Are we there yet??

My name is Carrie and I go to NKU. I went to South Africa with my class and I created this blog so that the world could follow along! You can also follow my class's adventure at nku-abroad-sa2014.tumblr.com and hear more about my adventure at thenortherner.com!

[carrieinsa]

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Port Elizabeth is a beautiful city! Thank you Bradley for sharing it with us for the day!

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Animals in South Africa!

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I survived game parks and sandboarding.

MY DAY(S)

The last two days in South Africa were jam packed with a ton of crazy things.

Tuesday we made our long awaited trip to Addo Elephant Park and the Schotia Game Reserve, and it was freaking awesome, simple as that. I think I'm still on an animal high, even three days later.

We saw a ton of warthogs at Addo, and even though their name isn't very attractive, I found them very cute. While in Addo, we also saw lions, ostriches, elephants, of course, kudos, and zebras. 

We also stopped for a picnic lunch in Addo that Bradley packed for us. Turns out on top of his amazing brain capacity, he's also a great cook.

We then went to Schotia for a viewing of four of Africa's big five. This included rhinos, lions, elephants, and buffalos. 

While we were there they feed us an amazing dinner, and then we went on a night drive where we got to view a lioness enjoying her dinner, a cow. I don't think I've ever been so grossed out and amazed at the same time.

Wednesday we had our farewell lunch at NMMU and then left for a beach that not many go to. While we were there I was unwillingly submerged in the Indian Ocean, and got to try out sandboarding for the first time. Turns out I'm not that great unless I'm sitting.

PROGRESS OF OUR PROJECT

On Wednesday we hurriedly concluded our final interviews with a few people from the university. Now on to post-production. Yay?

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New friends and new experienced at the Red Location Backpackers in New Brighton Township.

[carrieinsa]

I survived an Afrikaans farm.

MY DAY(S) Friday we left for the farm owned by Winnie and Manis. They were very kind and welcoming and cooked delicious food. When we first got there we got to go down and feed elan corn out of our hands, and then walked around and saw some other animals eventually getting to the cows, which we had the opportunity to milk.

However things took a turn for the worst when the cow decided it needed to use the restroom and some of my classmates were in range. Luckily, no real damage was done. And yes, I did milk the cow, even after witnessing that.

I also got to do the greatest thing in the world and bottle feed some baby animals this weekend which included a horse, a lamb, and a kudo. They were all very adorable and hungry.

Saturday we went to Winnie and Manis’s friends farm which was absolutely gorgeous. While we were there we went on a drive through the bush to a mountain that we hiked up. By some miracle I was the first girl to the top, which meant I won a bottle of South African wine!

Sunday they took us to this river were we swam up to this waterfall that ran between two of the mountains. It was incredibly awesome, but it was incredibly cold. But I can say that I did it!

All in all, it was a crazy weekend and it was definitely enlightening in a way to see the differences of the culture and life of the city and then to see how things work on the Afrikaans farms.

PROGRESS OF OUR PROJECT A lot has changed with our project here recently, definitely for the better, but I think we finally have an endgame in mind that we all agree on.

We also have all of the footage we need for the most part, just a couple of interviews to go. I am kind of concerned about that however because we really don’t have much time left. If we don’t get the interviews everything should be fine, but it would definitely be nice to have.

The farm this weekend was definitely a nice and much needed break from the weekend though!

That’s it for today. Bye!

[carrieinsa]

I survived group work?

This post is going to take a much different format than my previous ones as my last couple of days perfectly merge with the progress of my project. So with that being said, the last couple of days have been slightly stressful as our project has made some pretty significant changes and everyone wasn't on the same page for a bit. But now everything seems to be going better better and we all seem to know what we are doing again. With that being said Tuesday we did some more organizing of our footage, and in the afternoon we went to meet with a rugby player who had lived in a township for a while, but now goes to school at NMMU and plays rugby professionally. Tuesday night we went to a screening of a film at NMMU that was pretty interesting. It was shot near Port Elizabeth and directed and produced by South African natives. We also sat down as a group and got things together on what we need to film the next couple of dayd to make sure we have all of the footage we need. That is pretty much all that has been going on since my last post. Today Jones and Lindsey are going to a soup kitchen to see how they do things, and Chloe and I are interviewing a professor named Sam. Internet will likely be touch and go or not at all until Monday so if I don't talk to you before then, I will see you on Monday. Have a good weekend!

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Market day!!!!!!!

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Sunday Funday! This next week is going to be extremely busy and jam-packed, so today, we had the day off. This meant I got to go for an AMAZING run along the ocean with fellow runners Carrie and Sam. The weather was perfect and the scenery kept almost making me trip as I jogged forward with my head turned to the beach. We followed that up with a lovely breakfast and a stroll down the boardwalk to the Sunday Market. Many wonderful trinkets and souvenirs were found. I had ice cream. Groups then split off to do various activities, but I went with Derek to go see Godzilla. Since I have little nice to say about the film, I’ll just leave it at that. Enjoy the pics of this gorgeous day.

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Sunday, part one

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A photo from our free day on the beach

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I survived bartering.

MY DAY (S) Sunday morning I got up and went for a run along the beach and it was quite beautiful. The day was then followed by brunch at Something Good, and the food was of course something good. We then went to the market, where I survived my first time bartering. I'm pretty sure I paid to much for some things, but I did manage to get the price knocked down on some of them. So prepare yourselves for some nifty trinkets family. Monday we got up and went to NMMU for another lecture on SA's history with one of their professors. Later in the afternoon our group went back downtown and walked around were all of the taxi's were to talk to some people. PROGRESS OF OUR PROJECT Sunday we didn't get much new footage for our documentary, and Lindsey did some editing. Today (Monday) we got footage of Jones eating his cheap lunch while the rest of our team at our lunches that were the cost of half of his weekly limit. Sorry Jones, but that lunch was good. African Chris also took us back downtown where we were able to get an interview with a young student who lives in a township, but takes taxis into town for school. We also met as a group with Sara to discuss were our video is at and see what direction we are taking things in. After that, we discussed what we need to do as a group to get things wrapped up for our project.

[chrisatnku]

Wish you were here.

[carrieinsa]

Port Elizabeth is a great place to take panoramic shots.

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Sara getting artsy this morning.

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Jones and Mandela.