First Impressions of Cape Town and Orientation

The flight to Cape Town was really long, but I had two seats to myself so that was really nice. Flying over Cape Town was really cool because we got to see some really awesome views. I arrived in Cape Town at 10:30am and was greeted by the RA’s in my study abroad program, which is called CIEE. At that point I was still wearing sweatpants and my Patagonia and I was overheating because it is so hot here. We waited for other kids to come in then about 40 of us took a bus to the dorms at University of Cape Town (UCT) where we would be staying for orientation. The drive to UCT was interesting because in the beginning we passed a lot of townships, which are pretty much the same as slums. Then after driving a little further things gradually turned nicer until it looked very modernized. When we drove past downtown Cape Town it looked very much like an American city. Then we arrived at UCT where we checked in and put our luggage in dorm rooms. The RA’s then told us that we would be going on a very easy hike at Table Mountain, which they said would take maybe 45 minutes. This was a lie. The hike took about an hour and a half and it was intense because of the pretty steep and constant incline. It was definitely a bonding experience for many of the students as we all struggled with the jet lag and hot sun. However, the view from the top was well worth all of the sweat and sunburn. Then instead of walking back down, the RA’s bought us tickets to take the cable cars down the mountain. The cable cars were cool as they gave us a different view of the surroundings. Overall, the hike was really rewarding and fun even though it was difficult.

Since then orientation has been fun but very tiring. We have to get up at 7am for breakfast every morning – ugh! We have also been going out quite a bit, and things here seem to be very cheap. For example, at this bar we go to called cybar beers are 12 rand which is less than 2 dollars. Tomorrow we move out of the dorms and into our houses. My house is actually three small houses that holds 28 students and 2 RA’s. They must be pretty nice because we all have our own rooms! Our houses have security guards outside of them every night from 6pm-6am. Also, we just found out that we have people coming to clean our houses Monday through Friday. We are pretty spoiled because they are cleaning everything except our own rooms – so they do our dishes for us! Crazy. 

Last night we went to dinner at a really cool place called Moyo near Stellenbosch. The restaurant was under a massive tent. The dinner was buffet style and it had so many different options. I ate springbok and antelope – yum! Then we went to downtown Cape Town after dinner and partied on Long Street. It was very fun!

A Twelve-Hour Layover in London

The flight to London was six hours from Cleveland, and I slept for maybe half of the time. The flight was pretty nice because I had three seats all to myself! Once we landed it was 9:30am in London and I took the underground to Leicester Square. There I met Elizabeth’s friend Alex who took me to brunch at a little local spot in Soho. We ate a really good breakfast and she showed me where to go to see all of the tourist hotspots. Then I went off on my own first heading to the National Portrait Gallery/ National Gallery. I spent a really long time at the galleries viewing so much amazing art - including Van Gogh’s Sunflowers which I love. Then right in front of the National Gallery is Trafalgar Square, which has a bunch of statues and fountains. Next I headed down to Big Ben and Parliament, which were so cool to see in real life! Finally, I headed down through St. James Park to see Buckingham Palace. The park was beautiful, but I personally thought the Palace was kind of a let down and boring. I thought Big Ben and Parliament were more impressive. I loved how old London looked. The architecture of all the buildings was gorgeous, especially of old churches. I also thought that the cabs were really cool because they look like old cars. After all of this walking I was really tired, especially because I took a really long detour trying to find Buckingham Palace (not on purpose). So I headed back to the airport on the underground and hung out for a while. I ordered a beer and a salad then fell asleep at my gate waiting for the plane. I woke up from an old man tapping me and telling me it was time to go… Good thing. It was an awesome day but also very long and tiring.

Typical struggles

On my way out the door to head to the Cleveland airport, I realized I had spilled on my shirt. After quickly cleaning it, my mom and I left home. On our way to the airport, I remembered that I left my raincoat and glasses at home. I'm now really bored (and not even nervous anymore) in the Newark airport waiting to leave on my red eye to London...