DAY TWENTY SIX:

I NEED TO STOP CELEBRATING MY BIRTHDAY!! Well, I am officially 19... not sure how I really feel about that but we'll see how it goes! Today was gross out!! It was pouring all day... seriously looked like a hurricane outside. But, it was my birthday, so I was not about to be cooped up all day! We got up and went to Charly's bakery for some breakfast (but of course we got yummy cupcakes to-go haha). After Charly's we thought it would be a good idea to go to the Green Market, an outdoor market.... in the hurricane... BAD IDEA!!! We were so soaked and cold, but we got such good deals since it was raining and my birthday :) After the market, I was so tired... and yes slightly hungover from the "night before my birthday" celebration, so I went back and slept for literally the entire day haha. Then, me and erin woke up and made dinner in our apartment and started getting ready to go out for the night. We were going to go to Tiger Tiger since it was Thursday, but there was such a long line Ish took us to this place called Tin Roof. It was so cool! All the bars here are like a mix of an awesome laid back bar and a euro club haha. It was quite the night... wish I had more to say about it haha. 

DAY TWENTY FIVE:

Today was such a fun day!!!! NO CLASSES wooooo!!! Instead, we went to the winery! This place is beautiful! The owner walked us all over the vineyard and pointed out all the different types of grapes grown to make the different kinds of wine. Also on the land, there are hundreds of herbs that she picked for us and had us smell and try to identify each one. I was awful at this!!! After everyone had taken entirely too many pictures, we went inside the winery where we met the owner's son, Big Rob. I think it would be safe to say he was over 6'5" 250 pounds... literally HUGE! He explained to us our competition to make the best wine. We divided into our community groups, were given seven bottles of wine, and had to mix them to create our own "blend" and name it. We were supposed to taste all the wines first and then decide which we wanted to use for our final bottle. Big Rob taught us the proper tasting etiquette, but unfortunately, or rather fortunately, our group struggled with portion control. Every "taste" ended up being a full glass of wine... so much so that we actually ran out of wine when it was time to start making ours for the competetion. We had to borrow from other groups haha. Clearly the shitshow table. Our wine was called The Big Five after the big five in Africa. On the label we drew the five animals and claimed to have used only five wines. We used all of them though... the title was just so creative haha. Once all the wine was gone, Big Rob and his mom judged all the groups wine. Our group got fourth place.... out of six teams haha oh well. We definitely had the most fun! I found today that I actually like some red wines!!  I bought two bottles to bring back home with me, but I don't know how well that will work out since I'm not exactly legal in America. And..... let's be honest they may not last that long haha sorry Mom!! After the wine tasting or as it became known as... the wine chugging... we had a few hours to go into the town and get lunch and explore. I can't remember the exact name or spelling of the town but it starts with "Franc..." and means French Quarters in english. Then, it was back on the bus to get ready for my birthday dinner! Question of the day: "Are you turning 20 or 21?"I have never felt like such a baby haha. Oh well, I like it! I have only been here for three weeks and I already have such good friends. There was a group of almost thirty of us that went to the restaurant called Mama Africa! But before we could even leave for the restaurant I was iced.... after all my wine that was the last thing I needed haha. The food was so yummy!! The band sang to me and gave me free birthday shots and flowers. It was just a really fun atmosphere! After dinner, a bunch of us went to Dubliners, the Irish Pub. We were only in there for two minutes before the entire bar knew my name and that it was my birthday. The singer of the band sang to me and then for the rest of the night added my name into like all of his songs haha. Probably up there with one of my best birthday's!! Or night before my birthday haha. Round two manana! 

The winery!!

The walkway around the vineyards!

Everywhere you go there's mountains. It's unreal.

Merlot vineyard!

Our station!

Our team with Big Rob

MaMa AfRiCa!!!

The sang me happy birthday :)

DAY TWENTY FOUR:

This week is flying by!!! I wish I could make it all slow down! Today was a bit more relaxing than yesterday. We didn't have class this morning until 10:30... winning!! I really needed the sleep! This morning in class we discussed our experiences on Robben Island from yesterday. We analyzed the leadership stances of all the parties involved in the production of Robben Island today. After the lesson lesson was over, Joanna began talking with us about obstacles. We learned how it was important to take an obstacle in your life, no matter how big or insignificant, and "flip" it, turn the negative into a positive, into a goal. It was kinda an emotional lesson, people shared stories of friends or loved ones who overcame obstacles, people who inspired them. Joanna even cried, and when I see people cry, especially those of authority, well... it's all downhill from there. After class, we had the rest of the afternoon off. I decided to go on a tour of the World Cup Stadium (known by the locals as the toilet bowl...cause it kinda looks like one. The shape I mean). It was cold and rainy today, so I almost bailed on the tour, but I am so glad I went. We got to go like behind the scenes; it was awesome! The stadium itself is so much smaller than I expected. It seats 58,000 people comfortably, but 65,000 were crammed in for the World Cup. Sanford Stadium holds 92,476 and that's just a college stadium. This was for The WORLD CUP?! The stadium is so nice though. It was built specifically for the soccer championship and cost approximately 600 million dollars... DOLLARS, not rand. That is unreal! Today it is used for a variety of sporting events; you can even get married there! We got to go into the locker rooms and walk out on the field or track... cause we could only touch the grass with our hands, we couldn't step on the grass haha. We got to go into the VIP boxes were ambassadors and presidents watch the game. These spectators are so important that there is bullet proof glass outside the box and a separate room for the body guards. Our guide told us that we were in the same box that Prince Harry and William watched the games in... pretty cool!! This stadium even has a jail, like a legit jail!! Multiple cells and everything... this place is maximum security! This has been my second time in two days that I have gone to jail. Not a good record!! Our final stop was the press room, we go to sit in in the chairs where multiple famous soccer players had previously sat, and as a group of majority girls, we were all pretty excited. Cristiano Ronaldo anybody?? After our tour of the stadium, we came back to the hotel to make dinner. Wait for it.... we made pasta!!! Shocker! I am never going to want pasta again after this trip haha. After dinner, I had to do my homework. I even did it like five days in advance, so I better not get another damn B minus!! Erin and I are about to have movie night... Wedding Crashers. Classic.


PS. My birthday is in two days ahhhhh!! This is the first time that I have actually not been excited for my birthday! I don't want to be 19. I LOVED LOVED LOVED 18!!!! I'm only in my teens and I am already dreading birthdays....uh oh.

Map of the stadium and our lovely tour guide. He was the first person to tell us he liked our southern accents... I think he's the only one in Africa haha!

The roof of the stadium is only partial buuuut.... you can WALK on it. Uh cool!!

VIP box! Helloooo Prince Harry

They do not mess around here

Locker room! Each locker even has its own safe!

Showers...

Where the players walk out onto the field.

On the field!!!

Our press conference! We are so cool.

DAY TWENTY THREE:

Today wasn't as exciting as most days, but it was just as interesting! Instead of having normal class in the morning, we went on a field trip. Like seriously, I felt like I was in the fifth grade again, traveling with my class to historic places, just so excited to be out of the classroom. We went to the V&A waterfront to the point of embarkation for Robben Island. This is the exact place that thousands of criminal and political prisoners began their journey to the jail located on the island. We literally got to walk in their footsteps. It was really cool to be part of such history. This embarkation site is now a museum, where we could learn about the history of the prison itself and some of the people that would this place on any given day. Robben Island was original designated a place of banishment for those infected with leprosy. During apartheid it was transformed into prison, mainly for political figures or those who spoke out against apartheid... for those who don't know this was the prison that Nelson Mandela was incarcerated in. After we left this museum, we took a ferry to Robben Island to take a tour of the actual prison. This place is HUGE!!! There is are three different prisons: maximum security for political prisoners, reduced security for criminal prisoners (yea i know it seems a little backwards), and the isolation prison. One of the cool things about Robben Island now is that the tour guides and shop owners and the majority of other people involved with the prison were all either previous inmates or wardens, now working together. It is amazing how far they have come considering the prison only closed about ten years ago! Our tour guide told us that he was arrested and indicted, after being tortured for information, for treason and sabotage for fighting the injustice created by the apartheid. One of the things that surprised me the most was the inequalities in the prison itself. There were both black and white wardens, but only the white ones were allowed to carry weapons. In addition, there was also a drastic difference in the treatment of the black and colored prisoners. Colored people got long pants, blacks had shorts. Colored prisoners received more food and blankets than black prisoners. The list goes on and on. In one of the sections of the maximum security prison, all of the jail cells have stories on the walls written by previous inmates describing an aspect of their experience on Robben Island that stuck with them. A lot of the stories were about the white wardens realizing for the first time, through all the brainwashing of their elders, that blacks and colored people were people too and deserved to be treated in such a way. We got to go inside Nelson Mandela's cell and talk to his personal warden, who evidently was one of the good ones. He and Mandela became friends and he now travels with Mandela to conferences and even attends his birthday celebrations! Unreal! On the ferry ride back from the prison we saw penguins and.... wait for it... a WHALE!!!! This ferry ride back was beautiful!! I have never seen water that flat. It was so calm it seemed as though you could just walk on it. Once we got back to the waterfront, a bunch of us went to this restaurant right on the harbor that had half off the whole menu...including cocktails haha. Had my first Mojito. For some reason all I could think about the whole time was mom on my senior cruise hahaha. We stayed at the waterfront for a while shopping around the markets and such and ended up getting dessert in this little cafe. We finally got back to the hotel after such a long day and some how I was roped into going out! So it was off to the hotel bar! We went to this one bar but left after literally five minutes because Ish said it was too sketch, so we went to Dubliners. This was my first time there, but a lot of other people had gone before. I loved it!! It was much calmer than Tiger Tiger. There was a live band and just a really cool atmosphere. We may or may not have turned the live band into karaoke by buying the singer shots to bribe him haha. Sweet Home Alabama was a must!! We don't have class until 10:30 tomorrow, so needless to say, it was a late night!!!

