Blog 3: Starting School and the Homestay

Things in Cape Town are beginning to feel normal. Not the country itself and all the things I am learning, but I feel like I finally have a routine to follow. I know where the essential things are, my apartment feels like home,  and I have finally settled into classes. Last week, because it was add/drop week for UCT, was a bit hectic. After five full days of wandering confusedly into classrooms and half-listening to lectures in classes I wasn't even sure I would keep or drop, it is an enormous relief to know that all of my classes are settled. In an uncharacteristic of me fashion, I at the last minute decided to switch out of my pre-approved philosophy course and attempt to switch into an additional sociology course. Though it required a bit more interaction with the ridiculous bureaucracy that is UCT’s add/drop process, I am extremely glad I chose to do it. From the first day I attended the class, the material was new and fascinating and almost entirely from the perspective of Africa, which is exactly what I had hoped to gain from an academic experience in another country. Coming to a continent with a history so different from my own country of origin makes the opportunity to study here that much more fascinating; I want to know so much more about the history and experience of Africa as a whole.

One thing I have noticed about the classes I am taking here is that they seem to overlap a great deal with the sociology courses I have taken so far, despite the fact that they are not related to the sociology department, and will not count for sociology courses when they transfer back to Loyola. For instance, my theology class, entitled “Religion, Sexuality, and Gender”, reminds me so much of a gender studies class I took two semesters ago at Loyola. I suppose it has to do with the fact that we are covering gender and sexuality, but it just surprised me how easily religion (theology) and sociology overlap. Perhaps I simply picked the right major that overlaps with a bit of everything.

Aside from school, every so often I catch myself doing something and I briefly realize with absolute incredulity the uniqueness of this study abroad experience. This has happened several times when I've been staring at some beautiful bit of nature (namely, the mountains or the ocean), but it also occurred to me as I was riding home after the homestay. It's difficult to explain without sounding somewhat ignorant, but there are some things about this place that are just so…Africa. The city of Cape Town to me isn't that different from what I am used to at home, but the townships just outside the city are almost every stereotype of Africa that I have ever known. They're little tin shacks backed up against chain link fence and the highway, they’re skinny dogs wandering around begging for food, they're kids with their pants around their ankles, peeing innocently in the street. They're more endless amounts of garbage in the road than I've ever seen, and they're diverse populations of skin tones, with the exception of any variation of white. I looked out the window of a cab once, and I saw what I honestly believe I have seen in the few movies about Africa I have watched: backed up against the sunset was a large group of black adults (they use race as a descriptor much more freely here, and I believe it necessary to do so to demonstrate my point) walking home from work. Many were barefoot, and to walk amongst the grassless dirt and trash was as natural to them as breathing. Mind you, I was in a cab with my two friends who were sleeping away the drive, so I could not sa anything, but in that moment I truly remembered for a second that I was in the continent of Africa. It was a strange and awe-inspiring experience.

The homestay experience in the township to me was very much like this. Although the place I stayed reminded me more of my grandmother’s house than a house in a poverty-stricken township, there were certain moments that I had to take a step back for a moment and remember exactly where I was and what I was doing.

I think this sums up my experience in Africa so far: a series of ups and downs. Sometimes it feels like I'm just a town away from home, with insignificant differences such as not carrying my favorite brand of cereal in the grocery store. Other times I feel completely in this place, I feel completely at awe at the fact that I am meeting people who grew up in places like the Congo, and doing things like elephant walks. It's an interesting way to feel, and something I don't think I will ever get used to as long as I am here.

Blog 2: Settling In

I am approaching the two week mark of being in the city of Cape Town, and I can say that my feelings have certainly changed from my last blog post. I'm feeling a bit more comfortable, a bit more settled in, and it has become easier to get used to living in this place. There are still things that I miss about home, but these things are no longer at the forefront of my mind. Instead I am learning to feel intrigued about every aspect of this new place and new culture I must become familiar with, and I am excited to see what the next few weeks have in store.

I think one of the biggest things that is difficult for me is knowing so little about the actual history of this place. I like to think that I knew more about South Africa than the average person when I went into this semester, but I still have so little idea of everything that has happened to the people here and even how recent some of the tragic history really is. It is so interesting to be in Africa, to see things such as one-room houses made out of tin, and segregation more intense than anything I have ever seen in the states, but every time I see something I find my mind grasping at straws, relying only on a sense of the word “Africans” and pictures I have created in my imagination. I want to know why and how some of the things in South Africa happened the way that they did, and I want to know the relationship between this country and plethora of other countries sharing this continent. I want to know why colored people (people of mixed-race), typically don't look anything like me (I am mixed-race). I want to know how deep the segregation really does still go in the mind of native South Africans, and if seeing only people of the same race together is or is not exaggerated in my mind.

The other day I was speaking with a mentor from ISA (the program through which I am studying) and he began speaking about Hout Bay, a place only about a thirty minute drive from where I am living, and how it had recently declared itself independent from South Africa in order to continue using the racial segregation laws. Hout Bay is one of the most beautiful places I have seen so far in this country, but to think that it is a place still abiding by archaic laws, and to think that there are still people in this country who believe in such racist ideals makes me feel very strange. I wouldn't say it turns my stomach—I have such a difficult time believing that this information is even true—I just don't know what to feel. It is information I am trying to process with such a limited understanding of this foreign place.
Although the process of registering for classes is more complicated and difficult than any experience I have had so far at Loyola, and although after two weeks I still do not know exactly what classes I will be taking, I am looking forward to the start of school. I want to learn about this country in the words of people who actually live here, who have actually lived South Africa. Being part sociology major, I find it so fascinating to think about all the things the people here think about and use to understand this world; although I get the idea that most South  Africans hate Americans I would truly like to know what their  ideas about who we are actually are. I can definitely understand the stereotypes and how these ideas of Americans would paint a negative picture of our culture, but I am very curious to understand their ideas of themselves compared to us Americans. After all, we have a somewhat similar history of segregation to South Africa, and when compared I think it would be interesting to examine the differences between what happened to them and what happened to us. Perhaps because they are in a different stage of development in their country comparison would be difficult but I really just would like to know what the South Africans think about segregation in their own country compared to the extreme decrease in segregation in the United States.
I think the biggest change between last week and this week is my gratitude and appreciation for this opportunity. Other than the absolute raw beauty of this country, I am so grateful to be able to expand my mind to such new horizons, even though it has been difficult. I hope that at my next blog post, I will have learned something new and fascination about this country’s rich history that I can share.