Paris

So, i have been in Paris for about six weeks now and i thought it was time for a blog post about it all.

I have moved into a new flat which is mine until the end of the year. It is in the 14th arrondissement which is great for me. I take a ten minute walk to the metro, a ten minute metro ride and i am at my university- so very convient. There are lots of shops, movie theatre and starbucks within walking distance, and the flat is nice too. I am sharing it with a woman now, who will be leaving for London next weekend and her brother is moving in. Apparently he is quiet and keeps long hours and goes home most weekends, so I think it will work out. It is only four months so it is chilled with me!

I have started orientation at Science Po and this runs all this week and then my class start the next week. I am taking four classes and a french language class. I am taking a class on Africa, one on the MIddle East, one of Sustainable Development and one on humanitarian intervention. I am very excited for them! I hope the lecturers are amazing! The university so far looks great. It is sponsored by Apple, so everything Mac; it has giant TV screens in all the classrooms and lecture theaters so that the visually impaired, like myself, can always see. It is very french and in the heart of Paris. It is not a big campus but more a couple of buildings on a few streets and a giant library in between. I am excited to see it in full action!

The people are from all over the world. I seem to be befriending a lot of Americans and Canadians more than anyone else, but that is not to say there are not other people around here. There are people from Australia, South Africa, all over Europe, not many from Africa, but i think at least seven or something. It is really nice to meet all these people!

Otherwise, Paris is not as exotic as everyone thinks and i tend to forget it is Paris until the Eiffel Tower is right infront of me. It is beautiful with erratic weather and dirty metros and bagettes everywhere. The fashion is too much and i look like a hobo most of the time. The coffee is average, the cheese is good and the wine is cheap!

I think that is all i can think of for now about Paris; please come visit me soon all of you :-)

Roma!!

Rome to me is what Paris is to basically the rest of the world....the most amazing city that exists.

I have always wanted to go to Rome. Maybe it was a 'Eat Pray Love' thing or just because I love Italian food more than life itself; whatever the reason...I have always wanted to go. So i decided, why not? I am in Paris...it is close enough and I have time, so lets do it. So i booked some cheap flights, a semi-decent hostel and off i went, and it was amazing.

I had four days in Rome where i ate pizza, pasta and gelato everyday. It was one of those situations where i wish were a cow who has seven stomachs because boy that would have been useful! I am not sure what makes the food so good but something just makes the pasta and pizza amazing. I don't think i will be able to eat pizza and pasta anywhere else every again!

Besides the food, the city is amazing. It is not very big which means you can walk almost anywhere and every concern you turn there is another amazing building, church or monument. Besides the big ones like the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Vatican, there are so many smaller buildings that are just beautiful to sit in or stare at. What i found the most incredible point was the fact that these buildings haver real history to them! The Colosseum, for example, is where they had the gladiator matches and where people were publicly hung and i really feel like you can imagine these events when you see the buildings. The Circus Maximos is where the chariot races use to take place; the Mouth of Truth is where people were told if they were innocent of guilty in terms of a crime. It is just really mind-blowing to take it all in!

So aside from the food and the city, the people are really nice and friendly. Even though everyone speaks Italian, they are still great and friendly (and unlike the french, will actually speak English to you). At the hostel i met some wonderful Argentinan girls who i went out with and learnt some key spanish phrases :-)

Also..the fashion! Key point! Even though i did not go to Italy for shopping, lots of people do and apparently it is the only place to get your genuine or not-so-geniune Gucci, Versace and Louis Vuitton.

So, my little adventure in Rome has definitely given me a taste for Italian life and I will definitely be going back there to see more places, eat more pizza and live in the past!

Luxor

Luxor is truely an amazing place. It is an hour from Cairo by plane or you can do the 6-8 hour train ride. Most people do the train but due to a time shortage, i chose to fly. It is a lot smaller than Cairo- only 600 000 people- and it is much nice i think mainly because it is less busy. The Nile runs through the town and everything is based on the Nile. The Nile is a huge source of life for Egypt- from water that is used everyday, to transport, to fishing, agriculture and especially tourism. I took a felucca ride down the Nile and had a little dip in the water, and apparently, if you touch the Nile you will come back to Egypt. Well, i think it is safe to say, I will be back here. On my felucca ride (a sail boat with no motor) I watched the sunset, and it was beautiful! One of the best experiences I had.

A second highlight was the hot air balloon ride I took. This was incredible but did mean I had to be up at 4am! We watched the sun-rise from the sky over the Nile and the West Bank. It was amazing!

Luxor is divided into two parts- the East Bank and the West Bank. The East Bank is the central town where most people work and is where Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple are. The West Bank is where most people live, is much quieter and where the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and the Nobel Tombs are. The two are divided by the Nile and you can take a quick ferry ride across.

