As our plane took off from the Cape Town airport, Johannesburg bound last Saturday, I couldn't help but think about what I'll be feeling just three weeks from now when we are taking off for good. From the air you can see the entire lay out of the city, the way that life literally operates around the mountain. When you're on the ground, apartheid is still all too real in day to day life. From the sky you can see everything. As you fly away from the mountain, you stop looking down on suburban homes with swimming pool backyards, the homes become smaller until the roads turn to dirt and the buildings turn to shacks. It is from the air that you can see the magnificent beauty that Cape Town possesses, as well as the tragic past that has shaped the city and country's entire being and still lives to haunt its citizens today. With its bad and good, Cape Town has become home. While we all enjoyed Johannesburg, our 5am departure from Kruger National Park came with eager faces and words of excitement, as we were all ready to return to our house and beloved city.
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| Anna & Allie |
The past couple of weeks have been filled with talk of what comes next, as we all search for summer jobs and internships, but it's difficult to think about the future, and leaving this place that we have grown to call home without hesitation. As Patrick, Allie, Carl and I make preparations for our upcoming European adventure, I dragged my feet, putting off looking up flights and hostels, not wanting to accept that we are leaving, not wanting to let go of my time here. Our journey home has become a topic of daily conversation for the 30 of us, what will our goodbyes be like, already planning summer reunions and Braais for next year. I'll be the first one to admit that I'm scared, terrified actually of having to readjust to life in Storrs. Besides rotating fast food restaurants, Storrs hasn't changed at all since we left it in December, but we have.
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