Hi everyone! My name is Sarah Tschida and I am very excited to travel with all of you to Cape Town in just a couple of short days. I work in the Learning Abroad Center and am accompanying this program as part of our office "onsite internship program" where we can apply to work onsite with one of our study abroad programs for a significant amount of time. The general idea of the internship is to have an opportunity to reconnect with the onsite experience and learn about what it is like to work on the other side of study abroad and then use that experience to inform our work back at the U.
I've been working in the LAC for a little over 6.5 years and have been working on setting up Global Seminars for about 4.5 years now. I'm absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity to witness a GS from start to finish and to learn with all of you over these next few weeks.
I expect to experience a range of emotions while in South Africa. Everything from excitement, sadness, anger, joy, confusion...the list goes on. I expect to be challenged by this experience - by the things I see, the people I meet, the things I learn and by things like adjusting to life in Cape Town, navigating the culture, getting around the city (my sense of direction isn't the best!), and learning to live and think as a member of our community. I expect to make mistakes. I welcome these challenges and want to use these challenges as a way to grow more as a person-- a peacemaker, an activist, a community member, a civic minded individual, a professional, an international/intercultural educator, a friend, a sister, a daughter and a wife.
Hopes for myself: I hope I will get to know each of your stories better. I hope I am able to open up and share my story too. I hope to gain a better understanding of reconciliation and what it means to forgive. I hope to make connections and bring back what I learn in South Africa to the U.S. context. I hope to not be a burden or an intruder to the people of South Africa. I hope to be inspired and reenergized. I hope I can inspire and energize others too.
Safe travels and I will see you all in the Cape Town airport very soon!
