South Africa

iXperience classes kicked off today. The pre-work has been interesting, so I am excited to get going! The assignments included reading  The Lean Startup  by Eric Ries and  Don't Make Me Think  by Steve Krug, watching some YouTube videos about Product Management featuring Josh Elman, Hunter Walk of Homebrew VC, and Adam Nash of Wealthfront, answering some questions about how I think about Product Management, and pitching an idea in 100 words. I pitched the idea I have been thinking about for a few months now, a platform that would make the transition to the real world easier and more fun for recent college graduates. The 4 week Product Management class is going to be taught by Johann Van Tonder, a Product Manager at AWA, a online advertising agency in London, and TA'ed by Trevor Hinkle, class of 2017 from UVA. Finally, it was time for class to begin. The teacher, Johann Van Tonder, seems awesome. He is from South Africa and was involved in the anti-apartheid revolut...

Hello from Cape Town! Before I begin, I thought I'd share a photo of my view from our balcony at this very moment. Wow. Cape Town is absolutely stunning! Clear blue sky, clear blue water, white sand, bright sun, palm trees lining the beach. The only sounds are those of waves crashing on rocks and seagulls chirping. To my right I can see Lion's Head, a steep peak that rises up rapidly from the water. Behind me is the famous Table Mountain. It's 65 degrees Fahrenheit (or 17 Celsius) with a slight breeze, and I could not ask for a more beautiful day. Yesterday, I explored some of the city with my roommates and some other friends I've made here. We had a breakfast of steak and eggs for less than $4 (the Rand exchange rate is amazing!) then walked around the V&A Waterfront, where our classes will be. We went to the Sunset Cafe, a very cool, open bar that looks directly onto the Ocean. Looking out at the horizon I can't help thinking that I'm look...

The day to travel to Cape Town has arrived! After semi-frantically finishing packing, handing off my apartment key to the subletter, and running to Chase Bank for some cash, I hopped in an Uber to Union Station, and made the train to Grand Central with 2 minutes to spare. The train ride to New York was pretty uneventful - just continued reading Long Walk to Freedom , the Nelson Mandela autobiography to prepare for South Africa. The book has been great so far, and it is fascinating to learn about the upbringing and evolution of such a well-known figure. Mandela is honest throughout, admitting to his weaknesses and growth over his life, which is rare to hear from such a celebrated man. I also just finished Pale Native , the autobiography of Max Du Preez, an Afrikaner journalist who was a staunch supporter of the anti-apartheid movement during the second half of the 20th century. His story was interesting as well, but at times he seemed to stress his self-importance and his own views and ...

Howzit! Welcome to my South Africa blog. I'll be recording my adventures in Cape Town over the next few months here, mostly for my own sake, but feel free to follow along! Cape Town has been number 1 on my list of places to visit ever since 2011, when I wrote a report on Nelson Mandela for my sophomore year history class. For the assignment we had to research a historical figure, and write about how they did or did not fulfill Saint Ignatius' "Grad at Grad" requirements (according to their mission statement, an SI grad should be open to growth, intellectually competent, loving, religious, committed to justice, and a man or woman with and for others). Mandela clearly fit most if not all of these requirements, and I loved reading about his life and his role in a critical period of South African, and world history. I'll upload my research paper on Mandela in a future post. In addition, during my Junior Year at Yale I took a class with Daniel Magaziner called ...