A Gift And A Mission: A Few Reflections On My Time Abroad As I Get Ready To Return To School

When I first arrived in Cape Town, I was not only looking for the multicultural experience of living in a foreign country away from anyone and anything I previously knew, but was also in search of a fresh multi-faith community. To find such an inspiringly diverse community that would support my spirit I began searching in all areas I would have at Mount Holyoke.

I signed up for a religion course (which I later dropped), explored joining a multi/inter-faith student group (which didn’t exist, so I had to make due with a singular faith group: South African Union of Jewish Students or SAUJS), went to Yoga class at UCT, planned a tour of CT religious sites, PLANNED to contact the Kundalini Yoga community in the area, and even contemplated starting a multifaith group at UCT (but that was short-lived). Once all of these attempts fell through (with the exception of going to Spiritfest in Stellenbosch when my dad visited to meet some of the Kundalini community and taking a trip to St. Georges Cathedral to hear Desmond Tutu’s prayer), I was out of ideas.

Was it possible that multifaith just did not exist in SA? Or if it did, was it so tiny that a foreigner had no hope of infiltrating it? Could it be that the community I was seeking was still like it is in most of America; fragmented into individual faith groups? I wanted the diversity that I was accustomed to from MHC. The respect of each other and intrigue in difference that the religious community I had thrived in for the previous two-and-a-half years nourished, only in a new setting, in a fresh context.

Up until than I had lived my entire life hearing all about the glory of living a “spiritual, yogic lifestyle” and all that it entailed. I had heard this and followed this without having experienced the alternative. I had been consistently practicing yoga/meditation everyday for the previous 10 years, had never drunk alcohol, smoked, eaten meat, cut my hair, and the list goes on. In essence, I was following a route that any 3HO parent would be extremely proud of and I was proud of that. In fact, I took so much pride in this fact that I found myself often looking down on those who had not followed such a “straight path.” 

I began this journey in SA holding fast to these principles but alone, without any community of support for the first time EVER in my life.

With the end of the 40-day meditation I began on one of the first days of my arrival, the beginning of this new reality set in. I had now officially been thrown into a fully different setting with no life preserver and as hard as it was at times; I was itching for an experience away from my safety net. This was the reason I wanted to go abroad in the first place was it not? It was to experience the world and myself under a completely new sky (I realize it was is the same sky, but lets pretend for metaphors sake).

After the discouragement of not finding a haven of spirituality, I set my sites on different experiences. I began to simply enjoy what SA could offer me from a more grounded perspective. I began to make friends in places (physically and mentally) I never would have ventured before and embraced an attitude of being thrown out of my comfort zone in all areas of life.

This is not to say I went completely wild and just blew off everything I had been taught up until than (I don’t think anyone could ever do that). I did, however, have to physically re-evaluate why the teachings I had grown up with were so important, on a much more personal level.

Along with that, being in Cape Town, nestled amongst some of the best wineries in the world, there was no hope in escaping the odd glass of this fermented beverage. The ability to go to a bar as an under 21 year old and the culture of smoking, pool, rugby and beer made this type of social outing a component of life that stuck. I watched myself make some great friends this way and fell off my high horse. Suddenly I stopped seeing any problem with this type of lifestyle. I was having fun, making amazing friends, and was genuinely happy. How could a life that makes you happy be bad?

As I wrestled with this duality of lifestyles, I fell farther away from any hope of finding a spiritually diverse, engaging community. Not to say the people I met were not engaging but I would not expect to sit down with most of them and discuss Buddha, Muhammad, or Amaterasu.

As much as I missed my Multifaith community at home, I couldn’t help but become distracted with all the FUN I was having, because fun I definitely was having. Between the beach trips, Braai’s, nights out and nights in I really felt for the first time since entering College that I was having a “normal” College experience. I was finally getting the social freedom that I had previously felt was lacking.

After leaving Cape Town and coming back into a spiritual community that I have grown so accustomed to I feel that I can see the benefits and the shortcomings of having such a safety net. I can evaluate on a much deeper and more personal level what the right balance is for me. I feel that this great balancing act of life will never fully be resolved but I am off to a much better understanding of how to attempt it.

I come back into the space of religious diversity and uplifting lifestyle practices that I’m used to still trying to make sense of it all but seeing myself viewing the world in a much more open-minded manner. The Dogma of being on the “right path” no longer plagues my being. What is the “right path”? Can there be a single “right”? I do not think so and I can no longer look down upon anyone for “straying from such a designated route.”

I had always believed in the idea that there are multiple ways set out for each human, but after living and experiencing one so much different than what I had ever known I think I am beginning to internalize and understand this notion much better than before.

So, even though I did not find the multifaith community I was hoping for in SA, I was able to learn a huge lesson. One that speaks to what I believe is the core of interfaith work, that of seeing your journey in life as right for you but not the “one and only” direction to take.

I leave this experience behind me as one that was necessary. I may not make it a new lifestyle but that does not mean it holds no value. It may not be the way my life shall be lived but that does not mean I frown upon those who live that way. It may not be what works for me on a regular basis but, again, life is a balancing act and I believe being too caught up in one Dogma is worse than living in moderation.

I return to MHC with a renewed excitement for interfaith work and a hunger to add my personal growth to the mixing pot. I am ready to jump into my beloved multifaith community with a new gusto that I was sure I had lost in my discouraging attempt of finding such a group in Cape Town.

Perhaps with this larger appreciation for the amazing support I have at MHC I can someday go back to Cape Town and share the joys of interfaith work with the University there. Perhaps we need to begin looking at bringing this model of multifaith awareness to a larger global community. Perhaps re-evaluating how we experience the multifaceted appearance of spiritually needs to be added to the mix. For one can talk the talk and believe a belief, but words and thoughts do not actions make. If we are truly to understand and appreciate what we tout, should we perhaps experience all sides of the equation? Perhaps… perhaps. 

A Race Against the Clock

My last week in Cape Town has been crazy! Besides exams and studying, I’ve been attempting to finish off the bucket list. All the things in the area that I never got a chance to do before. I’m realizing that there actually not that many, but enough to fill up every day. I’ve also had to say a lot of goodbye, whether to fiends here who I won’t see for a while (if at all) and friends from my program who slowly trickle back to the States.

Back to the bucket list, there are only a few major things on my list (besides shopping for gifts). I wanted to go to Bo Kaap, which is the Islamic district in the center of Cape Town. We ended up going one evening and had dinner at the great little Dhaba-esqu restaurant called Bismillah. It was fantastic! There was only one thing on the menu I could actually eat, but the people were great, the chai was fantastic and I haven’t had a roti that good since India. Needless to say, I was quite impressed.

Besides the food, the house are super adorable. The are little box type apartments painted in bright happy colors. It makes the town like a rainbow under the mountain.  At one point when we were walking along being tourists we came across a mosque and decided to stop and look at it, while we were waiting on the corner the evening call for prayer began. They have these megaphones that play the sounds out into the whole district. It was beautiful standing there at sunset listening to the chants. I really wanted to go in, but I don’t know there rules and didn’t want impose.

