Robben Island and UCT

Robben Island

Today we took a ferry out to Robben Island. Besides being the notorious prison where Nelson Mandela and countless other political prisoners were held and subjected to hard labor, the Island has a varied history. At various times it was a naval base, a prison for criminals, and a leper colony. We took a tour of both the prison and the Island itself. When it was a working prison in the second half of the 1900s about 1000 people lived on the island, now about 120 people live there, mostly support staff of the museum . The tour of the prison was conducted by a former political prisoner, who was held there from the mid 80s until 1991. At the end of the tour he told us a little about his own personal history, and was able to bring a real perspective to the trials of people who fought against the apartheid. 

Karibu UCT

I arrived at Graca Machel dorm yesterday afternoon on UCT’s Lower Campus. I had about an hour to unpack before we were told to meet up for a hike. Originally the plan was to hike Table Mountain, which is a fairly difficult 3 hour (one way) hike. Luckily, both for me and the jet lagged students that were arriving that day, the decision was made to hike the “much more manageable, not really a real hike” Lionshead. It was a little more than easy, but it did offer beautiful views of Cape Town and Table Mountain. On our way down we were able to see the sunset, and it was lovely.

Today we’ve been doing a lot of normal orientation type activities, especially talking about safety and getting around in Cape Town. While South Africa has a rather bad reputation for crime, in some cases there is too much made of the danger. Like any other large city, Cape Town has crime, but most of it involves drugs and gangs. As long as you are cautious and thoughtful there is nothing to really worry about.  I suffered my first major disappointment today. On our name tags we had letters that indicated where we were living. When called, I went to my group, R for Roxy, and went through house rules and introductions. Come to find out, my name tag was wrong and I was actually living in a different house. I am a little upset as everyone in the Roxy group seemed really chill and I was looking forward to a quiet and fun semester. Oh well, hopefully my actual house won’t disappoint!