It's not over yet :D

My last month is going wonderfully. I'm just trying to get all the last minute tourist needs accomplished while attempting to study for exams. I finally made it to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela among many other ANC political prisoners were imprisoned for decades). It was a pretty eerie place. I also finally made it out to Clifton Beach with Kasey last Friday. It was such a gorgeous day...of course we both ended up sunburned, but still totally worth it. We rented beach chairs and bought ice cream, it was the perfect girl's day. It was so funny because Clifton Beach has 4 beaches and we were dropped off by the mini bus at number three so we just went down and it was great because almost no one was there. After an hour or two we slowly began to realize we had chosen the gay/nude beach haha it was so hilarious hahaha.

It's starting to hit home that the semester is coming to close now that it's a matter of weeks until we all leave. I wish we were all going home at the same time. Kasey and Sam leave November 17th and it is probably going to break my heart having to say goodbye.It's so weird how quickly and how strong my friendships have grown here. I have a really great feeling that we're all going to stay somewhat close though because this experience has just been so bonding.

Well, I wish I could write more (and I will soon), but I have to meet Ida Cooper for tea :] Haha. Miss you all <3

The Day to Day

I normally don't post during the mundane weeks. However, now that the final countdown has begun things don't really feel so mundane any more. The last week really wasn't anything spectacular though, I mostly enjoyed every second of not having a paper due. The week before had been so hectic. Now all my classes are over and I just have one review session in a half hour before exams begin next week. I cannot believe Halloween is almost here, or that November is almost here. The weather is incredible this week, today was beautiful and it's only supposed to get nicer. If only it had been that way yesterday... I went to the waterfront with Sebastian because we had tickets to go to Robben Island, but ten minutes after we got there it started to down pour. The tour was canceled, but we rescheduled for this Wednesday so I am excited for that. I feel like I have so much free time without class. Hopefully the predictions will come true and tomorrow will be beautiful again so I can go to beach :] I want to be nice and tan for my reunification with America.

I'm trying to take pictures of everything that see everyday here. I made a "scenic images" album on facebook so that I have a place to post them all. I hate the thought of forgetting things here. It is all so gorgeous and I want to go home with all of my memories fully in tact. I want to remember the order of the suburbs I live in along Main Street: Obzs, Mowbray, Rosebank, Rondebosch, Clarmont...how much mini buses cost: 5R unless they are in the mood to ask for 6, how in stead of dandelions growing along the highway there are birds of paradise and white lilies. I want the remember my laundry ladies, my sandwich lady and my coffee lady. I want to remember the way the two gates outside of the charlton house sound when they slam shut, and the ring of the door bell that is constantly chiming. There are an endless amount of little things that I think about all the time here and I don't want to go home and forget all about them. I'm going to miss Johnny the cab driver and how he tells me about his 84 year-old mom and the flat that she has lived in for the last 57 years. I just need to write it all down. I want to be able to give a fully detailed report when I go home about just what it really was like to live here :] I feel so lucky! I think about my old walk in albion from twin to the quad and how when i would walk up the stairs in between baldwin and seaton I would look at the pine trees and pretend I was in twilight because they really are that beautiful! I just want to always appreciate the beauty around me because it is such a constant and wonderful supplier of happiness.

Oh and the Egyptian geese! I do not want to forget about the Egyptian geese.

