Why I'm Excited to Go to South Africa

So it had occurred to me that some of my earlier posts were all doom-and-gloom with regards to my upcoming trip to South Africa, particularly with regard to my level of worry about my trip. So I thought I might take this opportunity, 2 days before my trip, to share with you what is making me particularly excited about the South African leg of my voyage.
In terms of the history outside of the context of my thesis, I have been interested in the African continent since grade four when we did a unit on animals and I did a research project on Cheetahs. Learning about cheetahs at the tender age of 9 exposed me to some of the more well known animals on the African continent which I simply fascinating. Continuing along the same road in grade 5 I did a research project on religion in Ancient Egypt and in grade 7 and 8 I found myself becoming more acutely aware of the poverty which affected most of the African continent. By the time I hit highschool I had also become very interested in the history of Apartheid and human rights more generally. In grade 10 our civics teacher showed us a movie called "the power of one" which concerned the anti-apartheid movement including the work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In grade 11 it came to my attention that I might actually be interested in travelling there when I found out that the Rotary club, through which one of my closest friends (Karen) was doing an exchange, sent students to South Africa and I became determined that I myself would travel to SA on exchange in University.
In the first years of my undegraduate degree my interest in the African continent and South African history solidified and I applied for an exchange. The strong pressure from my family not to go had not disuaded me up until I submitted my application however, Carleton's exchange co-ordinator had also been quite opposed to my idea and suggested I put it as my second choice. Listenting to her advice I put Scotland as my first choice which was accepted by changed by the exchange office to the Netherlands which was my 3rd choice. Its funny how these things work out. In any case I by no means regret that I went to the Netherlands, on the contrary I view it as a very major stepping stone between having never been off the North American continent and going to a developing country. As almost everyone know I learned a lot about life, myself and personal safety on that trip, knowledge which I'm sure will serve me well in both Switzerland and South Africa.
So now it seems I'm getting my chance to go to South Africa, which of course was selected over the DRC as "the safer option" below I'll list the 10 things I'm most excited about spending 3 months in South Africa

1. taking my first trip to the African Continent
2. Being emersed to a new culture
3. Having the opportunity to pick up a bit of one or more new languages.
4. Learning more about South African History and visiting historical landmarks.
5. Learning about present day South Africa in all of its aspects and trying new foods.
6. Seeing the natural wildlife in addition to visiting the Pretoria National Zoo and Kruger National Park.
7. Having the opportunity to experience the Pretoria art scene.
8. Making new friends.
9. Having the opportunity to work among members of the South African human rights community, which I respect deeply
10. Doing my research (Of course!)

Althought I'm getting quite a range of responses from people who learn I'm going to South Africa, I am very much optimistic that the trip will finish with the best possible outcome (although there might be a couple of bumps along the way) And although my nerves are creeping up on me and part of me wishes time would move faster so I would already be settled there, I am mostly very excited about what lies ahead!

1.5 days to go!