Anothere Semester

It is almost a month since school started again and the time has as usually passed by quickly. This semester is very short, it begun in the end of July and I will finish my last exam in mid November, with my last seminar in mid October.
My courses this semester is Global Political Economy, International Law and Conflict in Africa, I am in addition to this following a course in Development and Participation and I am continuing with french.
French is more fun this semester since I now have some of the basic, but the progress is slow and it will only give me a foundation for when I hopefully will live in a french speaking country.
I have also exercised regularly the last months which is very nice and which was about time as well. My swimming stamina is improving, but it is slow progress and most others in the pool always swims so fast. It is a good thing I am not competitive at all!

Last Tuesday was a great day! They showed Rosenborg - Køpenhavn on Supersport 7. I was actually able to watch my Norwegian team play in South Africa. We rallied together most Norwegians in Stellenbosch, about 10 + some more, printed some songs, painted our faces (with mustaches) and used our national jersey's :) It was a lot of fun and we won the game. I do not think I supported Rosenborg, or any team that completely before, but hopefully it be like this again next Wednesday again.

The winter is slowly retreating, shorts and t-shirts are in use long before the first spring day, but at night and some days it is still fairly chill.

JJ

End of World Cup

The World Cup is now over and I will just post a few more picture of that before the everyday life starts again.
This is from the train station in Cape Town (CT). The city was full of signs to the stadium, the fan fest area and to the Waterfront. It was always great walking around and see and feel the WC frenzy.

I was very lucky and was offered a ticket to the Quarter final game between Brazil and Nederland in Port Elizabeth (PE). PE is an industry city in the Eastern Cape, around 750 km from CT. We left at night and drove there. We arrived around 12 and the weather was perfect, I was sweating and actually missed the colder CT winter. We walked a little on the beach before we went to the stadium. It was amazing, people was so happy, excited and ready for the game. It was a full party outside for hours in the sun and Brazilians and Dutch people where mingling like friends.
I went with a dutch, a brazilian and a german, and me, a norwegian. The dutch girl was wearing a flag as a dress (you see her to the left in the picture) and everyone wanted a picture of her. She was even interviewed by spanish and dutch television and was a big part of the dutch news after the game.

They had a stage with people dancing with a WC trophy that I got a hand on. I was 'neutral' (Brazilian) so I used my Norway jersey. Such a great feeling lifting the trophy and imagine that Norway be playing (or me!!!!).

I found another trophy inside the stadium and had 45000 people celebrating while I lifted it!

Now we are back in CT and at the Waterfront they had several of these status.

Rainbow above CT.

Something build of the box you but bottles in.

This is a dassie, an animal that you find at the Table Mountain and other places. I was about feeding it when it bit me and I took some shots the next day to be on the safe side. I have so far not heard of anyone else being bitten by a dassie, so I felt kind of stupid.


School is about starting and mu courses this semester will be Global Political Economy and Conflict in Africa. I will also do International Law, but that is not obligatory. I am still contemplating what to do with my french. I can sign up for a full program or I can continue doing some evening classes. I still have a week before I need to make a decision, but I am tempted to do the full thing, I will go and talk to them again.

This is also my last day in my first house. I will move to another house a little closer to the city. Also a very nice house with a big garden and lower rent. I am excited about it but I will miss living with some of my previous house mates.

Portugal North vs North Korea and Holland vs Cameroon

Portugal against North Korea in a 7 - 0 thriller :) Amazing to be at the stadium when there are 7 goals, and in such a win. My seat was faaaaaaaaaaar up, it felt like I was a bird with this seat. It gave a great overview of the game and the small dots that where players. The stadium is just huge. 
  A great poster :) 
Watching Italy - Slovakia at the Fan Fest in Cape Town before the Holland - Cameroon game. It is room for around 25 000 people, has several big screens and the Table Mountain in the background. I was wearing my Norway jersey, a danish scarf, a Bolivia jersey and a cameroonian scarf and hat + a South African vuvuzela :) 
Meeting Cameroonians on the way to Green Point
So many dutch people 

Paraguay vs Italia

On Monday I watched my first World Cup game live at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town  :) A childhood dream became reality! 

The game was between my archenemy Italy and my South American brothers from Paraguay so it was not hard to know whom I was to cheer for. 

This is me and Doron when we are going to the stadium 

A random Italian who also had painted his face :) Even if the weather was really bad, rain, wind and cold, people were having a great time. Even if we talked to Italians, South Africans or Paraguayens. Everyone was just enjoying the atmosphere and the football.
The group with the stadium in the background
It is a reality
After the game I begged a guard to give me some grass from the pitch :) Which be great to put in a World Cup diary later
An amazing experience :D

World Cup, Cape Town and Rugby

I finished my last exam on Thursday and the World Cup started on Friday so it has been some very intense day's. 

