The end of study abroad was quite stressful. Many classes that were suppose to have happened in the previous months were crammed into the final two weeks for many international students. Our leaving date was November 16th, and many students had multiple assignements, papers, exams, projects, presentations, and tests to complete. It was incredibly hectic. International students started leaving the first week of November, and every week the hotel would get more and more empty. It was sad. Everyone new that some of these people they would never see again. Everyone was returning to their corner of the world. It was weird to think that Port Elizabeth was no longer going to be my home. Even when I return one day, it will not be the same without all the wonderful people I met abroad. I packed my suitcases with everything from the past 5 months in under an hour. It was strange to see everything of mine condensed into two suitcases.
Many of the international students were taking one final trip either in South Africa or within the continent of Africa before going home, and I was among those students. I flew to Durban, then visited Lesotho, hiked in Drakensberg Mountains, drove to Swaziland, saw a cultural village, hiked the hills with cows, then drove to Johannesburg to fly out of South Africa. It was amazing to see Swaziland and Lesotho, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about these different countries. It was a great way to spend the final days with some of the people I met in Port Elizabeth. One of my favorite parts about studying abroad was meeting wonderful people from all over the world. While I was excited to see my friends and family again, I was not ready to come home, especially not to the cold. I enjoyed going to an entirely new continent where I did not know a single person and creating a life on my own. After this experience, I would recommend studying abroad to others. I would do the experience all over again. South Africa really became like home to me, and I will miss living there.
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