Vara's tearful goodbyes to her multiple communities

Not only was this trip life-changing and thought provoking, but it also brought about a sense of true community. It can be said that people in unfamiliar situations stick together. My group of 29 friends did exactly that starting from January 11th when we arrived. We became much more familiar with Cape Town but that did not mean we parted ways. Through so many challenging moments we all stuck together and when I least expected it, someone had my back. This is the sense of community that I felt from my peers.

The sense of community I also had was from the locals and my mentors. My three professors created the comforting environment for us all to become closer and learn together. The locals constantly surprised me as they were more than willing to make a friend, to help out, or to let us hold their newborns at restaurants. Besides that though, the general community aspect of Cape Town is one to be missed. I learned how to be independent while still immersing myself in the community that formed in Cape Town. There were definitely times when I wanted to distance myself from my co-educators, but in the end our friendship proved true as we were saying goodbye to our home of 3+ months.

On April 27th we all scrambled to get the last of our packing finished and down to the entranceway. Before we departed for the airport though, we had one last group meeting. All 29 of us sat together in our lounge, study room, and classroom. We listened to our RA say last words as tears started to appear. Our teacher Marita also gave some parting words which culminated to more tears. Eventually the tear circle was complete, 29 sobbing classmates sat together in the room curling up next to each other and holding hands as we did one last meditation. The energy in the room was uncontrollable. All my frustration over kitchen cleaning, bathroom utilization, pool use, taxi money debates, and so much more were gone. We were all one huge and close knit community feeling the strongest emotion ever. We felt a longing to stay, to remain close, and to cherish every moment we experienced together. Looking around the room, it only perpetuated the tears. I found myself uncontrollably sobbing and realizing how much the trip impacted my life. I have a network of co-educators who understand my stories and have seen what I have. They know the emotions I have been feeling the whole trip and they understand Ubuntu and Amandla and Awethu. Our tears are not just showing how much we enjoyed Cape Town, but symbolize how much of a connected community we are and will continue to be.