Some of the most famous people that passed through the embarkation site.

Im on a boat!

The prison we toured.

Typical bed

Nelson Mandela's cell!

Nelson Mandela's warden

SO AMAZING!!

Table Mountain in the distance!

Waterfront!

DAY TWENTY TWO:

Today was another lazy Sunday but it was exactly what I needed after a late night out in good ole Stellenbosch. We had to check out of the hostel at 10 o'clock, but the bus wasn't picking us back up again until 1, so we had some free time to explore the town. There were so many of us that we had to split into littler groups to really go anywhere. My group went to this amazing place for breakfast. I had an "open croissant," with ham and mozzarella and tomatoes. It was so yummy! And the first time since I've been here that I have had any kind of sandwich meat haha. After breakfast we walked around the streets downtown because it was such a beautiful day! Almost hot I would say! Before we had to head back to the hostel to meet to board the bus, we all stopped at this bakery and got gelato. LOVE love love gelato! We need to have more gelato places in America because it seems to be popular everywhere else and it is SOOO much better than ice cream with wayyy cooler spoons too! I get the chocolate chip one every time. It's actually called something else that starts with an S and ends in "ella" but I can never pronounce it haha. Pretty much slept the entire way back to Cape Town. I was so dead from the night before, and I didn't sleep very well in the hostel beds. I was on the top bunk and these were seriously the highest lofted beds I have ever seen. And of course, I got the bunk in the middle of the room... the only one that didn't have any sort of wall next to it. All I could think of all night was falling off the bed, so I tried to stay still in the exact middle of the mattress, which did not make for a good night's sleep to say the least. When we got back to the hotel, I continued my nap until about 6 0'clock haha. My "nap" was longer than the sleep I had all night! But, it was much needed. We have a busy week this week, as if that is shocking haha. After my extended nap, we had our big group Sunday dinner at the beach house we have class in. It was another cookout/braai, so of course everything was delicious. There was chicken, sausage, ribs, potatoes, bread, and salads galore! And, this yummy warm chocolate cake and ice cream! After dinner, we came back to the room for a chill night to catch up on some blogs (like this one), email, Facebook, Skype... you know trying to stay somewhat connected to life outside of my Global LEAD bubble haha. It's hard cause my bubble is so fun!! And then my relaxing, fun day took a turn when we got our grades for the third week.... I got a B minus... Seriously?!?! I have never gotten a B in my life, nevertheless a B minus...In a study abroad class... on leadership!!! AHHH so annoying! Erin says it's because of my strengths. Evidently my strengths are includer, compassion, positivity, empathy, and adaptability. Whereas hers are like achiever, discipline, responsibility, and focus. I hate to say it but in the end I would rather have my strengths! I know in my heart that I am getting far more out of this experience... outside of class... than any letter grade could show. I just wish it wouldn't go into my GPA right when I am trying to apply to Grady. Oh well.... :(

PS Shout out to Bevin... I'm convinced she is dead or kidnapped or all of Newnan lost access to technology.... which wouldn't be all that surprising.

