1 week done

Uncle Mike & I before heading to the airport!!!
last minute photos before going through security!

So I’ve officially been gone for a week now. Still can’t believe that I am in Africa! My flight from Newark to London went well… was able to get a few hours sleep. Once I landed in London I made my way over to the other terminal and began my long wait. I was supposed to meet up with a guy named Jamie in London who was flying in from Chicago, but both our plan and backup plan to meet up fell through so we spent the whole 10 hours trying to get some more rest before the long 11.5 hour plane ride to Cape Town. When it was finally our turn to leave for the gate (in London they only post the gate number when the flight attendants are ready to board you and you wait in the open area where there are food venues and duty free stores), so Jamie and I finally met. Then we boarded the plane and because London was hit with a significant rain/thunder storm while we were waiting, our flight ended up being delayed 2 hours after we boarded. I was able to watch a whole movie before we even took off! It wasn’t too bad because I had the window seat and because the aisle seat was empty, the middle girl moved over. She actually ended up getting sick in the middle of the flight, so I thanked God again for not having her be sitting next to me when she did get sick. I was able to sleep for about 5 hours on the plane but when we landed on July 8th, I was exhausted.
Now, flying British Airways made me hesitant on whether or not I was actually going to receive my luggage upon arrival. And after specifically putting aside clothes just in case my bag was delayed, I had no trouble. Unfortunately the two other students on my flight both had bags delayed (one girl had both her bags still in JFK and Jamie received one of his bags in Cape Town but the other was still back in Chicago!) So we were actually supposed to arrive Cape Town at around 8am on the 8th and instead we didn’t get out to meet the driver who was picking us up until 1145. He had almost given up on us but realized we must have had trouble with our bags because other families were trickling out slowly from where we went through baggage claim. (there were something like 8 parties who had delayed luggage!) I was very very lucky!
So then a guy named Godfrey picked us up and drove us to our hotel near the Waterfront. It was nice arriving in during light hours as Godfrey was able to give us a sort of drive by tour on our way. We checked into the hotel and were able to relax and shower before we headed out to one of the many seafood restaurants around. We went to this one place called Baia and upon learning we had just arrived the restaurant stayed open for us (usually restaurants close between 3-5 to get ready for dinner). We all stuffed our faces and were glad to finally be eating food that wasn’t served in small cardboard boxes! After we walked around a bit and were finally able to meet up with 6 other students who arrived that day. Eight of us then headed to a local bar and were able to hangout and get to know each other. We all had such a hard time realizing that we were in Africa!

the waterfront where CIEE orientation was

1st night in cape town! (from left, Ravi (Vanderbuilt), me, Jamie(buddy from the London flight! DePaul Uni.), Allen (Georgetown), Sarah (Wake Forest), Molly (American Uni.), Morgan (Santa Clara!), Lauren (Santa Clara!)

The next day we overslept past our “late” check out time at 11 but the staff realized we were all jet lagged and let us sleep in and check out at 1215. We went to the hotel café for lunch and to await until we could check in to our rooms that were assigned to us by CIEE. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed.

Sarah (Wake Forest) & Molly (American) our 2nd night in cape town!

On Thurs. we had our first day of orientation. After doing the normal ice-breakers we broke up into smaller groups and were given a SOLmate (student orientation leader). My Solmate was named Chenai (pronounced Chen-ai, “ai” rhymes with “hi”) she is a student at UCT and is from Zimbabwe. After going out to lunch as a group we met back up with everyone else and went over some more logistical stuff. Thursday night some friends and I went to this amazing sushi place with some of the SOLmates. There was a group of about 25 students and 5 solmates split up amongst 3 different tables. One of the other girls from Santa Clara (her name is Mary) and I shared a 26 piece plate of sushi for 99Rand which converts to about 15 US dollars. The food was absolutely amazing and it was great because I was able to meet another girl who is doing a homestay (who actually lives 4 houses down the street, her name is Diana) and then also with Mary and Allen (who’s from Alabama). We were sitting with some other students but were able to have a great conversation with one of the Solmates, Ken from Kenya. He was telling us all about Kenya and his experience so far being a student at UCT and everything. We really had a great night!

Then after dinner I was able to meet up with 2 other girls, Sarah (from Wake) and Molly (from American). Because I shared a room with a girl who snored so loudly the night before, she offered for me to have a slumber party as she somehow managed to get a single room. So on Thurs. night, Sarah, Allen & Molly and I all hung out in Molly’s room talking and watching The Office. For some reason that I’ve begun to accept, Allen brought with him dvds of his high school soccer games and after the three of us gave him so much crap for it, we decided to actually watch parts of one. I have to admit, he was a good sport to put up with all our ragging…. The next day one Solmate, John, thought it was hilarious that we turned town a night that we had an opportunity to go out and experience Long Street, the main/ happening place to be at night, to stay in and watch a “football match” haha.

So eventually Allen got sick of us girls and Molly, Sarah and I fell fast asleep squished together on Molly’s bed. In South Africa there is no central heating, so as I was in the middle of the bed, I slept comfortably, but Sarah didn’t have enough room on one end and Molly somehow managed to not get any of the covers on the other. But they both agreed that a Jessica with no sleep is not a happy Jessica so they said they took one for the team that night and sacrificed for me…. It was only a few days & it seemed I had already made a great group of friends!

On Friday we actually went to UCT and walked around a bit to get a feel of what campus is like. The view from campus is absolutely amazing! After listening to people speak and getting lunch on campus we headed back to the hotel before we went out to dinner as a large group at a place called Marco’s. Molly and I took our 3 hours of break time to head down by the water and experience the outdoor festivities that were going on. Friday was such a nice day that everyone was out and about, and in a great mood. It had started to rain by Table Mountain and there was a rainbow over the water… it was stunning.

view from jameston steps

molly & i with jameston steps behind us (main meeting point on upper campus)

down by the waterfront

saw such an amazing rainbow!!!

