the end.

excerpts from my journal entry last night

things i have learned:

- my first impressions of people are often incorrect.

- the issue of race is more complicated than i had previously thought.

- inequality leads to anger, violence, and unrest. a society cannot really move forward when its members suffer from a vast inequality in wealth and opportunity.

- alone time is therapeutic and underrated.

- the world is small. anything or anyone you want is a plane ride away, if you have the cash.

- money is meant to be used on experiences like this. that's why you save it. don't feel guilty - it's worth it.

- bartering is uncomfortable, and i still don't like it, but it has to be done.

some highlights of the past five months:

- our garden route trip. the secret, beautiful beach we stumbled across. our chalet in tsitsikamma. our ridiculous bonfire on the beach night in jeffrey's bay with the boys.

- elephant valley lodge in botswana with mom and marie. amazing game drives, great food, peacefulness.

- the first wine tour i did with my friends. unbelievable scenery, lots of wine, an entire day of bliss.

- hiking lion's head both times for the sunset and the rising of the full moon. absolutely beautiful, and views of all of cape town.

- st. patrick's day. interstuds were virtually the only ones at the bar, because apparently no south africans celebrate the day. we had great time.

- skydiving. unbelievable. enhanced by viewing the pictures afterwards, which are fantastic.

- being stuck in dakar on the way here, way back in january. at the time it seemed bad, but it ended up being awesome. we stayed at a gorgeous hotel and avoided jetlag, and it was our first bonding experience. the people i got stuck with ended up being my closest friends here.

things i am going to miss:

- 7/11. for everything, anytime.

- how inexpensive it is here. food and drinks, especially. the dollar is going to be a reality check.

- the MOUNTAINS.

- the ocean, and the amazing beaches everywhere.

- these people that i've spent this time with. they are so amazing, diverse, and interesting. not necessarily the people i'd hang out with at home, but that's exactly the point. i couldn't have asked for a better group of people to experience this with.

- UCT campus. so gorgeous, amazing views, old beautiful buildings.

- the weather (for the most part).

- being excited about everything. everything here is new and unique, which makes life so much  more exciting than normal.

- our apartment, helena 5. the meeting place, the hangout place, the go-to for everything. so many glorious days and nights have been spent here, full of friends and food and TV on DVD.

i leave tonight. i can't believe it. i'm anxious and excited to get home, but i'm going to miss this incredibly.

italy

i'm back in cape town safe and sound after my eight day vacation in italy. brief rundown of what we did, because i don't know how best to describe everything:

sunday - arrived in milan in the early afternoon, andrew and his mom picked me up from the airport, went back to his house. andrew's friend dave was still there, so we all hung out back at the house for the afternoon/evening. tired from not much sleep on the plane (although emirates was a reeally nice airline)

monday - dave left in the morning, andrew and i walked into the center of varese (the city where his parents live, about 45 minutes outside of milan). strolled around, stopped for a drink. varese was larger than i expected it to be, lots of shopping, nice area. 

tuesday - took a train to lake como, about an hour away. ate lunch on the grass by the lake, checked into our hostel, and took a ferry ride to bellagio, another city on the lake. we took the "slow boat," which ended up being a (beautiful) two hour ride with lots of stops, and by the time we got to bellagio we realized we only had 40 minutes until the final boat left to go back to como for the night. so we walked around quickly and then hopped on the fast boat. back in como, sat by the lake and had a drink, then wandered around and found a place to have dinner. nice restaurant - wine, salad, risotto, sea bass. really good.

wednesday - breakfast at the hostel (included, and really nice), then finally found a different train station to take us to venice. arrived in venice mid-afternoon, checked into our hotel, and then took a bus to the actual island of venice (we were staying on the mainland, much cheaper). wandered around the winding (read: confusing) streets of the city, ate, feet started hurting, i got crabby, found fantastic gelato, mood improved. pizza for dinner from a tiny hole in the wall, ate standing up outside. headed back to hotel around 9 pm, exhausted.

thursday - up early, breakfast at hotel, checked out, took bus into venice, checked our backpacks at the train station and headed to the main square of venice. went to st. mark's basilica, the correr museum, the doge's palace, and the modern art museum. all interesting, beautiful. more gelato. headed back to the train station to catch a train home around 4 pm. back to varese around 8, dinner at the guizzetti's.

friday - rainy day. went into milan for the day, saw the duomo (huge cathedral, took 500 years to build, fourth largest church in europe), walked on the roof of the duomo. walked around the shopping district a little bit. stopped for a drink. took the train home, got back around 9:30 pm.

saturday - went to lugano, switzerland, with andrew's dad, al (andrew's brother), pat (al's friend), and andrew. walked around lake lugano until it started to rain, window shopped. lugano was really nice, a bit slower paced than italy, beautiful city.

sunday - took a bike ride around lake varese, near andrew's house. rode for almost four hours, stopped for gelato. really beautiful, peaceful bike ride. got back to the house, packed up, showered, ate dinner. headed to the airport around 8 pm.

i had a great time. despite the fact that i barely know any italian, we managed, and andrew was helpful because he had been traveling around italy before i arrived so he knew how to say some things and knew how to get around. there's a lot more of italy that i want to see someday, but we did a lot in the short time i was there. 

now i'm back in cape town, and people are slowly emptying out of our apartments. it's quiet and weird. yesterday a bunch of us sat outside the apartments all afternoon, because it was actually nice outside, and just talked and said goodbye to two people who left yesterday. it was a good day, and reminded me of the beginning of our time here. i'm going to miss these people so much.

today i have my last final at five pm, and then i'm free. i have six days until i leave, which is impossible for me to comprehend. but luckily i have no real plans for those days, so i can do whatever i want, slowly pack/get rid of things that won't fit in my suitcases, do some last minute shopping, etc. 

i'm going to miss cape town a lot. a lot a lot a lot. but i feel ready to go home, in a way that i hadn't felt a few weeks ago. i think staying with the guizzettis brought that on; just being with a family in a real home made me want to see my own family and home. and i miss my friends. and wisconsin and minneapolis. so, i feel ready. 

predation!

yesterday i went shark cage diving with nicole and pujita. i promised mom i wouldn't tell her about it until after i did it, so this is my confession.

we got picked up at 4:30 in the morning (i woke up at 3:45 am... ouch) and drove two hours to the city of gansbaai, which is the apparent great white shark capital of the world; it claims to have the highest concentration of great white sharks in the world. we had breakfast, and then got on a boat along with about a dozen other people. the sun was rising over the harbor, and it was beautiful.

