1. Things WILL get pear shaped

2. Don’t make plans, they will change

3. No one knows anything, ever, and this may not always be a bad thing

4. Say no to men with bloody hands.

5. Avoid cars that go backwards unintentionally

7. Keep your Cipro handy in case of sudden food poisoning

8. T.I.A

Things that actually mean nap time:

1. Bus rides or being in any type of moving vehicle. Speed of falling asleep is increased by the presence of a tour guide.

2. Watching a movie {give it plus\minus 20 minutes before passing out}

3. Music festivals

Things I forgot while away

1. How to text

2. How to drive 

3. Where anything is located

4. That I put 3 mattress toppers on my bed at home #nicesurprise

 5. That I can stay on the internet for as long as I want here without having to buy credits

 7. That police here will pull you over for driving poorly… 

This is ending too fast.

This weekend, Kristen, Sam, Alena, and I set off on an epic journey. We rented a car an drove off, a little later than planned, to cruise the  Garden Route of South Africa. The Garden Route is a scenic drive along the southern coast. However we first headed inland to Oudtshoorn to check out some caves and Ostriches. The five hour drive was executed beautifully by Kristen, as we helped to remind her to concentrate on driving, not the amazingly beautiful mountains around us. 

 We first checked out an ostrich farm where we got the chance to ride an ostrich. Sam and Alena successfully did so, but Kristen and I decided we would rather not. There is  a video of me explaining why I chose not to ride the ostrich while I’m sitting on it…

That night we went out with some locals and some guys from Holland who were staying at our backpackers to a ridiculously goofy club. 

The following day we hit up the adventure tour through the Kango caves where we had to fit through some very very small crevices. It was a lesson in staying calm!

Then we made our way to Tsitsikamma, which is a national park on the coast about seven hours from Cape Town. It looked like a scene from the Lord of the Rings {that’s what I hear at least, I’ve never seen the movie}.

Finally we topped off the trip with bungee jumping off the world’s highest bungee jump, 215 meters high, and petted some elephants in knysna!

After Sam successfully solved a problem with our rental car, we made it back to Cape Town alive and well. I attempted to drive, but after having a near death experience passing a truck and hitting a traffic cone, I decided it was best to leave the driving to the others…

Thank you for the most stress free finals period I will ever have. 

Last night was my first experience ever at a gay bar, and it lived up to its reputation. Cape Town is supposedly known as the “Pink City,” but I hadn’t seen much evidence of that until last night. Scantily clad men dancing on bars actually exists. Also, a man with the highest voice I’ve ever heard bought me a shot of jaeger.  

I managed to call it somewhat early of a night but Sam and Chris only just got home, and it’s 8 am… Sam managed to  steal a pretty awesome asian fan from the club. Overall a good night. Now time for wine tasting in stellenbosch!

The end of this insane adventure is nearing, but not too near! One thing I am looking forward to at home is the lack of cigarette smoke. Everyone here smokes and the smell of smoke everywhere is getting really old. It’s just nasty, not to mention ridiculously bad for you. However I have learned that being “anti-smoking” is largely an American thing. I didn’t realize this until one night when I was out to dinner with friends and a guy promoting cigs came up to our table and asked if we would take a picture holding the cigs for his promotion. Without thinking I snapped and said “NO. Cigarettes are disgusting.” He then asked if I was American… 

     The past week has been a musical bonanza. First there was Coldplay at the World Cup Stadium in Cape Town which was AMAZING. I love Coldplay, so naturally I had one of those “WE HAVE TO GO NOW” moments while dragging the Williams crew down to the stadium. The show featured Viva la Vida, yellow, Violet hill, Every teardrop is a waterfall, Fix you, and many more. Chris Martin is Hot. So is his guitarist. 

Then came Rocking the Daisies, a three day music festival about an hour from Cape Town. I’ve never been to a music festival and I didn’t decide to go to this one until last minute because I wasn’t sure if it would be my thing. In the end i’m glad I went because the scenery was beautiful and I got to listen to some GREAT South African music. Check out Jeremy Loops, maybe I’ll post a video because he is extremely talented. I also enjoyed  Jack Parow, an Afrikans rapper, even though I’m pretty sure his raps consisted mainly of the words “pussy” and “fuck.”

 NEXT, this friday, is David Guetta and Akon at a concert in a hangar at Cape Town International Airport. This should be bombskis. 

I’ve been meaning to post photos to go with my posts for a while now, but I can’t seem to figure out how to rearrange the photos so they’re in chronological order. Oh well, they’re random, like my life.