It
has been a strange adjustment parting from a place like Cape Town. Walking to our gate at Cape Town airport was
a very surreal moment. I came to terms
with the fact that I had finished. I had
finished a journey that I foresaw as a challenge to my own personal set of
beliefs. I had finished a semester away
from my family. And I had finished
living with 28 other people who had become my second family. Since being back, I have already come to miss
the familiarities of my home in South Africa. The biggest thing I miss is the landscape and
looking out my window to the sad realization that there is no giant mountain
peak in the distance. And palm trees
have been replaced by bare, grey trees that aren’t nearly as pretty – sorry for
depressing everyone I’ll move on now.
The
question, “How was Africa?” has gone surprisingly well. People follow up with the question a lot,
which I didn’t think would happen. They
ask about specifics rather than just moving on to other topics. All my friends are genuinely interested in
what I did each day and that has been a nice surprise. Although, I wish they could know the full
story.
It
has only been a few days of being back in the states and I have already found
it difficult to find time to myself. I
am trying to keep up with the journal I so diligently wrote in during the
semester, but home is much more fast paced than I remembered. I have also tried to veer away from the TV
and continue reading instead. That was a
major habit I promised myself I would keep up with and so far so good! The other habit I broke over the semester was
staying disconnected and off my phone.
This has been something that has been hard to break here where there is
actual data again. I hope in the coming
weeks I am able to leave my phone behind the way I did in Cape Town.
I
look forward to this summer to readjust and spend time with my friends from
home and the ones I have made through this experience. It will be a good time to refocus and plan
for what’s ahead as I embark on my senior year and future job search. Can’t wait till the fall when I am back with
everyone and get to hear about all they did this summer! Until then!
 |
| Isabel's farewell to Cape Town |
No comments:
Post a Comment