Congratulations. You have survived the first week of classes, walking down the South Oval in the Oklahoma heat while wishing you were still on vacation.

In South Africa, classes started seven weeks ago, and now it’s about 75 degrees outside, so I guess it’s a fair trade-off.

As I spend the semester studying here, this column is my attempt to share insights and experiences with you. Having spent three years at the Norman campus, I hope to relate the OU experience to students in Africa.

There are more similarities than you might expect, and, to kick off the semester, I want to throw some stereotypes out the window to make sure we are on the same page.

1. South Africa is a country.

I apologize if this seems like an insult to your intelligence, but we all know that many Americans don’t even know U.S. geography, much less African geography.

South Africa is the southern tip of Africa. It is one of Africa’s 53 countries and has 43 million people and 11 official languages.

2. I am not in the jungle or the desert.

When I tell people here I am an American exchange student, this is a common response: “Please tell me you’re not one of those who was expecting to dodge lions and elephants while running through bushes from the airplane to the airport terminal.”

I am studying in Pretoria, a city that feels like a very hilly Tulsa where everyone drives on the wrong side of the road. I haven’t seen a lion… yet.

3. Are they black or white?

I am in Africa, so Americans often assume I am the only white person for miles. Then, when I say I am in South Africa, people ask, “Wait, isn’t South Africa the place that is full of white people?”

The answer is somewhere in the middle.

South Africa has a very interesting racial history. As things stand today, the country is roughly 80 percent black, 9 percent white, 9 percent coloured (an official race here) and 2 percent Indian or Asian.

I have been to a number of events in a large rugby stadium in Pretoria. At one, the crowd was almost entirely white, at another almost entirely black. There is a reason South Africa is called “The Rainbow Nation.”

4. No, I have not been robbed.

If all you know about South Africa has come from popular U.S. media, you have likely seen headlines like, “Oprah Saves South African Girls,” “Nelson Mandela is Awesome,” or “ Go to South Africa: Get Robbed or Killed.” (headlines slightly exaggerated).

Honestly, though, crime is a very big problem here. There are no yards without ten-foot tall spiked gates. To get into my room from the street, I have to use four different keys.

Personally, I have yet to encounter any crime — except when my two American friends lost their phones to pick-pocketers at a soccer game. (A thief tried to get my camera too, but I disabled him with a gruesome stare).

The real problem here, though, is not with petty theft, but with dangerous violent crime. The murder rate is one of the highest in the world. With crime, most people share a certain statistic. South Africa has the greatest gap between the rich and the poor in the world.

I see more BMWs , Mercedes and Audis here in Pretoria than most places in the U.S. Monstrous mansions are everywhere, but a quick little drive outside of town puts you in the middle of a informal settlement — or “squatter camp” — with no plumbing or electricity.

Combining the economic inequality with the brutal history of racial segregation under apartheid helps explain the crime to a degree, but there is much to be done to fix the problem, especially as the country prepares to host the 2010 World Cup.

5. University life.

They don’t have a greek system, but biking to class I often feel like I am going through OU’s campus during Rush. The students’ greek equivalents are their dorms, called “Res.”

Yes, the different Res groups have matching clothes, and I have seen some Ugg-like boots.

The main campus is even bigger than OU’s Norman campus, with around 40,000 students. The racial make-up is about half black, half white. The diversity of people on campus is awesome, though it would be a lie to say they don’t often segregate themselves.

Though South Africa has 11 official languages, all of my classes are in English, and I am the one with the accent.

The diversity in class topics also might surprise you.

In one of my two Monday classes, we discussed “The Appropriation of a Modernist Aesthetic in Calvin Klein Advertising,” and, in the other, the differing practices of paying “lobola” or bride price in traditional African cultures. (How many cows is your girlfriend worth?)

Having been here almost two months, it is sufficient to say this column has hardly scratched the surface of what South Africa is really like, but at least we have made it clear that I do indeed have electricity and running water — though I really miss fast Internet.

I look forward to bringing my experiences and insights from this beautiful country to you throughout the semester. Maybe you’ll accidentally learn something along the way.

Mark Nehrenz is a journalism senior. His column will appear every other Friday.