Beaches, Peninsula, Etc.

There are so many things I need to tell you about, I don't even know where to start.... This will probably be a very long post... I am trying to remember everything I want to tell you!

You may be wondering how I am getting around everywhere in Cape Town. There are a few main modes of transportation. During the day, it is easiest to take what is called a Mini Bus (a kind of taxi). These are essentially beat up vans that don't have insurance for passengers, so you take them at your own risk. They are dirt cheap! A ride all the way into downtown Cape Town is 10 rand at most (just over a dollar!). There are also other taxis/cabs, more similar to the ones in the US that are safer to take at night. There are also trains and buses but these are not as easy as the other forms of transportation. I have been mostly taking the Mini Bus or walking everywhere, which I absolutely love since it is such perfect weather. The Mini Buses are hilarious to take. They will cram up to 20 people in them at once, and then we can convince them to lower the fare (see the bargaining skills I'm obtaining?). In each Mini Bus there is a driver, and another guy. I don't know what to call the other guy... he basically hangs his head (and/or body) out the window and yells at everyone on the street to get inside.... pretty funny to experience.

On Friday, we met one of the UCT rugby coaches. Rugby is huge here, and UCT has one of the best teams in Africa. He taught us a lot about rugby, but to be completely honest, most of the people in my program were kind of hungover so it was not a lively bunch. I had a lot of fun learning a bit about the sport, though it was pretty confusing! And don't worry, Dad, I didn't play too hard or risk hurting my knee. In case my parents haven't told you all (which Mom probably has), but I'm having some issues with my knee again. It's nothing too bad I hope, but it's been pretty painful for the past couple weeks. Unfortunately, I may not be able to do nearly as much hiking as I had hoped. But I am just going to look on the bright side and not miss out on too many things. I will take a cable car up to the top of Table Mountain at least!

Every Saturday in Cape Town there is a market called Old Biscuit Mill. There are shops, restaurants, and all kinds of stores. But the best part is the amazing food. There is a huge tent, with two large sections full of every kind of food you can imagine. One station has produce, another has Indian food, another has paella and sangria, another has amazing Greek pita. There is smoked angel fish, delicious pastries, chocolate, cheese stations (Chad, DiBruno's has nothing on South Africa), all kinds of wine, and so much more! I could go there weekly for the next 4 months and probably not even have enough time to try everything.

After seeing the market, we went to another beach called Muizenberg, which is more popular with local people because it is great for surfing and has "warm" water. Let me tell you something.... that warm water was frigid. And not in a Charmagne kind of frigid. I mean that my dad would have thought it was too cold (without admitting it of course). We took the train to this beach, which is free on the weekends. It was literally PACKED. I was squished in between approximately seven South African men. Not the best experience I've had here so far! But definitely worth experiencing. Trains are not safe to take at night at all. No exceptions. A lot of violence and burglary take place on the trains. But during the day it is fine.

Today was the official start of the UCT orientation, whereas the past few days have been just for my program. So UCT took us on a tour of the entire peninsula for FREE. We started out by driving through Cape Town and its historic center and the waterfront that I got to walk through the other day. We even drove past the soccer stadium by the waterfront which was really cool, especially for me! We then drove along the GORGEOUS coastline on a windy road... We saw beautiful beaches- Clifton and Camps Bay. Clifton is supposed to be the nicest beach in the area, believe it or not. It has 4 separate beaches, and if I am correct, one is a gay beach and one is a nude beach. (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I won't be getting nude if I do go to the nude beach.) You've probably seen this road without even knowing it! It turns out that lots of commercials (or adverts as they call them here) are filmed along that road, particularly car commercials. BMW and Mercedes both recently filmed car commercials there. Driving along this road, we got to see some of the most wealthy places in South Africa and in the whole African continent. There are approximately 55,000 millionaires in SA, and 32 billionaires. But the unemployment rate is 25% or maybe even 30%.... It was very sad to drive past these rich areas and then see, literally just around the corner, townships with dilapidated houses and hearing about all the crime in those areas. Again, this is something I can't really put into words. I have been struggling in some ways seeing the disparity between the regions here. I've talked to a couple other girls in my program who feel the same way, whereas others seem completely oblivious to the townships, almost as if they and the poverty do not exist... But enough of that for now.

