The next segment of the IES Spring break tour led our group to a ‘lazy’ rafting trip in the outskirts of Nelspruit; a mountainous and lush landscape about an hour from Kruger National Park. We wet-suited up, due to the cold, but were confused when we additionally had to wear helmets. Turns out, the river …
Tag Archives: Cape Town
The Kruger National Park (Spring Break Adventure Part 1)
My second IES sponsored field trip was an adventure to the east side of South Africa, starting at the world renown Kruger National Park! What a great way to start off spring break 🙂 We set off for Mpumalanga on a short airplane ride and were greeted by our safari vehicle and guide. It was …
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To New Heights
At Hope, I do my fair share of hiking and exploring. With that being said, the most fatiguing trail I really climb is the Mt. Pisgah Dune Boardwalk where you walk up a series of steep stairs to a gorgeous overlook of Lake Mac and Ottawa beach. These small hiking ventures did not prepare me for the …
The Beauty of Sports
Molweni! Sorry for taking so long to post another blog. I am happy to declare that I have been having a great time here in Cape Town and have found myself immersed in fascinating discussions and outrageous adventures. Through the limited Wifi and taxing essay assignments, I have sadly been lax on sharing my experiences …
The Cape of Storms; the Ultimate Summertime Paradise
Long before the Dutch and English colonized South Africa, the Portuguese sailor Bartolomeu Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope as a harbor of refuge from the treacherous storms along the coast of southern Africa. Seeking a passage for trade to India, Dias mistakenly found the lush and beautiful peninsula while mother nature tested the limits …
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A Land of Extreme Beauty; Garden Route Road Trip
Pictured above from my adventure on the Garden Route tour and a hike up Table Mountain is an African elephant and a dassie. It isn’t hard to tell the two animals apart; on the surface their appearances are as different as night and day. However, if you were to delve deeper …
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This Time for Africa
Life of a Biochemical Engineering Major involves late night study sessions, long lab reports, and an endless swamp of assignments. I love the challenge every semester brings but this time I will be embarking on a different kind of academic adventure; one that’s even more life-changing. I’m trading in my thick text books for biographies …
Reflecting on my time in South Africa: A Changed Person – A Changed Perspective
Almost five months. I lived in South Africa for almost 5 months. I could hardly imagine so much fun and pain, so many learned lessons and new perspectives, so many breathtaking and tragic sights all could be crammed into a mere 150 days. Yet I experienced all that and more. The John Luke that stepped onto the …
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Trauma
I wrote my last blog about a month ago concerning the protests taking place at the University of Cape Town and other universities across South Africa. When I wrote that blog, I was in the second week of not having classes and UCT being shutdown. Now as I sit here in a cafe writing, I …
A Progressive Time – #FeesMustFall
On Thursday, September 15th, I attended a mass meeting led by student and worker protesters declaring that they would be shutting the University of Cape Town down in order to protest some of the stated injustices occurring at UCT. And that they did. Since that Thursday meeting, I have not had classes and UCT has …
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