"Luck of the Irish" in Africa

I consider myself an extremely lucky person, not only in the fact that I’ve been blessed with the accompaniment of great friends and loving family for the first quarter of my life, but also with small things like getting the best professors in classes and clutch schedules. Fortunately, my luck has followed me here in Cape Town. The program and opportunities afforded through UCT have far surpassed my expectations, and I am forced to pick only a small sample of the variety of experiences available here. It has only been one week and I already feel like the remaining 4.5 months will go by leaving me wanting to explore more. I write this update after a night of planning a four-day road trip along the famous Garden Route along South Africa’s southern coast – a beautiful stretch of diverse landscapes, flora, and fauna. I hope to get a 10 person Volkswagen van, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow morning. I hate writing about my study abroad experience because I’ve said all these very cliché things like “a life changing experience” or “one of the most valuable blah, blah, blahs”, but it feels very bizarre actually doing so. It sounds rather cynical, but I didn’t exactly believe some of students’ other blogs I had read before signing up myself.

The “luck of the Irish” has again revealed its ambiguous, but familiar face for me in my housing and roommate placements. I live in an unbelievable Cape Town house that’s more like a small Cape Cod beach house or something, very quaint, but extremely welcoming place that I’ve become familiar with almost immediately. Secondly, I couldn’t be happier with the roommates I’ve been assigned to – as most get placed with other Americans (and the last thing you want to do here it talk about college life in America because a.) I’ve done it long enough and b.) there’s nothing unique about the conversations.) I’ll tell you a little about my roommates, but I can’t talk crap about them because I get the feelings they are reading my blog without me knowing nbd (no big deal). I really don’t have any negatives, but it is funny to find out who reads this – one of my orientation leaders (#shoutoutLienda) reads and supports an American perspective on her country. Anyways, here it goes…

First impressions: When I first met up with all the roommates on move-in day, I was a bit nervous that I had been assigned to a bunch of quiet, boring people and that I would have to hang out with people outside the house to have a good time.

I guess I’ll start with the guys. Before moving in, I felt a little like Paul Rudd in the movie “I Love You, Man” in that I met a lot of girls who I would to spend time with, but no guys I really could call my bros like those of the infamous UB broshack. I had wing-women before wingmen, which felt a bit emasculating. Oddly enough, my roommates Seb (Sebastian) from Brisbane, Australia and Emil from Copanhagen, Denmark are two of the most bro wingmen I’ve met here and really couldn’t think of any other guys I’ve met to replace them. They’ll probably read this and give me crap for being so “emotional” or “talking about my feelings”, etc, etc. Anywho, Emil is this really quirky Dane with a funny accent and tells funny stories/jokes and seems to always have something to talk about. He has three particular sayings that I find extremely funny: 1) “Awww, you’re so sweeeet” 2) “Fair enough” and 3) “Shit son” which is usual in response to me saying something very stereotypically American slang like “that ain’t cooool, dawg.” Summing up real quick, he is adventurous, quick with a joke, and a guy who knows odd facts and drinking games (the closest thing I’ve met to a Danish Keith McComb). Also, he has run a marathon and joins me and Seb on runs around town – I say this behind his back all the time, but he has the funniest running form which I gotta get a pic of before leaving.

Interesting discovery: Crocs are universally accepted as an ugly form of footwear, but I still hold firm to the belief that someplace, in some time, a girl will understand their true beauty and that connection will lay the foundation for an everlasting relationship. #CrocsSwag

Seb arrived later than most internationals, and all us roomies who had already moved in envisioned this wild fantasy about the Australian guy who we pretty much agreed would have the wildman swagger of Paul Hogan in “Crocodile Dundee” with the accent of Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. He’s got some serious swag, but definitely not like the two molds envisioned. He does exhibit a bit of that unhurried Australian way of life, and his conversation has an unusual directness, which is uncommon for we Americans who tend to beat around the bush. I told him I have a tendency to beat way around the bush, but my roommates have already grown accustomed to my BS. It has been really easy and flowing conversations between everyone, and although I often feel like the center of attention by crossing lines and doing absurd things (like Uncle Joe at family parties), everybody has something interesting to add. Seb is the master of unintentional humor: the directness of his dialogue mixed with a funny accent and weird inflection points in his sentences always finds me dying in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation. Seb might be the happiest and most energetic drunk I’ve ever met and does some pretty epic things like dancing on random tables at the club – Australian Andy Adam?. He also takes a lot of candid videos and pics (there’s already two embarrassing vids of me).

A feel like title character Willie O’Conely from the Clancy Brothers song “Ramblin’, Gamblin’, Willie”, trailblazing on a streak of luck that follows me wherever I go. Here in the Cape, I got great roommates, a nice house, and a program that blew away all expectations. And so I thank sweet baby Jesus for the “Luck of the Irish”, even in the jungles of Africa (Note to Conese: I’m not referring to the Disney channel movie, so you and your half-chub can relax).

“So all you rovin’ gamblers, wherever you might be
The moral of the story is very plain to see
Make your money while you can, before you have to stop
For when you pull that dead man’s hand, your gamblin’ days are up
And it’s ride, Willie, ride
Roll, Willie, roll
Wherever you are a-gamblin’ now, nobody really knows”