Südafrika

I don’t want to leave. I know that if I heard myself say that in July or early August I would have slapped myself...but I actually do not want to leave. When I left home I left everyone that I love behind me, I took a leap of faith on this experience that I had been wanting for years. Well, I got exactly what I asked for: the experience of a lifetime. Now I have around 5 weeks left here and I am in disbelief. Suddenly everything I do here seems so much more precious than I expected it to. The best thing about home is that it is always there, it will always be a harbour of love and familiarity...but this place is magical and I can’t come back to it (the place yet, but not the experience). I remember talking to a girl who was abroad last year and hearing her say she wished she had gone abroad for a year...I thought she was crazy. Now I can totally relate. It’s hard to describe the feeling of missing your family and friends at home so much, but also loving everything here so much. The fact that the weather is suddenly perfect isn’t making it any easier on me. All I want to do is lay on the beach every day :]
When I was little I went to Florida every winter, some years twice (once with my mom and once with my dad) and every year the last time I swam in the ocean I would promise it my return. I think about those goodbyes every time I see it...there is something so fulfilling about keeping a promise. It is so weird how you can fly to the other side of the world and feel elements of home...and that I consider Florida to be part of home. I suppose anywhere with family memories has been internalized as home. Anyway, I love it here. I love feeling like I am doing it...I am living my dream. I am experiencing a foreign country, people, and culture and I am adjusted! It is the most liberating feeling in the world. I wish I could take a picture of the mini bus station here (if I pulled my camera out, I would without a doubt be robbed haha). Any middle class American that can take that place on would feel proud of themselves guaranteed! When I turned 16 and received my own car I felt independent; I never imagined that I would be able to flag down a mini bus and sit amongst ten strangers with a disco ball on the ceiling and either hip hop or Italian opera blasting in the background and feel comfortable. I love that I am learning about South African foreign relations regarding refugees! This is why I came here, to learn about current events where they are taking place. I feel like I am developing an addiction to independence.
I know that I still have over a month left so it is a little early to evaluate my experience here...but :] I can see a change in myself. It has become so obvious that I am more open-minded now, I feel like I listen to people more than I ever did in the past. I don’t just hear someone’s stories, I feel them. I don’t judge like I used to, but instead I listen to people’s reasons for the decisions or opinions that they have and then I feel empathetic towards their point of view. I don’t question things as much as I used to either, I feel like I am more willing to dive into life. Of course, I still value my regard for responsibility and well thought out decisions, but I definitely value spontaneity more than I used to. Sometimes it is necessary to act on passion rather than sense. I knew that it was financially imprudent to come here, by my passion for this continent led me here anyway and I could not be more thankful. Coming here was a risk, but I took it and have received the greatest reward. I have friends from around the world, I appreciate foreign cultures and my own more than I ever have before, I am more aware of international affairs, and I have a thirst for life that is irrevocable.
I cannot wait to go home and share these new qualities that I have discovered within myself with my friends and family. I know that our relationships will be even more meaningful now that I have a more mature outlook on them. It isn’t that I was not mature previously, but now I truly value the power of support systems. My mom, my sister, my cousins, my friends from home and my delta gammas have been there for me when I was around the corner and when I was as far as I could possibly be. This is a gift. I think I see that more clearly now because I have been given the opportunity to experience something incredible that I know is temporary. I try to soak everything in here because it is always in the back of my mind that I only have it for a little bit. Well, I never really thought that way at home. Now I see that college, my life as a student, and my role in life is temporary. Everything changes, and yes a lot of those changes are for the better, but it is important to publically cherish the positive experiences that you currently have because each one of them will soon be a happy memory; a framed photograph. In a literal sense even...I included a photo of the happy scene I experienced this morning on my walk to class :]

p.s. I am dedicating myself to writing more interesting updates for the rest of my time here. I am going to Robben Island this weekend and will have lots to share on Monday. Sorry this entry was so reflective rather than adventurous haha.

Adventureland

Adventureland.

