Jessica L.

Recent Actions

• Posted Home again. to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
  Jessica LeBlanc1/25/12It's a good thing I have waited well over a week since our return to write this entry.  If I had written within a few days of returning it would have gone something like this:  "Booooo, I'm so miserable.  I should have tried harder to lose my passport so I could have stayed.  I want to go back NOW. The end."   Thankfully things have gotten better since that first week back.   The first few days were consumed with sleeping, looking through pictures for hours on end, talking to classmates and even some tears.   Some of this was expected.  I...
• Posted Gugulethu and all that jazz... to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
  Jessica LeBlanc1/23/12Thursday (1/12/12) was our last day working with Afrika Tikkun.  After we finished our service work, we drove to Gugulethu for lunch at Mzoli's Place.  Unfortunately I had the lovely stomach bug that day so my enjoyment of food was limited, but just the experience of being there was awesome!   I did a quick internet search of the place and this is what I found:Mzoli's was opened in 2003 by Mzoli Ngcawuzele, who got a start-up fund from the Development Bank of South Africa as part of their support of black-owned businesses. From selling meat informally from a garage,...
• Posted Amazing, really. to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
  It's early Friday morning and I write this while preparing to leave for our last full day of adventures in Cape Town.   We are spending the morning/afternoon in Cape Point.   Being a part of this program was really a blessing.   As a non-traditional student with a full-time job, I'm lucky enough that I have an employer not only understanding, but supportive of me running away for 3 weeks to be a part of such an amazing program.  (It also helps that I work for the area in which these programs are housed.)  Regardless, I really do feel as...
• Posted A great day, mostly. to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
  I've been neglecting the blog. Sort of like my personal journaling. I used to journal a lot and for some reason I have had a very hard time doing it the past few years. I think it comes from being so impatient; it can be maddening trying to keep the pen/typing moving as fast at my thoughts. I had considered moving my personal journal to the computer, simply for the fact that I can type faster than I can write but I feel that it takes away from the authenticity of it. I guess I'll use this blog as a...
• Posted A change of pace. to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
  Jessica LeBlanc 12-23-2011 I have never studied abroad. I always wanted to. If you had asked me 10 years ago, I would have told you that I would study for a semester or year in France. I studied French for 4 years of high school and all through college. But, things change. Here I am, 10 years later working on a degree I started in 2001. Time has passed, but one thing has not changed. I still want to study abroad. As a full-time employee at the University, my options were limited. My supervisor was the Finance Manager for the...