May 23 – Braai With Jay

In the morning, a few of us went to Neighborgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill. I had been only once before and it was a treat to go back. I had a delicious savory crepe. We walked around all the shops there as well, and we decided we all needed to come back again with more money!

Jay came over this evening to braai for us, which was really nice of him. It was a fun night sitting around the braai, and he taught us how to make pop! Pop is a very traditional South African food. It is essentially corn meal that you heat up and add water to, and you can make it to various consistencies depending on the occasion. We added a bit too much water to ours, so it was more of a breakfast porridge than a dinner main. But it was still fun to make and eat.

 

May 22 – Finishing Research Paper

I turned in my research project paper!! I am glad to have that over with! The paper is worth 90% of our grade for the project, which is a bit nerve wracking, but it is over now!

This evening a few of us walked to Observatory. The restaurant we went to was located on the second floor and their balcony had a great view. It was nice to celebrate being done with our projects.

May 20 – Exam Day

I had a third exam for my surveying class. It went well, but I am glad to have it over.

May 18 – Eating Korean Food for the First Time

I went to Long Street for Korean food with Maddie, Chihiro, Olivio O, and Olivia Z and her friends. I never had Korean food before, and it was fun cooking the meat right at the table.

May 17 – Research Paper & Memorial Service

I spent all day editing my research paper! I also went to a cafe in Observatory to escape load shedding and get wifi.

We held a little memorial service at the house for Sophie’s grandmother who passed away on Friday, my grandmother-in-law who passed away on Tuesday and for my grandma who passed away in February. I did not realize how much I needed something like that. Everyone dressed nicely, I said a few words, and Sophie sang. I feel very lucky to have such supportive housemates who are like a family.

May 16 – More Hiking

We went on a quick hike in the morning with Skyler and Cindy through Newlands to Kirstenbosch along the contour trail. It was nice to get out a bit and take a break from working on my research project paper.

In the evening, Carr took the tri-co students (Swarthmore kids and Maddie from Bryn Mawr) out to dinner. We went to a thai restaurant called Kitima at the Kronendal in Hout Bay. I had dim-sum appetizers, curry with ostrich, and shared some desserts with Mercer and Sophie. Carr asked us questions about the program and we shared our experiences.

May 15 – Winter Choir Concert

We went to UCT’s winter choir concert to hear Sophie sing. The music was beautiful and a mixture of gospel, African and contemporary. A guest college from the United States also performed, and they tried their hand at singing some local music as well. Carr came with us too.

May 14 – Peer Review Session

Today we had a peer review session of our results section of our papers. In the evening, we had our end of the program dinner. It was great to be treated to such a nice meal and to all be together, but it is also very sad that this semester is coming so close to an end already.

May 13 – Project Presentations Day

Today was project presentations day. It was a stressful ten minutes to prepare for, which involved presenting our results from the semester-long research project, but I hope mine went ok.

Afterwards a few of us went to the Creamery in Newlands to celebrate with some homemade ice cream.

May 12 – A Visit From Professor Carr Everbach

Professor Carr Everbach arrived in Cape Town! He is an engineering professor from Swarthmore who heads this study abroad program. He came to gather input from us, see our project presentations, and scope out improvements for next year. It was very nice to have him with us for a few days.

May 10 – Cederberg Day Three

 

We had a big breakfast of eggs, bacon and mushrooms. I had not had bacon since being in the states. Then we went to some really cool rock art caves. The first was a really awesome large cave called Stadsaal. It was a meeting place for Dutch farmers, so the walls have Afrikaans names written on them. 

The next one we stopped at had rock art from before European settlers arrived of elephants and some humans. The quality of the art, was remarkable and still very vivid. There was also a large black pile of dassie poop that dated back 40,000 years; dassies tend to poop in the same spot. Researchers use the pollen layers in the poop piles to determine climate and vegetation from long ago.

May 9 – Cederberg Day Two

We went on a long hike that was awesome. The rocks were so cool. We had lunch at this amazing rock structure that managed to not get eroded away. It stuck up like a huge pillar with a large top. One of the girls in our group felt a bit ill and another got blisters, so the last stretch was a bit slow but we all made it ok.

This is a leopard region, but we did not see any (extremely rare to see leopards). We did see a Klipspringer, which is a small antelope that has amazing hops. We saw lots of lizards as well.

That night we had another great braai and more stargazing. Evan, Skyler, Daniel and I had a huddle circle to stay warm while we stargazed. Fun times!

May 8 – Cederberg Day One

This weekend our program took us on a trip to the Cederberg mountains, a stunning area with amazing rock formations. On Friday morning, Olivia and I helped Anna and Dean with food shopping, as we were staying at chalets and cooking for ourselves the whole weekend.

When we got there that night, we had a fantastic braai and s’mores. My chalet was right by a pond, and the chalet we did all the cooking at was next to a river.

The stargazing was amazing and we got to watch the moon rise both nights, but the moon unfortunately makes the stars less bright. We sang for a while too. I love how comfortable we all are with each other and that we can just burst into song whenever the mood feels right.