I should start with spring break. It seems like so long ago, I obviously need to get better about updating this blog more frequently. The entire trip was so incredible though; I loved every minute of it. The first day we got a little bit of a late start (thanks to Hermann’s laundry taking forever haha) and as we drove away from Cape Town I realized just how blessed I have been to have this experience. It has to be so rare to find a place so incredibly gorgeous with a people that match it in beauty. While we were stuck in traffic, the little children walking alone along the edges of the highway amazed me; I have never seen something like this before. Cars were flying past them and I could hardly keep my eyes open as I watched how close they were to us. I could have easily stuck my hand out of the window and touched them. Even though I have seen the continuous stretch of townships outside of Cape Town numerous times now, it amazes me every time. The clash of poverty, scenic mountains, and the African sunset on the Atlantic was what I viewed for hours on our drive to our first destination: Mossel Bay.
I have never stayed in a motel before nevertheless a hostel. So, it was pretty cool that my first hostel experience was in a stationary train. I was so excited to sleep on the top bunk, it reminded me so much of being back at Albion with Meg sleeping below me. When I woke up I heard the waves crashing into the beach outside and it was such a great feeling; the ultimate vacation feeling. I was able to take a shower and there was a little window in the shower looking right out at the ocean, such an incredible way to wake up. Every day we stopped somewhere new; Jeffery’s Bay was one of the first stops and it was a total surfer/hipster hostel. The doors to our rooms didn’t even lock…everyone seemed to have dreadlocks, weed, and was just loving life. The eleven of us were all in the bar eating pizza when some of us noticed a drink of the menu called “the fish bowl” it was 100 Rand aka $18 and of course I was dared to order it. The bartender looked at me with this huge smile and while I watched him pour every kind of alcohol imaginable into it my jaw dropped to the floor. I was laughing so hard when I carried it back to the table, I could hardly hold it. We all drank it and of course between the eleven of us it wasn’t much, but the whole act of getting it was so hilarious.
Moving on to the next bay…Coffee Bay :] This place was incredible! We got there and the reception area/restaurant were in one area and then our huts (yes, actual huts) were across a river! Now, when we got there the river was not because it only comes at high tide. So we all got ready and went over the restaurant for dinner and at about midnight I went to head back…only to find the river running freely! Luckily, I had Sebastian to walk me back the long way home to the huts. The next day I ended up finding out that the river was only about a foot deep and totally accessible by walking through. We spent two days here so the second we were able to take part in a hike to “the hole in the wall” it was a 10k hike along the coast to a cliff in the ocean that had a hole in it. Normally the leaders of the hike guide the participants to the top of the hole and allow cliff jumping. This day however, the waves were crashing through this hole with an unbelievable amount of power, so jumping was not an option. We saw so many farm animals though that belonged to all of the natives. Their huts reminded me of the Native Americans homes that I learned about in elementary school…these homes were supposed to exist in a former century, not current time. The entire hike was mind-blowing; every direction I turned was a sight I have never seen before.
The next memorable stop on our trip was Durban. This city has the highest population of Indians anywhere in the world outside of India. We stayed two nights here as well at a really cute bread and breakfast. We had the whole place to our self so it was really nice, the English breakfast in the mornings was sooo good! The second day we went to the beach and the water was finally warm enough to enjoy swimming in. I’ve been told that Durban is the true telling-point of where the Indian Ocean begins and the Atlantic ends because of the change in temperature. So after a day at the beach we went out for Indian food and although I am typically not a huge fan, it was really good.
From Durban we drove all the way to Kimberly (making many pit stops along the way). I think we probably stopped at about 10 steers over the course of this trip, which is a South African fast food chain. I am pretty sure that I only ate at this place once, it was sooo gross! I preferred Spurs…I would compare them to Applebees and they at least had decent calamari. Kimberly was definitely the most ghetto place we stayed on the trip, our hostel was a former prison! Kind of cool, the star-gazing was really nice. Before we left Kimberly we went to their “Big Hole” haha which is apparently the largest diamond mining hole in the world. Now it is filled with water, but it was pretty cool and the museum was under ground and kind of interesting to go through.
The last night our trip was definitely on of my favorites. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that is also an airport! The owners were very Afrikaans and had a baby goat in a pen next to their house. At night we were able to go up to the top of the B&B, which was kind of like a Florida room with outside balconies. There was a pigeon stuck inside and if anyone had seen us trying to get it out I am confident they would have died from laughter. The starts were amazing again though and we all really enjoyed spending our last night of vacation together. Our entire group meshed so well through out the trip, I felt so bonded to everyone by the end. There was no drama at all and I had so much fun every day in the car. Alice and I had sing-a-longs with Sebastian and Renae, Sam and I were talking to silly voices to each other, and just everyone was so much fun to be with. It was kind of difficult coming back to Cape Town and getting back into ‘school mode,’ but I am happy to be back now :] Even if I do wish I could do that same trip every year for spring break.
I wish I could give all of the details from this trip, but my entry would be never-ending. It was incredible though, and seeing so much of South Africa gave me such a better understanding of where I am. I am liking it here more and more every day. Even when I do miss home, I know that this experience has been perfect for me and has given me more than I could have hoped for.

<3 carly

loving it

Well I have finally finished my exams for the week. I cannot believe my semester is half way over; time is flying by! I leave for spring break tomorrow and I could not be more excited. 10 of my housemates and I are going on a ten day road trip around South Africa. We're going through the garden route, up to Durban, hopefully through Lesotho, up to Kimberly and then back to Cape Town. It's going to be an insane amount of driving, but the boys bought a car (automatic) and then we rented two stick shifts because they are so much cheaper, but only the boys know how to drive them so I guess I won't be doing any driving on the wrong side of the road haha.

