Alisha is a senior majoring in Journalism with a minor in Leadership. This past May, she studied abroad in South Africa. She reflects on her experience in the essay below.
When people ask me about my study abroad experience, I start off by telling the story of the climax of my trip. It occurred on a bridge near the highway. We took a break from the various activities of the day. Climbing out of the van that we spent far too much time in for my taste, we began to blindly follow our guide. We cautiously made our way up the street drawing stares from the people around us. A group of eleven Americans making their way through the township of Guguletu was not a common sight, so we had gotten used to the attention. Finally, as we made way to our destination, the purpose of our trek had become clear. Looking down from the bridge, there lay the most profound example of the juxtaposition that I had been trying to wrap my head around for the past couple weeks. To the left there were homes in a neighborhood not unlike one that could be found in the United States. Many of the homes were equipped with satellite dishes and all were guarded by high gates. Without even needing to move, you could glance over to the right to see the thousands of shacks constructed so close to each other that you could barely tell where one ended and the other began. To this day I still don’t remember what our guide was telling us, as I was too caught up in my own thoughts to give much attention to anything but the scene set before me.