after about ten minutes we reached dyer island, also known as seal island, which is the location they filmed at for the planet earth series. the seals who live on seal island have to swim through a narrow channel each day to go out to find food, and the clever sharks use this to their advantage and hang out near the area to catch seals.

on the way out, we caught sight of a whale blowing through his blowhole, which was pretty awesome. once we got to our location, almost immediately we saw what the workers on the boat called "predation" : a little ways in front of our boat, we could see the thrashing of a shark as it attacked, and presumably ate, a seal. it was insane.

the boat crew continuously dumped nasty fish juices off the side of the boat and dangled dead fish off the end of a rope to attract the sharks. the visibility in the water wasn't great, so we could see more sharks from the boat. we even saw a shark breaching, its huge toothy mouth coming up to try to eat the fish. 

despite the fact that the air and water were freezing, i squeezed myself into a wetsuit and went into the cage that was attached to the side of the boat. i saw two sharks come literally right up to the cage, about two feet from my face; it was incredible.

i think great white sharks get a bad rap, because for all the terror that is associated with them, they really just swam up next to the bait and left as quickly as they came. they didn't "attack," they weren't angry. they just wanted to check out what was going on. it was so awesome to be out on that boat and try to comprehend what was underneath and around us.

winding down

three more days of classes. i can't believe the semester is almost over. but i'm very ready for it to be over. i really enjoy UCT; it's a beautiful school and my classes were interesting for the most part, but i'm tired of it. i guess that's normal. i'm just feeling extremely ready for all of these papers and exams to be out of the way. 

the weather is getting less than great here, also. yesterday it looked like a hurricane outside - extreme winds, rain coming down almost sideways. i'm so thankful that when we first got here back in january, the weather was hot and sunny. i don't think any of us thought that that weather would ever end, though.

i suppose it sounds like i'm sick of it here, but i'm not. things are just winding down and i'm ready for certain things to be over. i'll be home in one month. wow. 

i've gotten so used to it here, with these people, that sometimes when i stop and actually remind myself of all the people i have at home, i get surprised. i'm going to miss everybody here a lot. we've been spending a lot of time in our living room, watching various tv shows on dvd. it sounds lazy, and okay, it kind of is, but it's been a great way for us to spend time together and bond. i like that there are always people around to be lazy with.

we have our interstudy farewell dinner on thursday night. i remember seeing it on the itinerary at the very beginning of the semester, and thinking how far away it seemed. i'm excited for it, though. it'll be good to get everybody together again; there are certain people that i can literally go without seeing for at least a month, even though we all live so close to one another. we're going out for dinner and drinks downtown, and it should be really fun.

i wish i had something more substantial to talk about, but the past few weeks have been pretty monotonous, if you can believe that. i think i've moved so far beyond the honeymoon stage that i feel like this is my real life... and real life sometimes involves writing papers and studying, and being bored once in a while. who would have thought!

i climbed lion's head last week with katelyn and alec; here's a picture of alec and i at the top. there's a 360 degree view at the top of all of cape town; it's fantastic.

!!!!

after much hemming and hawing over what to do during the thirteen day break that i have between my final exams, i came to a conclusion, and bought a plane ticket to italy.

insane? maybe. awesome? definitely. i'm going to visit andrew, who is heading there in a week and will be in europe until august. so, although it's a long flight, it's kind of perfect, and i'm insanely excited. i leave may 30th and get back june 8th, and then i'll have one more final on june 10th, and still have a few days to kill before i leave for the states on june 16th. 

my goal for this semester, clearly, is to go for broke, and i plan on having the time of my life while i spend a lifetime's worth of babysitting/bartending/coffeemaking money. life is good.

in other news, nicole went back to america for a week, and got back last night laden with poptarts, gushers, and mini-boxes of american cereal for us. awesome. honey nut cheerios? yes please. we were embarassingly excited about it all.

nothing is really happening, but:

i finally joined a gym here, so hopefully i can become a real person again and get in okay shape before i come home. being on a five-month vacation = gainage of party poundage. ew.

i have four big papers due in the next two and a half weeks, so apparently now is when i have to start doing real work. it's not fun, but i guess it's a small price to pay for the experience i've had here.

some of my friends (jen, sara) are home already and it's kind of weird. i'm glad i have some more time here, but there are definitely certain things that i'm really starting to miss about america. namely,

my coffee maker

efficiency

panera

coffees larger than 12 ounces

fahrenheit

being able to walk around by myself safely

driving/my car

television.

it's fall here, and leaves are changing colors. wrap your head around that.

andrew got world cup tickets, surprisingly, and i'm jealous. i hope he actually makes it here next june, because it's going to be insanely fun and crazy here.

feliz cinco de mayo! i'm going to go to the gym now with katrina and then make some mexican food. adios.

extended weekend in kwazulu-natal

yesterday i got back from a looong weekend in durban and the drakensberg mountains with katrina and nicole. we had a really great time and it was good to get out and see some more of south africa.

in durban, we went to a market, had indian food, went to a beach, saw a great band play, and met some cool people both when we were out and at our hostel. durban is a cool city in some regards, but it was kind of overwhelming at times and difficult to figure out where the "good places" were to hang out. luckily we had some advice so we weren't totally lost, but the city just doesn't seem as tourist-friendly as cape town is. i guess we're spoiled here, but i'm really glad that i'm studying in cape town. i think it's good when traveling confirms for you that you are happy with where you live. 

our time in the drakensberg was the highlight of our trip. we rented a car, and after getting lost for ONE HOUR around durban, trying to find the highway in order to get OUT of the city (i was driving... a slightly stressful situation), we finally were on our way. the drive was beautiful and scenic, through mountains and valleys. our hostel was nice and it was therapeutic to get out of the city for a while.

on saturday we went through the sani pass into lesotho, the "mountain kingdom." the drive up was insanely rough and bumpy, but gorgeous. after the final treacherous ascent, we finally made it up into lesotho, where it was significantly colder than it was at our hostel and also raining. 

we only saw a tiny bit of lesotho, but i'm so glad we visited. the village at the top was simply a handful of circular huts, and there are sheep and shepherds strewn about. as a sort of coming-of-age ritual, teenage boys are sent out to be shepherds, by themselves, with their flock, for about six months. they then return to their homes for six months and the cycle continues. some of them choose to pursue different careers once they're adults, but some of them choose to become shepherds full-time. their lives are so incredibly different than ours, and different than anything you can find in the U.S. the country seems to be untouched; it is completely secluded up in the mountains.

