Grade 9 student Andrea Naday ’15 is on a student exchange in South Africa, attending St. Stithians Girls School. Here are some reflections on her experience to date:

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I find it very interesting how South Africans speak the same language as us but use different terms and expressions. For example, if a person was annoyed by someone, they’d say “she’s such a rash.” They also say “shame” a lot. If I said someone was sad, they’d say “shame.” They also have an accent similar to someone British. But, South Africans don’t think they sound British at all. When I was talking to Carmen about it, she realized how she was speaking, and how some things they say don’t make sense. For example, South Africans say “tomato” as someone British would say it, but “potato” as we say it (i.e., they pronounce the “a” differently).

Another major difference I noticed was the currency. South African currency is called Rand, but about 8.5 Rand would equal $1. So, you can’t  buy much with R10. Basically, anytime you would go out you spend around R150-R1000. It is weird to be spending R350 on some souvenirs: 350 sounds like a big number! So I always have to divide everything by 8 to figure out the approximate value in dollars! But, I have been able to adjust.

Cars are different too. The driver is on the right side of the car, and South Africans drive on the left side of the road. At first, I thought it was very weird, but I have gotten used to it.