Just Thoughts

Here we go! There are so many priceless experiences I have had being here in Cape Town. This trip is my first time out of the country and I don’t know if I should have started with a five and half week trip. However, thus far I can say it has been a bittersweet trip. The bitter is that I am dealing with the guilt of traveling internationally to commit myself to a service project, which particularly revolves around education. This is something I could have done in the states, even in my own hometown. I often criticize big figures about their willingness to put all their time and effort into helping internationally. However, we never really hear the same big figures advocate their philanthropy on projects that could have been done in the states. Coming to Cape Town has proven to me just how proud I am to be an American and have urged me to commit to a major ongoing service project back home, in addition to my other minor community service projects. My feeling to step up while in the states does not mean that I will not help internationally, but my overall dedication will be within my own land. Aside from my personal guilt, living in ONE house with 20 people is bitter. I am not a person who enjoys the fact that wherever you turn your head there is someone there. However, it is not ruining my trip and for the bad times in the house there are good times as well. But enough of the bitter I don’t want to be the Debbie Downer of the blog.

This trip has met my expectations drastically. I have enjoyed every minute of being a tourist and experiencing all that I can in five and half weeks. Cape Town is an amazing city, while at the same time being an eye opening city. The drastic difference between being well off and living in poverty is so evident, for example the atmosphere of Camp’s Bay then to look at the Townships. I feel that this trip has allotted us to be able to see all of this. I am grateful to see this and it has encouraged my personal belief to ever pity someone. This is because while people are in poverty the people I have met have been so happy and being a philosophy major I agree with Aristotle when he says the meaning of life is happiness. With the opportunities I have received I can say that working in Manenberg, experiencing Cape Town, and our academic excursions have been my favorite parts thus far. Although, I am sure the Kruger National Park may take the cake!

I am looking forward to the rest of the trip here. I’m hoping that the rest of the trip will top the beginning of the trip. But I am happy to know that the third week is over and this makes me feel like I made it over the hump. This hump I refer to is the fact that most of the trip is over because though I love SA, there is no place like home. Or now what I have come to conclude AMERICAN CUISINE. But for right now I can say that I am grateful and have learned to appreciate things 100x more than ever before, because I think people often forget that the circumstances of the poorest people could have easily been us!