before heading down again, we stopped at the highest pub in africa. outside it was dreary and cold, but inside i was surprised to find an entirely different atmosphere - it felt like a warm, cozy ski resort, full of people and guitar-playing and happiness. i could have stayed there all day, but (kind of) unfortunately we had to descend back into south africa.

in all, it was a fun trip. it felt good to get back to cape town, though. i always feel that way, which is a good thing.

the bestest of the besties

long time no write. mom and marie left last night, and are actually still traveling right now. it's so weird to think that since they left i've gone to sleep, woken up and had a whole day of classes and homework, yet they're still en route to wisconsin. 

we had a really great time. we did so many different things: a trip to botswana & zambia, a weekend in stellenbosch, kirstenbosch botanical gardens, kalk bay, camps bay, clifton beach, a drive to cape point, hout bay & the world of birds (africa's largest bird park and yes it is as creepy as it sounds)... and they did robben island and the city bus tour on their own. and probably more things that i can't remember. anyway, my point is that we did a lot, and although it was exhausting at times it was good because it forced me to get out and do things that i had wanted to do anyway. and of course it was great to have them here and spend waaay too much time together. i think marie's going to need some serious friend time when she gets home.

it's cold here today! upper 60s today, probably in the 50s right now. at home, we would be busting out the shorts and sandals for this weather, but here, people wear winter jackets and we complain about how freezing we are. i guess fall has begun, and i'm just hoping the rain holds off for a while. we are all totally not prepared for this weather, so i think a fall-clothing shopping spree is in order soon.

on wednesday i'm heading to durban with katrina and nicole. we're staying two nights on the beach in durban, and then going into the drakensburg mountains which are a couple of hours away. we're going to hike and hopefully get into lesotho as well. i'm really excited and happy that we're going, because i'm not sure if i'd make it through an entire week of classes this week. wow am i a complainer.

i apologize for the fact that this entry is really mundane, but i'm not sure what else to say, which is ironic since the past three weeks have been packed full of activities... but i don't really feel like recapping our trips and whatnot. even though i sound bored, i'm completely not, and i'm very very happy. i had some much-needed mom and sister time, and now i get to get back to some much-needed friend time. life is good.

ubuntu: i am because we are

a group of us have started volunteering at an organization called ubuntu africa. it was started by an american girl who studied abroad here only a few years ago; while she was here, she volunteered at an orphanage and fell in love with it so much that she came back to start this new organization on her own, which is incredibly brave and admirable. ubuntu africa is located in khayletisha, a township about a half an hour outside of cape town; khayletisha is the largest township in cape town, with between 500,000 to one million people and is by far one of the most poverty-stricken and dangerous areas in the area. driving in, all you see are miles and miles of shacks.

ubuntu africa is a center for HIV positive kids; there are currently 42 kids who are a part of the program, but over 200 are on the waiting list. there are 240,000 children infected with AIDS in south africa alone, and over 80% of them do not have access to the anti-retroviral medication that they need. the majority of the children at ubuntu have lost one or both parents to AIDS; some of their parents have been murdered, and a shocking proportion of the children have been infected with HIV through rape, sometimes by their own father.

ubuntu africa provides health care and counseling to HIV positive children and their families, but it focuses specifically on improving the well-being of the children in all aspects, not just medically. ubuntu is a place for the kids to come and play, be with their friends, and get the attention that they are so desperately lacking at home. they are picked up from school and brought to the center, which is simply a church that is rented out by the center. the children are fed dinner each day by ubuntu; this may be the one real meal they receive all day.

we've started visiting once a week, and have brought the kids toys and coloring books; last week we brought music, and you'd be impressed with how well these tiny kids can dance and how many of them know every word to beyonce songs, even if they speak limited english. we've also discovered a small abandoned house next door to the center that we're planning on painting, furnishing, and converting into a hang-out place for the older kids; this will give them a fun place hang out together, away from the little kids. we're also going to clean up the yard so the kids can play outside safely.

every time i visit, i am struck by the excitement and positive energy that radiates out of these children. they are always excited to see us, and are full of love and hugs and laughs. sometimes i step back and think about what is actually going on both inside their bodies and inside their homes, and it literally knocks the wind out of me. despite the illness that is ravaging their bodies and their families, they just want to be loved and have fun.

i encourage you to visit ubuntu africa's website. i know that times are tight, but if you find it in your heart to make a donation of any size, the money would go an incredibly long way here. the organization is young and needs funds in order to grow; my friends and i, specifically, need money to fix up the house for the teenagers. even if a donation isn't feasible, i urge you to read about the organization and about the AIDS epidemic. education is important. people need to know what is going on here, especially because of the lack of initiative both by the government here and by others around the world.

eunice

eunice is our cleaning lady. at first, she came on tuesdays. lately she's been coming on tuesdays, or wednesdays, or thursdays... or maybe both wednesday and thursday, if she doesn't get it all done in one day. eunice cleans our main rooms, but not our bedrooms. she cleans the bathtub, but more importantly, she organizes all of our shampoos and conditioners and shaving creams, etc., around the tub into neat rows and clusters. it seems that she organizes these things according to who she thinks uses what. 

most of eunice's time is spent on our couch. i'll wake up, and she'll be sitting on our couch reading our magazines. i say hi, she says hi, and then she goes back to reading. last week i came home and eunice was sitting outside at our patio table, chatting with a friend. she often makes tea for herself. she keeps her lunch in various peoples' refrigerators, and not necessarily in the refrigerators of the apartments she is cleaning that day, so she's bound to come into any apartment at any time on any day.

one of my friends walked into her apartment to find eunice sprawled on the couch. her shirt was folded up, revealing her large stomach, and her wig was sitting next to her on the couch. when she saw my friend, she said "ahhh, it's so hottttt..." how do you respond to that? yes, it is hot indeed, however i'd feel more comfortable if you put your wig back on your head and put your shirt down while you're sitting on my couch.

this just exemplifies the work ethic here. i'm not implying that people don't have a work ethic, or that they're lazy, but the idea of time and productivity is so different. in the united states, a person would get paid by the hour and they would have to get a certain amount of houses or rooms cleaned per day. obviously, eunice has no such guidelines, because she does a little work, makes some tea, talks to her friend, reads the newspaper, organizes our shampoo, maybe cleans the floor, sits down to rest, watches soap operas on our tv, eats her lunch... she literally hangs out in our apartment for hours and hours. i find it hilarious. her outlook on work is just amusing to me.

