ballin out of control

We visit UCT's campus for the first time. It is breath-takingly beautiful. I have never been on a more stunning campus. Located on the base of Table Mountain, it offers a view of the entire city and coast below. It is a 160 year old university that is one of the best in Africa. I'm so excited to be taking classes here~ To make things better I'm one of the 40 CIEE international students that are allowed to live in UCT's dorms. BALLIN!!! I feel bad because Linds really wanted the dorms too, but she got placed in a international student house which most people got. They houses are supposed to be really really nice though- the dorm I'm staying at, Liesbeeck Gardens, on the other hand looks like a huge prison complex. not so ballin. The power apparently goes out at least once a week so we have "emergency lights"- also, the sinks drip, our refrigerator is gross and smells, our lock doesn't work, my roommate doesn't have a lightbulb, there are flies everywhere, and there's a pile of dirt in the corner for some weird reason. Also, i had to take baths for the first couple days while we were in the dorms because we have no shower. HOWEVER, my room is a single and it is HUGE. like HUGE HUGE. as in so big that I feel kinda scared when I go to sleep at night because there's so much open space. It's probably about 3 or 4 times the size of the cozy corner I had at Harvard last semester. It also attached to a BALCONY! I'm in room heaven. my new room also has a shower. SCORE.

I'm finally all moved in and have started cooking for myself because there is no meal plan. Either I'm going to A) Learn to Cook, B) Lose a lot of Weight from Starvation, C) Spend a lot of money on Eating Out. Considering "eating out" here ranges from $2-5, I think I'll be ok, but I'm still going to learn how to cook, dammit! I made some prepackaged Indian food tonight with rice and it turned out well! :) I'm way too proud of myself.