Just a few activities...

Today marks my second week in Cape Town, South Africa. Below, You will find a list of activities that I have taken part of for the past week.

Class registration: I had the opportunity to experience class registration at UCT (University of Cape Town), which is very different from the way we do it in the States. I stood in a long line for about an hour to get 4 classes approved, once approved, I had to stand in another line for an hour to get the data transferred into the computer system. I then had to stand in line for about 2 more hours in order to receive my student ID. The entire process took about 4 ½ hours to complete. I was tired after class registration and I have realized how privileged I am at Smith to simply wake up and register for classes in a matter of 15 min.

Mzoli’s Meat: Mzoli's is meat restaurant located in Gugulethu, a township outside of Cape Town, South Africa. The restaurant is internationally acclaimed and it seems to be a township tourist attraction. While there, I was with a group of people from my program; which is prominently white, in a town surrounded by blacks. The restaurant has the best meat that I have ever eaten. See pictures above.

District 6 Museum: The District 6 museum displays the history of an area that was once a vibrant mixed community of freed slaves, artisans, labors and immigrants. By the early 20th century residents of District 6 lost a significant amount of land, due to forced removals and marginalization. The first to be removed was of course, the Africans. These removals gave way to the creation of townships, which divided South Africa into racial categories. The word township describes the movement of Africans from the city into rural areas. Learning about the history of District 6 really made me realize that no matter where you are there will always be a struggle for Blacks.