The next day (June 2^nd) we were planning on going to the beach for a last surf day for my good friends pre-birthday. When I woke up I looked out the window and sadly it was cloudy and drizzling… no beach for us.

Instead, we decided to go up to Groote Constantia, which is in the shadow of Devil’s Peak. It is the first winery in all of South Africa (Africa in general). Wine lands are unbelievably beautiful, than add the mountain and the sunset and you have a triple threat. It just makes me appreciate how amazing of a place Cape Town is with its contrasts and colors. Sometimes these things create problems but for me diversity is one of the most phenomenal parts of humanity (wow, that got deep real fast…).

June 3^rd was a good friend of mines birthday. Get this; her name is California Marine Cravens… right? Pretty cool. There were many festivities and much drama that ensued, but it is not mine to tell, sorry.

I had another exam (on the 5^th) and than miss, California and I went down to the waterfront to do her favorite past time—watch the boats. It was lovely but the waterfront is seriously ritzy. I don’t think I could deal with going down there too often, no matter how much I like the boats (and the seals). We had a nice dinner to celebrate the end of my exams, bought some Vuvuzela’s (the horns that became famous after the Soccer World Cup), and went home.

The next day (since it was raining again, apparently in the winter in Cape Town that happens all the time!) I went to the Irma Stern museum. She was a modern artist who lived just down the street from my Cape Town home. Her old house has been converted into a museum with tons and tons of ethnographic artifacts and a good amount of her work. It was a nice relaxing day. Wake up late, walk to campus, and look at art.

I woke up on Thursday (the 7^th) to rain… again. I was planning to go to the beach… again. My plans in that sense haven’t really been working out. Instead, Pete (another friend) and I went to the District Six Museum. We had so much trouble finding it, mostly because of Charley’s Bakery. We were walking, on the right track to the museum when we spotted a big brightly colored and pink building. Someone had told me to try it when I went to the museum so we stopped in. The red velvet cupcake was really weird but the pie was fantastic! Apparently the museum was on that road but when we left the Bakery we by-passed it and ended up walking up a giant hill, in the poring rain.  I had my doubts about our direction (because Charley’s was supposed to be right by the museum) so we turned back. We ended up finding it and kicking ourselves because it was RIGHT THERE.

I only have two more full days in Cape Town and I still want to make it to the beach again. Hopefully the weather co-operates. The last thing on my bucket list is hiking Devil’s peak. At this rate, I don’t think that is going to happen… but hey, there has to be at least one thing I haven’t done to give me a good excuse to come back. On Sunday I’ll pack and leave at night. If all goes well I’ll be home Monday afternoon. It’s hard to believe I’ve already been here for almost six months but it’s even harder to believe that this journey is ending.

I have met some fantastic people, had some extraordinary experiences, and grown as a person. At the risk of sounding super cheesy, Cape Town and South Africa in general will always have a place in my heart. It is hard to say good-bye but I know I’ll be back, so it’s actually more like see ya later.

I Used The Force Down In Africa: From Meow To Schmiii And Back Again (May 17-27) SA & Lesotho: The Roadtrip. Dirt Roads and Bad 80s Songs

A 22-hour bus ride… Yeah, what a great idea! It has actually not been as bad as you might think. I slept through most of the night and it’s really more like an 11-hour ride. It’s been a little cramped but besides that, I’m feeling alright. But what a way to end an awesome trip!

We started on the 17^th from outside our apartments in Rosebank, waiting on Cali (one of my fellow road trippers) to get her bus ticket home in order. Our plan was to drive a rental car for the next few days all over the country. Because we got a slightly later start than intended, we only made it as far as Cape Agulas or L’gulas (Leghulas if you will). That was the beginning of some recurring references… Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Toto.

On our way to Agulas we decided to Brai (yum) and ended up stopping at a Spars (grocery store, kinda like a smaller Albertsons) in some little town. By the time we left the sun was setting and lighting up the sky in the most exquisite way imaginable.

The Backpackers we ended up at was a really cute place, pretty standard though. It had a great common room filled with signatures on the walls (to which we contributed). They also had a parrot, who was a lovely conversationalist. We had dinner and went to bed right away so that we could wake up and watch the sun rise over the most southern point of the continent. One word: Breathtaking.

Time for the road again. This time we drove with the prospect of some bungee jumping, except Cali got sick (she had actually been sick it just worsened) so we had lunch instead and than hit the road again. It was a lousy day in terms of weather anyways.

I took on the role of navigator for the entire journey, which meant I also had the job of locating our end point each day complete with hostel. The first one in Agulas, Pete booked but the one on day #2 was all me! It as right outside of Grahamstown in the middle of nowhere but it was by far one of the coolest backpackers I’ve been to. This place had a tame pet Impala named Rudolf and get this, a pet Zebra who just happened to have a wild friend who hung out with him. We got to pet him, feed him, and play with him. SO COOL!! I have now fed a Zebra, Giraffe, and Elephant while I’ve been in Africa. The shaggy dogs they had were also quite a treat (they looked like there owner, reminded me of 101 Dalmatians).

We got this private room called the monastery. It lived up to its name because that night we all got into a seriously great religious/spirituality discussion (made me miss MHC and multi-faith).

In the morning, before we began day #3 we went out and chilled with the zebra’s, than we were off to Lesotho. What an interesting country. It is located in the middle of South Africa and my middle I mean SA is its only bordering country. Its like a pocket of true Africa in the middle of a wanna be European country (no offense). While I was there, I got really into its history and its historical relation to the land and people around it. Lesotho was pretty much founded and maintained as a relatively independent territory by King Moshoeshoe. He was super diplomatic and began taking refugees form the Anglo-Zulu and Zulu-Boer skirmishes of the time and incorporating them into his kingdom. He built up a sizable population this way and was able to resist a lot of incursion. In the end, they made a deal with Britain so that they were technically a part of the British Empire but had relative autonomy in most decisions. They also had their first democratic elections almost 30 years before South Africa, which is really cool!

Anyways we drove ALL DAY to get there with only one long stop in Ladygrey for lunch. We began at 9:00am and didn’t get to our destination until 100:00pm. SO MUCH DRIVING!! I’m actually quite impressed with Pete’s ability to drive that much.

It took us so long because we kinda got lost at the end. We could have probably been at our destination by 8:00pm if not for that. I know I was the navigator but Lesotho is not set up for road tripping unless you have a land rover. They don’t have signs and there are random dirt roads that show up out of nowhere (and by dirt road I mean giant rocky cliffs). Because there is a lack of towns, there are very few lights, which means a pitch-black night and impossible navigation. We also didn’t really have a map…  It also didn’t help that none of our phones worked since we were outside of South Africa. We ended up finding somewhere to stay in a little town called Morija, which was the first missionary town in the entire country of Lesotho (granted it is a tiny country).

We ended up getting there so late the owner (this lovely French lady named Bridget) gave us the entire cottage for half price. We were so exhausted we just crashed. When we got up the next morning, we were all blown away by the gorgeous view.

