Heading home

I'm about 90% packed and will be leaving for the airport in a few hours.

We had a nice dinner last night at the Roma Revolving Restaurant, it was on the 32nd floor of a building near the harbor and since it spun while you ate we had a continually changing view of the city. We stayed up pretty late talking with some of the people from the res hall, and didn't go to bed until after 1 am.

Then Gideon, Sam and I got up at about 6:15 to go out and watch the sunrise from the top of one of the tallest buildings on campus. It was pretty great.

I'm sure I'll be exhausted in a while, but I do have a very long plane right ahead of me so I guess that's ok.

Flight to Jo'burg at 2:40, flight to D.C. leaves at 5:55. About a 16 hour flight, with a stop in Senegal (I think to refuel). D.C. to Chicago, then finally Chicago to Minneapolis. I'll get in to Minneapolis around 1:30 pm (Sunday).

My cell phone will be on starting Sunday night. I'll be at Dad's for most of the week, starting my senior project at the U on Tuesday. I'll be heading to Rochester on Thursday or Friday to spend the weekend there.

Thanks for tagging along on my adventure. See you guys soon!

The Western Cape... in pictures

Instead of telling you all about my weekend, I'll let the pictures do the talking. Yes, there's more than just what's shown in the pictures -- but I'll be home in less than a week, and the rest can wait until then.

That's driving on the left side of the road for ya... sitting in the right side of the car.

^^It wasn't really a sex shop... just a restaurant/bar with a funny name in the middle of nowhere.
The views along our way were spectacular.

^^Standing on ostrich eggs... they can stand a lot of pressure from above (like 200 kg or something)

Fulfilled one of my African fantasies by riding an ostrich! Scary, but fun.

On the way...
... to the waterfall!


We took a tour of Cango Caves

It was called the adventure tour... because we got to make our way through tiny little tunnels

Beautiful sunset at Cape Agulhas...
a.k.a. the Southernmost tip of Africa, and the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet

It was a great trip... naturally there's always more I wish I could have done. But it was pretty great for only being 4 days.

The last hoorah

With every day that passes, my mood takes a turn for the worse.

4 of the people from my group are leaving tomorrow. It's hard to think about, and it makes me sad. It won't be long before I, myself, am leaving and that saddens me as well. There are lots of things I'm looking forward to at home, I'm just not really ready to leave... or at least not ready enough to be very excited about it.

Gideon and I have decided to take one last trip because we had an overlapping break in exams. I take my last exam at 9 am tomorrow morning, and he has his last one on the 13th.

So we have plane tickets to Capetown, where we're renting a car and driving into the mountains and along the coast a bit. I'm pretty excited about it, maybe because it's one of the first trips that I've really done most of the planning for. The weather will likely be a little chilly but I think being away and experiencing a new place will help take my mind off my looming departure.

I'll have plenty of time for more reflection and updates when I get back on the 12th, as all I'll have to be doing is packing and cleaning.

For now I'm just going to try to get through my exam in the morning -- I've been studying for ages and just don't feel confident. Then I'm going to have a lovely trip and try not to think too much. Since I'll still be in South Africa I imagine that my phone will still work, though in the mountains I'm not sure if I'll have reception or not. I guess my point is if you need to talk to me you should be able to get ahold of me, but I'm not really sure. I'll be back the afternoon of the 12th either way.

Have a great weekend... and I'll see you all soon.