a few pictures!

Click on them to see the full picture, I think it crops what you can see in the blog. The colorful beach picture is of St. James Beach. The picture of me and a few of my friends in the water is where we ate lunch on our history field trip. The other two are both from the field trip as well - the fossil park and the rock art trail. Enjoy!

Today I went to the pool at UCT and it was amazing! There is an outdoor pool open to all students and it seems like people go to swim, play polo, tan, or just read. The water is cold but refreshing, today was so hot! The past week has been a really crazy one, and I apologize for neglecting to post about everything that has been happening. There have been a few unfortunate events as of late, but overall I am still doing fine. My wallet (that has my phone inside of it) was taken from my house this past weekend and we are still trying to figure out how the breach in security could possibly have occurred- it is very strange but only a temporary inconvenience as I am starting the process of getting replacements for what I lost. On the up side, I have finally settled all my administrative business with the university that has felt endless the past few weeks.

My International Law course seems really hard and I am studying along with law students working towards their law degree. Who knew I would be getting such a strong taste of law school so early! I am hoping I can hold my own, it will be a lot of work for sure. My Political Economy class does not seem as challenging and the professor (or course convener as they would say here) is a laid back guy that seems really interested in what he teaches. Our South African history course is not so exciting and the lecturer is not the most organized man I have ever met but we only meet once a week. My fourth course is on the Social and Economic Development in SA and I actually missed the first meeting due to a little ear incident that required a little trip to the doctor.* From what I have heard, however, the course seems amazing. We have 5 required hours of community service a week with an organization we are placed with based off of our personal interests; hopefully I get to work with the country-wide Amnesty International initiative or another human rights effort.

So much has been going on, it is hard to remember the important things to share. Last week Thursday-Friday we took a field trip for my history course several hours north of Cape Town. On Thursday we woke up very early and set out in several vans (mine was not air-conditioned unfortunately). We visited a famous fossil park, got lunch at the most beautiful beach side restaurant I have ever seen, and eventually arrived at a hot springs lodge resort. The resort was small and we all stayed in little chalets surrounded by mountains- it was amazing. After spending the night swimming in the hot springs we packed up and shipped out bright and early to begin our daylong hike in the bush at the Sevilla Rock Art Park. We were lead by two guides along a trail to view several different rock art sites and learn about the landscape. The art painted at the different sites was fascinating and it was interesting to learn about the rich history of the peoples that lived off the land and created the images hundreds of years ago. Most scenes depicted animals or people and we were told that the Shamans did much of the painting when they were in heightened states of meditation. After a long day in the 100-degree heat we got a snack in the historical town of Klanwilliam and headed back home. It was a nice trip overall and it was great to see a different part of the country that is less developed – when we were driving for hours on dirt roads I felt like it was straight out of the Lion King!

Saturday night I went with two of my friends to this party a few UCT students invited us to in Constantia, the richest suburb of Cape Town. It was definitely a different experience than what we were used to thus far – the house looked like it belonged in Beverly Hills. I am really looking forward to my Socio-Econ Development course to learn about the great disparity of wealth here. The friends that brought us to the party commented on how the government is trying to build more, smaller houses in Constantia but it will never happen because the property value will decline so rapidly that it will never make economic sense. Due to the land separation acts during the apartheid much of South Africa is still extremely racially segregated. Although there are no legal restrictions, social and economic issues remain that prevent integration and encourage racism.

It has been great reading your comments and getting emails – I really enjoy hearing from everyone back home! I am trying to appreciate every moment I have here so there is little time to miss home, although every now and again I miss some of the comforts I left behind. Walking what feels like a hundred miles a day is starting to wear me out although until I get in a regular routine with the gym I appreciate the exercise. Upper campus, as I may have mentioned, is literally higher up the mountain UCT is situated on. Getting from my law course to my history course requires bracing myself for a trek up an unbelievably daunting amount of steps. I always feel a little sense of achievement after making it up them all however everyone tends to arrive to class looking like they jumped out of a pool.

Congratulations if you read all of that! I will try to keep it shorter next time, it takes a while to write all this and I tend to write entries over a few days. Let me know if there is anything specific you want to hear about!


*Don't worry, I'm fine. They always say to be careful with Q-tips and I certainly learned the hard way. I punctured my ear canal but it is healing well...just a lot of unsettling blood. I have medication for pain and swelling and it is not much of a bother.

We're famous!

I am leaving for campus soon to start my first day of classes, but I just wanted to share this link with you all! My study abroad program is featured on the front page of the UCT website:

http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=6941

Check it out! You can also look around the university website and see how amazing UCT is - I have already joined several clubs and organizations that I am really excited about getting involved in.

I went on my first run this morning in the African heat! I woke up finally feeling rested and decided I should start getting into a more normal daily routine. Campus is all hills, but eventually I will find a good route. It is extremely windy here today, the breeze is more than welcome.

