In an exciting twist, this post is brought to you from Germany!

For my birthday on the 2nd, my parents brought me a plane ticket to go visit my brother and his family in Germany for two weeks! Despite the cold weather, I am enjoying my time to relax and get caught up on things (mostly TV shows).

While I have been here I have been able to reflect on my time in Cape Town so far and really appreciate everything I have learned in the past months. I can also appreciate that warmth Cape Town provides me with because it is FREEZING here in Germany.

The feeling I felt flying away from South Africa was a feeling of nostalgia. Even though I knew I would be back in a few days, it still felt strange and uneasy to leave.

I didn’t come to Africa with the notion that I could save the world with simply my presence. I came with the notion that it could save me. I don’t want to live a life that I feel like I am doing what I am supposed to do. I want to live a life that I am meant to live.

Growing up an American tells me that I need to go to school to get good grades so I can get a good job. I am tired of that mentality. I feel like I missed so many opportunities to really find out what I am meant to do just trying to get good grades. But that doesn’t mean that I will not have several more opportunities to find out what  my purpose looks like.

I want to use every life experience to learn and absorb knowledge, not just memorize. I wasted years of my life trying to just get good grades and I am done with that, the rest of my life will be different. I will be different.

Coming to Africa I did not know what to expect but I have found something amazing here. I know that I do not want to work in the corporate world. I know that I want to do something meaningful and work somewhere where I am doing something to help others. I do not know what that looks like in my life but I know that African Impact and The Happy Africa Foundation set a great example of a place I would like to work.

Thinking about my future gives me butterflies in my stomach but not that anxiety it did in my senior year of college. I am looking forward to where my journey brings me. I know that I will have to figure things pretty soon but I know that I am closer to doing that than I would be if I didn’t have this experience. This next 6 months will be a time to make plans and put them to action.