Turns out we arrived in Lesotho in the middle of elections. When we went into the town to explore there were tons of people on their way into the capital Maseru to vote. Everyone was sporting a flag supporting their respective parties. It was quite cool. We ended up stopping at a little shop/gas station to get some cokes and talked to these young Sotho guys about the election. One of them really likes my bracelet of the SA flag.  Someone gave it to me for free at Green Market Square (an open aired market in the middle of Cape Town). He asked me for it, since it was given to me for free I though, why not? And gave it to him.

After that interesting interaction, we went on a hike in the Drakensburg (which is the name of the mountain range we were staying in). Lesotho looks so much like Northern New Mexico, its weird… I couldn’t get over it the whole time. We hiked for near 5 hours. With lots of figuring out what path we were going to take (apparently the hiking trails are no different than the roads).  On our way down we were walking along this road that look exactly like the road to Mordor… The nerd in me busted out into the Lord of the Rings theme song.

That night for dinner, we didn’t really have any idea what we were going to do (no restaurants in the town and we forgot to buy food) so we improvised. Pete and I made an awesome camping meal. As we were cooking a kid from the village came by and Cali entertained him. Popi was a smart kid, quite though. He wants to be a pilot or join the army. The people in Lesotho are great! They are some of the nicest people ever. We learned how to say good morning: Dumela, which we used all the time.

The next day, day #2 in Lesotho and day #5 of the trip, we made our way to Maseru (the capital) and than to the border. Maseru was quite a city (if you can call it that). We walked round for over an hour and in that time saw about 2 other white people… Much more “Africa” than Cape Town will ever be (or could ever even claim to be).

Made to the border and back into SA without a problem and after another nice long ride we found ourselves in Bloemfontein. We checked into our Backpackers (a converted old pump house). It was a super grungy but super awesome place. We had another Brai and than saw Cali off. She had to get back to Cape Town for an exam.

Pete and I woke up ridiculously early the next morning so we could make it to Joburg by noon to drop off our rental car. We ended up waiting in the airport for 3 hours until I finally got a hold of Atma and he came to pick us up.

We had dinner with him and Bhaj at Shwarma (the same place they took my Dad and I when we were there before).  Beside that, we played SO MANY VIDEO GAMES!!! That was a nice change of pace.

It turned out that the next day when we woke up Pete’s brother Robbie was also in Joburg, completely unplanned. He was on his way to Mozambique from Zimbabwe. Because Pete’s plans to go to Victoria Falls had fallen through, we met up with him and went into Pretoria to see the capital buildings and such. This was all after waiting at the Mozambique embassy for two hours. We walked around in Pretoria trying to locate the “touristy” areas… it was dark by the time we found them but still super cool.

When we got back to Joburg, (on the fancy Gautrain) we played more video games and did some MPA reminiscing (which is always fantastic) before bed.

The next morning or the 23^rd of May, Pete, Rob, and I caught an Intercap bus to Durban. We spent almost three full days there exploring.

We ended up getting in at about 4pm that day and found our hostel. We settled in, went down to the beach and than got some seriously excellent Thai food.

Day #2 in Durbs, #9 of the trip we walked and walked and walked some more. It was great, but my feet still hurt… I feel like I know that city pretty well at this point. We saw most everything worth seeing (minus the art museum, we saw but didn’t go into).

Later that night we met up with Rob’s friend Darshan who he used to live with when he was teaching English in S. Korea. He took us to an Indian restaurant (Durban has the largest population of Indians outside of India). It was… Ok. I am really picky when it comes to India food though so you probably shouldn’t trust my word for it.

After that, we went back to our backpackers on the beach and hung out by the ocean, under the stars for a bit. When Darshan took off we finally got to bed.

The next day was our last. We had breakfast courtesy of our backpackers and than went to the beach for one last romp in the waves (which were super intense and SO MUCH FUN!) We were thrown around for a few hours and than got ready to head out.

Darshan came back and picked Pete up to take him to the airport for his flight back to Cape Town. Rob and I headed into town to catch our separate buses. Mine wasn’t until 4:30pm and Rob still had find out how to get to Swaziland. It is pretty much impossible to get there unless you are with s tour specifically going there or you get a long-distance minibus (essentially the best place to get robbed if you are white, a tourist, and alone in SA). He decided to take one regardless… I never would but it seemed to work out. After walking about 2km away from the bus station into a pretty sketchy neighborhood I had to walk back alone. Being the badass that I am, I was completely fine but thank goodness for that!

27 hours later, back in Cape Town and back home.

Today, the 27th of May is my roommate Missy’s birthday so right when I got home we’re going out to dinner. I’m exhausted but hey, I don’t wanna cook anyways so this works.

What a long awesomely fantastic trip. I have now been in every major city in South Africa (except Kimberly, but that doesn’t even count). I have seen a great deal of this country and have fallen deeply in love with its beauty.

Aquila: Saving Private Rhino

For one of our last adventures with interstudy they took us to a game reserve four hours outside of Cape Town over the long weekend. It was a beautiful place and would have been even greater if we could have actually stayed the entire amount of time.

Apperently some people didn’t think so and wanted to leave early, which caused some logistical situations. But what we were able to do was really fun.

Before we got to Aquila we volunteered at a school in the area. Some people built a playground, others cooked food and I got stuck washing windows. It was fine because it was volunteering but damn was it a lot of work for not so much of a reward. When we were done it was kinda hard to tell we even did anything even though they were a lot cleaner than before.

I finally got to see a Rhino. This means I have now officially seen all of South Africa’s Big Five: Rhino, Elephant, Lion, Buffalo, and Leopard.

One of my friends Bella and I decided to take a midnight dip in the freezing cold pool that they had… that was an experience. Super fun but SUPER cold!

Essentially it was a weekend of hanging out with great friends, eating a lot of food and spying on some frisky lions.

Birthday Weekend Amongst the Wine-lands

The weekend of the 14^th of April we took a trip to the lovely Cape Town suburb/winelands called Stellenbosch (I think they would severely dislike being called a suburb of CT). We went for one of my friend’s birthdays.

Stellenbosch in some ways reminds me of Santa Fe. Not the way it looks, or really anything specifically about it. There is just a similar atmosphere of a small, artsy town.

We all had a blast! We went down on Saturday afternoon after having morning tea at the Mount Nelson hotel in the City Center, which we had to make reservations for like a month before. I felt so super classy! It was really nice to hang out with friends and eat massive amounts of scrumptious little foods.

Anyways… after that we caught (just in the nick-o-time) an hour long train ride. Once we actually got onto the train it was super simple to get there. Our backpackers (hostel) was right in the center of town, so it was quite convenient.

We went out to dinner and than gelato for dessert. As we were leaving the gelato store I was surprisingly accosted with SMAC (Stellenbosch Modern Art Collection) which was in the building right across the street. I freaked out just a bit… mostly because a ton of the artists I've been studying in my art history class have had work at that gallery.

The next day we took a tour of the vineyards, it takes a lot more work to make wine than I would have ever thought! Grapes are super yummy and super beautiful!! 

