Halloween and other smurfy adventures

My finals weeks (or final weeks) in Cape Town were the weirdest of all time. It could go by so slow when you were dying to get that one exam over it, but it could go by so quickly when you frantically tried to get ready to leave and explore the last bits of Cape Town at the same time. I felt stressful and focused, yet at the same time relaxed and distracted. It put me in an emotional roller coaster, up down round and about.

Exam started on the 24th of October, but my first exam was not until the 2nd of Nov and the other two were both on the 9th. This exam schedule gave me ample time to squeeze in various study breaks in between studying. On Wednesday,  Nadia, Olivia, Hannah and I made a trip to Charly's bakery to treat us to some sweet, a proper "brain food" in my definition. The triple chocolate fudge brownie there was so rich and the serving was so big that even I could not finish my own.  I went on a dessert shopping spree and bought back tons of petit four, cheesecake and brownies for my friends. It was a way for me to be their moral support, while I had no time to bake the goods myself. I have always believed that dessert makes people happy, and Spencer has proven my belief to be true. Just looking at how happy she was eating the cheesecake and, hopefully, forgot to be stressed over her exam for a few minutes make me feel a whole lot better.

Exams definitely did not stop us from having fun. We decided to celebrate Nadia's birthday by throwing a Halloween party at the Two Oceans Aquarium at the Waterfront, and called it "Terror in the Deep". The day started off with Spencer and I making tons of jello shots and Nadia made us a jug of mojitos (yay for the convenience of having a mint tree right on her balcony). I was given the responsibility to take care of everyone's make up, making sure that everyone looked their part and pretty at the same time. Nadia went as a pimp (it was her birthday she had the right too), Spencer went as No Face (from Spirited Away), Susan went as a lion, Toni went as a Nutella jar, and me, the one and only Smurfette of the night. When I was desperate and about to use acrylic to my body, I ran into a friend who offered me enough blue paint to cover my body. Thanks God for random friends ;) It took everyone's collaboration to paint my entire half upper body blue, including my face and ears. After way too many jello and vodka shots, I realized that looking at fish while you were drunk was quite entertaining, although you wanted to make sure to have someone to stop you from falling into a tank of stingrays. The dance floor was right next to the predator tank. It felt like I was "dancing with the sharks". One of the greatest parties I have ever been too, minus the way too many shots part.

Pretty much capture the process of making me blue

In my super summer/hungry mode

Only having a few weeks left in South Africa meant that it was no longer time to cruise and window shop. It was time to take action.  Toni and I went on a spontaneous trip to Kalk Bay on a Wednesday afternoon, and discovered that not only do we share a same taste for shopping, but also enjoy the same vibe of shopping area. Kalk Bay consists of small shops and antiques along the train track that runs along the beach. It is a little sea town next to the harbor with its signature colorful boats, and its delicious sushi restaurants. Generally, Toni and I enjoy the local feeling of the place. It does not give out the tourist-y feeling like Long Street, Green Market Square, Camp Bays, or Waterfront. On the other hand, the stores still carry most of local products and souvenir and they have quite a collection of rare antiques and interesting finds. Toni and I did not enough have time to shop within only in the afternoon, so we came back on the next Sunday, also to check out the weekly market they had to offer. It was a perfect day off spending eating ice cream while  checking out antique and vintage stores, having a delicious lunch and not having to worry about exams for a few hours. Ok, I lied, we spent the entire day shopping from the morning until the evening.

Ice cream <3

Oh, I forgot to mention that Susan and I went to attend a speech given by the Prince of Wales and hanging out with the other royalty affiliated people. I wish I would have known earlier that they attended mass at the St. George Cathedral otherwise I wouldn’t mind spending two hours in mass downtown in the presence of the royal family. It felt so normal yet so special to see someone like that in person, only a few footsteps away from me. I didn’t care much about the speech but that was trivial, haha.

I was counting down the day until I could get my Immunology and Neuropsychology exams over. While I was stressing out over 100 something pages to memorize, Nadia and Spencer were the best moral support ever, by continuously making me dinner and delicious dessert. And finally, the day has came. Approximately 8pm on Wednesday Nov 9th, Thanh was free, and now life in Cape Town started once again.