Today marks three weeks since I left Wenatchee to come study abroad, and just a couple days shy of a full three weeks in Stellenbosch. It’s a relief to say things are starting to feel somewhat comfortable and normal here. I have my close friends, I know the immediate area, and at least my weekdays have finally taken some form of routine here.

A typical day for me starts around 7:30 when I wake up for breakfast which is served in the dorms from 7:30-8:30. Breakfast is usually eggs cooked differently depending on the day, some kind of sausage or bacon, tomatoes or mushrooms, and toast. I haven’t quite gotten used to when they serve cold hotdogs as the sausage (seriously, they are absolutely hotdogs), but I think they’re growing on me. After that I walk to class which is about 10 minutes away. Sometimes the morning is a little chilly, but I like the quiet stillness of campus in the morning. The local students are finally starting to arrive since their classes start in a couple weeks. I take one class each week, and it goes from 9-10:30, tea break, 11-1:00, lunch, 2:00-4/5:00. The days are long, but I really lucked out with my Biodiversity class last week since I only had morning lecture and then excursions in the evening. I got to see beautiful coastlines, a botanical garden, a commercial protea farm, and even penguins and a zebra during the outings.