Other than tests I have done two pretty cool things in the last week or so. I went to the first soccer game at the world cup stadium since the games finished. It was really incredible being there knowing that only like two months ago I was watching games from America that were taking place there. I had such a good time, even though I wasn't that into the game. The fans were insane and the vuvuzelas from the world cup were out in full force. They are so loud! It was really awesome seeing all the fans. Hermann, one of the germans in the house got a crowd of about 50 south africans singing "Deutschland" over and over...even though no one else was from Germany haha.

The following day I went to the District 6 museum. During Apartheid something in between 40 and 50 towns were stripped of all diversity, all of the blacks and "coloreds" were forced to move into townships outside of the city and suburbs. District 6 was one of the suburbs. Prior to Apartheid it flourished and had incredible buildings with breath-taking european architecture, but when the blacks were evacuated all of the buildings were demolished. The whites politicians wanted no remembrance of what the area was. The problem was that everyone got along so well in District 6 there was no racial tension at all (I was told this by my tour guide who was a minority and was born in District 6 during the late 1930's). After the area was torn apart it never recovered, it is just now beginning to rebuild, but for as long as Apartheid lasted it was lifeless. The photos blew my mind. Mind tricks were played on the people on signs whenever whites were mentioned in signs it would say "white people only" but if it was forbidding minorities it would simply say "no blacks allowed" the word people did not apply to them. I've learned in my classes that the brainwashing was inspired by the division the nazi's created with the jews. On a less violent scale of course, but nevertheless the minorities here had to face police brutality for far too long and visiting that museum made my studies here much more real.

Anyway, sorry for the somewhat boring entry. I promise my next one will be much more entertaining since it will be as soon as I get back from spring break in like ten days :]

<3 Carly

Development

An Austrian (Cash) from Long Street Saturday night…
“Only two things matter in life: sharing and love”
the guy standing next to him:
“and trust man, you can’t forget about trust.”


I think I was scared when I first got here because I felt like I was being thrown into independence. Not that I have the occupational responsibilities of someone fully independent, but being so far from anyone and everyone that I know was an experience that I could not have imagined before. The more I think about it though, the more capable and independent I feel. Knowing that I am hurdling the cultural obstacles here all on my own is more fulfilling than I originally realized. A couple of days ago I was walking to pick up my laundry and I saw a man…relieving himself…on the side of a building and when we made awkward eye contact he screamed profanity at me. I was so shaken up and so afraid that he was going to chase after me, I put my keys through my fingers in about a half second, but he didn’t come after me and I was fine. I know that I need to be aware of the homeless here, but I am also realizing that the vast majority of them are pretty harmless.
I hit another obstacle Friday when I was getting ready to go volunteer for lawco. I received a text message from our group leader announcing that all sessions would be canceled because the teachers in the township are on strike. At first I was so upset, those kids need to be in school more than anyone, it’s probably the closest thing to a safe place that they have. I wonder what they did instead of going to school that day. It sounded to me like this happens pretty often with the schools there. I also wonder if those teachers are being exploited, it must be one of the most challenging teaching jobs on Earth to expect kids to learn when it is perfectly obvious that their home conditions are hardly fit for living in let alone being academically productive. I was thinking about exploitation because I just learned that my house’s security guard, Farikai who is undoubtedly the kindest and happiest person I have ever met, is paid 8.3 rand an hour…that’s barely more than a dollar America. A dollar an hour! He has two kids and a wife and I just can’t imagine how he is supporting them on that, but nevertheless he is always smiling. As easy as it is to marvel at the mountains and sunsets here, the real reason why I came is for people like Farikai…he is the true inspiring element of this country. People that can find so much joy out of just living are rare and they are who I will learn from while I am here.
There are so many things that I miss about America, but already I am noticing things that I will be so sad to part from here. Definitely the campus, it is incomparable in beauty. Some of the weekly things too though, for instance the Old Biscuit Mill. This place is about ten minutes away and is described as a farmer’s market, but it is actually like a food extravaganza. I went there this Saturday with two of my housemates. They have local chefs serving everything imaginable and it is all incredible. The fresh baked pastries and breads, homemade granola (mine has cranberries added in), pesto sauces (olive and aubergine), smoothies, sandwiches, and foods of every nationality as well. I bought two muffins from this one really cute lady who sells the most beautiful baked good, she had these huge chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate…it took a lot of will power to not cave into those. There was also organic dark chocolate that tasted like pure heaven; I will definitely be purchasing that before I go home. I could go on and on about the food, it feels like a cultural experience just eating there. I met one man from Colorado at the market who is working here and he seemed so happy to meet a few fellow Americans. Even though we are all here to experience something different, it’s kind of cute how all the Americans feel a bond towards one another, like we are all each others' little reminder of home.
One thing that I instantly noticed about the environment though was that the crowd was probably 90% white. Some places here still have such a racial division. I could say that about things at home as well, but at home whites are the majority; it makes more sense when there are more white people around, but here that is not the case. I was talking to a South African today and his thoughts on the current state of affairs here was not unlike other South Africans I have talked with, the radical change in society is not taking place at the necessary speed. They call the majority of the population the masses here and that is unfortunately the poor blacks. It is very different for me to grasp that I am living in a country that does not have the kind of social and governmental stability that the United States does. One South African put it me this way: “The greatest thing about the states is that you guys always have a positive attitude, like there is nothing you can’t do. When an innovative idea comes about here, some people run with it, but there are always doubters.” I think with time the South Africans will develop more strength in the faith of their people. Trust takes time, historically social revolution seems to take an evolution in humanity before results are truly seen. The South Africans are a good-natured people though, they avoided civil war in the 90's by bonding together despite all of the violence in their past and I think that if they could do that...the can accomplish much more than even they realize.

