Getting to Know You

At approximately 7:00 on Wednesday morning I was roused by the blinding hot sun streaming in through the sheer curtains on the hotel window. I had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep, but I was already wide awake. I opened the curtains to see a beautiful view of Table Mountain right outside the window. Since I had arrived at night, I had no concept of my surroundings, and I was pleasantly surprised to see this natural wonder first thing in the morning. I had arranged to room with another girl from Penn, Tory, which really turned out to be an excellent decision. She got up about the same time as me and we both showered and went down to breakfast, (but not before I drenched my body in half a bottle of 45 SPF.) After two days of “Fish or beef?” served in little aluminum trays, the breakfast buffet looked like a feast fit for gods. I found one of the student leaders from CIEE and harassed her until she gave me a definite time of day that we were congregating for orientation. The night before there had been a lot of “Oh, we’ll just find you tomorrow” and “Some time in the afternoon” - mind you, there are about 140 of us spread out between multiple hotels and none of us have a phone. I’m not sure whether it is the crazy American or the worrisome Jessica in me, but I wanted an itinerary!

Once we found out we didn’t have to be there until 3:00, Tory, two other girls and I ventured downtown and walked a few miles to the V&A Waterfront. It was really beautiful and refreshing and I was reminded of how much I am a grandchild of George Gartner as I examined all the fine eating establishments. After wandering around some local markets for awhile, we found our way back to the hotel (*please note that the other girls complimented my ability to navigate to and from the waterfront without the use of a map.)

At 3:00 the orientation leaders led a large horde of Americans several blocks down to an empty auditorium. (Why is there an empty auditorium in the middle of the downtown area?) This is where I entered my personal heaven of being thrown into a room with a couple hundred strangers. (You all know how shy I am.) We all engaged in the standard introductions and I began cataloguing the name, state of origin, school, and major of each of my new acquaintances. They split us into smaller groups to talk and my orientation leader is an American girl who came on this program to study abroad last year and never left.

Finally, they loaded us onto some buses and we drove up a very narrow, steep road (where I’m pretty sure we ran several oncoming cars onto sidewalks) towards Table Mountain. We took a rotating cable car up to the observatory on the top of the mountain which provided some SPECTACULAR views that kept me and my Nikon busy for 2.5 hours. We watched the sunset from the top of the mountain and I took enough photos to make an interactive flip-book of its descent over the horizon. One of the girls announced that her future husband would be bringing her back here to propose.

When we got back, we went to this place Nando’s for dinner, where everything on the menu was some variety of chicken: on a plate, in a pita, on a bun, etc. It was yummy and coupled with political discourse.

We got back to the hotel around 10:30 and decided it was time to hit up the downtown bars. We all showered and sassified ourselves and headed down to Long Street. We basically barraged the bars with Americans, but it was all good fun and we made friends with some nice South African gentlemen. Dancing is very big here, which is interesting in hot, overcrowded bars.

Today I was able to rent a cell phone and my housing in the dorms, “The Res,” was confirmed. It seems like about 85% of people chose the American houses, but I am excited to have some locals for roommates. Classes don’t start until February 18, so after UCT orientation I will still have a whole week to get settled and hit up the beautiful beaches!

On Friday we’re going to see the campus and on Saturday we’re moving into housing. I can’t wait to unpack so I can actually find things!

Arrival

After a very long flight and somewhat sketchy exchange in the Johannesburg, we finally arrived in Cape Town.

The flight was really not too bad - the first two legs of the flight from JFK and Dakar were actually relatively empty so I was able to spread out a bit and take a nap.

Before we boarded I found four other girls who are doing the same program as me. By the time we landed in Jo-burg, our group had increased to nine or ten. I was delighted to see that despite my worries about packing too much, I seem to have packed the least amount of stuff! The girls all think I’m ballsy for choosing to live in the dorms, they all opted for American housing, but I think it will really give me a good opportunity to meet more South Africans. Everyone is equally perturbed by the lack of information CIEE has provided about ANYTHING, but it seems we all found our way to the same or nearby hotels for the night.

I only got about 30 seconds of South African air when walking from the bus onto the plane, but it is warm and sweet, even when filled with jet fuel.