Friday night dinner was great except for one thing. Unfortunately our “main group” of friends got split up and we didn’t have as much fun… oh well though… the food was once again amazing and there was a live band/dancers that began performing after dinner. At around 945pm I was picked up by my host mom, Margot (Mar-go, the “t” is silent) and Andrew, her 11 year old son and was taken back to the hotel to pick up my luggage. After seeing how much I had and being told that I will be away for a whole year, they were impressed that I actually had so little! So Friday night we came back to the house, I was shown around and the three of us watched an old James Bond movie. One of the tv stations has been showing a different James Bond movie every night so for the past 2 nights we have sort of bonded (pun intended) over Bond.

dinner at the african place with the band & dancing!

Then on Saturday I woke up at about 8am and got ready to head to Franschhoek, a small country town out near all the wineries. Margot is the leader of a car group who all have Citrogens and ever year the club goes to Franschhoek to celebrate Bastille Day and when the Huguenots came into the country. I really had no idea what to expect and definitely didn’t expect to be in a car procession in the town parade! Margot’s friend, Terry and her 5 year old daughter, Tamara came along as well and we had a “lovely” day. (yes I have begun sounding British by saying the word “lovely”!) After being in the beginning of the parade and watching the other floats go by, the four of us walked around town and the shops and stop at one of the beer type gardens. We listened to some great music and were able to have a glass of wine before we headed over to the farmer’s market where we picked up the last few items we needed for our picnic. We spent a few hours just laying on the grass, talking, having more wine and enjoying the sunshine before we finally decided to get back on the road. We got back home at around 730 and picked up Andrew from his friends house (he didn’t want to go to “another” Bastille Day, he said) and I was able to talk with Mom & Dad for a nice long time before we watched another J. Bond movie!

me & the car!!!

after the parade!

margot (host mom, left) & terry!

terry's 5 year old daughter, Tamara... my 1st south african friend!

the winelands!!! soooo pretty

On Sunday I was able to sleep in somewhat and unpacked both my bags and finally hung things in my closet before getting ready to meet other students to climb Table Mountain. There are two ways to get to the top of the mountain, to either climb it or to take a cable car to the top. We wanted the full experience so we decided to climb it. There were about 40 of us and we all made it to the top in about 2 hours! The weather has been gorgeous the past 2 days and I hope it continues to be this nice! The day was so clear and as we started to climb we all began to work up a real sweat. Molly and I climbed with a few others and made it to the top in about 1 hour and 40 mins…although we worked up such a sweat getting to the top, once we got there it was FREZZING. There wasn’t too much wind but it was just frigid and all our limbs started to stiffen up. Only about 12 of us decided to hike back down so after spending around an hour at the top we begun to make our descent. Going up was hard because it was ALL rocks and very steep in parts, but going down was also scary because rocks were slippery and loose. Apparently more people die climbing Table Mountain than they do climbing Mount Everst! And unforuntaely while we were climbing we experienced the havoic of emergency crews trying to reach a person who fell while climbing…so we all made sure to help eachother out and take our time. After climbing the mountain I returned back to my home, 26 Raapenberg Road, and took a much needed shower. Margot’s 20 year old daughter, Ali had come home while I was in the shower (Ali has been house-sitting for the past 2 weeks and left Monday for an occupational therapy clinic camp, she is in her 3rd year at UCT’s nursing school) and I was able to meet her and her boyfriend. After they left, Margot, Andrew and I had dinner & it was time for Andrew to get ready for school the next day! Then after Andrew went to bed, Margot and I watched some of the Nelson Mandela Lecture on tv in which we listened to the president of Libya talk…. Found what she had to say to be insightful and it was helpful to be watching it with a South African who was able to explain things that I didn’t know or understand. So after watching that for about an hour, we both went to bed!
molly & i at the beginning of the hike!

haha ohh boy! it was quite a hike!

yay we made it! 1.45 hours later! not bad as the average is 2hours!!!

such an amazing view!

welcome to cape town!

On Monday the 5 home-stay students met at 715!!!!! In order to walk to campus and be there by 8am! CIEE students met all the other exchange students and we filled up 9 coach buses and took a day tour of the Peninsula. Our tour included a visit to Cape Point, the penguins at Boulder’s Beach and a short hike along the water in the Cape Nature Reserve. We ended the day by visiting a school in the OceanView Township and being served lunch. After some delicious rice & chicken curry, a few students performed for us… check out the video of the dancers… they were amazing! (they all sort of came together under the wing of one man who wanted to give kids another opportunity to do something with their life instead of hanging out on the streets and getting into trouble… you could tell that these kids had practiced for awhile and were so excited to perform for us. On the way back to school we all seemed to have a little power nap… we are beginning to feel more adjusted to the time difference although we all admit there are periods of time when we are just overcome with exhaustion.

Camps Bay!

left: Ben, Sarah, Allen, me, Molly

hey there little guy!

we named him Carlo... he was a bit shy!

Well I’ve been here a week now and I have managed to already have climbed Table Mountain, seen the “jackass” African penguins, drove along the coast to the Cape of Good Hope, moved in with a warm and welcoming family, celebrated Bastille Day by participating in a parade, seen the gorgeous vineyards in wine country, and do all this with still a disbelief that I am actually here.

I am in UCT’s orientation until Friday, when I will register for my classes! And my weekend plans have yet to be determined, at this point if the weather is nice I would love to spend some time in the botanical gardens and have a picnic or something… but of course rain is expected so all my plans are subject to change!

Until next time, I love & miss you all! Don’t be afraid to shoot me an email, JABarnette@scu.edu !!!

LOVE