Taylor Smith
6/20/14
Still at home
So the time has come to begin my study abroad trip to South Africa. I am leaving in the morning, but I am too anxious to sleep. I keep wondering about all the exciting new places and opportunities I will get to experience. At the same time however, I am thinking about what will happen when I am gone, and if things will be the same when I return. I hope I am not forgotten by all my friends and family. I know this may sound silly since I am only going to be away for 6 weeks, but I am genuinely concerned because life waits for no one and nothing. I don’t necessarily want the people I love to wait around for me to get back, I only hope that once I am back everyone will welcome and accept me again.
6/20/14
Still at home
So the time has come to begin my study abroad trip to South Africa. I am leaving in the morning, but I am too anxious to sleep. I keep wondering about all the exciting new places and opportunities I will get to experience. At the same time however, I am thinking about what will happen when I am gone, and if things will be the same when I return. I hope I am not forgotten by all my friends and family. I know this may sound silly since I am only going to be away for 6 weeks, but I am genuinely concerned because life waits for no one and nothing. I don’t necessarily want the people I love to wait around for me to get back, I only hope that once I am back everyone will welcome and accept me again.
My other fear about this trip is that I won’t be able to
fully enjoy and experience everything South Africa has to offer. I am afraid I will limit myself mainly
because I have low self-esteem which even hinders me from even living to my
full potential at home. I am always the
girl who sits in the corner and assess my situation. I like to know my surroundings and stay
within my comfort zone. However it was
time for something different.
I am an International
Studies major and required to study abroad.
When I was deciding on a location, a lot of things ran through my
mind. I have already been to Eastern
Europe on a student ambassador trip, so I knew I didn’t want to go back
there. Like I mentioned before I wanted
something new, so I began looking at programs that were somewhat out of the
ordinary. I knew I needed to find a
program that not only met my education requirements, but one that would also be
challenging in terms of pushing me outside my comfort zone. After a lot of searching, I finally found the
program in South Africa. While abroad I
will be studying Human Rights and Conflict Management. I have a passion for helping people,
especially those who are less fortunate and under-represented. I believe this program will be an amazing
learning experience in and outside of the classroom, and I am incredibly
excited to begin.
Signing off still in the US!
Taylor Smith