Aimee striving to be a confident, smart, and respectful U.S. Citizen

Aimee

I will continue to write about orientation adventures. During orientation we were also able to tour the University of Cape Town where we will be taking classes. The landscaping was quite incredible and I felt like a freshmen all over again. I am looking forward to meeting other student and exploring opportunities to get involved with clubs and activities. Next, I was able to walk into St. George’s Cathedral, where Desmond Tutu says masses, while walking around downtown. We also had a briefing by the US consulate that was not too bad despite all of the hype that we would be scared out of our pants. There is no time to be scared and no point to being scared. I will try to be a very confident, smart, and respectful US citizen.

Touring the townships was a very emotional experience. Even though I had seen extreme poverty before, there was something different about the way boxes of “temporary houses” formed clustered cities consisting of thousands or even millions of people. On the other hand, I had so much fun playing the drums in Langa and looking at the hand-made crafts made by local artists. Despite the hardships, there are so many inspirational people doing great work within the townships. We are all starting to think about what we want to do for our activist projects within various communities. I just want to do everything!

Another thing I would like to mention is how obvious it is that we are Americans. Not a single one of us has to open our mouths and someone walking by will know instantly. We carry ourselves differently and look differently. Not to mention if we were talking, we would be very loud and one would hear about how confused and lost we were. I love getting the chance to feel like a minority in certain situations. Our group had a discussion after visiting the townships about the direct impact race has on all of our lives. It is sometimes challenging to ride around on a giant bus and travel with such a large group of people. I don’t like feeling like an observer or intruder but that will hopefully change very soon.

For our second weekend we spent Saturday wine tasting and fine dining at Altydgedacht Vineyard and Spiers in Stellenbosch. Sunday began with a service at Sivuyile Baptist Church in Guguletu. The harmony of singers was so uplifting and I wish I knew all of the words to sing along. It made me think about my faith community back home and how valuable it is to my life. Later on, we attended a concert by Jimmy Dludlu and danced the night away. It was a very musical day.

I feel like I have so much to say about orientation because we did an unbelievable amount of things during such a short amount of time. I don’t want my blog to become like a list and I have been so exhausted every night to keep up to date with all of the emotions I felt and thoughts that came to me. Once I have more of a routine and am in the swing of things I will focus more on my opinions and emotions during this incredible life-changing journey. I hope I didn’t leave anything too important out of this already lengthy two-part intro. Until next blog…peace to all and happy reading! J