Jerard growing understanding through friendships and fun

After all of the together time spent visiting Johannesburg a majority of our program decided that it would be great to have our own excursion to Plettenberg Bay the following weekend. Plett is one of the big tourist locations here in the Western Cape Province. It was an exciting expedition filled with adventure and bonding experiences around every corner. The first big event planned for us was a 6 hour bus ride from the University of Cape Town to Plettenberg. Instead of being a long and dull affair, everyone managed to stay entertained by exchanging funny stories and playing fun games. The time flew by and before we knew it we had arrived at the hostel we would be staying at for the night. This place was like no other hostel I’d seen before and was more akin to a luscious condo you would find at a resort. Needless to say the trip started off on a good note. The high continued as we went spelunking in caves, went on to pet elephants, and have various high flying adventures that included zip-lining, sky diving, and bungee jumping.

 Although these activities were all very fun the most important thing taken from the trip was a better understanding of my experience in South Africa. We had individual and group conversations that I’m not very sure I will have once I return to the United States. The trip to Plett made me realize that I’ve learned more about these people I’ve only known for 4 months than I know about some of my friends I’ve known for years. I feel that this is because of the amount we’ve all grown as people. We’ve become more open to ideas different from our own and just more accepting of one another in general. The catalyst for this has been the fact that we are going through something that no one at home will understand; we’ve faced fears together, seen both thrilling and sad things, and have been forced to cohabitate with people we most likely never would have met otherwise. Plettenberg will always be a major defining weekend in my trip to South Africa because of everything it represents.