon, which is very close to the Dutch Belgian border.

On Friday I left for Brussels, capital of Belgium. Brussels is a very nice city. I visited the Magritte museum, which is an art gallery, along with a museum on Automobiles and one on Comics. Brussels is famous for the birthplace of the cartoon character Tintin. And I visited the peeing boy statue, 'Mannekin Pis', a famous statue in the city.

Manneken Pis, Brussels

On Saturday afternoon I went to Antwerp, which is known for its diamond sector. (I didn't buy any)

That evening I went to Paris. Paris felt so much bigger then the other cities, I think primarly because of the grand design of the city. I spent more time than the other cities there, particularly because of all of the interesting sights too see. I first visited the Notre Dame du Paris, and did another free walking tour, which was again very informative. Paris has an incredible history. I also did a tour of Montmartre, and visited the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. That evening I visited the Eiffel tower, and went all the way to the top. Although it is perhaps somewhat over hyped, it really is a quite amazing structure.

some tower I found in Paris...forget what its called

The following day I went to the Louvre, which is one of the largest museums in the world with over 35,000 artifacts and works of art. I am not too much into visual arts, but the paintings and artifacts in that place were truly amazing. And there really was something special about looking at the Mona Lisa...

I also visited the Arc de Triomphe, which was commisioned by Napolean in the 1800's. The following day I visited the Palace at Versailles, which was the royal palace in the 16 and 1700's. It is also an incredibly beautiful place. That afternoon I went into the Catacombs, which are abaondoned stone mines running under Paris for several kilometers. Part of the tunnels were used as a burial place for human bones from Paris' overflowing cemeteries in the 18^th century. There are piles and piles of human bones and skulls piled along the sides of the caves, organized into different patterns. It was really creepy, but a unique place to see.

My final destination was Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a tiny country and with only 500 000 inhabitants, it is almost the smallest country in the European Union. But I think the city was the most beautiful city I visited in all of Europe. It is in very hilly countryside, and was a fort built on a large hill. Everything is very quaint and matches what I think of as stereotypical Europe. The country is so small that the walking tour I did sometimes gets to chat with the from the prime minister if he happens to be going for lunch when they're outside his office. No such luck this time though. I hung out with some fellow backpackers from Brazil and Germany in the evening, and spent my last day there seeing the beautiful city and surrounding countryside, before my long train ride back to Holland.

Luxembourg City

Backpacking is definitely not a relaxing experience. At this point along my whole trip, I am definitely looking forward to being back to a normal, routine life. But it is an experience that is worth it and that I will remember for a long time. The adventure and the sights, along with the people I met along the way. The small piece of Europe that I saw was amazing and interesting and definitely worth while.

Holland

I am spending December in Holland and Europe with my Dutch family. I have not been for something like 7 or 8 years, so it has been quite nice to spend some time with my family. I really like the country, and have spent some time biking on their excellent biking paths. I spent a day and half biking to my aunt's. The weather has been less than ideal, especially compared to Africa. But that is to be expected for a European winter I think.

Biking in Holland

I did a tour of Rotterdam with Eric, a family friend. The port is amazingly huge. We also went to see the dams in zeeland, used to hold back the sea from areas of land that have been created. The north sea was incredibly windy. I also went up to the Northwest of Holland, where there is an island on the sea, and to a castle called Muiderslot near Amsterdam.

Muiderslot

The that night I stayed in Amsterdam and did a tour the next day with some of my family and friends. Amsterdam is a very interesting city with many canal's and streets together and old buildings, making it very beautiful. 

Streets and Canals in Amsterdam

The end of Africa

I spent my last week in Africa in Zambia, at Victoria Falls. We took the bus overnight to get there. The exchange rate in Zambia is $1 for 5000 kwachas, so I felt rich walking out of the bureau de change with 1.5 million in my rather fat wallet. But it was rather annoying dealing with all these large numbers all of the time.
In my first evening I did a river cruise on the Zambezi above the falls. Isaw an elephant and some hippos having a bath, along with some crocodiles. But there were much more animals to come. The next day we went to Victoria Falls (traditionally known as 'the Smoke that Thunders'). Vic Falls is the biggest in the world, at a height of 108 meters its more than twice as tall the Niagara falls. Although neither the tallest nor the widest (1.7 km wide) in the world, the combination of the large width and height makes it the largest waterfall in the world.

Vic Falls - not much water here in the dry season (you can't see the whole falls from here)

It was the dry season so we were able to do a walking tour of the top of the falls where there was not as much water falling as usual. We also went swimming near the top of the falls, at a place called the Devil's pool. This is a natural pool of water formed at the edge of the fall, separated from the edge by a rock wall. Although this sounds rather scary, it was a very controlled situation, and an incredibly beautiful place to swim.

Devil's Pool (which has a wide stone wall between the edge of the falls)

The following day I did a small safari on jeep and boat of the Chobe National Park, known for having the highest concentration of elephants in the world.

