Erica's first impressions and excited anticipation of what's to come

I have officially been in Cape Town for about twelve days. It still feels so surreal that I’m here! I’ve been preparing for this trip for months, so it’s hard to process the fact that I’m actually here right now. Nevertheless, I’m very excited to spend three and a half months here, and I can’t wait to see what kind of experiences I’ll have. A lot has happened over the past twelve days, so I have multiple first impressions of Cape Town. One thing I noticed starting the first day is the wealth disparity. On our way home from the airport, we saw crowded informal settlements on one side of the highway and average sized houses on the other. On our drive to Cape Point last week we drove through very wealthy neighborhoods with elaborate households, which is drastically different from the informal settlements we saw in the townships. It appears that Cape Town is a city of extremes. Another thing I noticed is that citizens, especially college students, seem to be very politically engaged. When we toured the UCT campus, our tour guide told us about various student protests and the pressure that the student body put on the university to remove certain statues on campus that represented colonization and imperialism. The fact that many students at UCT are interested in current issues makes me very excited, and I hope to meet some of the students during the upcoming months.

Last Saturday, me and my fellow co-educators participated in the Cape Town Women’s March, which was a peaceful protest in response to the inauguration of Donald Trump. 

Erica, Ravneet, & Taylor at Women's March in Cape Town

I’m sure that the political climate in Cape Town during the inauguration of Barrack Obama in 2009 was vastly different than the current political climate. Obama’s election made many people hopeful for social and economic progress, while the election of Trump has made many people fearful of regression. The political climate in 2009 seemed to be full of hope and potential for change, while the current political climate seems to be defined by fear, and not knowing what the next four years will entail. Although I’m deeply disappointed by the election of Donald Trump, I’m trying to tell myself that this is the time when protesting, organizing, and activism are most important, and I’m trying to channel my anger into productivity.