My first week of travel has been full of excitement, adventure, and discovery. I can’t believe that I actually ever had any doubts about coming here. This place is unbelievable – I am perpetually in awe of the sights around me. The thing about Cape Town is that you don’t have to travel anywhere in particular to see its natural beauty because you can always see the glimmering blue ocean or the majestic mountains no matter where you turn. Plus, with weather over 80 degrees daily and sunny (the intensity of the African sun has already burned my skin nicely) – who could ask for a more picture-perfect destination? While it is easy to get wrapped up in these magnificent sights, one doesn’t have to look too far to witness the problems that exist here. For one, safety is a major concern – traveling alone is something that should be avoided as much as possible, which is quite an adjustment for me. The orientation talks have made us all paranoid about our safety and so I never hesitate to find a group of people to go out with. I not only stand out for being the minority as a white person here, but I am immediately identified as an American the second I open my mouth to speak. We have been told time and time again that we are targets, and quite a few people have already been pickpocketed at the clubs and bars. For the most part, I have felt quite safe although I am extremely alert at all times and suspicious of anyone around me. The crime that occurs here is often connected with the 30-40% unemployment rate that exists! Cape Town has many characteristics of a first world city, but experiences many problems of the third world. An up and coming problem, which I have already experienced twice in the past 6 days since I arrived are the blackouts (last Friday, one lasted from 8pm to 2am!). The losses to the South African economy have already showed up in the sudden strengthening of my exchange rate (increase from 7.0 to 7.5 rand per dollar in a week!). This is certainly making everything cheaper for me.

As much as I want to tell only about the beautiful and exciting places that I saw in the past week, I believe that it is necessary to paint a true portrait of the city in which I am living. However, now I can’t wait to tell about my exciting experiences in Cape Town so far! Everything has been “downhill” since the first day of adjustment. I never really suffered any jetlag, and luckily I haven’t gotten sick with the food or drinking the tap water. Everyday has been packed with activities – it feels like I have been here much longer than I actually have been since the days seem endless with very little sleep. But I’m feeling great! I have met so many wonderful people on the program, and with over 100 of us, there are always new people to meet. I can’t believe the friends I have made in such a short period of time – we are bonded by this entirely new and foreign experience. The area around our hotel was so much fun to explore and was accompanied by nightly excursions to Long Street, which contained a strip of bars and clubs. While walking around, I stumbled upon an area called Bo-Kaap, in which all of the street blocks are filled with brightly painted houses in all shades of the rainbow. I cheered for South Africa’s team in a pub as we ate dinner (the most expenive yet at $7) and watched the soccer game against Senegal. I tried oxtail on an orientation trip to an authentic African restaurant – the blackout occurred while we were there and so we spent the night dancing to the drummers who played under the lights of candles. I finally got to move into my permanent house for the semester! – a cozy and homey place with nice rooms and wonderful housemates (there are 9 of us – 5 boys and 4 girls). On Saturday, CIEE threw us a poolside braii (BBQ) with lots of delicious food (although I still would have preferred the typical hotdogs and hamburgers). The weekend concluded with a beautiful daytrip around the peninsula with all other international students studying at the University of Cape Town (UCT). On this trip, we had the opportunity to stop in Ocean View, a colored township, to eat lunch (I have never eaten so much meat in one sitting) and enjoy some festivities. While I loved the experience, I was not comfortable about driving 13 huge tour buses full of privileged students (mostly American) into such an impoverished community. We continued all the way down to the very tip of the continent to explore Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, where I was disappointed to find out that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans do not actually meet. However, my disappointment disappeared as soon as I began to hike up the glorious cliffs to look out over the endless ocean – the sights were out of this world. Finally, we ended the day with a trip to Boulders Beach to see the hundreds of penguins – yes, there are penguins in South Africa! UCT orientation began on Monday, but a bunch of my friends and I decided to take some time to go to the beach at Camps Bay. We spent the day playing a variety of sports and lying on the sand. Since the water is on the Atlantic side, it is absolutely freezing cold, and so I only stayed in long enough to ride two waves. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day to hang out on the beach with a perfectly blue sky, bright blue-green water, and mountains painting the background. I can’t believe this is where I live!