in other news, we were ecstatic to discover that the tv show 30 rock is on here, mondays at 7:30, so i'm looking forward to that tonight. we also got a dvd player and new speakers, which has revolutionized the way we hang out here. i love our apartment. it's become a central location for people to hang out since people are always passing by or through.

i've been eating a mango or papaya a day. mangos are fifty cents here and delicious. it's awesome.

nicole, katrina and i booked flights to durban for the end of april. very excited. must start planning things to do/place to stay.

the pope has been traipsing around africa lately, and i think that this is maybe the worst advice that anyone can give africa right now.

it hit the upper sixties here last week, and people were wearing ugg boots and sweaters. really?!

free falling

sorry sorry sorry for the lack of writing lately. however, i (surprise surprise) have a lot of reading and essay writing to be doing now, so of course i'm taking a break to finally update you on my life.

first and foremost - i went SKYDIVING today! skydiving has honestly something i've wanted to do for as long as i can remember, and i'm so glad i can cross it off my list. also, i want to do it again. it was so incredible. first off, the view was amazing - the skydiving place was located about forty minutes up the northern coast from cape town, so the view included table mountain, the city from a distance, and the entire coast for miles and miles. somehow, i wasn't scared or nervous at all, even during the twenty minutes it took the tiny plane to ascend 9,000 feet before we actually jumped. then, they opened the side door and i (strapped to the instructor) inched towards the door, until he was sitting on the edge and my entire body was hanging out of the open plane door (the scariest part, i think). next thing i knew, we were falling towards the ground. it was insane. i couldn't stop smiling the entire time. we free fell for about 30 seconds, and then the parachute opened and we floated down for about four minutes. it was such a high, and i absolutely loved it.

yesterday we had an interstudy excursion all day. we started out going to the district six museum - district six is an area in cape town that used to be filled with houses, but during apartheid, the houses were literally bulldozed down (because blacks and colored people lived there) and the people were forcibly removed from their houses and moved into townships. the area remains mainly desolate today, as most of the people who used to live there haven't returned. the museum was beautifully put together and interesting, but we only had a half an hour there so i didn't get to see as much as i'd like to, and i'd like to go back.

next, we went to langa township, where we took a tour led by our tour guide who is from langa. it was really eye-opening, as it was my first time in a township. as a whole, it wasn't in as poor of shape as you might expect, but it is still in stark contrast to anywhere else i've seen. most of the buildings are pretty run down, and the families live in pretty close quarters. our interstudy leader, ouma, gave us candy to give to the kids of the township. it is unbelievable how exciting this was for them, and how aggressive most of them were when it came to getting candy. they literally swarmed. the kids were so adorable, but it was really hard for me to look at them without flashing forward to their future, and what it might or might not hold for them. their experiences are so completely different from anything i've ever had to deal with. the whole setup of the township warrants a double-take, but then when you step back and think about why the township actually arose in the first place, it's almost unfathomable. many of the people who were forced to move there in previous decades were moved by the government because they were thought to be harboring contagious illnesses. 

the government is now building a series of "better" homes in the township, in the area along the highway. they hope to have them completed by 2010 so that when swarms of tourists come to the country for the world cup, that's what they'll see. despite the poor conditions, and the sad history, the township somehow wasn't as devastating as i thought it would be. as poor as some of them are, the people are resourceful and most seem happy. many of them have been given chances to move out of the townships, but they want to stay because they've developed a strong sense of community there. the kids that play in the streets are watched over by everybody, and because of the small sizes of the houses, people are outside talking to each other all the time. 

we left the township and proceeded on to robben island, an island about 12 kilometers off the shore of cape town that houses the prison where nelson mandela and other political prisoners were held during apartheid. our tour was led by an ex-political prisoner who spent seven years of his life at robben island. it was pretty amazing, and surreal to see it all - for example, there is a limestone quarry on the island where the prisoners were forced to dig rocks out and move them from place to place. after years of work, the limestone dust accumulated in their lungs, and the brightness of the light reflecting off the rocks led most of the prisoners to have permanent eye damage (flash photography isn't allowed to be used when nelson mandela speaks, for this reason). despite this, the prisoners secretly taught each other to read during their years toiling under the sun. to look at that quarry and try to grasp that nelson mandela himself had stood in that spot and secretly taught other political prisoners to read while performing manual labor for years on end was unbelievable.

it was a long day, but it was one of the most worthwhile days i've had here in a while. it was good to get out and actually see some things of historical and cultural significance. there is so much more i want to see and do here. and that is where my love of list-making comes into play.

mowbray mansions

here are some pictures of where i live:

the view from outside our door

our glorious entryway

my room

our main room

my room again

our kitchen

bathroom

my room take three

nothing special, but it works. and now you can all stop conjuring up images of the palace that i live in.

procrastination exists, even here

i'm sitting at cocoa wah-wah (our favorite restaurant/cafe, in case you have forgotten) with the intention of starting one of my two papers that are due next week, but have decided to procrastinate a bit. i love that the only time i really feel an urge to write in this is when i should be doing something school-related.

this morning a few of us went to a farmers market nearby. we went last week as well, and it is amazing. it's a very white, upper-middle class, birkenstock-wearing, dads-carrying-babies-in-frontpacks, organic vibe, full of people who regularly eat oysters and brie. so it's not at all an "african market," but i love it. there are millions of samples, and you can also get great food (i got a falafel sandwich today), and things are relatively inexpensive. there are also a lot of cute boutiques and other overpriced stores right next to the market that we went into today, all of which i love. i'm a sucker for farmers markets, and plan to go pretty much every saturday to restock on couscous, cheese, fruit (today i got figs and strawberries), etc.

the girls here are, in my opinion, unbelievably gorgeous and i am fascinated by them. there is definitely a type of south african white girl here: skinny, blonde, tan, fresh-faced, wearing an adorable belted dress and gladiator sandals. there are obviously many types of people here, and i find it difficult to read or accomplish anything on campus because i get so wrapped-up in people watching and eavesdropping on others' conversations. even now, writing this, i look up and around me after every sentence. hence the difficulty doing homework.

last night we went to an awesome bar called assembly, which is in an old warehouse in the city. from the outside it looks like an abandoned industrial building, but it's really fun inside. thursday night we went to hemisphere, which is a bar on the top floor of the ABSA (the south african bank) building downtown. since it's on the top floor, you can see the entire city and the ocean (hence the name hemisphere) from the windows that line every wall of the bar. there are so many places to go out here, and while it's fun to find certain places to fall back on, i really am enjoying trying out new places.

