OK, now we’re officially back to school. For the first time, I actually had to attend the Convocation ceremony, but not with out first going to the bookstore and buying all of my graduation garb. That’s right, I’ve got the cap, gown, tassel, and hood. I’m pretty much all set for everything I might need for graduation- all I have to do now is make it through the year!
Convocation started off with a moment of silence marking the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Dean Sue delivered the keynote address emphasizing the importance of our roles in the future of Wheaton. However sweaty and silly we were in our polyester robes, every member of the class of 2008 listened attentively and even participated in singing the Wheaton hymn and anthem.
If i didn’t feel the weight of senior year and the reality of leaving this place, I think it truly sank in during convocation. But until I really need to understand what leaving Wheaton actually means, I still have the entire year to go: a sobering thought!
Luckily, the beginning of the year coincides with Labor Day weekend, something that definitely eases the transition! My friends and I spent the weekend lounging around Wheaton and enjoying the last of our summers. We went to my friend’s house on the North Shore of Boston for the last first time and enjoyed a day of boating and barbecuing before returning back to campus to do homework.
Thus far, senior year has been pretty great!

It never ceases to amaze me how much hustle and bustle there is on campus before classes even begin! With people running around as orientation assistants, to RA and preceptor training sessions, or pre-season. Having been in at least two of those positions in my years at Wheaton, I have to say that it felt pretty good just being able to go to the lab every day while my friends. A lot of work and preparation goes into orientation and it can all seem grueling at times, but there is defintely a feeling of satisfaction knowing that you may have affected a new freshman in some way. For me, I was able to participate in a performance called “First Impressions,” an event where cast members share their experiences dealing with any sort of diversity on campus for an audience of made up of about 600 people with the vast majority of them being freshmen. None of it was acted, and all the anecdotes are true. It happens as a sort of “stream of thought” so that the audience can hear and feel what we each went through at that very moment. This was an important event for me to partake in as I felt like it brought me full circle in my experience here at Wheaton, and figuring out my own varied identities. Preparation was an intensive process, and we barely had a week to finalize our stories. Despite our nerves, we pulled off a great performance and basked in the overwhelming applause.
Here is a picture of the cast before the big performance!

I left campus as a junior, and its strange to think that I’ve missed an entire semester and that I’m all of a sudden a senior!
It didn’t really hit me until I was on a chapel balcony screaming “SENIORS!!!” to the sea of freshmen below me that I realized that I was once in their place 3 years ago. And you know what? If I didn’t realize it then, it really hit me when I had to sign up for classes and I realized that I didn’t have to wake up at 8:30 AM, but that I could take my sweet time and still get into the classes I wanted! You see kids, it all pays off!
I hope to be doing all sorts of things this year. Of course, I am the campus movie coordinator, an active member of the Asian American Coalition, and a peer advisor for the Center for Global Education.
In addition, I’ve lined up a set of very interesting classes one of which is a “Human Services Practicum” that allows me to volunteer at the local hospital, Sturdy Memorial, twice a week. One thing that is unique about Wheaton is that it is one of the only, if not the only, undergraduate institution that allows college students to volunteer and experience the emergency room. Although I’m a bit intimidated by the idea, I know that it is a great experience to have and that I will learn a lot.

After a very tearful parting with all my friends, I made it all the way back home to New York. I was very happy to see my mom at the airport, and I quickly slipped back into my normal life. But that’s the thing…it felt a little too normal, as if I had never even left!
All the ideas of American life that I seemed to miss in South Africa barely phased me, be they Starbucks, wireless internet, or free text messages.
I was delighted to sleep in my own bed, perhaps the thing I missed about America the most besides my family and friends!
I am trying to ease back into things though. I had a nice weekend on Fire Island with my family, and I am happy to say that my normal sleeping pattern has resumed.
I didn’t realize that I needed a little bit more time at home in New York before heading back to Wheaton, but my professor has been very understanding. I am going back to school early to do research for my professor for the rest of the summer. Things on campus are peaceful though, its easier to adjust without the hustle and bustle of the normal academic year. I am seeing friends from high school and college for the first time in months, and it honestly feels like we haven’t even parted! Readjusting to Wheaton is feeling okay, but I can’t help but feel a twinge of longing for the places and people abroad.

