Some pictures

Hey,
I have not taken many pictures so far, but after the first 2 months there has been some pictures after all.
The first is from the top of Table Mountain, with the city center of Cape Town beneath me. Table Mountain is 1088 meters above sea level. You can also see Green Point with the World Cup stadium down by the sea. The small island that is outside is the famous Robben Island.


The second foto is from Stellenbosch mountain looking out on Stellenbosch. As you can see the town is quite small. You can see some of the farmland around the town, which mostly are winefarms. My part of the University is in the center of the city. I live to the left, around 20min walk from the University.


The is a picture of the garden to my house :) It is really quiet and I often have the feeling I am far away from South Africa or that I am not in a city when I am there. Eating breakfast outside, watching the birds, to sit there reading or having a braii is just great. Being a student is not always as hard as it can be!


This is from the Cederberg national park. It is around 3 hours north of Stellenbosch. It is a dry mountain area almost untouched by humans. Not strange since it is not much water there so farming is limited. However, there are some farms there as well, but they have a decent distance to their neighbors. We stayed at a camping place next to the small river/stream that went through this valley. The picture is from some cracks almost on the top of one of the surrounding mountains.


Around 20min walk from our camping spot the river ended in this small and deep (kulp?). We could jump from around 10m and there where a lot of fish there. There where also herds of baboons that lived in the area and you can see them on this picture. I was lying and reading on the other side when some of them suddenly screamed. Then I saw them all around me. I was there with only one other guy and we just sat there quiet for the next 10 min watching them climb, play, eat until they eventually had passed us.
In this area there where also a lot of snakes, I just saw one, because they luckily leave when someone approaches. At the evening there was the most amazing view of the stars, I cannot remember seeing them saw clearly before and I really wanted to take my sleeping bag and sleep outside. If you sleep quiet there is a possibility that a snake comes to your bag for a small nap. It is not necessarily dangerous, only if you move. If you lie completely still until it leaves by itself it is cool. I decided to wait until another time to do it, when there are more people who can join me, then there will be more noise and the possibility becomes smaller.
It was a really nice trip and I am so looking forward to getting to travel a little around, although I know it is still long until.

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday's are a day where I should read and work on assignements. My only class is french and that is in the evening. As always, my plan is to get up early and go to the gym, since I have more time I usually sleep until 8 or 9, but not always. Before my french class I try to read or work on essay's or assignements. There is still not to much to do, just increasing rapidly so I have not always done as much as I have to in the future on wednesdays. There is also the opportunity of lying down in the garden and read or just flote around in the pool. After french class in the evening I often gone to the Brazen Head to watch football. But yesterday I awent to an outdoor concert instead with local rock and reggea music. It was really nice, but also partly in Africaans, which I do not understand. The locals really liked that so I imagines they are a kind of Postgirobygget in Africaans, good when you get the lyrics.

Today I have class in International Relations Theory. I really like the lecturer and the class. It is in the morning, at 10, so I seldom really do much before. This is in one way the beggining of the weekend, since there are no more classes. Or, we have a obligatory Friday seminar, that some say are not obligatory. It is different guest lecturers who come and talk about whatever is their field. Anyway, thursday is in one way the start of the weekend, on paper at least. The rest of the day is some reading, the gym or something else. I actually have social chess with the chess society in the evening, but that is just for fun. In the evening we often go to a Libanese restaurang that have a live band playing outside each Thursday. That is always nice, all the restaurangs in the streets are full and people are standing around and you ahve a beer or a glass of wine.

Normal days!

I have been planing to write several times but each time I start I feel there is nothing to write about. Then, a few nights ago I was thinking maybe I should write what a normal week has become here in Stellenbosch.

Monday:
My goal each Monday is to be at the gym or swimming pool by 7, exercise, go home and eat a breakfast with eggs and beans. However, it is not always I manage that, but it is my vision. We have a class in Southern African Political Economy at 2, so when I get to start the day early I have some hours to read before class. Our teacher in this class is not my favorite. She gives us old articles, is unstructured, no red thread and seems almost uninterested in being a lecturer. After class I have 1,5 hours until french where I usually eat something, have a coffee and think on something else. In french class am I usually rather tired and not the most interactive student. That beside, my french is improving. It is still on a to basic level for communicating, but I understand much more and recognize more when I am reading. Hopefully in a months time I be ready for speaking a little. I also meets a friend sometimes that helps me. She is usually talking in french, asking me questions and I have to try to answer. I also meet some french people now that I hope to meet more often later. After my french class I usually go home or I meet someone out or I go back to the library to read.

Tuesday:
My vision is once again to go to the gym or pool, whichever I did not go to on Monday. My class starts again at 2 and I like to read before class. The lecturer today is on the contrary a very good. Her class, Research Methodology, is normally not the most interesting, but she makes it easier and very relevant for the master thesis. I have 3 hours from the end of this class until my Spanish class and I usually use those in the library. Spanish classes are more informal. We are 4 or 5 and everything goes in Spanish. We get some short stories and poems to read some days before and in class we talk about those stories. In weeks there are champions league I watch football in the evening, if not I just go home after class.

I write about the next days in a few days. I got tickets to two of the World Cup games of a friend in class. So I will see Portugal - North Korea and Italy - Paraguay here in Cape Town. That made my day when I found out, and the next day as well. So now I can just relax and focus on school.

Last Friday I went on my first wine tour. It was with an international student organization and we visited 4 farms and tasted 20 different wines. I like it, but I have a lot to learn. I do know how to distinguish between red and white, but more than that is not for me.
Got to go to class