with that in mind, i'm kind of itching to do some more traveling. it's sort of difficult here, because there aren't really good trains to take, and driving to other major cities (durban, johannesburg, port elizabeth) takes a while. but i'm hoping to take a long weekend sometime soon and go somewhere else for a few days. 

my friend katelyn is having two friends from home here for a week, starting today, and i'm extremely jealous. we were talking about how surreal it is that people from her other life at home are suddenly going to be part of her life here for a little while, and those two lives are so completely separate and different, but now they're going to be bridged. it makes the world feel a lot smaller.

lately we've been making fun of where we live (mowbray) quite a bit. as much as i like our apartments, and generally don't feel unsafe, it's really funny when you step back and look at what we've gotten used to: the flattened rat that has been plastered to the middle of the road for about a week now; the pair of underwear on the sidewalk; the cracked-out man sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk this afternoon; the constant yelling from the minibus workers; the homeless woman who daily pours an entire bag of breadcrumbs on the sidewalk for the annoying pigeons; the cat, dubbed "street kitten," who lives somewhere on the premises, has a possessed look in its eyes, and is constantly covered in dirt; the elusive techno music that is always, always wafting into my open windows from somewhere; the fact that i witness and am not fazed by any of this on my way to the 7-11, which, by the way, is our saving grace, as i go there at least once a day for something or another. the 7-11 isn't supposed to sell alcohol after 5 pm or on sundays, but during these off-hours, they'll oh-so-sneakily put the wine in a bag for you, and then it's okay. i love it.

i can never think of a good title

this afternoon a few girls and i went to kirstenbosch botanical gardens, about ten minutes where we live, because each sunday night they have a concert there. it was absolutely gorgeous; the gardens are nestled into the side of the mountain, and there are huge trees everywhere - i felt like i was in the domes or something, it just seemed unreal. we had a picnic and sat on our blankets listening to the cape philharmonic orchestra. there were an unbelievable amount of people there, and it was a great place for people-watching. i definitely want to go back and walk around the actual gardens sometime soon.

on friday i was sitting outside on campus waiting for my next class to start, and started talking to some south african boys. highlights from the convo: they feel that america is the land of opportunity, and would love to live there someday -  "i want to move to california, because if the terminator can be governor, then i can be whatever i want there." also, he wanted to move to new york city and find himself a family like the darlings on "dirty sexy money" (the tv show). they were really nice, and it's funny to hear the talk that south africans launch into once they know that you're from america. i told the boys that if they go to america, all the girls will love their accents and in turn love them; they were really surprised and excited by this information. but i said it because it's true.

i don't really have a lot of news to report. i'm enjoying a lazy sunday night. here's one of the top ten most e-mailed articles on the new york times website right now: bagging bargains in cape town, south africa.

finally putting the "study" in "study abroad"

i finally started classes today! i know, what have i been doing for the past month? vacation, that's what. i realize this is unfair, but now i am finally beginning the studying part of my study abroad experience.

my classes:

- religions past and present

- making of the modern middle east

- africa: making of a continent to 1800

- the new millenium in historical perspective

i had all four of them today, and although it was just the introductory, handing-out-the-syllabi day, they all seemed really interesting and i'm eager to start getting into the material. i think i'm excited mostly because they are all classes unlike any i have taken in college, since i take primarily science classes at home. it kind of makes me wonder, because although i love my nutrition major, i'm so interested in so many other areas... which i guess is good, but i always feel like there's some other path i'd like to take as well.

today in each of my classes i noticed how aware everybody is of the united states. what i mean by that is that my professors mention the united states frequently, either because they're talking about certain universities, or policies, or presidents, or historical/current events. the US just comes up in conversation quite frequently here. it struck me that because i'm from the US, people all over the world are familiar with the issues going on in my home country, but the reverse is generally not true. i then tried to imagine what it would be like to be from a more obscure country and study in a more developed country; even if a south african came to the united states, it would be rare for them to be in an american class in which an american professor frequently brought up south african issues, unless the class dealt specifically with africa.

it made me feel kind of selfish, kind of narrow-minded, kind of spoiled, because no matter where i go, people are familiar with my country. on the flip side, i (unfortunately) know very little about current south african politics or other issues, and that makes me feel like a stereotypical american, one who expects everyone else to know about them but doesn't know anything about anybody else. this is basically one of the primary reasons i wanted so badly to study in another country, to learn more about other parts of the world and get a different perspective on life in general. 

i'm not worried about me, because i know that the time i spend here is going to inevitably give me a more well-rounded perspective on certain things. the most fascinating thing to me is to look at america from this angle; to see what others see, how america affects other countries all the time, and how we, as US citizens, don't even realize it. this is a very preliminary observation, i realize, and maybe my opinions on this will change, but it's really struck me so far.

on the last page of the syllabus for my "making of the modern middle east" class is a picture of bush ducking when the shoe was thrown at him.

the garden route: it's out of season

ahh, where to begin.

our road trip down the garden route was unbelievably fun. we left early sunday morning, figured out how to drive, got on the N2 highway, and drov

e. the entire trip was down N2, which made things incredibly easy. the first night we stayed in knysna, which is a small town but a popular destination on the water. we were told repeatedly throughout our trip that we were visiting in the off-season, so many things were much quieter than they would have been a month ago, which is the peak of summer and the travel season. so knysna was pretty quiet. we stayed in an awesome hostel called highfield backpackers, and the five of us girls shared a big room. after we got into our room, we asked the owner of the hostel what to do, and ended up going down to this secluded and amazing beach on the indian ocean... there were green mountains behind us, the water was warm in front of us, the sand was unbelievably soft, and there were small castles nestled into the mountainside. it was great. we went to dinner later, and then came back and sat around a bonfire at the hostel. we talked to a young couple from wales who quit their jobs and are spending a year traveling - a month in south africa, then new zealand and australia, india, malaysia, thailand, japan, etc... it sounded incredible. i can't overemphasize how much i admire people who do things like that.

the next morning we kayaked down the knysna river, where we were supposed to see animals, but of course the animals were out of season as well. actually, i think it was more because of the weather, but we only saw a few birds. oh, and some cows. but it was really pretty and relaxing nonetheless.

