Saying goodbye...

As my time here in Cape Town comes to an end, there are millions of emotions and thoughts running through my head. A week from today I will be boarding a plane back to the US and I don't know if I'm ready yet. I know it has to happen and it will because trust me, if I didn't get on that plane, my mother would KILL me!!! :) So now that my time is dwendling down to single numbers, i have to start thinking about and actually saying goodbye to people and places I have been surrounded with for these past four months. All my life I have never been good at good-byes and especially with quick change. High school graduation, moving to college, going home for summer break, and leaving for South Africa have been the hardest goodbyes I have ever had to do. Moving on to the next chapter of your life is exciting but scary and sad. Saying goodbye to the people you love the most in life is not easy at all. Living here in Cape Town for 4 months has allowed me to meet some amazing people and make life long friendships that i will never forget. Now that the time has come to move on and come home, i dont want to say goodbye to these people but i know i have to. Saying goodbye means that we are leaving each other, leaving this place, and going back to a place that is completely different from the one we are living in now. We have been through so much here and most of the stuff will never be understood by anyone besides the people on my program. The friends I have made here will be my friends forever and it is going to be so hard to say goodbye and let go to an experience that has changed my life in so many different ways. They have been there for me through some crazy times and i really dont want to leave the memories we have had behind. But we know its what we have to do and our friendship is only being moved to a different country. these goodbyes are going to be hard but something we have to do. just like the goodbyes i had to say leaving for South Africa, the goodbyes i have to say leaving South Africa are going to be so hard but necessary. I think this time here has been amazing and life changing. it has helped us grow and mature into strong individuals we never thought we could be. these goodbyes are not forever, they are more like a "see you later" but goodbye to south africa, until we come back again!!!

Studying, finals and some fun

The past two week has been full of loads of studying and time in the library, taking 2 hour finals that were all essay based, and some fun to keep me sane. On thursday October 30th, my friends Lauren and Ravi and I took a cab to the botanical gardens in Kirstenbosch. Now let me tell you, this place is absolutely beautiful!!! There are so many different gardens and places to sit and enjoy the gorgeous scenery of flowers, mountains and these really annoying geese like things. Ravi, Lauren and I took a picnic up and sat on the grass in one of the numerous gardens looking at the mountains and just enjoying each others company. The scenery was beautiful and i hope to go back again soon

these are just google images, ill put more of mine up later!!

Unfortunatly the rest of the week was full of studying with various meals as breaks. Although we did go to watch the sunset on saturday night was absolutely beautiful!! The sunsets here are amazing and every night it looks different. I am really going to miss them!! So studying and exams went well for the most part. Exams are worth at least 50% of your final grade here which is quite a lot but they were managable. All four of mine were essay format and 2 hours long so i wrote 2 or 3 essays for each exam. My hand definitly started to feel it after awhile but I made it. Its so weird to think that I am half way through my junior year but I am!!! In the end classes at UCT werent as bad as I thought but definitly a lot different from any classes or exams at Merrimack. I have liked studying here but I can't wait to get back to the small, familiar classes at Merrimack next semester!!

South African fact: Last week I wrote 4 exams instead of "taking" them like in the states.