Ok, now for the cool part of my post. We got to see the world-famous African penguin colony located in Simons Town. There are around 3,000 penguins living in this area, and we got to see them right up close. Here are a couple pictures!

This was a really funny store we passed on the way to Simons Town. Our tour guide said, "You have Dolce and Gabbana, and we have Dolce and Banana." Pretty funny!

This is my favorite picture of a penguin. I took a pretty great picture, huh? Looks like something out of National Geographic if I do say so myself.

Here are some of the penguins on the beach. There were hundreds around us.  And yes, they bite. And did you know that penguins are monogamous and most often stay with one partner for their entire lives?

The day just kept getting better. Before continuing our tour, we stopped for lunch at a nearby township called Ocean View. This was another difficult moment while entering the township. We went into a community center where they cooked us chicken and all kinds of food for lunch and even gave us a performance! They sang, they danced, they read poetry, they rapped, and they played different instruments. Let me tell you, they were SO talented. I saw the best dancer I have ever seen, and he was probably 14 or younger. It is amazing what talent they had, particularly their musical talent. They surely don't have the music education that we have in school starting at such a young age, and yet they blew us all away with their performances. Leaving the township was nearly a tear-jerk moment. Children and adults throughout the town watched us leave on our coach buses and smiled and waved and looked so happy to have had us there. Little boys chased the buses, some flirting with the girls through the bus windows. It was the kind of moment that made a lot of us stop and think about our lives and what we take for granted.

In 1966, the apartheid government throughout South Africa tried to get the coloreds out of the townships and away from Cape Town. They tore down all the houses and buildings in the areas where these people lived. This was the case in Ocean View and District 6 (which was considered so lowly that it did not ever receive a name. District 6 was the township that the movie "District 9" was based on.), where only religious buildings and a couple schools were left. Now these townships are still struggling and still feeling the effects of the apartheid. It is clear, especially from my trip today, that the apartheid is still very much a problem in South Africa, even if it is technically over.

Once we left Ocean View, we drove to Cape of Good Hope- Table Mountain National Park. On the way, we saw baboons. In this part of South Africa, baboons rob a lot of houses. They come into their kitchens, particularly at night and steal food and destroy things. These are not friendly creatures! We actually saw baboons on the side of the road. To help control them, there are men who watch the baboons and try to keep them away from the houses. (Chad, you could always do this if you can't find a job for engineering!) This national park has all kinds of animals, including zebras! The zebras are almost impossible to see from the bus, and in this park, you are not allowed to go off road.  But we were lucky enough to see more baboons and antelope!

For those of you who don't know, Cape of Good Hope is the south-westernmost point in the entire continent of Africa. Cape Point is where it used to be believed that the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. However, scientists have discovered more recently that this is actually not true; but their currents do meet there! Either way, it is one of the most amazing places in all of Africa. We got off the bus and first walked up to the lighthouse on top of Cape Point. On the way, my friends and I veered off the main path and found this very steep path down to a lookout for a cliff. My pictures do not do it justice. We then walked down that mountain and took a 45-minute walk to the Cape of Good Hope. This walk was not as easy as expected! I've never seen something more breathtaking in my life. This was, by far, the coolest thing I have ever seen and made today one of the best days of my life. No exaggeration. I am a little scared of heights, but this place was so amazing that I was able to ignore that and just take in the scenery (for the most part).

It's amazing to think that I spent about 10 hours seeing some of the most amazing sightseeing in all of Africa today. 10 hours flew by in what felt like 3 hours. This is even more proof that time flies when having fun! But even more than that, I am LOVING not having a cell phone. Many students still have blackberries or iphones that are working here, but for the few of us who don't have them, it is so nice never having my phone with me. I take my international phone around but never look at it and rarely turn it on, especially on days like this. I swear that time passes even more quickly! I still can't believe what an incredible day it's been. I think that's enough for now, thank you to whoever spent the time reading this mini novel I seem to be writing! To close, I will show you a few pictures from the day. Wish you all could have seen it with your own eyes!

Here's one of the amazing cliffs we saw today.

