First week

So I figured the best way to tell all of you about my adventures in Africa would be by writing a blog.

Let me start by saying, South Africa is the most gorgeous country in the world. After flying for about 17 total hours, dozing in and out of consciousness, we prepare for landing and get a view of the beautiful landscape below us. There is a gorgeous chain of mountains surrounding the area, completely breath taking.

When we got off the plane we were met by our director Hestea and her assistant Angelo. They took us on a bus, gave us some food, and we ventured about 30 minutes to Stellenbosch. The scenery on the ride was unbelievable. Right as we got on the highway there was miles upon miles on little shanties in different townships. Just seeing the way so many people lived in this country, while we were being pampered and spoiled, was definitely an eye opener. As we got closer to campus we saw more and more vineyards and a few gorgeous resorts.

When we arrived on campus and dragged our luggage from the bus, we were immediately sweating. The temperature was around 95 degrees and we were obviously not prepared for it. They took us to our “accommodation” which is their word for dorm or apartment. Hannah (fellow OT from UNH) and myself decided to share a flat. We each have our own room and bathroom and share a small kitchen area. Outside of our door is a large common room for us and the 6 other people on our floor. There are 2 boys and 1 girl from the US, 1 girl from Holland and another form Tanzania all living on our floor. There are boys upstairs and boys and girls downstairs that we have become fairly close with over the past few days. Our building is called Blok 5 of Academia.

After we got settled Angelo took us to the store to grab some things like extra towels and sheets, and some groceries. That night we went out for some food and drinks at a local pub called mystic where we met up with lots of other international students.

The next day we sat through an all day orientation where we learned about everything from safety to how to use the Internet. Unfortunately unlike in the states, Internet is paid for by usage and we are limited to about 4,000 MB per month. Although feeling limited isn’t great, I’m sure it can only make my experience that much better!

After the orientation, we were invited to what is called a braai. Which is basically the Afrikaans term for barbeque. The library is actually underground and located in the middle of campus. There is a huge cut out of stairs that lead down to it and there’s a small place for a performance with the stairs surrounding it, and this is where they held the braai for all of the international students. When we got there, there were four people holding bongo drums between their legs. On the steps were probably about 200 drums, there for everyone to use. We sat down and they incorporated us into their songs. It was so much fun. After this we got drinks and waiting in line for food. There was salad, beans, potatoes, pasta salad, and when we got to the grill at the end of the line the man was serving everyone ostrich. Apparently it is eaten here very commonly. It tasted like very lean red meat, and was delicious.

We had another orientation, only a half-day instead of a full day, the next night. We decided to have a little get together at Blok 5 and ended up going to a club called Springbok with probably 20 or so people. It is funny to hear the music they play at bars and clubs because 90% of it is American songs. They are actually pretty up to date with what is popular in the states too (except for one night when they only played 90s rock songs).

The next day, all of the international students got taken on a tour of Cape Town. We hopped on buses and drove down into town. We got off the buses and walked around for a while and saw a few landmarks. After that we got back on the buses and drove a few miles up a mountain. There was a place to stand and look over to take pictures. I, along with two others, decided to venture down a little bit to take better pictures. The view was incredible. We were overlooking the ocean and most of Cape Town, and could see the world cup stadium they used over the summer, so cool. We then got dropped off at what was called Victoria’s dock. There was a huge shopping mall and a bunch of restaurants that overlooked the harbor. We walked around for a while and took some touristy pictures and even saw a few seals laying on one of the docks. After a long day we headed back to campus and had a low-key night.

The view from our apartment is absolutely breathtaking. There is one mountain that faces us that is gorgeous and we heard that you were able to hike it. After asking around we figured out how to get there, and ventured out on Sunday morning at around 8am. We started hiking probably around 9 or so and let me tell you, this was no beginner’s hike. The terrain was mostly loose rock and pebbles. I felt like a legit rock climber. After getting to the first peak, we noticed there was another higher peak and figured if we already made it this far why not keep going…. This happened about 5 or 6 times. Finally after getting to about the 6^th peak around 2:30pm we heard that there was only one more peak but that it was very difficult to get up to and would take atleast another hour. The majority of the girls decided that our skin was frying (even after multiple sunscreen applications) and our legs were getting shaky. We decided to venture down while the boys kept on trekking. Unfortunately, the climb down was far worse than the climb up. It was hard to see which path was easiest or would take us where we wanted to go. It took almost 3 hours to get all the way down. Fortunately, the pictures we took from the top of the mountain were absolutely breathtaking, making all of the sweat and pain worthwhile!

Last night after we got back we showered and napped and found a place nearby that delivered pizza! We were far too exhausted and burnt to walk into town to eat so we were all pretty thrilled about the delivery service. A bunch of us hung out all night and our friend Ky from Germany suggested we play a game he used to play back home. Funny enough, the game was werewolf, which we were slightly obsessed with in high school, go figure.

This week is “jool” or rag week. It’s basically an initiation or orientation for the freshman, or 1^st years. There are lots of events like trolley races, a parade, and a concert on Saturday. So that’s what I’ve been up to for the past week! I’ll be sure to keep you all posted by the end of this week as well. : )