The end of orientation was bittersweet
for me, as I had a lot of fun seeing the city but was excited to start my own
internship. The first few days of my internship at Treatment Action Campaign were not exactly what I had
expected, and I had to adjust to the different social norms of South African
culture. I realized that during orientation I had been isolated within our
group of Americans and had never really interacted seriously with anyone living
here, so it was cool for me to have real conversations with people from the
area. I was surprised at the range of political opinions and perspectives
present here in cape town- it's fascinating to see how peoples' upbringing and
experiences affect the way they see the world. I'm also going to have to work
on my Xhosa so I can speak more easily with everyone at my internship site.
Even though I spent most of my time in the office this week, next week I'll be
going out into the community, which I'm really looking forward to. Cape town
continues to amaze me with its beauty everywhere I turn. We visited one of the
beaches last week and went swimming in the other side of the Atlantic. There
were a ton of people surfing who made me want to learn to surf too! Even as
we're starting to settle in there are still so many things that keep me engaged
and excited. I can't wait to learn more and experience everything I can about
this place!
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