I arrived in South Africa two weeks ago to attend St Stithians Girls’ College. So far it has been an amazing experience. Johannesburg has many nicknames such as Joburg, Jozi and the City of Gold. It is referred to as the City of Gold because of all the gold mining that has left the city with gold sand.
After about 21 hours of travelling (including one 15-hour flight), I arrived in South Africa to meet my host family. I met my exchange, Edith, her parents and her three siblings who are 10, 5 and 4. Everyone here is very welcoming and it is completely normal to greet a person you have never met before with a hug (which took some getting used to).
Living in South Africa is very different from living in Canada. All middle-upper class families live behind walls topped with fences of barbed wire, electric wire or both. The less fortunate people live in places called townships where people build houses from any scrap material they can find and they all live in extremely close proximity, often fitting millions of people into tiny plots of land. The main townships of Johannesburg are Soweto, Cosmo, Diepsluit and Alex.
Many languages are spoken here, the primary ones being English, Afrikaans, Sotho and Zulu. I have learnt a lot of new South African words such as “eina” being the word they use instead of ouch when they are in pain or “woza” meaning come here.
School here is very different from LCC. Everyone brings their own lunches, we are allowed our phones in class and we have to attend chapel weekly because it is a religious (Methodist) school. I am taking grade 10 classes but I am finding that a lot of what they are learning is similar to what we are learning at LCC in grade 9. Also, to pass a test you need 33% meaning that it is very hard to fail a test.
School pride is very important at Saints. On Thursday I watched the inter-house aquatics tournament. The four houses: Trewen, Cambourne, Stratton and Kenwyn competed in diving, water polo and swim racing. Everyone got dressed in their house colours and cheered on their houses with organized cheers called war cries that are accompanied by drums.
I have had the experience of visiting a game reserve in rural South Africa. Nature here is referred to as the bush. I got to see many animals such as lions, giraffes, ostriches, cheetahs, impalas, hyenas and wildebeests. We were able to get very close to these animals and it was amazing to be able to see them in such close proximity.
So far, South Africa has been a great experience and I am glad that I chose to go on exchange and visit this amazing country. – Natasha Ryan ’19, Exchange Student at St Stithians Girls’ College
I’ve been at Stanford Lake College for a week and a half and overall my experience has been great. 
On March 12, I was taken to the Rhino and Lion Reserve where I had a once in a lifetime experience. About an hour into our drive, I saw the big sign with two lion statues next to it. We drove in and I immediately saw animals. I saw ostriches and a giraffe. While driving around, we saw all sorts of bucks, like the blesbuck, rooihartebeest, sable and springbok, which is South Africa’s national animal. We also saw a warthog with her two babies. We then drove up to the predator camp, which is where the more dangerous animals are, and we were just in time for the feedings. We watched wild dogs, cheetahs and lions being fed. It was so cool because we were right next to all of them in our car watching them eat.
On Saturday, March 5, I attended my first ever rugby game. I went with my host and her dad, two other exchanges and their hosts and their families. It was at this huge stadium with what looked like a football field in the middle. We were all dressed up in blue, including face paint, to cheer for the Blue Bulls. The Blue Bulls were from South Africa and were playing against the Rebels, who were Australian. We were all sitting on the edge of our seats cheering and having a great time. We won the game and everyone was jumping and screaming for joy. Once the game was over and we were just about to leave, they opened the gates to the field and a bunch of kids ran onto it. At first we weren’t too sure what was going on, but then realized that anyone could run on the field and have a good time. The rugby players were also there behind a rope taking photos and signing autographs. It was a really good game, the best one I have ever seen.
On Wednesday, February 17, I landed in Cape Town awaiting the adventure that followed. We got in quite late so our journey only really began the following day. We awoke early in the morning and headed off to Table Mountain. We reached the top and the view was amazing. You could see everything. I walked around, took a ton of pictures and had a great time. After, we went to the aquarium, which was pretty cool. We got to hold starfish, sea urchins and sea anemones. We also saw many other creatures, including fish, sharks and turtles. It had been a long day and we needed to get some sleep.
