So, for the next five months I'm going to be coexisting with two African guys and a Mexican girl in the worst living conditions I've ever experienced. I realize this makes me sound really spoiled, and I don't doubt that I have been for most of my life. I chose to live in the UCT dorms because I wanted to meet real South Africans instead of living with a bunch of Americans in a house. The dorms are basically like an apartment for four students with a kitchen, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. You can imagine that dorms in general aren't very nice, and this is a dorm. In South Africa. So it's significantly worse than anything I can imagine in the US.
But it's a real roof over my head and a real bed, which is much more than a lot of people in South Africa can say.
While I'm uncomfortable and not exactly excited about my living conditions for the next five months, I have to remind myself that I am here to experience what I wouldn't have experienced in the US. I've grown up in a beautiful house, stayed in amazing hotels all over the world, and lived in fairly decent dorms in college. I've been incredibly fortunate. And now, although it takes some self-convincing to believe it, I'm really fortunate to be able to have the experience of living in a crappy dorm apartment with African dudes. I know it won't be easy, but I know that I'll come out of it with a new appreciation for nice things, and probably a lot more.
Of course, if it gets too unbearable, I'll just check into the Mount Nelson for a few days.
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