This past week marked the start of my UCT academics. After scoping out the courses, I eventually decided on taking Conflict in World Politics, Democratic Theory and Practice, and Advanced South African Politics. Apparently these classes are popular with international students as about half of my peers are foreigners. So far I'm really enjoying the classes and the material. It's refreshing to learn from a different perspective, and without the U.S. being the primary example or point of comparison (although the U.S. does come up quite often). Aside from final exams being worth 50% of my grade, the lectures themselves aren't too different than they are back home.
One of my best decisions this far was getting involved with the UCT Ultimate Frisbee team. I've been warmly welcomed in, and get to practice and play with some great players a minimum of three times each week. (Shout out to Discoordination, my beloved summer league team, who I'll be tossing the disc with in a few months) Here's a link to their homepage.
http://uctultimate.weebly.com/ The video on that page is pretty cool. It shows the a bunch of the people I'm playing with, the gorgeous cape town area, and the basics of the game (for those who aren't familiar).
On Saturday morning, I, along with my roommates Devin and Steve, accompanied the UCT Mountain and Ski club on the Freshers' Hike. More info on the hike if you're interested:
https://www.facebook.com/events/191155560984513/ At 8 a.m. we loaded into a car, and took off for the Ceres Mountains. We began our hike in the scorching midday sun. About 1/5 of the way up, we were able to stop for lunch and a jump in the dam.
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| The dam |
The next 4/5 of the hike was a sweaty 3 hour climb into the mountains. Along the way I had the opportunity to meet other hikers, mostly through voicing our mutual complaints. After a long day in the direct sun, we made it to our destination, our oasis in the middle of nowhere. There we had cool fresh water running from the mountain to drink and swim in. After a drink, and a short break, I decided to climb some of the nearby rocky hills and had an opportunity to relax, reflect, and take some sweet videos (The picture below is a snapshot from one of those videos.) Later that night, I sat with Devin, Steve, and some other students we met along the way. For a few hours, we shared views of one another's cultures and attempted to provide insight into our respective societies. Being exhausted, I turned in around midnight, to sleep under the starriest sky I have every seen.
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| Our final destination, an hour before sunset. |
That brings us to today. Today, we set out around 8, avoiding the worst of the heat. Our trip down was no problem compared to the climb up, and took half the time. After getting home for a shower and a quick nap, I and my roommates Clark, Riam, Minna, and Florian made it to the highly recommended Mzoli's for some authentic Cape Town cuisine. We ate like kings. I had two steaks, some pap (sort of like grits), and some chakalaka (kind of like pico-de-gallo), for less than $10 USD. After getting over my skepticism of this meal being considered finger-food, I quickly decided that I'd found my new favorite Cape Town eatery.
That concludes the past weeks notable events. I'll be attempting to post every Sunday, but as I fall into routine and there is less to share, that may turn into every other Sunday. Like I said before, if you've got any questions or comments, email me, Facebook message me, or comment below. Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
-Andrew
Boyo, it sounds like you're living la vida buena. The course load sounds daunting and heavy but I'm sure that you'll enjoy it which, of course, will make it much easier to stay focused and prepared for your exams (50%? Yikes!).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that you're going to try to post weekly but I understand if you aren't able to. We're just glad to hear from you periodically. Have you had an opportunity or desire to travel outside of the immediate area?
Governor Walker has not stopped in his assault on the middle class, minority and women. This week the GOP passed a bill on to our Governor to sign that would remove punitive damages for businesses that have violated the equal opportunities law. In other words, women can be paid less than men and businesses, if found guilty of doing this, wouldn't have to provide anything more than back pay. The only positive to this is that every time Walker signs a bill or opens his mouth he seems to disenfranchise another group of people. Also, the John Doe case (or Walkergate, as it's being called now) is continuing. My only hope is that he's sentenced to prison right after being recalled. It looks like the election is most likely going to happen in the first week of June.
Anyway, enough of that.
Stay healthy, focused on studies and enjoy! We're thinking of you. Dave was over for dinner last night (I made crab cakes) and we spoke about you some.
Love,
Dad