I made it!

Hi All! I'm writing to you from a small Internet cafe in Durbanville, South Africa- a city directly outside of Cape Town. This is the first chance we've had to use the Internet, so I want to try and update you a little bit about the plane ride, the culture, what we've done and where we've gone so far:

As far as the plane ride goes, it was a verrrrry long flight. After a 2 hour flight from Detroit to Atlanta, GA, we hopped on another plane which traveled for 8 hours to Dakar, Senegal so that we could refuel. Once in Senegal however, we were not allowed to get off the plane, so we had to wait for 2 hours while we refueled and security checked our bags and seats for unknown items (we assume they were looking for drugs, but it was hard to tell and they were not very friendly). After the long break, we continued on our way from Senegal to Cape Town, and after another 9-10 hour flight, we arrived! We landed in South Africa around 5pm their time. Other than the length and the uncomfortable seating/sleeping, I met a few nice people during the ride. Max, a guy around my age, sat next to me on the plane and was able to give me some insight about the city of Cape Town. Although he has been all over the world, (he grew up in Russia, moved to Cape Town and is now getting ready to move to San Diego, CA) he said his favorite city is Cape Town and even compared Cape Town to a smaller version of San Diego! Surprised by this comparison, I grew more excited for our upcoming adventures, and came to find out the two cities probably are similar...

After getting picked up at the airport by one of the coordinators and his son, we piled in 2 buses (there are 17 girls on this trip) and headed to the house we are residing in for the first 11 days. Similar to a bed and breakfast, the Deo Gratia house has a very cozy, stylish and home-y feel to it. We found our rooms and discovered lots of goodies on our designated beds- a tshirt with our names on them, a SIM card to use, a coursepack complete with an itinerary and a post card that welcomed us to Africa. My new roommates and I quickly discovered we got the best room in the house! It has a full kitchen and THREE separate rooms for a toilet, a jacuzzi and a shower, not to mention we each get our own beds. Needless to say, we definitely got lucky where we were placed!

On our first full day, we woke up early to breakfast and then set off on an excursion to Robbin Island- the area where prisoners were held during Apartheid, but also famously noted for housing Nelson Mandela for almost 20 years. After a 20 minute ferry ride, we arrived at the small and eerie island and took a brief bus tour of the entire island. Afterwards, we arrived at the High Security Prison Cells and got a tour and explanation of the things that occurred here only a few years before. In fact, because Apartheid ended only in 1994, many of the tour guides on the island were old prisoners or prison guards! Not only were the tours very detailed because our guide had actually lived IN the prison, but it really made you aware of how recent (and ongoing) the troubles are that South Africa has endured. After Robbin Island, we traveled to two more museums: the District 6 Museum and the hospital where the first heart transplant in the world occured by Chris Barnard. (Some good trivia if you ever wind up on Cash Cab.)

Yesterday, we traveled up and around Table Mountain- the mountain range that surrounds the city of Cape Town. We went to a beach where hundreds of cute African penguins live and took lots of great pictures.

Surprisingly, the city of Cape Town is very much like an American city with some European vibes to it. All of the signs, restuarants and advertisements are in English and many of the slogans, terminology and slang are very similar to the United States. My dad will be happy to know that Coca-Cola has a huge hold in South Africa, and I was happy to discover that I won't be without Diet Coke for the remainder of the trip (even though diet coke is called coca-light). Two days ago, we went to one of South Africa's largest restaurant chains only to discover it was extremely comparable to a Chili's or Bennigans in the United States. The menu had all of the items you would find on an American one and even the faijtas I ordered were similar to ones you would eat in the United States.

Some of the differences between South Africa and America include:

• The cars drive on the left side of the road and the driver's seat is located on the right side of the car.
• We had to stop in the middle of the street yesterday to wait for 3 baboons and 4 ostriches to cross the road.
• Instead of baseball, hockey, basketball or football playing on the TVs at the restaurant, we watched cricket and rugby- two huge sports in South Africa.

Unfortunately, my time is up in the Internet cafe, so I do have to get going. This post was a chance to catch you all up on my whereabouts, so I apologize that it's a little unorganized and wordy. I hope everyone is doing well back at home. Please feel free to email me, comment or call me anytime you want! (I purchased a cell phone yesterday and if you call my mother, she has the information on how you can contact me!) Next week (starting tomorrow), we head to the University of Cape Town to take classes, so I'm hoping to have access to the Internet more so than the last few days and will try to update often...