Heading to the Rainbow Nation

Africa has always been of interest to me – that mysterious continent halfway around the world that is impossible to categorize since each country is fantastically unique. When I took a college course about South Africa, my interest grew exponentially and I now find myself preparing to spend five whole months there as a student at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg. I’m looking forward to an experience unlike anything I’ve ever known, and I’m expecting to be blown away by all the exciting and challenging things I will come across while there. I’m hoping to come home to my small town of Ithaca, NY with a new global perspective, and be able to apply that to my everyday life. I also want to make life-long connections and friendships with people I meet, and fulfill my sense of adventure. I don’t doubt that there will be challenges, among them living in a foreign country for such a long time. However, the biggest challenge I expect to face will be in completing forty hours of student teaching in an English classroom at the high school level. It will be eye-opening certainly, and perhaps heartrending (considering I have to come armed with school supplies) but the challenge will be worth it. And I do love a challenge.

Ready to Revel in “Rebel County”

**I wanted to make a note of the “Rebel County” because through research, according to  goireland.com, Cork is known as the “Rebel County” due to the high level of rebel activity in the county during the War of Independence and the subsequent Civil War.