I made it to Potchefstroom safe and sound. Eleanor dropped me at the airport on Thursday afternoon and I boarded the plane. I had originally thought that I would bring just one but it turns out I didn't read the South African Airways site well enough and you can have two bags that can each weigh 50 pds each. Well, lets just say El and I had to go to Target to get another small bag. The best part, was that when I went to check-in the scale was broken so there was no way to know how much the bags each weighed.

The guy sitting next to me was Peruvian but works in VA as a Internet firewall specialist. But here comes the kicker, he mentioned that he used to live in Gainesville, FL and right away I knew, I was sitting next to another darn Gator (they are everywhere). Anyway, he and I talked quite a bit and he and his buddies were headed to Cape Town for 12 days to see two or three World Cup games and do some damage. The flight was long and at times painful but I slept a good portion of it. The last 6 hours were the worst because you just get antsy and all you want to do is get off.

I arrived in Jo'burg and was greeted by Lawrence who drove me from there to Potchefstroom which is about 120 Kilometers away. The drive was about 1 1/2 hours and besides being tired it was pretty unexciting. I arrived around 7:30 to Potch and was greeted by Sari with a huge hug and shown to the house I would be staying in. Prof C had given Sari money to get me some basics in food as well some linens. I arrived and my room was already made up.

The house (I will post pictures later) is a guesthouse for visiting graduate students from all over the country so at the moment there are five of us in the house (German, Dutch, Argetinian). However, one is leaving on Sunday and another is leaving in two weeks. So there will just be three in this huge house. We share a common kitchen and have two bathrooms. I met my first roommate last night, Noalia (who is here to work in the Chem lab), and the other three today (Stephanie, Freida, Nicole) when they arrived back from Port Elizabeth and the World Cup.

I slept about 12 hours last night so I woke today feeling much better. Noalia took me to Spar(the grocery store) and we picked up a couple things. After we returned we met up with another girl, Suzanne from the Netherlands and we went to a local bar to watch the Dutch play Japan. Not an exciting game but the Dutch fans were happy because they won and are seeded at the top of their group. Since Potcheftroom is small, everyone has a bike so today I borrowed one but I will have to figure out when one of my housemates is leaving so I can borrow it after she has gone.

Sari came over later today and took me to the mall to pick up a couple things I had forgotten. She is so sweet and she could not say enough nice things about Prof C and the head of the education department, Prof N. I will meet them all officially on Monday after getting all my paperwork done!

So far, I am getting my bearings and tomorrow we shall see what I learn about Potchefstroom!