after that, we got back in the car and headed to tsitsikamma, where we ziplined through the forests and over waterfalls - well, there were supposed to be waterfalls, but those were dried up and out of season as well. after ziplining, we headed to our own private chalet in the mountains. for $10 a night, we stayed in this incredible chalet with two bathrooms, plenty of beds, a TV that actually received channels, a large kitchen, and a back deck that looked out on the mountains. it was great. we showered, changed, and proceeded to sit outside and relax all night with our guacamole, cheese, and nutella. it was quiet and wonderful.

the next morning we drove a little over an hour to jeffrey's bay, which is the surfing capital of the world; the billabong pro, a huge surfing competition, is held there each year. our hostel there, called island vibe, was packed with incredibly awesome surfers. it was my favorite hostel, right on the indian ocean, and we had two rooms between the five of us. we did some shopping in town and got lunch, and then katelyn and jill had a surfing lesson. naima, nicole and i intended to head down to the beach to watch them and take pictures of them being awesome, but we somehow never made it past the bar in the hostel... we sat down to have a beer, and ended up talking to the tubular bartenders for a while, and one beer turned into three... you know how it goes. it was an incredibly chill place to hang out for an afternoon.

after our afternoon at the bar, we got ready and headed to meet the boys for dinner. the five guys who we had initially planned on going on this trip with were in jeffrey's bay as well, so we met them at a fantastic seafood restaurant. we had a great meal, went to another bar for a while, and then went back to the condo they were staying at. they were on their own private beach, so we walked down through the sand dunes onto the beach and made a bonfire. it was absolutely perfect. the moon was out over the ocean, the waves were crashing onto the beach, and we just sat around the fire... until it started to rain, which prompted us to head inside.

the next day, things started unraveling. our intention was to stay another night in jeffrey's bay and go to addo elephant park, but we woke up to heavy rain (our first real experience with rain in south africa... great timing). we called the park, and they told us that people hadn't been seeing animals on the tours that had already gone out that day. so, unfortunately, we decided that it wasn't worth the hour and a half drive to the park. by this time we were all kind of tired and the weather was cramping our style, so, after much indecisiveness, we decided to head home a day early.

on the way home we stopped at knysna elephant park, which was much less authentic than addo would have been, but was neat nonetheless. knysna was the the original location of  one of the few elephant herds in south africa, and it's now a sort of sanctuary for orphaned and other elephants. i've decided that elephant trunks are incredibly bizarre body parts. feeding the elephants was cool, but messy. after feeding we just kind of hung out with them - the park was really beautiful, and it was so amazing to see elephants up close because i really think they're one of my favorite animals. even though i do want to slather lotion all over them.

we found ourselves surprisingly excited to get back home to mowbray on wednesday night. it felt good to be back. we had an incredible trip; even though it didn't go exactly as planned, i laughed harder than i have in a very long time, and dozens of new inside jokes were formed. it was good to have a vacation from our vacation.

TIA

chaos erupted this morning. my life here has been extremely peaceful and vacation-like, but today was intensely different. let me back up.

since we have a few days off before classes start on the 13th, a lot of people are going on trips. we decided to go on the garden route, which is a scenic drive along the southern coast of south africa; there are a lot of things to do along the way, such as elephant parks, nature reserves, bungee jumping, shark diving, etc. long story short, we thought that we reserved two rental cars last night, but i realized late last night that the rental place wasn't open on the weekends, so the request didn't go through. i woke up at eight this morning in a panic, knowing that nine of us were supposed to go on a road trip tomorrow but we had no cars. 

five of us girls spent literally six hours today frantically calling every car rental place we could google, to no avail. apparently parliament opened yesterday (what does that mean? i don't know.) and that means that there are no rental cars to be found in cape town. not only that, but most of the cars here are manual and none of us girls can drive manual, and also many places require you to be 23 years old to rent a car. all of these obstacles lead to us calling literally dozens and dozens of places, begging for an automatic car that we could pick up tomorrow. i can't even explain the chaotic scene of my flat today - we rolled out of bed and spent the day with our laptops cemented to our laps, cellphones in hand, using up all of our prepaid cell phone minutes and internet to try to find a way to go on a road trip. we eventually found a place, and are going to pick up the car and leave at eight in the morning tomorrow from the airport. moral of the story: plan ahead.

i just realized that this is the worst story ever, but i can't put into words the franticness of the day, and i'm still exhausted and have to pack. we're going to be gone for four nights, and i'm so excited. it's just five of us girls going now, as the boys decided to go a different route (drama ensued, but i won't get into that).  i'm really looking forward to seeing some new areas, and we're staying in some hostels and inns that look really cool (and cheap).

a large majority of our program has become pretty close in the past weeks, and i'm loving it. we don't necessarily know each person really well (there hasn't been time yet), but we all hang out pretty regularly. i feel really comfortable around almost everybody in our program, and i love it. a couple of days ago we spent the entire day sitting in the dirt courtyard outside of the apartment building across the street, talking and eating and laughing. it was a perfect day - we weren't rushing around or spending money or anything that we usually do. others in interstudy would walk past, and come and hang out for a while; people came and went, and it was perfect. two nights ago we sat around drinking wine in our sweatpants and pajamas, and that was also perfect. 

i absolutely love the setup of our living situation here; i can't imagine living in a flat by myself or secluded from others. whenever i want to know what's going on, i just stick my head over the fence or walk around to other flats, and people are always around. at the same time though, i enjoy the privacy of having my own room and a flat with only two other roommates.

techno music is always playing here. seriously. at nine in the morning i wake up to someone blaring it out in the streets; it's on in restaurants, and it's on right now in our south african neighbors' yard. it's kind of a running joke among us, that no matter where you are, techno music will play at some point. i don't get it.

in the movie "blood diamond," leonardo dicaprio says "T.I.A.," meaning This Is Africa, several times throughout the movie. someone said it here at the beginning of the trip, and it's totally caught on; we say it now several times a day when something happens that is particularly african, usually something that we're not used to and that would only happen here. 

examples of TIA:

- techno music playing all the time

- cars not yielding to pedestrians whatsoever

- the fact that you never get water served to you at restaurants, and if you ask for water, you'll get a tiny glass of it after about a half an hour of waiting

- the fact that servers at restaurants take an extraordinarily long time to serve anything in general

- the fact that we have to open four locks in order to get into our flats

- despite this, laptops still get stolen out of windows

- when my friend alec pointed out to the landlord a particular location at which someone could easily jump over the fence into our yard, the landlord told him that there is a plant in africa that is "particularly unpleasant" to touch and that he will put that plant in that place so that people will be discouraged from jumping over the fence

- the insane driving of the minibus taxis and their blatant disregard for other traffic or pedestrians

i will no doubt add to this list as my trip goes on. i'm off to go figure out how we get from the airport to the highway, and figure out who's going to start off driving, which terrifies me, since it's on the other side of the road and none of us have any idea how to get around the city. back in five days!

miscellaneous thoughts

- the music they play here, at bars and clubs particularly, is hilarious to us americans. they play a lot of stuff that is popular in america right now, but they also play a wide selection of music that most of us haven't heard since middle school dances, as well as random old songs (such as bryan adams' "summer of '69," which i've heard twice now on the dance floor). it makes for really fun dancing, because you literally never know what's going to come on next: rap, punk rock, techno, a little YMCA action?

