I know its been a very long time since my last post approximately 11 days ugh i know! But to tell you the truth nothing too fascinating has happened. School as it turns out is really hard. But my grades have been gradually increasing which is fabulous the last grade I got was a &) on my research paper for my history class and that is an A- here so its good!
I went to a party thrown by the yacht club that was a ton of fun but it is very comparable to frat parties back home, except it included a bouncy house and super cheap drinks!
Oh and the other exciting thing... I may have taken a ride from the police to a club. No worries I wasn't in trouble or anything. The cop car just pulled up on the side of the street and we asked if they would give us a ride and they said yes. I was pretty hilarious at the time. But I'm still having a blast in South Africa and learning a ton! and thats what matters right!

Fall- but Spring Break

So I know it's been a while. I haven't been keeping up with the blog. So to review the last 2 weeks of my life :) Two weeks back from today I had been up for at least 30 hours with maybe a nap on the plane or while driving. Spring break started with a very early flight out of Cape Town to Jo-burg. I'm talking like 4:45 pick up. And then we proceeded to drive at least 7 hours to our campsite in Botswana.

For those of you that know me will probably not believe that I camped for a full ten days two of those nights being without running water or a toilet other than a hole in the ground that our guides dug! But I survived :) It was a bit trying at times but I am alive and no worse for the wear. Now the highlights of my spring break include:

1) The Delta: Yes this is the place where there was no toilet or running water. Not my favorite place that we stayed but definitely one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been! It was a great experience to be able to walk down a trail and see an elephant in the wild and know that you are the visitor into their home. One thing that I will never do again is probably ride in a macoro (probably not spelled right). Um every few seconds a spider would drop into this 2 person boat that had to be pushed by a stick through the water. I'm not talking little spiders here people some of them were at least 3 inches wide! I may have freaked out alittle bit... Oh but we got to hear botwanan music by our guides which was really cool and don't worry we sang the lion king song to them :)

2) Victoria Falls: One of the 7 wonders of the world. It was amazing! You got misted by the falls when you were level with them. Gorgeous! We even had some local guys take us across the tops of the falls. Like through the currented water...No Big I could've died. But we all made it and got the see the view from the top = amazing and the boys jumped into the "devils pool" which is literally part of the falls. I didn't bring my swimsuit.

3) White Water Rafting: This is right up there next to bungee jumping! So fabulous class5 rapids and our raft flipped over once! It was a bit frightening at first but everything turns out fine and you get awesome pictures and a great rush! I would do it again in a second!

4) Sunset Cruises: Sunset cruises are great for seeing animals and just chilling out with friends. Fabulous! I saw hippos, buffalo, giraffes, crocs, lizards, antelope things, and elephant!

There you go folks the highlights! Ofcourse we stayed alot more different places but nothing spectacular happened. I met a bunch of great people and had a good time but next time I will think twice about signing up for a camping trip haha

Politics Economics and Soccer

If you haven’t heard there are currently public service strikes in Cape Town. Teachers, bus drivers, police, public services are striking to get a pay raise. 6% to 8.3%. Now to us it may seem a simple thing that unions would handle, but no. Here it has been going on for about a week and there is no evidence of progress. First of all the government of SA does not have the money at the current time to increase wages. SA is the country in the world who spends the greatest percentage of their revenue on public education, so this clearly shows SA’s lack of funds and organization. Secondly, the government’s in Africa are known to be some of the most corrupt governments and I’m not saying that includes SA but it might as well. What I’m wondering is how much of the governments money and the aid that they receive from countries like the US and organizations actually goes to the public? All in the same, this is definitely a question for any country.

Today is the first day I actually talked about what an unstable country I am in, politically. The Facts: Nelson Mandela is getting old and sick, he does not have a lot of time left and that is greatly regrettable because he is a great man! When Mandela dies there may be an uprising of the Apartheid suffers (Mandela was the only one who believed in forgiveness and he was able to convince a nation to move beyond, but will they fall back to 1994 when he is gone?) There are two different parties in the government and everyone hates the current president. Tribal relations are very strong, making government spilt in many different issues and unable to get much accomplished. With all the different situations that could change, I still know that if anything happened we would quickly be sent off to the airport by (1) Interstudy, (2) DU, and (3) International SOS. But no worries, this is the adventure of a lifetime and I intend to enjoy it.

SA did host the World Cup this year and Friday I attended the first soccer game held in the Cape Town World Cup Stadium. It was absolutely amazing! I love soccer so the game was also definitely enjoyable. But the World Cup also shows what SA was able to put together and throw. SA is a developing country still but with great potential, the question is if the country will be able to utilize their potential.

I know there have been a lot more questions than answers today and I apologize some of the blog is clearly just what is going through my head at the time. Bare with me and I promise I will have fabulous experiences to tell you about soon, since spring break starts on FRI!!!!

It is already the 6^th week of classes and I have no idea where the time has gone!

Well its time to get down to the nitty gritty I have a few papers and exams before spring break so this weekend will not be all that exciting, but I can’t wait to get out of dodge, sometimes you just need a break, what can I say.

Politics Economics and Soccer

TIA- This is Africa

Well now, I have been living in Cape Town South Africa for a total of 6 weeks and 3 days. I have already accomplished alot with my time. The first week I was here I was introduced solely to t eh University of Cape Town and to my fellow interstudy-ers.

