Cape Town, South Africa: Feeling like a freshman

My first week of classes went by so fast! I really like them all actually. I'm taking History of Southern Africa in the 20th Century, Psychology of Religion, Social Psychology, and African Dance. They're all pretty interesting and each teacher is awesome in their own way. I thought my African Dance class would be my easy class, but boy was I wrong. The past two classes we've learned a ridiculous amount of steps and in my last class he told us we haven't even danced yet--uh oh. We also have theory for an hour on Thursdays so needless to say, its harder than I expected, but still really cool.

My first day of school was so intimidating, but now I feel like I know the campus and people a lot better. While standing in line waiting for the jammie (the bus that takes us up to upper campus) on my first day I couldn't have felt like more of a loser. I stuck out like a sore thumb among all the cool local South Africans, or at least I thought I did. Come to think of it maybe it was just the guy commenting on "all the Americans" that made me feel so awkward...Either way I felt like I did freshman year and it wasn't a great feeling. After that day though I became so much more comfortable and started seeing familiar faces on campus. I also realized how nice everyone is once you get to know them! Its so cool walking around between classes and realizing how unique everyone is who goes to this school. Everyone comes from such different backgrounds and it is a mix of so many different cultures. I feel like I can learn a lot from the people here.

Since my last post I have hiked (more like scaled...) Lion's Head, gone to the aquarium, shopped at Green Market Square, took a weekend trip to Stellenbosch, went to a rugby game, and visited Robben Island. Lion's Head was the most beautiful view I have ever seen. We had a 360 degree view of downtown Cape Town, Camps Bay, and many more gorgeous locations by the ocean. My friends and I are definitely going to return at sunset to enjoy some wine and cheese at the top :) The aquarium was a lot of fun, but similar to most other aquariums. They had a pretty cool shark tank and a penguin feeding! Green Market Square is an outside flea market in downtown that has amazing knick-knacks, jewelry, tapestries, paintings, bowls and spoons, etc. at pretty good prices! Of course I had to leave with a couple souvenir necklaces. Stellenbosch was a lot of fun as well! Unfortunately we were only there for a night, but staying in a hostel was still a great experience and in two weeks CIEE is taking us back there for some wine tasting. The rugby game was a lot of fun, but to be honest I had no idea what was going on. We won though! Robben Island was obviously so moving and so cool to see. The tour from the former political prisoner was my favorite part. He was so candid and open about his experiences in the prison, which was hard to hear but at the same time very eye-opening.