forever young

One of my favourite shows- Greek- has came to an end this week and it really started me thinking. These are university students, just like I am, and have been through, i feel, a lot of the same decisions I have been through. It may sound cheesy but I really felt I could relate- through the drama of picking a major, to what to do next, to relationship issues- it is all there.

The show ended by some of the characters leaving and it made me start to think about leaving. I have been at UCT, in Cape Town, for 6 years now and I am leaving this year- in 2 months and 23 days approximately, and everything will change. I don't think I will be coming back to Cape Town after France. The world is a big place and there are things I need to do. I came to university a young, blond, unaware girl and have grown into a socially aware, confident, smart, competent, less blond woman who knows what she wants to do with her life and where she wants to do.

It has taken me 6 years, nearly three degrees, two campuses, res, digs, friends, organisations, internships, relationships, heartbreak, hangovers and too much stress to realise who I am today.

University is a place where you make friends for life; you learn who you really are and you go through those life-experiences (good and bad) that shape the person you will become.

The episode ends with the song- Forever young. I am nearly 23, and have put off the real world for a long time. But today I realised...it is time to move on, time to go forward. I have learnt so much in this first quarter of my life, but I still have so much to go and I am ready to go out there and get it now.

It's times like these that I wish i was in the Middle East

This is freaking exciting...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/opinion/02friedman.html?src=me&ref=homepage

back in South Africa

I have finally made it back to South Africa after 31 days in the USA, 9 flights and 6 Cities. It was a fantastic trip. I saw a lot, had lots of fun and bought a lot. I also had a lot of time to think and relax, which is what i needed to end of 2010. There are lots of photos- take a look on Facebook.

2011 is here and it should be a pretty exciting year. Rachel, one of my very closest friends, and I have made a tradition of naming years: 2009- Year of Adventure, and boy oh boy was that the right name for it; 2010- The Year of Prosperity which was just very very wrong for that year. I think 2010 was more of a 'Thank Goodness its over' year. And now 2011- The year of change. I think this year will bring change, both good and bad, for me and for a lot of other people too. It is a year to look after yourself and work out what makes you happy and then change the things that are no longer inline with happiness.

Change is not always easy. I am not a big fan of change but i think that after a while you have to accept that change is coming. I was terrified of leaving Durban for Cape Town, and now i realise it was one of the best changes i could have made. Now, i am terrified of leaving Cape Town and the life i have there, but i know too that it could lead to new and exciting adventures.

This year I am going to get a Masters degree. By the end of 2011 my title will be: Lesley Connolly B.Soc Sci (Pol, Hst, Soc); Hons (Justice and Transformation); MPhil (Social Justice)...pretty cool i think :-)

I also will be leaving Cape Town sometime this year- probably after July. I am not 100% sure where this will be too but I have a pretty good idea and will confirm it once all is set in stone. After that 6 month adventure, I will need to get a job and I am not sure where that will take me but it may be away from Cape Town to a place where i can embrace some of my other 'roots'.

2011...a year of change where it will all change and a year which will hopefully be changing for the better.

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."

This is a quote from Dr Seuss's 'Oh the places you'll go' and is one of my favourite stories to read when I am a bit worried about the future because it really does put it all in perspective. So if you have not read it, go and find it :-)

Happy 2011 Everyone!

the dog and the chocolate

My brother and I have been staying in San Francisco with a friend of my dad's and his wife. I have met them before once but do not remember it. They have a nice house, no children and two dogs, which have become like babies to them.

Jay and I bought 5 slabs of chocolate from Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco for friends of ours. We came home last night and the one dog had eaten three slabs of this chocolate. The chocolate was in a packet, in my suitcase, behind a close door, but the dog got to it. Lovely dark chocolate with rose flavoring and dark chocolate with caramel inside.

The dog was rushed to the vet at 9pm and had to stay over night, vomited the chocolate up and cost $1000 in total. As a result of this escapade, Jay and I have been relocated to a motel as we were held responsible for the crazy dog eating the chocolate.

Now, I have a few things i kept to myself as we were being escorted away...

One...there is something wrong with your dog! It ate three slabs of chocolate. It dug and fought for that chocolate. I think it is tired of being on its diet (yes, it is on diet because it is 'fat') and would like to be fed more.

Two...who would pay $1000 to have a dog vomit up chocolate. It would have vomited it all up eventually if its body did not like it.

Three...our weird little cross-breed dog Jack eats chocolate plus all sorts of other things that are completely bad for dogs and it is just fine, if not stronger because of it.

