1st Few Days & Move-in

The big journey began on Wednesday, July 14, when I arrived at JFK airport after spending the night in my less than satisfactory Days Inn king-bed matchbox. In the airport, I met several girls on my same exchange program. We bonded almost instantly and stepped excitedly through the gate to our flight with South African Air. I arrived Thursday, in a pseudo-hyper-state induced by sleep deprivation from the 18-hour plane ride and a 6 movie in-flight entertainment marathon. Customs in Johannesburg was virtually non-existent with nothing to declare, and I breezed through the airport to the connecting gate. The International Academic Programs Office (IAPO, pronounced i-ah-po), arranged for us to be picked up at the airport and taken to campus. We were given a brief "orientation" and shown to our temporary two-day dorms. Those of us not on a special program were basically given a key and told to be ready to move in to our apartments on Saturday. Arriving with my new-found American friends, we clumped together and attempted to explore our surroundings.

We spent Thursday and Friday exploring the communities near campus, feasting on cheap, delicious local foods, and figuring out the "cell phone and Internet thing" (this being our primary concern as products of the 21st century American culture). Most of our time was spent in the area called Rondebosch (for those of you familiar with Greensboro, think Tate St.). On Friday we ventured a little further south toward Mowbray (this has a Lee St. vibe). In Mowbray, I learned that vegetarian food does not always mean vegetarian. In Andy's, a restaurant that advertises itself as a home-cooking venue, I ordered what looked like a delicious bowl of bean curry with rice and a side of chips (fried plantains). To my surprise, there was a huge lamb bone nestled below the beany surface. I remedied the mix up by sharing my bean curry family style and mixing butter and salt into my rice - yumm carb-tastic. This lesson taught me to be more specific in asking about "vegetarian" dishes.

Saturday, I moved into my home away from home for the semester. It is a beautiful pink and white-accented English 1900s colonial home, complete with a rose garden and back courtyard. All homes in South Africa utilize a system of bars and gates to deter crime. The house is owned by a perky woman in her late 50s named Janice. Janice has recently started taking professional coaching courses at a local college, and she employed her newly learned "team management skills" in administering our paperwork and leases. I couldn't help but smile at her chirpy style. My house accommodates five students in all. It is co-ed and I am set to have a German-speaking "family" as everyone comes from either Germany or Austria. We are soon to be 3 boys and 2 girls - the third boy moved in Wed and the other girl is coming this week. I have a large room with a once-working marble fireplace, curio, double-bed, desk, armchair and bookshelf. The room is stylish and well decorated (though I quickly tacked up my own photographs from home). Our kitchen is rather large and I share a bathroom with the house.

I had a hard time adjusting in the beginning to my new house. Just like in my previous study abroad, my culture shock period came within the first few days. Luckily, our house has wifi and I could Skype home as much as I wanted. This connection with home and meeting more people over the course of the week at orientation helped ease me into my new surroundings. I think I am ready to fall in love with a new place on this beautiful earth!

Table Mountain - the mountain around which Cape Town is situated.