Howzit, everyone?

The past few days have been amazing.  I will start with Friday, when a group of us hopped on the train to Kalk Bay to go spelunking.  Spelunking is the term from hiking (or more appropriately, crawling and stumbling) through caves.  The train to Kalk Bay was nice, with comfy seats and beautiful scenery.  The train tracks run right beside the ocean for a part of it.  Kalk Bay itself is a beautiful, quaint, oceanside town.  We hiked up to the top of a mountain to a cave.  The hike, though somewhat difficult, was really nice.  The views were amazing.  To get into the cave, we had to crawl on our bellies for about 25ft through a little tunnel.  Given the lack of light and tight space, it was somewhat uncomfortable.  The cave was really cool, and there were candles left by previous spelunkers so we could see inside.  We hiked to the other end of the cave and came out on the other side of the mountain.  From there we could see for miles and it was breathtaking.  I think I took somewhere around 100 pictures just on the climb.  The climb down was improvised, and we all came out very cut up and frazzled.  Luckily, there was the glorious seaside restaurant ‘Cape to Cuba’ waiting for us at the end.  I have never seen anything like this restaurant.  There was a bar that served great drinks and a wonderful outdoor seating complete with sand for a floor and a friendly resident dog.  The restaurant was equally beautiful, with eclectic design and delicious food.  We ordered some kind of fried bread with a salsa/mayo dipping sauce.  I don’t know if it was just a tasty meal, or that we were all famished from the climb, but that bread did not last long. 

On Saturday I went to Muizenberg, which has a great beach for surfing.  The water is warm, and the waves are huge.  I had the freshest pizza of my life at a restaurant on the main road, and then got to go on a long walk down the beach looking for seashells and jellyfish.  Right when I got to the beach after my delicious lunch, a siren started going off and the lifeguards started screaming for people to get out of the water.  Then a lifeguard ran down the beach waving a flag with a shark on it.  There was a 5m shark out in the water!!!  It was crazy.  Everyone started rushing out of the water and it looked like a scene right out of Jaws.  After a while, we were allowed back in the water, but the shark kept coming in close so the water kept closing.  It was wild.  But, for the time we were allowed to be in the water, I had a lot of fun.  The water was surprisingly warm and the waves were great for body surfing. 

After getting back from the beach, my roommates, neighbors, and I threw a braai.  A braaai is basically a barbeque.  Trying to get the braai going was interesting, as all we had were some bricks and a wire rack.  Luckily, one of the orientation leaders came and was able to get the fire going.  After that, everything went great.  The food was good and everyone had a great time.  It was definitely a success considering it was our first braai.  I’m sure there will be more to come.  One of the highlights of the night was when a couple of people decided to pry up the door to the wine cellar that resides in the kitchen floor.  What treasures we found!  In the cellar was the missing Station Rd. street sign, an empty bottle of rum warning us never to try that kind of rum, a bottle of Absolute Vodka (filled with water, what pranksters), a picture of George Clooney, a boa, a cell phone, and letters to the current residents from past residents.  It was amazing to find all the goodies, especially the letters.  It gives a kind of continuity to the experiences I’m having, reading the letters and advice of people who went through the program before me.  The night had good vibes all around. 

The week coming up should be really fun.  I plan on crossing off a few goals this week.  Tuesday I’m going to Robben Island and the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to do some shopping and good eating.  Wednesday I’m doing a shark dive organized by the travel company 2Way Travel.  I’m strangely not nervous but I’m sure I will be soon enough.  Thursday I’m doing a cycling tour of Stellenbosch, again organized by 2Way Travel.  Time will tell if biking and wine really mix.  Then on Friday we start class.  Whomp whomp.  I was under the impression that my life was now one big weekend.  I’m taking three classes: an art history class that looks and religious manifestations in various European and African art, a social work class, and a history class called Genocide: Africa Experiences.  At least my classes will be interesting.  And I supposed a little routine never hurt anybody.  

-Sarah 

Greetings from Cape Town!

Hello everyone!  I’m writing from my lovely backyard in Cape Town.  I absolutely love it here.  Everything-the weather, people, food, atmosphere-is amazing.  I’ve been here since Sunday afternoon, and almost every minute has been filled with some kind of activity.  I suppose I’ll start from the beginning.

I spent a lovely day in London on Wednesday with my friends from home, Lisa and Laura, who are both studying for the year in Oxford and London.  We had a great time, and did the usual touristy things like visiting the palace, seeing parliament, going to Traffalger Square, etc.  It was so nice to be taken out for the day by my friends.  I had never been to London before, and spending twelve hours at the airport would have been painful. 

The flight from London to Cape Town was terrible, so I won’t write about that.  The important thing, and the idea that got me through the horrible flight, was that I would land in South Africa.  The University had orientation leaders picked the dozen or so of us students up from the airport Sunday afternoon and drove us to campus.  The drive was breathtaking, as was the balmy 80 degree weather.  We drove past a township, and it looked exactly like how they do in portrayals on TV, a total shanty town.  It reminded me not to be blinded by the beauty and glitz and to realize that there are serious issues here.