There are over 50,000 elephants at Chobe

We also saw hippos, buffalo and a pride of lions. It was an incredible experience to be so close to so many huge and wild animals.

Pride of Lions

The following day I went for a day of white water rafting down the Zambezi river, starting from just below the falls going through 25 rapids. I'm not much of a water person so it was quite intense particularly when my raft flipped twice. But it was a lot of fun.

Rafting on the Zambezi

On Saturday I took a plane to Johannesburg. I was supposed to catch my flight from there to Amsterdam, but unfortunately this was not allowed because my flight was originally supposed to leave from Gaborone. So I spent Sunday in Johannesburg, where I did a tour of the Soweto township and went to the Apartheid museum.

The spot where Hector Pieterson was killed in the Soweto uprising during Apartheid times

Then I took a bus to Gaborone, and the following day took my flight from Gaborone back to Johannesburg and finally to Amsterdam. While I was back in Gaborone I found out that an interview I did about a month ago was finally published in The Voice, a national newspaper in Botswana. I was pleasantly surprised that I received almost a page in the newspaper. You can read the online version at http://www.thevoicebw.com/2011/11/25/culture-matters/. I think its the perfect finish to a great student exchange.

On the Zambezi

And that was all of Africa for this time. What an amazing place, and what an amazing experience there. So many great people and so many amazing things done and seen. I now look forward to being with family and a different continent of experiences...

The end of the exchange.

Schoolwork  has rapidly accelerated during the last month of my time in Botswana. What a strange way to spend the reminder of my time here. But I still had enough time to spend with my friends before I left, along with a few other interesting things I did including helping at a Chairty fundraiser for the charity group that I am a part of, finally swimming on the pool that everyone has seen from Google, and going to a Lecrae concert! I also got interviewed for the National newspaper for one of the regular columns about people. (see the end of this post for the article!) I also had the chance to see part of a Setswana wedding, which was very cool. They are generally all day events and the whole community shows up to show their support. It was nice to interact with a normal local community one final time.

Young Adults group I was apart of

Goodbye party with some of my friends

Examinations here are shorter, 2 hours, meaning that you are tested more on your ability to work quickly. Not always my forte in exams, but I got better at it. My last week consisted of a significant amount of studying mixed with packing because I had 2 exams on my last day, and then took the bus in the evening to Zambia. It was a strange feeling leaving the place. Although it was sad to be saying goodbye to a lot of my friends, I did not feel particularly said to be leaving in general...It was more just feeling that I had a nice adventure, it was good times with the people I met there, and now its time to move on to the next adventure. But perhaps once I am back in Canada I will begin to miss the people and the lifestyle more, once life finally settles back down to normal. I think that is one of the reasons why i feel this way, I have gotten used to being in a perpetual state of not normal, almost always experiencing change and travelling a lot. But thats all just theory. For now, I will continue to look forward to adventure, because although the exchange may be over, the trip sure isn’t...so stay tuned!

After my first needle ever! (in preparation for Zambia)

Mozambique

On October 10^th I went to Mozambique for a “weekend” trip. By weekend I mean we left on Wednesday afternoon. We were going to take a combi to Joburg, but we missed it, so we bought a bus ticket, but the bus was late, so we rented a combi along with some others and almost missed the bus form Joburg to Mozambique. There were some stressful moments as we arrived at the bus station, which were resolved by me running ahead of the group at full tilt through the bus terminal to stop the bus. Thankfully we made it, and took the bus overnight. Traveling by bus is different than plane in several ways. You get to see more of the countryside and interact with more of the local people on the bus, but you also have to cross more borders. It feels strange at first crossing 2 borders just for a weekend trip, compared to Canada where there aren't very many borders to cross. My visa collection is rapidly growing.

Streets of Maputo

We stayed in the capital city of Maputo, which is a (relatively) nice city. There are a lot of trees within the city, and it is situated right on the coast of the Indian ocean. The exchange rate is about $1 to 25 Metical, so I certainly felt rich, but also felt like things were expansive when being approached by the many VERY persistent street vendors. But because of the economy, the souvenirs and art were cheaper then other places so I did all (and then some...) of my souvenir shopping in Maputo. Because we were situated on the ocean, there is a popular (and of course smelly) fish market where you can buy fresh seafood and have someone cook it for you.

Fish Market

I was originally supposed to go up to Tofo with my friends but ended up having to stay in Maputo because I was leaving early due to school. After accidently riding a ferry to the wrong place, I spent the day touring the city, including a huge central market with hundreds of street vendors (at very tempting prices...too bad I was backpacking). There is also a lot of unique architecture that I got to see, including a train station, and a Steel House designed by Gustav Eiffel.

