First Week at UCT

So I officially started classes at University of Cape Town last monday. It’s nice to get back in a routine, but I did enjoy all the time I had to explore the city. Registration for classes was a little annoying, its all done manually, on paper, and in person, which is very different from the online registration that I am used to. Two of the classes I was registered for didn’t actually exist. I was told that could happen, but I wasn’t expecting it to happen to me, for two of my classes. After that it pretty much took me all week to figure out my schedule. The scheduling is also different here. Some classes are everyday and others just a few, but there’s not set blocked schedules like at UVM, where every Monday class is also on Wednesday and Friday, and Tuesday classes on Thursday. Here it seems to be pretty random. Also most classes have tutorials, which are like a work period or lab that is at a different time than the class.
There’s only a few higher level math classes that are this semester that I can take, since most of them are full year courses. I am taking Numerical Methods, which will be challenging but fun. Its three days a week at 8 AM, and there’s a tutorial for 3 hours Friday afternoons, which is very unfortunate. I am taking a Xhosa class, which is a South African language, and it is everyday, with an additional hour tutorial and hour language lab. I wont get any direct credits for it but I think it’ll be really interesting to learn it. I am also taking a statistics for business class which will count toward my minor.  It’s Monday through Thursday with an optional tutorial on friday. My professors seem great so far, the lectures are pretty big which is new to me, so I don’t really get to know the professors. I did get to chat with my statistics professor, he’s very awkward but a really nice guy. He was born in California but is South African. The campus is very international and very diverse. There seems to be people from every nationality and culture. I have met people from Norway, Holland, Portugal, and all over Africa who come to UCT for their outstanding academics. It is also a very attractive campus and it’s a lot of fun to sit on campus and people watch. There are steps in the middle of campus called the Jammie stairs and its packed with students hanging out in between classes chatting with friends, doing homework, eating lunch, or just enjoying the view of the city below with a parade of students walking past.
Students are also really friendly here, and its easy to strike up a conversation with anyone around you. I have noticed though that the white South Africans are a little less friendly than most of the other cultures and races. I’m not sure why this is but others have noticed it too. I have met some nice white South Africans, so there are definitely exceptions. It was a long week, but I’m sure the semester will fly by, even though I wish it wouldn’t. We ended the week with an amazing hike up Table Mountain. It was strenuous and hot, but the view from the top was incredible. It’s actually one of the new 7 Wonders of the World. We were all exhausted so after our naps we went to a bar in Observatory, which is an area popular with students. It’s not as safe as Rosebank or Rondebosch, which is where I live and UCT is, respectively, but it was a lot of fun. Today we tried to go shopping in the city, but forgot that everywhere is closed on Sundays, so we just got milkshakes and walked around the Company Gardens, which was beautiful.
 I think school could be a little difficult here, and I plan on doing well, but I am also here to explore and experience the country, so I’ll have to find a nice balance.

How's this for a 10 minute tan?

Sobonana! (See you!)

Home Stay

So last weekend was the night of my home stay in a nearby township. I was staying in a home with one of my best friends, Alyssa, but I was still pretty nervous and wasn’t sure what to expect. I was advised to go in with no expectations and I did my best. When we got to the home I was totally relieved, our host mama was the nicest woman and we spent the afternoon playing with her granddaughter, Gudani,  and other children in the neighborhood and talking to her daughter, Gladyss.  Gudani and her friend, Alicia, were the sweetest little girls. We went to the park with them and played games and then went back and kicked a soccer ball around with some of the older kids. Everyone was really sweet and loved talking to us. They enjoyed having us around many people came up just to introduce themselves and say hi. The homes were small and obviously not well off, but for the most part people seemed happy and everyone was really open with each other, almost like one big family. The house we stayed in a nice TV and cable, but didn’t have hot water, a kitchen table, or even a sink in the bathroom. Which made brushing our teeth interesting, we had to ask how and where to do it and ended up using a mug. For an appetizer that evening we had chicken feet, which were not that bad, and were seasoned nicely. They tasted just like chicken but the fact that they were feet freaked me out a bit. I was the only one to eat it though. For dinner we had a traditional dinner of  a rice/corn type thing, chicken, carrots, and a gravy. It was delicious but nothing out of the ordinary. At night we chatted a bit and went to bed sort of early, we were pretty tired from playing with the kids all day and had to wake up early for church.
The next morning we started our day with porridge, which I thought would be gross so I put about 5 spoonfuls of sugar in it, and then it was bearable. I scarfed it down pretty fast so I wouldn’t think about what I was eating. Definitely wasn’t my favorite. We then walked to meet the other Americans and went to the church in the neighborhood. I’m not sure what I expected for the service, but I sure didn’t get that. There was a band on stage that played songs sung in Xhosa and a few in english and everyone seemed to know all the words and even dances. All the kids stood on the side by the stage dancing to the music. It was actually very good, and almost made us move a bit. The pastor was white, but mostly everyone else wasn’t. It was a really good service and he got really into his examples and stories. It almost didn’t feel like church, except for when we prayed. Instead of getting on our knees we lifted our arms.  After the service there was tea, coffee, and cookies served and everyone chatted in the lobby.
Afterwards we went to Mzoli’s, which is a restaurant type venue that is known for their incredible meat. It’s actually all they do. All drinks, bread, or any other food must be brought in except for meat and pap. Chris and a few kids who didn’t do the home stay met us there. Our meat was preordered and after a few minutes a huge bucket, bigger than a horsefeed bucket, was placed in front of us, overflowing with sausage, lamb, steak & chicken. We were given metal bowls similar to dogbowls to share between two of us and we dug in with our fingers, finishing the bucket. Some people were asking for napkins, but Chris and I were used to chicken fridays, so it just came natural. It was some of the best meat I had ever had and by the end Chris and I had an entire bowl full of bones. It was a really cool atmosphere though, there was a DJ so a bunch of us got up to dance. I really enjoyed it and will definitely go back again.