It's kind of incredible to me that while South Africa is developing into a modernized nation, it is helping me to develop into a more culturally aware person.

<3

...week three :]

“We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.”

-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Lawco wasn’t exactly what I expected this Friday. I was working with a small group of about five sixteen year-olds and explaining xenophobia to them. They didn’t know what the word refugee meant so one of the South African volunteers came over and instantly knew the word for it in their native language. I couldn’t even pronounce the kids names because most of them have clicks in them. I think they were having a really difficult time understanding my accent because I was getting a lot of blank stares. When I was finally able to ask them “if a refugee is in South Africa do you think they should receive the same basic human rights that you receive?” they answered no! By the time we got that far group time was over. I have never felt so inefficient. I know that it’s going to take time and that I will get a lot out of this program, but it’s obvious the first few weeks are going to be a struggle. As a class our group leader asked the kids to close their eyes and think about a time that they were scared for their safety and one girl was so upset by it she ran out of the room. I can’t even imagine what she was remembering, but it broke my heart just to know that she and, most likely, all of those kids have been through multiple life-threatening situations. Despite all of that though when it came to putting a play on at the end, those kids lit up! You could definitely tell which ones loved attention and they were hilarious.

Saturday was much lighter. It’s a long weekend for National Women’s Day on Monday so half of my house is gone on trips to the Garden Route and Cedarburg, but the rest of us want to save those trips for the Spring time. We left for the train yesterday around noon and took it to Simon’s Town. It was once a naval harbor for the Dutch and is now a precious beach town. I bought some vintage post cards from an antique shop of what the area looked like in the 1800’s; I love old photography. The girls and I ate at a restaurant called Bertha’s, which was right on the water. It reminded me of a place I ate at with my mom and Julie in Washington or Oregon on the water. I had the best calamari I have ever had; it was so fresh! While we were eating the seals were doing flips in the water right in front of us, it was really cute. It was the perfect day trip. The train station in Simon’s Town was destroyed by a storm so we had to take a bus from Fish Hoek to the actual town. On the way there some guy stood up on the bus and preached for about ten minutes about being a born-again Christian, he then proceeded to come down every row of seats and try to “bring us to Jesus.” I tried to be friendly and explain to him that I am Catholic, but he told me I am going to Hell if I don’t change haha so that was the end of that discussion. On the way back these obnoxious drunk guys were really hassling us about being American, but they were harmless. The train ride was really great! This African woman was helping us and told me that I need to take her back to America with me because everyone is rich there. She made me promise that in 2015 I will come back and start a huge business to employ her, I told her she could run the business with me. It was a pretty entertaining conversation; it was refreshing to meet someone so friendly.

