50 things I miss about Cape Town

1. Conversations with the friendliest Uber drivers you will ever meet, and the fact that they would always offer up their aux cords.
2. WOOLWOORTH'S BAGGED SOUP! I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR BAGGED SOUP!
3. Seeing movies every weekend for $3 at the Labia.
4. Physical activity consisting of views like this, rather than views of exercise machines. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. That moment when you're walking to UCT and you come out of the tunnel, right before the stairs, and you can see all of Devil's Peak behind campus. Almost makes that uphill hike to school everyday worth it.
6. The guys who work at Vida e Café messing with me and putting on a whole comedy routine when I order my morning coffee.
7. The man who would always bring his entire desktop computer to Vida e Café.
8. The fact that I could have a hankering for a certain food and literally only have to walk down a couple flights of stairs to get it at Pick n Pay or Woolworth's. Remembering how I was often too lazy to even do that makes me hate abroad Hannah.
9. The sunrises and sunrises, oh my GOD, those sunrises and sunsets. There's absolutely nothing like just sitting and making an activity out of watching a beautiful sky.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Queen from Unframed. The only thing I love more than Unframed's ice cream itself are the awesome people who worked there. They either absolutely loved us or absolutely hated us, but I will never know which one it was.
11. The absolute fairytale land that is Kirstenbach Botanical Gardens. Going to concerts there, laying on a picnic blanket there, watching kids play there, taking walks there.
    
12. I can't believe I'm saying this BUT - the way that my UCT classes made me think critically about topics I had never explored before. I literally wrote an essay about how meditation is a hoax because we've been fed the idea of dualism so much that we've (trigger warning to my medical anthro people) EMBODIED it and think we can control our thoughts. I hated every minute of it during, but hindsight is 20/20 I guess.
13. The white "blanket" that covers the mountains from time to time. There's something magical about seeing clouds gathered in that way.
    
    
    
    
14. Tall Moses from Southern Ambition. We stan tall Moses.
15. The suspense of never knowing whether the floor 2 laundry machine was going to work after you put your stuff in. A thrill seeker's dream!!! 
16. No but really, all of the adrenaline rushes - bungee jumping, paragliding, looking down as you're climbing the metal rungs on Lion's Head, risking your life to take a picture on the edge of a mountain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    
    
    
    
    
17. The way the people who worked at these thrill-seeking companies perfectly balanced being sweet and funny with not taking your BS when you're about to chicken out. When you're screaming "WAIT I DON'T THINK MY FEET ARE SECURE" and they're screaming "ONE-TWO-THREE-BUNGEE!!!"
    
18. Spending 6 hours at a time studying at Starlings and Mango Ginger, which I stand by as the best cafes in Cape Town and probably on earth. And getting a croissant, latte, and full entree there for $11 total.
    
19. HAVING WAITERS BRING THE CARD MACHINE TO THE TABLE!!! I AM ALSO SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS TOPIC!! IT IS JUST SO MUCH EASIER WYD AMERICA!!!
20. The frozen mojito from Beefcakes.
21. The markets UGHHH the markets. The truffle mozzarella sticks from Mojo. The live music at Hout Bay. The mushroom kebabs, shakshuka and sushi burritos from Old Biscuit Mill. The mouthwatering chocolate pastry at the Waterfront market. The hours of browsing at the Watershed. The free samples. The cute babies and dogs. The window shopping and trying on a million earrings that my roommate Alicia and ONLY my roommate Alicia could rock. 
    
22. Standing by the water at Sea Point and fantasizing about raising a family there with all the other Jews.
    
23. The political activeness of young adults who recognize, arguably better than most other young adults in the world, that racism and discrimination are unfortunately not things of the distant past. Everybody's, from tour guides to friend's to our RAs to Uber drivers, willingness to engage in difficult but important conversations about recognizing injustices and working to build a better world. And the daily challenge of examining my role in all of it.
24. The slow pace of everything there. Not to be confused with "Cape Town Time" - don't love everyone being late to everything, but love how everyone wants to take time to just enjoy life.
25. Encountering so many beautiful animals up close! From those weird groundhog type things on the mountains, to penguins, to the incredible moment we finally found a young lion at Chobe National Park.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
26. A "night out" consisting of dressing up to sit in a restaurant, order dinner and a drink, and sit and talk for 3 hours. MAYBE (probably) stop at Unframed on the way back. Go back to flat, lay in bed.
27. The sketchy car rental place behind Cocoa Wah Wah, and the ancient car we kept renting that we lovingly named Jerry. 
    
