Settlement

Wednesday 18 July 2007, 15.30 hours. That was the time we met at Schiphol: Leon, Joost, Frank, and me. We checked in and went to drink some coffee with the parents. Check in time came close and we had to say good buy… I left my mother and Vincent behind and went straight away to the new Starbucks at Schiphol with Leon. We drank a cappuccino with caramel flavour, which was extremely delicious. Our first flight to Frankfurt went very smoothly. The next flight to Johannesburg was extremely long. When we entered the airplane we found warm socks in our seats, toothpaste + brush, and an eye cap for sleeping. A very irritating lady set next to time. She wanted to stand up every ten minutes and she could not sit still for longer than 1 minute. It was very annoying, but I survived. We could watch 15 different DVD’s any time we wanted. Everybody had his/her own television screen. The food was not that bad. We had chicken with rise and at 05.00 o’clock in the morning we had a potato with scrambled eggs and bacon. The time went very fast and before we knew we arrived at Johannesburg. As soon as I could I phoned Pauline. She would join us in the flight to Port Elizabeth. She arrived two days earlier in Johannesburg and had a short safari with her dad. She had a wonderful time and we could enjoy some nice picturesJ. I want to go on safari too! It will happen.
I slept the whole flight to Elizabeth and when we arrived there, the EISS bus was there to pick us up. After a 1, 5 hour drive we finally arrived in Port Alfred at 14.00 o’clock! We were so tired and one of the lady’s there showed us our rooms. Our room is great! We are on the first floor. We heart that is good, because the ground flour is not as save. The Grand hotel, were we are staying, is secured through a steal door. You need the code if you want to enter. There are also security guards in front of the grand hotel, so it is very safe. The room was not that clean. Pauline and me had to cleaned everything first. It is a large room though. We have a nice sea few! It looks greatJ.
That day we discovered that there was a pool table in another room on the campus. We went there and played the game for the rest of the evening. Of course we were extremely tired and wanted to sleep. Some other went to the pub near the beach. In the middle of the night we heard screaming and laughing. It is very noisy in the rooms, so we could not even sleep a long time, because some people were woke up at 07.30 and of course they made a lot of noise… But what ever, we had a new day in front of us. We decided to discover our new city. Well, it is more a village. We bought some stuff in the supermarket and went back to grab our towels and walk to the beach! I was still full of the lunch, which was a nice hamburger with fries. The weather was great. There was nobody on the beach! So we had the whole beach. We stayed for a little while to get some colour. I made some nice pictures. We drank something at a terrace and went back to the campus to eat again. This time it was nice rice with chicken and pompon. We could not stand up and decided to play poker. I had never played the game before, but it is not that hard. We played it until 22.00 and after the game we went with the whole group to the pub. There were a lot of people. The drinks were very very cheap! So, some people drink a little bit too much. After some time we went home with a group. You can not walk home alone, that is to dangerous. Unfortunately we had to wake up early, because we wanted to go to Grahamstown. Leon is the only one above 21 years old, so he could rent a car. But the boy drank to much, so he did not wake up. Gladly he came and we rented a nice little blue car, the cheapest of course. Grahamstown was actually very boring. Nothing special and we went home after 2 some lunch.
Now I am back in Port Alfred, chilling. Tomorrow we will go to Addo Elephant Park. We still have the car until Monday morning. School starts Monday and our introduction lecture is at 09.00 o’clock! We met some other African students. They are great and everybody can get along quit well.

Even kort in het Nederlands voor onder ander mijn lieve buurvrouw in Leeuwarden! De reis is heel goed gegaan en geen vertragingen gelukkig. Onze campus zit er wel okay uit, niet echt luxe. Nu hebben we nog even geen internet, maar we hopen volgende week wel. Het dorp hier is niet echt boeiend. Als je iets nodig bent is het er wel gelukkig. Het strand is echt geweldig! En die zee, we hebben er uitzicht op vanuit onze kamer. Mooier kan bijna niet. De mensen hier zijn extreem aardig. En alles is zo goedkoop. Echt een valkuil. We waren uit geweest in een tent 100 meter van het strand. 1 baco voor ongeveer 1 euro. Echt geen geld. Vandaag hebben we voor het weekend een auto gehuurd en zijn naar Grahamstown gegaan. Wij vonden het niet veel bijzonders, dus we waren snel weer thuis. Morgen willen we naar Addo Elephant Park. Mij lijkt het echt heel leuk. We hebben nog niet echt wilde dieren gezien. Wel aapjes in de boom langs de weg en Pauline meende een struisvogel te hebben gezien. Verder vliegen hier maar rare vogels en heb gelukkig nog geen vieze beestjes in onze kamer gevonden.
Maandag start school en om 9uur hebben we onze eerste introductie college, spannend…