The first picture is of me and my Bafana Bafana outfit, ready to go to Cape Town to see the opening match. 

I got to Cape Town 3 hours before the game, but the main fan parks where already full and the same with all pubs. We walked around for almost 2,5 hours to find a place but it was sooooooo much people. In the end we just tried to see at a big screen and it was ok for me, but those that where shorter did not see much.

The atmosphere was so great. Everyone was talking together, dancing, cheering, blowing the vuvuzela and I can't explain. All South Africans made it an amazing day for everyone and I am so happy the World Cup started so good. People are really happy and exited about it here.

When South Africa scored everyone just went crazy, screaming, praying, kissing, hugging, dancing and whatever you can imagine. The sounds of all the vuvuzelas at that time was intense but still it was impossible to bother about it because it was such a great moment. The opposite happened when Mexico scored, then everything was completely quiet for 10 seconds. Suddenly I could hear my own breath and people was just wondering what just happened. However, that did not last long, after a few minutes the party was going strong again and from then on people were just relaxing and enjoying the game. 

If it is one thing South Africans knows, it will be to have a good time, and before, during and after the opening game they did that like no one else.  
South Africa played a rugby match against France. I dressed up as a South African again, but this time in a rugby shirt and a Springbok hat (it reminded a little of a Viking hat) and went to the game. It was around 45000 people on the stadium and a great game. South Africa won 35 - 17 so they were very happy. 

Tomorrow I will relax a little, or that means play football in the morning and go to a restaurant/pub and watch football after. Just somewhere less intense and a little more quiet. And then on Monday I go to Cape Town early for the Holland vs Denmark game, and in the evening 20.30 South African time I be at Green Point stadium watching Paraguay vs Italy :) 

It is just great. 

But I also struggle to realize that it is really happening

The last note most be that one can only love South Africans

Some more pictures from SA

This picture is from the Stellenbosch mountain, again. I think it will be the last one since I know posted from the day, sunset and sunrise and cannot find any new way of showing it. I walked up at night, obviously in the dark, and it took 4 hours. Was very nice and the view over all the light are nice. The picture is from the madrugada and shows Stellenbosch partly covered in mist as the day slowly approaches. 

I will watch the Sprinboek against France on the 12 of June at Newlands stadium and I therefore bought a Springboek jersey. Springboek is what South Africa's national rugby team is called. In the Western Cape province and in Stellenbosch rugby is huge, as I mentioned earlier, and I am very excited about watching the game. Lately I spent more time watching rugby and I am starting to like it more and more. The Picture is from me tackling Matti in the bathtub. I was waiting outside the bathroom and surprised him when he walked out. I felt the need to tackle someone when I used the shirt. 
I made boller and cinnamon boller, naturally as the good house man I am. 
Hiking in Muizenberg, a small surfer place a little outside Cape Town.  
Watching seals in Hout Bay, a fishing harbor 15min walk from Muizenberg. 

Done with research proposal

I handed in my second exam today in research methodology. The exam was to write a research proposal on 2000 words. My plan was to do it on the topic I will write my thesis on later, but I still do not know what I want to write about so I ended writing about something I had a few essay's about before. It was good practice, but time consuming. I handed it in today at 11 and talked a little with the lecturer. She is in her mid-thirties and has made research methodology as fun as it can get. Today we talked about rugby and the World Cup and I will definitively ask her about my thesis later, and I know she will be happy to give advices. I actually feel that all three of the lecturers this semesters care and are talking with you when you have a question, something that is always nice. I actually have a deal to have a drink with another lecturer when she finish grading the exams. It is nice to feel that you are treated more as a future researcher, than as merely a student. 

So I am very happy about that, but also very tired. Even if I have been sleeping fairly well lately my head has been working constantly and I never had time to relax as it has always been an upcoming assignment or exam. But now I have almost two weeks until the last exam and I intend to read some non school literature. Yesterday I bought a book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon named 'The Angel's Game', I just started it and is very excited about that. I read another book of him before that definitely are amongst my favorites, namely ' The Shadow of the Wind'. 

Later today I will bake boller and cinnamon boller, before I have a early night. Then I have an even earlier morning tomorrow since I am planing on climbing Stellenbosch Mountain tonight and see the sunrise. Tomorrow we will have people over for coffee and karsk before I go watch rugby and football. It is the semifinals in the top 14 tournament (the champions league of rugby) and both Pretoria and Cape Town have reached the semi final. That starts at 5, then the second game at 7, before it is champions league final at 9 so it will be quiet a sports day.