Adrian Lombard’s Trip to South Africa June-July 2004

Junior in Computer Engineering, IPENG Summer Program

I had the fortunate opportunity to return to my native South Africa this summer, thanks to the IPENG program. I had been planning a trip to visit my relatives while taking a language course. Half of my family is Afrikaans speaking while the other is English speaking. Afrikaans is a derivative of Dutch, with influences of German, French, and Malay. My proficiency in Afrikaans was not where I wanted it to be, prompting me to spend some time in the West Cape, and more specifically, Cape Town.

I researched the universities in South Africa and found the University of Stellenbosch to suit my language needs. The US is the last Afrikaans-speaking university in South Africa, although English is accepted for writing exams. They have one of the best programs in the entire continent in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Viticulture and Oenology (wine making studies), and many others in the country. My stay at Stellenbosch would also help me figure out if I could return to pursue engineering there. Another alternative would be to study at University of Cape Town, with an outstanding faculty in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Coincidentally, my uncle is currently a professor in that very field there, and he was enticing me to do a semester or year abroad. I passed the opportunity due to lack of Afrikaans programs, which was manageable in a summer term.

The program itself is titled “Kaggelkets” (pronounced with guttural g’s), meaning “Fireside chat”. It is an intense, two week program, with about seven hours a day of class. My class size was about ten students, coming from Canada, Germany, and Norway. These were students that were staying for a semester/year, with no Afrikaans experience. My lifetime of language experience helped me along for the first few days, and then we really started learning vocabulary I was not familiar with.

The town itself is thirty minutes from Cape Town, nestled between mountains with rolling plains full of vines for making wine. It’s an incredibly diverse place with all sorts of nationalities residing there for university purposes. There are plenty of bars and clubs, as well as a vibrant market community, plenty of restaurants, gift shops, almost anything you can think of. It’s safe to say that Adam (my friend in GE who did the program with me) and myself enjoyed ourselves on a daily and nightly basis. We stayed at a hostel who had decent rates (about $15 a night for apartment style place), and met plenty of backpackers passing through, mostly Brits and Aussies.

After the program we stayed with our family friends who moved back to SA, in Melkbos (milkbush, literally). They had a house directly on the beach, with an incredible view of Table Mountain and Cape Town. We also stayed with my mom’s cousin the ECE prof, and my uncle, the art and design prof. We went surfing in the False Bay with my cousin, and also had a chance to climb Table Mountain. I was also lucky enough to see my grandmother again, who was in the area at that time.

When we left South Africa we stopped in London for a week layover. My other cousin lives in the city, so we stayed with her for a few days, then traveled to mainland Europe. We caught a ferry to Amsterdam, stayed there for a few days, then Adam and I split on our separate ways. I traveled to Luxembourg to visit family friends, then circled back to London via the Eurostar train (travels through the Chunnel) and headed home.

The month I spent abroad was perhaps one of the most exciting summers I’ve had. It was the first time I’d been to South Africa without my family, and was an incredibly rewarding experience. My proficiency in Afrikaans improved greatly from just being in the language’s environment. The many experiences I had there are unmatched to any other place in the world, and my chance to study abroad showed me the possibilities that await in the future. I highly recommend to engineers and non-engineers alike to take up the option to study abroad – it’s almost impossible to imagine myself ignoring an opportunity to enrich myself.

Program budget:

For the total expenses of the trip, I spent about $10 for food and $5 on drinks per day. Living quarters was about $15 a night. So for two weeks I spent about $220 on lodging, $250 on food. The other weeks I was fortunate enough to eat with my relatives, so I shaved some expenses there. Recreation activities were relatively inexpensive; the cable car ride was about $6 to get down from the mountain. Surf rentals were about $4 for a surfboard and wetsuit.

Food / Drinks x 20 days	$300
Lodging	$300
Recreation	$100
Misc	$50
Program Fee	$400
Discounted airfare	$300
Total	$1250

I was hard pressed to find a month overseas any cheaper than paying $1250… The IPENG program is great if you are considering a short study abroad program and want to get credit for a class.

PHOTOS OF MY TRIP!