It was a lovely weekend full of friends, views and surprises. What a great way to spend a 21st (not mine, my fiend Alicia's)

Eat, Sleep, and Ride Around in a Jeep: Easter Vacation on Safari

Going on Safari is not what you would necessarily think. It doesn’t always live up to the exciting thrill you would imagine. It is not always as thrilling as movies make them out to be. Rather, it is a bit boring and filled with silence and solitude. Do not get me wrong, this does not mean it isn’t an extremely enjoyable experience and many of the instances are exactly what you would think. The binoculars and the jeeps, but above all those times when you spot something rare (like the leopard we saw) and everyone freaks out are the most quintessentially safari-like experiences.

To help drone out some of the monotonous driving that consumed the majority of our trip, I had my good pal the Lion King Soundtrack running through my head and occasionally actually playing on my iPod. Driving through the South African Bush in Kruger National Park all I could think of was “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba Sithi uhm ingonyama, etc.” Then the Circle of Life would kick in and nothing could stop it “It’s the CIRCLE OF LIFE”. What did not help extracting these songs from my brain were the damn animals ALL OVER THE PLACE looking like they came right out of that damn movie!!! (I loved it!)

I got to see some Pumba’s (warthogs), a few Zazu’s (hornbills) and a truck load of those wildebeests who killed Mufasa (also the guinea fowl from the beginning who almost get trampled by Elephants and GIANT ants). There were plenty of other animals along the way but because of the Lion King these ones stuck out for me.

My Dad and I went on a little trip up to Johannesburg and Kruger for my Easter break. We did three game drives and two bushwalks and saw all of those animals plus SO MANY IMPALA, water elk, zebras, elephants, springboks, buffalo, hippos, baboons, some other monkeys, tons of birds, a leopard in a tree, some lions, a crocodile, a komodo dragon looking lizard and many giraffes (one of which I tracked on our bushwalk).

Plants, Prints, and Poop:

This is what the bushwalks consisted of. We didn’t see many actual animals but I learned a lot and we got to hear some lions and track that giraffe (which besides my motorcycle ride in Jo'burg was a highlight of the entire vacation). After our first bushwalk, I could sufficiently find food, water, fire, and shelter, cure a toothache, kidney problems, and infertility using only natural plants from the bush (that’s Katniss winning right there). I would also probably identify Elephant and Hyena droppings, maybe...

The Game drives were a bit more eventful (but not much). We saw a ton of animals and rode around in a jeep all day. I have seen everything on my list except for a rhino. They are so big you would think they’d be hard to miss but apparently they're endangered or something... pfft...

Overall, vacation was really fun. It was great hanging out in Jo’burg with Atma and Haribhajan (two of my South African friends who I went to school with in India). They hosted my dad and I while we were visiting and took me around there city a bit. Mostly we just kind of hung out, which is what I think vacation should be. It was an excellent break and a great chance to see some more of Africa!

I know this whole excursion happened a few weeks ago and I am just getting around to updating ya'll but at least its happening! there should also (hopefully) be a new post up soonish about the after weeks of  break.

Wait, I actually have to do school work while I'm abroad?

Today is the anniversary of 2 months in Cape Town. I never thought this time would fly so fast but my dad arrives late this friday night. There is a week and a half until "spring break" which is actually fall break/easter vacation. The time is seriously flying by!

I have been really busy and really sick for the last week. Overall it hasn't been the best time I've had here so far but what doesn't kill you right? The routine of school has taken over and I cannot be more ready for the monotony of this to be broken by a small vacation.

My new obsession with muffins has lead to me actually baking my own blueberry muffins (which were delicious might I add). I have spent way to much of my free time in the past week procrastinating on school work by eating these wonderful treats and watching Friends (my other new obsession).

The most exciting thing I have to report about the last few weeks is my trip to the South African National Gallery (which sounds more impressive then it actually was). It was very cool, but I also had to go for a class so that took some of the fun out of it. My life here has been all about art since I am taking two art history classes, so even though school has been crazy in the last few weeks, at least its not unpleasant work.

Another fun thing that happened an outing we took to Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. They have this wonderful summer series of events where they host sunset concerts every sunday. This trip was organized by our R.A. Tendai who lives in the apartment right next door to me and is actually from Zimbabwe and not South Africa. This specific concert was by a African band called Freshly Ground. They were wonderful! Halfway through their concert they busted out Shakira's 'Waka waka', which apparently they co-produced. That was the best surprise of the day.

We started our little tour of Kirstenbosch with an actual tour of the gardens, they are set in the shadow of Devil's peak overlooking Cape Town and the ocean. A magical landscape of trees, flowers, fynbosch (which means fine flowers), and spiders (which were as abundant as the plant life).

But now I have spent enough of my free day (today is a holiday called Human Rights Day) blogging about procrastination as I am procrastinating. So, I bid you all a wonderful week(s) and will end with an event that I remembered happened a few weeks ago that I forgot to let ya'll know about.

PRIDE! which was so much fun! it was the South African pride parade a few saturdays ago, so we all dressed up and headed to the festivities. (SO MUCH GLITTER WAS ADORNED)

South Africa is know as the rainbow nation because of a) their lovely colorful flag, b) the amount of different races they have and c) because of this festival! (but not really the last one, it was however such a blast). There was food, entertainment, booths with wonderful hats, flags, wigs and other trinkets plus so many fun people in crazy costumes.

Now I will actually get back to all my papers that are due next week. Hope spring break/midterms are treating all of you (for those who have) well an for those of you who are no longer in school, I hope life in general is going great.

And Happy Human Rights Day to all!

Don't blame me, I'm on African Time

Hello all my lovely readers! I know it has been way to long since I have updated this thing and I am very sorry about that but I have been so busy!

It has been exactly 1 month since I last posted and I have finally managed to find some semblance of a routine. My classes have been figured out, groceries are no longer as sparse and life has mellowed out a bit. It seems that my crazy vacation is turning into actual school and work seems to magically be piling up.

The exception to this disappearing of vacation life being this weekend when I took a trip, along with some friends, to Simonstown (a little town an hour and a half train ride outside of Cape Town). We had an amazing time eating yummy food, hanging out on the beach and feeling the newness that has faded away. After living here for almost 2 months I feel like I have adapted pretty darn well and nothing is quite as amazing as it was on impact.

However, they say now is when the real enjoyment begins and I cannot wait! The only other place outside of the states that I have been to for this amount of time was India and I love that place like home. I genuinely think and hope this can happen with South Africa.

How about some further updates about the specifics of my life...
I am taking three classes, two art history and one history, all of which I am enjoying and none of which compare in amount of work to MHC, which is fantastic! Granted, I wouldn't say they are at all easy. One of my art history classes is not on main campus, it is on Hiddingh campus near the city center. This is the cutest little area (in my personal opinion) and gives me a great excuse to explore the actual city of Cape Town (since I am in the area). I love the library on Hiddingh and the lack of crazy multitudes of people that infest main campus until about 5:00pm when they suddenly disappear.

I am a part of three groups or 'societies' as they call them. The art of living-Yoga club, UCT surf club and SAUJS (South African Union of Jewish Students). The first two I have been going to and really liking but the Jewish Union hasn't really done anything, so that has been a bit of a bummer. I really wanted to join a multifaith organization like at home but they don't seem to have one, so a makeshift JSU must suffice.

