Day three!

I feel like I have been here for a week - our days have been jam packed so far with various orientation activities. Everything is really interesting, but waking up at 6am and getting to bed after midnight is getting exhausting! Luckily tomorrow we can sleep in a few more hours!

I am living in a house in the suburb of Mowbray with 11 other students from my program, and there is an 8 person house attached with more of us. Our two houses are secured inside a gate with a 24 hour security guard and we also have four different keys to get in the house and our own individual bedrooms! It is great living with so many people, there is always a group of people hanging out and we all have single rooms when we want to be alone. My room has the best view, when I figure out the best way to get pictures online you will be able to see what I get to see every morning! Today we visited the Langa Township, the oldest township in Cape Town. We got to walk around guided by a few men that grew up and still live in the township; we saw houses, churches, schools, art centers, shops, and overall the day was a great window into how the "blacks" of Cape Town live. There are three races that have official labels used by everyone including the government, there are blacks, coloreds, and whites. Each has its own unique history and culture and although the terms would seem to imply a racist undertone, they are used as simple classifications that everyone accepts.

This weekend our orientation for the University of Cape Town starts with all 500 international students that will be there this spring. I am looking forward to meeting people outside my program and spending more time on campus. I saw some Zebras today in the distance as we drove along and I had a, "Wow, I'm really in Africa!" moment- while we are with mostly Americans wandering around such a small part of Cape Town it is easy to forget where exactly we are. I am already planning trips to surrounding countries, everyone is so eager to travel it's great!

So far so good, hope all is well with all of you!