Here I am trying to get a cool picture and realizing that I was actually scared to death. I couldn't let my legs dangle completely! Sorry Mom, I know this one is tough for you to see.

Here I am with some of my friends after making it down the steep mountain.

This is a beautiful view of the Cape of Good Hope from the cliff lookout.

This is the misleading view of the steep mountain we walked down. You can't tell how steep it really was! But such a blast.

Exploring Cape Town!

This will be a short post, but there are a few things I wanted to say before I forget them. Today we had some more orientation meetings to give us advice about cultural differences etc. Aunt Cindy, you will really appreciate this one (and others as well obviously). One man was giving us advice and he said to make sure we "flow like Obama and don't sting like Bush!".... It was hilarious. Another funny line was when he was telling us how you can always tell who is American, before they even speak; Americans always carry water bottles. And then we looked around the room and of course at least every third person had a water bottle.

Another interesting concept that I have picked up on is the paradoxical nature of UCT and South Africa in general (at least the part we are in).... It is a 1st world institution and country in areas such as downtown Cape Town but at the same time, it is a 3rd world country; some things at UCT are very backwards, and obviously there are major issues with poverty in several areas. I don't really know how to put this into words, so forgive me if it is not as eloquent as it is meant to be.

A bunch of my friends and I decided to spend much of the afternoon and evening going into downtown Cape Town. It was BEAUTIFUL! We first went to the Long Street area, which is known for its big bar and club scene. Near Long Street was a traditional market with all kinds of vendors. I got to practice BARGAINING! Since you all know me, you probably know that this is not something that I would be good at, but I was able to do it, much to my surprise! Then I decided not to buy anything anyway because I didn't feel like spending money so it was anticlimactic, but still satisfying.

Last night I went to my first bar with everyone in my program. I met a boy who lives in South Africa and actually goes to Trinity! How weird is that? And I also met a kid from Stanford, and we started talking and I name-dropped because a boy from my high school, Darren goes there, and it turns out that Darren is studying in Cape Town for the semester! So we are probably going to get together with Stanford kids tonight. Seriously, what a small world. It's so crazy!

I miss you all, so I have to include some pictures so you can all see some of what I am experiencing!

 Here is my apartment- the top picture is my common room/TV area. Isn't it cute? And notice the back patio/porch area. The bottom picture is my bedroom. (I'm really roughing it, huh?)

 This sign was by the waterfront. Boston is the closest thing to home on it... See how far away we are from each other? Even though I look happy in this picture and it may not show, I really miss you and hate being this far away!

 Here is a picture of part of the waterfront with Table Mountain in the background.

This is Lion's Head and Table Mountain at night.

Downtown was really great, but very touristy. We'll definitely be going back there because of the scenery, and there is also a soccer stadium there that I didn't get to see yet. I enjoyed it a lot, but I think I will like the beaches and other areas even more.

Well, this post ended up being longer than I expected! It's actually fun to reflect on things that happened during the day, even though there is so much more I could say. But I am in a rush because everyone in my program is going out again (tough life I live, I know). Love you all!

Day one

Hello hello! So I made it safely to Cape Town. The flight was long but actually wasn't as bad as I expected. I did sleep for a few hours which helped pass the time quickly. We had a 7 hour flight to Dakar, Senegal where we had to refuel and get sprayed with pesticide spray. (Yup, you heard me.) Then we had a 10 hour flight to Johannesburg where we connected to a 2 hour flight to Cape Town. I still can't believe I'm here!

It is now 4:00 in the afternoon here, which is 9:00 am at home. We got in around 10 pm last night SA time. Everyone seems really nice so far, and I love my apartment (or flat, as they call it). Because the time difference is so much, I am a total zombie right now. I went to bed around 2 am and woke up at 5:30 because my body could not get used to it right away, which is obviously to be expected. We have been doing orientation activities all day since 8 am. I got a tour of the campus which was amazing. Our mentors are all UCT students so it is nice being shown the campus from a student's perspective. It is so beautiful and every view seems like it's right off a postcard. The picture that I posted on my previous blog is even more incredible in person. And the view from that main building is astounding. You can see virtually all of the area surrounding Cape Town and you get a real feel for how large it is. The campus is HUGE especially in comparison to Trinity! I don't know how I will get used to it! There are buses called Jammies that are free for UCT students and take us to campus. Otherwise it is at least a 20 or 25 minute walk to Upper Campus where most of my classes will be, all uphill. The walk is so beautiful, so I hope I will be able to do it often. The gym is located on Lower Campus so it is probably a 15 minute walk. It was really nice and even has an outdoor pool for swimming laps which will be great. The weather is 85 degrees and sunny. Not to rub it in to all of you at home, but this is so much better than the winter weather that I just left!

