Days 13 - 16

6-20-13

            Today was surprisingly routinely. Spent the morning in class and then went on to our client meeting with Pumeza at Monwood. It’s nice to finally get settled in with the business and start to evaluate everything. Our Supporting Emerging Enterprise (S.E.E.) Model is due on Monday for each of our businesses so from now until then I plan to be staying up late and waking up early in order to generate quality reports. Other than hiking Table Mountain on Saturday, which should be incredible, this weekend will be pretty stressful so I’m really looking forward to it. We were given a slight extension on our second S.E.E. Model for Pumeza since we began working with her late into the program but we hope to turn it in on time so we can get back on track and focus on the deliverables. The good side is that I am starting to believe in the S.E.E. Model. As long as you don't write it with potential deliverables in mind the model can be a complete guide into a business and can highlight fundamental issues severely affecting the success of the business. I can't wait to see what our final S.E.E. Models reveal, and I imagine they will provide us with some insight into quite a lot of issues. Hopefully the days will begin to appear more normal as it becomes much too complicated when things do not go as planned. Our jobs become harder and it is difficult for the client to understand that, so all we can hope for is a forthcoming arrangement with no secrets. So far, so good. I think…

6-21-13

           It seems that today is the last day the bar on campus will be open for a few weeks. I’m not sure how I will survive but I sure hope I do. Just kidding, but a drink every now and then sure does help with the stress. Also, all of the local students go home soon so campus is going to get real quiet so that will also put a slight damper on the next few weeks. I love talking to the local students here because they all care so much about their country. They truly want the foreigners to have a great time here and see all of the amazing things here. They don't want you to have any problems with theft and you can tell they care about you. That's the primary reason the bar is so much fun. All of the locals gather there during the weekends and hang out and it’s so great to go and hang out with them. I’m going to miss that in these coming weeks. Tomorrow is Table Mountain and I’m getting ready for bed now its pretty soon and I couldn't be more excited. We will be hiking for about two hours before we summit the mountain. Then we will hang out on top and then hike back down. I asked around to see if it was possible to mountain bike down the trail but apparently that is too dangerous. I guess ill be the judge of that tomorrow.

            I’m beginning to try and focus on the fun parts of the trip rather than circle around the S.E.E. Model and deliverables as interesting as they are. Don't get me wrong, I do love that part of the trip and I’m learning more than I could have ever imagines, but when you strip away the programming, I’m simply on vacation, and who doesn’t love travelling. I’ve been lucky to see a lot of places in my short time on this planet but Cape Town is extraordinary and I believe the view from the top will be unlike anything I have ever seen. Hopefully I am in good enough shape to represent Boulder and Colorado properly. Otherwise, I will be thoroughly embarrassed that I let down CU.

6-22-13

            Climbing Table Mountain was a lot like this program, or at least I hope it will be. It was an incredibly difficult climb consisting of a steep uphill battle throughout, and once we reached the top, I wished that I had just taken the cable car. Just kidding. Summiting Table Mountain was very rewarding and it created such a great feeling of accomplishment. I hope that completing this program will be as rewarding, if not more, as climbing Table Mountain. The top of the mountain was amazing. The 360-degree view of Cape Town included some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen. We decided to celebrate the climb with a little food and wine while we relaxed atop this incredible landmass. All right, lets face it; we had quite a bit of wine over the period of about three hours, at which point, we chose to ride the cable car down to head back to campus. The trip was fantastic. The fun trips planned during the program, though scarce, provide a perfect outlet of stress and help us return to earth after working our butts off on our assignments. Table Mountain accomplished this and more.

            After returning to campus everyone crashed for a few hours after all that wine consumption. We definitely needed some rest before returning downtown for a night on Long Street. We piled into a van and drove to Long Street for some food and drinks and a good time, which is exactly what we found. Long Street is filled with bars and we ended up going to about four of them, all packed with locals and fun people to meet. We ate, drank, and let loose since it might have been the only time to do so on Long Street. Seeing as we were all pretty drunk when we left we were able to convince our taxi driver into stopping at McDonalds on the way home, which tastes exactly the same as at home by the way. We made it worth his while in the form of a cheeseburger too. Apparently Long Street creates some late night fast food cravings. I am hoping to return at some point during this trip since we had such a great time.

6-23-13

            Woke up hung-over and worked on the S.E.E. Model all day. Feeling great.