Emily encouraging everyone to study abroad with this program!

Emily, Terri, Siobhan, Nicole and Anna at the summit of Table Mountain

While sitting in the ocean today on my newly acquired surfboard, gazing at the beautiful mountains surrounding Muizenberg Beach, wondering if there were any great whites lurking around and laughing at the antics of my fellow surfers, I was struck by just how amazing of a place South Africa and Cape Town are and what an amazing opportunity this entire experience is. I know I will never forget a single moment that I spend in this country with these people and that this trip is absolutely unbeatable. When we climbed Table Mountain last weekend I was not only awestruck by the amazing views at the top or the effort we all had to put in to get there, but rather the community that we have already formed in just four short weeks. For the most part, none of us knew each other before we came on this trip aside from our brief meetings at UConn and now these people have become some of my best friends and I am sharing an experience with them that I will share with no one else. So, although I miss my parents, brother, friends, and boyfriend especially it IS comforting to have this community of support with me everyday. Each experience we have together, whether it’s a fun one like surfing or a heart-wrenching one like driving through the streets of Khayletisha or talking about how discrimination has affected the lives of our nonwhite friends, brings us closer together. Hearing about the amazing work we are all doing at our internships is so rewarding, Whether its Tom distributing condoms to dozens of homes, Terri learning how to do surgery and getting to assist surgeons or Julian, Taylor and Marie creating their own curriculum and educating youth. I am so happy at my internship placement, all of the women I work with are amazing and do amazing things. It’s been so great to hear all of their stories about living through apartheid and we are learning so much from each other already. I’m helping to draft legislation that will eventually go through parliament at the end of March on victim empowerment. I can’t believe I actually get to be a part of something so amazing. If I could tell every UConn student back home or even every student in the United States just one thing, it would be to study abroad and to do this program because Cape Town, South Africa is an amazing place where you can not only enjoy yourself more than you ever thought possible but grow into the amazing young adult you are destined to be and really, REALLY change the world we live in.