My trip started on a hot saturday afternoon on July 15. Paul Garrard, the other student that came with me, and I said our goodbyes and started our long journey to South Africa. After a little over a day of traveling, we finally arrived at about 10PM South Africa time. Nashville is 7 hours ahead of Cape Town, making me completely exhausted. Paul and I grabbed our backs and walked out of the terminal to meet our families. My exchange partner was Cornel Smit. He is a great guy and I really enjoyed getting to know him over the next few weeks. We drove to the school and I was set up in a bunk room in White House, one of the 3 houses at the school. I slept very soundly and attended my first classes the next day. The Uniform at Bishops was grey slacks, with a Jacket and tie. Because it was cold, I also wore a sweater vest underneath my blazer (too cool). After attending a few classes, It was amazing how similar they were to MBA. After the first week of school, Paul and I were able to watch our first rugby game on saturday morning. It was a very interesting experience and the feel is very different from football because there are no pauses in the game. After the game, I went to my host families house. Paul came also because his host family was unable to host him the first weekend. The Smit's house was located in Blouberg, an area across from table mountain. The view from their house was incredible.
The view from the Smit's house
After a nice, relaxing weekend, Paul and I returned to Bishops and had another week of school. After the school days, Paul and I would play ping pong and pool in the rec rooms. Cornel stayed in a big room with lots of guys who I got to know very well over my stay. This week, Paul and I attended a rugby practice after school. It was very fun, however we turned out to not be very good. On the thursday of that week, Paul and I took a bus tour around Cape Town with the rest of the exchange students at Bishops. We traveled all over Capetown and it was a very fun experience. We drove to the top of Lion's Head, a hill that looked over Cape Town.
The view from Lion's Head
This upcoming weekend, Cornel was recuperating from shoulder surgery so I stayed with one of his friends, Justin Nel. Justin lived in the suburbs of the city which was very different from Cornel's house. On saturday night, we went to a Great Gatsby Party that was very fun. The next day we got up early and drove to Stellenbosch to a wine vineyard that was owned by one of the Nel's friends. We had a nice brunch and I was able to learn a lot about making wine.
Trying out the local wine (Not really)
We came back to school sunday and the next morning we left for a garden route trip across south africa. The trip lasted 5 days while we traveled all along the coast of South Africa. We did many fun activities like bungee jumping and ostrich riding. We did too many amazing things on this trip to fit them all into this blog.
Cheetah
Elephant
Hippo
Me petting a cheetah
Cave exploration
Me bungee jumping
After arguably the best week of my life, we came back to school on friday night and I went to Cornel's. After a nice, recuperating weekend, I came back to school for the last week. It was a sad week because I knew my trip was on its final leg. On tuesday, I went to Robben Island to see the infamous political prison where Nelson Mandela was held.
Nelson Mandela's Cell
Thursday came and it was my last day in Cape Town. To end the trip well, we went to Cape Point, the most Southern Point of Africa.
View from Cape Point
That night, because my flight wasn't until around midnight, there was a party thrown for me. It was very fun but it was also very sad because I knew it was the last time I would see most of the friends I made on this trip. After the party, we drove to the airport and I said my final goodbyes to Cornel and the rest of his family. I met Paul in the airport and we had another long journey back to America. The best trip of my life was officially over.
This trip was the best experience I have ever had and I would like to sincerely thank the Warner family, Mr. Gioia, the Smits, the Nels, MBA, and Bishop's School for giving me this opportunity. I wouldn't trade this trip for the world and I would encourage anyone to go on it next year.
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