Cape Town --> Botswana

Wow, so it's been two months since I've posted! Sorry about that.

I uploaded the pictures from Cape Town here. Be forewarned that they're not all labeled or in order, and I think there are doubles in there, though I tried to get those out. Also, Flickr is telling me that since I don't have a free account, only the most recent 200 pictures are showing now, so I may move them to a different site. I'll keep you posted. I actually uploaded them a while ago, but I made them private because I wanted to write a blog to go with them. Well here's the very short version: Cape Town was awesome. It's a lot like any other big city in the world. I kept thinking of San Francisco the whole time we were there. We saw Robben Island, Boulder's Beach/Simon's Town (Simon, you have a whole town! And there are penguins in it!), Table Mountain, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, the Bo-Kaap neighborhood...I think those were all the big things we saw. I'm pretty sure I'm more of a big city-type girl. Big cities just have so many more kinds of people and things to do, you're never bored. I wish we could have stayed longer. Things were expensive there, though...i guess that's a con of big cities.

Tonight four other girls and i are going through Botswana to Victoria Falls. We don't have everything planned out yet, but we'll probably be in Kosane by Sunday night, hopefully. We're taking buses and coombies and trains...so basically lots of sitting time. Luckily yesterday I checked out this used book place in the mall...four used books for under 13 USD! What a bargain. Anyway, yay Botswana! There are lots of nature reserves there, so I'm hoping to at least see some elephants and carnivores. All I've seen so far are zebra, kudu, giraffe, one warthog, and a whole bunch of other ungulates. And of course geckos. Lots of geckos. Our plan is to travel to Kosane, which is very close to the Botswana/Zambia/Zimbabwe border, stay there for a night, then take a day trip into Zimbabwe just to see the falls, then come back to Kosane and hang around Botswana, maybe see the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, the Kalahari Desert (where Meerkat Manor is filmed!)...we have lots of options. Wish me luck in Zim.

Some of you may be worried about the reported anti-foreigner violence that's currently happening in South Africa. (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/21/sa.troops/index.html) I haven't witnessed any in Pietermaritzburg, although I heard rumors that someone was assaulted here, and that it's happening in Durban, about an hour away. So far it's largely against people from other African countries who are living here, mostly Zimbabweans and people from Mozambique, not against foreign tourists. So don't fret about me.

That's the excitement over here. Other than that, it's been a lot of studying and hanging out with friends. My lectures ended yesterday, and my first final isn't until June 4. I went through a period of being really stressed out, mostly about school, so this trip will be good for me. As for after finals, I'm still not really sure what I'm doing, but at least I know that I'll have a place to live. For a while I thought I wouldn't be allowed to stay in the dorms over the long break. I can, but I'd pay more for it. I want to travel, obviously, but so far I don't have anyone to go with(most people are going back home soon after finals), so I may just try to find a project to do around here.

Thats the haps in Southern Africa! Love and miss you all!