The flight was pretty intense and veryy boring. I wasn't able to sleep much and probably watched Enchanted 3 or 4 times. I also have to reconsider having a window seat because getting up was difficult and that became a problem after 13 hours and drinking lots of free wine. I had pretty bad jetlag and it took a couple of days to get used to the time difference. I'm still not ever really aware of what time it is. When we got off the plane it was actually raining and cold. I was nervous that maybe I misread what the temperature is like here but we were quickly assured that Cape Town was going through a "rare cold phase" and that it would soon be over. I was really surprised at how normal everything looked on the drive from the airport. I guess I always expected Africa to look different but I felt like I was driving down Sunrise Highway.
For orientation we (the 150 or so American students in my program) moved temporarily into some dorms on campus. They were pretty similar to the Northeastern dorms but it was annoying to live out of my suitcase that I so neatly packed for a couple of days. Orientation is somewhat of a blur. It was filled with a lot of speakers and ice breakers and trying to remember people's names.
During orientation we spent some time speaking to some volunteer groups. Cape Town itself is a really wealthy beautiful city, but the surrounding areas are extremely poor. The wealth gap is huge and we were able to see it firsthand. We took a bus out to 4 different volunteer sites located in the townships surrounding Cape Town. The houses are made up of different pieces of scrap metal and there are rocks and tires holding down the roofs. Kids walk around barefoot and clean water is nowhere to be found. It was really an unbelievable site and I've never seen anything so sad. I still haven't decided what I'm going to volunteer for but will update once I choose. Here's a picture of one of the townships taken from the highway...
The next day we went to the opening soccer game in the Fifa World Cup Stadium where two South African teams were playing. It was a pretty uneventful game but ended with penalty kicks which was great. I've never seen professional teams do penalties and it was really intense. The stadium is beautiful and I really hope I'll be able to stay for one of the World Cup games.
We've done a lottt of other things like "spit braii" (bbqs), had African drum lessons, went out to dinner in the city, went to the waterfront etc. I've gone out pretty much every night and the nightlife is amazing. The only problem is that everyone smokes in the bars. Those who know me well know I put on my own Truth campaign to everyone who smokes so I've been trying to hold back as much as possible.
This week we have UCT orientation. The campus is SO beautiful. It is basically split into 3 levels and built onto a mountain. Upper Campus has a view of the entire city and there are mountains everywhere you look. It's really stunning. Because it's built on a mountain there are about 5000 stairs and the walk to campus is completely uphill which is not fun in the 90 degree weather. I'm sure I'll get used to it though.
I'm living in a house with 30 people that is split into 3 apartments. My apartment has 8 people in it and looks like a real world house with a huge kitchen and living room. Everyone is really nice and from all over the US. We have two UCT students living with us but neither live in my apartment. My room is pretty small and empty but hopefully I won't be spending too much time in here.
That's about it for now. I will try to update again soon hopefully with pictures of baby penguins from the peninsula tour :)
