The Winter Trees

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words"- Robert Frost

An amazing friend of mine gave me, The Poet's Sphere, a poetry book. What an amazing gift! And since it is Winter here in South-Africa and we are freezing I found a poem about Winter.

In the woods near the university.

The Winter Trees

Against the evening sky the trees are black,

Iron themselves against the iron rails;

The hurrying crowds seek cinemas or homes,

A cozy hour where warmth will mock the wind.

They do not look at trees now summer's gone, 

For fallen with their leaves are those glad days

Of sand and sea and ships, of swallows, lambs,

Of cricket teams, and walking long in woods.

Standing among the trees, a shadow bends

And picks a cigarette-end from the ground;

It lifts the collar of an overcoat,

And blows upon its hand and stamps its feet-

For this winter, chastiser of the free,

This is winter, kind only to the bound.

CLIFFORD DYMENT

I love poetry because it awakens feelings and emotion within you, just by using words. I hope you have a warm winter's day or a nice summer's day, wherever you are.

With love xx

San Antonio, Texas = 2 Months!

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

You know that insane headache you get. The headache that drives you mad and almost makes you want to scream. What's its name again?
Visa! Yes, Visa.

We had to go and apply for our visas today. Oh man, the preparation, filling out the DS-160 and getting all the papers in order for our visa application was definitely a huge headache. Where are those painkillers? The stress had us in tight knots. After all our preparation they didn't even take our papers, only asked a few questions! Our Visas got approved!

But even the stress could not dampen our excitement: in less than two months, me and my family will be travelling to San Antonio, Texas. We are going to stay at my uncle's house.

I CAN NOT WAIT!!!!

It will be the middle of winter here in South Africa, so we will be skipping winter for two weeks and going to high summer. Yippeee!!! We will be basking in the sun, while the people at home freeze! We will be wearing summer dresses, okay you get the point! I'll stop rubbing it in your face!

The wanderluster will be going on an adventure! Adventure is my word for 2015 and that is what I'll be doing. I will also be celebrating my 22nd birthday in the country of Cowboys with the best family! Oh, this is going to be good!

What places are recommended whilst visiting San Antonio?

Love for animals?

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

When I compiled my bucket list, I also tried to think about things that would fulfill my life, materialistic things don't make you happy, it's the memories and experiences that make you smile and truly happy. therefore I decided that I want to volunteer at Rehab center for animals that got hurt and nurse them back to health. It is number 9 on my bucket list.

This semester, we had to do a project in one of our Communication subjects. The project was that we had to design a communication plan for an NGO (Non Govermental Organisation). So, I thought about my bucket list and how can enrich my life at the same time, therefore I chose to do it about the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

The communication plan involves that we had to go and visit the NGO and find out what their needs are and how their communication (social-, mass- media, etc) are with stakeholders. We then had to design a plan to tel them exactly what needs to be change and what form of marketing they should use to help them reach their goal. We also had to tell them exactly what message they must send to each stakeholder group.

The SPCA has a lot of needs especially because it is winter here in South-Africa. They have a shortage of blankets, warm water bottles, and they always have a need for food for cats and dogs. They also have a need for a nice website, where they can regularly post about happenings and animals needing loving homes, where they will not be abused or neglected.

I have a very soft spot for animals and it makes me so sad to walk past cats and dogs, where they shy away because they are scared. Their owners had hurt them, how removed from your conscience must you be to hurt an animal who always is happy to see you. My dogs are always making weird sounds and jumping up and down to see me. They are ALWAYS happy to see me! How can you hurt an animal that has always loved you?

I want to show them that I am not like their owners, but that takes time. Therefore, I aim to spend more time at the SPCA, next semester, helping these animals and showing them that they can trust people again. I want to nurse them back to health.

This communication plan made me realize that I, a normal student, can make a difference in the lives of animals. I hope they use my communication plan, because it will help them to connect better with their stakeholders and also help them to fulfill their needs for the cold winter.

Museum day at University

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Every year, there is a museum day on campus, where you can take a tour of the museum and learn more about the university's history.

Students are not always that interested until you throw something in for free. This year they offered free coffee, which was perfect for the current cold weather we are experiencing.

Nice warm coffee for the cold day

I also got a tour through the museum

F.W. de Klerk

I was very surprised to see that F.W de Klerk was once a chancellor here at the university. Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk fought together to end Apartheid in South- Africa. I have great respect for this man, as well as for Mandela.

The only sad thing about the museum is that it is out dated, most of the history only goes up until 2003 and so many things has happened at the university since then. But all in all, it was very cool to see the museum again.

I think that more awareness should be raised about museums and it should be visited regularly, because it's always nice to find out the history of a place you love so much.