Registering for classes was a pain. We really take for granted the technology-access in the states – the internet is so cheap that we use it for EVERYTHING. Like registering for classes. Not in Cape Town. No, at the University of Cape Town we register in person.
At the University of Rochester, there are about 4,000 undergraduates. When they register online for classes, it’s sort of like a virtual line – first come, first serve. Now imagine that line in person, with people winding around the academic quad just waiting to sign up. A royal pain, right? Now imagine that you go to a school like the University of Cape Town, with an undergraduate population of 20,000. Welcome to class registration.
I lie, a little – Semester Study Abroad students have their own line and classes don’t usually fill up, but it’s still 700 students all trying to register at the same time. I waited in various lines for a good two or three hours, enjoying the lack of air conditioning and kicking myself for forgetting my book. But here’s the thing: when you’re abroad, everything is an experience, and even the most ridiculous bureaucracies seem novel. Definitely makes life more palatable to view everything with a fresh set of eyes. Note to self: remember this when back in the states.
When everything is an adventure, a learning experience, or a way to pass the time, how could you ever be bored? Getting lost on campus or getting ripped off by a taxi is a learning experience, and if you can frame it that way it feels much better. Why bemoan a process that takes forever when I’m not really in a rush anyway? Life here is a constant adventure, and as long as I keep that in mind, how could it ever be bad?