Eat the city, eat it whole

Three down, two to go! English is over, and it went very well. A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romanticism, and The Great Gatsby were all very good to me, which is exactly what I deserved for my studies. On Tuesday, I am writing History. I have a whole week of 'me-time' ahead of me! Benjamin is studying very hard for Philosophy today, because his exam is tomorrow. It seems as though my first university exams are going to be as good as can be hoped for!

Ahead of me lies a week of watching series, Wikipeding History topics, snuggling deeply in bed on rainy mornings, and hopefully going to dad's for some delicious, wood oven food.

Here is a funny quote for you to enjoy:

Overheard in the Newsroom #4397: Copy Editor in reference to Justin Bieber: “If I looked like that when I was 15, I think I would have gotten pantsed.”

Economics queen 1 - 'Great' Gatsby 0

After having aced my first Economics exam meritoriously and chasing it down with a cold shot of Sociological brilliance, I am cool, calm, and collected for English tomorrow. After English, I have a free week in which I hope to visit my dad with Ben (a very welcome respite) and sleep for ridiculous amounts of time.

So, right now I am studying Renaissance and Romantic poetry, poetic narration in The Great Gatsby, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm going to nail this bad boy to my Wall of Victories! That is why I am writing a blog right now - to show it that I am not scared of it at all, and that it kan maar BRING IT.

Well, I might write again tomorrow, after my exam. I'm feeling very happy, and ready to take on the world. To everybody who always knew what a wunderkind I was, I am happy to prove you right.

Don't Waste Time Doing Things You Hate

And so it has come to pass that today, on the afternoon of my first ever university exam, I finally have a whisper of a glimpse of a moment of peace and quiet. Since my last post, nothing has, in any way or form, improved in my life.

Now, don't get me wrong, my life has been great - who doesn't love perpetual lectures, assignments, tests, essays, studying, oily res meals and zero sleep? It's just that I haven't had a moment to myself yet. When I see myself in the mirror, I still get a fright at times because I have forgotten who I am. I thought I was G10R1626, BJourn 1, 2010? I have a face, a name, a brain? What is this life you speak of?

Jokes aside, the past four weeks have been quite the challenge for me. But, as all challenges do, this one brought rewards aplenty. Having four of my articles published in Activate (all of which you will se upon my return), creating the first ever multimedia "vlog" (video blog) for Activate online, getting firsts (75%+) for most of my assignments, essays and tests, working my butt of and learning to write more than 3,000 words in one day have made the past month more than worth it.

Benjamin is doing very well, and he is looking over my shoulder as I write thi- oh, wait? Where did he go? When he saw his name, he ran away to the warmth and anonimity of the corner of my room, saying "No! DOn't write about me!". Haha. He is teaching me how to play squash, and in the process he is making me very fit (and I love it too!). His first exam is Sociology on Friday, with me.

Today I wrote Economics, which went extremely well. I daresay it might even be one of my best subjects! After Sociology on Friday, I write English on Tuesday, History on the 1st of June and JMS on the 5th of June. Time is flying, though, and soon I'll be finished with all of this and back home.

In other news - last week, my raven-haired self was reborn, and from the flames of her death was born the new, fire-headed me. Check Facebook for pictures of my transformation!

Plans for the future: there is a big chance of my getting an internship or 'shadow week' at True Love magazine, voted one of the Top 10 women's glossies in South Africa. Very excited!

Well, I better be off. I need to study feral children, ideology, education, socialisation, orientalism and all kinds of other funky buzzwords now.

I love you!

My (un)vacation and the deep end of the university swimming pool

After a very, very eventful (and equally short) vacation, my term has started at Rhodes - and I am running at full speed to keep up with it!

In my vacation, I worked at Sapa (South African Press Association) and tried my hand at crime and accident reports, as well as political reporting. The latter is, to my surprise, very interesting, engaging, and quite to my tastes... The former, not so much. There is only so much one can say! "One killed... Woman run over... Three die in fire... Man arrested for possessing weapons... Aircraft does emergecy landing on beach..." would drive me absolutely crazy if I had to face it as my day-to-day job. I think we will all agree, though, that I have the ambition and talent to avoid this kind of reporting at all costs!

Yes, it was unpleasant, but I am not undermining the amazing experience I owe this icky job. I learned to negotiate my way around the iron-clad exterior of the SAPS, I perfected the skill of objective, factual reporting, I know all about legal implications and I know how to get what information I want, when I want it, and how I want it.

