First Week of Classes

As I mentioned earlier, things are a little less organized in Cape Town. And by a little, I mean A LOT. I don’t think we were ever informed of many things, a few of these being 1) In addition to all of the classes you signed up for, you must also sign up for a tutorial, or “tut” in the majority of the classes, 2) “Tuts” do not meet the first week. 3)Vula, the online resources for classes 4)UCT email (I still haven’t figured out how to use mine-do I even have one? Who knows), 5)Peoplesoft (What is that? I don’t know, but I have a 7digit number and I type it in somewhere and it tells me what classes I’m registered for-first used this feature yesterday.) 6)If you register for a club or activity that does not mean you are automatically in it. No, no, in fact, it does not even mean that you are added to their contact list. You must contact them. And the contact numbers are in the IAPO Office…or maybe the SOO office, no, wait, the 5th floor of Steve Biko…but that’s only open from 14 to 16 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And the list goes on… So the first day of class, I had no idea where I was going (because of course the internet in our house was down the night before). I literally knew nothing about where any of my classes were. Luckily, one of my housemates was in my first class so that worked out fine, Beattie 115; We got there right at 9AM. We got out of class early, and I searched the campus for 45 minutes looking for my next class, Business Law 1. Could it be in Leslie Science, where many first year classes are held? No. Okay, so the Leslie Commerce Building, since it from the Commerce Department? No. Okay, so it must be in the Kramer Law Building (on the opposite side of campus by the way). No. Oh, it just happened to be in Beattie 114, less than 5 feet away from where my first course had been. I got to class 20 minutes late and it got out about 25 minutes in. Excellent. By the way, ALL of my classes are in Beattie 115 and Beattie 114. And they’re not even related subject matter! Art History and Business Law? Unorganized. On the first day of my Art and Theory class, another teacher had booked the same room, so all 30 of us roamed the halls of the Beattie Building (I could practically give tours of this building now), looking for an empty classroom and ended up, 15 minutes later, in a room too small to hold all of us. This summarizes the expression “T.I.A., This is Africa.” When situations like this arise, there is no point in getting frustrated…this is Africa. Apart from the chaos, my first week of class went very well. It takes me about a half hour to get to class; I take the Jammie Shuttle. Campus is BEAUTIFUL!. I really enjoy both of my Art History courses (Sacred Art and Art and Theory), and to be honest, my Business Law course isn’t as horrible as I thought it was going to be. We learn about South African law, and what rights you have, courts, the judicial system here, etc. (To be fair, I did get out of Finance as fast as I could when on the first day he started rambling about accounting and interest rates and needing a financial calculator.) My classes vary in size, from a lecture hall of about 150 to a small class of about 25. My schedule is excellent; I start at 9AM or 10AM every day and end by 11AM, 12PM, or 1PM. One thing I really like about how they teach here is that most of my classes have 2 or 3 professors. One teaches the first part, then another comes in, and another. It is a nice variety and gives you different perspectives on the subject matter. I think my classes will be comparable to UW’s in difficulty, or maybe a little easier since I’m only taking 3. Hey,that's fine by me!

Mozambique

Last week, Conor, Sydney and I went to Mozambique. Although our trip was a little unplanned, it was an incredible experience. Our trip started with a two hour flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg. We spent the night at a hostel near the airport, and while it wasn’t the greatest accommodations, we got the chance to meet a really cool guy. Dennis was a beer delivery man from Holland, who had recently quit his job to drive a truck with a house attached to the back of it from Holland to South Africa. His three and a half month trip was a volunteer trip to help rebuild in needy areas. He told us many stories of his travels throughout Africa and showed us pictures. Very interesting and amusing. We woke up early the next day to catch a bus from Jo’Burg to Maputo, Mozambique. Luckily, we made it across the border with no problems (We just had to buy a visitor’s visa for Mozambique). Along the drive, I saw a herd of elephants just hanging out less than 30 feet away from the road! We arrived in Maputo fairly late so we didn’t have much of a chance to explore the city. 3 major differences: language barrier, everyone speaks Portuguese! This made it very difficult to ask for directions, get information, read menus, etc. Another was the currency, instead of rand, they use meticals, which are about 25mets to 1USD, (a little trickier to convert than the 10rand to 1USD). Also, you can’t drink the water! This was surprisingly difficult, especially at night when you weren’t able to purchase a water bottle or needed to brush your teeth. On the first night in Maputo, we ate at a small restaurant across the street from our hostel and called it a night. The next morning we woke up very early and ran (literally) through the streets of Maputo with our backpacks on to catch the bus to Tofo Beach that left at 5AM. We missed it. LUCKILY and unusually, there was one that left at 6AM. We boarded the bus, which was more like a jam-packed, rickety mini bus with blaring music. Along our 6 hour drive, we stopped a couple of times each hour in different settlements where the inhabitants would run up to our bus and try to sell us anything ranging from fruit, vegetables, sweet rolls, bread, drinks, etc. I tried a couple of the bread/muffins—very good and extremely inexpensive (less than a quarter for a muffin). When we arrived in Tofo Beach, we realized how worth it our trip was. A beautiful, white stretch of sand with clear, warm, azure water. Accommodation at our hostel, Fatima’s Nest, was adorable little thatched beach huts. That night we went to a market which is very close to our hostel and met a lot of the locals. We had dinner there that night-delicious calamari and rice and vegetables at a very low price. It was great getting to know all of the locals, and much better than just spending our time at the hostel. We also made friends with a group of guys from Australia who were traveling around in Africa. We went back to the market several times over our two days in Tofo Beach, and bought cool handmade artwork, absolutely delicious skewers of beef and chicken, tapestries, etc. At night, the stars in Tofo were the best I have ever seen. It’s such a small town and right on the Indian Ocean so no lights were in the way of the skies—beautiful. Also at night, when we would walk along the beach hundreds of little sand crabs would be digging in and out of the sand and running back and forth between the water and the shore. We had to depart Tofo at 4AM to catch the bus that took us back to Maputo. I liked Maputo much more the second time around. The first time we didn’t really have much time to experience anything, we just kind of stayed there overnight. This time, we had a great lunch, saw more of the city, stayed at a much better hostel, and just had an overall better experience. Maputo is an extremely poor city, many of the buildings are run down and abandoned and at night the streets are filled with homeless people and beggars. Not once did I feel threatened or scared in Maputo, and found the people overall to be very kind and honest. Even when you were making trades with the vendors that would run up to your car, if you gave them 5 cents extra by mistake, they would hand it right back to you, or give you an additional item. Another side comment about Mozambique-the women there can carry literally ANYTHING on their heads. A bag of coconuts, a huge plant stalk, water jugs, anything and everything. Much like the second time in Maputo, I enjoyed Johannesburg a lot better the second time around. The first time all I saw was a dirty, dreary, industrial, dangerous city. The second time we stayed in a better neighborhood, a friendlier hostel, and saw a completely different side. Almost like we were in an entirely different place, with a mall full of high-end stores and luxury cars. Our last night in Jo’Burg and an early morning flight back to Cape Town concluded our beautiful, busy, insightful vacation.

