So, I guess I'm not that into blogging.

No, but really, we have had a jam packed schedule!

The plane ride went really well. On the second flight (19 hours) I completely lost track of time which I think worked out to be a good thing. I probably slept for around half that flight. Also, I as sitting next to this girl who had never been on an airplane before!!! Can you believe she chose a 20 hour flight for her first one? I would want a warm-up experience I think!

The first day we got here we didn't do much. Just got the the hostel and pretty much went to bed. It's an extremely nice place we're staying in, really close to the heart of Cape Town, so that's fun. I'm loving the hostel culture. People are so laid back and everyone seems so adventurous! A huge group of people left this morning for a 6 week safari through Africa! It seems so daring!

Our first real day here we went to a holocaust museum which was really interesting and as usual harrowing. It was a different experience seeing the museum through a South African lens that has such a similar history. While there was no extermination there was still radical racism here and the similarities are too close for comfort.

That same day we also went to the art museum (Yay!) which was really neat. There was a crazy architect on display and a really interesting photographer. Their permanent collection was my favorite though. A complete mash up of different artists from Dutch to British to South African...all in the same room. The juxtaposition was kind of incredible. We also had a class IN the museum!!!! that was pretty great.

Yesterday we went to the District 6 museum after our Robben Island tour was cancelled. District 6 was a neighborhood that was wiped out during Apartheid. Literally the whole neighborhood was demolished. This was in 1966 so there are still a lot of survivors and they have donated their experiences and stories to this museum. We had one tour guide who was actually from District 6 and he was such a sweet man. The way he talked about the place made it sound so beautiful and good. My favorite part was when he was talking about praying in the Synagogue with his Jewish friends even though he was Muslim. He said it didn't matter what religion they were, they were all people. During Apartheid every different race was sequestered to their own "homeland" (ring any bells?) and so this integration was ripped apart. It seems like this is the embodiment of how I imagine the world functioning in the most idealistic world and the fact that it was torn apart is really hard to understand.

Last night we went out on the town! We met Capetonians from pretty much every walk of life you can come from in Cape Town. Without having to ask any leading questions people were bringing up what it was like to live under Apartheid and how they think their country has progressed (or not), the challenges they face in the future and how they live their lives. I am excited to have more of these conversations. One group of people that we ended up hanging out with the whole night was quite the diverse crowd. 2 original Capetonians, one white, one colored. One white Botswanan, One French woman and one man from the Congo. They all work together in Cape Town and are a motley crew that we just fit right in with.

Today was a delight. We went to the southern most point (Cape of Good Hope) and that was beautiful. We pretty much climbed out butts off though! Probably one of my favorite parts here was sitting on this rock and I said hello to an Asian tourist. Next thing I know all of them are wanting to talk and they're ALL taking pictures of me on this rock. Then each had to get in the pic with me. It was pretty hilarious. It makes me laugh to think of where those pictures will end up. We picniked on a beach which was being racked by a wind storm, so that was fun. Then on our bus ride out a baboon literally CHARGED our bus. There had been all these signs all day to watch out for these CRAZY baboons, but we didn't see any, then on the way out Segall whips around and yells "BABOON" and everyone jumps up and yells. It was pretty awesome. Will wanted to throw a banana at it...?! Then we stopped to see some Penguins. In the parking lot there was this a cappella group singing and you will never believe what they were singing....Paul Simon's "Homeless". I was actually crying I was so excited. (Brady if you're reading this, I have a video of it...) Talk about amazing. Then we saw the penguins which were actually pretty cute and fun to narrate fun stories about. (There were a few forever friends Laur.)

Well...I need to go do some school work (Def my least fav part of the trip, regardless of how interesting and powerful the literature is). I miss you all and love you tons! Keep posted for another update!