I am officially well into my second week of classes and so
far, so good! I’m really happy
with the classes I’m taking (although the timing of them is horrible). I’m taking 4 classes through UCT and one class through CIEE.
Through UCT I’m taking South African History to 1900,
Introduction to Geology, Introduction to Marketing, and African Dance. Out of these four courses, three will
transfer over as graduation requirements, which is very beneficial
seeing as how I have little wiggle room if I want to graduate on time! I'm also taking a class through CIEE that focuses on issues in South Africa and helps us get to understand the country better - this is right up my alley.
I have Geology Monday through Friday at 9am. Not gonna lie, it’s a little
rough. I’m not a fan of science…
at all… so I figured it would be good for me to take my last science
requirement here so I don’t need to be bothered with any more science senior
year. Although the timing of the
class is not ideal, I’m trying reeeeaaaaaaaaally
hard to stay optimistic about it.
Perks – this class has a few field trips to cool areas in the Western
Cape. It’s also a fresher course
so everyone in the class is really friendly because they all just started
here. I’m a fan of the fact
that I won’t need to take anymore GW science courses. Downfalls – timing of the class. 9am Monday through Friday is just unkind. Also, the class is overbooked and at UCT when a class hits maximum occupancy, they don’t stop
more students from signing up. So that means if you get there about 2 minutes
before class starts (yes I just said before, not after), there’s a 95% chance you’ll be sitting on the floor. It’s happened to me twice, but I’m starting to just embrace it. The floor isn't so bad! And yes - students get to class early - what a novel idea! I normally consider 2 minutes before class starts to be early enough so this transition into getting to class 10 minutes before it starts isn't going very smoothly for my morning class.
I actually got really lucky with my Marketing class though. I was almost
certain I wouldn’t get signed into it because it’s an upper level class that
requires prerequisites that I haven’t taken yet. Of the two prerequisites, one was also Microeconomics, which
was basically the hardest class I’ve ever taken at GW (and it showed in my
grades). Chances of me getting in
were low. Somehow, the professor
signed me in with little to no hesitation and
GW said they’d accept it for one of my minor requirements! Woohooo!! Only 4 more business courses til I’m done with the minor! The classes are really interesting so
far. It’s a little tricky because
many of the brands we talk about are South African and I have no idea what they
are. I guess this is a different
immersion that I didn’t think I would have. If I had better internet I’d actually read a South African newspaper (if you know me well you probably know that I'm horribly about keeping up with the news), but seeing as how that’s not
really an option, I guess I’ll just have to be really observant and pay
attention to what’s going on around me to keep on top of the class.
We have a tutorial for this class (which is basically like a
discussion section) once a week and I am the only undergraduate student.
Also the only American. I
am definitely intimidated by this.
But I figured since I am the odd one out, I might as well take advantage
of this and add a different perspective to class discussions. I’ve been trying to participate as much
as possible, mostly because it’s out of my comfort zone and I figure it’s good
for me. We also have a group project for this class so it should be an interesting
course overall.
The next class I’m taking is African Dance. Lucky again, this class will
transfer over to my Dance Minor (score).
To put it lightly, I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS CLASS. It is actually awesome. We have live drummers who come to class
every day, which is neat because out of all the years I’ve danced I can maybe
count the number of times I’ve danced to live music on my two hands (and that
was a pianist for ballet so it’s not super exciting music seeing as how they
all play basically the same songs).
African dance is very rhythmic – it has many similarities to tap
dancing! There is a lot of
stomping, twisting of the upper body, and bent knees. It’s good for me to practice being “grounded” when I dance
because in most of the training I’ve had in the past, everything is always very
elevated and lengthened. I’m really enjoying the character of pretending to be a Zulu warrior hahahahaha (try to imagine me being a Zulu warrior and you will laugh at me too). I feel super intense (although I’m
pretty sure I just look like a small white girl trying to be intimidating which
just makes me look stupid, but at least I feel cool?). Our teacher mentioned that we might be
able to participate in certain dance festivals in Cape Town or potentially do a
flash mob (where you go to a public place and spontaneously start dancing in a
big group). I hope we can do these
things! This class also has an
academic component where we’ll learn all about the history of African
dance. I’m really looking forward
to this, as well! I’ve been lucky
enough to take some sort of dance history course for dance styles I’ve taken
before and it’s a really interesting way to experience dance.
The other course I'm taking here is South African History to 1900. At first I was a little bit bummed because I wanted to take more modern SA history. After the class started though, I realized this is even better! I'll be able to learn so much more from this class and apply it to what I already know about modern SA history. The lecturer is incredibly dry. He's really old school and uses an overhead projector and just talks at you from his brown, really old notebook (it actually looks like he's had this notebook for 60 years). Luckily for me, I'm a huge history nerd so I somehow still find this class to be really fascinating. I look forward to doing my readings for homework and I'm exciting for our discussion section. We're currently discussion the Khoikhoi (who were the first people in South Africa) and their role with the European settlers.
