First week or so...

Hi everyone!

So I finally have a few minutes to update you on my life in South Africa! I arrived in Johannesburg on Jan 30th after a 18 hour flight from JFK. I basically slept the whole way (obviously) which made the flight pass by. When we landed, we immediately met our academic advisor, Shane, and our other two advisors, Namawethu and Tabisa. We arrived at our hostel where we spent the first five days getting acclimated to the area. We toured downtown Jo'burg, had our first few lessons in Xhosa, a native click language, tasted authentic African food (spicy but delicious), visited the constitutional court, drove by Nelson Mandela's house, went to the Apartheid Museum, and visited several famous monuments and churches.

We arrived in Cape Town on Wednesday. All I can say is BEAUTIFUL. The city wraps around the cape with gorgeous beaches and ports, and with Table Mountain in the backdrop. We've had a few more Xhosa classes, learning how to say "Hi, How are you?," "My name is.." etc. We're trying to learn as much conversational phrases as possible before we move in with our homestay families tomorrow. Today, we had a "drop-off"- our leaders dropped all of us off individually with a destination and assignment in mind. I went to The Castle, the oldest building in Cape Town, built by the Dutch when they colonized South Africa and walked through an exhibit of photographs of people suffering from industrial pollution in Durban. After that, I met up with my friend Karen for lunch, and enjoyed delicious salads and smoothies, which tasted amazing in the 80-ish degree weather (no complaints there). We found our way to The Gardens near the Parliament building to reconvene with the group and discuss our day. Tonight we are having a group dinner at Mama Africa on Long Street (the VERY lively street with a thousand restaurants and bars).

Basically, South Africa has been amazing, but SIT has been keeping us so busy it's been hard to sit down to take everything in. But, I've loved bonding with the group, but I'm excited to get settled in with my homestay family and immerse myself in the Xhosa culture. I'll keep you updated!

I will write more (and in more detail) later when I have more time to sit and process and regurgitate everything. Hope you are all doing well and talk to you soon!

Alyssa