Orientation was long but not as bad as I thought that it would be. The first day we talked about things like culture shock and safety. We then had a special drum performance where they taught the 500 study abroad students at UCT how to play the drums. It was a very fun way to start off orientation. There is a video of it on the UCT website. (I am actually in the video for a little). We also had to take a standardized test for some reason. It took 3 hours long and it was very pointless.
The next few days of orientation were all about picking classes. It was a pretty tedious and long process because they don’t use a computer system—it is the old fashioned way where we physically have to go to each professor and get pre-approved for a class. A lot of the lines to get approved for class and make our official schedule were very long and frustrating. I am as of now signed up for a 6 credit political science class called Policy and Administration, a 4 credit political science class called Introduction to Political economy, and a 3 credit African Dance class. The political science classes transfer perfectly back to Wisconsin so I will be pretty much done my major. I am also really excited to finally learn African dance and a few girls who live in my house are taking it with me.
The people who have been helping us getting adjusted and with Orientation are called OLs (Orientation leaders). These are students that go to UCT who are about our age and who are soooo nice. It is a great way to meet students from South Africa. They are also very diverse when it comes to ethnicity and race, which shows a promise when it comes to the future of the country.
We are very lucky because we now have this next week with no classes and a lott of free time. We have spent most of our days catching up on sleep, taking the train to beautiful beaches, and exploring some of the areas of Cape Town. Today (Jan 31st) we went to a part of Cape Town called Claremont, which has a great shopping center/mall. The shopping was very similar to the US and it was nice to be in an area that was similar to home. At night we have been hanging out with the people in my house and checking out the areas on our street. There are a lot of cool hang out places and bars, which has been very fun.
Last night a group of students who live in a house nearby had a "braai" aka a South African. It was delicious and was outside in the beautiful weather. Some of the OLs were there to show us what an authentic braai was really like. We want to host one at our house soon!
One thing that I have noticed about Cape Town is how laid back everyone and everything is (the perfect place for my mom). Going out for a meal or even “fast food” is at least an hour long process. It is nice to have a real dining experience for every meal. If someone says “now”, it really means in an hour. It is taking some adjusting but it is a very nice change of pace. Everyone is relaxed and not rushed like in the US.
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