The Countdown Begins

After we got back from Durban I had 3 days to study for my last final on June 3, so I pretty much just lived at the library until I was FINALLY DONE with 3 weeks of hell finals. Whew. June 3 was also our roommate Shawn’s 20th birthday so we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Mama Africa on Long street, which was delicious and then we went out to Zula bar and just had fun celebrating one of the many birthdays.


The 4th was the day before our dear friend Callie was leaving…it seemed so inconceivable because it was so early, but it happened. So that day we helped her move out of her room and pack and then ended up going to town and doing a bit of shopping. We were also going to Namibia on the 5th so Jess S and I did some cooking and preparing for our trip. The morning of the 5th we just hung out with Callie, went to our favorite spot Hello Sailor for some delicious coffee and then had to pack up our car, and head on out to Namibia. That was the first goodbye, of course I cried because Callie is going back to Massachusetts and I am going to California, but I am confident we will meet again in the very near future :) Then onto many hours of driving to make it to Namibia!!

Fathers Day (8 days late)

My deliquency this time is due to being lost in time traveling from South Africa to Dubai to LA and arriving on fathers day and being super busy ever since. Excuses aside....

I dedicate this post to my wonderful wonderful father Alvin Earl Johnson, the man who will kill spiders, go out of his way to fulfill my silliest of whims (umm like a disco ball in my room?), man who I occasionally turn around to find crawling in my room to scare me, and who ballroom dances with me to the songs in the credits of movies. Oh, and has some killer dance moves, please see below.

Happy fathers day (and birthday!!) Alvin!! I love you tons and am glad to be in the same time zone again. You're the best :)

Reader Beware

Okay so the last few weeks of Cape Town have been absolutely amazing, and I need to document them as fully as possible. This being said, the next few posts may be long…sorry guys, this is more for my memory at this point.

SO. A couple of weeks ago, after my first two finals, and before the third one, 10 of my fave roommates and I decided to take a little trip to Durban. Durban is in the north of SA and Taryn’s parents lived there for a month, and we had heard a lot about it, so we thought it would be fun. The morning we left we were all a hot mess because it was our roommate Ari’s 22nd birthday the night before, and needless to say we were all a little dysfunctional in the morning. But that morning will be one of my fondest memories because it was just too funny with people trying to pack last minute, and me packing my entire wardrobe for a 4 day vacation, it was hilarious. Then to top it off someone had organized something called the boogie bus to take us to the airport. It is this decked out van, the ceiling was covered with Cds and there were US license plates all around the van and the guy was blasting music, it was a fabulous way to get to the airport. Once we arrived, we all checked in and hung out until our flight.


When we stepped off of the plane the warm breeze blew around us and we all could not keep the smiles off of our faces at being in warm weather again!

Cape Town is a total microclimate and its winter is cold and wet, while Durban’s is mild and warm. We waited for a while to get a cab to our hostel, and then ended up at the Surf N’ Dreams hostel in town. Durban is a beautiful city and the cab driver drove us around so that we could get a feel for the city and also see the stadium. Their stadium is AWESOME, and you were originally able to bungee jump off of the top of it but because it was so close to the world cup beginning, Fifa had taken it over and you could no longer bungee. Anyways, the Durban stadium is meant to be a focal point of the city, and Cape Town’s was meant to not take away from the majestic table mountain in the background…kind of cool.


So for the afternoon, we just chilled, and then decided to get some dinner later, at a Chinese restaurant which was clearly where we should not have gone because Durban has a huge Indian population, so Chinese food was not the answer and we paid for it because it was really really gross, haha. Then we just ended up at a hookah bar hanging out and having a few beers before we headed back to the hostel. Between birthdays and finals, it has been a tiring few weeks. The next morning we decided to go to Durban’s version of Sea World essentially. It was called the Ushaka marine world and we couldn’t have chosen a worse day to go. It was blustery and cold and windy, and an R80 cab ride from our hostel, so once we got there there was really no turning back. So we sucked it up. At least we got to touch the warm Indian ocean. We tried to enjoy what we could there, and the best part of the day was going to Moyo for lunch. Moyo is a well known restaurant in Stellenbosch but has a sister restaurant in Durban and I hadn’t been so that was great, and had a nice Indian influence.


