Moving into our final homestay in Cape Town has been quite an experience. We have now gone from having no electricity, running water and connection to the rest of the world to having absolutely all of that and more than we possibly need. It has without a doubt been a cultural shock for us. We....
Reports from South Africa
Our first church experience in Lesotho was probably the most memorable. We were to be sitting through 1.5 hours of a four hour service. We all met together and walked through town to the outskirts of the village to a small rectangular hut on the side of the mountain. All 24 students and 3 leaders....
Reflections after visiting the Apartheid Museum
Learning about South Africa’s devastating history while living in Soweto, a township where blacks were forced to move into during the apartheid, has been an enriching and powerful experience. A few days ago, we visited the apartheid museum in Johannesburg. While the museum experience was a painful one, it was necessary in order to understand....
The morning of the marimba
Wednesday morning our group took a relaxing trip to a local community center and was given marimba lessons. For some of the group, like myself, this was the first time we had ever seen a marimba. The marimba is a musical instrument made of smooth wooden pieces and pipes. The wood is struck with drumstick-type....
Soweto – wonderful hosts and hospitality
On Tuesday, September 8, I finally arrived in Soweto, South Africa, just outside the capital city of Johannesburg. I entered Soweto filled with apprehension as well as excitement. It was time to meet my new seSotho host family. Many different thoughts were shooting through my head. Would we get along? Would my new family like....
South Africa – first impressions
As our plane taxied down the runway at the Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, my first thoughts on South Africa were “This is really…brown.” Although our first impressions might have been a little off considering our 18 hour flight, the last few days in South Africa have been eye-opening, inspiring, and filled with wonderful people....
Report from Reichelsheim
Over the past week in Reichelsheim we have done less work and more group activities. On Wednesday my work group continued to dig our drainage ditch around the chapel at the castle.聽 We finished the digging process and were ready to start putting in the drainage pipe and fill it back in. On Thursday of....
Travel to Greek island of Rodos
Free travel on the beautiful Island of Rodos! We spent our days relaxing, swimming, and enjoying the beauty, the friendly Greek people and their fantastic food. While on the island, we went on three tours. The first one was to the island of Symi, which, according to our guide, has the most beautiful harbor in....
The Turkish community near Marburg
We recently arrived in Marburg, Germany. It is a beautiful city, home to a castle where the Grimm brothers based many of their fairy tales on. The university town has 80,000 people of which about 20,000 are university students. The atmosphere at Marburg is very friendly and we were greeted by our host families with....
Seminar in Sustainable Urban Development
On Wednesday, May 20th, we had a seminar on alternative energy sources and sustainable city planning. We met our guide in a classroom under a solar tower in the city of Freiburg. We began with a powerpoint that had many facts about energy usage in Germany as well as the rest of the world. We....