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