Hello from South Africa! I am writing this on my last night here in South Africa. As I write, I look back on what an amazing and life changing experience this has been. I am so grateful to my parents for allowing me to partake in this once in a lifetime trip, but also I am beyond grateful to be apart of the Ursuline community. I am proud to say I go to Ursuline, and this trip has really brought the phrase, “we are connected to Ursuline communities all over the world” to light. We so often hear that phrase, but I do not think one truly realizes it until they experience it for themselves!
My favorite part of this trip was the time we spent in Cape Town. After a long day of traveling, we arrived in Cape Town in the evening, and made our way to the hotel. I was so excited about what was to come, I had trouble falling asleep! We woke up the next morning and went downstairs to eat breakfast. I had the most amazing breakfast, and tried strawberry juice for the first time. Then we made our way to our first stop in Cape Town, Table Mountain. We rode a gondola up the mountain, and the floor of the gondola spun in a circle while it was carrying us up. I had never experienced anything like that, and it made my stomach drop a few times, but the view at the top was completely worth it!
After that, we stopped on a street where the houses were previously owned by slaves that could not read or write. Since they were illiterate, they had to find a way to differentiate between the houses without using numbers or letters. So they painted each house a different color. Our last stop for the day was the District 6 Museum. I learned a lot about Apartheid at this museum. District 6 was one of the largest areas that was declared white during Apartheid. This means every person who was not white had to move out of this area, leave everything, and find another place to live. District 6 really brought Apartheid into reality, and gave me a closer look into what people endured during that time.
Our second day in Cape Town was jam packed with things to see and activities to do! We began the day with a boat ride out to an island almost covered in sea lions. The island was such a neat thing to see, but the boat ride there and back was rough. We were going over 20ft waves; I am just happy I do not get seasick easily. When we got back to shore we piled back on the bus and began our way to the Cape of Good Hope. On the way, we stopped for a photo op. in the most beautiful place. We were on the side of a mountain, looking over I could see the water and the stunning scenery.
The Cape of Good Hope was our first baboon and ostrich sighting. On one side of the street there was a gang of ostriches, and on the other side was was a bunch of baboons. On the way out, we saw baboons climbing on peoples’ cars, and our guide told us if you do not lock your car, the baboon will open it and take any food you have! After we left the Cape of Good Hope, we made our way to the beach with all of the penguins. This was the highlight of my day! The penguins were so cute, and there were so many of them! It was so different and such a cool thing to see.
The last day in Cape Town was my favorite day of the entire trip. We visited the Langa Township. This was the first time we were exposed to real poverty while in South Africa. At first it was a shock, and I had to take a step back because I had never witnessed this type of lifestyle. Our guide grew up in Langa, and spoke about the hardships the township faces, but also the benefits of living in the township. There are many hardships including lack of a good education, difficulty to obtain a job, and poor living conditions. There was an area with man made “houses”, they were essentially huts made out of scrap metal, wood, and anything else the people could find. What really hit me was when our guide pointed out a row of shipping containers and told us several families live in each container. The living situations, among everything else was shocking to me, but it truly opened my eyes and exposed me to what life is like for so many people in South Africa. As the tour went on I realized there were so many amazing things about the township. The main thing was the community. As we were walking around, I could feel how tight knit the community was, and it was such an amazing thing to witness. On one side of the township was an area with really nice houses, and our guide explained how the people from the township who were successful moved to this area so they could still be apart of the community. He also explained how they are a symbol to the young people that success is possible. Langa Township was my favorite part of the trip because although it was a culture shock, if you looked deep enough you could see the beauty in it.
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