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As promised I'll tell you a little about my home away from home so I can prove to some of you skeptics that I'm not in fact living in a mud hut and that I actually have a single room bigger than my one at Skidmore! Pretty exciting, although there have been a few bumps along the way...
So we got to Liesbeeck Gardens (pronounced Liz-beak) on Saturday at 10am only to find that our rooms had not been cleaned, and many of the vacation housed students hadn't moved out yet. This was rather upsetting, as many of us had aspirations of unpacking and finally getting our things out of suitcases and just figuring out what our temporary home was going to look like. The RAs were kind enough to take us over to the mall in Claremont where we bought some small necessities (laundry detergent, sunscreen, towels, etc.) until our rooms could be prepared. Unfortunately even by 4pm many of the rooms were still uncleaned and several students had to stay in more temporary housing while other students moved out. It wasn't too dreadful though, as we
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I'll admit it looks a little like a prison (we even have a warden and two sub-wardens) but overall the res is really nice, with running water, working electricity, and even a computer lab and wireless internet access. Overall I'm really pleased with it, and really can't complain about too much:)
However, we soon discovered that the bedding and kitchen supplies provided for us were less than stellar, as much of the bedding I'm convinced had been recycled since the beginning of the program, and I chose to sleep in my sleeping bag for the first couple of nights until we could go out and buy new bedding. Not an expense I was thrilled to make, but necessary nonetheless. However, the program director and
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As for the kitchen utensils... We're missing quite a few, and the pots and pans are, let's say, well worn, but everything seems to be functioning despite. Our oven doesn't close all the way though, and I'm told that you have to harass maintenance a few times before things get done because they're all lazy: the receptionist's words, not mine. But my friend Kat and I used the stove top last night to make pasta and chicken so at least that works. We don't have
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The rooms are set up in suite styles, with four single rooms, a kitchen, and two bathrooms per suite. I'm living with another CIEE student, Mercy, who's super nice. My other two suitemates will be UCT students, and while one just walked in as I was sitting down to write this, the other hasn't yet arrived. I'm very excited to get to know both of them, as so far the students I have met have been the nicest people ever.
Otherwise I'm still acclimating myself with the campus, although I'm proud that I was able to make the Jammie ride (the buses on campus are called Jammies, I think that's so cute) from Upper Campus to the Res without a problem. (UCT is so large that the campus is split into six campuses: Upper, Middle, Lower, Hiddingh, Health Sciences and Breakwater to accommodate the 25,000 students) International students are required by law to register with the University, so yesterday many of us spent two to three hours standing in line at the International office waiting to get pre-registered, which was literally supplying a copy of your passport, visa, and a piece of paper with contact information and such. A bit frustrating, but that's the way things are around here: everything's bureaucratic and time consuming. Such as approval for courses: in order to take a course, you have to be approved by the faculty, or essentially the department, to take the course. This requires that you obtain what's called a "pink form" because of its color, from the faculty office (faculty are essentially colleges, so because I'm taking English and History courses I'm considered part of the Humanities faculty), fill that out with the course information, and then present it and a copy of my transcript to the head of my department (for example, the head of the English Language and Literature department) who then determines that I'm qualified to
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Anyway, I'm going to leave off with that so I can get myself back over the campus (I'm typing this out on my laptop on the wireless internet: finally!) for a wine and chocolate tasting:)
Haha, you're description of a Uni on the mountainside makes me think of walking up and down the hills of Burlington! I'm glad you got into your dorm, even though you had to deal with the classic, underdeveloped-world beaurocracy (hey, with high unemployment it makes sense to have seven different people look over what two could easily manage).
ReplyDeleteThe second photo you posted in this entry is awesome! You got the lighting perfectly, although it does look like something that should have been used in Shawshank Redemption :)
And who needs a microwave?! Douse those pots and pans with a little alcohol to ensure they're sanitary and be happy the bedding doesn't have fleas! Just kidding. I hope things get a bit more comfortable and I hope even more that you are taking all the bumps with the ease that you seem to write about them.
:-)
Shaun
PS if you're given a survey about the dorms when you're leaving, you should probably add the comment that they could fit a full-size fridge or oven in there...it is a kitchen for four, right?
Kellie and I are sitting here enjoying your notes and photos. Loved the penguin, send me more! Stay safe and enjoy everything,
ReplyDeleteLove Aunt Ronnie
Glad your adjusting well. It's hard to imagine you taking all of this in stride the way you are. I guess the laid back South African culture suits you well. Only two weeks into your experience and already you have some wonderful memories and stories to share. I hope your class experience is just as memorable. Remember, you are there for the educational experience :-) I'm your dad, I have to remoind you of that. Mom and I miss you very much but we're happy to know you're enjoying yourself.
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