"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

The quote in the title of this post comes from the late 80's move, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I don't think there is a better sentence to describe how I feel at the moment than that quote. As of today, I have three weeks left in Cape Town. One may think, "hey, that's a long time!" while others may think, "you're practically leaving tomorrow! Bye!". Lately my mind has been playing with me. I'm very excited to go home. I can't wait to drive a car again, eat my favorite foods and of course, see my friends! Five months is a very long time to be away from home and it has begun to take its toll on me. However, I feel that the five months have just zoomed past and the time that remains is merely chump change. Bottom line, I'm confused about how to feel right now.

I just returned from an awesome week and a half week trip to northern South Africa. I went to (in sequential order) Johannesburg, Phalaborwa, Kruger National Park, Hoedspruit, Mpumlanga, and then back to Phalaborwa again. I got to spend time with other AFS students, which was great. Going abroad is a tremendously rewarding experience but there are certainly many lonely moments. The friends you have in your host community may be very close but the people who tend to understand the exchange student experience best are in fact other exchange students. Undoubtably, the highlight of the trip was the Kruger National Park. I didn't see the "Big 5" but I saw some of them--if you have a clue what I'm talking about.

I could write pages about the trip, so I'll just post some pictures to give you an idea of what I saw and did.

World's largest Baobab tree

Blyde River Canyon--The third largest in the world!

Petting a cheetah at Moholoholo animal rehab centre

Elephant at the Kruger National Park

AFSers in the bush!

Waterfall near the Blyde River Canyon

After climbing the Koppie

Impala--commonly found throughout the Kruger

Life in Africa is passing quickly. I'll probably post again once or twice before I go home. Living abroad isn't always easy but I am beginning to understand the rewards it can reap.

Cheers!

Danny