Simba was walking too slow, so I told him to Mufasa.

It's hard to believe that we have been in Cape Town for a week already! Time is flyinggg. I am absolutely loving every single second that I am here. 

On Tuesday we had class and got the privilege of hearing from a diversity panel of five people's first hand encounters with Apartheid. It was very interesting to hear! Apartheid was not something that I was too familiar with before coming on this trip. After class, we all just caught up on some much needed sleep and rested the rest of the evening, because there were rumors going around that Wednesday would be the day we would be hiking Table Mountain (dunununnnn).

Wednesday was a great day! During our class time that day, we heard from Kevin Chaplin who is currently the director of the Amy Biehl Foundation. Mr. Chaplin, who used to manage the First National Bank, has taken his wise business philosophy and applied these skills to successfully running the Amy Biehl Foundations. This is an incredible organization based around the idea of forgiveness. Amy Biehl was an American Full-Bright Scholar who at the young age of 26 had already made a significant difference in South Africa. Amy was in South Africa when all of the violence surrounding Apartheid was going on, and one night when she was driving home, her car was ambushed by a mob and she was killed. Although devastated by their daughter's death, Amy's parents made the decision to grant Amy's killers amnesty, and even aloud two of them to work for the foundation that they were creating in Amy's honor. The Amy Biehl Foundation implements after-school programs in many of the local schools, which allows the children to stay safe and off the streets during the non-school hours. The foundation hopes to develop and empower youth in the impoverished townships. This is an absolutely incredible organization that I hope to continue working with. After class (surprise, surprise) it was announced that today would be the day that we would be hiking Table Mountain. When we got to the spot from which we would be starting our hike, I have to admit that I was a tad bit intimidated. Immediately, we were just climbing up stair-like rock formations. Now, I consider myself to be at least a somewhat in shape person, but let me tell ya, this climb was like never ending stadiums! It took us about 1.5 hours to complete the entire 2.65 mile climb, but once we made it to the top, it was entirely worth it! The view was absolutely breathtaking; like nothing I have ever seen before, nor will I ever forget. If my future husband is by any chance out there, the top of Table Mountain would be the PERFECT spot to be proposed to at, just throwing that out there;) hehe. Once we made it to the top, there were so many views to take in and lots of pictures to take. After spending an hour or so at the top, we eventually all took a cable car back down the mountain and headed back to the apartments for a much needed shower. We were all so exhausted once we got back that we decided to just get a group together to go eat a quick dinner at Wang Thai, which is a delicious Thai/Sushi restaurant attached to the hotel. I tried Chicken Pad Thai for the first time and loved it!