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.