The ANC, the MDC and Julius Malema, however, are endlessly exciting and frustrating in equal measures. I might consider this field again... if it is only to be called a "bloody agent" by Malema. Seems so thrilling!

Before my head could even stop spinning with South African news and reports, my body had to be put through torture to exorcise the painful, kind of creepy growths it had growing inside of it, called endometriosis. Redcovering was difficult, but I think I've done it successfully. Bring it on, 80/20 injury and illness theory! I may be in the 20% of the population that gets 80% of illnesses and injuries, but I handle it pretty damn well!

Inbetween, I did not even have a spare second for rest and recovery. From getting my nose repierced (it closed when I had to take my piercing out for the operation) to getting my new cellphone (the beautiful Samsung Corby, wow!), I was not allowed to lament my illness at home, on my own.

One of the best parts of my recovery was attending my grandfather Izak Benjamin's art exhibition. Seeing his beautiful art and being with my family for a relaxing, special, nurturing and trnaquil day in Pretoria was exactly what I needed to recover.

Spending this holiday with my family was beautiful and special. The only thing I would wish to be different would be to have my holiday longer, and to move Pretoria and Vereeniging closer to Jo'burg so that I could spend quality time with ALL my grandparents. As you can probably tell, there was no time to travel to see any of them, and I was very lucky to catch a fleeting glimpse of Oupa Zak and Ouma Erna. My first plan for my six-week holiday coming up in June is to travel to Pretoria to see Ouma Tish and Oupa Phil. The camera they got me for my 18th birthday is amazing, I love it so much, it's exactly what I need here to document res life, outings, fun days and even to do my Sociology group project! (I will post another update on that a bit later). I miss them so much.

Thank you, family, for making my holiday so special, and making sure I knew how loved and appreciated I am. I hope I do the same for you, Mamma, Ella... Everybody. I love you so much! Gah!

I AM NOT SAYING A WORD ABOUT THE BUS RIDE. I refuse to become one of those useless complainers I hate so vehemently.*

I was thrown into the deep end when I arrived at Rhodes. I had work to finish immediately, with not a moment of reprieve for my body or soul. Ready, steady, GO!

Highlights of the last three days include...
- Pizza and cocktails on the roof of a restaurant called "The Yellow House" (a lovely, quaint, as-yet-undiscovered little spot in the middle of Grahamstown) with my lovely Benjamin
- Unpacking my room perfectly, and in record time
- Finishing all the work that has been flung straight into my chest on time, and as well as I could possibly hope for
- Doctor Benjamin Marais removing my post-surgery stitches HIMSELF with a sterilized pair of nail scissors and a tweezer
- Sleeping...

Speaking of this mystical, ever-elusive sleep...
Goodnight, lovely people who make me happiest on the earth.
Kayla

*That bus ride was so awful... I lie, I actually just want to cry when I think about it and that is why I won't discuss it! Haha. At least it's over now! Whew...

Authors of Identity

“Differences challenge assumptions,” the famous author Anne Wilson Schaef once said. As I looked at Chelsea Ann Chalmers, I snorted at the possibility. My assumptions about her, I thought, would never be challenged.
On the surface, we were very similar. We were both of the same age, race and sex. Both of us came from families with fairly comfortable incomes in Johannesburg, we both spoke the same language and we both attended Rhodes University as first year students.
But, as far as I was concerned, Chelsea and I could have been from two different species.
Having observed Chelsea for quite some time, I thought I knew exactly who and what she was, and I was not impressed. “I know your type,” I found myself thinking on more than one occasion, “and I don’t like it.” Her social extroversion and habits created my inability to see the person that she truly was. The culture at Rhodes teemed with ‘people like her’. She fit in beautifully; I was an outcast. She loved people; I felt uncomfortable around them. She enjoyed parties; I would rather cut my own leg off than attend one. She takes pleasure in sport; I find it torturous. It happens so often that we, as human beings, do not feel comfortable when we come across someone who could fit into more than one of the restricting little boxes we have created in which to stuff them. Because I had always regarded myself as liberal-minded and free of judgmental thoughts and ideas, it came as a nasty shock to me when I found that I had created a large number of these little boxes. Not only had I been trapping my acquaintances in these boxes, but my boxes did not even have holes through which they could breathe.
Chelsea is part of the ‘in-crowd’. She is popular, and she taps her feet to the music that blares from the radio. She jumps from one earth-shatteringly fashionable outfit to the next in the space of five minutes. She is invited to all the most exclusive parties as a Rhodes first year, and she attends them. Speaking to Chelsea, I thought, would be a waste of time. It was not. Speaking to Chelsea Ann Chalmers not only surprised me, but it blew all my stereotypically labelled boxes into oblivion.
It turned out that Chelsea and I were more alike than I had ever been able to dream. Human beings, I realised, were human beings not because of, but despite their cultures. Despite being from different cultures, Chelsea and I are both saddened by pain and suffering, and it brings us joy to bring joy to others.
It comes to pass that the most important part of a person is not determined by their habits, their background or their way of life. People share core values, and this makes us human. It is time to break open our boxes, pile them up, burn them down and dance around the flames together.

