End of the Road...Or is it?

Well, I'm back! My thesis has been officially handed in! Years of studying, scores of projects and months of tireless work all culminated in a neatly bound, colour-printed booklet of just over 100 pages...For now, the jury's out, but on the 9th November I will meet with the external examiner who will listen intently to my presentation, examine my poster and give his final verdict! Here's to hoping its a good one!

So how does it feel to be at the end of this long, loooong road?  Well...you can't really sum it up in a blog.   How can I explain the nights spent pouring over textbooks, days spent puzzling over formulas and weeks spent trying to understand a single, elusive concept, only to have it dismantled for you in five minutes by a classmate in the hallway before an exam? It really is impossible to account for how many confused, stressed and worked-to-the-bone days have gone into this degree. But honestly, if it wasn't this difficult, it wouldn't have been worth this much! 

SAX APPEAL magazine, sold by 1st year UCT students
to raise money for RAG (remember and give)

But to be fair, when I think back on my time here as a student in Cape Town, I don't think about all the stressful assignments, exams and lectures! I think about the amazing things I've experienced, the people I've met and the opportunities I've grabbed with both hands! I think about missioning to Hermanus for the weekend or eating fish and chips at Hout Bay. I think about the time in 1st year when someone put a virus onto the chemistry lecturer's computer which made it flash an image of an obese naked woman for a fraction of a second at intervals throughout the lesson (our FAVOURITE lecturer, good old John Z couldn't figure out why the entire class had apparently gone mad). I remember stumbling down Long Street with my friends to go get a "Mohammad's" that would probably make us sick the next day...I remember selling SAX APPEAL, the rag mag and sitting on the grass in the Civil Eng garden with my mentees, telling them how much was 'the right amount' of partying to do if they wanted to pass, and going to complain to the Mech Eng HOD about the lack of female toilets in the Mech Eng department (an issue I felt particularly strongly about ;) ). I remember watching the sunrise from Jammie Steps and listening to friends play guitar around a campfire on Clifton Beach. I remember how scared and clueless I was taking on this EWB project in Feb this year and how terrified I was to be on the streets of Nyanga the 1st time, and how naive and awkward I was in 1st year and how much I've grown in so many ways...

Long Street, Cape Town.
The place to be for food, fashion and nightlife!

I remember the time I went to a maths tut in a less-than-sober state (something I DON"T SUGGEST) and not knowing what was potting, and failing and skimming through courses by the skin of my teeth in a way that still baffles me! I remember how much fun it was spending all night in the labs (with everyone else) the night before a major hand-in, only to have the printer break down at 6am before the 9am hand-in...Being there with all those awesome people who had run the gauntlet with you, sharing in your sleep-deprived elation and misery, well, it was really something! I remember how everyone came out looking absolutely stunning at Grad Ball, and being shocked at how well engineers could clean up! I remember the lecturers we loved to hate, and those I will always have the utmost respect for! lol, I even remember sitting in the Design Lab (our mech-eng haunt) for the first time and being terrified that I had no idea what a sprocket or cotter-pin was! (realising very quickly that nobody else did either)...

It was sundowners at La Med and sushi at Beluga and walks with my dog on Seapoint promenade. It was the fact that my favourite club is still Baghdad on Long (dodgiest place I've ever been), with St Yves and Hemisphere coming a close 2nd and 3rd (stunning upmarket places). It was all study parties and birthday parties and CUPCAKE PARTIES and family and friends and dogs and fights....

All in all its been a rocky road, but an awesome one. I would do it all again in a heartbeat, a little differently in some areas (falling victim to the infamous 1st-year spread: gaining 10 kgs which took me 2 years to lose!)), but not missing out on any of it! 

University of Cape Town

Oh wait, I didn't answer the question: how does it feel to be at the end of this long road? Well, I will always love Cape Town, the alluring city, the pink parading city, with her sultry pulse and a beauty that never fails to take your breath away. I will never forget my Alma Mata, UCT, which made me the person I am today, a person with a passion for growth and development, someone who questions and wants more more more out of life! 

But as my Cape Town road approaches its end, I'm faced with a reality: my road is not ending...there is more to do, so much more! EWB is on a roll and I'm rolling onto something bigger and more exciting! This is only the beginning!  So WATCH THIS SPACE!