My trip to South Africa was different in more ways than I had ever expected it to be, and still there’s not a single second that I regret, or that I will ever forget.

It was an extremely eye-opening experience in more ways than you could imagine and though I’ll try, I don’t think my words could ever do it justice.

The people

The people of South Africa are incredibly kind and that is all that there is to it.

No matter the time of day you are met with a smile and it was rather refreshing, since in America you never know how you will be met, no matter the time of day.

The culture

The culture of South Africa was completely different from that of America, but not in the ways that I initially expected.

Everyone is accepting of the differences in their culture. They aren’t afraid of the terms black, white, and colored like we are in America.

This was especially interesting to me, because they use these terms in the way that we try to lose them. They see it as a way of accepting each other while we view is as a form of degradation.

But their point for using these terms is a valid one none the less. They want to embrace their past, learn from it, grow from it, and moved forward, no matter the past that they come from, and that is simply beautiful.

The animals

As expected, there were so many animals, and I absolutely loved every single one of them.

While we were in South Africa, our class spent a weekend on an Afrikaans farm. While we were there I had the opportunity to bottle feed several baby animals including lambs, horses, and most crazy of all, baby kudo’s.

Of course, in typical African nature, we went on a safari, where we were fortunate enough to witness a lioness eating a cow (that had died of natural causes). It was by far one of the most disgustingly, fascinating things I’ve ever witnessed.

My classmates and professors

Granted I was in far to close of contact with these 12 people for two weeks straight, sharing everything from camera gear to bathrooms, when we meet for the first time as a class back in March, I never would have imagined I’d care as much as I do about them as I do today.

Throughout the course of our trip, I became closer with some of them than I am with most of family. While I say that I want to keep in touch with many of the people I come into contact with in my life, this is definitely a group of people that I hope I hold true to my word with.

To sum it up

Would I go to South Africa again? In a heartbeat.

I miss it like crazy. I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything. I loved everything about it. The food, the people, the culture, the city as a whole.

And should you go to South Africa? Most definitely!