This summer I will be doing HIV research in South Africa. To get there as cheaply as possible, I spent about 48 hours traveling on 5 flights. It turned out much less painful than expected. Hydration is key. The nicest bathroom was definitely in Rome.
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| Nashville Monday 12:04pm |
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| Newark Monday 4:35pm |
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| Lisbon Tuesday 1:47am |
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| London Tuesday 3:02pm |
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| Rome Tuesday 8:47pm |
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| Johannesburg Wednesday 9:34am |
My plane arrived the same time as that of the South Africa national soccer team coming home from Paris after the World Cup. There were lots of people and news cameras waiting for them, singing and chanting, which was a fun welcome for me. I waited for the rest of my team from Hopkins—two other men in my med school class and one woman getting her MPH—and then we rented a car to drive into Johannesburg. Immediately we had to get used to driving a manual car on the left side of the road…which means hitting the windshield wipers every time instead of the turn signal.
We’re in Joburg only briefly, mainly to meet with the team at Baragwanath Hospital under whom we’ll be doing research. Additionally, we toured the Apartheid Museum and watched the sunset from a nature reserve lookout over the city.
I’m still wrapping my mind around South Africa as a country. Even Johannesburg feels like no city I’ve ever been. There are parts that are so developed and Westernized, they feel like the United States. There are parts that are so green and lush, with cool weather (it’s winter here!), that it doesn’t feel like Africa. I look forward to exploring beyond the city.
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