After moving into our dorms, we went on a tour of UCT campus and the Rhodes Memorial.  UCT is more beautiful in person than it is in pictures.  It is literally built into the mountain.  Seeing campus with Table Mountain made me absolutely giddy.  The orientation leaders, or OL’s as we call them, are all so nice and friendly.  They are all students and were for the most part totally in charge of our initial orientation.  After our campus tour, we walked up to the Rhodes Memorial.  Cyprus Rhodes is an early Dutch settler who donated the money to start UCT.  His memorial is a Greek-looking building and a bizarre nude man on horseback.  The view from the Rhodes Memorial is amazing.  It’s above campus, and you can see for miles all around the city.

That night, the OL’s took us out on the town.  A few of us went to Tiger Tiger, a dance club in the Claremont area of the city.  We had a great time and did a lot of dancing.  Tiger Tiger drew a diverse crowd, including one man who removed his prosthetic leg on the dance floor and proceeded to drink liquor out of it. 

On Friday a large group of us went to the beach at Camps Bay.  There aren’t words to describe the beauty of this place.  Luxury homes dotted the slopes of Table Mountain, and a swanky street with posh hotels and restaurants ran parallel to the shore.  Laying out in the sun all day felt amazing, especially coming from the arctic that is the Midwest.  To get to the beach, a group of us had our first minibus experience.  Minibuses are these vans that go all around the city and usually a guy hangs out the window hollering at pedestrians to get in.  If you want to get in, you just tell them where you want to go and hop on, then hold on for your life.  Our minibus drivers were a father and son, and they got us to Camps Bay safely and in style.  Once you find a legit minibus driver, you can get their number and they’ll come to pick you up anywhere.  Still, we are told not to take the minibuses alone because they drivers have been known to pick you up, drive you out of town, take your money, and leave you stranded.  Luckily, this did not happen to us.

Friday night we all went to a bar on Long Street in downtown Cape Town.  Long St. reminded me of Bourbon St. in New Orleans with its bustling nightlife, public intoxication, and balconies.  This bar we went to was really nice.  It was on a second floor, and had a dance floor, balcony, and seating area along with the bar.  Then there was a second floor with more indoor and outdoor seating areas.  On the roof, there was a nice open air seating area.  Drinks are so cheap here, with most drinks not costing more than R15, which equals about $2.  The domestic beers are delicious, and obviously the South African wines are awesome.  I had my first bottle of South African wine, called Nouveau.  It was delicious and under $4. 

On Saturday we moved into our permanent housing.  I LOVE MY HOUSE.  I live with two other students, and we share a backyard with another house of students.  My room is huge, bigger than both my room in Madison and my room in Evanston.  The house is very spacious and has the highest ceilings I have ever seen.  The floors are nice wood and the kitchen and bathroom each have nice, cool, red stone floors.  My neighborhood is called Observatory, and a lot of other students live in houses around the neighborhood.  Down the street from my house is a street lined with funky restaurants and shops.  I’ve eaten at two great restaurants so far, and can’t wait to explore the rest.  The neighborhood gets a little dodgy at night, and we can’t leave any doors or windows open ever.  But hey, things can’t be perfect right?  Something’s gotta give, and it this case, it’s a sense of security.  I just have to be smart about my actions to make sure I don’t get in any trouble.  Otherwise, Obs is a wonderful neighborhood.  There are always people out on and about and the nightlife is bumpin. 

Today was a long day.  We had to get up super early and meet everyone at upper campus, which is about four miles from Obs.  There were about seven coach busses that took all the international students on a peninsula tour.  First we had a driving tour of Cape Town.  My guide, Gertrude, knew so much about the city.  We then stopped at Camps Bay at a nice lookout point on the ocean.  There were a half dozen or so dolphins swimming right below us.  I had never seen dolphins in the wild, and that was really neat.  We went from the lookout point to Boulders Beach, where the penguins live.  One goal crossed off the list!!!  The penguins were so cute.  We didn’t get to go onto the beach with them, but we walked around on these boardwalks that let you get really close to the penguins.  From the beach, we went to Oceanview, which is an area where tens of thousands of coloureds (‘coloured’ here isn’t like ‘colored’ in the US, it’s an official racial term for people of mixed descent) were forcibly relocated during the Apartheid, for lunch.  It is populated by people who made the best of a really horrible situation, and though they have a lot to show for their perseverance, like schools, homes, an identity, and sense of community, the place is impoverished.  It felt strange and uncomfortable to drive into this area in our fancy busses and eat the lunch that the citizens of Oceanview provided for us.  They were so welcoming, and put on a show for us that included some history, singing, and dancing.

From Oceanview we drove to Cape Point and walked out the most southwestern point of Africa.  We hiked up to the lighthouse on the highest point of the Cape.  The view was amazing.  It can only be explained with pictures.  From the lighthouse we could walk out the Cape of Good Hope.  This hike was mildly treacherous.  There were sheer dropoffs but we all made it out unscathed.  Like, the scenes from the lighthouse, the scenes from the walk to the Cape of Good Hope are too much for words.  I didn’t want to leave, and plan on going back at a time when I can really take my time to explore.  I’m pretty sure everyone passed out on the bus going back to campus.

