I want to move to Cape Town and attend UCT (crime rate, cost)

[VTHokieFan]

So I've been thinking about getting my master in economics degree for a while and would like to go abroad to get it. I'm pretty sure I have my sights set on UCT as it's a Top 200 program (internationally) and I've always wanted to learn and live in South Africa. This fall I'm going to start saving up money for living expenses and this winter, the applications process begins for summer 2012.

I currently live in the DC area and live comfortably on $2800 a month (I save the rest). I have done research that indicates that Cape Town is about 1/3 less expensive than the DC area so I have decided that $2000/month or R13,000 is good for living expenses. Is this a good guideline or am I over or undershooting? I need to make the decision to save now. Thanks.

[mooi.za]

Cape Town is indeed the most beautiful city/place on Earth it has it all, beaches,mountains,excellent mild weather, skycrappers, every major cities have crime problems even NYC, Helsinki,Zurich
Cape Town is very diverse and beautiful,

[Thepastpresentandfuture]

For South Africa, Cape Town seems so much better than Johannesburg and that is because Cape Town has the great nature scenery and location that Johannesburg does not have. Also, urban amenities/urban vibe seems better in Cape Town too.

Crime seems very bad in both places and kind of pervasive and difficult to completely avoid.

I assume not all of South Africa has such a high crime rate, and there are probably some areas of South Africa much safer and with a much lower crime rate than Johannesburg metro. Either way, too much of South Africa seems to be severely affected by that.

Despite that problem, parts of South Africa seem interesting and good enough to visit, such as the Cape Town area, the Southwestern/Southern areas of coastal South Africa, and maybe Durban.

However, as a place to live in as a foreigner, it does not seem good enough to live in, especially for someone from Washington DC trying to get an economics degree in college.

[jwtomt2day]

I love Cape Town but you should be careful to figure in the cost of a car. You will really want to have a car and gas is not cheap there...