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.