9/27/2020 2 Comments Cosmo GirlThis weekend I was determined to find my way around the city by myself. If we were doing homestays we would've been on our own more. I slept in (still not quite on a great sleep schedule) and then got ready for my (long) walk. I decided to meet one of my friends on the program at Rubia's café, about a 30-40 minute walk. It was somewhat nerve-wracking as I tried to find my way there, but after a very long walk on a very hot day. At the café I met up with Asia and ordered a strawberry smoothie in Kinyarwanda, which was very fun! We stayed for a few hours, I eventually also ordered a chicken & avocado panini which was also really good. Unfortunately the café is a little expensive, but very worth it! I felt very accomplished to have found the place on my own and starting to feel like I know my way around.
Later that night Asia, Anna and I went to Kigali Heights with the Riders Lounge! It felt like the most natural/ regular night since getting here, which was really nice. Anna and I got cosmopolitans (at my moms suggestion) and Asia got another drink. The cosmo was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! We split a large pizza and just relaxed for hours. It was amazing getting to just relax and have fun. While I love being in Rwanda, SOO MUCH, it was nice having a night that felt like it could've been at Elon or home, just eating pizza and hanging out with friends. On Sunday I went on another adventure and found Inzora's café. I got to walk deeper through the streets in our area. Right after I got to the café it started pouring (I didn't know it would be raining and had no rain jacket or umbrella). I stayed there for awhile until the rain slowed down. I walked up to UTC and Kigali Heights, the local malls, to just see what they had. I grabbed some food and beer for dinner at Simba's and then went to head home for dinner. I would've walked but it started pouring again and I didn't want to walk the 40 minutes home. I found a taxi waiting outside, and figured out a way to help him know where I was going. I got a little flustered figuring out how to say where to go and getting the right change for the taxi driver. I got a little shaky at the end, but everything worked out and I was really excited to have done it by myself. I ended the night relaxing at the hostel and made pasta for dinner.
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9/26/2020 2 Comments Eventful First week of classWhat an eventful week! (Hello St. Johns Choir group! Glad to have you all here! :D )
9/21: On Monday we began our first full day of classes. In the morning we had a lesson on sexual harassment and warnings of things that may happen in the city/ things/ places to avoid. Then we learned about more of the cultural practices in Rwanda and things we should be aware of. We broke out for lunch and a few of us went to the Shokola café, the top floor of the local library! The views were gorgeous, as always, and the food was incredible. Coming back we started to think about what we would be doing for our Independent study projects, then went home and had a group dinner in the hostel. 9/22: We started off the day with a Survival Kinyarwanda with one of our outside instructors. Took a nice break with chapati and meat samosa. Then 4 of us went to a local vaccine office and got our Yellow Fever vaccines. The nurse giving the shot acted very different than getting a shot in America. She said hello, asked if I liked eggs (I said no which was very surprising to her), she walked over and asked how I was and while I answered she gave me the shot. It was quick and very painless. For those that know me, I get very nervous and chatty whenever I am getting a shot, but this nurse moved so quickly that I didn't even have time to register what was happening. We went and had a group lunch at Meze Fresh, the Mexican restaurant, and came back to watch the movie Ghosts of Rwanda. After classes, Anna and I stopped at Gladden's café to study and have dinner. I got a salad for 1500 RF or $1.50 USD! 9/23: ANNA'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!! We start the day wishing Anna a happy birthday and heading to SIT headquarters for our last Survival Kinyarwanda class. We learned how to ask for directions, ordering at restaurants, directions to give taxi drivers, etc. After a break, we had two of our three Pre-genocide identity politics classes with Professor Bernard Rutikanga. The classes were incredibly engaging and informative. It is amazing what different information is released by American journalists concerning the genocide. For example, almost every article/history overview you will read about the genocide will say around 800,000 Tutsi's died. However, the Rwandan Government estimates that around 1.2 million Tutsi's died and have the statistics to back up the data. At lunch, we took Anna out to Casa Keza, an