Greetings from South Africa!!

Hey hey everyone!! The internet is very finicky here so let me apologize for delayed responses to all of your emails and Facebook wall posts/messages; but I love them and please keep them coming. I miss you all much and I hope all is well at home.



As for my adventures…I am having the absolute time of my life!!!!

I arrived last Friday and we having been going non-stop since I landed. The program I am in is taking wonderful care of me. When we arrived, they immediately took us out to dinner in Observatory which is an area of Cape Town. Then after that we hit a club called Roots, they had palm trees, sand floors, a killer bongo/congo/djembe drum band and we started to meet the people of South Africa. We had an absolute blast.

My roommates are truly amazing! We are all getting along splendidly and for those of you BC people— Chrissy Glaser is one of my roommates. And my house is killlller! It is literally right across the street from campus and is nicer than anything I have lived in before.

Our house is on a road called Lovers Walk.



The next day, the program we are on took us on a walking tour of Cape Town. It is absolutely stunning. Table top mountain overlooks the whole city and at night you can watch the clouds roll over them. Everyone morning, I wake up to the sun rising over the mountains in the distance—it’s brilliant.



We walked by the government buildings and saw the sights and had lunch on Long Street which is like the place to be in Cape Town.

Sunday may have been the coolest day of my life! We toured the entire Southwestern Cape of South Africa. I saw African Penguins, I saw baboons, I saw antelope, I saw ostriches, and many more animals. We climbed the mountainous tip of the Cape to the top of the lighthouse and it was the most beautifully scenic view I have ever seen. We are going to go back for sure and I will take tons of pictures for you all to see. Then we went to Ocean View, the first South African Township. For those of you that do not know, a Township is basically an inner-city project. It is one of the residual effects of Apartheid. The Afrikaans government kicked out all of the black people and the colored people (colored people is different from black people and it is an accepted term here) and they were all shipped to Townships which are basically shanty towns. I was so overwhelmed with emotion: frustration at the poverty, disbelief at the living conditions, disillusion with the world, empowerment with a sense of drive to change, grateful in my decision to dedicate my life to education, and amazement of the people. The people of the Township were so excited to meet us and I played with the kids for most of my time there. We had so much fun and I cannot wait to go back and play soccer with them! They adults of the Township made us lunch and then a bunch of teenagers gave performances (I missed the performances though because I was playing with the little kids outside). The kids were amazingly smart; they spoke both Afrikaans and English and had so many questions for me, and I them! I hope one day I can teach in their school.

We saw the beaches which are the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life, they took us to the Cape National park which is where we saw the animals). Then we go out every night and party like its 1999 hahaha. The clubs are insane here.

Monday was the start of Orientation. For those of you Boston College students, I seriously thought that a college campus could not be more aesthetically pleasing than the Heights—I was sorely mistaken! The University of Cape Town is like nothing I have ever seen before. I will take some pictures and put them up for everyone. I am so excited to start classes, we start next Friday. The entire week has been lectures and seminars about South Africa and the University. Our Orientation Leaders are really tight and party with us all the time and have been unbelievably helpful. Also the program we are on, Ida Cooper, has its own student associates who have been so gracious! Colin, Kai, Inge, and Najma are great people. Kai is the man! He chills with us all the time.

We live in an area called Rondebosch, which is like the student area of Cape Town. It’s a wonderful little area and has tons of great places to go and hang out. The transportation system here is crazy. They have these informal taxis called mini-buses. They are an experience for sure. I am positive that I will have many phenomenal mini-bus experiences to come. They drive throughout the city and just shout out the window at passer buys to get a ride, and they rock out to African techno.



Today I had a day off from Orientation and I went surfing! It was soooo much fun! I am going to surf all the time! I love the beach here so much. It is like 80 degrees every day and it’s nice and cool at night.



I am having such an incredible time, we haven’t stopped moving and we are really getting immersed in the culture here (but we are definitely still clearly American! Our accents kind of give it away, in addition to carrying around water bottles and the general look of confusion at any new experience). I really love my roommates and I love the South African people. You all would love it here and maybe one day you’ll come so that you can experience what I am living right now!

Life is just different. Now does not mean now. Now means later. If someone says okay I’ll do that now, that could mean I will do it in 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or later today. It is so relaxed! And they love to party, we have been going to crazy bars and clubs and I am just bustin’ my moves on the dance floor. My roommates are really chill and we have a ton of fun together. I may not come home!!!! I am in love!

Please keep me posted on all your lives, I miss you all much and I look forward to hearing what is new!

You can email me at McCluskM@bc.edu and for those of you that have blackberries my pin is 31C15C39, BBM me!

I hope that all is well back in the States. Although extremely simple, one of the coolest things I've seen while I have been here was watching a group of fisherman bringing in their boats after a long of fishing for Hake (the main fish of South Africa).

More to come…

Lots of love,
Matty