Alec in Cape Town

Here's an update on Alec's semester in Cape Town:

 

Long overdue report on life and adventures from the past few months.  For those of you who don't know, I've been studying in Cape Town, South Africa, since early July and it has been amazing.  Aside from taking courses at the University of Cape Town, I've been doing a lot of adventuring and hiking.  The hiking here is insanely great.  My dorm is right at the bottom of Devil's Peak, which makes hiking in the NH White Mountains seem tame despite being a bit smaller.  Trails involve shuffling around massive boulders while inches from 100+ foot cliffs in wind with 30 mph gusts.  There are also literally hundreds of trails that go farther than you can go in a day, so I keep trying new ones and have yet to be disappointed.  Sure beats that hundred and fiftieth run through the Brunswick Commons.  Other fun activities the last few weeks have included shark cage diving with great whites, bungee jumping off the highest bridge bungee in the world, visiting beaches, a mountain biking wine and brandy tasting tour with my dad (visited for a week in August), and exploring the city.

 

I just got back a few hours ago from our week long spring break during which I did a road trip with 6 friends from the program that I'm on.  We stayed at backpacking hostels and the like while driving up what's called the Wild Coast--- the eastern coastline of South Africa.  We did a short safari in a large national park/elephant reserve, went hiking, tried to learn to surf, and culminated by spending 4 days at an eco-friendly backpacker lodge in a remote village called Bulungula.  This place literally was only accessible by walking or ATV's until 2010, and now is an incredible destination in by far the coolest place I've ever been.  It's partnered with the village community and so 40% of it's profits go to help the surrounding community.  Honestly I don't even really know how to describe it right now--I'm still feeling shocked back into civilization right now being back in the city-- it was so totally different from how I've been used to living, and I can't express how incredible it was.

 

Anyway, I'm back now and will try to be in better touch with people through facebook etc.  I hope orientation and the start of classes went well for everyone.  Don't work to hard at school and have a blast training while you still can before Nathan starts throwing erg tests and intervals at you.