Welcome to Cape Town

Okay so I will admit that I have always thought of blogs as pretty nerdy and made for people who have next to nothing to do all day (sorry avid bloggers). However, with a great deal of peer pressure as well as the desire to document my semester-long trip, I have succumbed to the idea that making a blog will not be a complete waste of my time and energy. With that said, I am not sure why any of you would want to sit there and read about what I am doing with my life…so hopefully my mom can pay at least a few people enough money to fake an interest in my endeavors.

So it is now Saturday of my first week in Africa and needless to say, it has already surpassed my relatively high expectations. When we first arrived to Cape Town, we were given keys to our apartments and information about our housing. While others competed for the best room in their flat, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that my roommate had taken the later flight which meant that I could get situated in whichever room I so desired. It did not take long for me to choose the bedroom with the television, couch, and outdoor patio as it blew away the other room with just a bed and desk (sorry Theresa). So that was it. The first night was pretty typical as far as meeting and greetings tend to go, so I’m not going to waste time with all of that. Oh one little side note…the weather was sunny and about 84 degrees when I arrived. Sorry to hear about all of the snow.

            Okay so my first full day in Cape Town. The Interstudy (my program) staff clearly couldn’t let a bunch of 20-year-old Americans wander the streets of the city without some safety precautions and lectures being addressed. So we had to go to various meetings about safety, culture shock, blah, blah, blah. The only question I wanted answered was, “Where is the beach?” I guess I could have pulled a Snookie, but I figured it was in my best interest to sit back and take in as much information as the staff had to offer. Once the tedious meetings had finally ended we got to go on a tour of our school, the University of Cape Town. Now one could argue that this tour was a mirror of any college tour in the States, with the walkthrough of the library, the introduction of various academic buildings, and the inevitable trip to the campus store where students could buy any old thing with UCT branded on the front. Sure this tour was the same, besides the fact that it was being held in January with temperatures in the 80s. Or that the backdrop of the center of campus is a mountain called Devil’s Peak. Also important to note is that the three beautiful rugby fields and the outdoor pool overlook the city of Cape Town. Without these minor details, yeah the tour was just your average college visit.

            Later that night a group of us girls decided to have dinner and sit out on our patios to get to know each other a little better. It was a really great time and I have already made a solid group of friends that I’m hoping will last throughout my trip. A lot of the girls seem really friendly but I have made sure to be wary of what I like to call the “first week friendlies” when everyone is just looking to make friends and feel comfortable regardless of whether there is a true connection or not. It’s a girl thing. Guess only time will tell.

            Okay on to Wednesday. On the Wednesday morning was my first encounter with “Africa time.” We took a trip to the bank that was supposed to take about an hour, which slowly turned into 2, then 3, and then well you can see the trend. Here in Africa time is not exactly of great importance. In fact, this concept is even demonstrated in the daily discourse used by South Africans. When using the word “now” South Africans can mean a number of things, none of which actually mean “at this present time.” For example, if someone were to say that they were coming “just now” they would mean that they were coming not immediately, but rather sometime when they get around to it. “Now now” is a bit more punctual, but still is not what we are used to. This instead means that they would be coming pretty soon. This jargon is all a bit new and confusing to me as I am not only trying to adjust to the different use of language, but also the different lifestyle that comes with being a South African resident. I am sure that I will find the relaxed and laidback standards of this country to be quite enjoyable, but it sure takes some getting used to.

            Later that night our mentors took us to a local place called Stones where we got the chance to meet several other American students, as well as some locals if you were brave enough. I was lucky enough to find a bit of both in one person. By sheer luck I ran into a fellow Trinity student who had grown up in Cape Town, moved to Florida, and is currently a sophomore at Trinity but taking the year off to study elephants in Botswana and other animals in Cape Town. After we exchanged numbers, he promised to show my friends and me various Cape Town sites and to keep us clued in on what was going on around town. His name is Cripsy. Yes, like chicken.

            On Thursday we finally got to go into downtown Cape Town. After taking a minibus in (which is an experience on its own), we walked through the street markets and hopped from shop to shop looking at all of what Cape Town had to offer. Then we took a walk to the famous V&A Waterfront, which was absolutely breathtaking. The harbour was filled with boutiques and outdoor restaurants. Fabulous boats positioned themselves in the water as the mountains filled the background as far as you could see. I cannot even describe how beautiful the place looked with all of the pretty buildings backed up by the incredible landscape. Of course we had to take full advantage of the lovely restaurants that provided outside seating during the sunset (sorry mom and dad). So we decided to treat ourselves to a Welcome to Cape Town dinner on the water. I have been so excited since finding out that avocados seem to be a part of every restaurant’s menu in some way, shape, or form. I love avocados more than anything and have had them in every meal so far. That and smoothies, which are also at the top of my list.

            On Friday we had the pleasure of taking rugby lessons with the University of Cape Town’s varsity rugby coach. I have to admit it was hard to listen to the rules of the game as I was frequently distracted by the beauty of the rugby fields and the view of the city that they provide. However, I tried to listen as closely as possible because we are going to a game between the Cape Town and Johannesburg city rivals in late February. After the lessons we actually got to play a game of touch rugby. Of course it amounted to complete chaos due to the lack of knowledge and to be honest, lack of athleticism, of many of the kids in my program. It was a lot of fun and I was able to get a lot of good laughs as I managed to fall flat on my butt trying to catch a ball in a simple drill, but also got a chance to recover by scoring a touchdown (I cannot remember the correct terminology) late in the game.

            After rugby a group of us went to Camps Bay beach, which was absolutely stunning. I have never before seen such a wonderful beach that is so beautiful on its own with the water and the sand, but also incorporates the array of mountains surrounding Cape Town into its landscape. As we all took out our cameras and picked up our jaws after they had dropped to the ground (oh we blended in with the locals really well), we took a spot on the beach to soak in the sun. Throughout the rest of the day I had to take a moment every so often to stop and look at the place around me. I’m not sure what I did to deserve seeing all of this, but I’m not about to speculate. Just go with the flow.

            I’m actually getting pretty tired and we have a tour of the peninsula and beach with the penguins tomorrow so I want to be on my “A” game, but I will talk about the rest of my weekend later. I know this was a bit lengthy and I found even my own eyes getting heavy while writing it, but hopefully you enjoyed getting to hear about all that I have done so far. If anyone can plow out of their driveway and go get me some sunscreen, I would be very appreciative and maybe even send you a postcard through snail mail. Hope all is well in the states and I miss everyone!