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| Table mountain in background, devil's peak in foreground, University of Cape Town nestled at the foot of mountain. |
As the sunsets on the east coast of the United States, and it nears midnight here in South Africa, 21 excited UConn students are completing last minute preparations before embarking on their much anticipated Cape Town Study Abroad experience. They will each head to JFK airport before the crack of dawn on Jan 12th to join the co-educators with whom they shared their pre-departure course. At 10:40 a.m. they will board flight SA # 204 and head half way around the globe to participate in an amazing 15 week adventure.
Scheduled to arrive at Cape Town International Airport at 12:15 pm on Friday the 13th they will immediately begin their two week orientation. Throughout their time in CPT each student will submit entries to this blog which are designed to provide an ongoing overview of what they are doing, learning, experiencing, feeling, and discovering. As they strive to integrate theory and practice through their classwork, internships, activist projects, outdoor explorations and social interactions they will be encouraged to share those reflections on this blog.
Their blog assignment is:
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I realize orientation is an exciting and hectic time but taking a few minutes to jot down your initial impressions will provide you with a valuable opportunity to process the new information you are gathering during these first few weeks. Developing the habit of making note of things as they occur to you will be personally beneficial as well as helpful in completing the following assignment:
At least 10 times during the semester you will be responsible for submitting a short entry that will be posted on the Cape Town Study Abroad Blog (cptadventures2012.blogspot.com). These entries are to include insightful comments that serve to make connections among your various experiences in Cape Town: your orientation, internship, course work (readings, classroom discussions, videos, guest speakers, etc.), activist project, activities, excursions, and current events.
Although not every entry will include all of these elements, your 10 entries taken together will demonstrate a broad range of integration of theory and practice, insights and awarenesses, challenges and achievements. Whenever possible entries should include pictures (in jpg format), links to related online articles and/or other creative material you consider helpful and appropriate.
Blog entries are to be submitted in essay format and written for an audience that has not been to South Africa or taken a course on race and gender. On the next page is a schedule with 10 dates for which you will be responsible for submitting an entry. During orientation and on excursion I will be flexible with the dates for submission but please try to write your entries as close to the assigned date as possible to keep the blog current.
In general, your blog entries may be emailed to me no earlier than one week prior to the due date and no later than noon of the day they are due. In addition to your 10 assigned blog entries you may also submit additional posts as often as you like --- pictures, comments, insights, reflections, or links to material you believe would be a valuable addition or supplement to other posts are always welcomed and appreciated.
This is your class blog to document your collective and individual experiences. I trust it will be reflective of the amazing journey which is certain to unfold throughout your 3½ month adventures in South Africa
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