Things I have learned so far:
If you say you go to college, people think you mean high school. You have to say I go to varsity. (How weird does that sound?)
If you say you major in psychology, people don't know what you're talking about. You have to say my faculty is psychology.
The US dollar is about 7 times more than the SA rand. But most shampoo products etc. are imported from the US so they are actually more expensive than at home!
It is true that things just don't work here like they do in America. A favorite saying of one of our mentors is T.I.A. (This Is Africa!)

The internet is actually much more expensive than in America because they simply don't have the access that we do. Luckily I was given some prepaid internet so hopefully that will last me a while. You can buy more internet online, which is really easy but a strange thing to get used to. If I stick to mostly Facebook and e-mail, my internet shouldn't run out too quickly. But if I look at Youtube videos, upload pictures or download software, etc., it runs out very fast, so I have to be careful. Also, a Skype phonecall ends up costing about 15 cents a minute. A video chat on Skype would be much more than that, so I should use it sparingly. My program gave me a cell phone with a SIM card and some prepaid minutes. But to get more minutes you have to go to a 7 Eleven or a grocery store. Same thing goes for the electricity; they give us a certain amount each month but if you run out you have to refill it at the grocery store.... Certainly an interesting concept to get used to!

I can already tell that this will be an amazing experience, but I also know that I have absolutely no idea what South Africa is actually like. Last night, as we began our descent into Cape Town, I could not help but think about all the slums and townships that I was probably passing over and how little I know about the struggles the people there have on a daily basis. I can't really explain how I feel, but I know that to understand the culture, even just a little, I must try to experience this aspect as well.

That's all for now, considering how expensive internet is!

Pre-departure

I've never made a blog before, and to be completely honest, I think blogs can sometimes be lame. But I wanted to find an easy way to keep in touch with my family and friends as I face what is to surely be one of the best experiences of my life. Hopefully I will actually keep up with this blog (but I am making no promises!), so I'll be able to tell you about all of my adventures and post pictures along the way.

As many of you know, I decided to spend my semester abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. I opted to travel here rather than somewhere in Europe, which is what most people do during their semester abroad. I thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to live here, and it has also been one of my dreams to travel somewhere in Africa. An added bonus is that there is a soccer field located in a nearby township, Khayelitsha. This is a memorial for a soccer player from the Philadelphia area, Chris Campbell who unfortunately died before his senior year of college at Franklin and Marshall. With this field and its foundation (CTC Ten Foundtion), education about HIV/AIDS and violence prevention have been given to the community. This also gives people in the community a safe place to go to, as well as a positive activity, particularly for teens who would otherwise be getting into crimes on the streets.  It has been very successful so far, and I am hoping to help out in some way. What could be more perfect for me? I get to combine South Africa with kids and soccer!

Here is a link for the field:
Chris Campbell Center

I don't know much about geography or anything (that's what Chad is for), but I can tell you that it is one of the southernmost points in South Africa. Here's a map so you can really get the picture (haha)....

Yup, that's where I'll be... all the way down on the bottom left corner. I will be attending the University of Cape Town, located right by the world-famous Table Mountain! Here's a picture of one of the main buildings at the university, with Table Mountain right in the backdrop... Pretty amazing. Not much else I can say about that!

I will be flying out of DC next Sunday, January 23rd. As I spend my last week (and 2 days, to be exact) at home preparing, my excitement and nervousness will surely grow by the day. I am definitely a homebody, and I will miss my family more than they realize. I will be in South Africa until June 12th. It's pretty scary being so far from home for such a long period of time, and I wish my family could be there to experience it with me.

I'll try to post on here once I get to Cape Town and am settled in a bit! Wish me luck on the LOOOONNNNGGGG plane ride ahead of me!