Final Blog

After Germany, I continued my wild adventure in Europe and headed to London. I landed without a problem and immediately rushed into a large group of people trying to get train tickets into the city. I finally grabbed my things and jumped on the first train, which took an hour to get into the city. As I walked out of the train station, I became surrounded by other people speaking English and felt as if I was home but without being in America. My hostel was located directly in the middle of a park, which was quite hard to find honestly. I checked into my room and realized very quickly that London is not cheap. My good friend Alexa flew from her study abroad in Barcelona and met me at the hostel where we then decided to head out to get lunch. She decided Nando's would be the restaurant of choice since it was supposedly Nial Horan's favorite restaurant. We split a chicken meal, and it was bigger than either of us expected but so so good. We then decided to head into the heart of London, where all the iconic tourist spots were. Little to our knowledge it was the gay pride parade that week, which meant that thousands of people were gathering in the city and all the streets would be shut down. It was quite overwhelming but at the same time very cool to see all the people from around the world coming together to celebrate. We were able to see the London Eye, Big Ben, the Millenial Bridge, and so much more. We ended up at a pub and got to talk about our different study abroad experiences. We both agreed there's a large difference between Europe and America, from the people to the food there was so much we discussed. We then headed back to the hostel and decided to get up early to hit the city some more. We spent the day continuing to see different structures, and whenever we saw something we wanted to spend time looking at, we would stop and appreciate it. Eventually, we ended up at a free salsa dancing class and watched as all these different people danced their hearts out in front of hundreds of people. We headed towards a famous Irish Pub and began to watch the Women's World Cup between America and the Netherlands. I ended up talking to a woman who was celebrating her birthday and moved from Virginia to London to marry her husband. The game got very intense as both sides of the match were in the room, but the United States pulled out a win and we all celebrated. Alexa eventually left to go to the airport for her flight, and I headed to dinner by myself. I somehow ended up in the Chinatown of London and made my way into a sushi bar with a conveyer belt that went past you. I decided to grab a few different rolls and headed back to the hostel for an early sleep. I woke up pretty early and began to pack my things. I then headed to the airport, where I checked my bag in and began to wait for my parents and sister. After an hour, the security doors opened, and I got to see my family! My mom started crying, and I held back tears, but it was so good to see them all again. We then headed to our taxi and went to Windsor Castle. We had a four-hour-long tour that let us go into the buildings and learn the purpose of the rooms. After the tour, we got some traditional food and then headed back to the airport where we all took naps and showers. At about seven we boarded our flight and got to fly first class, which was very nice since it was a twelve hour-long flight. I instantly fell asleep and woke up the next morning in none other than Johannesburg. My family and I unboarded met our guide and began our journey through South Africa. We immediately went into a van that took us to the Apartheid Museum, which gave us all an insight into the history of South Africa to the present day. The amount of violence and discrimination that occurred in a place only twenty years ago astounded me. We spent a large amount of time learning how the government manipulated the laws and people to take control of the majority of black people living there. After the tour, we went to a traditional South African lunch, where I made the mistake of trying everything. I grabbed a spoonful of Tripe which I later found out was lamb intestine and my oh my it smelled terrible. I felt horrible for not wanting to eat it, so I covered it in mash potatoes. As we ate, multiple groups of singers would come up to the side of the restaurant and perform for all the customers. We all knew it was only to get money, but it was quite a spectacle, and every single individual could sing amazingly. After lunch, we walked to Nelson Mandela's house, where we had a tour. During the tour, we got to see all his awards and see bullet holes in the walls of the house. We also got to hear the stories of Mandela and what his daily life entailed. After lunch, we were all exhausted from the flight, so we headed back to the hotel where we took a nap before dinner. Once we woke up, we headed downstairs to find the rest of my family, all twenty-six of them, sitting at dinner. It was so good to hug everyone and begin catching up with them on what they had been doing. come up to the side of the restaurant and perform for all the customers. We all knew it was only to get money, but it was quite a spectacle, and every single individual could sing