My Accommodations

For the semester, I am living in a residential building called Liesbeeck Gardens at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Liesbeeck is equivalent to apartment style buildings, but are referred to as flats in South Africa (See pictures above). There are 4 single bedrooms in my flat along with 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a back porch. Two of my roommates are South Africans, one from Johannesburg and the other from Cape Town. My third roommate is a student from Haverford College in PA, she was born in the Dominican Republic but raised in Brooklyn, NY—her story is similar to my own. As flat-mates, we have decided to live as a family, which includes cooking for each other, sharing the grocery bills, and teaching each other about our different cultures. To date, I am thoroughly immersed in the South African culture and ways of life.

My roommates teach me how to cook traditional South African dishes, such as pop and spicy chicken, how to speak the local language, Xhosa, and how to be street cautious in certain parts of Cape Town. Living with South Africans my age has given me the opportunity to meet many others. Adjusting here was not too bad for me at all! Although my program is predominately white, I quickly branched away to meet South African students at the University. At first I felt like a foreigner within my program. Out of the 165 students in my program, I am 1 out of 5 students of color. Crazy! More students of color need to go abroad and experience life on an international level! Life changing, indeed.

I am sometimes mistaken for a South African or a Zimbabwean woman. However, my accent gives me away—I am quickly identified as a black American, until I reveal that I am actually a West Indian American (Will blog about that another day).
What I like most about Cape Town is the fact that you WILL see both the First World and Third World issues of South Africa.