The good news is I'm completely done with my classes!!! I have survived the most academically difficult semester of my college career and I'm proud to say my report card will be decorated with three B+'s and one A+.
The bad news is this is only the beginning of the endings of my time in South Africa. Since I finished everything last Wednesday I've had a week of lasts. It started with our final AIFS gathering. The whole group got together and went to our resident director's house. She's been our mom since we arrived in South Africa so it was fun to hang out at her house and watch a slide show of pictures from the past four months. I didn't get many pictures from the evening but here's one of AIFS kids who lived with me in the Pool House. No, that's not bigfoot in the background... that's Mike, our assistant director.
It was a great night that included pool lounging, good food, and two professors playing a piano duet as the rest of the class sang along. It also included one of my classmates challenging my professor to a chugging contest... and her agreeing. It was really fun to see them outside of the classroom but it was strange to think that they are actually real people.... with real lives.
This is two of my favorite classmates Bree and Megan V. during that night.
As I've mentioned before my house has a maid. Yes, we're spoiled but we probably would have killed each other without her. Just imagine how many dishes 11 people can dirty in one day. My roommate Jon and I have become particularly fond of Mable (the maid). Her son, Wayne, has been in town visiting from Zimbabwe for the past few weeks so we decided to take him on a trip. This is us + our friend Madi at Cape Point (obviously). It was a very fun day and also very painful because it was during my week of being barefoot (as you can see in this picture).
On Monday we convinced our landlords to give Mable the day off and we took her out. Our first stop was brunch followed by a trip to the mall to get her a new outfit. After that we took her to the spa for a four hour treatment and finally we took her to get her hair done. She kept giving me kisses and telling me how happy she was. It was so much fun to watch Mable get spoiled for once. Sadly I don't have any pictures from that day.
In the past 24 hours I've said too many goodbyes as I've watched my friends spread out across the country for some travel time. Sadly my bank account doesn't permit me to join them so I'll be staying in the Western Cape and soaking up what I can of Stellenbosch in my final days. I can't get over how sad it's been to see everyone go. A semester abroad is a very unique experience that we all share. It's impossible to explain but it's set the stage for some ridiculously awesome friendships. I'm going to do my best to enjoy the remainder of my time and live it up while I still can. I'm excited to come home and see everyone but I'm dreading the day that it's my turn to say goodbye to Stellenbosch.