Hello!

Well I figured it was about time to update everyone on my adventures here in South Africa! I apologize for keeping you all in the dark for so long, but this first week has been incredibly busy, exciting, and exhausting. I left Boston on the 12th for the most epic plane adventure of my life. While waiting in D.C. for our plane to South Africa, I met about 13 of the 30-something AIFS students who would be traveling with me. We left D.C. and flew for about 9 hours across the Atlantic and landed in Dakar, Senegal in order to refuel the plane. It was nice that the flight was broken up into two sections, except we were not allowed to leave the plane in Dakar, so we just sat there on the tarmac for about an hour. After that it was back in the air for another 8 hour flight to Johannesburg. We went through customs at Jo-burg and then got on our final plane to Cape Town (but at least it was only a two hour flight this time). I pretty much slept the majority of the way, and spent much time getting to know the other American students that I will be living and studying with for the next four months. We got to the Stellenbosch Univeristy campus at around 11 on Monday night, and were quickly divided up into rooms and houses. My roommate Kimmy and I live in the Academia complex where we have our own bedrooms and share a bathroom and kitchen area. The rooms are nice, but not as decorated as my room at SMC would normally be. The next few days were full of orientation sessions, meetings, tours, and plenty of walking. Compared to SMC this campus is HUGE. It is absolutely beautiful here, and the mountains are stunning. I guess I forgot what 40 - 50 degree temperatures were like, because it is so cold here. South Africa is in the middle of its winter season where the average daily temperature is about 60 degrees and at night around 40. There is also no central heating in any building, so that makes our rooms quite chilly at night. Yesterday we went on a tour of Cape Town and had our first chance to see the landscape in the daylight, seeing as we landed after dark. Table Mountain is daunting but we have already decided to hike it (if possible?) at some point in our trip. We were guided around the historical parts of the city and then got to experience a panoramic view of the area from the top of Signal Hill. We luckily had a beautiful day (it was about 70 degrees, sunny, and very clear) and could see everything from Table Mountain, the entire view of the city, the harbor, Robben Island, and of course, the gorgeous new world cup stadium, Green Point. The world cup is advertised everywhere down here, and there are so many plans in place for the event that starts June 11th 2010. The South Africans are very proud that their country will host the game, and that pride is reflected in their eco-friendly, glass roofed venue that can accomodate over 60,000 people. While on the tour we learned about Robben Island and imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. Speaking of him, yesterday was his 91st birthday and the South Africans most certainly celebrated. There were parties all over Stellenbosch and Cape Town, and many people dressed up for the occasion.

Our days consist mostly of walking, eating, and orienting ourselves with both the campus and the town of Stellenbosch. The school has about 20,000 students (all of whom returned to school this weekend for the start of classes on Monday) and until now campus has been relatively quiet because the main students were on holiday. For orientation we were with all 250 international students, from the undergrade to the post grade level. We had talks on safety and security, classes, culture shock, AIDS, accomodations, and everything else there was to talk about. At night we have been exploring the local bars and restaurants with the other international students and taking the time to get to know some of the South African people who are in the area, especially the students. Everyone has been quite friendly and kind, but I'm sure not everyone is going to react the same way. It is fun to meet so many people from so many different places, but it is very exhausting as well. This morning was the first morning where I had the chance to sleep in past 8 am, and both my roommate and I took full advantage of it. I think this is all I have for now, I have rambled quite enough through this post. I will write again after my first week of classes (ahhh!) and hopefully I can share more stories with you from South Africa! I will leave you all with a short list of things I have learned so far...

1. Smoking is allowed in bars and restaurants...and everyone seems to take advantage of this. All of us who do not smoke are developing smokers coughs, and I'm not a fan of my clothes and hair smelling of nicotine. This could defintely take some getting used to!
2. They do not have regular tomato ketchup in South Africa. They are a variety of other condiments for food, but I'm going to miss my Heinz!
3. The U.S. dollar to Rand ratio is incredible...and everything costs less here. It's been weird to have to convert the money in my head to see how much I have spent by American standards, and to find out that there are much better deals here. (This also goes along with my new ability to understand 24 hour time and know that 17:30 is really 5:30pm)
4. Everyone knows you are American. For some, the Northface jacket is a dead giveaway, or maybe it's the decibal of our speech or the fact that we wore sneakers to the bar, but before we can introduce ourselves people often say "ahh you must be from the states". So far we have had pretty positive reactions at least from the other international students (many from Holland, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, and Denmark). Some of my friends and I decided that we need to go shopping and learn to dress less American.
5. Nearly everything is closed on Sundays...which is how I ended up here writing this entry instead of grocery shopping...
6. I have so much to say about South Africa already and I have only been here a week. I am really looking forward to the next 19 weeks, and I know that I have so much to learn!

Totsiens,
Megan