amazing local Spanish restaurant! While the food took awhile, the atmosphere was wonderful and the company even better! I got the Potatas Bravas (a bowl of potatoes) which was very delicious! Unfortunately, this lunch went on long and we were a little late to our last class with Professor Bernard Rutikanga, though he said it was fine and that we were on 'African time now'. On our walk home, Anna, Asia and I stopped at a cute local craft store and looked around for awhile. Asia bought some beautiful prints. Meanwhile, some of the other girls went to go get Anna's favorite cupcakes for an after dinner surprise! We had dinner at the hostel, and celebrated Anna's birthday right with cupcakes and South African white wine. After dinner, we sat around playing cards and having fun as a group. 9/24: Oof, this morning did not start great. I woke up very sick for a few hours, and tried taking meds though they were barely working. Though this was the day we were going to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, and I was not going to miss that. So I took some more meds and pushed through, getting to the SIT Headquaters. Once there, unfortunately, I threw up. It made me feel somewhat better, but also pretty weak. I let our facilitators know, but we agreed that I could still go, knowing there were restrooms at the memorial if needed or that I could go sit in the van/be taken back to the hostel if I felt sick. Though feeling like crap and weak, I made it to the memorial, and it was very much worth it. This memorial was built in the 2000's, and had around 250,000 buried in mass graves outside. Inside there were exhibits teaching the history of the genocide, tributes to the victims and survivors, and reminder for the youth. It was a lot to take in, violent images, and reminders of the past. One exhibit was dedicated to the lost children, showing a panel with their name, a nice photograph, details of their favorite foods/activities, and then how they were killed. It hit everyone the hardest, and many of us, including myself, were brought to tears at the horrifying details of what these children endured. We were there for around 2 1/2 hours, taking in the emotions and horrors of the event. Afterwards we had lunch as a group at Sundowner, and went back to SIT for a debrief. Our debrief was with Apollon Kabahizi, who was in charge of building the memorial and was involved in everything with it. If there was anyone to talk about the Memorial with, it was him! He explained how he wanted it to be shocking and not allow for the denial of the genocide, but not be a place of trauma and allow for survivors to come and reconcile with their past. He included an exhibit detailing genocides that have happened across history because he wanted to show that this isn't something that has only happened in Rwanda. The discussion went on for awhile and was incredibly touching and informative. That night Anna, Asia and I got together and went to Casa Kava's again to share tappa's and enjoy the night and reflect on the day. 9/25: (3 months til' Christmas!) We had our first Research Methods & Ethics Class and started planning our ISP's. After a break, we have many tea breaks, Grace and I were the leaders for this week's readings. Everything went very smoothly and we got some great deep discussions going. Every week we will have a "processing session" where we talk about how we've been feeling about the program, and kind of just a general check-in. Our leaders of the session decided for us to go to lunch together at Fresh Foods Restaurant, where we wrote down anything we wanted to bring up anonymously. We had some productive discussions, and got to know each other better. Later that night, Anna, Asia, Caleb and I just hung out in the common room and decided to watch Midsommer (which I was only able to stay for the beginning of). Overall, it was a really great start to the first (real) week of classes! (Sorry to Elon people who are about to do mid-terms!) 9/20/2020 0 Comments Hiking Mt. Kigali![]() Today's adventures included hiking up a biking trail on Mt. Kigali! Six of the girls on the program got together to call two taxis to take us to the town Nymirambo where we could access the trails. Mixed with the heat and hills it was quite the hike, though completely worth it seeing the beauty of Kigali. It was a great bonding experience for all of us while we went on this long venture. Half-way up we passed this cool looking restaurant/bar stop with these large circle domes for people to sit under. We kept going up and saw beautiful sites, as well as people tending to their farms. All of the landscapes were incredibly beautiful and I really enjoyed our time, we stayed out for a few hours! After walking for awhile we started to head back, and took a quick break in the shade of a bunch of pine trees. It kind of felt like I was in North Carolina with