Study Abroad Feature Piece

“I arrived at the airport in Seattle alone.” Ainara E. Lightfoot, Washington State University senior, said as she reminisced the beginning of her study abroad trip to South Africa. “I was shaking because I was on my way to Africa…but there was no turning back, I had to go.”
Lightfoot boarded the plane mid-June traveling into the unknown of a five week study abroad program to Stellenbosch, South Africa. After a grueling plane ride directly to Amsterdam from Seattle, Lightfoot met up with the people that would she would be spending the next five weeks with in her study abroad program. This group would spend the next five weeks traveling and learning together in an academic and cultural experience that would strongly influence Lightfoot and her view of the world.
Like many undergraduate students, Lightfoot was traveling across the world to experience a new culture and country. Some deem study abroad as a necessary experience to their cultural identity and academic education.
According to Lightfoot, “studying abroad is so important because it promotes diversity and cultural tolerance.”
Every student has a different reason for studying abroad, and the place that they choose to study. For Lightfoot, studying in South Africa was important for many reasons. Lightfoot, a Political Science major, chose to study in South Africa because of the opportunity to be educated on the complex racial and political relations in the country.
“I had always studied the major issues in South Africa and I really wanted to be able to experience them first hand.” Lightfoot said. “I wanted to get more out of it that just a good time; I just wanted to make some sort of change in my life.”
Another reason for her desire to study abroad, specifically in South Africa, is because her mother is from Bilbao, Spain, and she has had traveled her whole life to European countries. After experiencing Europe and its culture, she wanted to explore a different part of the world.
“I wanted to experience something different and I knew South Africa would take me out of my comfort zone and show me something completely different and unforgettable.”
A new and unforgettable experience was exactly what she got. During her time at Stellenbosch University, the school where her program was based, she was able to learn about much more than just the average class subject. Her first hand experiences are something that she will be able to carry with her for the rest of her life.
Not only were the experiences during her trip memorable, but they opened her eyes to the multitude of problems in the world that Americans are not faced with on a day-to-day basis. One of the most memorable times she had in South Africa was when she visited a township outside of Stellenbosch.
“We were able to visit a slum and see the aftermath of some of the atrocities performed by the government before the apartheid.” Lightfoot said, with a twinge of sadness in her voice. “Many young people were killed because the young were the main supporters of the apartheid. After their death their families were unable to afford a proper burial so now there are thousands of unmarked graves. We were able to visit these graves as well as the families of the young people who were killed.”
During her visit they were able to hear about the struggles that many of the people in these areas experienced before the new government was voted in, and before the apartheid ended.
While there, she learned more about the culture in these slums, and she also learned some lessons about life.
“While we were there we were able to eat a local place,” she said. “It was literally just a shack, but it had amazing food. The place was called Andy Braii, and it was one man who cooked an African form of Barbecue. While we were eating the man was talking to us and started crying. He could not believe that we would come to eat at his restaurant when we could eat in the best places in the world. He was so honored that we would come to see how other people live and we were willing to make a difference and help make a change.”
To Lightfoot this was the best part of the trip. She said that it was amazing to see that even in this poor slum, where hope is very bleak, people are happy and are willing to share their story.
This is just one incident that would forever change the way she looks at the world. Many of Lightfoot’s experiences changed her views of the world, but some experiences changed her views of America.
During a wine tasting trip with her classmates, they were able to stop at Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, the prison where Nelson Mandela was released from. This is still a functioning prison where thousands of people are still held.
“When we got out off of the bus to take pictures, we decided to take group pictures in front of a statue of Nelson Mandela out in front of the prison,” she said. “Everyone in my program decided it was a good idea to do the “black power” sign to imitate Mandela. I could not believe how insensitive it was that we, as privileged, white Americans would do a sign that has no meaning to us in front of family members of those in prison. It was something I could not be a part of.”
This incident opened Lightfoot’s eyes to how, in her opinion, some Americans are just so unaware of the rest of the world.
Although she was able to see differences in the culture and experience new things, she was truly surprised at some of the similarities that both America and South Africa shared.
“It is very much an industrial country, especially in the cities,” She said. “But the thing that really was like home was some of the interactions. South Africa has a huge sports culture, and like America, people go to the bar to watch the game.”
Through the differences and similarities, experiences both good and bad, Lightfoot would not alter the experience for anything. The whole study abroad trip changed her life.
“Studying abroad definitely made me more aware of complexities behind issues. You can say you want to fix things, but there are so many more issues than aid, political issues and politics in general,” she said.
Lightfoot is incredibly encouraging to people who are interested in studying abroad. It changed her life for the better and she would recommend it to anyone.
“Studying abroad is insightful in terms of what impact you can make on the rest of the world and how other people live.”