Week One of classes in S.A.

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Hi everyone!

Today signifies the end of the first week of classes! I can’t believe we are only starting now. It’s crazy to think that I’ve already been here almost a month and I’m still settling in! I decided to take Comparative Politics; State, Management, and Administration; and Theories, Politics, and Action (a gender studies course that will count for poli sci credit back home). The gender studies class is the hardest level, but it actually seems like it will be the easiest. We’ve spent this week discussing what feminism is - and most people don’t really seem to know. Can we say WST100? I was originally going to take some harder classes, but I then realized that I really didn’t want to spend all of my time doing homework, so I decided to stick with the easier ones. I’m really impressed with the political science department here. I’ve made a couple South African friends in my Comparative Politics classes (Dean, Colette, and Samantha) and they were attempting to explain the complexity of S.A. Politics to me - the whole thing is insane. There are so many different factors.

Anyway, it’s been a pretty chill week. We went out to Cybar last night (the local bar/club) and had a pretty crazy night, but other than that, I’ve been laying low and trying to get through the first week. I only have one class today, so it’s not too bad, but I did lose my phone last night, which sucks. I went to the gym on campus yesterday for the first time (I’ve needed to go - I’m eating terribly here) and it has no air conditioning. It was interesting… and incredibly sweaty.

Oh! My hike last weekend. I gave a guy a black eye. We went on a Valentine’s Day hike (I would have more to say, but after last night, I’m done with this guy - long story), but this guy is like a freaking mountain man. He was running up the mountain while I was huffing and puffing and wanting to die. It was actually really embarrassing, but we did Devil’s Peak, which is the hardest mountain to climb, so I guess that makes things a little better. Anyway, we got lost along the way (ran into a mountain goat) and ended up getting stuck at this huge gorge, while we could see the trail we wanted down below it. So, of course, instead of backtracking and trying to find it along another trail, we decided to just scale a couple mountains and climb down this thing. When we got to the very end though, we had to jump down a couple metres, which was fine for him as he’s pretty tall, but was a bit more difficult for me. Sooo, he caught me… and I elbowed him in the eye, giving him a black eye the next day. Pretty impressive… and it makes for a great story.

Anyway, that’s my news for this week! Nothing too exciting… just hanging out in Africa. You know... the usual.

Love and miss you guys!

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Comments

[Molly]

I like how not only have you stopped measuring things in yards already, you are even spelling meters "metres."