Maddy knows she will return to Cape Town one day

I’ve been home for exactly a week now and I must say it’s taken me the whole week to adjust back to life home in Connecticut. Coming home, I didn’t feel ready yet. I was excited to see friends and family but at the same time, I didn’t want to leave Cape Town. I didn’t want to act like I didn’t want to be home and offend any of my loved ones so I did my best to adjust back to normal life. That was the hardest part for me. Life in Cape Town was just so not normal. We were always doing something adventurous and exciting and I wasn’t ready for that to end. I came home and started working 2 days later. It was helpful forcing me to get used to the time change but at the same time I didn’t want to go back to average life knowing the only thing I had going on was work. I’ve planned some fun things I can now look forward to this summer that has made being home better. Now that I have been home a week, I’ve realized it’s been nice to be back but I would still jump back on a plane in a heartbeat to relive our study abroad experience. It’s also so nice having people back home with me that also lived through the experiences with me. I’ve talked to some of my other co-educators every day since being back and I’m so glad Cape Town brought us together and we now have each other as best friends back home as well.

A lot of things remind me of Cape Town whether they be similar or different from things at home. It been nice being able to drive again and not having to rely on other transportation. However, the other day I was driving through my town and it felt so weird that there was no one out walking around. I loved going to my internship and having hundreds of kids out walking to school in their uniforms. I also miss living with 17 other amazing people, my internship, always seeing Table Mountain everywhere you go, and other little things that make Cape Town what it is such as the mini bus taxis and people trying to sell you things at stop lights. I am now definitely more aware of things going on around me when it comes to race and gender and other social issues occurring. I am now interested and want to stay updated on the current events happening and am glad this is part of who I am now. It’s sad that our experience is over but I am so fortunate to have had such an amazing time that I will remember forever. I know I will return to Cape Town one day and also have the travel bug to visit other places and have my eyes opened to more and more things.