Travel tips and the start of an adventure

(originally typed July 18-July 20)

I arrived in Grahamstown, South Africa on July 14 and its been a crazy whirlwind of awesomeness. But I’m getting a head of myself. The preparations for this move, as well as the journey itself, was insane. Word of advice kids, don’t wait 3 weeks before your trip to apply for your visa (side effects may include: panic attacks, neurotic behavior, crying, frustration, and nausea.) Which brings me to... 

Travel Tip #1: Applying for a Visa.

Okay so if you are leaving for a country soon (in lets say, the next 2-3 years) you should have started your visa application last week. Seriously. No, I’m not kidding. Stop what you are doing right now and work on your visa.  Depending on the country you plan on going to, your visa can be anywhere from two pages to a 100 page document of your entire life story (I’m talking criminal background, health history, fingerprints, references, letters of acceptance, etc.) They basically ask for everything except your first unborn child. Actually come to think of it you probably have to give them that too. Anywho, get your shit together as soon as possible because this process is messy and complicated. In my case I had to book a flight, purchase African health insurance, order my background check, schedule doctors appointments, and get official documents from Rhodes in order to fill out my visa. The earlier you start the process the cheaper flights will be, so start ASAP. Be prepared to drop A LOT of money, visas are not often cheap (#poorcollegestudentproblems) - but it all depends where you go. Lets just say the day my visa came in (a whopping 6 days before my departure) I almost kissed the FedEx guy. 

Of course it takes more than just a visa to prepare for a trip, theres always a bit of clothing shopping to do and last minute purchases you never realized you needed (like adaptors- never forget an adapter). July in Grahamstown is the exact opposite of July in Pennsylvania, so I need to stock up on warm clothing (specifically basics that I could layer) and so far I think I’ve packed pretty well for the climate. One major roadblock that I ran into was having enough prescription meds

Travel Tip #2: Stocking up on medicine

If you are on any type of prescription meds, I would recommend talking to your doctor, pharmacist, and insurance company a few months before you leave so you can get a few months supply and save your parents the cost of shipping internationally. I wasn’t aware that this was actually a thing until I told my doctor that I was doing to be away for 5 months, so if this applies to you I would suggest you work on it a minimum of 2 months before you depart.

After your bags are packed and you leave for the airport the real fun begins! I absolutely LOVE flying. Its my favorite form of travel, it allows me to catch up on sleep, and you get free food, drinks, and movies!Whats not to love? (The answer to this question boys and girls is jet-lag, which i currently have). On July 12, my wonderful, awesome, and all around lovely travel partner Rachel and I embarked on our long journey to Grahamstown, South Africa. I won’t bore you with the details about the long flights or the boring layovers, but overall Rachel and I had a pretty easy time navigating and transitioning through airports. Thank God for Rachel, I don’t know what I would have done without her for the 9 hours in Heathrow. When we finally arrived in Port Elizabeth both of us were riding a sugar high and an adrenaline rush, we were almost at Rhodes! We took about a 1-2 hour van ride from the airport with some other fellow international students and finally made it to our new home <3 I’m usually a pretty shy person so the idea of meeting 28 new people (the other international students) kinda petrifies me, but after the initial awkward “Hey, I’m blah blah, I’m from blah” and the realization that we are all in the same boat and scared shitless, everyone came out of their shells and bonded. For legalities sake, lets just say that the night life in Grahamstown definitely helped everyone to relax and have a great time, as well as provided us with many humorous situations.

For the past week I have been living with 28 other students from all over the world, and what a week it has been. From karaoke Wednesday, to being on a first name basis with all of the local bartenders, to the daily morning coffee stops at The Arch (I’m dedicating an entire blog entry to this coffee place and its owner Ceeca), and shopping trips around town, we’ve spent the past few days getting to know each other and exploring all of Grahamstown and the Rhodes campus. Bravo to whoever decided to let the 28 of us roam around this empty campus for the past week, we’ve had a kickass time introducing ourselves to Grahmstown and I for one cannot wait to see what its like when the rest of the student body gets here (roughly 7,000 people).

Cheers,

A very jet lagged American