Garden Route

Howzit! Sorry for the delay in posts, this might be a long one.

So last sunday, Chris, a bunch of other students in my program, and I left to go on a trip on the Garden route, which is a well-known scenic tour of South Africa. It was a 5 day trip where we would stay in hostels and fill our days with unique activities, both exciting and cultural. There were a little over 30 of us going, 4 girls from a different program, but most from interstudy. There were 2 leaders from Southern Ambition, which is the tour group we went with, and I was impressed with how well they put it together and how smoothly everything went.

The first day we went to Stellenbosh, which is known for their incredible vineyards & wineries. We stopped at Spier winery for an early wine-tasting and got to sample some of their finest wines. Thembie had been running late that morning so he ordered us their flagship wine to make up for it. Although I thought they were all delicious, I don’t think I’m experienced enough to really judge their wine. I plan on joining the Wine & Culture Society at UCT so that might help a bit. After we went to the Cheetah Reserve which was on land that Spier had donated. They had these interesting fox type animals, meerkats, and cheetahs (of course). We got to pet a cheetah named Joseph, and we got him to purr. It was incredible petting just a big cat. He was really calm though, he had been brought up in the reserve and was used to people. There was a man whose job was to sit with Joseph’s head on his lap petting him, I think I found my new career goal. After that we had a long but beautiful drive to Oudtshoorn, where we stayed an incredible hostel and had a delicious ostrich dinner. The hostel was a lot bigger and nicer than i had expected, it had a pool, a full bar, a large indoor hanging area, and a kitchen and living room in the building we stayed in.

In the morning we started the day at the Cango Caves, which we took a short tour of. We learned a lot about the history of the caves and the formation of and composition of the stalagmites and  stalactites. In the past they had actually held concerts in the large room of the caves. Now that would be a good show. Afterwards we drove to an ostrich farm, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I had seen ostrich farms on the side of the road throughout the few weeks here, and even seen a few wild ones, but it was really cool to see them close up. They are such interesting birds. We started in the incubator room, and they showed us the eggs, which are a little smaller than a soccer ball and is about the equivalent of two dozen chicken eggs. We got to hold the babies, which were about the size of ducks, and were incredibly cute. The larger ones were less cute, but I had never seen a bird that size, and their necks were so flexible. The man giving us the tour showed us how they can move their necks and basically form it into a circle. One ostrich named Betsy actually kissed a few of the gentlemen in our group, including Chris. There is a video of it somewhere and I will try to get it up soon. The trainer had them put a pellet of food in between their lips and Betsy ‘kissed’ them to get the food. I can’t imagine just a huge bird getting right in my face like that. Finally, we got to the riding arena, where anyone small enough got the chance to ride an ostrich. I was surprised that not too many people wanted to try it, but of course I was eager to give it a shot. It was a lot different than riding a horse, and much more awkward, but still a lot of fun. They wore these pads as saddles and we held onto their wings. There were two jockeys running with us to help us get off and make sure we didn’t get hurt. I can’t say they enjoyed being rode, but it was worth it. One of the jockeys showed us how he rode them, and it was unbelievable, he just jumped on its back and was playing with its neck and riding one handed and looked so comfortable doing it. From there we took a scenic drive to Knysna where we stopped for lunch and for the view. It was so beautiful, and we had lunch at a restuarant right on the Indian ocean.



