a look into the past.

Brittany Anderson
8 January 2012

Title: a look into the past.

We began our morning with Zama leading us around UCT and showing us around. The school is the largest in Southern Africa and has beautiful historical buildings, and a Master's in International Relations...I'm thinking about it.

Nazim and Aaron brought us to the Waterfront in the vans and we were allowed to run loose.  JLB, the Bean, Kasey, Courtney, NJ and I stopped at the Mugg and Bean for a quick bite to eat.  My mission was to check out the Birk store and see how expensive they are because I'd been borrowing Matt's and I definitely want a pair.  They're so Morris and so expensive.  

The whole group met up at 12:30 to board the boat for Robben Island, the island where Nelson Mandela served 18 of his 27 years as a political prisoner.  This is my third trip to the island. At Robben Island, the tour consists of a portion in a bus that shows you the overall history of the island, including the impact WWII had on the island, leper's graveyards, churches and Robert Sobukwe's cell and the walking portion inside the prison, which shows you either D or E block, which held the everyday people of the struggle and B block, where the leaders of the movement were detained, including Madiba.(talk about a run-on sentence) Normally, I find the portion inside the prison th be the more interesting part, but this time, I really enjoyed the bus tour.  Our tour guide, whose name is now lost in my mind, asked where he had visitors from.  A number of us were from the States, but others were from Canada, Australia, Germany and England, to name a few.  With that information, he provided us with how each of these countries had impacted the island, which was very cool. 

I also think part of why I really enjoyed the bus tour more is because the times I had been at the island before, I had the same tour guide for the walking tour.  I felt a sadness rushing over me as I realized that he was not going to be sharing his experience with my friends. He was a huge part of why I had enjoyed my previous tours so much.  However, our tour guide this time was still great.  He was a prisoner in D block, which had never seen before, so that was cool. 

The boat ride back to the Waterfront was a motion sickness nightmare.  Most of us weren't feeling well after returning to shore after the ride, but also realized we hadn't eaten since 10h30. Kasey, Paige, Courtney, the Bean and I decided to grab some food at the Waterfront before heading back home. We had some delicious pasta and drinks, coupled with good conversation.  We missed James, Emma and Mark's visit, which was terribly sad, but I'm sure that they had 20 others swarmed around them the whole time.