Student Project Perspectives

November 16, 2007

Week 4 - Half way!

One of the things that is great about Cape Town is there is truly a multitude of things to do. In the same aspect it is very easy to spend a lot of money with so many things to do. I can honestly say, though this week was on a pricey side, it was full of some once in a lifetime experiences. Though I do want to make it back to Cape Town someday, I want to get in as much as possible. For example, swimming in the Indian Ocean, though it sounds small and insignificant, it is just one of those things I want to say I have done in my life time. It is these sort of once in a life time experiences I have in Cape Town every single day that make this the trip of a lifetime.

I promise we do have work to do...

I'm going to leave you hanging for a little bit on the once in a lifetime experiences this week had to offer because it is true, the project is the reason why we are here (though it is easy to forget). Our team is getting to the point where we finally know exactly where we are going and are starting to finalize how we are going to get to that point. We recently got our official Cape Town ID badges making us official City of Cape Town Staff. Now of course we use these badges everyday to get into the Civic Center where we work, but we also discovered this past week that these badges can come in very handy for other uses as well. Our sponsor took us out to look at transportation interchanges around Cape Town to get a better feel for the types of facilities we might want to use in our plan for the central business district. Mid way through our trip we had to make a bathroom break which in any normal situation would have been an issue since we were out in some of the underdeveloped areas where such public facilities aren't really readily available. With our badges, though, we simply pulled up to a government building we passed, flashed the badges, and we were in. If you haven't caught on by this story, one of the things most interesting about this trip has been living in a country that has no fear against any sort of terrorism. Everyday when we go to work we flash our ID badge. We then walk through a metal detector with our back packs on and of course set it off because we have lap tops in them. The security guards could honestly care less. Sometimes they even joke and ask "Did you bring a bomb today?" or "Do you have a gun in the bag?" and if you say yes they laugh. It is a totally different environment. Sure Cape Town has to deal with an excessive amount of crime on a daily basis but none of it is the large scale events that we need to be vigilant against in the States. In some way it is relieving to see there are locations in the world that don't live with that sort of fear.

We have made some major developments on the project itself. We have received permission from the bus company in Cape Town, known as Golden Arrow, to survey the riders on the corridor in which our project is located. The survey we have developed centers on gathering information on where people from an Atlantic Seaboard are heading within the CBD (Central Business District) or beyond. With the information we will be able to determine whether a large majority of passengers are ending their journey in the CBD or whether they are going on to other points beyond. From there we hope to determine how exactly this corridor should terminate within the CBD and then begin to develop designs for the routes and necessary facilities. It is important to point out that our sponsor and advisors have played a key role in the development of this project. We meet weekly as a group to get everyone on the same page about what is going one with the project. Throughout the week as well, our sponsor constantly drops in to check up on how we are doing and help out if he can. We also have an individual in the transportation department whose desk is located right next to ours. Throughout the day he is an extremely valuable resource and though if I was him I would think we are annoying, he definitely likes having us around. We keep his day fun.

Wine, wine, and more wine

Believe it or not, Cape Town is actually one of the leading exporters of wine in the world. Tucked between the city and the desert is some amazing wine country. On Saturday, the whole group of us went together. Robbie, our tour guide picked us up at the Big Blue and carted us around for the entire day. Throughout the day the bus maneuvered between mountains and through vast valleys of vineyards. Everywhere you looked could have been a picture you see on a postcard. It is really hard to express in words so definitely check out my pictures. You'll see it is not the Africa we all saw in the Lion King. We went to three separate vineyards and tried eighteen different wines. We were first given the "5 minute crash course to wine tasting." We learned how to tell if the wine is young or aged. We also learned how to decanter our own wine in a glass. He taught us some strange slurping technique to use on your first sip to get "the full aroma and taste of the wine." To be completely honest my nose was congested and I couldn't smell much of anything but I was a good pretender. We also learned that when you are at a restaurant and the waiter pours you a sample of the wine it's not to just see if you like it, its to see if you want it decantered to remove the acidity.... How were we supposed to know? He was a great guide and he definitely kept us laughing the entire time. In addition to the wine tasting, along the way there was a Belgium chocolate tasting as well as goat and cow cheese tasting. The average cost of a bottle of wine at any of the three estates we visited was probably right around R60 or just around $10. Obviously, it is more cost effective to buy it straight from the vineyard. Overall we definitely came away with the know-how of "proper" wine tasting.

There is a first time for everything

If being in Africa isn't a big enough first, Sunday we made a trip to the Indian Ocean which is probably about an hour from Cape Town. To top it all off, we didn't just swim in the Indian Ocean. About thirteen of us learned to surf for the first time. Now, whenever I have seen someone surfing prior to Sunday I always wondered why they just hang out there with their boards looking out towards the ocean as seemingly perfect waves go by. Well I quickly learned being in the right spot for the right wave at the right time is much harder than it appears. Surfing is definitely a sport that takes some patience, especially when you are learning. We rented our boards and wet suits from a local surf shop. It wasn't too much of a surprise that our wet suits were bright blue and yellow so that us "newbies" stuck out in the ocean. One thing about surfing is with so many people in the water trying to catch the same waves, you want to make sure people can spot you easily. A surfboard to the head would be a painful experience to say the least. Once we were all suited up we did a couple practice runs on the beach to make us stand out even more as first timers and then headed out to take on the ocean. There was a definite learning process to surfing. I can say the first half an hour I effectively learned which waves I should be taking. The next hour was learning where I needed to be to catch the waves. The next hour was filled with catching a lot of waves followed by quickly falling off and being dragged by the surf board which is attached to your ankle. And then finally in about the third hour I began to be able to get up and ride the waves. By the end of the day I could even ride a wave all the way into the beach and step off onto the sand. It was an awesome trip and we are already talking about doing it again before we leave.

(Mom stop reading at this point....So the one interesting part about surfing was the fact that in the warmer water of the Indian Ocean its not uncommon for there to be sharks. When we first got there, there was a siren going off and everyone was getting out of the water because there had been a shark sighting. About fifteen minutes later, they told us we could go back into the water but they put up a red flag which meant there could possibly be sharks in the area but they can't really tell... that made us feel safe for some reason. They told us to stay in groups and we "should" be fine. Don't worry mom because I know you are still reading, I still have all my arms and legs.)

Half Way

It is true, we are just about at the half way point. This experience has really been the journey of a life time. Not only am I getting the hands on work experience that is so important to the WPI education, but I am also living for eight weeks in what is quite possibly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In the weeks before making the trip I started to second guess whether this would really be a worthwhile experience but I now know why this program is one of the best components of the WPI plan. Part of me is really excited we still have four weeks to go but another part of me is really excited to see everyone back at home. I am definitely going to make sure to make the most of my last four weeks in Africa.

Until next week,
-Nick

PS - As I've been writing this I've commonly wondered whether people had any questions or anything else they would like me to write about. If you do, please email me at npelly@wpi.edu and I will be sure to include that information next week.