12 BEST THINGS TO DO AND PLACES TO VISING IN CAPE TOWN

So over summer I worked in Cape Town for two months and whilst I was there I made sure that I got to experience as much of the City as possible, after work or over the weekends and here are my recommendations! 

1. Surfing at Muizenberg beach
To this day I still dream of this beach. It is amazing. The coloured huts are so unique especially as you can see the beach for miles. It is a bit further outside of Cape Town and takes about 20 minutes on the train but it is so worth visiting. Not far from the shore there are restaurants and cafes and also a surf shop where you can rent a wetsuit and surfboard to take to the beach. The view from the water is amazing as all you can hear are the waves and you look up to see the most vivid view of a mountain right at the side of the beach. Beware however, as the water is supposed to be shark infested, which I was not aware of when I surfed but it does not seem to bother the locals! 

LIVING IN CAPE TOWN (4)

LIVING IN CAPE TOWN (3)

So if homesickness is going to hit I've heard that it will most likely be around the 3rd week but I haven't felt it yet and I am so glad. One of my worries was that I would end up feeling homesick and therefore unable to fully enjoy my time in Cape Town. Surprisingly, however, the opposite has happened. The longer I am here the less I want to go back to Scotland. I have fallen in love with the laid back and social culture, it really makes me realise how industrial the UK is and how much of it is dominated by massive corporations. I love how there are so many small family businesses here and each one is unique and welcoming, you can really tell that people enjoy their jobs and care genuinely about the services they provide. 

LIVING IN CAPE TOWN (2)

So this week I realised that by working for this shelter, when the time to leave comes I will be a much stronger person emotionally than I am at the moment. Some of the women at the shelter have endured horrific experiences beyond imagination and I often find myself being part lawyer part counsellor and struggling to detach my work from my personal emotions. 

Despite often feeling drained after work I appreciate the amount I have already learned and experienced whilst being here. Living in Scotland most of my life had began to cloud my judgement of what life is like in other countries, so being here I am reminded that there is still much work to be done in the world. 

The weather was so lovely this week and on Saturday my group of friends and I took a train to Simon's Town to see the penguins and later went surfing at Muizenberg beach and wow it was amazing. We rented surf boards and wet suits for 100 rand each, which is around £5 for over and hour and a half. It was my first time surfing but luckily our friend Evan who is from Hawaii happens to be a pro surfer and showed us how its done. 

On Sunday we all woke up at 5am to hike to the top of Lions Head mountain to watch the sunrise. I found the hike VERY difficult, especially after having pulled almost every muscle in my body whilst surfing the previous day. However ,I did eventually and with many breaks make it to the top just in time. The view was breathtaking as we were all just above a sea of clouds. 

MOVING TO CAPE TOWN

So this week after three flights I finally arrived in Cape Town.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have an internship here to do legal aid work to help women who are victims of domestic violence and substance abuse. 

PHYSICIANS FORMULA HIGHLIGHTER

Today I felt like quickly sharing my absolute favourite highlighter as I cannot get over how gorgeous it looks! The Physicians Formula Warm Nude Simmer Strips. I love this as gives a bold highlight whilst still looking extremely natural. It is glitter free so it is perfect for creating a dewy skin look and applying to areas of the face other than just the cheekbones without appearing all glittery. I actually broke this one a few weeks ago and felt quite lost without it, I cannot wait for my new one to arrive. Another great thing that I have to mention is the price, it can be found on Amazon for around £15 which I think is amazing considering that it cannot be found in drugstores in the UK.