T.I.A- This Is Africa

Hello World!
Hope you haven't missed me too much, and if you have feel free to download whatsapp to your phone and text me. My house only got internet last night, so thus far my access has been limited to internet cafes. But here I am, alive and well in the most beautiful city in the world, Cape Town South Africa.
Since I have gotten here, everything has been a whirlwind of meeting people, adjusting to the new norms here, drinking great wine, seeing breathtaking sights from every angle, and falling madly in love with this place.
For the first 5 days, everyone on the CIEE program was placed into dorms, where we all ate together for each meal and attended orientation sessions together. For our orientation sessions, we did things such as tour the UCT campus, climb Table Mountain and watch the sun set, tour the city of Cape Town, visit the Southwestern-most point of Africa, and visit a beautiful winery in Stellenbosch where an all you can eat buffet was provided for us (most of its contents being meat of course.) I can see how important this blog is going to be, as memories blur into each other already.
During the night time, we have been free to explore the nightlife. The first night for instance, a few new friends and I went to Pig and Swizzle, a casual local pub. Meeting South Africans has been the highlight of my trip so far, as they all have interesting perspectives on Americans, politics, and race issues especially in South Africa (as we are in a somewhat recently post-apartheid state.) The South Africans are all extremely friendly and eager to get to know us and it makes nights out that much more entertaining.
In the past week we have explored more, gone to the V & A Waterfront, a Boston-like harbor, visited Green Market Square and shopped, gone to the beach and gotten some very strange and intense burns.
We were finally separated into our housing on Saturday, and I am living in Wolmunster. It is an off campus house and it is absolutely stunning, the nicest residence I have ever had (sorry SDT house.) The rooms are huge, and it feels like my castle. I have a roommate named Devra and she is absolutely lovely. The people I live with (15 girls 5 guys) are incredibly friendly, last night we all sat around our picnic benches outside, got a guitar, and had a sing along to songs like Beautiful Soul and Why Georgia. Needless to say I am in heaven.
I will post more as the semester continues about the physical beauty of Cape Town, safety issues, race issues, nightlife, food, perceptions of Americans, Real World situations my house gets into, and other intriguing aspects of Cape Town that make it what it is, as these circumstances are weaved deeply into my trip. Until then good friends, hope you are well and thanks for reading!

Jambo!

Jambo is not even a word in Xhosa or Afrikaan, the two most spoken languages in Capetown, other than English of course. However, I have watched Mean Girls enough times to feel the absolute need to start off my blog with such a title, since it’s off to Africa I go in about 3 days time! And yes, it was hard to avoid titling this blog “waka waka ey ey: this one for africa” but I really hope to avoid the rest of the most obvious cliches.

Many have asked why I’ve picked Capetown, since it’s not the typical choice for students going abroad (aka it’s not Europe.) And to quiet all of that confusion, I figure I can bundle my real reasonings with a statement of purpose.

1. Frankly, I want a unique experience. Now plenty of people have gone to Capetown for their semester abroad experience, it’s not completely off the map. However as much as I absolutely adore my friends from school and elsewhere, I wanted to go somewhere completely my own, where I would stay. I will certainly visit Europe, but how often do people get the chance to really LIVE in another country? Which leads to 2

2. I didn’t want to be forced to play the travel game, and miss out on a feeling of true understanding of my home city. I completely respect a lot of my friends desires to go to Europe, and to visit each friend in a different country during their time abroad (running from Italy to France to Spain would certainly have it’s benefits.) But instead of such pressure to leave, I want to take that time to marvel in the smaller details of the beautiful region in which I will reside. I want to feel like Capetown is a home away from home, and I really hope I accomplish this goal.

3. No matter where I went, I knew performing service would be a main consideration. While there is plenty of good to be done in America and anywhere really, there’s no doubt I will gain wonderful service experience in a place as diverse, rich in recent historic issues, and complex as South Africa. I have heard of multiple programs which I’m interested in participating in once I arrive, one being a Youth in Prison Program. I know I will actively seek out as many service opportunities as I can manage, and I can’t wait. Essentially, I don’t want to thrive on just the “good” or “easy” parts of Capetown life, but I hope to delve into the deeper, harder issues.

And we’ll end at 3 (even though there is so much more I could share, darn my English major ways,) the absolutely beautiful landscape, the warm weather, the flowers, the style, the penguins, the largest bungee jump in the world, safari potential, the fact that English is spoken/understood, the fact that they love avocados there, and of course, the accents.

I anticipate that I am in for an experience like no other, and while I am certainly fearful of the unknown, I am thrilled to get there and begin my journey.

My next post will be post-flight (where I have a feeling I will be groggy from a sleepless flight, worried about my lost baggage, and completely out of my element, all in the absolute best way.)

Until then, wish me luck packing my life into 2 suitcases! I need it. Badly..