I need to start growing lemon bushes!

School is FINISHED! Okay, so I may be jumping the gun there, so let me revise that to Classes are FINISHED!!! But I realized I hadn't taken a lot of pictures of campus, so I took a few on my last day!

View from campus

Walking to class

We finished up last Friday, lucky me doesn’t have any finals until June 6^th. That leaves me with almost 2 weeks of complete relaxation right?

Well not exactly, but not too far off. Although last weekend was a great start to the end of classes. Friday, Steph, Cari, Kelsey, and I went to Kirstenbosch Gardens. While I had been there before, I didn’t really get to explore the gardens the first time, since we went to have a picnic and listen to a concert.

Kirstenbosch Gardens

Exploring the gardens was so fun though. Since the weather has been getting colder, we’ve really be appreciating the beautiful days, and Friday was definitely one of them. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous, and we all had fun looking at (and usually touching) the different plants, trying to get as close as possible to the guinea fowl, and taking copious amounts of pictures. I even found a plant that protects against attack from dog and crocodile bites. No joke, it’s a real plant. And while it may be illegal, I picked some of it, just to be safe.

I will be decorating our apartment with Lemon Bushes Corinne.

Saturday we went to the World Cup stadium to watch Cape Town’s soccer team play. I think I may have gotten a little too caught up in the spirit and bought a flag as well as a scarf, all bright red and sporting the Ajax’s name and mascot. I hope you like bright red Corinne, because I will be decorating our apartment with all my fun souvenirs! When I came to South Africa, I had no idea how soccer worked, having never played it due to my lack of eye-foot coordination. However, with the help of my European, Zambian, and American housemates, I’d like to think I’ve learned at least a bit about this sport. Like, at the Ajax’s game, they tied the game, but their aggregate was lower than another team’s in the lead so they lost the championship (sad). Now don’t I sound smart? The soccer game was super fun!!! Everyone was full of spirit, with face painting and vuvuzelas ringing out. I definitely now understand why they wanted to ban vuvuzelas at the World Cup, while they’re fun, they get obnoxious really quickly.

The rest of the weekend/week has been full of movie watching, food making, and cookie baking. I have shared my love of all things Bridget Jones with Steph, Cari, and Kelsey, and have asked all of them to never mention it to me if they secretly hate the movies (not possible). I have been doing some work though. I have quite a few novels to read before my finals, so I’ve been working on reading those, as well as studying for the GRE which I’m taking at the end of June. It’s probably not my best life choice, but I wanted to take it before they change the test. I’ll make it though! I also finished my initial Peace Corps application last week. I’m really excited to be going through the process, but I’m also freaking out a bit, because this means I actually have to start thinking about my future, and the fact that next year is senior year (thanks for pointing that out Mom!).

But before I decide (read: freak out about) the rest of my life, I am going to finish enjoying South Africa. Thursday I’m heading to Kruger National Park with Steph and Kelsey for a 3 day safari!!!!!! To say I’m excited would be a vast understatement. It’s true I’ve already walked with elephants, but I’m SO excited to see the entire cast of The Lion King!!

I have 18 days left in Cape Town. It’s completely unbelievable in my mind. I still have so much to do and see here. But honestly, I think I could stay here another 5 months and still not see and do everything I’ve wanted to. While my time in Cape Town has been filled with ups and downs, it seems so unreal that I’ll be leaving and heading back to the States soon. What am I going to do when I no longer am surrounded by mountains on all sides, and I can’t take a quick mini bus ride to the ocean whenever I want? Friends at home, but forewarned, I will be expecting A LOT of dinner parties since I’ve gotten used to them here!

I hope all of you are well and enjoying summer. I’ve got to say, it’ll be nice to get back to 75 degrees and hotter, since Cape Town is starting to get chilly and rainy. But there is no downside to me getting 7 months of summer this year!

Love you all! And see (most) of you soon!