This week we have 3 hours of intense South African History each day and next week I will be starting my UCT courses; I am taking an International Law course and Intro. to Political Economy. I am really looking forward to all my classes. I am starting to really feel like I live here and am not just on vacation. I did my first load of laundry yesterday, however it was quite unsuccessful. I accidentally put a new pink tank top in with all my white and, as one would expect, I now have zero white clothes and lots of pink ones. I am going to get some bleach and try to re-whiten a few things, but needless to say I will not make that mistake again! I did make a very delicious dinner for myself last night - a pasta dish with roasted veggies. Later that night we explored this bar walking distance from our house and had a low-key evening. I am finding that even in Africa the six degrees of separation theory is proving true. I feel like everyone I meet from the States knows someone I know or has some odd connection. I have even run into a few South Africans I randomly met out at a club several times since. It is nice seeing familiar faces as I start to learn the area.

I have been to several beaches so far, we have been going a lot this past week. My friend had a little run in with an ocean kayak and had to get 7 stitches in his back! These beaches are world renowned for three things: their beauty, the surfing, and sharks. Apparently the shark watching system is so sharp, however, that there is also the lowest incident of attack. The beaches are gorgeous and the water is warm so it is easy to push the fear of a shark attack out of my head.

I am having the time of my life so far! We saw an outdoor concert at Kirstenbosch gardens the other night and I can honestly say these botanical gardens were the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Between the green fields, the flowers, the mountains and the live music - it was probably one of the nicer things we have done since arriving here. Now I am showered and dressed (in my now pink shorts) and will probably hike up to campus to grab a sandwich before class. There is this little stand called Souper Sandwich that doesn't sell soup...but their sandwiches are amazing. The food here overall is not particularly "African" due to all the mixes of cultures. The African BBQ, called a Braai, does not have hamburgers and hotdogs which we were all a little disappointed to find. They instead have grilled chicken and various sausages, something I think we are all a little sick of already. In town I have already found my favorite cafe- they serve mango-mint smoothies that are absolutely to die for!

Speaking of food, I'm off to lunch! All is well in Cape Town, I hope you are all not too cold back in the northern hemisphere!

I'm a little sunburned!

Today was the last day of UCT orientation and I am glad to be done with this period of endless days and long lectures! Tomorrow we just have a meeting about research projects in the afternoon but the rest of the day is free. Registration for the university is on Friday and then I will officially be a UCT student! I'm so excited to spend the semester here, the campus is absolutely gorgeous and the faculty seems really helpful.

Everything is still great on the home front; we are finally settling in and are starting to make communal meals etc. We built a large fire pit in the backyard and have bonfires every night! I am starting to really get to know all the people on my program and making some good friends, everyone is laid back and outgoing so most of us get along well. We have started to explore the area and we have had a lot of fun together.

Today I went to the beach with four other people for the afternoon, however we picked an extremely windy day and reconciled to come back a different day to spend a longer time. We did get to explore the train system and the different beach stops, so it was definitely a worthwhile trip. Tonight we are heading in to town, as in the downtown Cape Town area, to get a feel for the nightlife in the city. Each house has one RA that is basically there to settle us in and help us get to know Cape Town throughout the semester. They have been so helpful from everything to finding a good restaurant to getting tips for getting around campus. As students of UCT themselves, they are a good resource for information about student life and are more than happy to show us around and take us out at night to fun, but safe, places.

They spent a while drilling in security information and we all felt a little nervous at first, however now I realize that as long as I take their cautions into consideration and stay aware I have little to worry about. South African culture is different but exciting, and the more I learn the less I am afraid as I now feel more confident than when I arrived. The train ride to the beach was really interesting listening to all the different languages being spoken. Around campus I am with a lot of other Americans and there are a lot of white South Africans, however in town and on the train I am very aware that I am a minority in this country. I am learning how to make the clicking noise used in many of the 11 recognized official languages in South Africa and have also begun to learn a few words in Afrikaans. I want to try and sit in on a few language classes while I am on campus over the semester so I can pick up some conversational phrases. Our security guards have been slowly introducing some terms in Afrikaans and tell us they are slowly getting used to our accents (although they still claim we speak too fast).

Next week our intensive IES South African history class starts and the following week we begin UCT courses. I still need school supplies but luckily all the shops we could ever need are walking distance. I have also expanded my view of walking distance; all the walking around is great but the walk to the closest shops feels longer each day. The exchange rate is incredibly in our favor, and while I know the weak state of the South African economy is a bad thing, spending less than $20 US on an average grocery trip is nice. Eventually the novelty will wear off, but it is hard to eat in when you can get a nice meal and several bottles of wine at an average restaurant at the cost of one McDonalds trip in the States. The weather is still great, minus the wind today, and I am really excited about future beach trips and more outdoor activity. We are constantly outside walking somewhere and my tan is getting better by the day!

Okay, time for dinner! Tomorrow we get to sleep in, something we are all looking forward to. I will write more about the different places I have seen hopefully along with some pictures in the near future, so keep a look out!