Laura T loves that she gets to be in Cape Town for an entire semester

This past week was possibly my favorite week here so far. Last weekend I went shark cage diving and it was awesome! Although the water was absolutely freezing, it was worth it to be able to see such massive animals up close. It was so cool to see great white sharks just feet away from me! I also hiked Table Mountain with Shona and Ashley, which was again, quite cold! The wind was so strong that the cable car was shut down, forcing us to alter our plan to hike up and take the car down, but I still had a great time. We met some American students who are on a semester-at-sea program, so they get to travel all over the world to countries such as Japan, China, and Zimbabwe (and South Africa of course). We hiked with several of them for a while- it was cool to meet some people from home and to hear about their amazing adventures. Although I am jealous that they get to travel to so many different countries, I am also happy that I am on a semester-long program in Cape Town. On the semester-at-sea program they are only in port at each country for up to 6 days at a time, which to me is not enough time to truly explore a new place. I love that we get to be here in Cape Town for so long, it gives us the opportunity to become truly immersed in the culture and makes me feel like this is our home, rather than just feeling like a tourist. It gives us the opportunity to learn and experience so much and get to know locals, which I really enjoy. But I do hope that I get the chance to travel around the world someday!

This Sunday we are leaving Cape Town for an excursion to Johannesburg and Kruger National Park for a week! I cannot wait to see a new part of South Africa and explore what Jo’burg has to offer, and I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to go to Kruger. This is one of the things I have been looking forward to most basically since the moment I committed to the program.

But my week wasn’t full only of extravagant adventures. There were also many exciting moments at my internship and activist project. This week I attended the City’s council meeting with SJC, where the mayor of Cape Town gave a speech on the draft budget for the 2017/18 financial year. I couldn’t tell you much about the speech however, because we were kicked out of the meeting after a silent, peaceful protest. Once we were outside the Civic Center, everyone from my internship broke into song and dance, and we remained there for about an hour. I love that this is how people protest here; it is fun and unifying. It was probably my favorite day at my internship so far. It was also just a great day in general. Because we were “asked” to leave around noon, I took advantage of my extra time to walk through St. George’s Mall and enjoy a peaceful lunch in the Company Gardens before heading home for Marita’s class, in which Ethan gave a great talk about masculinity.

It was also a busy week for activist projects. I went to Khayelitsha for the Firefighters soccer practice on Thursday, and Friday went out and bought supplies for the crèche in Kuyasa. Saturday we spent the day painting the crèche, brightening up the walls and making the building feel more homey. I enjoyed doing some manual labor; it was rewarding to see how the building was transformed, and it was fun being around some of the older kids who aren’t there when we normally go on Fridays. They sang and danced while we worked, which made the atmosphere so great, and one boy in particular was extremely helpful as he chipped in with the painting. I am excited to go back when we get home from Johannesburg and see how else we can help the crèche.