ACM Study Abroad Program at the University of Botswana

While traveling around the country and region was fantastic, as well as meeting interesting and wonderful new people, overall the set up of the ACM program as simply OK. Any program is what you make of it, but I would recommend a program that was more culturally intensive. We did not learn the language and get in touch with life outside of UB and Gaborone very much. UB can be a frustrating place, and the lifestyle of Gabs does not encompass the whole country. Volunteering experiences were incredibly valuable however.

If I could do it again, I main thing I would focus on would be making a bigger effort to make local friends and feel like a part of UB. Orientation unfortunately takes place during a week before other local students are on campus, so initially you make friends within the group of international students that you are herded around with. I think that this is especially easy to do with the close-knit nature of ACM. That’s no excuse though for the fact that, while I have local friends that I occasionally call on to go to the pool, share a meal, or even go out with on the weekend, I spend most of my time hanging out with international students. Thus, I get nice conversations and hugs from these local friends, but not a look into the culture and lifestyle that I would have if I “hung out” with them more. I think that becoming involved on campus is a great way to do this – which is harder than it sounds. There was no listing for clubs, you have to sort of ask around for them. Plus, UB doesn’t have that many activities on campus, but when they do, they are great to attend. I often miss out on them because they are not well publicized and you need a local friend to even tell you they’re happening. It’s a bit of a catch 22 in this way. Also, as a female, it can be difficult to hang out at student weekend haunts like the 411 (the campus bar). While I would not have done that differently (I only went to the 411 before 10 and stuck to the fringes), I would have made a bigger effort to explore other venues of socialization on weekends. There are also just so many benefits to having local friends, like getting invited to homes and cultural events. I was close enough with one girl that when her cousin-in-law passed away tragically, I was able to accompany her to the funeral and experience that aspect of Tswana culture. I feel like I missed out on so many other opportunities like that by not having close Botswana friends. Plus in this respect, I feel sometimes as though I haven’t really left the US. All in all, it is difficult to say what I could have done different even if I had wanted to. Botswana is all about just going with it. You can only control so much of what happens here. When reading the part of the ACM manual that talked about having patience, I had no idea just how much “patience” I would end up needing. As a final comment, I would have brought more sun block! I brought one full bottle and it was gone after a month!