Other fun filled events that I have participated in so far were: Hiking up Table Mountain (which is deceivingly harder than it looks), going to Infecting the City (an amazing week-long art festival that happened last week all over Cape Town), went to a Stormers Rugby game (I love sports games), visiting Old Biscuit Mill farmers market, many Brai's, some birthday parties, shopping, discovering the company gardens (beautiful!), going out to eat, and so much more beach time. I've also cooked many meals, gone to many many classes and picked up an obsession with muffins... I must say I have been living the life and thoroughly enjoying everything (even the annoying mishaps along the way).

One of my friends keeps bringing up the amount of time we've been here/have left and every time I just want to cry because it gets smaller and smaller. Even though there is plenty of time before I must leave, it is still much to soon.

The next few weeks I have tons of reading and many papers to write but than my dad is coming and we have spring break so it shall all end with fun-times. I have really been trying to find a balance between schoolwork and fun/exploring/being abroad. It has been hard for me but I keep reminding myself that as important as school is I am here for more than that.

There are definitely events that I have left out of this quick update but I cannot remember them off the top of my head so I'll let you all know as they come up. I will also try to update more often so that I am not stuck with a month long of activities to remember all at once. But hey, everything in African runs on African time, which is kind of like Indian time for those of you who know what thats like) and for those who don't, well, things happen when they happen...

Can We Change Our Reservation? (My Week On The Garden Route)

This trip was crazy. It was rushed madness yet unbelievably relaxing all jumbled into one 5 day excursion. An issue we had the entire time (of which I have derived this title) was getting to places late and needing to change our reservation. I don’t think we made it on time to a single thing this entire trip, mostly because every place we went was so awesome we wanted to spend more time there and consequently missed our reserved time for the next activity.

Day 1:

We left extremely early on Sunday the 5^th. The first day was filled with a ridiculous amount of driving that reminded me back of the many long bus trips in India. Our first stop was at Stellenbosch where we participated in a wine tasting extravaganza! As well as taking a tour of their animal preserve. We saw African sheep (my favorites), foxes, meerkats (Timmons), and cheetahs. It was the hottest day imaginable so walking around the beautiful estate was very oppressive. I decided against petting the cheetahs because it was expensive and they were so sedated that it would have been pretty much like petting a giant house cat.

Once everyone else had their fix of kitty petting we were headed off for our longest drive of the whole trip, 4hours… that turned into 7hours. At that point stopping off at gas stations is the only relief from a cramped, noisy (because our damn driver insisted on blasting the radio) and over all just uncomfortable situation.

But once we finally got to our resting place it was all worth it. The Backpackers (that is what they call hostels) we stayed at the first night was so beautiful. There was a pool, a brai (BBQ) area, a sitting/dinning room and even a pool table. Since it was Sunday night (i.e. Super bowl Sunday) I thought it was pretty necessary to stay up late to watch the game. One other kid from the program stayed awake with me and by the end we both thought it was quite worth it, since the game was really good.

I was only able to get 2 hours of sleep before our next adventure. So at that point I was quite sleep deprived and riding on adrenaline (which makes everything way more fun).

Day 2:

Our first stop was the Cango Caves, which were pretty gravy. I really wanted to go spelunking though. Caves are so much fun to explore and these ones were seriously beautiful. One of the chambers we went into used to hold concerts, how cool is that! I would have loved to go to a concert in an underground cavern.

One of the best parts of the caves was the cool relief it provided from another oppressively hot day. But I had to deal with it because our next stop was the OSRITCHES!! They were my favorite! Those birds are so freaking weird. I got to ride one, hold a baby, and pet them. Plus I tried their food (which was nasty and tasted like gerbil pellets) and stand on their eggs (which are ridiculously strong and the equivalent to 24 hen eggs).

I have decided that Ostriches are pretty much dinosaurs, or at least as close as I’ll ever get. They totally could be the modern T-Rex. I have this really funny image of a giant group of Ostriches (T-Rex’s) standing around a campfire talking about how they are going to survive extinction.

Ostrich 1: “Hey guys, the only logical way to proceed with ‘operation: protect the species’ is if we disguise ourselves as something no one would suspect. It’s not going to be easy but it’s the only way.”

Ostrich 2: “I got it! This is what we’ll do. If we shrink ourselves down and hide out as the dumbest animals/birds alive, who would ever suspect us?”

Its brilliant I tell you! They are just biding their time before they can take over the world. This means we all must be getting on their good side ASAP. This is why I have decided I am going to raise one from the egg so that it will love me and will not let its brethren kill me. Also they are super adorable, which is just an added perk.

After our Ostrich encounter we headed to the town we were going to spend the next two nights in, Knysna (k is silent). We had the best lunch I have had here so far at this really cute seaside café (it was so good we ended up going back there for lunch the next day). 

The Backpackers that night wasn’t quite as beautiful but it was really cute and we were the only ones there. One of the girls in my program (who goes to UMass) teaches kickboxing, so we had a kick class out on the lawn. After kickin’ it in Africa I did some yoga to stretch out, it was the most relaxed I’ve been in a while. Since I hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before I was super tired and went right to bed.

Day 3:

Elephants and Monkeys, what could be better? I wasn’t going to go to Monkeyland because again very expensive to walk around and look at monkeys. However, the guy who was in charge of our tour paid for me to go in without my knowledge and than made me take the tour (I did not complain). It ended up being really cool and I am glad he made me do it.

We saw King Julius! (Ring tailed lemurs). They were the best part, by FAR!! We also walked across one of the longest extension bridges. There were these howler monkeys that looked like little Rastafarian men but bared his teeth and looking like you could rip your head off.

Oh, speaking of Rasta’s, we also went to a Rastafarian village in the morning. It was not my favorite. Although I would really like to have a theological conversation with someone who grew up there, I think that would be super interesting.

The Elephants were still my favorite part of that day; they are magnificently wise creatures. We got to feed and pet them. It would have been awesome to ride one but because we were late, they rides were all booked up. I enjoyed them immensely anyways.

That night we had a brai. I have had so many of these since being in S. Africa. They are really fun, but S. Africans seriously cannot get enough BBQ’d meat. Regardless, I had a really yummy veg. burger with cheese. My friend Ally and I decided to sleep outside in the hammocks that were in our yard.

Best. Decision. Ever.

Day 4:

Bungee day! I did not participate in it, because as much as I would love to fling myself off the tallest bungee bridge in the world, I hate the sinking feeling that falling provokes. I know that I would be ok with the heights and the jumping but the second I got into the air and I began to fall that damn feeling would kick in and I would HATE the rest of the experience.

So instead a bunch of us went zip-lining on the “canopy tour.” It was the first zip-lining place in all of Africa and it was quite spectacular. I had a blast and do not regret missing bungee jumping at all. They even fed us some yummy cheese and tomato sandwiches when we were done.

The place we stayed at that night was like the Garden of Eden. It was so nice! I would go back and spend a month or more there. The next 24 hours were probably the best day/night I’ve had since I’ve been here.