Before School Starts!

The last several days have been so busy! University of Cape Town registration is much different than University of Wisconsin registration. I’ve never appreciated the UW timetable so much. In Cape Town, you have to be preapproved for all of your courses, unless they are a 100 level course. This means that you have to stand in long lines in 85 degree weather and wait for the approval of the head of the department, and then wait in the same long line for approval at registration. Luckily, I was preapproved for courses through Wisconsin so I didn’t have that much waiting to do but it was still overwhelming! Not to mention the enormous campus and my lack of directional skills. Everything is done physically, by actually talking to the professors and head of the department instead of just clicking your mouse. I am taking a couple courses that I am excited about, and a couple that I am not so excited about. Business Law=not exciting at all, Intro to Finance=equally not exciting, Sacred Art and Image=exciting, and Theories of Art=exciting but I’m nervous because it’s a 300 level course the grading system here is very different than in the States (almost impossible to get an A). Other than registration, I’ve gotten to do some very cool things. We took a trip to the townships, which are essentially South Africa’s ghettos. There is a large volunteer organization here called SHAWCO that works with UCT students and children in the townships. My experience was touching, to say the least. We arrived at the township (I forget the name)which was composed of huts, shacks, people, trash, run down apartments, clothes lines, chickens, and abandoned buildings. The community center we stopped at was essentially a one story building situated on a field. From the minute we got off the bus, we were greeted with high fives by smiling children ages 4-12. We had a brief introduction to the township and the program, and were given some time to play with the children. Sydney, my roommate Alex and I made our way over to a shyer group of kids sitting toward the back corner of the field. Within moments, the girls were holding our hands, asking our names, touching our hair, asking to be picked up, showing off their cartwheels and handstands and begging to play Duck Duck Goose. We were only there for about 20 minutes, but it was an incredible experience. These children literally have nothing, they live in single room homes and the highlight of their day is coming to the “school.” Yet the shocking thing was this was the happiest, liveliest bunch of children I have ever met, curious, smiley, appreciative, and in need of attention. One girl just continuously raised her arms to me to have me pick her up. When we left they ran after us and waved us down on the bus asking “Will you be back tomorrow?” I am definitely going to become involved in SHAWCO. My roommates and I also made a train trip out to Muizenberg, which has a great beach. The train is very inexpensive, it costs about $1USD for a round trip ticket to Muizenberg, which is about 40 minutes away. The beach was very beautiful, yet extremely windy. I came home with pounds of sand in my ears, eyes, swimsuit, hair, etc. We walked a little ways along the beach and there was a swimsuit model posing on the beach-cool! The beach is on the Atlantic Ocean so the water was so cold! We didn’t really swim much, just sat around on the beach and walked around the shops. School doesn’t officially start until the 16th, so I’ve got some time to travel and explore. My next adventure is coming up tomorrow, with a trip planned to Maputo, Mozambique. Wish me luck!

Orientation

I’ve seen and done so much in the last few days, it’s hard to believe that I’ve only been here for less than a week. On Saturday, I went to the Horse Derby at the MET, which is a huge event in Cape Town, similar to the Kentucky Derby. About 50,000 people were there. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The theme was “Glitz and Glammer” and all I can say is that I have NEVER seen that many beautiful people, both men and women, in my entire life. Everyone was fit, tan, dressed up in their nicest dresses, huge hats, high heels…crazy. The women all looked like Charlize Theron and the men were incredibly handsome. It fully demonstrated the huge division of wealth in Cape Town. Sunday was the first day of orientation, where we went for a bus ride and walking tour of the Camps Bay, the Cape of Good Hope, Simon’s Town, and False Bay. Absolutely the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. It’s indescribable in words but the views were breathtaking. I saw the penguins in Simon’s Town and baboons and ostrich along the side of the road. We had lunch in a township and watched break dancers (some only 8 or 9 years old), singers, and fire juggler. These were all people that had grown up in the townships and were involved in the community center who were showing off their talents. The break dancers were the best, especially the little boys! On Monday we had orientation during the day, learning about classes and preparing for registration. Orientation here is a week long events filled with field trips, performances, food, braais (African barbeques/get togethers—very popular), and advice. Last night was my housemate Aviva’s birthday. 9 of the 10 housemates went to dinner at an amazing Thai place and had great food and wine and then went to a pool bar on Long Street afterwards. Great night.