This past weekend a group of students and myself went away to a music festival out in the countryside of South Africa. It was about two hours away and the drive was beautiful as we drove away from the city into the fields and forests across the mountain. It’s amazing to drive just a few hours away and come in contact with a completely different environment from that of Cape Town. It just goes to show how beautiful the land is here. The mountains and beautiful beaches we have access to all the time here in Cape Town. Opposed to the rolling fields and thick forests just on the other side of the mountain. Anyways, the music festival was a nice break from the so called fast-paced, if I can even say that here in Africa, city life of Cape Town. While there, Onna had a friend meet up with us, from UConn also, that was studying on the program Semester at Sea and was currently ported in Cape Town. It was really interesting talking to him and seeing his outlook on studying abroad because he has seen so many different places along the semester, but he’s also spent a lot shorter periods of time in each place.
We talked a lot about how he liked his program and if he had
the opportunity would he choose a different one. He emphasized on how cool it
was to see so many different countries that one would normally never have the
opportunity to. This semester they traveled from the west coast of the US
around Asia and down and around Africa all the way to Europe. He visited 5 or
so places in Asia and said they were all amazing in their own way. If it
weren’t for the semester at sea program that he’s doing he said he probably
wouldn’t of gotten the chance again to go to some of the places he’s visited.
But then the question I had was how was it going to each country for such a
short amount of time? Since the time frame for each port is so short, he only
really got to do the really touristy mainstream things in each place. Also,
things seemed rushed and very scheduled. In my opinion I would never want to
spend my semester bouncing from one place to the next because with each trip
you lack depth. Here in Cape Town, I’ve had the opportunity to truly immerse
myself in the culture and the communities that surround this beautiful city. I
have had time to explore and venture around to find my spot and local places
that I enjoy going to just like I do at home. With this program I have made
Cape Town not just destination, but my home and I can’t be thankful enough to
be on this program spending my whole semester here gaining experiences that I
will cherish forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment