Overnight Hike Last Weekend

Hello everyone! It has been a pretty crazy week with classes starting to pick up as well as the start of my volunteering :) Anyways last weekend I went with a few friends and the Mountain and Ski Club to an overnight hike at Zuurberg Mountain :) It was about an hour away. We were driving along a normal road and then all of a sudden it ended and we were just driving on dirt through a farm to get to our location. Once we arrived we walked about 20 minutes to a dam where we jumped off of the top of it and into the water! It was about 35 feet high haha so after swimming for a while we began the real hike. We ended up missing the path by 10 feet and took the wrong way up! A hour and a half hike then turned into 4 hours haha but it was still so much fun. The leaders of the Mountain and Ski Club were telling us there was running water and huts at the top for us to sleep in. So after the 4 hours they announced we were almost there. We turned the corner... and it was just flat land haha so we set up our sleeping bags and headed to a rock pool. It was like a mini quarry with a tiny pool no bigger than a bedroom in between. Someone had the crazy idea to jump off the cliff into this tiny pool where you could see the bottom of the water from the top!! Everyone ended up following suite since he made the jump successfully :) I ended up leaping off 3 times and it was the greatest time ever as you can see in the picture :)

So afterward we all went back to our "camp" and slept under the stars. You could see literally every single star in the sky. It was epic. Then we woke up the next day and took the real path this time and made it quickly down :) It was such an amazing time and I met a lot of local South Africans. Hopefully I'll be going on even more hikes and rock climbing with the club. I miss all of you and I would give anything for you guys to hike up that mountain with me.

The Elephant For Mason

Haha so here it is Mason... "the Elephant Formation" this was from our trip along the Garden Route the week before classes started. I was able to walk an elephant while he rested his trunk on my hand, and then they all performed tricks and afterward we were able to feed them :) The place is called "The Elephant Sanctuary". They have 6 elephants total which they have all taken in from Game Reserves where they would have been killed off due to the overpopulation of elephants in southern Africa. Some of the trainers are dedicated to stay there for 15 years to help raise the elephants! I hope you enjoy, Mason!

The Atmosphere of South Africa

So I just got back from one of the local bars here in Cape Town. The city is broken up into little districts, and the area that my dorm is in is known as "Mowbray". Up a little north is a district known as "Observatory" and people call it "Obs" for short. It is a really chill place with plenty of local bars to relax at. We ended up stopping at this place called "Stones" which also has a location of the same name in downtown Cape Town (known as Long Street, but I'll explain later :) )

So "Stones" was such a sweet bar.. they have like 100 pool tables, as well as a balcony to just relax at. I've never encountered bars/clubs in the states that share a counterpart here in South Africa. "Stones" was such a cool place. It's amazing how different the little things can be in a different country. The pool tables are MUCH smaller, along with the pool balls themselves. The pockets are smaller as well which makes it very difficult to make a shot. We would sometimes go 10 minutes without a single ball dropping in haha but eventually I learned the essentials that were necessary for the much smaller table.

I've been to over a dozen bars and clubs here in South Africa, and not one reminds me of the States. Each bar is unique in its own way and has the type of atmosphere that just welcomes you in to explore a new found area. Most importanly, the people shape the concrete of these bars. I have never in my life encountered anyone more open and willing to talk about anything. They don't just talk aimlessly either.. they actually are interested in who you are and what brought you to this beautiful country.

I know it is very difficult to describe in words.. and is pretty much something you need to experience for yourself.. but just life in general here is open to anything you have to offer... never will you feel unwelcome.. but instead a feeling of acceptance no matter who you are.. something that is rare to come by.

Ladies and Gentlemen.... the Penguins of South Africa!!

Haha so here you go Ally... it's true.. there are penguins in South Africa. It's pretty much the most bizarre thing I've ever witnessed in my life haha so basically they just stand around all day and then every now and then they will walk around aimlessly, but nevertheless, it was amazing.. hopefully if I can get to the coffee shop I can upload a video of the penguin race... the bandwith to upload a video is horrendous.. anyways I hope you enjoy the penguins as much as I did!!

I thought I would try and post a picture and to show you all how this country is so beautiful. This is of Kalk Bay in Cape Town. We were here about 2 weeks ago and seals swam straight up to us.... wild seals haha

Hey everyone! So I've finally settled in and have my schedule set (for the most part) I just had my first day of classes and it was pretty hectic haha the university still has yet to finalize all of the courses so my African music class is still yet to be determined. It is amazing how different it is here in South Africa, but I'm slowly transitioning. I have done so many things so far that I never even imagined would be possible. So for now I'm just trying out this blog and seeing how it works, but now that I have my schedule I'll be able to have some time to just sit down and relax. I really miss all of you and I can't wait to share all of the stories that I have so far.