Eric thankful for the pre-departure class as he prepares to begin life in Cape Town.

As I write this post while procrastinating studying for finals, I cannot believe that in just about a month, we will be boarding our flight to begin our three and a half month journey in South Africa! I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet that I will be nearly 8,000 miles away from home, but I have a feeling that it will become more and more of a reality over winter break as I begin to pack and say my goodbyes. Nonetheless, the thought of beginning my internship and exploring Cape Town is all so exciting.

I feel very grateful that this program has a weekly pre-departure course built into it. I loved getting to know the people with whom I will be living and learning because having a solid support system will make the transition to a foreign place much smoother. Everyone is so fun and interesting and will make the experience that much more enjoyable. In addition, the pre-departure course was beneficial because it provided us with an arena to discuss racial issues that are only discussed when controversial events occur in this country. Going into the pre-departure course, I expected us to learn all about South Africa in order to reduce the culture shock when we arrive. However, I found that I ended up learning more about racism and discrimination in the United States than I knew before. Through a wide range of articles, TED talks, documentaries, and class discussions, I became more aware of the existence of racially-themed issues in our country like white privilege, mass incarceration, and income and education inequality, to name a few. Though I would never wish to see events like those at the University of Missouri or in Chicago occur on a regular basis, it was powerful to see all of the activism on campus that coincided with our weekly discussions.

These discussions were valuable to me in my endeavor to be prepared to handle tough conversations about race both in my own country and abroad. In South Africa, it is very possible that locals will ask me questions about race in the United States, as they have with past program participants. In addition to wanting to be as prepared to answer them as possible, I didn’t want to come into Cape Town acting like the United States doesn’t have any of the problems that used to and still do plague South Africa. This superior, sociocentric point of view can be detrimental to study abroad participants. This pre-departure course helped me make connections between my current home and my home for the spring, and I cannot wait to explore them further once my feet hit the ground in January!