In what is becoming slightly routine, Elizabeth King, owner of the Rose Cottage in Wayne, hosted guests from South Africa last week.
Paddy Hogan traveled from Johannesburg, South Africa to help get her granddaughter, Talia Jacob, get settled in at Wayne State College and spent the week staying at the Rose Cottage and exploring what the city of Wayne has to offer
Talia's mother recently started a new job and was not able to travel to the U.S. so Paddy stepped in to bring Talia to Wayne. Her 10-year old brother is currently attending school and was also not able to travel to Nebraska.
This was the first visit to Nebraska for both women, although Paddy said she has been to Florida and many other places, including several places in Europe, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Talia has visited Australia.
Talia started her in-person classes this week after having completed a semester of online classes. She is planning to major in criminal justice and psychology.
She said she found out about Wayne State College through IAM 360, a company that helps place students who want to study abroad.
Talia said that she decided in 2022 that she wanted to be in the IAM 360 program and after finishing high school in 2023 took a gap year before starting college classes.
She said that "you need very high marks (grades) to get into the universities in South Africa, so I started looking at other possibilities."
Her other options were colleges in California, Arkansas and Texas. However, she chose Wayne State and noted that there are a high number of South African students here in Wayne, including several from her hometown.
Late last week, the students took a bus to Sioux City, Iowa to purchase some of the supplies they will need for the upcoming semester. Paddy was able to travel with the group and noted that due to the exchange rate, "the cost of things here is very high."
Both Paddy and Talia said their first impressions of people in Wayne is that "all the people we have met are very kind. Everything here is in walking distance."
Paddy said that while walking "traffic is amazing. People stop for you - that would not happen in Johannesburg."
She said that in her short stay here she was able to visit many of the businesses and enjoyed Subway and Udder Delights. She was also amazed to find the variety of items she could purchase at Ace Hardware - particularly nail polish and nail polish remover.
When asked about some of the differences the two had noted since arriving in Wayne, Paddy said students in South Africa don't work in stores. This is partially due to the high unemployment rate there.
Another difference is the fact that getting a driver's license is a much longer and expensive process. A license can be issued when a person is 18 years old.
"You also have to have a learner's license before you can get a driver's license and that is expensive too, " Talia said. Approximately one-half of the people get a license.
Paddy talked about her careers in South Africa, including working in the insurance industry and having a catering business before working in a 'tuck' shop where food was prepared for students at the high school.
She also talked about the different types of schools available. These include government schools and private schools which are very expensive.
Talia said the school she attended had 1,200 to 1,500 students in grades eight through twelve.
Students are required to start school in the year they are seven years old. The school year runs on a different time frame as the seasons in South Africa are opposite those in the United States.
Another area that is considerably different is the amount of crime that is in the city.
Paddy talked about the security of the area she lives in and noted that people have bars on the windows and live in gated communities.
"In spite of all this, we have a beautiful country," she said.
South Africa is seven hours ahead of Wayne, Nebraska so family members have to make adjustments when communicating with each other.
While Paddy had to return to Johannesburg at the end of the week, Talia is working on adjusting to life at Wayne State College and the possibility of joining the rugby team.
