Originally we were supposed to go to Robben Island when we first got here with all the study abroad students, but they didn't get it organized until just now...meaning last saturday. The Island is actually a lot bigger than I was expecting and the view looking back on the city and the mountians is amazing. The prison itself isn't exactly what I was expecting. I guess I was picturing more of a museum with pictures and stuff to walk around and read at your leisure, but really it was more of a fast-paced guided tour. They drive you around the island, and then we went into the prison for a little while and saw some of the cells, which were tinier than you could possibly imagine...probably something like 6 feet by 10 feet, if that. It's unbelievable to think that people spent the better part of their lives there for no crime at all.

Sunday I spent a very lazy day lying in the grass at the Kirstenbosch gardens and half-heartedly doing some school reading but mostly just looking for cloud shapes. Yesterday I went to Khayelitsha with my Sociology class, which is one of the townships. I am so conflicted and confused by the townships. I still have a lot of think about to sort everything out in my head. They look so horrific from the outside and I'm sure people there are bitter, but it's a community just like any other with stores and restaurants and little kids running all over the place. Not that I'm going to go wandering around there, but I really didn't feel particularly unsafe. We talked to one women who has started a soup kitchen there out of her own pocket. Since she can afford to fund it, she is probably one of the few people there who could actually save up and leave if she wanted to, but instead she chooses to give away her extra savings. It was amazingly inspiring and makes me feel incredibly selfish. She truly must be one in a million people who would choose that path. I would really like to spend more time there. It was a nice reminder of why I wanted to come here in the first place...to experience something completely different that I have no previous understanding of.

As for this weekend, I've got to start cranking out some papers because I'm planning to travel for most of finals week...and one of my roommates birthday's is Friday and the other is Saturday, so it should be fun.