A Long Walk to Freedom

Although this past weekend was not as eventful as the past few, it was one of the most inspirational weekends of my life. Here is the breakdown of the days (sorry that Friday and Saturday are a little bit boring!)

Friday: It was another typical day at the office until I found out that the company had a potential client coming in. When the two men got here, I was asked to sit in on their meeting, and to my surprise, they were two men that own their own champagne brand. We sat down at the table and they pulled out a bunch of champagne glasses and began pouring away. The two went on to pitch their product and we got to taste the fairly expensive champagne (it was really good by the way.) After about an hour, they left and we all went back to work. Towards the end of the day, everyone was getting excited for the weekend, and we pulled out the rest of the champagne to toast the end of the week. After work ended, I went back to the apartment and after a few hours, we all got ready and went to a club called Fiction (yes, we all branched away from Sideshow) and it turned out to be a decent time, but we left after a little while and tried another place out called Dubliner. This club/bar was a ton of fun because it was a little different than what we are used to, in which they had a band that played a variety of songs ranging from Blink 182 to Darius Rucker. (Not to say this is the new Sideshow, but it has some good potential.)

Saturday: We had big plans to take a tour on Saturday around the city of Cape Town (there is a rooftop bus that drives around to different excursions and all of the tourists do it) but when we woke up, we found that the weather was miserable and it was raining like crazy. Not knowing what to do in Cape Town on a rainy day, we decided to get some champagne and make mimosa's. The day escalated quite quickly and by 3:00pm we had re-arranged the apartment and set up a beer pong table in the middle of the room. A few of the people that we had met came down to participate in the day drinking activities, and by 9:00 everyone was exhausted and decided against going out. Turns out, I was REALLY happy with the decision to stay in because I had to wake up the next morning at 7:00am. Onto Sunday.

The Party Room

Sunday: Earlier in the week, three of the girls and I had booked tickets to head to Robben Island on Sunday morning at 9:00am, so we got up bright and early to get ready and fetch a taxi (if you don't know what Robben Island is, it is the island off of the coast that Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on for 18 years.) We got to the Waterfront and got some breakfast, then went to get on the ferry that would take us to the island. It was about a 30 minute boat ride (the waves were huge and it was definitely not a ride for someone with a week stomach) and then we arrive to the island and got off. Immediately we were in front of a ton of tall concrete prison walls and there were buses lined up for our tour. We began driving around the island and got to see different buildings in which different people had been imprisoned, and after about twenty minutes, we arrived to the building in which Mandela was help. We were met at the front by an ex-prisoner who turned out to be our tour guide. We walked around the different courtyards and saw different rooms in the jail, and then the moment of truth happened. We all got to walk up to Nelson Mandela's cell in which he spent his 18 years, and it was truly one of the most moving experience that I have encountered to this day. The cell contained a simple, thin mat that served as a bed and the room was barely larger than a closet. To stand outside of the bars and think about all of the difference that one human being made to an entire nation was nonetheless an experience of a lifetime. After begin escorted out of the building, we entered the sunlight and got to walk down the path that was the prisoners "Walk to Freedom". With all of the health problems happening to Madiba (that's what the South African's call him, it means father) I have been so fortunate to be able to visit the place in which only made him a stronger human being.

The ferry to Robben Island

Mandela's Cell

View of Cape Town from the Island

Some prisoner beds

Like I said, while the weekend was not that eventful, it was one that I will never forget. I honor and respect Nelson Mandela as one of the most influential human beings to ever walk the earth, and will forever be grateful that I got to experience his Long Walk to Freedom.