Con Te Partiro

Dear Durban,

Well, it’s been fun. Thanks for 5 months of near-perpetual perfect weather, greasy Steers fries, 30 rand wine and movie nights. Sure, we had our disagreements here and there – I know I can be too uptight, and you’re the kind of place that asks for a lot of adaptability, but I think we came to a pretty decent balance most of the time. Thanks for the cool people you introduced me to- I’m just as sad to leave them as I am to leave you, truth be told, and even for dragging me hiking that one time in the Drakensburg. (Note: I’m never doing that again.)

I know our time together was short – feels like it’s been a matter of weeks sometimes – and if I could make it longer, I would. But we both knew I’d have to go back to Philadelphia eventually, Durban. It’s about that time now.

I still maintain that there’s no such thing as too many photographs, so when Philadelphia gets too chilly or rainy, I know I’ll be rifling through pictures of you and me and remembering the good times– the beaches, the marketplaces, the weeklong jaunts to Cape Town and Mozambique. You’ve given me a lot, Durbs, and I’ll always remember our time together as absolutely fantastic. Do me a favour and take care of the next new girl you meet, alright?

Love,

Az.

Baby Stepping

Hello, outside world!

I’m currently reporting from my dorm room- (a clean little area overlooking a parking lot and garden outside), nursing a tiny headache (thank you, sun exposure) and waiting for my black tea to finish steeping so that I can begin to treat aforementioned headache.

So my time in Durban so far? Hot. The days have ranged from all-too-quick visits to water parks and sun-bleached beaches to seemingly endless hours spent waiting in registration lines and orientation meetings, waving paper fans and sipping from sweating bottles of water. Classes start next week, and so most of us are still walking around, supplying our dorm rooms with instant food, soap and FANS, and making baby steps towards figuring this city out. So, as a girl who is definitively still in the settling in phase, I humbly present the few tidbits we’ve picked up along the way.