Somerset West

Today Camilla, Alex, Anni and I went with a minibus taxi to Somerset West to have picknick on the beach. It was an interesting tour, which went through Somerset West then through a nearby township to Gordon's Bay where a concerned lady in the minibus asked us where we were planning to go realizing that we had gone too far! After a not planned "sightseeing trip" through the township the taxi driver went back and dropped us at the right place. By that time our homemade sandwiches was indeed needed, and we spend a couple of hours chilling in the sun eating sandwiches and cookies. It was our luck that the very same taxi driver picked us up again on our way back, so we managed to get back to Stellenbosch without any troubles except the fact that we were squeezed into the "max 15 persons"-taxi which carried a total of 18 adults and 1 child!!

Walk in the Park

   

It has been a very beautiful day. Here some photos from our walk in a small park in Stellenbosch. Loooove the mountains. We are going to hike them one day ;) And we saw tortoises! The one on the picture was actually quite big. Furthermore I learned the difference between tortoise and turtle. Apparently a tortoise lives on land, while a turtle lives in water. Interesting ;)

Rugby in the rain

Randomly I got a call from Anni to go and watch some Rugby training ;) - Rugby is quite fun! Except it was raining a lot, and we got all soaking wet. Afterwards I was invited to join Anni and her flatmates for some hot soup and wine :) - compliments to the chef! It was very nice.

The Serious Part

Hahaha... Seriously I have handed in the final registration for the courses I am going to take at Stellenbosch University - it is not just holiday all the way. So I have signed up for Consumer Behaviour, Strategic Management, International Brand Communication, Economic and Developmental Problems in SA and Africa, and Politics and Cultural Change in Contemporary South Africa. Good luck to me!

Weekend in Cape Town

Camps Bay; Anni & me 

Saturday we went to Cape Town in 3 busses. The tour was unfortunately a bit disappointing since it was raining and very cloudy, so the otherwise beautiful city was not as welcoming as we could have hoped. We barely couldn't see the mountains, and the weather didn't really allow for a walk, so we stayed in the bus where all the windows were misty due to the humidity and wet people. We were dropped off at a mall at Waterfront where we spend 3 hours after having spend some time at Camps Bay where we were out in the blistering cold and stormy weather.

Camps Bay; Me & Camilla

Afterwards me and two other girls, one from Germany and one from Canada, was picked up by one's flatmate (from Namibia), and we went to another Namibian friend's place where we just chilled, had some wine, and in the evening we went to this place called Tiger. Quite fancy, and very nice. Strawberry daiquiris and frozen margaritas for R15!!! R1 = 0,7 DKK - make your own calculation! It was a little weird though to OPEN the bar, since in South Africa you go out quite early. We were at the club already at 21:00, and then we went home around 01:00 which is a little strange for us Europeans, but it was a good good night! (Pictures to come!)

The first couple of days...

The campus of Stellenbosch University

So the first couple of days have been a little hectic, but hectic in a good way. Wednesday was the first day of orientation and I met all the other international students. Here is quite a number of Germans, Dutch’s and other Europeans, few Americans, one Canadian – and ME! The only Dane! This first day started at 8:00 o’clock, and ended at around 16:00. We had a lot of administrative information, and a whole lecture in safety which made everybody a little paranoid ;). After all of this me and two other girls decided to go and grap a beer, and we went to this little place called Bohemia, which seems quite popular around here.

African dancing and drumming at Spier Winefarm

Thursday was as well a long day starting at 8:00 with a lot of information about different language courses and culture shock etc., and in the evening 310 international students was picked up by busses at the university and droven to a winefarm called Spiers 10 km away where we had an AMAZING african dinner with all kinds of food from vegies and vegestables to game meet such as impala, kudu and wilderbeest,  also chicken, beef, boer worses was served along with a lot of different cakes for desserts! If I remember correctly there was 8 different ”booths” with different food. It was really incredible. Furthermore there was some african dancing, drumming and singing in between ”disco” music and ”normal/western” dancing and disco lights. After this awesome dinner some of us ended up at Bohemia again, and I was only back home at 03:00!

Today, friday, I woke up to my first taste of the raining season!!! My first days have been very warm and the sun has been shining from a blue sky. Yesterday it was upto 27 degrees! The nights are still cold though. So today it has been raining almost none stop for the whole day, the streets are filled with water and I have been soaked twice today. 

Tomorrow I am going to Cape Town and I will stay in Cape Town for the weekend with some of the other international students.

See ya ;)

Cape Town, Stellenbosch

The view from the flat in Stellenbosch

At around 20:00 o'clock Sunday evening I arrived at my destination in Stellenbosch. Unfortunately it was dark when I arrived, so I had no clue where I was or how it looked. It was quite a stunning sight I woke up to this morning! The view from the flat is beautiful. The flat is quite big with a balcony all the way around. I have my own room and my own toilet/bathroom, and sharing a kitchen and living room with a South African girl. I have 4(!) keys to get in and out of the flat! 2 keys for the building, and 2 keys for the flat door. That is a little crazy I think. You can never be too careful - at least not in South Africa ;)

So today I have just been relaxing at my new place. Walked around the block, went to the university to register. Orientation starts tomorrow at 8 o'clock!

Nairobi

Now I'm definitely in Africa! Even in the airport I feel left out of civilization. Nairobi Airport has 14 small gates, toilettes which can mostly be compared to the toilets along the highways - not even the locks are working! The paint on the walls have also seen better days, and even the roof looks like it's gonna fall down anytime. Furthermore there is absolutely NO SERVICE on my cell and no Wi-Fi! There is electricity though ;)

To sum up from my earlier question; there's 1 hour time difference between Nairobi and Amsterdam.

Another thing; I thought Kenya was a warm place all year around, but today it is clouded and cold.

Amsterdam

I made it to Amsterdam, and I made it into the next flight in less than 40 min. So the 1 hour and 15 minutes I had available was almost a waste ;). Ha ha ... Anyway now I'm seated and waiting for take-off while listening to some African tunes coming out of the airplane speakers; I am really on my way to Africa again! Guess I am finally starting to realize.

It suddenly hit me; are there a time difference between Amsterdam and Nairobi?

Hamburg

And ... GO! Finally my journey has begun. The long trip to Cape Town is started and I have reached my first stop in Hamburg. From Hamburg I am heading to Amsterdam, then to Nairobi and then to Johannesburg from where I will take the last plane to Cape Town landing at around 17:30 tomorrow afternoon. Michael, Marcus and Michelle drove me to Hamburg this morning and have kept me company most of the day which have been highly appreciated :)

Different from my other trips I have decided to write a blog/diary/journal thingy so that I and others can keep track of what I am experiencing. So since I still have a couple of hours to spend in Hamburg Airport I have decided to give it a good start.

But I have not so much more to write about at the moment except that I am bored! And that I am very entertained by a group of Germans in a Cafeteria who is singing Deutsche Schlager out loud! LIEBE DEUTSCHLAND! Ha ha ...

Auf Wiedersehen :)