It’s crazy that this experience is already behind me, it feels like it’s still just the beginning of summer. So much has happened since May. A month ago I probably would have been finishing the second meeting of the day with an NGO or other international group and getting ready to explore more of the Balkans. Two weeks ago I would have been getting out of class and going for crepes and wurst at the Munsterplatz.
When I imagined coming home at the end of my summer abroad, I expected a bit of exhaustion, restlessness and adjustment to what is naturally much slower than a jam-packed six weeks of sightseeing, exploring and traveling.
True, home is a bit slower than Dublin. I can’t fly to another country in an hour time span. I can’t go out of my house and find myself in the middle of a vibrant European city filled with pubs, museums and culture. Of course I miss all of those things.
A full month has gone by since I’ve been here? Unbelievable.
In order to fulfill the community development requirement of the course that we took this summer, our group spent our last week in Egoli, installing lights for a community that has no electricity. However, because it does not take nineteen people to install a light, our group was also able to spend a lot of time hanging out with kids, picking up trash, organizing their small library, and chatting with some of the local teenagers. We were able to raise over $600, and consequently installed 6 lights.
Rome: Pizzeria da Remo
A glimpse of Vienna––something I will miss seeing on my commute into the city every morning
One event I had been looking forward to all semester was Afrika Burn. A friend who spent last spring semester in Cape Town with IES highly recommend that I go to this festival.
Afrika Burn is based off of the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada and is a temporary city of art, theme camps, costume, music and performance. Afrika Burn was located in the Tankwa-Karoo desert, about five hours from Cape Town.
After the program ended, myself and two of my best friends on the program decided to extend our stay in Africa and do some traveling.
We had one last gathering with our fellow IES students and then left Cape Town at 4:00am to begin our journey to Johannesburg.
Last weekend, my roommate and I decided to make the best out of the gorgeous weather and head down (up?) to the Baltic Sea.
Having woken up at 5am, we had our car all packed up and ready to go by 6. It was lovely to drive past the many sleepy corners of Berlin on a Saturday morning. I also realized that it was my first time experiencing Berlin in a car – what a strange sensation! It is funny how quickly one gets used to public transportation and cycling.
Thankfully I can say that I successfully made it though my first week at UCT. Every other student in the IES program and I all agreed that the week felt like freshman year of college all over again.