Sweet, sweet relief

Most exciting news first: my luggage has arrived from Johannesburg.

Uoma, our residence director, took me to the airport straight after our braai (barbeque) so I would be able to write another missing baggage claim, boy was I presently surprised to find out that my baggage had not only been found but was being sent to Cape Town within the hour. Finally, I feel like I can lean back and enjoy Cape Town for the first time (and wear my own clothes and upload pictures!!!!).

A rewind to earlier today was anything but carefree. After my rough night of sleep and my 6AM panic blog, I watched some Jericho before finally falling to sleep when my alarm for the morning went off. By 9 my flat mates and myself had headed back to the bank to deposit money into the South African bank accounts we had opened the night before. I deposited traveler’s checks, which proved to be extremely convenient and not outdated (at least here) to my surprise. Good job Papa Hersh on the mula strategy.

Immediately from the bank we headed to Upper Campus, which was a long walk up the side of Table Mountain. This up hill walk brought us onto campus where we spent the next 5, yes 5, hours discussing administrative stuff, for example do not do drugs while in Cape Town (while they are probably laced and may kill you, it is also illegal, Duh). After discussing living guidelines, academics (UCT runs as a form of the British academic system, a lecture in silence and then a tutorial later in the week to discuss the week’s lectures), UCT campus life, a chit-chat with the local Cape Town PD (who told us if we absolutely got the itch to do drugs, stick to the reefer, it has the least likely chance of being laced with something that can kill us OR land us in prison, great), and lastly a presentation on volunteer opportunities (this woman presenter was a total downer, she basically suggested international volunteers had it all wrong and should be working with their neighbors, while I agree with this statement to a point, we (her audience) were all international students and now the Cape Town community was our neighbors). We had a muffin break at noon while we were all discussing class registration options, so by 3 we were starving. We hiked a little further up the mountain and had an excellent barbeque in an indoor-outdoor banquet hall. We had lamb, potatoes, and garlic bread, a traditional barbeque meal in South Africa.

After I had gotten back from the airport it was already 7. I was able to skype the good ol’ parents (and Clay) for the first time. It was great to physically see them, and I was able to give them a pseudo tour of my flat by taking my Mac around to each room. I decided to be lame tonight and stay in; I really wanted to finish up un-packing and head to bed early (and honestly, I wouldn’t mind another episode of Jericho to end my day). Tomorrow is going to be awesome! I have plans to climb Devil’s Peak, a 7 hour climb round trip on Table Mountain. I am guessing it won’t take the full 7 hours, but if it does I don’t mind. We have the first day off since arriving, I have my luggage, life is good.

Good night from Cape Town.