back 2 school

so monday was our first day of classes! i registered on friday, had a bit of a problem getting the classes i wanted due to the fact that they published the times wrong in the booklet... so it was a little bit crazy... the 4 classes i'll be taking this semester are 1. Intro. to Ethics, 2. Social Psychology in Intergroup Relations, 3. Film Genre 4. Religion in Africa.

On Monday morning i woke up at 730 in order to get ready and catch the shuttle, which is called the Jammie, at the Res. hall which is about a 10 minute walk from my house. Then once I got to school around 845 I had to go around to the different departments to figure out what days my classes actually meet and where. Unlike at SCU, you register without knowing where/when your classes will meet... so it was all an adventure!

the weather on monday wasn't too great... sad to say that it wasn't the best to take a "first day of school photo" but my friends and i joked that we would just wear the same outfit on a sunnier day & just pretend!!

So on monday's i will only have 2 classes which isnt bad... but unfortunately i have a 4 hour break in between. i could go home but i figure this will just give me a chance to hang out on campus and get some work done to get ahead for the week. at uct they have these mini-sessions with a tutor called "TUTS" so i now will have a tut on monday as well, breaking up that long break.

religion is my first class: (M,T,TH,F) from 10-10:45... yes classes are only 45 mins!

the professor seems really cool... maybe a little spacey at times.. but its a small class... only about 60 of us and the majority of us are international students... the professor is all about class discussion which is nice bc we wont have to listen to him lecture the whole time.

my film genre class meets (M,T,F) from 3-3:45 with 2 TUTS on W,TH. this class seems like its going to be fun but a lot of work... each week watch a movie and talk about the genre of the selected film. the first day of class we discussed the james bond films (which is funny bc south african broadcasting company has been playing a james bond marathon for the past week or so and Andrew, (my 11 year old host brother) and i have seemed to "bond" haha

although ill be meeting every day of the week for this class, i am the only international student in it and i'll definitely be forced to meet south africans! so that'll be good.... i already managed to make one friend yesterday while waiting in line to get the reading materials! (that's another thing here... course readers (like a packet of selected readings) are provided here as part of the student fees, but theres other readings we have to go to the department office adn pick up each week? kind of a hassle and there always seems to be a line... but one thing i remind myself regularly, "Jess, you're in Africa... you're on African time... relax"... and so far i've begun to realize i really dont need to be in as much of a rush as i always seem to be!

then after film genre class on monday i met up with another girl from scu, sarah jeffcoat and a girl from usc, laura, and the three of us went to a little cafe for dinner... then we met the rest of the ciee program to see a play on campus called Cissie. it was a great play, a lot of the south african humor goes over all our heads, but after such an exhausting day i was anxious to get home! one of the other host-moms picked up us homestayers and i finally was able to climb into bed around 11pm...

then on tues. i woke up a little later, was able to catch the 915 Jammie and got to campus in time for religion at 10. then after religion i had my social psych. of intergroup relations (T,W,TH,F) at 11-11:45. this class was a lot bigger... at least 250 of us... and it was a pretty easy day on tues as we just took a survey and tried to get the logistical stuff out of the way... the professor is young, very energetic and seems nice... i think that class will be really interesting as today (wed. we had a huge class discussion for the majority of the time)... i'm really impressed that the bigger classes i have, the teachers are still all about getting the class involved... for some reason i was under the impression that i would just be listening to one person the whole time.... yawwwwn... boring!

then after social psych. i had my intro. to ethics class (W,TH,F- we met yesterday bc other classes later on will be cancelled).... and i thought my psych. class was big! HOLY COW. this class has to be at least 300+! thankfully i have this class with another scu girl, mary, and we were able to sit together and just laugh at home this lecture hall is the size of the recital hall at santa clara!

the ethics professor is.... unique. he seems nice, but is going to be hard. let me just say that within the first 10 mins of class yesterday he said, "so this class has a high fail rate... im not surprised if for some of you this is your 2 or 3 time taking this class." ha-ha. oh gee thanks for the words of encouragement?

although im not a very "philosophical" person our lecture today (wed) was interesting and he also seems to be all about the class discussion/opinions thing as well... which is definitely a nice little break.

so those are the 4 courses i'll be taking this semester... as more interesting things happen i'll let you know... for right now not much... just a lot of reading and essays... and oh i forgot to mention, final exams here are NOT a joke. not that they are at scu either, but here my exams are worth between 40-60% of our final grade. and before we can even take the exam we have to get this thing called a DP which basically states that we've been to the lectures and all our TUTS. if not then you get a DPR which means you cant take the exam which means you automatically fail....serious business.

last night i went to a meeting for a spring break trip that goes to botswana and zambia... i'm pretty sure im going to do it.. just have to work out a few things... ill post more on that later as i become more positive that i'm doing it....

so last saturday we went to a soccer game at the newlands stadium... saw the manchester united & kizer (sp?) chiefs play... exciting game.. had really good seats, thanks CIEE!

then after i went to this amazing thai place (called Chai-Yo! Ella, it's right by my house! :) ) with sarah from santa clara and with 2 kids from georgetown. then after we went to one of the CIEE houses and hung out until i got tired and we had to figure a way to get home... one of the SOLmates were nice enough to give us a lift home.

then on sunday i was able to sleep in a bit and went for a run around the rondebosch commons by my house and then had a delicious breakfast with margot & andrew! it was a sunny morning & so nice to have eggs, toast and bacon!... i really am spoiled by living with a family!

then around one, sarah and i went with the SOLmate, Thaps, and some of his friends and the students living in his house, to a township braai... this was incredible! we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves in to but it was just a great experience i can not wait to go again... we really got to experience the cultural experience of the township on sundays, as everyone goes to this place called Mzilio's(sp?) and listens to music, chats, drinks and waits for the delicious food... a braai is like a cookout here... with susage and chicken and steak and then beans and this type of cream of wheat time thing... and you don't eat with forks or plates or anything... so it was definitely a sight to see 13 americans sitting around a table stuffing their faces with this delicious food. we all looked like we had never had a meal before... i can't wait to post pictures!

alright well this has been a long post. i hope you have at least gotten a little glimpse of my time so far here... its only be what 2 weeks so far? crazy how i feel like ive been here for much longer!

this afternoon i am attending a seminar with quinton, one of the CIEE coordinators in which about 20 of us will just get together weekly and discuss life and talk about our expereinces here. as i was talking to him and the other coordinator, felicity- by living in a home stay ive been more encouraged to go out and meet everyone in the program, otherwise i wont have any friends and spend all my time at my home alone! :( and as much as i love the mcinnes and hanging out with them, i am eager to get out and experience everything~!

so now that i have the internet on campus ill try and be better about updating!

i miss u all! and can't wait to hear from all you!

email me- jabarnette@scu.edu

facebook here is really slow- so im more likely to respond via email!

okay well im going to post some pictures on the previous posts~!!!

xoxo