Today, Sunday, was wonderful. We were supposed to go to the District 6 museum (apartheid) downtown, but it ended up being closed on Sunday. We took a mini bus down to Green Point, which could not have been more of an adventure. These buses (large white vans) drive up and down Main Street with one man driving and another hanging half his body out the window screaming “Cape Town, Cape Town” while hassling pedestrians to get in. It’s really nice though because they only charge 5 Rand (50 cents) to go any where along Main. They fill these vans until people are totally sardined in that van, it is crazy! Luckily ours was full, but not over-crowded. It had a disco ball and was blasting Lady Gaga remixes haha! So once we got there we had breakfast at this little café and it was sooooo good! Best omelet I have ever had! I also had a tea latte with white chocolate and it was beyond words. Afterwards we walked along the coast for a while and the ocean was raging. The waves were huge and it looked straight out of a photograph. We ended up meeting up with one of our housemates, Sam, and her parents because they are here visiting. We went to the V&A waterfront mall and I finally got a new camera! It was a little more expensive than I was hoping, but it was so worth it. I have hated not being able to capture this trip. I also bought knee high leather boots so I am no longer the only white girl here without them. Walking around in flip flops was making me stick out like a sore thumb, the South Africans act like it’s 40 degrees here. My only other purchase was a cute ring; Kasey and I bought found some really cool ones for half out, such an exciting moment.

We all ended up going back to the house Sam’s parents are staying in and it was beautiful! It was just up on the mountain looking out on the waterfront, the artwork, architecture, view, and everything about it was incredible. So refreshing after living in this 100 year-old house haha. We had hamburgers and just a lovely little American meal:] It felt so homey to be with parents and it was really nice to hear their perspective on the area. I really liking it here more and more. I still miss home a lot, but I just feel so blessed to have this opportunity, it truly is a once in a lifetime experience. Anyway, I guess I’m rambling now. Just having a T.V. night with my housemates and doing lots of homework tomorrow! Exploring the world is becoming a lot less scary and a lot more exciting :]

P.S. Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne, and Drake are awesome deterrents of homesickness :]

<3>

Happy Shark Week :]

It's strange how things can be so foreign and so familiar all at once. Most of the time everything feels different here...but then there are moments where I can't believe I am half way around the world. My bus rides home from school are more incredible than any other drive I have ever been on. The view of Table Mountain and the surrounding landscape is unreal, I feel like I am in a movie. I can't get over the way the clouds move around the mountain and make it look completely different almost every day. I'm sure this is boring to read about, but seriously...it is the most incredible thing I have ever seen, and to see it every day makes me feel so spoiled.

On a more interesting note...I have done a few fun things in the last week. On Friday afternoon I had lawco training for my upcoming volunteer work. I am going to be teaching 10-12th graders about equality and xenophobia this week. When I first heard the word "xenophobia" it was a vocab word in the 8th grade; the fear of foreigners. I didn't really realize how real the word was until coming here. In the townships many South Africans reject foreigners who come into this country as poor people looking for work. Hate crimes (as extensive as burning people alive) have been committed against refugees here and so that will be one of the issues addressed when I visit the township this week. I am so interested to see how the topic is received.

On top of my readings for lawco I have about a million pages of reading to do for my classes. It is pretty extensive here, and a lot of it in on the internet, which is really annoying considering I have to pay for the internet when I'm not in a computer lab on campus. We also have tutorials here, which are small groups that we have for each class that we are. They meet once a week and are mandatory to attend. If you miss more than two you're not allowed to take the final exam for the class. Most of my classes here are huge, one has 600 people! It makes me miss Albion so much. Sometimes it's nice because I don't feel like I always have to participate, but most of the time it is kind of overwhelming. The classes here are only 45 minutes and every time the kids in my class start packing up their things when there is still like 10 minutes left! It's so weird, the professors don't even seem to mind though. Things are definitely more relaxed here, I never felt high-strung at home, but sometimes I catch myself getting so frustrated with how laid back everyone is academically here. It is definitely a learning experience.

Ok, now...the house. There are 16 of us in our house and we somehow decided to have a house party Saturday night. It was insane, there were at least 100 people in our house. We all had door duty and I was basically standing there with my mouth hung open during my shift because I could not believe how many people were coming in. My shift was with Kasey, and since we are both girls we had Herman help us. It was so funny he kept telling all the ugly guys he saw "no ugly people allowed" and in a German accent it was soooo hilarious! The people looked so confused, it was kind of mean, but I just couldn't stop laughing. The DG I met, Betsy, was there as well. It seemed like every person studying abroad was at our house along with UCT's rugby team. Al and Kurtis (two of the guys in my house) are on the team and invited them all over...apparently mullets are in here amongst the rugby crowd because a lot of them were rocking them haha. I basically felt like I was living in a frat this weekend.