amazingly. After lunch, we walked to Nelson Mandela's house, where we had a tour. During the tour, we got to see all his awards and see bullet holes in the walls of the house. We also got to hear the stories of Mandela and what his daily life entailed. After lunch, we were all exhausted from the flight, so we headed back to the hotel where we took a nap before dinner. Once we woke up, we headed downstairs to find the rest of my family, all twenty-six of them, sitting at dinner. It was so good to hug everyone and begin catching up with them on what they had been doing.The next morning we grabbed our bags and headed back into the airport. We were taken to a separate security system and climbed into one of the smallest airplanes I've ever sat in. Within 45 minutes we landed in Botswana and went through customs which was one person standing there asking us questions. No later than fifteen minutes after we landed, we climbed onto another plane that was even smaller than before with only six-seat total. We began to descend into the Okavango Delta and landed on a dirt airstrip as we flew over a herd of elephants. As we hopped out of the plane, we were greeted with multiple guides and their jeeps who threw our luggage into one truck and helped us onto our jeep. We then started driving through the brush where we got to start seeing different animals such as impalas, zebra, and baboons. Pulling around the corner, we approached are the first camp called Chiefs Camp, which is situated on Chief's Island. During the rainy season, the entire camp gets surrounded by water and is known as the sacred hunting grounds of the local tribe's chiefs. We stayed in Chief's Camp for about four days and got to see almost every single animal imaginable. Once again we packed up our belongings and headed to the dirt tarmac where another small plane awaited us. We said our goodbyes to the staff at Chief's and jumped into our tiny plane. In little than fifteen minutes, we landed at our next camp, which was called Vumbura Plains. This camp was much different than the last camp in terms of the location on the delta. It was set on the edge of the delta, so the amount of water and diversity of animals was very different. We already began seeing a larger variety of land and water-based animals in large quantities. As we unpacked our things at camp, an elephant came up to the back porch, literally within two feet of our pool. Already shocked, we were then told our safari was going to begin in twenty minutes. We headed to the jeeps and soon we were on our way. Without warning our guide floored the jeep going faster than we ever had before. We had been told at Chief's camp to duck for branches or hold on, but this was a whole new experience. Diving, bouncing, and sweating, we found ourselves in the middle of an African Wild Dog Hunt, chasing the dogs as they ran after an impala. As soon as we found them, we lost them in the brush, but soon we got a call that a wild dog had just made a kill on its own, which was unheard of. Pulling up to another jeep, we witnessed the fresh-killed being eaten by an overly tired panting dog. Our guide explained the dog would finish eating and then get the rest of the pack and sure enough after a few minutes, the dog ran off. We assumed the dog would return, but minutes went by without a sound. Soon we turned around, and we saw the whole pack running in the opposite direction. Without hesitation, our guide pushed on the gas pedal, and we were off chasing the pack again. We circled back and forth and lost the dogs again but would occasionally see glimpses of them running through the trees. As we made a u-turn, we were face to face with a huge herd of impala as they jumped over our hood and almost hit our car. Suddenly without anyone realizing a wild dog sprinted after them barely a foot away from our car. We then chased once again after the dog and kept watching him chase, stop, pant and chase again. At this point, we realized he was having fun and wasn't trying to kill anything. After about thirty minutes of chasing the dog, we got a call that there was a leopard spotting and instantly started driving towards the sighting. We came around the corner and almost ran straight into a huge herd of African Cape Buffalo. They weren't thrilled not only because of us but because of something else, and we assumed it was the leopard. As we came around the herd, we saw a large number of bushes and one large tree in the center of the bushes. We started to hear what sounded like thunder but then turned into a scene out of Jurrasic Park. The amount of noise was terrible and could be felt in my chest. I immediately realized it was a herd of angry elephants chasing something, and then we heard a jeep driving away. All of a sudden, a huge herd of elephants stampeded through the bushes and completely coupled all the bushes. We backed up and went around the Cape Buffalo and then came back to the tree. As we approached, we saw the leopard in the tree and then suddenly a second leopard appeared, a much larger, more aggressive one. It snarled at the first leopard hopped down the tree and ran off. Then a hyena appeared underneath the tree, and the first jeep returned. My cousins, who were in the first