Changes

The first week was full of adjustments, from the time change to the landscape. I arrived into the Cape Town airport after literally 34 hours of traveling to find a group of people wearing orange and black shirts yelling in excitement for my arrival. I soon learned these would be our RAs. I met some other people on the program (unlike apparently everyone else on the trip, I didn’t travel with or meet anyone on the plane), and had literally the same conversation with everyone, with “where do you go to school?” immediately following introductions. While USC is actually the best-represented school here with 19 students (out of 160), I didn’t know all of them before coming, and most people on the program are from the east coast. Though USC attracts students from all over, I was surprised at the number of people from Boston, New York, etc, and how many small, liberal arts, east coast colleges I had never heard of. I guess that’s the consequence of not applying east of Arizona.

The first week was definitely a change. 1. South Africa is 10 hours ahead of the west coast, which makes communication extremely difficult. Contributing to this, we had no internet in the dorms, and extremely unreliable internet in our houses. 2. They drive on the left (aka “wrong”) side of the road, which can get very confusing, especially while crossing streets. They also don’t seem to have the same qualms American drivers do about hitting pedestrians. 3. Everything takes a longer here. Despite being in a very developed part of Africa, we are still in Africa, and we are in a third world country. We’ve learned that “we’re leaving now,” doesn’t mean “now,” but rather, “now now,” which can be anywhere from about 15 minutes to an hour or more. 4. The seasons are reversed. And there are more season here in one day than there are in a year in L.A. I (gladly) left 40 degree weather at home to come to 70-80 degree weather (aka perfection) daily.

One of the most drastic changes we have all had to adjust to is reality of living in a city with such high poverty, unemployment, and crime. I felt like I would be prepared coming from downtown Los Angeles but really nothing can fully prepare you. We essentially cannot go anywhere alone, especially at night. We have a gate around out house, with both barbed and electrical fencing. We also have a security guard at night for additional protection. We frequently hear about pick pocketing, but luckily nothing worse has happened (knock on wood). We have to remember to be extra vigilant and aware of our surroundings. We are adjusting, but it’s still hard, especially being a girl, because of the lack of independence.