Leavin' on a jet plane

I officially leave the country in less than 24 hours. The bags are packed, the tickets are booked, the seats on the plane are mine. I'm feeling all kinds of different emotions right now: excited, terrified, nauseous, ecstatic, and sad. This is the first time I'll be traveling all by myself, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that yet.

Starting tomorrow, Monday Jan. 26th, I'll begin my journey to South Africa from Chicago, Illinois. I have a layover in London, and I'm hoping to see the city a little before I eventually head off to Johannesburg. Once I'm in Johannesburg, I'll spend a couple of days getting over my jet lag and then I'll meet my study abroad group. We'll spend about a week in Johannesburg before going to Cape Town, where I'll spend the rest of my time in South Africa. While there, I will be studying multiculturalism and human rights, a field I am so very passionate about. Courses include a class on human rights in South Africa, social narratives of different types, and even a language course on Xhosa, one of eleven national languages in South Africa.

I'm from a small-ish town in the Chicagoland area of Illinois. Going somewhere like the big city of Cape Town will be a new experience: sure, I've visited Chicago plenty of times, but I've never really lived in a big city before. I'm so excited for all the new adventures I'll have, but I'm also a little scared of something so new and different. I'll miss my family and friends for sure. Being 8 hours ahead of them will be a struggle for me, and having limited Internet will also be hard to continue communication. That being said, I don't know how often I'll be able to update this blog, so bear with me! I hope that I can be able to document my travels as much as I can: not only do I want to have something for my family and friends to read, but I also want to have something to look back on when I'm all finished with my time in Cape Town.

I should try and wrap this up so I can try and sleep before I finish getting ready for my travels in the morning. A special shout out to everyone who has helped me prepare for this new adventure; I absolutely cannot wait to get started and see all that I can within the city of Cape Town!