June 6th, 2016 Good Bye

And just like that...it's over. There it goes. Or there we go. In a couple of minutes we'll be hopping on a plane to home. A plane that's a little more delayed than we'd like it to be, but still. Homeward bound.

Except for me. I'll be going on another adventure to meet my professor in Sri Lanka, but still. No more Africa. No more Johannes, Nicole, roobis tea or elephants. It all went by in the blink of an eye.

But I think that's how most amazing journeys go, you can't really see how beautiful it all was until it's all over.

I can't speak for all of my classmates, but I would like to say personally that this experience is one that I will take with me for the rest of my life. When I think back on all the incredible things I've done, shark diving, safaris, home stays, and mountains, and jet lag oh my! It all doesn't seem real. Like some kind of awesome dream I had that I'm just now waking up from.

But it isn't only the bucket list items that I checked off. I learned a lot about myself in these three weeks. I learned that I can survive even when my body is jetlagged and sick. That I can learn to speak phrases in languages that I'd never even heard of. I learned that I get seasick. But most of all, I learned that I now have two amazing South African friends in addition to a group of amazing people to call my family back at home that I never would have connected with had it not been for this study abroad.

How lucky are all of us that we go to a school that can give us so much from an experience like this?

Safe travels back to the States to my beautiful little study abroad family. And good bye South Africa. We promise we'll be back one day.