Karnak Temple was incredible! It is gigantic and so over-powering. It is very much based on Ramses II and his life and legacy and has some amazing statues. The Luxor Temple is too very big but not as impressive as the Karnak one. What is lovely about the Luxor Temple, is the road of sphinxes which one walks through.

To be honest, I do not remember all the stories behind all the tombs and the Valley of the Kings or Valley of the Queens, and unfortunately, you cannot take photos in the tombs, so i do not remember much. What I do know is that the Valley of the Queens has amazing art inside the tombs, which detailed picture history! The tails behind these tombs really is incredible. To think that this was someone's life thousands of years ago!

I would recommend staying on the West Bank as it is much quieter and there are less hassles. Luxor is the kingdom of hassling! I understand that tourism is down and that most people base their income on tourism, but the harassing my the salespeople and horse and cart people is terrible, and actually ruined it a bit for me! It is unavoidable and even if you are a male, it still happens to you.

Besides the hassling, Luxor was really relaxing, breath-taking and is definitely a side of Egypt to see! It is worth escaping the hussle and bussle of Cairo for a few days!

This concludes my travels in Egypt for now. I want to visit the Sinai and Sharm-el-Shiek sometime and hope to do so later this year. They say it is the 'otherside' of Egypt.

I sit here now on the balcony over-looking Cairo and am pondering my next adventure in Paris! Watch this space for how i navigate the metro system tomorrow with all my luggage and in french! Should be yet another adventure for this master's student!

A city of contradictions

When i told a friend I was coming to Cairo, he said he was there in December, a month before the revolution, and he said there is only one way to describe Egypt-
'It is something else' and two minutes out of the airport i knew exactly what he meant!

Cairo is this dirty city full of buildings falling down and then all of a sudden a beautiful Mosque; it is a incredibly busy city with driving like you have never seen anywhere else, and then there is the tranquility of the Giza Pyramids; there is dire poverty and the richest of the rich; Christians and Muslims living together; the ultra conservative and the full free and open...a city of contradiction!

I was with my friend Jen and we had a great three days. We saw the beauty that is Cairo, walked the dirty streets, sweated about five times our body weight, haggled prices down, being completely exploited, been proposed to, photographed and experienced terrifying taxi-rides. We have met some lovely new friends and just had a blast.

The pyramids are surreal! There is no other way to describe these enormous structures thousands of years old, build without any of the technology we have now. The thought of putting those blocks on top of eachother is out of this world! You can definitely see why they are one of the great wonders of the world.

The Egyptian Museum was the best thing i saw in Cairo. It is amazing! Chaotic but amazing! There is little signage, so best to take a map but the statues and artifacts are incredible; really incredible! The museum is peaceful, not too full and usually one can be left alone to look at whatever they want. It is an incredible place that makes you really realise how vast Egypt's history is!

The coffee is amazing! I do not think I have tasted anything like it! It is so good! The sheesha (hubbly) is amazing! They come in every size and colour imaginable and the flavour blow you mind. The tobacco is stronger than what we have in South Africa and it hits your head fast! The food, if you choose the right item, is delicious! Especially the vegetarian options like hummus, baba ghanough and falafels! The bread is made in a rock oven (which is really just a fire on some stones) and is amazing!

What surprised me the most about Cairo is the people. The people are incredibly friendly and will help you out, usually without wanting anything in return. They will continually welcome you to Cairo. There are those who are bothersome and try and harass you into buying things and will show you something and demand a tip, but after a day or two, i learnt to put my sunglasses on and just walk fast! It is manageable as a woman, but when a male is by your side, then no one bothers you. Also key would be knowing any Arabic. I did not expect there to be so few people who spoke english, but literally one in ten will be able to speak a few sentences and one in a hundred can actually speak English to you. Key words are useful such as sorry (as-sif), bathroom (ham-man), No (la) and thank you (shu-kran).

Taxi drivers are the worst as they usually do not speak english and especially cannot read english so if you are trying to get somewhere, it is incredibly hard! They will also say 'Yes' to you and have NO idea where they are going. There are no rules of the road! Anything goes...literally! We had a taxi which reversed up the highway! Most cars do not have speedometers or working lights etc...it is an experience of note! Mostly you do feel like you won't die but one such ride we honestly thought death was upon us!

One last point about Cairo is that I did not feel unsafe at all. There are tourist police and normal police everywhere, so i never felt like anyone was going to rob me. I would walk alone and be fine. Even with the riots going on in Tahrir Square, I felt safe. We did not actually see any riots ourselves which makes me doubt the coverage that has been all over NY Times and CNN....we were right there on friday and saw only a few hundred people and there was no violence. Everyone you meet is too happy to tell you how excited they are that Egypt is free. There are '25 January' t-shirts everywhere. You can really tell things have changed and people are excited to elect their own government!

Cairo is a place I am not sure I would visit again, but definitely something worth seeing. There are no words to describe this place and pictures do not do it justice. It is an exhausting place and three days in, i was ready to go. If i do come back, I will get a hotel outside of Cairo away from the madness, bring a male along, learn some arabic and try find someone who knows the place well.

There is nothing else to say but 'Cairo...it is really something else'!

the winds of change

I leave on Thursday for my adventure and as the great planner I am, I feel less nervous and more excited now. A friend said to me today that he found it amusing how I approach this trip in small steps like- I must wash all my clothes tomorrow and then think about to pack and then evaluate the space and then and then and then..... and that is just how I am. A great planner, which has its value and not so much value.

I have had a lovely few weeks at home being nourished (far too much my jeans are telling me!) and loved and pampered. I have been working on my thesis, which due to a few hickups (cough...supervisor...cough) has not gone to plan and I do not think I will be done by Thursday. But we will see. I will definitely get it in by September but was hoping to leave it in South Africa before setting off. Anyway, such is life!

Life is not too exciting besides the off felt fire my dad starts. This man, maybe one of the greatest, smartest people alive, decided to throw some coals from the braai onto a hail stack behind the house because he thought they were out. In his defense, they should have been out as the braai was last night and this was the next morning now. But they were not, and we had mad rushes of flames and a mad dash for the hose pipe (one of which was frozen solid!) and spreading of the hay to get the fire out. It was exciting to say the least!

Besides those odd moments (which are surprisingly common in my house) life is pretty average and quiet. Filled with lists and packing and washing and writing...oh....and watching Boston Legal!

I shall spare you from reading anymore about my dull life and just tell you "Watch This Space" for more exciting stuff to come for the last semester of my Master's Student Life! WHOOP WHOOOP!

Adieu pour aujourd'hui :-D

The lovely little blue bed....

I am currently sitting in my room in Durban which is jam-packing with all my stuff from Cape Town. It is a room half the size of the room I had in Cape Town and, as you can imagine, this has yielded quite a problem with me fitting all my stuff in it. Needless to say, there is crap everywhere at the moment!

In about two and a half weeks I will be off on my adventure! I have adapted my blog slightly with this change. I thought a new blog would be too much of a drastic change since I am still a masters student, but have added some french-ness to it!

I had a wonderful last week in Cape Town and saw all the lovely and special people who have influenced and changed my life over the past six years. I did not have a big blow-out but rather decided to spend a little time with each group or person whom I loved so much and I think it was the right move. After the "goodbyes and so-longs" i packed all my belongings into the red car and my dad and I started the trek to Durban...and boy oh boy was it a LOOOOONNNGGGG trek! We had some adventurous times through the beautiful Wilderness, to the flooding PE, to the freezing and icy roads of the Eastern Cape, all the way to the truckers strike in KZN. Eventually, at about 6:30pm on Wednesday night, the red car pulled into the lovely long driveway in Glenwood. Man, was it good to sleep in my lovely blue bed for a change!

Since then, it has been lazy unpacking, news watching and thesis forgetting! Sadly, the thesis work starts tomorrow :-( its down to the final changes, the final footnotes made and bibliography, and then HOPEFULLY send that lovely devil down to UCT before I head off. I will keep you updated on the progress!

That's all for now friends,
A Bientot to some of you!

Bisous
xx

and the bags are starting to be filled

Time flies and I have less than 4 weeks left in Cape Town. I have started packing bags to send back to Durban and it makes my room look very empty! I have long lists of things to do which only seem to be getting longer! This process is becoming quite scary!

There are no major things I feel I must do in Cape Town. I have lived in for 5 and a half years and feel I have seen and lived in the place and enjoyed most of it! I am excited to go to Paris and live in that culture. Of course the language scares me, even with my french lessons. I have been reading Eat, Pray, Love (for the like 7th time) and her section on Italy has made me very excited. It is a time where I will be absorbed in a completely new culture, learning all sorts of new things and ways of life. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity! So, I think it is safe to say the excitement has started.

But with that excitement comes sadness. I try not to think about next year and where I will be and when I will be back in SA again. It is hard to say goodbye to all my lovely, amazing friends in Cape Town and all those in Durban. It is hard to imagine leaving my family and my home and jetting off to a new place. However, I do think I am ready and the time has come to spread my wings and take the leap.

If you ever end up in Paris...you have a place to stay with me anytime :-)

Now, I must stop dreaming about the future and finish my thesis otherwise there will be no going anyway!

Bisous!