Realities

It is so easy to feel at peace when you are far away from home, school, work and everything in your personal life that can create stress. With the spring semester starting so soon I think we all will be jumping right back into the stress we all left back home. However I am very thankful to have had these three weeks to learn in a less stressful way and reflect. There is no doubt in my mind that South Africa has been a changing experience for everyone here, but the reality is that we still have a long way to go. I personally think that I have grown as a person and that I will return and some of my personal relationships will change. I have a long way to go as far as forgiveness goes (one of our big topics over the three weeks). I have to work on forgiving others and myself and I know this is just the beginning of a long process. Another way that I will continue to try change is activism. I know that a lot of us will return home and won't continue with service, and I am really afraid I might fall into that group. Continuing friendships with my peers here I think will help with that, because a lot of us have similar issues that we want to help with so I can work on doing more service in groups instead of trying to do it alone.