University of Natal (NU)

For anyone who is visiting South Africa for the first time I would highly recommend living on campus. There is a large and varied array of people with many different cultures and languages to meet, and living on campus also allows you to speak with and befriend individuals that you may not otherwise come into contact with. The dorms are in good shape with communal bathrooms and kitchens. There are only single occupant rooms (mine had a stunning view of the Indian Ocean and Durban proper), and while they are nicely equipped with a sink and a large closet, there is only one electrical outlet. To those used to extreme connectivity this may seem rather upsetting, but I never heard many complaints from either native students or other exchange students about this lack. If you like animals you'll be happy to occasionally find a cat, a monkey, or an hadeda ibis hanging out in your dorm room. Finally, if you're a vegetarian be prepared to share refrigerator and kitchen space with a lot of meat eaters; Zulus and most other African cultures, who compose the majority of on-campus students, tend to eat a lot of meat. Fortunately, the meat that is produced in South Africa is far better than what is produced in America, mainly because Halal rules about preparation and killing are strongly adhered to.

Not bad, pretty safe, but not totlly secure. Quite clean for public accomodation. Fun!

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