The water was bright blue and the restaurant was delicious, especially considering the low prices of all the meals. A restaurant of that quality and location in the states would have been four times the cost. We then drove to Plettenberg bay, where we were staying for two nights. When we got there a water main had burst in the town, and so the water wasn’t working for a few hours. I really wasn’t bothered by it and was kind of surprised how some people had a hard time handling it. I mean come on, T.I.A. (this is Africa). For part of the time the electricity shut off too, and I thought peoples reactions were pretty funny.
The next day we woke up bright and early and went on a walk through the oldest Rastafarian community in South Africa. It was interesting, but also very funny. The tour guide quoted Bob Marley every other sentence and there were murals of him, marijuana, and ganja farmers everywhere. There was also weed growing in gardens everywhere, even in the backyard of the preschool. The whole community seemed to just be full time stoners or professional chillers. After the tour a band put on a reggae concert for us, and played (you guessed it) Bob Marley. After that we went to an elephant park, where we got to feed and pet elephants. They are such beautiful animals. Most of the animal reserves and parks are more like rescues, where they saved the lives of injured or endangered animals, and nursed them back to health. After we went to Monkey World, which is where monkeys would go after being badly treated as pets or were just too wild to be pets. There were over 28 species of monkeys, and over 400 monkeys in the park. They were really cool but sometimes got too close for comfort. We were crossing a long sketchy bridge and we could only cross in small groups, and towards the end there was a monkey hanging by its tail growling at us. We had to walk within two feet of it to get by, which made me pretty nervous. Some would even follow us or get really close to us as we walked around. We weren’t allowed to touch them since they are supposed to be more wild than tame, but it was really tempting. That night we had a delicious braii at the hostel.

The next day we got a bit of a late start, and started doing a hike at Tsitsikamma national park, but didn’t have too much time and ended up being really late to our bungee jumping appointment at Bloukrans bridge, which is the tallest bungee jump in the world. Half of us did it earlier in the day and the rest of us at 5. I was in the later group, and had a blast. About 10 of us and a girls hockey team from Argentina went out on the bridge together. It was an arch bridge and we hung out in between the arch and the road above it while other people jumped, and it was one of the best parties of my life. They played club music the whole time and everyone was dancing and singing the whole time, and when your number got called you would get ready to jump. Even the guys working were dancing, pulling the ropes up to the beat simultaneously. It was a blast just being on the bridge. The jump was incredible, when I got the edge i finally felt a little nervous looking at the 700 foot drop I was about to take. There was a small river down in the valley below. I danced right up to the edge and the guys who walked us to the edge counted down from three and then you had to jump/get gently pushed. Some people had to get really pushed, I was a little hesitant to jump but I did. The jump was not what I was expecting, I felt like I was floating. I screamed for the first second but then I was just smiling flying through the air, it was unlike anything I have ever experienced. The once the cord stretched it would bounce you back into the air about 200 or 300 feet and you would fall again, this happened over and over and after about 7 seconds I was just hanging upside down suspended in between the bridge and the river, waiting for someone to come get me. There was a guy whose job was to come down and hook us onto a line that was pulled up by a machine (I think), which was the sketchiest part if you ask me. It was such an amazing adrenalin rush, I would recommend that everyone try it once. I would do it over and over again if I could. Afterwards we drove to our last hostel, which was an absolute paradise. It was in Jeffrey’s Bay, which is a known surfers destination. It was full of hippies that were there to hang out and surf all day, which was a fun environment. We spent the night celebrating at the hostels bar, which was a lot of fun. In the morning we spent a few hours laying on the beach and then flew from Port Elizabeth back to Cape Town.

The trip was an amazing experience and we enjoyed every moment. It was jam packed full of activities making it a busy few days, but definitely worth it. We were all tired out by the last day. Unfortunately both mine and Chris’ cameras broke on the first day so I didn’t get any pictures but I will try to get some from other peoples memory cards. And this week I will get a chance to upload pictures. School is starting so I will have more of a routine. And hopefully I will get a new camera soon so I can keep taking pictures of my trip. Although you haven’t seen them yet I have hundreds of photos just from the first few weeks.

I’m really glad Chris got the chance to come to Cape Town and on this trip with me. We had a blast and I think he really enjoyed his stay. I know I enjoyed him staying. It was sad having to say goodbye today but I am really glad he got to experience some of this with me.

Sorry for the long post. I’ll write soon about my homestay this past weekend and the first few days at school. Thanks for reading =)

Chris Came to Visit!

Chris came to visit! He is the first visitor for all the Interstudy students and everyone, especially me, is excited to have him here. We are going on an excursion through the Garden Route next week, leaving sunday. I'll definitely post after we return, but wont be bringing my computer on the trip. We'll get to see elephants, cheetahs, and go to a Monkey Park, that is home to over 20 species of friendly monkeys. We'll also get to go surfing and more importantly do the worlds tallest bungee jump!

In the meantime, here is the South African National Anthem, which is the only national anthem in the world to be written in more than one language. It is written in 5- Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, and English.