- all the other americans from different programs are here now, and we are total snobs about them because we've been here for longer than they have. we keep complaining about how many american students are walking around (because they really are everywhere in our area) and repeatedly tell ourselves and each other that we are way more awesome and attractive than they are. i met a couple kids who go to madison, and apparently there are a lot more madison kids here, but i haven't had the stamina to play the "do you know [name of friend]?" game with them yet because i know too many madison people to even know where to start.

- it really is astounding how quickly i began to feel like a local here. that's not to say that there aren't times when i feel like a total visitor who doesn't know what's going on, but most of the time i feel like i've been here forever. i was barely even fazed yesterday when katrina and i wrestled ourselves and our four bags of groceries each into an already cram-packed minibus taxi in order to get home; it's simply what we do. i then literally stepped over a homeless man and his bags in order to go pick up my laundry at the laundromat (which, as a side note, is pretty awesome - they wash, dry, and fold your laundry for you... SCORE). all in a day's work.

- i'm coming to realize that first impressions are very often not correct; as i'm getting to know the others in my program better, i'm finding that i really like a lot of the people that i initially thought i had nothing in common with. i think i was slightly intimidated by a lot of them, maybe because they go to prestigious schools, or because they are mainly all from the east coast and are familiar with the same areas and have mutual friends. i've found, however, that people are just people, and as i spend more time with them, i realize that i like them more than i thought i would. maybe i just have a bad habit of judging the character of people too quickly, and that's something that i should work on. whatever it is, i'm finding that as we all warm up to each other, good things are happening.

- i'm being very cautious and smart about security, but i feel like it's kind of inevitable that stuff is going to get stolen here. we were at la med (outdoor bar/club on the beach) two nights ago, and there was literally a pickpocket in our midst, because three of the people i was with got their phones stolen, and one wallet stolen. charlie got his phone stolen out of his pocket, which shows you how gutsy people are. i have a zippered clutch purse that i bring out with me, and it never leaves my hand, and i've started only bringing cash and my id with me when i go out, to avoid the hassle of stolen cards. i'm crossing my fingers.

- yesterday we had to take the absolute worst test of my life (okay, maybe an exaggeration, but it was excruciatingly annoying). we had to take an english proficiency test in the middle of the afternoon. why, you ask? we don't know. apparently it's for purely statistical reasons, but it was like the ACT and the entire thing was about south african crafts. the lead-up to the test was the worst because nobody knew what was going on and the proctor spent too much time showing us how to fill in a test bubble completely.

- plans that are in the works right now: skydiving, shark cage diving, and a road trip down the garden route (a scenic drive along the south african coast that's supposed to be beautiful and full of places to stop and do things like go to elephant parks and whatnot). i'm beyond excited for all of these things.

at peace

yesterday was perfect. i went to my (so far) favorite restaurant, cocoa wah-wah, with friends for lunch; we sat outside, and the adorable waitress who has served us a few times now introduced herself and asked us our names because she knew that we had come in before. we had a leisurely, delicious meal, sitting outside and laughing. we recognized a flock of americans we hadn't seen before and talked to them for a big - the kids in CIEE, another study abroad program, got here a day or two ago, and there are 150 of them, so we've been seeing more students on the street. talking to them made us feel like locals, as we explained what we already knew about the area and the restaurant.. and then when they asked us how long we'd been here, and we said a week and a half, we got a reality check. it really does feel like we've been here for so much longer than that.

after lunch, we did some shopping. we went to claremont mall, which is about two miles away, and is absolutely huge and glorious. i got some sandals, a purse, and bracelets; i'm going to have to reign in my spending soon, but i just keep discovering things i need here that i didn't bring, or didn't bring enough of.

we then headed to camps bay to watch the sunset and have dinner. camps bay is an absolutely gorgeous beach in a very affluent area of cape town; bruce willis has a house there. gorgeous houses fill the side of the mountain overlooking the bay and along the main road there are numerous restaurants and cafes. the view of the sunset was perfect, and about seven of us sat on huge rocks and silently, peacefully watched the perfectly cloudless sky as the sun sank into the atlantic ocean. i can't remember the last time i focused all my attention on watching the sun set.

at eight, we met three others and went to dinner. we had a long, leisurely meal that included numerous bottles of wine, appetizers, a main course, and coffee. i still can't get over the prices here; even in camps bay, which is an upscale area, we paid about twenty american dollars for this entire meal. and i tried two new foods: oysters (which i liked a lot) and chicken liver pate (which is disgusting in theory, actually not too bad in reality, but i wouldn't order it myself).

i had such a feeling of peace and contentment while sitting there at dinner; there was nothing else in the world that i could or should have been doing besides sitting right there, enjoying the company of these new friends, boys and girls from all over who i am learning more about each day. i think calmly watching the sun set beforehand set the stage for an all around beautiful night; it makes me wonder how my life would be if i could do that each and every night.

we then went to long street, which is indeed a very long, main street in downtown cape town. it's kind of the place to be on a weekend night, just absolutely packed with people and cars and bars everywhere. we met up with some other kids from our program and just hung out for a while, nothing too crazy, but a good time, and i even got two pool balls in the holes (there must be a better, correct term for that) in row, which is a feat for me.

all night i just felt very in the moment, which i think is actually rare for me in my usual life; i feel like i'm always thinking ahead or behind, contemplating something that happened or that will happen, rather than being present. i think it's rare for most people to be absolutely, completely, enjoying what is happening at that very moment in their lives. so that's where i was, and it felt good.

we live in a beautiful world

i am currently laying on my stomach on my bed in my room, enjoying a relaxing, lazy day of basically nothing. i ran a few errands this morning in rondebosch, which is the town down the street from where we live (we live in mowbray). basically anything you'd need is in rondebosch, or at at least the necessities - several grocery stores (of varying price, quality, and scariness), pharmacies, a few clothing stores, restaurants, etc. then i spent a few hours at a restaurant to have lunch and try to use their free wi-fi, although it was pretty spotty and i ended up reading a book i bought instead. it's a beautiful day.