So the party ended at like 3am, the cops came multiple times (I was in bed thank God), and at 4am the bus came to pick up the 5 of us in the house that were going shark diving. So Kasey and I ran around waking up Herman, Kurtis, and Alicen while the bus driver waited. The guys actually got up pretty quickly, but Alicen couldn't get out of her room! The bus driver ended up having to kick the door down! It was sooo ridiculous lol her entire door frame is busted...I didn't even know people could really break doors down! It took about 2 hours to get to the bay where we went out on the boat. Once we got on the water I wasn't so exhausted though. On our way out to the sharks we hit a whale! It was so cool haha we saw a couple of them out there. Once we got to Shark Alley we got into our wet suits and got into the cage 5 at a time. The water was about 52 degrees and I thought my hands were going to fall off. The great whites were the coolest thing I have ever seen though. They got so close and every time one would swim up it just came out of no where! Their size was just massive, but while I was underwater with them I wasn't scared at all. The way they moved was so beautiful, I just felt at awe of how they moved. One caught a seal near us and jumped out of the water while tossing it around. I basically felt like I was on the Discovery Channel. I loved every second of it!

So now that I have written a novel...I suppose all that I have left to tell you about is that today is one of my housemate's birthday so we are going out to dinner for that. Kind of a boring Monday, but it is so welcomed after that weekend. I'm glad that it's August now, I want all my Albion people back at school so I can feel like this semester is moving along! I am really loving it here, but I just can't wait to be reunited with everyone. I'm already missing everything Albion wayyy too much. I'm kind of happy about that though, I think I'd be more worried if I wasn't missing my friends and family :]

Sorry for spelling mistakes, no time to edit, off to international politics!

<3 Carly

cape town

Wow. I think I might be suffering from culture shock. Everything here is incredible in a very unfamiliar sort of way. I miss a lot of things about home. Being so close to all my family and friends, driving wherever I want, free internet, not smelling weed every time I opened my bedroom door...the list is quite long. I also know that this is the only place for me. I am experiencing things that I would never be able to from home.

My first day here...from what I remember, I was really suffering from jetlag, I went on a tour of Cape Pointe. That is where many believe the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. It was absolutely breath-taking. It was difficult for me to truly appreciate it though, I was in such shock that I am actually here in Africa for 4 and half months. I saw a lot that day, wild ostriches, a whale, and penguins at boulder beach. I also went on a tour with SHAWCO, a volunteer group organized through UCT (University of Cape Town) of a local township, Nyanga. It was heart-breaking. I have seen poverty before, but not like this, not on that scale. The shacks...if you can even call them that... went on for what seemed like forever. As soon as i got out of the van I was hit violently with the smell of decay. The meet markets (huts with recently slaughtered animals hanging) were difficult to even look at. As I went through the homes of these people all I could think about were the holes all through their ceilings and walls. All that could even fit in these things were mattresses and they be totally moldy from the rain. The children were so incredible though. They ran at us like we were celebrities, it was such a surreal experience. The unemployment rate here is over 30% so there are literally homeless everywhere searching for work.

I signed up with SHAWCO today to do their "lawco" program. I will be going to schools in townships and teaching teens about their constitutional and human rights. These poor people are taken advantage of daily and so it is incredibly important for them to be aware of their rights. I am soooo excited to do this! My training starts this Saturday morning. I met another girl from Delta Gamma here, who seems like such a nice girl, and she is doing the program as well. Other than that, I started classes yesterday. Those have gone pretty well, I will have a ton of reading, but that's to be expected as a political science major. One of my professors is from Ghana, a few of the others seem to be from other places as well, but I haven't figured their nationalities out quite yet. I am so excited to get a totally new prospective on politics here.

Other than that...I miss home and all my friends and family a lot! My throat hurts, I am half way through Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, I watched X men with my housemates last night, andddd I got my laundry done this afternoon :] Oh darn I forgot to write about the farmer's market...hmm well, it was amazing! everywhere I look here there are mountains and they way the sun hits them is poetic. I am dying to hike Table Mountain, but I heard the hike is a little dangerous so I am going to wait until September when the weather here is nicer. My house is freezing!! I need wool socks and my snuggie!!

<3