all of the pine straw, which felt nice for a bit. We then made it back to the bar and ordered a round of Mutzig lager's while we waited for our food. I got a plate of chips (french fries) which came with onions, a slice of tomato, and a big plop of MAYO! They were basically thick potato wedges, which was really delicious. It rained while we were under one of the circle domes but only lasted for about 20 minutes. We continued along and the taxi drivers met us and took us back to the hotel. Later that night one of the girls on the program put together a buffet spread for us to make our own spring roles! It was a super fun time and the spring roles were amazing! Overall a really great day! 9/19/2020 1 Comment City travel![]() After some much needed sleep and getting over jet-lag, one of the girls on the program (Anna) and I went out to look for lunch and a café to start working around noon. We tried one spot close to the guest house, but they were out of most things on their menu unfortunately. So we kept on walking (up a hill, we were very tired) but then looked on Google maps and found a great looking place for us to go that said it was only a mile away. That turned into about 45 minutes of walking the streets of Kigali to find it. The walk was actually really fun because it was along the embassy strip with no hills and a nice sidewalk. We finally found the Inzora's rooftop café around 1pm! We went upstairs to find a bookstore at the front, and towards the back there was the café. There wasn't a lot of food to offer, but they had really good looking drinks so I got the Fruit Passion smoothie (sooo good!!). There was a bottom layer with the bookstore and then a rooftop floor that was completely outdoors, though a little too hot for today. We studied downstairs for a few hours and I worked on my Kinyarwanda. After awhile we packed up and headed back to the guest house. Before we left we took a look around the bookstore part and found some very nice postcards and a lot of books in French! We agreed that it was definitely somewhere we were going to go back to! We took a taxi, which was an adventure of its own trying to get the driver to understand where we were going. Though he was really nice and we got to the hostel. We really going back that there was a much more direct way we could've taken to get there... oh well, know for next time. We all decided the other day that tonight we would try cooking for ourselves in the kitchen and made plans with the cook. Some of the other girls went out shopping for supplies for a pasta and sangria night. Everyone contributed to the cooking/chopping of the veggies and drinks. I worked on chopping up the red peppers. The young man who works as a cook here was hanging out with us to help while we worked in his kitchen, being very supportive! He helped show each of us easy ways to peal and chop up veggies. We then sat down for dinner and had so much fun, it was the best night yet! At first, we played 2 truths and a lie which was a good way to get to know everyone. Afterwards we played a long round of Never Have I Ever and just joked for hours. Coming out of the dinner a few of us got together to watch a movie and just hang out. Overall it was a really fun day, getting more and more used to the environment and excited for the next few months! 9/15/2020 0 Comments First Day in the city
9/14/2020 0 Comments QuarantineAfter arriving at the airport in Kigali, we were shuttled to our hotel, to get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine until our test results came back. The hotel was gorgeous and the room was really spacious. I took a quick shower and then was called to get my test. Those giving it were really nice and it was an oral swab instead of nasal which was much better! Then I took a long nap until lunch came around 2 PM. It was chicken thighs, potatoes, pasta, and fruits. It smelled so good, but I was too tired and fell back to sleep until 5:30 PM. I ate the meal once I woke up and it was still very delicious! The wifi in the hotel wasn't great so there wasn't too much that I could do on my phone or laptop. I put the TV on in the room, the two channels were either wrestling or soccer. So I watched soccer for awhile and tried staying awake so that I could fall asleep at a regular time later that night. I talked with my dad around 6 PM which was his lunch, it was really nice getting to talk with family. Dinner came around 7:30 PM. It was soooooo good!! Delicious strips of steak, soft rice, chunks of potato, and beans. There was also fruit which seemed to consistently have watermelon or pineapple. Dinner done, I tried staying awake until it was a regular time to fall asleep. I was able to Google Meet with my mom which was also really nice getting to talk about the day and see a family face. Sleep unfortunately didn't come so easily. I think because I had taken a nap I was just a little thrown off. ![]() I had finally started sleeping, when at 7 AM they brought us breakfast. Another tray of fruit, and then a little sesame bread bun and a fruity cinnamon bun without a lot of glaze. Both were very yummy as I ate with a view of the city. I feel incredibly grateful that I have been given this experience to come to this gorgeous city. After breakfast I just relaxed, watched some soccer and waited for my test results to come back. Around 11:30 AM I got my results back that they were negative and I was allowed to leave the quarantine! 