Tonight I’m just hanging out at my house, working on this blog.  I just had some wonderful and cheap Thai food for dinner, as well as some yummy chocolate cake.  Tomorrow, orientation for UCT starts with HIV/AIDS training.  I hope it gives some background to the history of South African AIDS awareness, since the government has had some interesting ways of dealing with AIDS in the past.   A group of us is also planning on signing up for some tours and adventures hosted by a tour group on campus.  One is a cycling tour of the wine lands, which will be beautiful and entertaining.  We’re also signing up for a day trip to go cage diving.  The trips are all extremely affordably and signing up for an organized tour takes away some of the pressure of doing it solo.  But we are planning on organizing our own trip.  Since we have a week free before classes start, a group of us is thinking about renting a car and driving the Garden Route for a few days.  As of now we’re still looking into certain aspects of that plan, but it’s something fun to think about. 

Well, this post is pretty lengthy, and though I could easily write for hours about my past five days here, I’ll save some for later.  My internet here doesn't let me post pictures, so I'll have to add some another way.  Hopefully I'll have a link up here soon to a website with my pics.  Goodbye for now!

-Sarah

I'm Off!

I'm heading out tonight!  I'll post as soon as I have internet and a spare minute.  Wish me luck!!

-Sarah

South Africa Goals

Even though I'll be in South Africa for five months, and it seems like that amount of time should be sufficient to do all the things I want to do, I think it's necessary to have an idea of what I truly want to do when I'm there. That way, I'll have a better chance of actually fulfilling my expectations. This list might guide me while I'm there, and keep me from going adrift in the span of time. Or, my expectations could be totally off and I could completely abandon this list for a new one upon reaching South Africa.

My goals have come from various sources, such as recommendations from friends, my imagination, books, even the travel channel. I hope to complete most, if not all, of these goals. I think it will be easy to forget what I had had in mind while planning the trip when I'm actually there, living and going to school and trying to figure out my way. Hopefully, this list will remind me why I wanted to go to South Africa in the first place. So here they are, and maybe posting them where all my friends and family can see will hold me accountable for accomplishing them.

My South Africa Goals:
1. Climb Table Mountain. There are gondolas that take people up to the top, but you can also hike. Where I'll be living is practically at the foot of Table Mountain. Here is a picture of Table Mountain:

2. Learn about South African wine. Along with this, I want to visit a vineyard and do a wine tasting. Here's a link to the Wines of South Africa website: http://www.wosa.co.za/.
3. Learn to scuba dive. The idea terrifies me, as I am not a fan of swimming or deep water. But I figure that the whole point of studying abroad is to leave my comfort zone, so I might as well do something I would never do at home. Scuba diving is definitely one of those things.
4. Cage dive. Again, this is a scary undertaking. Sharks have widely prevented me from venturing into any ocean past my knees. I for some reason feel compelled to look one in the eye, while under the protection of a metal cage, of course.
5. Go on safari/go to Kruger National Park. Kruger National Park is a huge game reserve in northeast South Africa. I plan on going on safari there at least once. Here's a link to the park website: http://www.krugerpark.co.za/.
6. Travel to another South African country. This seems to be an activity a lot of study abroad students do. The major destinations seem to be Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. I will go anywhere. I especially want to see Victoria Falls, the huge waterfalls between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and go to the desert in Namibia.
7. Visit Robben Island. This is an island off of Cape Town where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for nearly 30 years. Here is a link to the Robben Island Museum website: http://www.robben-island.org.za/.

Robben Island, with Cape Town in the background

8. Watch a soccer game. I'm not into soccer at all, but since the World Cup will be held in South Africa when I'm there, I don't think my friends and family back home will let me get away with not going to a game. Here's a picture of what the Cape Town stadium looks like:

Green Point Stadium

9. Learn some Xhosa, a traditional language still spoken in South Africa.
10. Try traditional South African food. I am a foodie to the core and cannot wait to sink my teeth (literally) into new foods.
11. Go whale watching. There is great whale watching in South Africa. There are boat tours as well as points on the coast where you don't even have to leave land to see the whales.
12. See penguins. At Boulders Beach there are resident penguins, known as 'jackass' penguins because they are loud and grouchy. People can go to the beach and hang out with the penguins, which seems totally awesome.

Penguins at Boulders Beach

13. Go to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. This is a huge garden on the Cape that grows only indigenous South African plants. It's supposed to be really beautiful.
14. Learn about South African art. I'm taking a class on art in southern Africa at UCT, but I want to explore some museums and art galleries in the city.
15. Make friends with South Africans. I want to join the UCT running club, and hopefully this will be helpful in making South African friends.
16. Volunteer. UCT has an amazing volunteer program, SHAWCO, that sends students to the townships. Here's SHAWCO's website: http://www.shawco.org/.
17. Drive along the Garden Route. The Garden Route is a coastal highway that is supposed to be absolutely beautiful. There is great land and ocean scenery. There are also great hiking trails on the Garden Route.

I'm sure the list will grow. I promise to provide updates as goals get checked off! Let me know if you have any suggestions for other activities!

-Sarah