28. Sharing a teeny tiny apartment with 5 INCREDIBLE EMPOWERED LOVING PASSIONATE KIND INSPIRING WOMEN!!! Huuuuuuuge one. Like for serious they're the best. We yelled at each other every day but we loved each other so much. And we almost always had company when we peed (what's privacy lol). I also had other friends I didn't live with and I love them too.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
29. The cute af tiny egg pan I bought from Pick n Pay, and the fried egg-shaped spatula that came with it.
30. That ugly Paris CIEE bedding oh my god it was so unbelievably ugly but I missed it when it was gone.
    
31. Movie nights in the megabed.
32. Constantly Venmo requesting each other $0.50 for unbelievably cheap Ubers hey have I mentioned how CHEAP everything was???
33. Rooibos tea everywhere.
34. Having Alicia as my personal fancy-camera photographer. I really thought I was a model for a hot sec huh.
    
    
    
    
35. The amaaaaazing fresh fruit mmmmm the figs and mangos and avocados were to die for.
36. The absolutely beautiful weather. Even when it was super hot it was somehow still pleasant. Always a beautiful breeze.
37. Never being judged by others on how (not) often I went out at night, and instead focusing on making use of my whole day.
38. The immediate feeling after you make it to the top of a mountain. You’re physically dying, sweat dripping down your face, you feel like you need to chug a gallon of water - but the wind, the view, the adrenaline and the sense of accomplishment makes it like nothing you’ve ever experienced. I miss that feeling more than anything.
39. It being socially acceptable to take a full-on nap in the UCT library.
40. The entertainment of reading social justice related essay/arguments on the walls of the UCT bathroom stalls while peeing. Bathroom boredom = gone.
41. Not feeling guilty about forgetting to flush or peeing on the ground (only in SOME settings don't worry) bc #watershortage (TMI?)
42. CAMPING!!! Forreal I loved sleeping in tents. Like I'm having trouble relating to that now because I do love my school bed but I remember talking a lot abroad about how much I loved camping, so I probably do miss it. I had some of my best nights' sleep on the ground in a tent, listening to the sounds of nature, in my trusty red sleeping bag. 
    
    
    
    
43. More often than not, staying in a "hostel" while traveling did not mean gross rooms and cockroaches - it meant being in a super charming, authentic, adorable home or building with unbelievable views, people and food. Not gonna say the showers were as nice, but it was always worth it.
    
44. Being friends with a bunch of Balabustas, reserving the common room for our beautiful Shabbat dinners and doing Kabbalat Shabbat on the balcony. Related: having Shabbat as an excuse to buy and devour an entire tiramisu from Woolworth's.
45. My super slow 3G cell service!! It worked for what I needed it to work for (texts, google searches), but took approximately 3 years to load one Instagram picture. Forced me to be present when out in the world and made it easy to disconnect from social media addiction. Thank you for being so crappy, T-Mobile! No jk their international plan is actually really good.
46. The easy friendships that came with a lifestyle of doing meaningful things and having meaningful conversations. Nothing bonds you for life like jumping off a bridge together, riding in a jeep for 3 hours looking for animals, talking and warming up by a campfire late into the night, rowing in a boat to the Okavango delta, or hiking for 4 hours. So present.
47. The magic of putting in headphones on my walk to class or drives through Botswana and listening to Toto's Africa, while IN Africa. Never got old.
48. Constantly playing around-the-table games like a bunch of middle school campers. We loved "contact" in Botswana, we loved the "on the count of 3, point to the person you think is most likely to..." game always. Also playing Odds Are but mostly just watching Alicia and Rachel play. Some crowd favorite ones included Rachel proposing to a guy at the Waterfront and asking a guy on the street if she could help him paint a building (pictured below).
    
49. How proud Capetonians are to be from or live in Cape Town. Despite everything that the city has been through, the vast majority of people I met, regardless of their background, spoke so fondly about living there.
    
50. Most of all, I miss the person that Cape Town made me. I was my most vulnerable, but I was also my happiest, bravest, most confident, whole-hearted (shoutout Brené Brown) self. There's something about that beautiful city and the beautiful people there that made me embrace life more than I ever had before. And for that, I'm forever grateful.