Later in the afternoon we finally decided it was time to leave, after some brave roommates got on the water slides and such. That was interesting because that day was a trial run for the world cup in terms of shutting down streets to see how the traffic would work. It failed, it took us an hour and a half and R250 to get home, hot showers and relaxing were definitely in order after that. Some of us needed to save money so we made dinner at the hostel, which was nice. The funny thing about this hostel was that the people who ran it were not nice. They were very inhospitable, and it was more of a guest house than a hostel. We felt like we were walking on egg shells the entire time, and it felt as if we were unwelcome, not like any hostel I have stayed in ever. So one night we tried to get out of it and move, but because there were 10 of us, it was too much and no hostels had enough room, so we ended up staying. Anyways, we made dinner, chilled, and then decided to go out to the bars on Florida Rd, which is where things are happenin down in Durban. We went to a bar called Taco Zulu and it was great, nightlight in Durban was very fun.



The next day was much nicer than the first so we decided to go to the beach. There is a big casino in Durban and food court and movie theaters right on the water and a beautiful beach, so we spent the day there enjoying the sun. It wasn’t as warm as we had wanted it to be, but it was still enjoyable. That day we were walking through this big mall thing, and saw that Sex and the City 2 was playing at the theaters and us girls got pretty excited and went immediately to go see it. It was great, though after that I started to feel really badly and got a random fever. So we went back to the hostel, and met up with all the roomies, I was freezing so I immediately got in bed and took Dayquil, then they all went to dinner and out for the night while I napped, ate, and took Nyquil then slept some more. It was not that much fun, but the next day I rallied and just had to deal with a nasty cough for the next week or so.

The next day we wanted to check out this market in Durban called Victoria market, which is a big Indian marketplace and that was really cool. I got some spices for my parents and bracelets as gifts as well, and then we ate some deliciously awesome authentic Indian food, from a little hole in the wall restaurant.


The big Indian dish here is called bunny chows and they are basically like half a loaf of bread scooped out and filled with curried veggies or meat or whatever. And they are delicious. Then we headed back to the beach. This day was not as warm as the first so we again sought refuge in the movie theater that I slept through, haha. But movies there cost R25, which is about $3 so it was not a big loss, haha. That night we all just hung out and relaxed because Shawn, Sam and I had a 6am flight, so we just got up early and headed to the airport, back to Cape Town and happy to be there :)

The Future

So the world cup is fast approaching. And I’m having lots of mixed feelings about it.


On the one hand, I am super excited, because I get to go to a game!! I had the good fortune to have luck in the lottery and my roommate Amanda and I will be sitting in the nosebleeds of the June 11 France v. Uruguay game :) June 11 is also the eve of my 21st birthday, and a TON of people that I know are going to that game, so we are just going to meet up in town after the game and celebrate my turning 21, so that is also exciting.

Amanda and I:


On the other hand…South Africa is changing. I feel like the last two weeks have been the most significant changes, and many more tourists have started to come here. A new girl moved into our house and our house is being super renovated for the world cup because a bunch of new people will be moving in at a premium just because the landlords can charge that.

I also thought I was not going to be affected over here in little obz. But as I walked home from the library last night, Observatory was HELLA crackin…so many new Americans, so many new tourists and unfortunately we get lumped into that category, which we have all worked 5 months to avoid. Oh well…its gonna be fun, that is for sure. I just need to get used to the new South Africa before I leave on June 19. Gonna enjoy every last minute.

It's prob the same temp in SF right now, and its winter in CT

^^ haha, so true. So like I said in the last post, I have been doing a fair bit of enjoying the good weather this May in between the studying. And if you all don't know, its fall/winter-ish right now, so every beautiful day you really just have to take advantage of.

For example, on Saturday after the biscuit mill, it was so beautiful and actually HOT that me and the girls decided to take a picnic to Kierstenbosch gardens, a botanical garden in Newlands, and it was one of the best ideas we've had in a long time. We went to the grocery store and got some bread, cheese, hummus, guac, chips, cookies and took ourselves to Kierstenbosch.



Its kind of an expensive cab ride, so that wasnt the best, but when we got there it was some kind of botanical holiday (??) and we got in for free! Even more of a great idea at this point...

we just sat and shot the shit for a couple of hours, laughing til we cried (the usual for me) and munched, and enjoyed the natural beautiful scenery Cape Town has to offer. Callie is leaving in less than two weeks, and its been weighing on us a bit.


On a more positive note, finished my 4th exam today!! One more on the 3rd of June, but in between now and then I'll be going on a quick vacation to Durban with 9 of my lovely roommates. Looking forward to some R&R from studying, and enjoying all of SA while I have the time.

