Robben Island

This morning we all shipped out early and headed to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. It was great to experience such an intense and emotional part of South African history. To get onto the island we had to take a half hour boat ride which gave us a beautiful view of Table Mountain, Lion’s Head, Signal Hill and Devil’s Peak.  Once on the island, we got a 20-minute bus ride around the prison. The tour guide pointed out the minimum and maximum detention cells the leper graveyard, and the limestone query where prisoners had to dig all day in the heat. After we were taken on a walking prison tour with a former political leader who was imprisoned on Robben’s Island for 5 ½ years. It was neat hearing about the history I read in Mandela’s book and seeing the cell his was locked up in for years and I saw the garden where he hide his Long Walk to Freedom manuscript while writing it in prison. 

My favorite part of the experience was getting to speak personally with the guide. He spoke about getting kicked out of high school at 18 for his political beliefs and being arrested at 24 years old for being a military member of the ANC. Although Robben’s Island treated the prisoners like animals, he said he considered and always will think of the other inmates as family. I asked if it was challenging giving tours at a place that was so cruel and took away all his rights and humanity. He said initially he couldn’t get through a full tour without tearing up or having to end the walk however, after a while he realized talking about his time in prison is the best therapy he could have.

South African Braii

Last night, Steve, the academic advisor from Marquette who moved to South Africa with his wife and 3 kids for the semester, had all of us over to his house for a Braii. A braii is equivalent to a barbeque in the United States. Steve grilled up burgers, ostrich, pork and we had orange watermelon and zucchini brownies. It was a delicious dinner and it was fun getting to know Steve’s family better.

Today I went for a super hot but beautiful run through Observatory (the town I am living in while in South Africa) with Devin. We have to be extra careful running here because during the day the heat is intense. Around noon Judy Mayotte, the woman who founded the Marquette South Africa program, came to our house and talked to us. She was one of the most inspirational women I have ever met. She has traveled all around the world and lost her leg on the battlegrounds in Somalia. Judy talked about the reason behind creating the service-learning program and her reason for choosing South Africa. She was a powerful speaker and gave me goose bumps hearing about how passionate she is about South Africa and seeing how important the students are to her.  

Finally in Cape Town

Well, I finally arrived in Cape Town Tuesday morning instead of the intended Sunday night. There were 8 students leaving from Chicago and we were scheduled to fly from Detroit to Amsterdam and then Cape Town. However, our flight to Detroit was delayed so we would have missed our connecting flight. After talking with the Delta customer service for 3 hours we were re-booked to fly out of Chicago Saturday night at 6:30 pm to New York and then a red-eye flight straight to Amsterdam.

We arrived in Amsterdam around 2:30pm on Sunday and our flight was not until Monday so we decided to explore. We took the train into Amsterdam city central and walked around the city. There were tons of people walking around, riding bikes and watching random street performers. I really enjoyed Amsterdam and would love to go back when I am more wake and have a few more days to explore. Since our flight was messed up, Delta paid to put up in a nice hotel in Amsterdam and we received free dinner and breakfast. Unfortunately the only way the global trotters (the 8 of us flying from Chicago) could make it to Cape Town was to split up.

Monday morning four of us headed to the airport and caught a flight from Amsterdam to Paris. We arrived in Paris around 2:30pm and decided to hop on the Metro and headed into the city. As we walked up the stairs of the train station, the Arc de Triomphe was right in front of us. From there we headed toward to infamous Eiffel Tower. We crossed the Seine River and were able to eat dinner under the Eiffel Tower as it sparkled at 6pm.

I will spare you on the rest of the details and to make a much longer story short…. I finally made it to Cape Town safe and sound!!!

Molo

Hey everyone,

I am going to attempt to blog while in South Africa as a way to decompress and process my experiences and yet letting everyone back home know what's going on. Thank you for all the support you have already sent my way; it is so appreciated!!! I love you all and will be thinking about each and everyone of you throughout my time in Africa.