Overall, I'm really excited about my classes. Yes, I am very guilty of nerd-ism.
In other news, this weekend I’ll be participating in a
homestay in the Ocean View Township that we visited here during our UCT
orientation. If you follow my blog
regularly, this is where I heard the youth trumpet band that I loved so much. The homestay goes from Friday to Sunday.
I’m not sure what to expect – I also don’t want to have any
expectations. We briefly discussed
some of the challenges this community faces today – alcohol abuse, teenage
pregnancy, high school dropout, drugs (challenges that many cities face at home, as well) – so it will be interesting to see to what
extent these things affect the community.
I’m excited to meet my homestay family. Our CIEE coordinators said the family could be a married
couple with children or a single mom.
It ranges. I am interested
to learn about the family and their culture and history while I’m there. Ocean View (as I’ve said before)
resulted from a coloured community in Simon’s Town being forcibly removed back
in the 60s (if I remember the date correctly).
This is the township/community that formed as a result. Many of the families here are
Christian, but a handful of them are also Muslim. No matter which type of family I get, it’ll be interesting
and I’m sure it’ll be challenging to be out of my comfort zone and live in a
way I normally don’t. I think it’d
be great to stay with a Christian family (mostly because I’d really want to go
to church with them on Sunday!), but I also know I’d learn a lot from staying
with a Muslim family. Regardless,
expect a blog post early next week about my homestay experience!
Along with classes starting, tomorrow is the first day of my
volunteering with SHAWCO! I’ve
signed up to go into the Khayelitsha township every Thursday from 2-5 so I can
tutor 13-15 year olds in English and Life Skills. My class schedule is all over the place (most days I have
class from 9-4:45 and others I have class from 9-7pm or even 8) so I can only
fit it in once a week. If only I could have crammed all my classes into four days! I’m a
little bummed about this because I really wanted to get involved with tutoring
while I’m here. I feel so
passionate about education and I really wanted to be able to make a connection
with the kids I’ll be tutoring. I
was hoping I could at least go twice
a week, but I guess I am here to go
to school myself and there’s not much I can do about class conflicts. I’m hoping that I’ll still be able to
get a similar experience even if I’m going once a week. I’m looking forward to my first day
though. Again, I’m not really sure
what to expect so I’m a little nervous!
There’s been a lot of commotion going on here regarding a
gang rape that occurred last week in South Africa. A young girl was gang raped and killed, one of the men was her ex-boyfriend. South Africa has the highest incidences of rapes in the world, which would lead me to think that an incident like this would not create such a huge scene. In fact, it's actually sparked a huge outrage from people across the country. It's almost like a massive wake up call to everyone. Suddenly there's a new focus on this culture of sexual violence and it's fascinating to be experiencing this from an outsider (semi-uninformed) perspective.
Today there was a huge rally/protest at UCT and classes were
cancelled so all students could participate. (Unfortunately, I had a meeting for my homestay so I couldn't go). Tons of people on campus have been wearing black and white t-shirts saying "We Say Enough" and there has been a decent amount of discussion regarding the incident. It'll be interesting to see how this evolves. Is it just a short buzz or could this actually be the start to changing the expectations regarding sexual violence in this country? I'm really interested in learning more about this because not only do I think it is a serious problem, but I also feel like there is a lot about rape in South Africa that I don't understand. For example, I was talking with a white local about it last week and he was saying that a lot of rapes occur for "religious" reasons. In certain uneducated communities, "witch doctors" will basically tell men that the way to heal their sicknesses is to have sex with a virgin. I had never realized there were reasons other than pure violence that caused the rape incidence to be so high here (that might just be me being naive), but according to my friend, a good majority of rapes occur for reasons such as these.
On a lighter note, I have a new found love for muesli. I actually am obsessed with it. Their muesli is so good here! My new favorite breakfast is combining muesli, plain yogurt, fruit (usually green grapes or pears), and oatmeal. It's like heaven in a bowl. I had two servings of my magical muesli creation for dessert yesterday even though I had it for breakfast earlier. I know, I'm weird. But it's so good! On the less healthy side, I also have a new appreciation for beer? Well, not beer all beer, just one brand. I've found that I really enjoy Black Label, the most popular beer in South Africa. Who would've guessed that one day I'd actually enjoy a beer? Not me.
Well, I’m signing off for today. I still have so much more to blog about so I’ll try to write
again soon! I've decided to compile all the lists of recommended places, things to do, etc. that my friends and I have been given into one GIANT colorful list. So far I have 155 things to do/places to go before the end of the semester - there's so much to do here! I’ve picked up a
few sweet “South African” words to add to my repertoire and have successfully
made a few local SA friends too (hoping to make many many more)! I've been doing a lot of exploring (taking the train to the beach, going to Camps Bay - the "upper east side" of Cape Town, hiking up Lion's Head, and getting to experience the night life on Long Street), so I'll post again soon!
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