Indian Ocean...Check

This was my first weekend at Rhodes, and needless to say it was wonderful every step of the way.  On Friday, we had nothing scheduled, so the internationals decided that a pool day was in order. Needless to say, this did not help with my pre-existing sunburn. 

Friday evening, the BC girls and our friends Simon, Gemma, and Tinashe went to a free pizza event in town, soon to realize that it was an evangelizing event held by a local church. Luckily the group wasn't extremely forceful and we got the opportunity to talk to some extremely interesting people (as well as eat some great pizza). That night, we went to the Rat & Parrot (the local) bar to meet up with a student who works in the international office. He introduced us to all his friends, and I can't say how nice it was to finally meet some people our own age. After the Rat & Parrot, we headed to Friars, which is another club. After getting a table upstairs, three guys asked if they could sit with us. After talking for a few minutes we learned that one of the guys had studied abroad last semester in Kentucky (random...). They were all third years and invited us to hang out with them the next night. Overall it was an extremely fun night!

SATURDAY:

Saturday morning Alex, Kara, Rebekah, Rachel and I decided to go to the local market where we met up with Simon and Tinashe. The market is held every Saturday morning from 9-12am. The vendors sell homemade food, vegetables, jewelry and other knick-knacks. 

Simon decided that he wanted to buy a plant for his room and obviously since I am an extreme botanist I decided to help. (Note: That was extreme sarcasm. Fun fact: I have never kept a plant alive for more than three weeks...)

At the market, Simon decided to buy a plant for his room. We went over to one of the vendors and asked for a plant that required minimal care. After showing us the three she would recommend, Simon and I had to try to find the plant that would best fit his personality. One of the plants was edible and the woman gave us a leaf to try. Simon gave it to me since he had tried it before (or so he said--I am partly convinced he wanted to poison me), and much to my surprise, it tasted like an apple. Of course I obviously recommended a plant that you could eat, but we then realized it would be kind of weird for him to be sitting in his room eating his plant. 

After the plant was chosen  our group decided to go out to breakfast. Simon showed us this neat place called the French Quarters. We were all able to get coffees & tea, and I decided to be brave and try a scone. We all ended up sitting around the table talking for over two hours. After eating, our groups departed and the girls decided to go shopping around the town for our beach trip the next day. Of course I had to stop and pick up some aloe. Once arriving back to campus it was time for a nap and dinner. After dinner, we had a huge thunder storm which negated any desire for me to go out (and unfortunately meant not hanging out with the guys from the previous night). However, Kara invited a few of us girls over to her room and we watched movies and ordered pizza (which took an hour and a half to get there...africa time). After a few episodes of the Big Bang Theory, we all headed home to prepare for our beach day the next morning. 

SUNAY FUNDAY (aka Beach Day)

This morning, we all met up at the arch at 9:30 to head down to Kenton-on-sea to spend the day at the beach. We had 22 internationals, our shoeless hippy guide Sean, and a bus to drive us down there. 

Rachel, Kara, and myself 

The internationals!

Us in the bus (+1 for rhyming) with Sean

 Once in the bus, we headed out on our trek. It is an hour drive from Grahamstown to Kenton. The drive was absolutely breath taking. You drive through hills, and valleys, and a few of us were even lucky enough to see a zebra! Before we knew it, we had arrived in Kenton. Our first stop was the grocery store so that we could pick up food for lunch. After, we headed to the beach!

As you can see, Kenton is absolutely breathtaking. We were all in awe at how beautiful it truly was. We quickly claimed a spot on the beach, ate our lunches, and hit the beach. What is interesting about Kenton is that it is actually in the Indian Ocean, which meant I can officially check off that I have swam in three oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian!). 

 Kara, Annie, and myself decided to go on an adventure after about two hours. We took a half hour stroll down the beach and ended up at these huge rocks. After going around the bend, we found this really cool cove. Of course we decided that it was a good idea to climb these rocks...barefoot...in our swimsuits.... however the view from the top made it all worth it!

 As soon as we got back to the group, the sky got dark and a thunder storm rolled in. We took that as our cue to head out. Once arriving safely back at Rhodes we all decided to take a shower, grab some food and go to sleep. 

Tomorrow is the first day of classes! Get ready for a post about how college education works in South Africa! Cheers!