Greetings from Africa!!
Beginning the adventure...
Whew, the past five days have been a complete whirlwind! The seventeen hour flight from D.C. to JoBurg was absolutely killer. If you want to come visit it is for sure worth the money to go through Amsterdam/London or one guy flew straight to Cape Town from Atlanta?! The people around me on the plane recommended taking off your shoes because your feet would swell and boy did they ever! Ha that was what the kankle insta was from. On the flight Haley and I met some really cool people. There was a guy from Stellenbosch that sat beside me and gave us the South African does and don’ts the entire trip. Across the isle was a man and his daughter from D.C. Halfway through the flight he handed us his laptop and wanted us to read his presentation that he was going to give to the UCT Business school this upcoming Friday. Within the first 30 seconds of reading I was throughly freaked out. He had us reading about terrorist attacks and hijacking...AKWARD... Come to find out he was retired from the World Bank and was involved in the longest hijacking that took place in Pakistan. [Google his name Jeffery and it is the first thing to pop up on the search engine] Crazy, right?! When we finally landed in Cape Town, we were greeted by Roland and around 10 other IES students. It was like Christmas, everyone was so excited to be here and find out where they would call “home” for the next five months. Our apartment is the biz compared to everyone else’s because it is the most recently renovated.
Cape Town life...
I can not put into words how beautiful this place is and my pictures will not do it justice. It is so amazing to constantly be surrounded by Table Mountain wherever you go. The first day we were here we climbed to Cecil Rhodes Memorial [Google it] and the view is absolutely incredible. (that was the insta pic where you can see the whole town and the ocean) Everyone here is so happy and care free. Even the people in “Pick n Pay” (grocery store) seem to love their job and are happy to help. It is so refreshing because no one stresses and everyone is on African time. Oh how I needed this!!!
Adventures thus far...
Through IES orientation they showed us the basics of how to survive and navigate. We toured the neighborhood, learned how to use the train going both ways, scoped out the beach, toured 2 townships, got a feel for down town and even explored the Water Front last night for dinner. (B.E.A.UIFUL!!!) Tomorrow we leave to go on the “Garden Route” and will be there until Saturday!!!! Eeeek!
Thoughts and reflections...
Everything/everyone here is so different. Growing up in small town USA and living in the TCU bubble I have never really been exposed to anything that really challenged what I believed in. Needless to say I’ve encountered a little culture shock. It’s been a real eye opening 5 days and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the semester has in store. I know that great things are going to come of this and I’m excited to keep doing life with the people in my program and the locals. It has been fascinating to learn more about the history of the country and begin to better understand the Apartheid period. If I could describe the city in one word as of now it would be “diverse.” Cape Town is called the Rainbow City because there are a blend of so many cultures, religions, languages... It is insane. It has made me realize even more how awesome our God is that he sent is son to die for us when we as humans are so undeserving and that we as people are called to love others just like he loves us.
Cheers for now!
Chels...Check out the colored houses...HA SOOO not where I live!
Cutie from Langa Township
The Crew!
