(FYI: I'm using ma friend Peter's German laptop and there are a ton of funky characters and some letters are out of place so there maw be a few type-ö's so sorry about that) So I have been in Cape Town for two and a half days now and I feel like it's been weeks. After something like 27 ridiculous hours of travelling and sitting around at Heathrow Airport I landed in Cape Town on Friday morning around 9 am. As a group, us interns went to a Cricket match and caught the last couple hours of the third day (apparently Cricket matches last five days) in which South Africa beat the West Indies. For anyone who is interested in going to a Cricket match I strongly suggest only going on the last day (otherwise it's extremely anti-climactic) and plan on doing a lot of sitting around. It's makes baseball seem wild and crazy…but I'm happy we went. It was a good place to get to know everyone. In total, there are six of us interns here in our program but we all live in different houses in the same neighborhood. Observatory, or "Obs" is totally a college suburb. My neighbors are all international students from Germany. Also, there are Dutch people everywhere…but it makes for interesting conversations. So far I have learned how to greet someone in Afrikaans and how to say armpit in German. I feel like I'm rambling and I'm not even sure if anyone is going to read this so if you have gotten this far along then I love you. I'll wrap it up since we are about to trek out to have some "sundowners" as they call them at a bar on the beach in Camps Bay. I'll be sure to take pictures and hopefully load them up on here because it is honestly the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I love it. Love the 80 degree (or should I say 24 degree) weather and the laid back attitude that everyone has. We want to rent a car or maybe even lease a car for a few months but that poses a few issues since I cant drive a stick with my right hand, let alone shifting with my left (since 99% of cars are stick and everyone drives on the left side of the road) aaaand people are ridiculous drivers. Earlier today we took a mini bus taxi to the mall to buy hair dryers and random stuff we all needed and it was hilarious. First of all its this gutted out van with random seats and crazy drivers (at one point our driver was racing the mini bus driver next to us) and these people called mates. Mates yell and scream at people passing buy to try to convince them to hop on their mini bus. At times it can get extremely packed but it's the best way to travel if you don't want to be seen as a tourist and you don't mind having random kids and chickens and other peoples groceries sitting on top of you. Jk but really it's hilarious. In terms of roommates, I live with one guy from Kenya who is interning around here somewhere I'm not really sure, one girl from London who is interning in an emergency room somewhere, and then Alani, who goes to U of O and is working in the Townships with refugees from various African Countries. Sooooo breakfast was pretty interesting sitting around the table and chatting about everzthing. But honestlz I have been prettz homesick because it's taken me so freakin long to unpack my bags so and I have not had a cell phone or much internet access until today. I start work tomorrow so I'll let everyone know how that goes! Send me things! I would love to get a card or package or any old thing you think I need in Africa! The address is:

Jenica Cassidy

care of Oliver Hagen

102 H, BLDG 20

Waverley Business Park

Mowbray, Cape Town South Africa

7700

RSA

intense, I know