Posted Familiar to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
Being back in Minneapolis is quite a change from being in the warm weather of Cape Town. On the first day of class, I hurried to the bus anticipating the new semester. There's a class called the History of Modern Africa that I'm taking as an elective towards my major I was particularly excited about. As I headed towards my class, I was excited that my trip would be of much relevance to the course. Our professor Helena Pohlandt-McCormick, began to speak to our small class, and the introduced herself. She said she was from Johannesburg, South Africa and my...
Posted Lived Experiences to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
I've been thinking a lot about lived experience. As we leave South Africa, I want to keep in my mind with me as long as I come home that people come from different lived experiences. As we learned from Nate, our professor, lived experience can be applied with space, time, relationships and the human body. Each person experiences things in completely different ways because they come from different backgrounds and experiences. I think something that becomes challenging for many people including myself, is refraining from naming something using quick judgments. A lot of times it's hard to stop and truly...
Posted Music to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
It's incredible how music can form deep connection among people. It's amazing to me how closely people can come together over a rhythmic beat. From this trip, I've become more spiritual with the idea music as a soothing, healing and community building method. There have been countless experiences on this trip that have demonstrated connection through song. At nights I've gone to bars with local friends and friends from Minneapolis, we've bonded over knowing the same lyrics to a song and dancing together. I've met mothers and children that played songs in their homes that I knew every lyric to...
Posted Thankful to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
I've been procrastinating with blogging due to so many full days of activities; it's been hard to find time to sit down and write!! When I reflect on the few weeks that have past, I can't believe I've fit all a large number of events into 3 weeks here in South Africa. I can honestly say that I've climbed rocky South African mountains, swam in natural springs after long hikes, assisted a braai with group leaders, celebrated new year's eve with great new friends in the downtown streets of Cape Town, visited the District 6 Museum where our guide shared...
Posted Preparing for Cape Town to EDHD 3100 - South Africa: Tracing the Footsteps of Social Change 2011/12
Hi, my name is Freesia Towle, and I'm a sophomore in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. Words cannot describe how excited I am to be apart of this trip to Cape Town, South Africa. Initially, I had heard about this trip through one of my friends, Kirsten (Kiki) Benish who had gone last year. Over the past year, we've found in common that we've both gravitated towards subjects within global studies and social justice. Through out the year she continously recommended this trip to me and told me the experiences I'd learn were not comparable...
Recent Actions from Freesia Towle