[vNZsk39B]

I'm going to be studying in Cape Town, South Africa this May/June. Anyone here from that area? Any Advice, links to good sites about the city etc? What is the political situation like? Lots of racial tension?

[SallythePearl]

I'm from up in Johannesburg... I hear it's very different to Cape Town (I've never been to Cape Town).

Have you ever been to South Africa before?

[vNZsk39B]

Nope this will be my first time. I'm going to be studying HIV/AIDS pandemic.

[bactrimtab]

I live in Cape Town Lord_P. Will you be studying at the University of Cape Town? I work out of there myself. I'm Canadian but have been living here for 5 years and totally love it. The transition from moving from Vancouver to here was surprisingly minimal. You will find that there are lots of American/Canadian/British etc. students studying here so you will have lots of "your people" to interact with. The university is highly ranked worldwide yet is in South Africa so still get some of the "African experience". Cape Town is not really like most of the country though (and clearly not the continent) so you may want to do a bit of travelling.

As far as the political situation goes its a stable as it is in Canada. There isn't rebel factions re anything like that that exist in other African countries. Its simply ANC dominance with a bunch of smaller parties battling it out for the scraps.

As far as racial tension goes, well there is some of that. basically white people don't really like black people and vice versa. Outside of the university there is very little social interaction between the two. You won't see fight breaking out anything like that though. There is just a huge cultural gap that will take a long time to fill. You will meet lots of racist people here though and theres not much you do but ignore it. White people generally blame black people for the high crime rate while black people blame white people for forcing them to resort to crime. Its a bit of a sorry cycle.

On the topic of crime, don't listen to people who will tell you a bunch of rubbish about the crime situation. Just like any other large city, as long as you don't do anything stupid like walk through a dodgy area late at night with a DSLR camera around your neck you will be fine. I've never had a problem here and honestly East Vancouver is probably a worse place to hang out than Cape Town in terms of crime.

Let me knwo if you have any other questions mate. Its too bad you are coming in May/June as thats the start of winter and it can be a bit rainy. Why FIFA wants to have the have the World cup at this time year I will never understand.

[sadgpokx]

Nope this will be my first time. I'm going to be studying HIV/AIDS pandemic.

What's your major?

[HexcewlyRette]

I am [surrender]

but i dont live in Cape Town, so i cant really give you any advice about that.

[vNZsk39B]

What's your major?

Economics. I'm going to be staying in an apartment in Cape Town and during the day I'll be spending time in the Guguletu township with my class.