I'm leaving...in a Kombi?

This will have to be short, both because I have little to say and little brain capacity with which to say it.

Not a whole lot has happened here in the last couple weeks, except the usual snow-balling of stress and work that happens mid-semester in any college or university setting. Last Wednesday I turned in my first English paper at this institution, an event which made me curiously nervous despite the fact that I've been writing English papers for almost...well, close to half my life. I actually--and here it's a pity certain professors and/or former teachers aren't reading this--had my paper done two days *early*, with over 7 outside references, and it ended up being almost 1 000 words over the minimum. *shakes head* I was kind of in shock, I think. It was a very interesting topic, though--I had to analyze Neil Gaiman's short story "Snow, Glass, Apples", a twisted but excellently written re-telling of the fairy tale Snow White, from the perspective of the stepmother. We'll see how my efforts turn out.

As for the future: in roughly 4 hours myself and 69 (ish) other folk will be straggling into 9 7-seater Kombi vans to head out on what promises to be the best week of the entire semester. I should have been asleep about 4 hours ago, but I'll have a long drive during which I can sleep tomorrow. Our trip will last about a week and take us on what's called the Garden Route--a route of the most famous (and beautiful) tourist attractions in South Africa, including Jeffrey's Bay (with some of the best surfing in the world), the Tsitsikamma adventure forest (some options include ziplining through the forest canopy; Monkeyland, a primate sanctuary for different monkeys from all over the world and bungee jumping-the highest jump in the southern hemisphere) and Addo Elephant park. We'll also go climbing through the Cango caves, tour a Rastafarian township and have the opportunity to do a multitude of things such as whale-watching, sea-kayaking, horse back riding (on the beach), sandboarding (like snowboarding, but on dunes) and surfing. I myself don't know how many of these I'll be able to participate in (as most things, they all cost $$) but the trip should be exciting no matter what. And when we return in a week...plenty to blog about!

Signing off for now!