1/31/18
Jham and I
had a mediocre flight to London (they kept the lights on for a longggg time and
I was kept awake with the smell of chicken curry being served at 11pm oh well),
and then we were off to make the most of our 11 hours there! Omg jk hhahahha we
actually did the opposite of make the most of our time. We considered going to
Central London for a hot second but when we found out that the train ride there
was an hour, we decided to go to the next best place—Hounslow! Think: a less
cool Ben Yehuda Street with lots of chain restaurants and nothing exciting.
Jham suggested that I describe it that way but honestly now that I’m writing it
I see no resemblance to Ben Yehuda Street it was just really mediocre. We
trudged along with our 20 lb backpacks for a little while and then decided to
stop for lunch in what we thought was a quaint little coffee shop. We figured
out after we saw about 3 of the same shop in the airport that we basically took
the subway to eat lunch at the Starbucks of London. Afterward, we walked around
TJ-Maxx for a good hour, which honestly I was not mad about, and GET
THIS—TJMAXX IN LONDON IS CALLED TKMAXX. WITH A K. We were saying how we felt
like we were in iCarly where they would slightly change the name of a
restaurant like they turned PF Changs into BF Wangs. Hope everyone’s still
following. Anyway it was nice because we got to put our 20 lb backpacks into
carts and our fragile backs got a break. But yeah then we left because the
TJmaxx didn’t have a bathroom and that was our time in Hounslow. Most exciting
thing that happened is Jham accidentally calling Aeropostle Aristotle in a conversation. That was
funny. Took us a full hour to get to our terminal but we finally did it and
then we chilled at the airport for 6 hours so yeah moral of the story do not do
a 11 hour layover.
2/1/18
30 hours of
travelling later and I’m finally here! Not gonna lie I had a very minor
freakout when I got on the plane because HOLY HECK THIS IS A LONG SCARY THING
THAT I’M DOING! But I did a lot of #selftalk and reminded myself that in order
to have meaningful whole-hearted experiences you gotta put yourself in
situations where you’re vulnerable yada yada yada shoutout CCI cohort 3
shoutout Brenee Brown’s vulnerability Ted Talk! Here’s the thing is even though
I’m still pretty overwhelmed it’s just because new situations are overwhelming
and that is what it is and it’s ok! But everyone here is SO! NICE! Like just so
down to earth and normal and great. I found out my assigned apartment and no
joke CIEE labeled it “Jewish Flat”. Cuz it’s me and 5 other nice practicing
Jews. They felt really bad about us seeing that on their sheet but I mostly just think it's hilarious. My room is actually really cute and came with
these adorably ugly but amazing sheets with Eiffel towers all over them idek. We
unpacked and ate some pizza and were confused about stuff together and now I’m
going to bed because WOW travelling is tiring!
2/2/18
Today was
looooong and infooooormative as heck but also ended up being rully fun! We had
orientation stuff at UCT and then did this scavenger hunt thing to get to know
campus. It’s funny because as a camp counselor I’m so used to being the person
planning the scavenger hunt type programs and now I’m like the camper again.
But I’m also the bad camper who lags behind in the back and doesn’t really
participate. Oops. No but campus is really beautiful—everywhere you go, you
have the mountains in the backdrop. I don’t think I’ll ever stop marveling at
the views here. Every time I look out at the mountains I’m in awe all over
again. It looks like someone painted them into the sky; the pictures really
never do them justice. After we got back, we drove about 30 minutes to this
beautiful venue overlooking the water with an amazing view of the mountains. It
gave me really strong Riverboat Cruise vibes @my Tulane peeps, like a bunch of
people who don’t know each other dressing up for a boujee dinner, I felt right
at home! It was really nice though. I drove home in a van squished between a
bunch of RAs which was awesome because the RAs here are INCREDIBLE. Shoutout
Naledi my favorite human on earth. All of the RAs are African and students at
UCT and they are the nicest people you will ever meet. We’re seriously so lucky
to have them—it was such a pleasant surprise of this program.
2/3/18
We took it
easy today, woke up late and walked to the Chabad couple’s house for a nice
Shabbat lunch. It was so great to be in someone’s home and talk to South
African Jews about their life here. It almost felt like a different world stepping
into their beautiful house, eating a nice sit down meal and meeting their
adorable kids. We sat around the table for a good 4 hours just talking and
relaxing. I love the slow pace of things here; it’s something I’ve definitely
noticed a lot. I went out for the first time that night and SURPRISE I had a
lot of fun!!! Long street (the street that has a lot of the clubs and bars)
reminds me a lot of Nola with big balconies and a truly #lit scene. Basically
all of the CIEE students took over this one club and danced together. There’s a
lot more of a sense of community in the program than I expected there to be.
Everyone looks out for each other even though they barely know each other—it’s
really nice to see. Unfortunately we learned afterward that Cape Town isn’t
super big into drunchies and nowhere really delivers at 2:30am, so I guess the
City Diner of this semester for me is going to be McDonalds that’s right next
to our apartment. It was almost as lit in that McDonalds as it was at the club
let me tell you. Going out here was something I was really nervous about before
coming so I’m happy I pushed myself to go and have an open mind!
2/4/18
Wow. I
thought Nola brunches were unbeatable but the place we went to this morning was
NEXT LEVEL. I went with my flatmates (apartment-mates) who SIDENOTE I am SOOO
blessed to have been put with s/o Jewish flat love you people. We went to this
brunch place called Four & Twenty and it was unreal. The cutest environment
with incredible food, and the waitress was so nice and pleasant that we all
agreed we wished she would yell at us or slap us just once. It was a beautiful
day and we sat outside and, again with the relaxed meals, sat for 2 hours just
taking our time. We were going to take the cable car up Table Mountain with
CIEE in the afternoon, but since it was so windy, it got cancelled. BUT in true
#turnlemonsintolemonade spirit, we ubered to this high up place called Signal
Hill and watched the sun set there. It seems like a popular thing for people to go
and sit on the big hill, bring blankets and food and just watch the sun go down
together. It was beautiful beyond words. You’re gonna get super tired of me
saying things are beautiful so I’m sorry but it just was!!! Everything here
looks like it’s out of a painting. The colors were just unlike anything I’ve
ever seen, and being there to see the whole thing happen was so peaceful.
Everyone clapped when the sun went down, and we talked and ate there for a
couple hours. I’m really truly in love with this place so far. Another reason I’m
in love with it? I got a nice sized dinner at a place next to our apartment for
3 DOLLARS. I kid you not, $3 for a huge container of hot and sour soup and 2 big spring
rolls. I swear I pay $3 for a GRANOLA BAR at Tulane. Now I have to start resting
up for a big orientation week with UCT. And I have to buy some bath towels.
Comments
Post a Comment