The place was in Jeffery’s Bay, which is a famous surf town near Port Elizabeth so obviously the next day was our day to test the waves. I ended up staying awake very late playing pool and foosball. Because I had made plans to watch the sunrise over the ocean the next morning, I just stayed up until than. My friend Ami and I watched the sunrise and then did Yoga on the beach. After being up all night, I was so pumped to surf.

Day 5:

And surf I did. Up until this I was feeling as though this trip was fun, but nothing had blown me out of the water, yet... After surfing I was sold, on the trip, on learning how to surf and on life. It was brilliant! I was really getting it by the end. I even got to catch the top of the wave (with the instructors help) when no one else did. Again, I love J-Bay and need to go back and bum it there sometime in my life.

This was our last day on the famous Garden Route tour and we had to rush to the airport at Port Elizabeth to catch our plane back to Cape Town. It was a magical week and I am so glad I got to take a trip before school started. The friends I have made in the last week because of this trip are amazing. My goals for this week were to strengthen friendships and figure out my classes, only one of these was accomplished but in my opinion it was the one of greater importance. 

A Swing And A Miss (Stuck At The Second Apple)

First things first, what does the second apple mean?

Well, it is an inside joke from my study abroad program. During our orientation they had some guy come in and talk to us about culture shock. He was hilarious and for some reason decided to use apples as an analogy for the different stages people normal go through during a cultural transition. The first apple was supposed to represent excitement, awe and happiness. The second: frustration, being uncomfortable and homesickness. The third: acceptance.

For my entire stay so far I have been wavering between the first and third apples. Today, however, I was stuck in the second apple because alas, it is the first day of classes. No more adventure trips and long weeks of tourism. I have to buckle down and get to the reason I am here... education.

This past week I have been off the grid on a giant road trip along the Garden Route (which I will post about in the next few days) so coming back to Cape Town was a mixture of excitement at being back home and worry about classes.

My worry was not ill directed, in fact with the amount that went wrong I probably should have been twice as stressed. I woke up a 7:30am determined to get to class on time and figure everything out. I had to go online to find where my classes would be. This ended up taking me over an hour so that I didn’t leave my flat until 8:50am for a 9:00am class. Needless to say I was late, well I would have been if I had made it to the class at all. I spent an hour looking for the room that this class was meant to be held in and also scouting for another class that met at the same time that I want to take instead of the one I am currently signed up for.

I went to campus with the intention of finding and going to some part of two different classes and ended up not finding or going to either. 

This started my first day of classes off horribly and not much got better as the day went on. Thankfully that was the end of my scheduled classes, so I headed to the Interstudy office to use the computer and see what else I needed to do. That went fine and I got a bit of a chance to regroup, except discovering some schedule conflicts.

It turns out one of my classes is on Hiddingh Campus which is a 10-15min bus ride away in the actual city of Cape Town. The issue with this is that I have a class on Upper Campus that ends at 10:45am and according to every bit of info I have (accept the syllabus my professor sent out) this class off campus starts at 11:00am. That doesn’t give me much time to get there. If it does turn out this class is actually at 12:00am (like my prof. posted) than my back up plan will need to severely change. So either way there will be a conflict.

What is my backup plan? And why do I need one, you ask? Well as I said before there are two different classes at the same time that I am planning to take. One (the religion course) is everyday from 9:00-9:45am the other (history) is Mon, Tues, Wed from 9:00-9:45am. However, The second one I am technically not allowed to take because Semester Study Abroad kids are not supposed to. But if I am not allowed to take the history course I will need to sign up for a different one some other time. I would than take a history class that is on Wed, Thur, Fri 12:00-12:45am, the same time in which (according to my prof. said) the class off campus is at. It turns out even studying abroad I will always have some issues with my class schedule. Such a dilemma. 

In order to keep myself productive for the rest of today and not slip into a complete failure of productivity,

I decided to try and sign up for clubs/societies. When I went to go do that I realized I had no idea what half of the societies listed even were. So that didn’t happen… Later I got lunch and surfed the Internet some more to try and figure out my class schedule, which ended up being very much a waste of time as nothing more bore much fruit. I finally gave up and just went back to my flat feeling drained from a day where I did absolutely nothing of importance.

As I said before, a swing and a miss…

Hopefully something changes over the weekend and I can figure everything out before Monday rolls around. 

P.S. I mentioned the Garden Route (look it up), which was awesome and will be a whole other blog post that is coming up, probably sometime this weekend.  

O-Week

Wow, it seems to have been an entire week! Time’s just flying by and everything gets better and better by the day.  This week I had so many adventures.

We went to the farmers market (Saturday) at the Old Bisket Mill in the Cape Town suburb, Observatory. It was great! I finally got my fix of fresh veggies and pretty much bought out an entire produce vendor for like R65 (which is around 12.5 $). It has lasted me the entire week (and more).  They also had amazing prepared foods, smoothies, cheeses and breads. We are planning on going again tomorrow and I am psyched. (p.s. we did go today [Saturday]and it was just as good. I got fro-yo, a bagel sandwich, a muffin and iced tea.)

This past week was SSA (Semester Study Abroad) Orientation, so we spent most of our time with about 500 other international students going through the exact same orientation stuff as we did with Interstudy the previous week. It was a bit frustrating but I guess the more you hear something the more likely you are to remember it.

As a part of the orientation (the best and only different part, well besides the drumming class, which I loved) we went on a peninsula tour. This consisted of hanging out in a tour bus all day driving along the coast and getting out at designated spots. We got to see S. African PENGUINS!! What little cuties they are. We also got to hike up to the lighthouse at Cape Point and than hike down to the tip of the Cape of Good Hope. That was a really fun day.  We stopped for lunch at this town called Oceanview and the locals provided us with entertainment. There were a bunch of kids that sung and danced for us. It was very impressive; I was definitely not expecting them to be as good as they were.

At the end (ish) of this tour we saw Ostriches in the wild!! It was brilliant! One thing on my bucket list while I am here is to ride these “majestic” birds.

I also got to see/hang out with two S. African friends of mine (Hari Bhajan and Atma) who I went to school with in India and who I haven’t seen in years. They were both in Cape Town visiting from Jo’burg. Bhaj’s parents own a farm outside of the city so he came down to see them and Atma’s grandfather (who lives in Cape Town) had a big birthday party. It was really quite nice. They crashed on the tiny couches in my flat (probably not that comfortable but oh well…) for two nights. We went to the beach twice. The first time we were climbing on the rocks by the coast. On this occasion I was walking with them, kind of behind and not paying the strictest of attention and… I got attacked by a shark! I sustained some serious leg injuries.

No, not really. I just scraped my self up thinking I could jump father than I actually could onto a very slippery, wet rock. Now I have some hardcore battle wounds. J

The second beach trip was a little less eventful and WAY colder. Cape Town is a peninsula so there are two different oceans on either side. One side is the Indian Ocean, which is lovely and a perfect temperature, the other is the Atlantic, which is ridiculously cold! I was really shocked at how cold the water actually was.

That night we had a nice Tapas dinner with a bunch of people from the Interstudy program at a place called Forks. It was extremely classy, and I was surprisingly full by the end.

