It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you...

Wow. How did this happen? How did 6 weeks in South Africa already go by? This is my last morning here in Stellenbosch. We are all getting together for a USA breakfast thank you dinner and taking off for Cape Town from there. Our flight leaves at 11 pm my time (5 pm MI time). I'm not sure how I will react to this leaving but as of right now, I don't think it will be a great one :(

On Friday night, the group celebrated by going to Moyo for dinner one last time. This was the restaurant we went to at the beginning of the trip with the massive African buffet, drumming music, and painting faces. Our professor, Sean, had never been here before and it is definitely a must! We had a lot of fun as a group. I will miss these people!

Yesterday, we all headed just outside of Franshhoeck to a Cheese Festival. It was really cool! You could try anything you wanted (basically) food and drink wise. There were soooo many people there. We even saw a guy we met over Holiday. He was our leader on a tour in Robertson. Crazy stuff!

Julie, Laura, and I spent our last night at the van Reenen's with a massive girl's night! We along with Raiatea, Genovesa, and Phoebe, made puppy-chow, ordered in 6 different pizzas, and introduced them to A Walk to Remember. SO much fun! I will miss this family an absolutely insane amount when we leave here! They are incredible girls!

During one of my classes this week where I wasn't teaching, I took the liberty of writing down things I will miss in both Stellenbosch and South Africa. Here are a few of them:

• The van Reenen Household—This includes the people living in it & the house itself
• Having a Guard Dog and a Lap Dog—Lutz & Gemma!
• My students at Kayamandi—Positive I learned more from them..that is not a blow to my teacher skills!!
• Nutella!—Yes, we have this in the states but I don't think I'll allow myself to buy it...soooo goood!
• Learning Xhosa from my students & Afrikaans from Raia and Gen
• Driving through Kayamandi Township
• Running through the Stellenbosch University Campus
• Pinotage
• Salt water
• Speeches/songs given by my students
• View of the mountains from my classroom window—and every window for that matter
• Screenless windows constantly opened
• Nights with my roommates :)
• Phoebe's cooking—I seriously love it! I even at tomatoes! Those of you that know me know that is never an option! So good!
• Vitasnacks & Cadbury bars
• Walking everywhere
• No phone or car
• Skeleton keys—for everything
• Giving school supplies to Kayamandi and seeing the reaction on faces
• Slang here—Hoping to bring some back!!
• Braais—bringing these back to the states fo sho!
• LAURA & JULIE—And all of the GVSU people here!

Those are just a few of them. There are about a million other things I will miss about this town, these people, and this country. I am so very glad and thankful that I was able to take this trip and to get a positive experience out of it. I learned so much from just being here that I strongly believe has helped me for the better.

Thanks for joining me on this trip! When I'm back in the states I will be uploading pictures and maybe some video to go along with this blog. Stay posted until then!

I will end with the words of Toto:

“It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you (South Africa),

there's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do.

I bless(ed) the rains down in Africa,

(I took) some time to do the things (I) never had.”

More Later!

AB