Week 1 – Culture shock! ( 6-02-12)

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” St Augustine

As I am sure many of my friends will tell you, when it comes to travelling, nothing ever goes to plan for me. Leaving for South Africa was no exception. The torrential rain and gale force winds of Dublin on Sunday afternoon made leaving home, Stranmillis and friends behind significantly easier despite my initial discomfort of the unknown, reminding ourselves that in less than 24 hours we would be basking in 30 degree heat in SOUTH AFRICA! (Or so we thought.) The journey that began so smoothly, with no tears from any mothers, no lost passports and no missed flights (despite a final call for our flight from Dublin) soon came to a standstill. A simple fog in Abu Dhabi led to a closed airport, a random detour through Doha, Quatar, flight cancellations and delays, a grand total of 10hours of waiting in airports, two nights in 2 different hotels and arriving in Port Elizabeth two full days later than planned. Despite all of this, we managed to befriend three young South Africans who were also trying to get to Johannesburg and so the introductions and ridiculing each other’s terms and phrases began, a theme that soon became very common throughout the next week.

The tiredness and boredom of travel soon wore off as we flew into Port Elizabeth on Wednesday morning. Taking in the views of the stunning coastline of Port Elizabeth as we landed confirmed to us that we had, in fact, finally arrived. You can imagine the disappointment as we stepped off the plane to heavy clouds, light rain and a strong breeze, which we soon found out is very much a part of the ‘windy city’ of Port Elizabeth, as we were told several times on our first day by locals. However, we were quickly whisked away to Annie’s Cove, and we soon settled into our new homes and began to meet a few of our many neighbours.

After a day of unpacking, catching up on sleep and brief introductions to countless people, the time had come to go to the university to find out what exactly we were supposed to be doing and where we should be. Something that has quickly come to our attention is how much more laid back the people of South Africa are compared to Northern Ireland. It seems that it is a completely different pace of life here. ‘South Africa Time’ is a concept that we will need to become used to. A task that should take half an hour at home literally takes a full morning to complete, and no one seems to rush or panic about anything. This is an aspect of life I feel that I could definitely get used to, as running late is something I don’t find difficult and it is a very refreshing change to the up-tight, rushed lifestyle we have become accustomed to in Northern Ireland.

We spent our first weekend at an orientation weekend at an adventure centre with 90 international students from all across the world. We spent the weekend zip-lining down a natural waterfall, hiking the hills, being taught African drumming, eating local food along with many team building activities. A personal highlight was being caught in an African rainstorm during a hike and with it being warm, just continuing our walk, completely soaked to the skin. There was something very natural about walking the hike with the incredible views in the pouring rain and this relaxed attitude is very different to the culture we have at home as people generally do all they can avoid the rain at home. It was a very surreal weekend as I found myself befriending people that I would probably never have come across or talked to if I had not been in South Africa. I was blown away by the different lifestyles of people that I came across this weekend; I met people who had been thrown out of their homes at 16, involved in things I didn’t even think existed, came from violent homes and have been through more than I could have imagined. In one weekend I have become hugely aware of how sheltered a life I have experienced, and how much the lives of young people from different countries differ. Surprisingly, we have found that we have met more people from many other countries than we have South African people, and already we have been learning so much about their living styles, culture, language and education systems. We have met students from Sweden, Germany, Norway, Finland and quite a few from the United States and it has struck me how alike we are in ways, and yet how we differ in others. Already I’ve found my own personal stereotypes of people from certain countries being broken down and I have been surprised countless times by the people I have met so far.

During the weekend we were taught a lot about South African culture and history, making it a lot easier to understand the tensions and conflict between black and white people.  At times I could see similarities between this and the situation in Northern Ireland between protestants and catholics in the past but on a different par. We were also taught of people being classed black, white or coloured and how they decided which group people belonged to. We were made aware of the difficulties the people of South Africa faced and why the University of NMMU feels that internationalisation is so important to the young local students and the importance of us mixing with the local students. It’s difficult to believe that some of the students we meet here in the next four months will never leave this country, and so it is so important that we get to know them and give them a chance to experience internationality at some small extent.  I feel like understanding this will be vital in successfully teaching in schools here, helping to relate to both students and teachers.

Another culture change for me was the work students put in to ensure they get into university. At home, university is something that almost everyone does now quite easily just for the sake of doing it. Here in South Africa, students work so hard to have a chance to get into university, it is a great privilege for them and their education means so much to them. This is also refreshing to see as so many students from home, including myself, are sometimes so apathetic to their work for University.

It’s hard to believe that our first week here is over already, and it’s becoming clear to us how quickly the next four months are going to go and the need to make the most of every opportunity here. It is obvious that the next four months should be very eye opening and will transform my views on many different aspects of life. We look forward to a week of tours and orientation this week and a weekend of getting to know the area. Until next time…

Lynsey