UCT!

(btw I wrote this entry yesterday but had some problems with my internet so I had to wait to post it until today)

Hi everyone!
I want to start of by apologizing for my severe lack of pictures. I made an executive decision that Friday will be the day for me to upload pics since I don't have class at all (hoorah!) so I can go down to Rondebosch (the neighborhood over where the UCT campus is) and use the internet cafe. And I know I've been bad with never using my Facebook but I have received all of your wall posts and messages. Since FB eats up my megabytes like whoa I try to spend as little time as possible on there, usually only enough time to check to see if there are any new messages and then to quickly stalk some of you :-P. I have so many wallposts/messages to respond to that it would take me forever to do them all so I'll wait to do that on Friday in Rondebosch. I check my e-mail fairly regularly and the megabyte usage isn't quite as bad with that so if you'd rather shoot me an e-mail you're probably more likely to get response. I swear it's not because I don't like you its just that I like my megabytes better haha. :-P

Monday was the first day of lectures. So far I've had 3 out of my 4 classes and so far I'm loving it. Medical Anthropology sounds like it is going to be particularly fascinating and I really like the 3 professors who are going to be teaching. Yesterday was my first African dance class and OMG it was amazing. I am so sore today. We get to dance to a live drummer and everything. The teacher promised us that we would be in such amazing shape by the end of the semester and I totally believe him! I'm already struggling with Xhosa ... there are 3 different clicking sounds used in the language and they are difficult to master and unlike some of my classmates I am not proving to be a natural clicker. The classes are HUGE and are held in huge lecture halls. It was sort of overwhelming entering my Med Anth class for the first time, seeing a lecture hall full of about 150 students. Here they don’t have caps on class sizes, they just change the venue to accommodate the number of students who have chosen toenroll in the class.

The UCT campus is absolutely gorgeous and is always swarming with people. It is one of the most diverse universities in Africa and possibly the world ... there is probably an equal amount of white and black students in addition to a decent Indian population. I often see girls wearing headscarves too. Many of the black students are from all over Africa like Cameroon, Lesotho, Kenya, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. The diversity isn’t just visible but also audible. Nearly all of the Indian students speak with an Indian accent. There are a decent number of Afrikaans speakers around and a major Xhosa-speaking population. The South African English accent is beautiful and sounds very much like an Australian accent … I love listening to it. Some students speak their own local languages with one another. Whenever I am with my friend from Cameroon and his friends, they are constantly jumping from French, ‘Pigeon English’ and English. The majority of the black students here are multi-lingual, usually having the ability to speak at least 3 languages fluently. Many people I have met can speak up to 8 languages. It makes me feel super lame/stupid as an American who can hardly speak two.

It feels like a real college campus with so many people around. When standing on the Jammie steps (the steps you see in front of an impressive building fronted with pillars that you'll see in any Google Image search of then University of Cape Town) and facing away from the building you get an incredible view of Cape Town (the university sits on the base of Devil's Peak which is next to Table Mountain). It is especially beautiful in the early morning when I arrive on campus around 8:30 when you can see a layer of morning haze over the city. One of these days I'll have to take a picture of it.

My schedule is pretty awesome, I have to say. I'm getting spoiled here because this would never happen at 'Berg. All classes here are only 45 minutes long and usually meet 3 (or 4, depending) times a week for lectures and then once again in smaller groups for a tutorial (a 'tut' for short). Something about the scheduling here is that the entire university runs on a period schedule, just like high school. Classes meet during periods 1-8, with a meridian period from 1-2 during which all but few classes will never be scheduled. Period 1 is from 8-8:45, period 2 at 9-9:45, etc. For my 9am class, I usually leave my dorm between 8:15 to 8:30 in order to catch the Jammie (UCT shuttle system) from Liesbeek (my dorm building) to Upper Campus. The walk from Liesbeek to the Lower Campus Jammie stop is about 20 minutes. If I decide to walk all the way up to Upper campus where most classes are held it takes me a total of about 45 minutes so yeah, won’t be doing that, like, EVER. Haha. On the Jammie it is only about 7 minutes from Liesbeek to Upper campus. As of right now, I have zero class on Friday and 4, 5 or 6 hour gaps of time each afternoon with no class. The past 3 days I've come home in between (like today) to nap/grocery shop/blog but I imagine once things get rolling I'll stay on campus in the library and try to get my work done during the day.

In other news, today marks exactly 3 weeks in Cape Town and exactly 1 month until I turn 21! Weee!

There is residence hall here called Rochester. I flipped out the first time I saw the Jammie that said “Rochester” on the top. So even when I’m in Cape Town I’m never far from Rocha-cha :)

I love the exchange rate here. Ten rand is approx. 1 US dollar. Baller!! Meals on campus cost approx. R26 ($2.60) if you include a soda or something. I can do a major grocery run for about R300 ($30) and take a cab ride for R7 at the very most. OH and laundry is free here at Liesbeek. I am spoiled rotten here. Spoiled, I tell you!

Ok well I believe that is all for now. Sorry for the majorly long entry. So yeah, pictures on Friday! I miss you all very much.

Love,

Melissa