So somehow through a series of random events I stumbled into this study abroad world- no not as a booty popper at one of the many parties- and have had the opportunity to see more of the day to day and admin lives of these study abroad students. In plain English, I'm an associate. My job is in a nutshell, is to make sure the students don't drunkenly end up in a foreign(er) country or die. Although it sometimes feels like I'm running after children high on too many Fizzers, it really has been one of the most eye opening and rewarding experiences of my short 22 years. So without further ado let me run you through some of the things I've learnt while on the job (in no particular order).
1) Culture Shock Is Real Yo.
You'd think it would be pretty smooth sailing having a semester away from home: exchange rate is heavily in your favour, new places to explore and not as heavy as school workload. But alas, what I've learnt is that our countries diversity and difference to the States can break even the strongest people. When people step out of their "developed" bubble and come into contact with poverty on their doorstep and cultures that are vastly different from their own, they realise the world is bigger and more intricate than what they originally thought it was. Now don't get me wrong, not everyone come here with their rose coloured glasses glued to their faces and do have insight to our country and our history. Though I think interacting with it is very different to reading about it on the internet. It becomes a case of "how do you deal with it?". Do you complain insistently to your mom back home or embrace it for the beautiful difference it is?
2) Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!
As I previously mentioned exchange kids can be like lil' kids high of Fizzers, that's how much damn energy they have sometimes! Always in pursuit of some extreme South African adventure. "you want to clime 6 mountains?" No. "you want to go surfing 5 times a day No. " do you want to"...NO, I want to sit here and watch 6 episodes of Game Of Thrones thank you :) But in retrospect, I guess they are only here for a limited amount of time so power to them! I guess it's a good thing to try get us local out of our comfortable rut. We tend to use the excuse that all these adventures are "in our back yard" so we tend to have this idea that we'll get to it one day. Most of us never do. So in retrospect I say "motivate us lazy buggers! We are tacking our beauty for granted!"
Secondly and most important: the liver is a resilient organ....that is all....
3) Friendships of a life time <3
Out of everything that happens and the mini heart-attacks I may experience now and again the one thing that I take out of this job and these interactions are the life long friends I've made.
When people come from all walks of life, something beautiful happens. It becomes a unifying fact that we are all here now, together, and we all have the same thing in mind: happiness. Without a doubt some of my best friends that I till hold dear to this day have been from one or more of the study abroad semesters. It's a wonderful thing knowing that there are people around the world that are like you and think like you. Also doesn't hurt to have so many places to crash if I ever decide to travel :) People are more diverse and interact than we know. The work comes in when we decide to give people a chance.
So to round of this "love-fest", If you ever encounter any of these strange foreign creatures, befriend them , because if anything else, they'll provide you with a good laugh. And to all the wonderful pets I have met over the past few years thank you for making my university time so colourful:)
xx
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