A Little Explication: First Week at U.B.

Every so often at U.B., I think of the Princeton Review rankings for “School Runs Like Butter.” If there were a category for, “School Runs Like Treacle Left Outside for Three Days,” U.B. would claim that category hands-down. Apparently only naïve first-years and exchange students bother showing up during the first week of class, which the school sometimes just cancels altogether. I missed this week because I’ve been sick, but none of my classes actually occurred for one or more of the following reasons:

1. The professor didn’t show up.
2. The students didn’t show up.
3. No room number was ever assigned for the class.
4. The room number that was assigned for the class didn’t actually exist.
5. Another class was scheduled to take place in the same room, at the same time. My professor backed down first.
6. Power outages = everyone leaves (students and professors alike), regardless of whether they have class or not

Like elsewhere in Gaborone, the power and running water cut out for several hours at a time, and the only things that still work at U.B. are the elevators. (It’s been interesting to see where people’s priorities lie based on what their back-up generators power. At my homestay, the lights and the TV still work during power outages, even though everything else cuts out, including the refrigerator and freezer.)

Another odd feature of the university—you can’t carry bags into the library. This sounds easy enough, but when you’re studying, it can be very frustrating. I have to scoop everything out of my backpack and carry it in my arms, only to drop it all at the table closest to the bag check.

Last, and this applies to Gaborone/Botswana in general, there are two types of outlets that are used. Appliances will either have the round South African prongs or the rectangular British ones, and outlets vary by location, even within the university. Nearly every Motswana household seems to have round-to-square and square-to-round converters.

For right now, I am so grateful for the strangeness of this week, though. I won’t have missed anything in any of my classes, and I have signed up for a gym membership and been accepted as a volunteer at a local organization (Botswana Retired Nurses Society, or BoRNuS) in the meantime. Hopefully, everything will go as planned next week! Until then, sala sentle!

P.S. Fun fact of the week: In the TV adaptation of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi were both played by American actresses.