Yesterday I had a free day since I preregistered for classes before we went to the beach and dinner. A girl named Ally and I decided we wanted to go to the beach. We went to one on the Indian Ocean side so we could actually go in the water. The thing about that side of the peninsula is it gets REALLY windy. Yesterday was a windy day by nature, so it was like a hurricane out there. This meant really nice waves and a completely deserted beach. It was great (minus the sand in my face from the wind).

We had taken the train there and chose not to pay the R8, since they don’t really check (or so we thought). Once we got the beach there was a guy there taking tickets. Thinking fast we chose to go the dumb, lost American route. It worked… ish. We told the guy we had bought tickets but we couldn’t find them anywhere! We asked if it would be all right to just buy the ticket right there. He said fine and we proceeded to buy only our return tickets… (hehe, definitely wasn’t my idea) ;) So this meant we were kind of obligated to take the train home. On our way back we accidentally missed our stop and wound up in a suburb about two away from Rosebank (which is where our apartments are). Lets just say this was a part of town they would NEVER take us on a tour. Ally and I were walking around looking a bit confused (because we were) and some guy came up to us and was all, “you girls look really lost” we replied, “that’s because we are.”  He than asked us where we wanted to go and once we told him “Rosebank” he looked at us and kind of chuckled as he said “you are a long way from Rosebank, just follow this street down to the main road.” We did just that, found a minibus (they are a really funny system, which I will have to tell you more about later). We made it home fine, but after having to pay for the minibus only ended up saving R1 on the whole trip… thus is life. It just shows that if you are meant to do something, the universe will make it happen.

Today was class registration day. This meant a looong day of standing around waiting in queues. At the present moment I have two classes I am for sure taking and either one or two that I don’t know about. I am taking an Art History class called Art Narratives: Traditions and Tensions and a The History of South Africa to 1900 for sure. I might be taking Religions Past and Present and another 100 level history or art history class, otherwise just one 200 or 300 level history or art history class. I have to figure that out soon though…

I also attended my first Brai (what they call a BBQ in S. Africa) yesterday. The University put it on for everyone, they called it Freshers Brai, so I assume it had something to do with Freshman. We are having our own Brai tonight (Friday) for dinner because last week we decided that we were all going to cook/eat dinner together on Friday nights.

It has been really fun getting to know everyone in the program. I feel like after two (ish) weeks I am finally getting comfortable with everyone. I think that my goal for the next week (before classes start) is to A. figure out my classes and B. strengthen all the friendships I have started so that once we are all on our own schedules they don’t fall through the cracks.

I shall leave you with a few things I find weird/comical

• ·      Buying electricity at the grocery store (yes, now you can add that to the grocery list)
• ·      The National Shark Sighting Code (which I will have to look up and post at some point.
• ·      Megabyte Internet system (we pay for our internet by the megabyte)
• ·      Darcys (they are weird fat gopher looking animals that we saw on our hike to the Cape of Good Hope)
• In England they call University Uni, which I think is pretty cute but here they call it Varsity, which to me sounds a bit funny.

Thank you and goodnight.

Just a little hello

Why hello cyberfriends!
It is my 4th day in Africa and so far it has been a mixed experience. I have loved a lot of it and been quite annoyed with other things. One thing I have loved is the BEACH!!! We went to the local beach today and it was FANtastic! The water was perfect, the sky was blue and the mountains were beautiful. Things I have not liked so much: the lack of fresh food I have been able to get my hands on so far. We are going to a fresh fruit and veggie market tomorrow though (so hopefully that will change). My roommates are both really nice but I have a feeling they will not end up being my best friends in the world. Not because I don't like them, more because they are quite girly and we are just simply into different things.

Well, enough ranting about my day to day life, lets talk about what I have done so far.

The 24th was my second day of orientation in which our whole program went on a campus tour. UCT (University of Cape Town) is beautiful. I really love it. There are four (I think) different parts of campus. We live on lower campus and the library and other main buildings are on upper campus. Than there is middle and some other campus which... well I have no idea what's there. The important ones are upper and lower campus. Upper campus is situated literally in the shadow of the mountain and you have to walk up serious hills to get anywhere. Luckily we have the Jammie, which is what they call the shuttle system for UCT students and also what they call the main square on campus (it is a bit confusing). I, myself, think it is a pretty darn cute name regardless.

So near the end of our tour we decided to take a little hike up to the Rhodes memorial. The view from up there was amazing. We could see the entire city of Cape Town and the ocean (no idea if it was the Atlantic or the Indian). While we were up there we had a lovely (relatively cheap) lunch at this really awesome restaurant on top of the mountain. My greek salad was the only really fresh veggies I've had since I've been here. After the tour was over we went to Cavendish mall to get some supplies for our new apartment. When we got back I cooked dinner for myself, ate and than went to sleep early. It was lovely.

The next day on the other hand was so long and so boring I could feel myself losing brain cells. We spent the ENTIRE day in a dark, UCT classroom listening to orientation stuff. From class registration to trip opertunities. It was okay until about the 4th hour...

After all of that talking, Interstudy was nice enough to cater our dinner at an on campus restaurant. It was okay, a lot of meat (which seems to be a trend around Cape Town). Once dinner was over we decided to lay out on the grass in front of Jammie square. Since the sun was still out and it was a beautiful day we thought we'd do what any normal UCT student would do and "just chill out." It was really nice. The rest of the night consisted of a walk back down to lower campus and some more friendly conversation in one of my neighbors apartments.

Yesterday was our Tourist day. We took a bus at 8:30am to one of the local townships to see what that was all about. Parts of it reminded me of Indian slums and other parts reminded me of Española, so there was a wide range of living arrangements. It was interesting to say the least. At the end of the tour they took us to this "pub" (which was really just a little shack) and had us taste their homemade "beer." It tasted like lime, vinegar and milk? water... very strange, but strangely good.

After our stint in poverty we had lunch on the waterfront (nearish to the world cup soccer stadium). Lets just say the difference between these two places was like the difference between a bumblebee and a hedgehog. The next part of our tour was a boat trip to Robben Island. Robben means seal in Dutch, by the way. It has some really crazy history, aside from its infamous imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. That was pretty much the end of our Tour day and by than we had been out for over 12 hours. It was long, but really an awesome experience of contrasts and contradictions.

S. Africa so far is filled with similar contrasts and contradictions. It is a huge jumble of different kinds of people living in a place that walks the thin line between a first and third world country. It has been and I almost guarantee it will give me an amazing lesson in not taking ANYTHING at face value.

It’s Not the Destination, Rather the Journey…

The day is finally here. It is January 20^th, the day I leave for Cape Town.

When I woke up on this solicited day (much earlier than I would usually rise, may I add) there were strange butterflies in my belly. My parents, brother and I went out to a nice goodbye breakfast at La Cocina (of which I didn’t eat much). We got in the car (in which my conversation was scarce) and drove the half hour to the teensy Santa Fe airport. The feeling of major excitement was tangled with a nervous dread that I have NEVER experienced before, during, or after travelling. I just wrote it off as jitters due to the brand new adventure I was embarking on.