9/13/2020 0 Comments Flights9.12.2020- Today is the first day of flying for my trip to Rwanda. My first flight is a one-way from RDU to JFK, and then I will be beginning my round-trip flight from JFK to DOH to KGL over the next day or so. It was very sad saying goodbye to my family and my pets. Being at college only an hour from home I have never been away from them for too long. Sometimes I feel silly that my first trip off the East Coast is all the way to Rwanda, but may as well take a leap of faith. I'm hoping that the traveling goes well. There doesn't seem to be a lot of people at the airport so hopefully the risk of exposure to COVID-19 will be low, though I will still take every precaution. I am by myself for the RDU to JFK flight, however I will be meeting up with another girl from my program in JFK and we will be doing the rest of the flights together which is exciting! I know that she is an experienced traveler so I'm sure we'll be all set!
Update 8PM EST: Flight from RDU to JFK went smoothly. Then came the mayhem of ending up in the wrong terminal and trying to figure my way around. Then I finally made it to the right check in at Qatar airways and everyone was super friendly and helped me get to the right place. Unfortunately all of the restaurants had closed, but luckily I brought snacks and there will be food served on the flights. 9.13.2020 Update 11PM in DOH: The 12 hour flight went really well! The dinner was salmon and mashed potatoes which was really good! I slept for some of the flight but overall really enjoyed it. Coming out I now really want to start travelling more and getting so see more places! Everyone except one of the people in our program were waiting in the Qatar airport for us to come in. We've been playing cards and walking around/bonding which has been really fun. I am very excited for the adventures to come! Now we wait until our last flight at 2 AM where we will arrive in Kigali, Rwanda at 7:25 AM. Update 8 AM: AND WE’RE HERE!!!! It feels incredibly unreal that this dream has come true. Everything is so beautiful and everyone is incredibly nice! The last flight went really well, I watched Clue which is one of my favorite movies, and had two small glasses of South African wine with my dinner. I am so excited to start exploring and tasting the cuisine! 9/7/2020 2 Comments Preparing to go abroad Over the past seven months there has been a lot of uncertainty as to whether my study abroad trip was going to happen. Every few weeks I had to make another decision on whether I wanted to stick through and hope that everything goes well, or to drop the program and try to go in the spring. As my family and friends can attest, it has been a stressful few months (for many reasons!!!) and for me personally this program. With the support of my family, friends, my amazing boss in the Elon Student Professional Development Center, my Elon and SIT advisors, I decided to keep faith and have hope for the program.
This patience, faith, and stress has paid off. I leave for Rwanda on the 12th of September! I am beyond excited and still confused of how I actually am able to go on this program. Rwanda from the start made very quick and smart decisions with their COVID-19 guidelines and I will be very safe there. It has been sad watching my friends go back to school and bonding, I got to see a few people before I left which was really nice. Going abroad in the fall poses many more advantages for me rather than the spring. In the spring, there is my sister's graduation from her Masters program at UNC-Greensboro, and both my big and little's last semester's at Elon. I would have been very sad to have missed those times! Over the past few weeks those on the program have been doing Webex calls with our program directors and other heads from SIT to discuss our travel plans, any country updates, and answering any questions we may have. It has been a really nice thing for them to host for us so we can connect with others on the program before-hand. It feels very odd that this program is still happening. It has been so up-in-the-air over the past few months that I hadn't been letting myself get excited about it. However, now it feels very real and exciting as I pack and get ready to start this adventure! |
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