yesterday we went to a rugby game, which was pretty cool. i'm still a little unclear about the whole situation of rugby in general - we were watching the a cape town team, but i'm not sure if there's a national team as well... and i tried to learn the rules as we were watching, but it's pretty much just chaos and a lot guys running straight into each other. it really does make football look like child's play; when somebody got hurt, they would usually not even stop the game, but rather just keep playing and eventually someone would come over to check out the guy laying on the ground.

at night, my friend katelyn made dinner for a few of us at katrina's house, and then we went out to la med, which is a bar/club in clifton, which is an affluent area on the other side of table mountain. it was a completely awesome place, all open-air and a lot of room to sit or mingle outside; it's right on the beach, had a live band for part of the night, and was full of a lot of attractive, beachy (is that an adjective?) people. it was a ton of fun, but now (as per usual) i'm really tired, and i also have a cold or something of the sort... several other girls have strep throat already - i think we're all just run down and getting used to the new surroundings. that's about all i have for now. 

ps - happy birthday marie!

table mountain hike...aka hardest event of my life

it's saturday morning, and i'm sitting in my bed listening to music and the noise from the apartment building next door. i just skyped with emma for a little bit; it still blows my mind that i can see her and we can basically talk as if we were right there with each other. i realized that skype is really expensive, though, because it uses a lot of credits - the internet here is pay as you go, and you pay for how many megabytes you upload and download.. so a two way video chat uses up a lot. this is something that i think i'm just going to deal with, though, because i don't want to fall off the face of the earth and i want to keep up with what everyone's doing. i'm just going to have to budget my internet time.

yesterday we hiked up and down table mountain. the view was absolutely gorgeous - i took a million pictures, and once we finally got to the top you could see everything - ocean on either side, downtown, robben island, mountains and water as far as the eye could see. we were standing on the highest point in cape town. the hike itself, though, was extremely intense. i don't think any of us were ready for it, and there were some extremely steep parts on the way up that were rocky and we were basically pulling ourselves up with our hands. unbeknownst to us, though, the way down was the hardest - there were "steps" of rock that were extremely steep and completely uneven and dangerous. we descended that way for at least an hour, and my legs were shaking like crazy because we had been hiking for seven hours. it was worth it, and i'm glad i did it, but we were all exhausted afterwards. and fairly sunburnt as well.

after we came back and laid down and then showered, four other girls and some of the boys and i went out to dinner at a place in rondebosch, a few blocks from where we live, called cocoa wah-wah. it was surprisingly really good; it was small and modern and we had a really nice waiter. despite the stereotypes and the crime that is apparent, most south africans are really nice and friendly. it's also interesting because the restaurant served breakfast, lunch, and coffee drinks, as well as a complete drink menu... a very south african thing.

after that, the mentors threw a party at the apartment next to mine for all of us, which was fun. everyone was too tired to go out, so we just hung out around here which was really nice, and i got to talk to several more people that i really hadn't talked to before. everyone is generally pretty nice and just wants to have a good time and enjoy their stay here, and it's interesting getting to know people. it's going to take a while to establish firmer friendships, that's natural - this entire experience reminds me of freshman year. everybody is just happy and crazy now, because we have so much time before school starts, so everyone wants to go out and drink a lot and everyone is trying to meet as many people as they can. but i feel like as time goes on and we develop a more set routine in our lives, things will change... both situations are good. i'm just enjoying it all right now.

today we're going to the beach, so it'll be nice to have a relaxing, horizontal day after our experience yesterday. i think i'm going to go look through some of my guide books now, because i'm trying to get a better handle on where we are and plot out a map of cape town in my head. i'm so bad with directions.

time to breathe

ahhh. the past few days have been a blur, with so much activity and no time to just sit. which is what i'm finally doing now.

last night our mentors rounded us up and sent us out in taxis to the bars. we went to observatory street, which seems to be where the college campus-type bars are. we had a really good time, went to a few different places and ended up at an awesome bar with a room that had sand as its floor and also a room with some crazy techno music playing. 

this morning was rough, however, as we all did not get enough sleep and were woken up to go to another orientation session. it was fairly brief; a professor from uct gave us a brief overview of south african political history, which was interesting. after that, we went to set up our bank accounts, which is a relief because i feel better having some rand in my wallet. then i went to a grocery store nearby, which was a lot larger than i expected, and i was able to get a lot of things that we needed around here, like dish towels and a wine opener... necessities. the prices are really low for most things.

later this afternoon, a few others and i decided to go into cape town, since we hadn't actually been downtown yet and i hadn't even seen the ocean. a very interesting form of transportation that they have here are the taxis, which are actually vans. there's a driver, obviously, and then another guy hangs half his body out the window and yells and whistles at people on the sidewalks in order to try to attract them so they take a ride in his van. the taxis seem kind of intimidating at first, but it's actually a really great deal, because you pay a flat rate depending upon where you're going - today, going into cape town, we actually took two vans, one cost five rand and the other cost six fifty... which, in total, is roughly $1.10. also, they're so eager to take you that you can find them anywhere. we were just told to not take these at night, but during the day with others, it's totally fine. except that there are no speed limits here, and they are insane drivers.

anyway, we took one of these taxis into cape town and actually ended up going to the victoria and alfred waterfront. v&a waterfront is basically a huge tourist attraction, with tons of shops and restaurants, but it's completely beautiful - on the water, with the city behind it and table mountain behind that. we walked around for a while, and then went to a restaurant outdoors and ate dinner. it was really gorgeous, and it was good to see the city - i still need to take a trip into the actual heart of downtown, but it's so sprawling that it was hard for us to figure out where we needed to go to get there. it was a nice relaxing end to the day. cape town is so incredibly gorgeous. i can't believe i'm actually here.

now i'm finally taking some time to relax. i've had a lot of fun these past few days, but we're all kind of burnt out tonight. plus we were advised not to go out tonight since we have a big hike tomorrow. despite that, though, one of the mentors just came to our apartment because he was trying to recruit people to go out tonight... the mentors are all uct grad students who basically are here to show us around and help us when we need it. but they differ from what you'd expect, as they're always trying to get us to drink. hmm. 

i'm really looking forward to our hike up table mountain tomorrow. for now, i think i'm going to read and then go to bed early; i'm exhausted.