jeep, explained that two hyenas were laying underneath the tree waiting for the first leopard to drop any food. The first leopard was a female that had pulled up an entire impala which was dangling from a tree limb. The hyenas were waiting underneath the tree for any scraps to fall. My cousins explained that the wild dog we saw chasing the impala appeared earlier and started to get into a fight with the hyena. They had followed the leopard into the tree and were waiting to see what would happen. Soon a herd of elephants appeared a not only saw the hyena and wild dogs fighting but also could smell the leopard in the tree. Soon the elephants got extremely mad because they felt their young were in danger. They then began to pursue after the hyena and wild dog and were getting closer to the jeep. At first, the guide was about to leave but then spotted a second leopard which was even rarer. They then decided to stay for a bit longer until the wild dog began to use the jeep as a barrier between it and the hyena. The elephants then associated the jeep with the predators and began to charge. The jeep then backed up and drove for ten minutes as it got chased by the elephants. After hearing the story, we were all shocked at what had happened, and only on the first night. For the next three days, we had such an amazing experience with more adventures and sightings than we could ever imagine. Sooner than we realized our time in Botswana was coming to a close. We spent numerous nights exchanging stories with our family and getting to catch up with one another. We already had begun discussing our next family reunion and how excited we all were to see each other again. The next day my immediate family and I took our bags to the jeep one final time. We eventually got settled into a bigger, more commercial plane with about twenty other people. We ended up each getting our row and enjoyed the scenery of the South African mountains. Within two hours, we landed in Cape Town, where we met our next guide, Steven. Our guide took us straight to our hotel, which was completely beautiful; every floor was dedicated to a different decade of South African history with different artifacts as decorations on the wall. The people working there were accommodating and helped us with every single thing we needed. Eventually, we decided to go to dinner, which was sushi restaurant five minutes away from our hotel. The restaurant was located on the Waterfront, which was known as the up and coming shopping area. My sister, dad, and I decided to get sushi, and since my mom doesn't like sushi, she thought it would be a good idea to get prawns. As she ate her prawns, her face slowly became red, and she started to have to take pauses. We realized that her prawns were super spicy, and she was trying not to say anything. Normally she would eat off our plates, but since she hates sushi, she had no escape route. We finished our meals except for my mom, who at this point, had ordered rice, mash potatoes, and bread to help with the spice. We laughed for the rest of the night and headed back home with full stomachs except for my mom, of course. The next day we woke up and headed to a coffee shop that was famous for its old-fashion coffee bagging. We then spent part of our day learning about the apartheid not only with black people but also the Muslim community. We got to go to a famous street where we tried traditional foods and went to a world-famous spice shop. We then went to a jewelry store where they sold tanzanite and ended the day with a walk on the beach. The next day we got to go to the Botanical gardens and spent all day seeing the beautiful countryside. One night we went to a famous restaurant in Cape Town and got to try different types of food through an eight-course dinner meal and then went and listened to a live band at a bar. One day we decided we wanted to go to the island where Mandela stayed while being prosecuted. Unfortunately, the island closed due to bad weather. To our surprise, Christi Brand was waiting downstairs for us and had breakfast with us as he discussed his relationship with Mandela. Christi Brand was Mandela's prison guard and was the only person who was invited to his private funeral, which wasn't family. We spent a few hours with Brand learning how he came from a small farm to now having a world-renowned book and an incredible friendship with someone who changed the world. The next day we went to see the African penguins and go to the Cape of Good Hope. The water was beautiful, and there were people from all over the world. One day we also got to go to the hospital where the first successful human heart transplant in the world took place. While we began our tour, we all talked about where each person had traveled from. Every single group was from different countries, all doctors, nurses, or in the medical field who were there to learn about history at the hospital. The rest of our time in Cape Town was filled with so many other adventures from private picnics to Rugby games to even Great White Shark cage diving. After four days, we headed to the wine country where we stayed on a working farm that had a Dutch influence. We learned all the history of how French people were brought by a South African during the French war between Protestants and Catholics to grow wine. We also got to learn about a Cheetah Outreach program that trains dogs to defend livestock so that ranchers won't shoot cheetahs. We spent most of our time on wine tastings and learning about the rich history that took place throughout South Africa. After three days we finally headed back to Cape Town where we said our final goodbye to Steven. We finally boarded our plane and took another 12-hour flight to London. Once we landed, we had four hours to shower and change and then headed on our final flight to Austin. After ten hours or so, we finally touched the ground and took our first steps back in the United States. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the amount of familiarity I had and realized that I was back in my city. Once we got home, I was met by my dogs who were so beyond excited to see not only me but also my whole family. For the next three days, I struggled so very hard to recover from the jetlag I had gained over the last nine weeks. After about a week, I then began to feel back to normal. I started noticing things I didn't notice before and highly appreciated air conditioning. From all my traveling, I started to realize that there were common things among all the places I had been. The cultures that live within every shop, every city, every country, every continent, all came from the people that lived their not the places we were. The people I met were always more than happy to tell me their story or to talk about their home. I have expanded my perspective on the idea of what makes people happy. I always say that people who have less materialistic things are usually happier, but over and over again, I have found that people's passions, their loves, their ambitions is what makes them happy. Every place I have been too the people who seem the happiest are the ones that surround themselves with other people that make them happy. I have come to realize that history also repeats itself and the best thing any person can do in this world while we are living on it is to exert kindness. Of course, kindness is hard in the face of conflict, but by being kinder one day at a time, it can make people see that we're all so much more similar than we think we are. I have loved spending time in both Europe and Africa, gaining so much information not only educationally by through my experiences as well. I can't express how amazing this trip was and how much I will miss the little walk back to my host moms house in Roisdorf. I hope that everyone who also goes on the trip pushes themselves to go out of their comfort level and for the sake of stress, don't panic every time your train doesn't show up late.

When can I go back?

I can’t believe that the summer has already come and gone. It truly went by so quickly and now I am thinking when can I go back to Germany. This experience was literally one of the best experiences of my life and it changed me for the better. I learned so many life lessons and gained/improved so many skills.

When I got home after being out of the country for 7 weeks, I had a new-found confidence in myself. I was not the only one who noticed either, my friends and family also made comments. Abroad, I learned how to be more independent, which allowed me to fully see that I am capable of doing things on my own. I have always been able to do things for myself but I could always count on my family to help whenever I needed. Abroad I was truly on my own, I was able to make my own choices and learn from my mistakes or be happy for my successes.

 I traveled most weekends and got to see multiple different cultures and cities. I learned how to adapt in an unusual environment especially in places where English was not the native language. I truly loved Germany, I loved hearing the language, I loved learning about the history not only from class but also from my amazing host family. I was so surprised how comfortable I ended up being in their home especially given how nervous I was at the beginning of the trip. They were so welcoming and treated my roommate and myself with compassion and like we were part of the family. I miss getting to sit out in their garden and have a glass of wine with them. We could sit out there for hours and talk. Looking back, I couldn’t imagine any other way to live on the trip. I’m so glad I didn’t get scared away from living with a host family because they were truly people to look up to and learn from.  

In addition to all the fun activities and excursions we went on, I also really enjoyed the lectures. I learned a lot of new things in both classes and both were very interesting. One of the best parts of the lectures and informational excursions, was how passionate Dr. Wasser was. I couldn’t imagine any other prof doing some of the things he did for us to make the experience more fun. Dr. Wasser was also so passionate about everything he taught and he knew so much. I so thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience I wish I could go again. The program was amazing and all I expected it to be and more. I hope it continues for a very long time so that people can experience the self-growth just like I believe everyone in the program did.