howzit

hello hello.

It has been far too long since I updated this thing. I don't really have a good excuse, only that It's been a very hectic week and a half since I arrived in Cape Town and I haven't had very many chances to organize my thoughts..

So instead of making my brain hurt and trying to form coherent paragraphs I'm just gonna put up 10 random and possibly unrelated thoughts about what I've done so far and where I'm at..

1. Cape Town is COLD. It's been slightly warmer the past two or three days, but overall its been pretty chilly. I know everyone like, hey ellen, you go to school in boston, get over it, south africans don't believe in central heat. so my every building I go in to is always like 40 degrees...alas. Good thing I am a sweatshirt junkie.

2. I bought Harry Potter approximately 12 hours after my last post and finished it within a few days...I don't wanna say anything in case someone hasn't finished...but yeah...no one ruined it for me, thank god. I am sad that its over. If you wanna talk to me about it lets do it..And there is building on campus named Snape. I'm a loser.

3. high: Cape Town is gorgeous overall, but UCT wins for most beautiful campus that I have ever been too. It is literally in the mountains. Nothing I can say will do it justice, I just need to get around to putting up some pictures. low: the walk the campus is literally the million dollar stairs at BC times like 5. uphill all the way, and i can't wimp out and take the elevators.

4. There are times where I feel like I'm in Africa and times where I feel like I'm in San Francisco or some other city in the US...It's pretty strange to see such extremes of wealth and poverty exist so close to each other...I heard this a million times before I left but South Africa really is a 1st world and a 3rd world country at the same time. I'm sure I'll be writing more about this in the future but there's too much to say to tackle now so I'm putting it off...but overall this is for sure one of the most complex and unique places I've ever been too..

5. I have a new found appreciation for the ability to register for classes online...basically to register for classes at UCT you have to fill out forms and then run around like a crazy person getting signatures from the department heads, and then wait in a super long queue (haha i say queue now) . plus you never really know when your class meets or what time...but as stressful as it was my classes so far are amazing. If anyone cares I'm taking religion in africa, post-colonial and colonial encounters, thinking africa differently, and some 4th class yet to be determined...yay drop-add. and my professors are from what I can tell brilliant, definitely on par with BC.

6. Spring Break is in a month. I feel like I should be going on Appalachia or something..I've never had to actually think about what to do. Theres a trip to Botswana and Zambia that would be amazing but I'm not sure if its what I want... Aside from the fact that its expensive the people I meet are always challenging foreigners not to perceive Africa that way that its fed to us, as a place filled with primitive people and wild animals..So i kind of feel like I'm selling out or something by going on a safari..but how can I got south africa and not do all the touristy stuff? theres nothing wrong with a vacation...clearly I'm very confused about it... thoughts? alot of you guys think about this stuff, give me some wisdom...

7. I can't cook ANYTHING. its an issue. I'm trying though...Big step tonight I made chicken...hooray..

8. Don't worry I'm making friends. Whenever I talk to my mom I get the impression she thinks I'm not so in case anyone was concerned I'm not being a big emo kid loner : ) There are really excellent people studying abroad here from all over the world that are super, and south africans are pretty cool too.

9. Which reminds me: Today I was leaving one of the building on campus and I saw an add for a trip to the US through some random travel company. It had pretty standard pictures; shots of people in nyc and san francisco, skiing in vermont, etc. BUT, and I'm not kidding, the biggest picture was a girl in front of a freaking wal-mart. I almost threw up..in case any of you didn't know i really hate wal-mart. I tried to explain what a super wal-mart was to my friend Phomi whose from SA and she was kind of horrified...

10. Thank you so much to everyone who e-mailed me over the past few weeks. I'm sorry if I haven't written back to everyone, I promise that sooner or later I will. But they made me so happy to read and I am constantly reminded how great my friends are, so thanks to everyone who has written on my facebook wall/e-mailed/i'm'd/skyped/or called me. its appreciated more than you know.

um, ok, i need to do some homework. i hope everyone else is enjoying their school-free august, you'll be joining me on the dark side soon enough..bwuahaha.

i promise i will write more frequently from now on! I'm gonna put pictures up from Europe soon.

heart!
Ellen

cell phone

for anyone who cares:

i got my cell phone today. the number is 076 456 1097 and the country code is 27.

Today was cool except my debit card got eaten by an atm. so I don't really know what I'm supposed to do about that. alas.

night

Hi from Cape Town

Hey guys,

It's pretty late here but I just wanted to post saying I made it to my apartment safe and sound. I wish I could say the journey went smoothy but that would be a lie. Basically my driver and his van went missing at the cape town airport and I was stuck there by myself for a pretty good chunk of time...it was pretty sketchy not gonna lie...but ANYWAY, I'm on the internet now so obviously it all got sorted out. I'll write more when I actually do something in the city, so far its just been alot of unpacking and meeting my roommates, all of which seem pretty cool at this juncture.

anyway, a really quick summary of europe via one of my fave ice breakers, the classic high-low:

Highs:
- hanging out with Sara and hearing about Cameroon
- almost having a heart attack when my friend Lindsay who has been abroad in Berlin all semester surprised me in Paris.
- getting to push the button on the paris metro that opened the doors. I'm a loser.
- newlondon/newparis walking tours. basically they are free walking tours of the city designed for poor college students. check out their website and definitely hit them up if you're gonna be in the area, i developed pretty serious crushes on both of my tour guides.
- fireworks behind the eiffel tower on basitille day.
- discovering that there is a Cheers in London...bizarre.
- british accents
- seeing Prince Harry (or someone who looked ALOT like him) in Buckingham palace during the changing of the guards
- Abbey Road. go there if you are in London it is the coolest thing I did. There's a homemade monument of Beatles quotes and messages on the wall next to the street. SO awesome.
- the 5th Harry Potter movie. Ron kind of got cute. I cant wait for him and Hermione to get together...anyway...

Lows:
- There is no Bastille anymore. I guess it got torn down awhile ago. There is, however, a metro stop called Bastille. very confusing.
- the conversion rate of the pound to the doller. that sucked.
- having to carry all of your luggage for five months all over Heathrow airport by myself. If it were not for the kindness of random British people I would not have made my flight for sure...a big shoutout to that random British airways man who carried my bag up the escalator..i love you

OK I need to go to sleep. now. One last thing:

It is after midnight, which means that the latest and final Harry Potter book is on sale right now in South Africa. I can actually look out my window this very instant and see a store selling copies. HOWEVER, I am not supposed to leave after dark, which is definitelty a wise move. I dont know when I will be able to get a copy because most stores will sell out. SO IF ANYONE RUINS THE ENDING FOR ME I WILL KILL THEM. SERIOUSLY. PLEASE DO NOT TRY AND TALK TO ME ABOUT THE BOOK, I WILL FOR SURE CRY IF SOMEONE TELLS ME WHAT HAPPENED.

on that note, much love from cape town. ill write more soon

peace
ellen

oh..hey.

i figured i'd better post something today since i'm about to send out an e-mail telling people to read this, and i didn't want anyone to check and be dissapointed, you know?

anyways, heres some info for anyone who wants it:

I'm leaving tomorrow, July 10th- ahhhhh- my flights out of JFK is at 7pm and I'll be getting into London the next morning, and then immediately swimming to Paris to meet up with the one and only Sara Bedford. ( if anyone doesnt know her, facebook her because she is awesome.) That should be pretty exciting cuz she was abroad in Cameroon last semester and I haven't seen her in eons. wahoo!

So I'll be tooling around in Paris/London for a week, during which I am pretty pumped to see the new Harry Potter movie in London and be in France for Bastille Day. I'm flying out of London on the 18th and arriving in Cape Town in the early afternoon of the 19th after a short layover in Johannesburg.

After that I pretty much dont know what will be going on, except orientation start the 22nd and classes start the 31st...ew...i almost forgot i had to take classes. so...we'll see how that goes...

i promise this will be my most boring blog post, because no one really wants to know about my flight information, but i don't have much else to write about right now, plus if i think too hard about the fact that i'm going abroad tomorrow i might throw up.

on that note, ill talk to you kids later when i'm in a more interesting place than upstate ny.

peace out, and stay cool because it is really hot today
Ellen