Finally an Update

Well I finally got my computer and internet figured out. For some reason it would not work in my house so I needed to go into the other house and use theirs.

So where do I start. First off, in Minneapolis we saw Rev Run from Run DMC. It was pretty cool. After that we hoped on our first flight. It was from MN to NYC. It wasn't that bad. Then when we got to NYC we had a 7 hour lay over. So, we all decided to just hang out and grab some food. We also played some cards and got to know each other better. Then we hopped on our 17 hour flight which was split up into two 8 hour flights with a 1 hour pit stop in Senagal. It was a long flight but has really been worth it. We arrived in Johannesburg early so we had plenty of time to get to where our flight was. We were all worried that an hour and a half would be enough time to get to the gate since we had to go through customs and check in. But we made it.

The first night we were got settled in, hung out and met the InterStudy hosts. They are an amazing group of people.

The second day we went to University of Cape Town for our orientation and got a tour of the campus on the way. It is such a big campus. There are a lower, middle and upper campus, they are named that way since the campus is on a hill. The buildings are so beautiful. Most of them have vines growing on them and they are like old English buildings. It is so hard to describe them but that is kind of going to be the way with a lot of things. As I mentioned before we went campus to get orientated with the area from the InterStudy people. This happened after the tour. The people at InterStudy are so much fun. The like to have a good time. After the orientation, we got a ride down the the Waterfront to grab a bite to eat and go shopping. The mall there was so crazy. There were a lot of expensive stores there. I kind of felt a little out of place. Everyone from InterStudy and the group ate and grabbed some drinks. It was a lot of fun just to sit down and get to know everyone a lot better. Everyone is so great. They are fun and full of energy. I can already tell this is going to be a great experience. After lunch we walked around the mall again and everyone said that there were girls from America's Top Model where there. I had no idea who they were. Me and Cole went up to them and asked if we could get a picture with them. They agreed. Afterwards we were waiting outside the store for others in the group and the models came up to us and invited us to one of their's birthday party. So they gave us their phone numbers and told them to call them. It was crazy. It is going to be very different going from this mall to the township next week. I honestly can not wait. After all this we went back home and hung out again. This was all on Tuesday, May 27, 2008.

On Wednesday, May 28, 2008. TJ, David and I went to the grocery store to make breakfast for everyone. We got up at about 6:30 am to get to the grocery store and found out they were not open but it was all good we found the local "friendly 7 eleven" to buy it all. We bought eggs, bacon, bread, fruit, milk and OJ. It was a lot of fun to cook for everyone. It was interesting seeing Cape Town in the early morning. There were a lot of people out on the streets setting up their vending stores in front of the Grocery Store. I was just still in shock that I am here. We got back and made everyone breakfast and got ready to go lecture. In lecture, we learned a lot about the history of South Africa and the apartheid. It was fun but it seemed like there was a lot of information to remember. It was really interesting afterwards when the lecturers from South Africa asked us questions about the US government and who we are going to vote for in this election. It was a great conversation and interesting to see what people from other countries thought about the US. Afterwards, we went to the District Six Musuem which is a museum for the people that got moved out of there housing due to the fact that they were colored and the white people wanted their land. It was really interesting seeing and hearing from some one that lived in this area at this time. It is such a sad and shocking story. After the tour through the musuem, we went to some shops downtown Cape Town and a marketplace where there are a lot of street vendors. It was interesting bartering with them and just walking around the area. After this we were on our way back to our shuttle and saw some sort of demonstration. A lot of police cars were there arresting people. It was crazy to see and experience because we were told to stay away from all that stuff and it was happening right in front of the place we were getting picked up. Once we got picked up, we got home and went to eat a place called Nando's. It is basically a KFC but with different sauces and stuff. It was pretty good. At night we went to a local bar and played some pool. It was a lot of fun going out and seeing what the local night life was like. Since it was just Wednesday, there was not a lot of people out but we still had fun getting to know each other more. It is so much fun getting to know everyone. Everyone is so much fun. Well I am going to cut this short for now but tomorrow I will blog more about the great trip we went on today.

I know I say interesting a lot in this blog and that will probably happen in other blogs but everything here is so amazing and this is a great experience. I am still in awe of the fact that I am in a country that I never thougth I would be in. It is going to be so great and I am so excited. I will be posting pictures later, hopefully.