Downtown Stellenbosch aka the Athens of Africa :)

DAY TWENTY ONE:

Finally got to sleep in today!! Well until 10 o'clock anyways. Then it was up to make my way to Stellenbosch for the weekend!!! There was about fifty of us that boarded the buses to go... and we found out that all our taxi drivers aka saviors were coming with us also to drive us around once we were there.  Like what I am going to do when I get back to Athens and want a ride?? It was only like a 45 minute drive to the infamous college town..much shorter than I expected! Once we got there, we all checked into our hotel, which was MUCHHH sketchier than the ones we stayed in during adventure week. But, I mean it was still nice. So much about Stellenbosch reminded me of Athens and made me miss it so much!! I can't wait to be back and see everyone! There are all these cute small houses similar to those in Athens, and the downtown resembles Athens so much!! It has a small town, historic feel. The roads are mostly one way and lined with little shops and cafes. It was so pretty there!! Anyways, after we all checked into our hostel, we piled into our lovely cabs and made our way to our first winery of the day... brandy. I had never had brandy before so this was certainly an experience. I was confused as to why it was called a winery, but we learned that brandy is actually a form of white wine. In case you were wondering! And, I learned that brandy is disgusting haha....well straight brandy anyways. When we got there, first the landscape was beautiful: the rolling hills covered with vineyards and mountains in the background, always mountains...so jealous we don't have that back home...But, when we got there we were given what appeared to be mango juice and led to this oak room with a bunch of tables set up with individual trays of brandy. The first we tried was a ten year brandy, the strongest one we had, apparently it was supposed to taste woody, with a scent of tobacco and coffee. Yea... I didn't really get that impression.... STRONG. That was the impression I got, incredibly strong. Then we had the twelve year brandy, which was a little better, didn't burn as much. It was supposedly sweeter with a hint of vanilla. Once again... didn't get that impression. Then, we found out that the yummy mango juice we were chugging after taking minuscule sips of this brandy was actually mixed with brandy. Brandy chased with  brandy..... mind you it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon. We were supposed to be casually sipping on the brandy, you know like Chuck Bass style, but I just had to take it like a shot. It was too much to taste repeatedly. But, I started a trend and everyone started shotting it. After we were done with the brandy, our amazing cab drivers surprised us with a type of tailgate haha. They all opened the trunks of their vans and had coolers FULL of beers and....Smirnoff ices... so, clearly their was, once again, a lot of icing going on. By the end of this trip everyone was so paranoid haha. We all got our beers and crammed back in the vans to go to the next winery. There was even icings happening in the moving cab. We asked Corbis, our cab driver if South Africa had an open container policy...he said probably and laughed haha oh well! The next winery was a wine and cheese place. We got five glasses of wine for 3 dollars!!! Score! They were all so good!! I almost bought some to bring home but I figured with my luck the bottle would shatter in route. After this winery, we went back to the hostel to get ready to go to dinner at this tapas place in town called Buena Vista. It was so good! I had the best chicken quesadilla EVER. I don't really know if it was as good as I think it was, or if I just really missed mexican food, but the guacamole was to. die. for. After dinner, we were all pretty... happy.... I mean we had been drinking for like a solid eight hours. We went to this club called catwalk. It was basically like a rave, strobe light fest with a hookah bar haha. I talked to this guy who basically informed me that everyone in South Africa hates Americans.... yikes haha. Although the entire conversation was voided when he concluded that there was one redeemable American out there... Kanye West... to which he proceed to act out the "Imma let you finish" scene. Dear lord. Then, Bradley taught me how to salsa. I am getting so cultured!!! We ended the night at a bright and early 4 AM with a McDonalds run. So American of us, I know haha. Fun Fun night!! I wish we would have been able to stay in Stellenbosch longer. 

PS. forgot to include this in my blog from Friday... I learned the Rasta (no idea how to spell that) handshake today, which evidently, makes me a true Rasta or Rastafarian. This little boy (12 maybe) cam up to me and was like "Can I teach you a handshake I made up for us?" He was adorable so I was like sure why not! We learn the handshake, do it a few times, and then this older boy comes up to me and informs me that what I learned/thought was this cute, innocent handshake, was actually the sign of the Rastas.... uh oh.

The sign outside our hostel. Watch out for those desperate souls..... alarming. 

Brandy winery

I had no idea what I was getting myself into.... 

The typical reaction hahahaha

The "tailgate." In the parking lot of the winery I might add. People must have thought we were such alcoholics 

And the icing began.

Cab icing!! He even knelt and everything. Pro. 

Wine country!! Not too shabby. 

Second winery

ISH!!!!!

BRADLEY!!!