Four...yall need to chill the flip out yo! It is a dog and not a human; it was just fine in the end and is back to its boring diet of dog kibble and water; and really....you can blame us all you want, but there is a reason your dog is so crazy...

So, i write this because i am annoyed because I am not the type of person who is 'escorted' from a house and because i also love my pets but i can see the difference between a pet and human being...although, if a human being ate three slabs of chocolate, i do not think i would pay $1000 to have their stomach pumped....

So this is a little story from our San Francisco adventures....at least we are free of the crazies and their dogs...

The US of A

So, I have been in the United States of America for nearly two weeks and have learnt a few things. This is not my first visit here, but i feel I am older and wiser now.

Firstly, everything is BIGGER AND BETTER. The food is HUGE, the portions are HUGE, the stores are HUGE, the cars are gigantic and the people are also pretty big themselves.

Secondly, this place has really weird politics which most of its people are shocked to learn about (and yes, they are learning their own laws from an 'African'). I am happy to be an American...very useful little blue passport...but I can safely say i do not support their political ways.

Thirdly, most Americans seem to know where South Africa is because of the World Cup but still do not distinguish between Africa and South Africa.

Okay, that said. It is a wonderful country, full of lots of wonderful, shinny things, giant packets of M+Ms and Oreos, speedy fast internet which is uncapped and unsecured in most places, super advanced phones and laptops and millions of TV channels. It is safe and lovely and snowy and cold.

So, at the moment I am sitting in our neighbours house in 'The Willows' which is the community in which my mom's house resides. It is in the town called Chesapeake Beach in Maryland. It is a house built by my grandfather about 50 years and has been left to my mom now. It is a lovely old house right on the water but is only really inhabited for a few weeks a year.

We are off to New York City on Sunday for a few days and then off to San Francisco for a week and then Los Angeles for a week. And then back to sunny South Africa.

That is all I have to say for now. There are photos on facebook and i will write more as it comes :-)

Have a happy new year!

HOLIDAYS!

I have not blogged in a while so i thought i would share some storied of my adventures over the past week or so.

I finished my coursework for my masters on Saturday the 13th. I handed in my social justice project a few days before that and had my take home exam on friday the 12th. It was a looooong 24 hours and probably the worst exam i have ever done- it was long, stressful, tiring and just overall bad! I have 4 hours of sleep, 3 red bulls and a lot of coffee! But it is over and I wait until Dec 10th to get my results.

I celebrated my freedom by sleeping for 12 hours- yes, I am old and i no longer party! It was a beautiful, wonderful, peaceful sleep and the best 12 hours i had had in a while! I also drank some wine with Jacqui which made me happy too :-D

I had one week on Cape Town before i left for Durban and wanted to make the most of it. I spent this week enjoying 2 for 1 burgers at spur on Monday (yum yum), watching a movie at half price movies on Tuesday (Life as we know it- depressing but happy movie), going to the soccer on Wednesday (mucho exciting), having some girlie time on Thursday and ending my week with a lovely trip to Hermanus filled with good food, wine and whales!!

A wonderful week to end the year in Cape Town. Now I am back in hot and humid Durban in my little, now purple, room. I have left my 'less than perfect' red car (which i still love) in Cape Town and returned to a 'even more less than perfect' grey car here. As i arrived in Durban, my mom informed me that she locked the keys in the car and we needed to break into the car so we could drive home from the airport. Luckily this type of thing happens all the time in my family, and the back window can easily be removed. So out the window came, we retrieved the keys and got in the car. My mom then informed my that the spark plug or cylinder was out and the car was a little 'stuttery'. So we had a very, well bumpy, drive back to home. We made it- thank goodness! And had some popcorn for supper.

Since my eventful arrival I have done pretty much nothing. I managed to locate a charger for my laptop which had broken, so i was back to action with le computer in hand. I learnt that my harddrive could not be fixed and had to be wiped in order to work again, so i lost all my hard collected movies- this made me sad! I have moved a desk into my little purple room so that i can work on my thesis, and i have watched some mindless tv.

Tomorrow i shall visit the hairdresser- Whoop Whoop! And on Friday I will go to the doctor for a check-up. Tomorrow night i also have thanksgiving dinner which is being cooked by my dad's American students, which shall be exciting and taste good! And this weekend i plan on seeing the new Harry Potter.

Between that, i fill my time thinking about my thesis and planning on working on it but then sms Rachel and go out and eat cake and drink coffee. perhaps next week I will do more....

That is my exciting masters holiday life in a nutshell!
Enjoyable and stressfree- just the way i like it! :-D

this is amazing!

http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/

This is the best website! I laughed and laughed!