May 7- First Thursday

This evening we went into town with Olivia for First Thursday’s - the first Thursday of every month in Cape Town a bunch of art galleries are open for free. Lots of people were milling around, enjoying the art and eating at restaurants.

We stopped at Honest Chocolate for a dessert bunny chow, banana bread muffin filled with vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate, and nuts. It was hands down delicious. One of the galleries supports craft work of local women, and I bought some beaded necklaces to give to a friend.

May 5 – Field Trip

My water resource management class went on a field trip today. We visited the Berg River Dam and Langrung informal settlement (ironically both of which Peter took our program to see) and then to the Franschhoek Waste Water Treatment plant that is being converted into a SuDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage System) Center. 

We have an assignment related to the SuDS Center to come up with ideas for how they can make this into an integrative storm water management facility that somehow incorporates people, such as the local informal settlement and all the wineries, along with looking at water quality data and doing some QGIS.

May 4 – Exams and Taebo Class

I had an exam for my surveying class today and felt pretty good about it. In addition, I had a peer review session for our Literature Review sections of our research papers. I also tried Taebo class at the UCT gym with Mercer and Sophie. It was a good, fun workout!

May 3 – Attending Concert

Olivia made me a delicious chocolate cake for my birthday! With chocolate frosting and sprinkles!

I also went to see the South African DJ group Goldfish perform at Shimmy Beach Club! We saw them at this same venue in January and were really excited they were coming back. It was another awesome time! Shimmy Beach Club is right on the water, and you are standing in sand. So much fun!

May 2 – Hiking Up Devils Peak Again

I hiked up Devils Peak today with a group of housemates. It was my third time hiking it! It was sprinkling part of the day, and at the top it was cloudy so the view was obscured, but we did see a really pretty rainbow.

May 1- Celebrating Another Birthday

We celebrated Maddie’s birthday today (even though it was in February we finally got around to celebrating it) by getting high tea at the Vineyard Hotel. High tea is essentially an afternoon thing where you get lots of dainty food and tea. It was quite scrumptious. The gardens were gorgeous, and there was even a huge tortoise chilling.

April 30 – Birthday Celebration

I had my birthday dinner with all my housemates at a sushi place off of Kloof Street called Takumi. It was a very cute restaurant with nice seating outside. I split the sushi boat special with Daniel, it was so yummy. There was so much raw fish, which made me very happy.

I split black sesame and wasabi ice cream with Olivia, and both flavors were fantastic. Before dinner, Sophie, Sydney, Savanna and I went to Yours Truly off of Kloof Street. After dinner the night got a bit hectic, a few of us went to Long Street, then we met back up with more people at the house and tried to go to Tyger Tyger in Claremont, but Thursday nights are big in Claremont and we did not realize how crazy packed it would be. We did not even make it in because there were so many people. It was not the end of the world because we had been to Tyger Tyger before. Overall we still had a good night.

April 29 – 21st Birthday!

My 21st birthday! I can’t believe I have already hit this milestone in life and I don’t want to grow up. But turning 21 does have its perks, except they matter more in America. Today itself was not so eventful, as I did homework most of the day. I am celebrating tomorrow night, because originally I was supposed to have a test the next day but it has been postponed until Monday.

April 28 – Bouldering on Table Mountain

I went bouldering on Table Mountain at night again! It was spectacular making it to the top of a rock and seeing the city view at night.

April 27 – Visiting Robben Island

Freedom day so no school! Appropriately, we did a very touristy thing and went to Robben Island where there was a large prison that Nelson Mandela served 18 years at. The tour included a ferry ride, a bus tour of the island, and a tour of part of the prison, including Nelson Mandela’s cell. Visiting Robben Island honestly was not that exciting, but a good historical thing to do. The ferry boat ride was the best part, especially because we saw a bunch of dolphins!

April 25- Rock Climbing in Kleinmond!

We went rock climbing in Kleinmond! It is about an hour and a half drive away from Cape Town, down the N2 a little bit and then on a highway along the coast that has good whale spotting (but whale spotting season is June-November). The drive was gorgeous, especially the final destination, and just a 20-minute hike up to the crags. 

Five of us went on the trip, and it was the perfect number of people to have. There were other people climbing and it was a cool atmosphere. I did five decent routes, including a South African grade 19 which is an American 5-10b, the toughest I have ever done!

The wind started pumping pretty hard later in the day, but that didn’t stop us! The views of the valley, mountains and ocean were incredible. The sunset on the drive home was stunning as well.

April 24 – Skyler’s 21st Birthday!

We celebrated Skyler’s 21st birthday by doing a sunset hike to the block house which is part way up Devils Peak. We also surprised him with some homemade cupcakes and party hats. I think he enjoyed it and was thoroughly surprised. When we came back, Daniel and Evan played some guitar and we sang along. I love evenings like this spending time with my housemates.

April 23 – Night Bouldering

I went night bouldering on Table Mountain again! Two other locals joined us, and it was a great time.

April 22 – Peer Review Session

I had a peer review session of our methods section for our research paper. It was good to have these checks along the way.

April 20 – More Volleyball

I went to volleyball practice because I had not played in awhile and was missing it. Load shedding happened halfway through the practice and the gym went completely pitch black. It was very eerie.