When you read this blog post, that means that I have finally made up my mind about how I want to word things, how I could phrase what I wanted to say, how I could describe as good as possible what this trip was like so I could give you a perfect recreation of it. Let me tell you this: it was hard-very hard. And that, my readers, is because this was genuinely one of the best trips I have ever done in my whole life. I have given up a lot for this trip, but after almost 2 years, I can still say it was totally worth it! Where do I even start...?
In May 2017, I got a message from my school about an exchange program with a South-African school. I know what you are thinking, and yes, I must admit, my school does quite a few exchanges literally all over the world. And yes, I must also say, I have been lucky, very lucky to be able to participate in all of this. It is thanks to my school that I could do this, and China as well, as described in my last post. I am beyond grateful for that and I wanted to mention this before I went on. Anyway, back to the story. When I received the message about the confirmation of my participation to the project, I was overly happy. I couldn’t believe it. In September 2017, the South-African students would come and stay in Belgium for about a week. The girl that stayed at my house was the sweetest, kindest girl and we got along so well. I tried my best to give her an amazing week and planned a lot of fun activities. It was an exhausting week that sometimes was hard to combine with my daily school obligations, but oh, how fun it was! And then in February 2018, it was our turn to go to THEIR school. My South-African friend and I were finally reunited, and my host family made me feel very welcome at their house. It is also thanks to this amazing family that my trip was unforgettable! I couldn’t wish for a better host. A host family is for sure one of the most important factors for an exchange, it can define your whole trip. Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about anything with mine. After this trip, my camera roll was filled with pictures that could be posters, or postcards. My heart and head were filled was amazing memories and adventures I will never forget. We went from seeing Soweto, a little town where the houses were made of cardboard, to driving along the Panorama route, of which words lack me to describe its beauty. South-Africa has something for everyone, something that will take your breath away in every form of amazement and wonder, or shock and scare. We travelled to the Nelson Mandela house, visited loads of museums about their ‘Black and Whites’ history, and we saw lots of monuments. This was so interesting to see and learn about. Their history is a big part of South-Africa, and in my opinion, it is part of what makes this country so special. After we absorbed all the history and culture, it was time for the part I looked most forward to: the big 3-day safari in the Kruger Park. When I say excited, I mean beyond excited, because as you will read in the next post, I love animals SO much (little spoiler alert, can you already guess what my next adventure will be about? 😊 ) and I love seeing them in their natural habitat rather than in a zoo. With one big and one small van, we left via the Panorama road to the Kruger park. On our way, we made a few stops for example at God’s Window, The Mac Mac Pools, Three Rondavels, the Bourke’s luck potholes, … If you have the time, you can look up what these are, and you will understand why I loved every single stop we made on our way. I was lucky to be in the small van, which meant big windows for everyone and air-conditioning, something the big van didn’t have and was very desirable in this beautiful but hot South-African summer weather. We literally drove around in the Kruger Parc for three days straight. A lot of people got bored, “same animals all the time, it is hot, and I am tired of sitting around” they said. But not me, oh no. I got excited every time we saw an animal, whatever one it was. Every time I had my camera ready to take another set of pictures. To see these animals in real life, without them being behind bars like in a zoo, was honestly breath-taking. It had always been a dream of mine to do a safari and I genuinely enjoyed every single second of it. The daily pills and cream against malaria, sleeping in long nightwear at 25+ degrees and almost getting strangled by the mosquito net every night, it was all 100% worth it. I think I enjoyed these 2 weeks so much because I had been away from home before, I was used to travelling without my parents, I had been with a host family before, I wasn’t homesick and all of that was definitely not the case for everyone. Some people found it weird sleeping in someone else’s bed, they found it weird eating food with ‘strangers’ at a breakfast table instead of having a whatever star hotel buffet ready for them in the morning. Some People didn’t try and communicate with their family because ‘they are only going to be here for a good 10 days’. I on the other hand, felt like I had some more knowledge and experience, thanks to my exchange back then a year and a half ago. A host family will always be a part of you and so will their country. Isn’t it great to be able to say you have friends all over the world? Isn't it just amazing that there are numerous countries you know you can go, and a friend will be waiting for you with a bed and some food? I personally think that that is one of the greatest things in life. Today I still am in contact with my South-African family and I know that they will be welcoming me with open arms if I ever come back, same goes the other way around. And all of that happened because of one exchange a few years ago and an open mind, created because of and during that exchange.
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Welcome!Hallo allemaal en welkom op mijn blog! Mijn naam is Lidewij en ik ga voor 3 maanden studeren in Australië. Via deze weg wil ik jullie allemaal op de hoogte houden van mijn avonturen.
Archieven
August 2019
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