Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

We are accompanying thirty students from St. John's University/College of St. Benedict's.  They will be attending Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) - South Campus - here in Port Elizabeth.  This particular campus was built in the heyday of apartheid in the 1970s.  Its designers probably never imagined that almost 40 years later, NMMU would - across its entire system - be educating 25, 000 people of all hues.

Our students will be attending for one semester.  In fact, our semester - which ends the last week of May - is slightly shorter than the semester NMMU students attend.  Unfortunately, this means that our students are taught separately.  The good news is that they are taught by NMMU faculty members.  They have choices of classes in marine biology, South African music, South African politics, and South African literature.  Jim will also be teaching a course focused on their intercultural experiences.

NMMU is a gorgeous campus, situated on a 830 hectare nature preserve.  This preserve is quite arid: comprised of sand dunes, brush lands, and palm trees.  There are some unusual (to us) aspects about being on a nature preserve, however, that not all campuses can claim.  Please note this common warning...