Think Like a Journalist

I am almost home! Can you believe that seven weeks are almost over? I have just spent the weekend at my dad's house with Benjamin, and my tastebuds have never been more satisfied.

I do not really know what I will write about today... Things that seem old and familiar to me will be exciting and new to you, so I have no idea how to select news for you. As I am reporting this news from my own life, I guess that's a problem all journalists face! I feel that I am starting to think like a journalist more and more these days. After struggling with an assignment I had been given for a whole weekend, I went to my JMS 1 Introduction to News lecturer, Gillian Rennie, and asked her for tips. She was very unhelpful, and gave me cryptic clues and roundabout answers. I went home, ruminated on her comments, and approached her again. Again, the same thing happened. I revised my strategy, thought and thought, and apporached her again. She explained again, and finally I understood. I told her, "Finally, after all this time, you give me something I can work with!", to which she replied, "No, you just started asking the right questions." Needless to say, I am quite chuffed with myself. Learning to ask the right questions is what makes a good journalist and writer, and I am on the way. I will post the piece of writing I created by asking the right questions, and you can be the judges.

Economics is going surprisingly well, and I am writing yet another test on Tuesday that will (hopefully) attest to my economic capabilities (I got 75% for the first one - ace!). I don't know about Sociology yet, but my last essay for the term jumped from a 5 to a 7, so I'm not complaining to loudly.

I miss you so much, and I can't wait to see you next week this time. I want sushi and hugs!

I love you.

And the writing in the salt says: "We ride on out to the stars..." *

The five days I have only barely just survived have been among the busiest of my life (ranking right up there with Drama practicals - whew!) and I have only just touched down for the first time since Sunday.

These five days were filled with the usual amount of lectures and tutorials, and an unusual amount of work, assignments, essays, questions, meetings and other obligatory madness. For Journalism, I wrote a personal narrative for Monday and a profile (for which I had to conduct a serious interview that took serious time) on a fellow tutorial member for today. For English I had, as I always do, two sets of questions, but this week I had to hand in an essay on top of that! Not to mention that I three hours of my invaluable time on Wednesday night watching the archaic John Laurie "Hamlet"... For Sociology I had an essay to hand in today, but I also have a test on Monday. History filled its slot with some indigestably convoluted writing about climate change (enjoyable, though). And Economics decided that this week was the week to slap me with a six-source essay, multiple choice questions and another little essay. Oh, and did I mention the test I wrote on Tuesday?

Activate (the independent student newspaper) meetings started this week, and I attended the Business/Opinions meeting (they share a meeting) and I did my first bit of sub-editing yesterday! I am a born spelling-superstar!

I've dyed my hair dark again! For Ouma and Oupa, who did not know that I was blonde for two months - I was blonde for two months. The regrowth of my natural colour was getting a bit ratty, so I decided to darken it again and it really looks beautiful.

I went shopping for fake flowers today, and found a beautiful bowl at Mr. Price Home for R11.99. It is glazed, and square with rounded sides. It is a dark, glazed brown on the inside and a speckled, watery-looking white painted on the outside with black patterns drawn into it. It is really beautiful.

Time is moving forward so quickly that I seem to wake up from a robotic stupor every Friday and wonder where the hell my week has gone. I am going to try to make some time for myself, if only to remind myself that I am alive (That sounds very sombre - I really am fine, just very busy!).

I miss all of you like a bunny who has lost his carrots.
I love you.

* Modest Mouse - Trucker's Atlas