South Africa bound!

I will soon be leaving on a jet plane to start my four month adventure in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The adventure all began last year at the study abroad fair when I first learned about the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching. Until then I had given up all thoughts and hopes of studying abroad for a semester. Lucky for me there was a program that would allow me to do my student teaching abroad for a price comparable to a semester's tuition at Auburn University. After much consideration and debate with family and friends I chose my top four placement cites: Greece, Costa Rica, South Africa, and Hong Kong.

I knew my chances of being placed in Greece were very unlikely since there were only about two placements available there for the whole country. With this in mind I was preparing myself to most likely be placed in Costa Rica; I figured I would be a more desirable candidate for that placement site because of my minor in Spanish. But, as I've come to discover more and more, life is full of unexpected surprises! In late September I found out that I was headed to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, with my best friend and roommate, Rebecca Macintire. We were both shocked at being placed at the same site since she had put South Africa as her first choice and it was only my third. Not only will we be in the same city, but we will also be living with the same host family. We will be working in different schools while we're there. I have been placed at an all-girl private school, and I'll find out what grade I'm working in once I get there.

So, on January 14th, Becky and I will be headed to Atlanta to catch our flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight is a mere 18 hours or so and we'll arrive in Jo'burg on the 15th. We'll be spending the night there that night in a hotel close to the airport that our host family helped us set up reservations for. Then, on the 16th, we'll be hopping on our 2 hour flight to Port Elizabeth. Wish us luck on recovering from our jet lag quickly, since we'll be starting our internship bright and early on the morning of the 18th!