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.