Our flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town did not go as planned. Once we all boarded and made ourselves comfortable, we had an hour-and-a-half delay since the plane faced technical difficulties. The airline then told us all to deboard and board their sister plane that was nearby. We successfully boarded and departed to Cape Town. After a long morning of traveling, we were greeted by Dr. Kate Abney at the airport at 12:00 pm. She is the head of the international program of the Grainger College of Engineering and the Director of International Programs in Engineering. Once we arrived at our stay, we quickly ate a packed lunch and had a change of clothes for the beach. We then loaded onto the bus and departed for the beach. The drive to the beach was around 30 minutes and we were able to enjoy the outstanding scenery of Cape Town during the bus ride.

Once we arrived at the beach, we took a group photo with the beautiful Cape Town beach in the background.

All the students were given two hours to do whatever they wanted. We first decided to get a feel of the water, and it was below freezing! Although it was cold, it was like no other. The beautiful blue color of the water was amazing. Most of the students decided to play in the ocean while others decided to tan or go on a walk along the shore. The UV index was twelve and they fully took advantage of it. Before tanning, Giselle and Yari wrote out GLCM inside a heart on the sand.

Once all the students got out of the water and dried up, they then decided to explore the beach rocks. Our group walked approximately five minutes to the beach rocks and went to the top. We were able to feel a nice breeze due to the waves crashing into the beach rocks. We all took turns taking individual and group photos on the rocks. The scenery was beautiful, and everyone was having fun and soaked in the stunning experience.

After finishing up at the beach, we all decided to go on a walk. We visited some street vendors and looked around for items to buy. All the vendors had delightful paintings, hats, bracelets, animal figures, magnets, necklaces, and more. Some of us bought multiple things for ourselves as well as souvenirs for our families. While buying some things, we were also able to enjoy street performances. We also walked along the restaurants and shops next to the ocean. We then packed up all our things and met up at 4:30 pm to return to our house. We finished up the afternoon with a tour of the observatory and our welcome dinner at Ivy’s Kitchen. Ivy was very welcoming and provided us with an amazing dinner that included lamb chops, wings, sausage, bread, salad, chakalaka, and more. The dinner was outstanding. Ivy then began dancing and several of us joined her. We enjoyed the last hour of dinner learning South African dances, dancing, and having karaoke with the entire group.

Blog by Yami Perez-Ruiz