Swahili Begins

Greetings from paradise! It seems like it has been quite cold back home, and I'm pretty glad to be in such an amazing place with absolutely beautiful weather. Classes began Monday, with 3 hours of Swahili each day this week. Our language classes are held at the language center about 15 minutes away from the compound and we are bussed there each day by our driver Njau. We had been warned that Njau is a timely man who waits for no one when it comes to our daily commute to class. We found that this was very true on our first day of classes as the bus began to drive away from the compound at exactly 8:30am, with only 5 of the 18 students on board. Luckily, Njau was feeling nice and waited for the rest of the group. Now we know to be on time for the bus or else we will be finding our own way into the city.

We are heading off to our rural homestay on Thursday, so we spent the first few days of classes learning the basics of Swahili: greetings, introductions, food, etc. One interesting thing that I've learned about Swahili is that when one greets another person and is asked how they are doing, there is no negative response. Even if that person is having a bad day, the response is always, "nzuri" (good).

I've included a few photos of the SLU compound below. I was able to find two perfect trees to hang my hammock underneath and spent one of the first few days here hanging with Sean and doing some reading for our classes. I've gone on a few runs with a friend around the neighborhood, which is a very swanky suburb of Nairobi called Karen. The neighborhood is named after Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa. (Thank you Clare for the book!) Most of the neighboring homes are gated communities, private schools, or mansions, so it's interesting to see how different the suburb is from the different areas of Nairobi that we have seen so far. I'm excited to see the countryside tomorrow on our way to the homestay since we have really only seen areas in and around Nairobi so far.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are taking off for our rural homestay, and will be with our host families for an entire week starting Friday (January 24). We will be in the Nyeri region of central Kenya, each on our own with a host family. I won't have access to any forms of communication but I will take plenty of photos. Hope all is well for my readers back home. Stay warm!

one of the many perfect hammock spots

basketball court 

Sinnari's house

Wairimu's house

library

study center (the main house)

the barn (my house!)

Sean and I reading

buying Kangas at a local shop

First Day in the City

Today I had my very first experience in an African city. After a very much needed sleep (in a horizontal position for once after all of my traveling) we woke for a short meeting with our professors before heading out to the big city. In a group of 5 we took the 30 minute bus ride into the city. It was a very interesting ride in; everything was exciting to see. The sides of the roads were lined with various items for sale ranging from furniture to pottery to fabric. Our professors had given each group some different destinations in the city to visit before all gathering at a meeting point at the end of the day. It was exciting to navigate the city on our own and to figure out the public transportation. After meeting up with the rest of the group, Njau (pronounced Jow), our bus driver, picked us up and brought us to the Nairobi National Museum. Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera so I couldn't take any pictures today. The museum was filled with the many different animals of East Africa and an extensive collection of birds. (Dad, you would have loved this!) There was even an outdoor exhibit with live fish, snakes, turtles and other animals. We returned to the compound after the museum for a traditional Kenyan dinner of Chapati, a thick tortilla-like food with rice, lentils and other vegetables that you dip the Chapati in. After dinner we went to the grocery store with Njau to buy a case of Kenyan beer, Tusker, that we brought back to the compound to drink with the rest of the gang. (Nothing like a case of beer for some group bonding!) Tomorrow begins our first day of classes, where we will be traveling into the city where our classes are held at the United Kenya Club, where SLU rents out classroom space.

Welcome to Nairobi!

I've finally arrived in Nairobi! After about 48 hours of traveling we made it to the St. Lawrence University compound in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi. Immediately leaving the airport, we passed one of the national parks, and believe it or not, saw several giraffes in the distance. It was an exciting drive from the airport to the compound, and it was great to finally see the place I had been imagining for so long. The compound is much larger than I had thought, about 5 acres, and is beautiful and green with many different kinds of plants including macadamia and avocado trees. We had a short orientation session today where we learned about the schedule for the next few days and got a tour of the different buildings on the compound. Most of the day was spent relaxing and getting associated with the area but in the afternoon we all got together for yoga led by a local instructor, which was a great way to rejuvenate and get rid of all my travel aches and pains. I'm very much looking forward to a good night's sleep and will post pictures of my new home soon.

Istanbul

My trip has already been quite the adventure. On our way from JFK to Nairobi we had a 14 hour layover in Istanbul, and thanks to a lovely SLU student, we had a tour of the city from an Istanbul native, Zeynep. We were met by Zeynep and her father in Istanbul on Friday morning, and quickly started the day by hopping on the metro and making our way into the heart of the city. Her father was very generous and cheery throughout the day, although he spoke no English. For breakfast we ate a traditional Turkish meal of a sesame bread twist that we bought on the street.  We spent most of the day walking around the tourist attractions in the city, visiting the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar. We couldn't go inside of the Blue Mosque since it was a Friday and it was closed for religious ceremonies at the time we were there. At the Grand Bazaar we enjoyed shopping for some Turkish souvenirs, admiring the different handicrafts and sitting down for Turkish coffee. For the afternoon, we taxied to a different part of the town, which appeared to be a shopping and dining area for locals with cobblestone streets lined with shops and restaurants. Zeynep brought us to one of her favorite restaurants where we enjoyed several different traditional Turkish dishes and the strong alcoholic drink made with Raki, which tasted like liquorice. I wasn't a big fan of the drink, but the food was delicious. We ended our day by heading back to the airport and relaxing for a few hours before our final flight to Nairobi. Saturday morning we will have landed in Nairobi and met up with the rest of the group after a long journey from the USA.

the group listening to our wonderful tour guide (Zeynep)

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia

inside Hagia Sophia

Grand Bazaar

Turkish coffee inside the Grand Bazaar

Turkish lunch

Zeynep and me

Zeynep with her father

the group outside of the Blue Mosque

Kat, Emlyn, Carina, Sam and me inside Hagia Sophia

And she's off!

Today I am embarking on my second study abroad adventure: this time, to Kenya! For the next four months I will be studying at the St. Lawrence University Kenya Semester Program located outside of Nairobi. There are several travel components that will take me around East Africa and I hope to keep you updated with photos and blurbs of my experiences. Much love to my friends and family back home who I will be thinking of during my travels. Looking forward to another great summer at the lake upon my return.

All the best,
CCC