At the airport I was pleased to hear that my bags would be checked all the way to my final destination and I was given all three of my boarding passes (Santa Fe-Dallas, Dallas-London, London-Cape Town). This meant that my little eight-hour stop off in London would not require meddling with my luggage and I wouldn’t have to check in again. Little did I know that this would end up being a thorn in my side.

I said goodbye to my parents and brother and made it through security. As I was sitting in the lounge area waiting, I looked down and spotted a lucky penny (heads up). However strange this may sound, finding this penny eased the nerves I had been experiencing.

The first leg of my journey was short and sweet, Santa Fe to Dallas Fort Worth. I slept the whole time so it went by even faster. The second flight, Dallas to London Heathrow was similarly uneventful. I watched three movies and read a few chapters of Water for Elephants, but sleep somehow evaded me and that feeling of unease threatened a comeback every now and than.

Yes! Finally made it to London. Now I get a break from travelling. It is the morning of the 21^st of January and I have plans to meet a friend, Tarun, for a day in his city. I get out of customs and don’t see him anywhere, so I pick up a pay phone. “Hey Tarun, you on your way?” I ask. “Yeah, I’m on the train, about two stops away.” Excellent, he is on his way and I am feeling that lucky penny weighing heavy in my pocket. He arrives about twenty minuets later and we head off to the Tube (the subway in London).

We decide to go to his house and figure out what to do from there. In the end we spent a few hours relaxing on his couch and watching T.V. and catching up. The rest of the time we walked around at Harrows-on-the-hill, which is a cute little shopping center a few stops from his house. On our walk we ran into a man with a bucket asking for donations to charity. I didn’t have any spare change handy… except for my penny. A lucky penny to help the homeless? Well it’s pretty worthless (especially in Britain) but hey, it’s the thought that counts right? So I gave it, and this it seems is when my luck began to change and that cursed feeling of anxiety returned.

We knew my flight departed at 7:30pm and I had to be back at the airport by 5:30pm. So we caught a lift with Tarun’s mother and made it at 5:38, pretty good timing. I say my “thank yous” and “goodbyes” and head into Terminal 3. According to my previous arrival at Terminal 3 and my limited amount of research I had surmised that this was where my flight would depart. This assumption was further augmented by the fact that everyone who viewed my ticket in security (remember, I was already fully checked in so I could just walk right through) let me by and said nothing about the fishy situation that was to follow.

I made it to the lounge without a hitch and with plenty of time to spare. At this point I hadn’t had any proper sleep for about two days and I was beginning to feel the impact. All I wanted to do was get onto my plane so I could sleep away the night and awake in Africa. So when I looked at the screen (multiple times) to figure out what gate I needed to go to, the fact that the Cape Town flight listed did not match up to my ticket didn’t fully register. I had been changing flight carriers the whole day, from American Airlines to Iberian Air to British Airways. I had been pretty confused about my other flights also, but they seemed to turn out.

In the back of my head, being watered down and obliterated by my sleep deprivation was an inkling that something was not right. My flight left at 7:30pm, not 20:05, it was BA 59 not SA something or other. But what did I know? This was the only Cape Town flight on the entire board and I’ve been duped by flights with multiple flight numbers before.

Once the gate was announced I tore down to it so I could get on the plane and sleep. Sleep was literally all I was thinking of. I waited in the queue and slowly made my way to the front. When I got there the lady told me I did not have the right boarding pass. “What?” they checked me all the way through in Santa Fe, this should be right? So I’m sent to a different counter where a really cold unhelpful lady tells me that I am at the entirely wrong terminal, flight and airline… How the heck did this happen??

So I retrace my steps, still riding on almost zero sleep. On my way down I decided I was probably going to need to generate all the sympathy I could to make everything work out. I conclude that being the helpless, crying, unknowledgeable and confused American girl should accomplish this. The lady at the transfer counter confirms what the other attendant had said. Wrong Terminal, wrong flight, wrong airline… I was supposed to be in Terminal 5 (which apparently has British Airways flights along with Terminal 3) at 7:30pm, as we all had known.

This is when the waterworks kick in, because I am also told that I will not be able to get onto another flight until 4:45pm the following day, thus having to sleep in the airport (which I have done at Heathrow before and it is seriously miserable) and also not arriving in Cape Town until 6:15am on the 23^rd. This makes my trip a grand total of three days long and has shattered all the previous records. On top of it all I have to pay a 100-pound fee to change the flight and I have no phone or Internet to contact anyone (I do end up getting a very short, very expensive pay phone message to my dad and than later in Terminal 5 get some free Internet access).

So as I tramp through the airport balling my eyes out (because apparently once I start the crying thing it just won’t stop) all I can think of is that damn penny and the stupidity that infiltrated my mind. I knew that flight wasn’t right, but yet I did nothing. I had a bad feeling brewing since the beginning of my trip it was not just nerves. Alas, here I am, stranded in Terminal 1 overnight until I can return to Terminal 5 to catch my flight, a full day later than was intended. Upside: when you are wondering around an airport crying you meet some really amazingly kind people.

A funny part of this whole fiasco is, on the Tube back to Tarun’s house we were talking about how when our mutual friend Gabriel was visiting London he grossly miscalculated when his flight left and completely missed it. I jumped in with a similar yet way more hilarious story about my family mistaking a 6:00am flight for a 6:00pm flight and missing it by twelve hours and I added how, I have never done anything like that with my flights before. How the only flight I have ever missed was because the connecting flight was delayed… If this isn’t foreshadowing I don’t know what is.

Well all I can say now, after the crying has subsided and I can accept the fallacy of my brain, is, my Journey to Africa has definitely started off with a mind of its own and a message that I need to listen to my intuition and trust the inklings I feel. The Muslim saying “In Shah Allah (God willing)” seems appropriate and I think will be a necessary mantra for my remaining travels. I need to remember to take a step back and enjoy the process rather than being so focused on the destination. There is nothing I can do at this point, I just have to get a really good night sleep so that I can get on my plane and begin my true journey.

24 hours later… well actually a little bit more 

I made it to the airport in Cape Town. The rest of the trip was uneventful. I slept a little and ate a bit in Terminal 1, caught my plane and than passed out again. I woke up about half way through and watched movies the rest of the way. I got in at about 6:30am on the 23^rd, as scheduled, went through customs, picked up my luggage and than attempted to find a moneychanger. On my way I met a girl, about my age, she asked me if I needed a Taxi (since I had missed the allotted arrival day for my program and I didn’t see anyone there to meet me I figured I did). She was very nice and her dad was my driver. He took me to my apartment, gave me his card and told me if I ever needed anything I was welcome to call him (I probably won’t, but the thought was nice).

The minute I got to my room the people from Interstudy (the program I am on) came and gave me a phone. Alas, my voucher for talk-time didn’t work so I still need a new one of those. After he left I had about ten minuets before we were leaving for our first day of orientation. I quickly took a shower, changed, and than headed out on my way. The day was long and tiring and filled with sitting around. I got back to my room at about 5pm and fell asleep. I slept and slept and slept and woke up the next day at 6am refreshed and ready for this semester to begin!