July 3,2012 - Arrival

Cape Town, SA – Ahhhh! When our plane landed in Cape Town, I felt a mixture of relief and excitement. I was relieved that this 25-hour journey had finally ended, and I was excited to be in my new residents for the next five months. Even though that airplane food was awesome, I was anxious to be in my new dorm room.

    

As I walked off the plane a huge gust of cold air blew all my hair to the other side of my face and goose bumps invaded my body. “Crap! It’s winter here”! I thought to myself. I was wearing a jacket, but I had on my summer shorts that I left DC in. I had to fight the cold wind to get to the airport shuttle that stood about 50 yards from the plane. A few minutes later, I arrived at the Cape Town International Airport. I claimed my baggage and headed to exit when a lady stopped me and asked if I was with Howard University’s group. YES!

Just when I thought I was saved from the winter breeze, we waited about five more minutes in the cold for our ride to the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The campus looked scary in the dark. There were no streetlights from the well-guarded front gate to the campus. I felt like I was driving through a horror tunnel with trees swaying on both sides… and then there was light! The campus is beautiful!

Our newly erected dorm is set up like a double in the Howard Plaza Towers, where I have a suitemate and we share a bathroom. The kitchen is outside of the suite and it’s huge. It even has dining tables and a red couch to put your feet up and watch television. Behind the red couch is a sliding glass door that leads to a balcony. Yea, our dorms are fancy. My suitemate, Dontranika, is a Howard student also. We’re cool.

The resident assistant, Alicia hooked us up with a care package a few minutes after we arrived. It was a big basket of everything you will ever need in the kitchen – even a cheese grater! My bed was nicely spread when I got to my room. It had a whole sheet set, two fluffy pillows, a comforter, and a huge blanket. The room also came furnished with a gigantic wardrobe and a fridge. I felt right at home.

Some challenges I noticed on the first day were the electrical outlets and the heating system. The outlets here have three circular plugs instead of our usual two little slots. I couldn’t plug in any of my electronics. So much for bringing my blow dryer, and flat iron, and computer, and iPad, and speakers, and cell phone. LOL. And about the heating system – there is none! There is this flat piece of metal about the size of basketball backboard that plugs in and heats up, but it doesn’t protrude the heat. So literally only the heat panel is hot. The rest of my room is freezing. Good thing they gave us that big comfy blanket.