The last few days have been filled with introductions, school work, and internships. The beginning of the week began with meeting our host parents. We all sat anxiously waiting on Sunday to meet our host parents. We met them one by one and they are all amazing people! The fathers are all professors at the University of Dar Es Salaam and the mothers work. They are also all friends and live very close to each other. We love the food, it is delicious! There hospitality is excellent too. We have been enjoying their cooking and conversations the entire week.
Monday was our first official day of class but we only went to East African Culture before we had orientation and a tour of the University of Dar Es Salaam. Several people talked to us including a person from international relations, the campus police, the health center and a culture specialist.. The people were very informative and told us a lot of good information especially the person who talked about culture. We all know useful information about relationships, dating, washing, and much more. After a brief lunch , we had a campus tour that allowed us to see all of the various buildings. The campus is large and beautiful. We enjoyed asking questions and gaining a better understanding of the campus and the resources they offer.
We all went to our internships and experienced working in a foreign country. We all are placed in internships that match our interest. Some of the internship locations are “The House of Culture”, ” The Tanzanian Youth Alliance”, ” The Tanzanian Women Lawyer Association”. We are still getting acquainted with the various places and learning what we will do. It has been exciting thus far.
Our first full day of classes were on wednesday. After we walked 45 minutes to get to class we sat down a few minutes before class started. Class starts at 8:30 every morning. We sat through East African Culture, Women and the Environment, Swahili, and African Medical Systems. We were done around 5 and walked back home.
It has been a great first week and we can not wait to explore. Tomorrow we will go to beach on a small island. We are very excited.