Registration & Out on the Town

Yesterday we got to register for our classes which is exciting. I cannot wait to start classes; I'm looking forward to the routine and seeing the differences between the American education system and the way in which classes are taught here. The classes are much much larger here than they are at WAC, so that's going to be a big adjustment, but luckily it's only one semester. Apparently it's very independent and there is very little work. For the most part it seems like your overall grade depends on your final exam, which will be held in June. Currently I am registered for 3 "real" classes, but I may drop one since I don't really need to take it. I'm registered for Anthropology I, Sociology I and Art History III. The art history seems really exciting since it covers a lot of African art and we're going on a field trip which will be very cool. Also I get double the credit for it, which is great and that's why I can drop one class if I wish. I'm going to feel it out next week (classes start Monday) and see how I like Sociology. That would be the one that I would drop if I were to drop a class.

Last night all of the WAC kids were treated to dinner with our professors (called lecturers here) in town. The restaurant was beautiful, the food was fantastic, and the wine kept on coming. Grace, Ryan and I engaged in conversation with 3 of the lecturers. It was a lot of fun. We discussed everything from apartheid, to the American election, to environmental issues and even Britney Spears and Anna Nicole. One of the lecturers, head of the Anthro department (a class I am taking this semester) was hilarious! He made the funniest comments about Britney. I'm very excited to be in a class with him. It's very interesting how engaged in American culture, news and politics people here are. I'm rather ashamed of the reputation we have here. It's not quite the image I like to promote, but hopefully we will be able to shed a better light on Americans.

Following dinner Grace, Kana, Sonya and I went out on the town. We first went to the Rat and Parrot, a local pub and talked to people and we also hung out with some South Africans from Grace's res. After that we went to Friars, a bar/dance club and danced for a while. It was a lot of fun. It was hard getting up to serenade this morning, though. Luckily today was our last time!

Tomorrow Ashwin, our adviser, is taking all of the WAC kids to the beach which should be a lot of fun. I'm excited to relax; however I have an absolutely horrible sunburn on my chest that I'm afraid of exacerbating. I'll certainly post pictures from that later this weekend.

So far although the adjustment has been extreme, Africa is everything and more than I thought it would be and I'm really looking forward to spending the next few months here. I'm sure that I'll be home before I know it, but I really want to ensure that I make the best of my trip. We're currently trying to plan our first few excursions, around South Africa as well as other Southern African countries. Grace has a few Dutch kids in her res that are really interested in traveling so I think that we'll all be trekking together. We're even thinking about renting a car, which will be very interesting, considering that they drive on the other side of the road here.