-Quote from Terrance at the end of the plane ride
So, I finally made it to Cape Town! I left Detroit yesterday morning and it was pretty sad to say goodbye, but I was excited to start my journey! They made me throw out a couple soaps I had tried to bring on the plane (I need to stay fresh, it’s a 30 hour flight, but apparently they didn’t care!) so I was mad about that, but at least they let me keep my deodorant. THAT would have been a problem for real. In DC, I had a huge layover but Terrance got there about an hour after me, so we hung out at the Five Guys inside the airport and called some of our friends to say our goodbyes. I really felt the love, because everybody was so sweet!! (Love y’all!) Then we boarded the plane, and a nice lady traded seats with me so me and Terrance could sit together. And amazingly, the flight didn’t seem that long! Number one, because the plane was FLY! (We each had our own screen so we could watch whatever we wanted, it was crazy! And we got free socks, and sleeping masks, and toothbrushes, and toothpaste!) DC to Senegal was about 7 hours, Senegal to Johannesburg, SA was about 8, and Johannesburg to Cape Town was 2 hours. I slept a lot, which was great, and the food was SO good, seriously! So we enjoyed ourselves.
When we got there, our program (CIEE) had cabs pick us up, and the ride was SO funny because my first experience listening to South African radio was TLC’s “Red Light Special” on “Cape Town Soul.” I was like, WOW. Then the second song was Beyonce’s “Listen,” so I felt almost TOO at home. Plus it was dark so I couldn’t see my surroundings, and I seriously forgot we weren’t in America. Oh, besides the fact we were driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! Please don’t underestimate how scary that is, seriously. I will not drive a car for the next four months, I promise. Oh, but it was funny because when “Listen” came on me and Terrance were singing and harmonizing and stuff and the driver was silent the whole time but then at the end he was like “Good job! Are you guys practicing for karaoke?” So we might have to take our act to the streets!
When we got dropped off at the hotel it was really overwhelming because everyone just so happened to be in the lobby – I guess they were just coming back from dinner (we were arriving late and didn’t know it… typical of us lol!) And I was NOT in a people mood because we were just on the plane for 30 hours and I was feeling STANK! But our “SOLmates” – the Student Orientation Leaders – were really nice and helpful, so that was cool.
It’s really frustrating because I still feel like I’m in America – all the buildings look the same as ours and the music and everything… it really makes me anxious to start volunteering and see what the rest of the country outside of Cape Town is like. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get a better grasp of everything. I guess I’m just in a weird mood because of the long flight. I’m just ready to get started!
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