Once the University of Capetown orientation started we went on a day long tour of the peninsula. We got to see penguins, climb to the top of the cape point lighthouse, and saw ome sweet dance moves with lunch in a township. Now for those of you that don't know, South Africa went through a period of Apartheid from about the late 1950s to 1994. In this time period whites, blacks, and coloured people were all separated. Mainly in the cities and the suburbs it was bad. But the white population formulated the center of the cities and then progressively it went to coloureds next and lastly pure blacks. The outskirts of the cities was were the townships were located. You see townships were not nice places to live, houses there are very close together, they used to not have electricity or any running water, and they had a shack like appearance with tin roofs. After Apartheid the townships are still having a hard time catching up with the times, they have very little resources and the government of South Africa is trying to do a lot, but there just isn't enough funding to restructure all of these areas. One of the things that interests me most about South Africa in general is the reaction of different generations to the Apartheid. The older white generations that I have talked to know it happened , they know it was wrong, and they are trying to fix it. While my generation of South Africans, they all know it happened, but they didn't have to go through any of it and some of them just dont even care about trying to undo their country's past wrong. Then you have the 20-30s that are somewhere in between those two notions. I ask alot of the South African that I meet about the Apartheid period and those are the conclusions that I have come to so far. They may change with the more people I meet but you never really know do you.

Alrighty, on to happier things. On the Sunday before classes started (July 25th) Ashley(flatmate), Leah(neighbor), and Macy(neighbor) went to Kirstenbosch gardens, which is pretty much the Botanical Gardens of Cape Town. It was so beautiful! I cant wait to go there again! See picture...

Week of July 26th : Classes begin... the amount of reading for classes here is no joke 3 times that of DU. Its about 500 pages a week. If you do all of the reading, but most of the classes have required and recommended reading and I get done as much as I can. Oh the classes that I'm taking well I am taking South Africa in the 20th century, Microeconomics I, The Politics of International Economic Relations, and International Politics. I got them all approved for credit back at DU, which makes it way easier to transfer back the credits hopefully. Now that I am about half way through these classes, they are pretty intense. I mean I am learning a lot, but the work load is pretty intense. Still I like it here alot. I think its good to take a break from the usual every once and a while and do something different, like Studying in South Africa. YAY for all the international students here! :). Oh this week I also went to my first Rugby game, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. It looks like it hurts alot though. Then Saturday most of Interstudy went on a biking wine tour, wowzer it was intense. The wine was good, but the biking part was more like trail mountain biking than leisurely joy riding. A few of us fell down the mountain. I would say it was a great experience, but I would probably never do it again haha. Then we have Sunday. A group of about 9 of us went to this township BBQ( or braai) as they say in SA called Mzoli's. Okay so Andrew and I went to the butcher were meat is seriously right in front of you ordered the meat and got it all set up. It was fabulous. the meat was so good and the atmosphere of a neighbor hood party BBQ was great. that will definitely happen again.(check out a picture of our meat up top :))

Week of August 2nd: Well during thos week there wasn't much excitement until Friday. Thursday I made the split second decision to go on a tour of the Garden route for our 3 day weekend which amounted to about 500$ in the end. It was awesome! I slept overnight Saturday night in a national reserve. Sunday went bungee jumping! Check out the picture! It was so cool! I really really want to do it again. I'll have to show you all the video when I get back. Then After getting upgraded to a nice hotel Sunday Night we went climbing through caves and I rode an ostrich on Monday. It was a great time. I would probably do a lot of it again! I have more pictures for when I get back.

Week of August 9th: So again nothing extremely exciting during the week, but this weekend I went on the Interstudy weekend excursion we went whale watching, sea kayaking, shark diving, paintballing, and four-wheeling. it was alot of fun to hangout with a bunch of the group and just chill.

Week of August 16th: let me tell you something. Customs of SA is a whole different story. Mail can take up to a month or more to get to you and a package my mom sent took 2 weeks to get to customs and another week for them to inform me of it. To find customs it was a nightmare, round and round in circles. But after about 30 mins we found it and got the package and it all figured out and back to Mowbray, the town where I live.

Week of August 23rd: Now this is this week and the week of my birthday so, Tuesday night a large group of friends and I went out to dinner at a Mexican place. SA doesn't really have a lot of Mexican food, so this place is a gem in the rough. It was so good, and I want to thank everyone who celebrated and wished me a Happy Birthday.

There is one more thing I must admit. I do miss my family and friends back home a lot. Being in SA is very different form Denver. Denver is pretty much accessible while SA not so much. I also miss the way things work in the US. Technology here is sometimes extremely sketch and not always working. But I love it here also. So together it all makes it alright. Till next time!
Sincerely,
Amber

Doctor Doctor

Yes i know I haven't blogged yet but this is the beginning of it and I promise to catch you all up on my life with a quick review coming up. After today’s post.

Thursday August 26, 2010 Doctor Doctor

First experience in a South African doctor’s office today, its about the same as America. You wait anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes to see a doctor and then they talk to you for about 5 minutes and your done. The hurt finger from yesterday, allowed me my first and hopefully only visit to the hospital today. After 590 rand or about 80$ I am able to say my finger is sprained and not broken. Which is a good thing, since I have never broken a bone. Knock on wood.

Grilled Cheese is a very common meal in the Kendal Apartments, but do not fret we like to jazz it up. Some tuna today… a few tomatoes last week. Family and Friends I will be fabulous at grilled cheeses when I get back so hit me up if you ever want one J. But I am in severe withdrawal from the simplest thing of chips and salsa and most other Mexican foods. You never realized how much you eat some things till its not readily available anymore. Well tops off, I’m off to finish some homework and watch a movie. No going out tonight. Cheers