Life as a UCT student

As I’m reaching the end of my 3^rd week of school at the University of Cape Town (UCT), it suddenly dawned on me that, amidst all the excitement and new experiences that I am living, I totally forgot to give an update on school and classes. Morever, now that I have settled down and gotten a little bit more used to the surroundings, the daily life of a 3^rd year college student has been established and I think it deserves a substantial part in my blog life.

Source: UCT website

For probably the 50 millionth time, I have to say that UCT campus is absolutely breath-taking. The campus is divided into three parts: Lower, Middle and Upper Campus. Lower Campus resides right on Main Road, a block away from my apartment building, and mostly consists of dormitories and other residential halls. I’ve made a mental note to myself to check out the dorms, once I’ve made friends with someone who actually stays there (or I’m afraid will just have to crash random freshman parties). Within a five minute up-hill walk, along the route that I usually take called “Lovers’ Walk”, is the Middle Campus. It mostly consists of [many] administration buildings and is the campus for the School of Law, which explains why I am rarely here. Actually, I have been here quite often at the beginning of the school year since the IAPO (International Student Office, I read it as “iApple”, lol) locates in the upper part of Middle Campus. The least boring part about the Middle Campus is probably the quad area, where students usually hang out during free time. There are tremendous amount of quite steep steps that lead to the quad, and the moment you pop your head up from the steps, you will encounter various bronze figures in different poses, looking like they are playing on a playground. The significant of these figures I have not known yet which means I probably should figure out soon.

Source: UCT website

Passing through a short but beautiful graffiti-decorated tunnel from the Middle Campus, I found myself facing a breath-taking view (well, the short of breath effect may mainly due to all the climbing). In front of me are layers and layers of colours running parallel to the horizon: the green rugby and soccer fields and the winding roads that lead to the centre of the campus, with various clay-walled, green-vined buildings along the road. In the middle are the steps leading up to Jameson Hall, looking like Zeus’ mansion on top of the grand Olympus. All of the undergrad buildings are on Upper Campus, so without said, this is where everything happens.

Source: Flickr

UCT is an extremely diverse campus: Africans from South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Ghana, Egypt, Madagascar, you-name-it country; Europeans from Paris, London, Norway, etc; Americans and, once in a while, Asians. The statistic I got is that UCT has an international student population represented by 200 different nations all over the world! Not to mention the fact that they have amazing styles. Leather jackets and skinny jeans are brought out on a cool day. Fedora hats, floral printed skirts, khaki shorts and blazers are sported on a sunny day. And when the weather hits 30 degree and the campus is shrouded with masses of grey clouds, here come the fur jackets and fur boots. I stop keeping counts of how many times I walk into a pole or telephone booth while admiring someone’s outfit. 

One thing I love about UCT is the public transport system, to all different parts of campus and also to various places in town. However, beware, the “Jammie”, as they called it, is rather an uncomfortable ride in the mornings, especially those hung-over ones. It will make your stomach churn and your head spin as it speed-turns all the sharp corners of the mountain road =.= There are other campuses that locate at different parts of Cape Town including the Art and Music Campus, the Medical School and something else. The Art and Music School, where I have to make regular trip to get books for my Art History class, locates just a block away from the most popular street in town, Long Street. What can be better than taking a free bus to go shopping, go out for dinners and even to hit the bars and clubs? 

Source: you gotta love gmail calendar :)

As far as classes are going, compared to at U of R, my schedule here is a little bit of heaven. My day starts at 10am Mon-Wed and at noon for the last two days of the week, and ends at 2pm. The materials that I am required to read are also significantly less that that at UR, consider these are all 3^rd year level courses. For a science major student, however, this semester seems extremely essay-heavy for me. Three out of my courses: Photography in Africa, Cognitive Science and Healthy and Community Development all has more than 50% of the grade based on research papers and written reports. Let’s hope I will survive. One thing that makes me appreciate U of R significantly is the dining halls and the computer system. No one is really on campus before 8am or after 5pm. Thus, besides the food court, there are only a few food stands around campus for sandwiches, burgers and other fast food. I dearly miss the availability caffeine and sugar at UR, as well as the late operating hours. I appreciate Starbucks, Common Market, Pura Vida, and Hillsides more than ever. Also, except for school usage, we are only allowed 3GB of internet data use every month and logging on to the system is a pain! 

As the 3^rd week of school is reaching the end, I have found myself more comfortable finding ways around campus. The number of times when I get to the wrong classroom and take the wrong buses decreases significantly. I am not as afraid to walk home by myself after 7pm, although later than that would still be scary. And I slowly start to cook various meals at home instead of going out for food (although this is purely due to financial reason and has nothing to do with the love for cooking).

As I start to settle down into a new lifestyle, I slowly realize things that I miss about my daily life in Rochester. Even without all the volunteer work, my schedule is still wide open and as much as I complained about it, I miss going to various meetings and club events. I was frustrated when Sigma and CSA events took over my life until at least 9pm every day, but reading about the planning of next year events makes me feel like I’m missing out on lots of things. I miss having bagels and coffees at Pura Vida in the mornings before 9am classes with Wai Ling and Trissha. I miss setting up lunch dates with various friends. I miss making Starbucks runs with my big and Lena. I miss random trips to get Chipotle, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese food with Lynna. I miss getting muffins and food made by Brian. I miss the all the nights spent in Gleason with coffee, bags and bags of chips and gummy worms with my psis. I hate going home, cooking and eating by myself. It's quite a lonely feeling.


The little things that have become such a routine and a comfortable part of my life, it feels so different without them. I guess there is a reason why they say “You don’t miss the place, you miss the people and the memories that you have with them.”

Hopefully I will be meeting new people and making memories here in the near future and that next semester, I will be sitting in ITS at 3am in the morning, procrastinating, and writing about how I miss my wonderful time in Cape Town. 
Here, take a look at my gorgeous campus, and be jealous!

[az]