Tuesday, May 02, 2006

3 month reflection

I can’t believe that I have been in Durban for three months. Reflecting back to my arrival here in South Africa, I had several objectives in mind: a) understand more about development from an African perspective, b) finish a Masters with a dissertation on microfinance and c) surf loads.

From this first quarter, I felt the learning that I gained from every lecture was at least 3 undergraduate degrees in itself. African studies, economics and politics all rolled up into three months. In that, the courses have been well worth the effort of scrapping together the student visa, and forking out the tuition and plane ticket to go. I’m not there yet though. I’m still aiming to complete this degree in one year so I think this term will be used to start part b) of my studies. The last two days have been devoted to preparing for our research proposals and finding a good supervisor. And my final objective has been wavering a bit the last two weeks. I have been trucking through the last two papers with little water or exercise time. Back on the circuit and on to some waves. Today was a huge off shore swell which I prefer to sit back and observe versus going out and being pummeled. However, it’s time to get back in the water.

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