ALSO...Sunday night we went to a sushi restaurant called Beluga. It is known for its half priced sushi on sundays and it was a great great great deal for an awesome amount of food, and a great atmosphere. It was actually a really nice restaurant (I dont know what I was expecting) and we just ate our hearts content of raw fish and it was delectable! Here's a quick pic of the five of us, from left to right, Amanda, Jess, Callie, Taryn, and me:

Last Month in CT

Finals are upon us. They are so much worse at UCT than at USF and that is a general consensus for all the kids here, not just me. They count for about 60% of your grade, so everything else you do all semester doesn’t matter at all because if you bomb the final, you are done. A lot of pressure, and all I want to be doing is enjoying the beautiful fall weather here in Cape Town!! (Lets be real-I’m doing a lot of enjoying of the weather as well as studying…)

This past week was full of finals and not so fun things like studying day and night, but it also had some really fun moments. Background: There is a little restaurant right across the street from our house called Hello Sailor, and it is a tiny tiny little place that serves amazing breakfast and lunch, and amazing coffee and our house eats there A LOT so they know us pretty well. We decided that for the end of the year we wanted to have a house formal dinner, so we asked the guys at Hello Sailor if we could have it there, they came up with a Cape Malay style menu with desserts and drinks and it was absolutely fabulous. I had had two finals that day so I was a bit wiped out, but I rallied and made it to dinner only a bit late.
Dinner at Hello Sailor:


Everyone was dressed to the nines, and the food was amazing…for the veggies there was a fruit and lentil dahl with spiced rice, and for the meat eaters was ostrich and a lamb stew and something else meaty. The starter was a potato leek soup, and it was all so delicious! Dessert was milk tart and malva pudding (a South African specialty) that I can’t even describe, but it melts in your mouth and is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had. They included some traditional South African shots, and we all made it a party. We told funny stories about our house, and then made it back home just in time to take a family picture and then head out to the club hemisphere! Where we saw Wayne Brady….craziness ensued.
Family Photo:


The next day was our friend Nicole’s 21st birthday and she had rented out a boat for a sunset cruise leaving from the waterfront. Drinks were included and we made it there at about 5pm, just before the sun started setting and it really was incredible. Being out on the water looking back at CT with table mountain in the background and green point stadium (where I will be going for the world cup!) with all your friends and the most gorgeous setting…this last bit of my travels in Cape Town is turning out to be quite memorable. Peep the pics…words really don’t do it justice.
Amanda, Dan and I not even posing for this wonderful photo:


Incredible sunset


What am I going to do when the glorious, majestic table mountain isn’t the background to my life anymore?
Amanda and I :

High Class in Cape Town

Blog deliquency...I do realize is not a nice thing. But alas here I am with stories of high class moments in Cape Town. Which if you don't know are few and far between for college students in general, and study abroad even less so.

I mentioned we have bars and razor wire all around our house right? Oh and that one college kid time where I wanted raisins in my oatmeal but didn't have any so I picked them out of my peanut and raisin mix and added them to my oatmeal. Yeah, proves a point right?

Now onto the classier stuff, or as Amanda would say "grown and sexy." This weekend was our roommate Anthony's 21st birthday celebration, so Friday night we went to a club called Assembly and experienced drum and base night...we keep on discovering these new places in Cape Town, perfect time to do it. Then of course we ended up at the biscuit mill, where I just could not pass up the latka with smoked salmon and poached egg with hollandaise sauce AGAIN. So good. Oh and an iced coffee, and a cupcake :)


This pic is at the biscuit mill and just makes me laugh every time I see it because I had just stepped on Jacob's toe (he is to the left of me) so he has a look of pain on his face, I am laughing hysterically of course, Anthony is to the left of Jacob and has witnessed this happen, and Ari on the far left is just doin his own thing. Good pic of some quality roomies.


Saturday night, I went to the Cape Town ballet!! It wasnt the most amazing performance of my life, but there were a couple of dances that blew my mind and a couple that didn't. It was still a great experience, and was classy to the max.

On Sunday, for Anthony's official birthday celebration we went to the Mount Nelson hotel to have high tea. We got dressed up and headed out around 2:30pm in order to make tea. It was from a movie, there were cucumber finger sandwiches, and little personal sized desserts and every kind of tea infused strangeness you could imagine. Plus the grounds were beautiful. Pic is of 14 of the 17 roommates, missing Will, Katie and Lucy!



I have a month left, 5 exams to go, and I feel so strapped for time! I want to see everything I want to see, eat everywhere I want to eat, travel everywhere and do everything. It's a strange feeling...I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about coming home in four weeks.