"The journey of 8,299 miles begins with one step."

It’s been three weeks since I’ve been home now and I honestly cannot believe it. Upon entering this week however, I think it’s finally safe to say I’m adjusting. The first two weeks were actually quite hard for me to get reacquainted with the States. It didn’t help that I developed a case of shingles the day after I landed which pretty much controlled my life. Besides battling that, I just didn’t know how to communicate my experience to my friends. Of course I showed them videos and pictures, and some stories that stuck out in my mind, but more often than not I found myself just saying “It was awesome. It was an experience of a lifetime” and then going on to ask more about their lives for the past three months.

But of course it was so much more than “awesome” and the “experience of a lifetime.” I have learned not only so much about myself, but about another country half way across the world and the people in it. I was constantly pushed to dig deeper every day and in return have built great bonds with some amazing people. People I hope to go back and visit one day. They had always made us feel welcome and in that short amount of time we all have become a family.

Coming into this experience I was excited but really had no idea what to expect. A quote that I find to help me get through new experience is “leave all expectations at home.” With always remembering that, you leave little room for disappointment. This experience was a complete whirlwind for me and as I sit here now I still can’t believe I just lived it for two and a half months. I will miss that life and I often think of memories throughout the day like seeing the ocean from my bedroom window, eating Sago pudding, and hearing those darn birds wake us up every morning bright and early at 6 a.m. (didn’t really enjoy that part too much) but none the less they’re still memories that I cherish.

It’s amazing when I think back about my time there. I can still remember a day right in the beginning of my trip when we had the afternoon off so we decided what could be better than laying on the beach all day. Well, that never happened but an even better outcome occurred. We played on the beach with the local kids of the nearby communities for hours and on that day we didn’t even know how to say hello to them in their language. By the end of the trip we were rattling off phrases and were able to able to get by (at least for a little haha) speaking their language of Xhosa.


“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” (or 8,299 miles in my case) and I could not be happier that I made that first step.