{"id":68,"date":"2010-01-20T16:48:29","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T00:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ups.edu\/studyingabroad\/?p=68"},"modified":"2010-01-20T16:48:29","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T00:48:29","slug":"hello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/2010\/01\/20\/hello\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello! I am about to leave for Durban, South Africa, to participate in a School of International Training Community Health and Social Policy program, for spring semester. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in South Africa! Until then, here are some pre-departure and mid-travel thoughts:<\/p>\n

I just left the Northwest where I tried to spend as much time in the forests and mountains as possible.<\/p>\n

\"Grand

Grand Island, OR<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Near

Near the Columbia Gorge<\/p><\/div>\n

That being said, I can\u2019t wait for some sunshine and a change in scenery! I\u2019ve been taking with alums of my study abroad program, and the more I hear the more I can\u2019t wait to get to South Africa.<\/p>\n

The pre-departure paperwork, shopping, reading, and organizing has been so extensive, I can hardly believe I have finally departed! Favorite preparatory item of the week: a flashlight for my homestay family. It winds-up to charge, so it never needs batteries!<\/p>\n

I was anxious to leave, worrying that I brought too little, too much, forgot something, unsure about what will happen in South Africa, exc. But after a day of traveling, let me assure you, I did not bring too little. One day of lugging my 50 lb suitcase and too-heavy-for-its-size carry on has already been a test to my coordination and my ability to maneuver myself a crowd. I am about to get a lot of practice.<\/p>\n

At the moment I feel as though I couldn\u2019t possibly know enough to be ready for what I\u2019m about to experience, but I am also very excited! I\u2019ve never lived for an extended period of time in a large city, a place where I am a minority or where few people have life-experiences fairly relatable to my own.<\/p>\n

On other news, I\u2019m now an omnivore! I had my first steak last week. I\u2019ve started eating meat because it will be very difficult to be vegetarian in SA.<\/p>\n

Anyway, if you are at all interested in South Africa, public health, studying abroad, or have questions for me about something I write or anything else, send me an email\u00a0hratner@pugetsound.edu<\/a>. I would love to hear from you!<\/p>\n

\"Mt.

Mt. Hood<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Oregon

Oregon Coast<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello! I am about to leave for Durban, South Africa, to participate in a School of International Training Community Health and Social Policy program, for spring semester. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in South Africa! Until then, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2010-hannah-ratner-11-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}