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.