This is just the beginning.

PICTURES! Finally. I have been taking so many that it is really hard to narrow it down, but at the same time its hard to find even one picture that can really do justice to the experience it represents (although maybe thats speaking more to my photography skills than anything else...). 

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape of Good Hope, the most southern tip of Africa.  Debatably the most beautiful place I have ever been.  I dangled my feet off a bluff overlooking the waters where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, feeling very much like I was at the ends of the earth. 

Jamison Hall, University of Cape Town. These are the last of the 235971200 steps I walk up every day to get to class (really only a slight exaggeration), leading to the main part of this beautiful campus. In the background Devil's Peak, the highest summit of Table Mountain, adds to the stunning setting of UCT.

The main walk in Upper Campus where I have all four of my classes. Classes started last Monday and have been fine. School is school, no matter what continent.   

African penguins on Bolder Beach in the Cape Penninsula.

This is the platter of mostly unknown meats at a braai place called Mzoli's in Gugulethu, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town. It was one big room under a tin room full of plastic tables and chairs, loud African house music, and literal buckets of meat. It was wonderful, a culture hub of the township, jam packed with vibrant people and good food.

A bar across the street from Mzoli's in Gugulethu. 

Sunset at the Waterfront. I met up with Christopher Wyatt (for those of you from LC) and his mom and we got dinner and  caught the sunset at the Waterfront, a big dutch style outdoor mall along the port. We also hit up a karaoke bar and sang and danced until at least one in the morning. It was a great time, I mean what are the chances that two old friends from home would be on the other side of the world in the same city at the same time? 

This weekend we went to the Stellenbosch Wine Festival. Stellenbosch is a little more than an hour outside of Cape Town and is an old, very dutch settlement surrounded by some of the best wine country in the world. It looks a little like central California really, rolling vineyards and big country houses. This was the only picture that captured any of the scenary, and it definitely doesn't do it justice. The festival was a day long so we stayed in a hostel and went out to the bars that night. It was a long weekend and I'm feeling the repercussions now, but it was definitely worth it. This is Adriane one of my housemates and my wine tasting partner all weekend. 

I've only been in South Africa two weeks and I already love this flag. I feel like I've been here for months, and like I've known these people for years. My bucket list just gets longer with every new place I go or person I meet. It may feel like I've been here a long time but I am always happy to remind myself, this is just the beginning.