First Impressions

First impression of Cape Town: I love it, I love it, I love it! Unreal. Cultural. Amazing. Warm! (80 degrees F and sunny, but I should probably learn how to convert that into Celsius) I live in Obz, the farthest neighborhood away from campus, but from what I can tell, the best. My house isn’t fancy by any means, but its perfect for the time being. We don’t really have a dining room, and when I moved in there was no toilet paper! But the house is bright orange and in a good location, and I have my own room which is spacious and has a lot of windows. I am so excited for the experience of living with 9 other roommates! Only one of them is here now. Her name is Maria and she lives next door to me. She is from Norway but her parents are from Norway and Tanzania-very cool! I’ve already met so many people and I’ve only really been here one day! Maria from DC, Nyani from Eastern Cape, Wise, a Cape Town local, Seeya, another Cape Town local, Mick from the Netherlands, and Maria, my roommate. The prices here are unreal! Mangos for $.60, cartons of fresh juice for $.80, bottles of beer (from South Africa and a lot of Dutch beers, Amstel, etc.) for under $1, wine under $2! And I don’t mean a glass of wine. Sydney and I shared a pizza yesterday, excellent. No cheese, thin bread, feta, broccoli, rosemary, basil, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. for about 49 rand, which comes out to around $4.90. So for under $5 each, we had a good sized portion of great pizza, and a drink! It seems as though it will be very easy to eat healthy here. All I can say is that my first impression of Cape Town is everything I could have ever wanted it to be—and more.I have already shared laughs, hugs, stories, and opinions with many, and it’s only day 1!