On my last day, I went out to Inhaca Island (pronounced inyaca), which is about 2 hours out at sea. I thouroughly enjoyed being out on the ocean, it was definitely the farthest I've travelled over the ocean. At the island, I spent some time on the beach and did some snorkeling, although the tide was out which made it more difficult and I did not see as much.

on Inhaca island, with the tide out

I returned to Gaborone late Sunday evening, one small adventure completed, and back to the familiar school environment. It always feels weird getting back to my residence, because it never really feels like home, just like some temporary place where I'm staying. I suppose because its true. My home away from home, until my next bloggable adventure...

Maputo from Catembe

Cape Town

Our semester week long break was from Sept. 26 – 30.

During the break I travelled to Cape Town, South Africa with a few friends. The travel time to get there by bus was 25 hours. Thankfully for most of the way (after our layover in Johannesburg) we were in a sleepliner (double decker), which was actually more comfortable than an economy airplane seat, so it was not so bad. The South African landscape is quite different than Botswana's, less dessert and more rolling hills with sparse shrubbery and such.

Cape Town is on the most southwestern point of Africa, and has a mountain in it called Table mountain. We hiked up the mountain, which took about 2 hours. It is called table mountain because it has a big flat top (upon which there is a restaurant and gift shop, along with a cable way, so not the most adventurous experience) We then took the cable car down the mountain.

top of Table Mountain, overlooking the Cape Peninsula and Atlantic ocean

I also abseiled partway down the mountain. The abseil was 112 meters, which is the tallest commercial abseil in the world. Abseiling is rappelling down a cliff where the person rappelling controls his own descent, and generally tries to bounce/jump out from the cliff. I can't say I jumped out from the cliff very far, because it was my first time and the whole experience was one of the most intense things I have ever done. Table mountain is over 1km high, and heights and climbing are definitely not my thing. Needless to say, while walking off of a cliff 1km in the air (actually while leaning back on a rope over the edge...) I was virtually scared out of my mind. But it was one of the coolest, exciting and best experiences ever!

Abseiling (yes, those are roads and houses way down there)

We also hiked “The Lion's Head”, a large rocky hill near table mountain.

on top of the "Lion's Head" (it did actually look like a lion's head from a distance)

We also did a tour of the peninsula, where we saw Southern Right Whales, South African Fur Seals, and African Penguins. We also did a bike ride for part of the trip through a kind of field wasteland area in the center of the Peninsula, and stopped at the most southwestern point of Africa.

South African Fur Seal Colony (unique because they're furry)

Cape of Good Hope, the most south western point of Africa

We toured the city and saw some museums, art gallery, the “Company Gardens” (previously owned by the Dutch East India Company), the Kirstenbosch gardens (one the greatest botanical gardens in the world), and did a wine tour at Groot Constatia. We also went on a tour of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years, which was a unique historical experience.

Kirstenbosch Gardens

For the trip home, we took the train back. This turned out to be quite the excursion, as the South African train system is in need of some repairs. Riding the train was interesting, at least we got to walk around and go to the dining car. But we spent a significant amount of time waiting for various delays (power outage, traffic lights not working...), so much so that the 26 hour train ride became a 40 hour train ride! After which we missed our bus back, had to stay overnight in Joburg and then take an additional 6 hour bus ride to Gaborone. I think I'm ready to not travel for at least a little bit...

Around Gabs

It has been way to long since I've updated my blog.

Since going to the delta, I've spent a few of my weekends around Gaborone, including going to the National Museum and Art Gallery, several different churches, a political party youth meeting, a circus, and the Gaborone Game Reserve.

There were a lot of nasty baboons at the Reserve, they stole food right of the Braai ('African' for barbeque). So we were always chasing them away, and I managed to hit one on the head when he had his paws in the braai.

I had an opportunity to go to the university vice chancellor inauguration, during which I saw the President of Botswana (who arrived late in a... fancy Land Rover, of course). One interesting difference in the culture here is when the ladies make a unique kind of cry (as in cheering) that involves wagging the tongue side to side in a very rapid fashion...difficult to describe, and difficult to keep a straight face when I first heard it as well.

I also went to a football (soccer) game with my friend Solomon, where we were representing the Mochudi Center Chiefs. They definitely love their soccer, as was demonstrated by sections of the fans dancing and singing songs (made up on the spot) at halftime. Just the fans themselves were entertaining, I'm not sure I followed the game too closely...but we won!

football game

I have also joined a club on campus, Tshwaraganang Charitable Society. Their primary goal is fundraising to build a house in December, however Sept. 17^th we went to Gabane Homebased Care, where we made a donation to the school there, did presentations for the kids and played with them. It was really cool to see how the children play, always with lots of song and dance in their group games.

volunteering at Gabane Home based Care

And in honour of two special friends, I really must close this blog post with the following image:

Purple trees on campus

This blog post covers about a month of time, during which I did the above on weekends, but of course spent the bulk of my time at school. But stay tuned for my next trip...