The National Arts Festival in Grahamstown is the second largest arts festival in the entire world, but the largest in the southern hemisphere. I had no idea that Grahamstown’s slow, college-town atmosphere into a bustling and hectic festival!
I have to admit that at first, I was a bit put off by the swarms of people that have flocked to Grahamstown, but I have begun to embrace it. It did not help that my friend’s purse was stolen the first night back! We have been warned of the increase in petty theft, but we had no idea that it could actually happen to us! But although it now takes half an hour to eat at the restaurants, not to mention that its almost completly impossible to walk down the street, I am enjoying the shows and art exhibits that take place from dawn to dusk.
This place is filled to the brim with lots of different kinds of people. The regulars at the bars and clubs have been displaced by people from every corner of the world, and I for one, am enjoying the new influx of people.
Many of my friends, who are students at Rhodes, are seeing the plays that they have written and directed come to fruition. I have been trying to attend at least one performance per day, or at least attend a film festival or art exhibition. I feel pressed to get the most out of my days because I can feel “the end” upon me. Obviously, I have mixed emotions about going back home but I refuse to say goodbye to any of my friends before I really have to! I can feel the last days and weeks making a permanent impression on my mind as they happen- last chicken mayo sandwich, last brunch at Mad Hatter’s, last cellphone minutes, and I can feel myself already missing things despite the fact that I am still here! But for every cloud there is a silver lining, I have learned a lot about myself through learning about South Africa, I’ve realized that I am a lot stronger that I thought I could be in almost every aspect. I’ll never forget the people I have met, and I’m pretty much determined to find a way back here!

After an exhausting week of finals (I had 6!) it was nice to escape the academic atmosphere. I had a very tearful goodbye with many of my friends.
I know that I will see my American friends back home, but to all my friends going back home within South Africa, or to France or the Netherlands, I’m not quite sure when I will see them again!
Nonetheless, I was comforted by the adventures and potential stories that awaited me in my trip across the country. I packed up my room and hopped on a plane to Cape Town, where I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with my sister and tour around to all the places I hadn’t been my first time around.
After my sister left Cape Town, my friend Jackie and I went to Durban where we met up with several of our American friends who were on their last trip before returning home to the States. We said our goodbyes in Durban, then headed south to the area known as the Transkei, an apartheid-era region that was meant to linguistically and culturally isolate different ethnic groups within South Africa to support the former policy of “Separate Development.”
After a long trip through the cities of South Africa, it was nice, for a change, to experience the rural village life.
For about a week, we lived in a rural !Xhosa village at a backpacker’s lodge that is owned and ran by the people of Bulungula.
We were able to participate in a variety of aspects of the traditional !Xhosa life, such as collecting firewood, cooking a meal, and collecting water. We met the village’s Sangoma, and had a drink of Jabulani beer with the village elders.
It was a very different experience for us because for the first time in South Africa, we felt immersed in a different culture and came face to face with the language barrier which is surprising considering that South Africa has 11 national languages.
After our jaunt across South Africa, we headed back to Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival where we are living off campus in an apartment. I am excited to see how the quiet city of Grahamstown will be transformed by this world famous festival.

Although I am actually 2 months away from going back home, it is weird to think that I’m already having my last times with all of my friends in South Africa. It is also strange to think that at this point all of my friends have either graduated from Wheaton already or have embarked on their summer adventures.
Rhodes gives us a week for our reading period, or as they call it here “Swot Week,” so my friends decided to take our last trip all together to Hogsback in the Amatole Mountains. We did a lot of hiking and camping but mostly spent our time talking and appreciating where we were. It is hard not to be reflective when you’re in such an idyllic place- with regards to state of mind and location in the world. I feel very lucky to be able to have such a unique opportunity, and suddenly all the cliche-study-abroad-nostalgia that my upperclassmen friends experienced makes sense to me.
After exams are finished, my friend and I are traveling across South Africa to Cape Town, Durban, and the region formerly known as the Transkei before we return back to Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival. Although I haven’t even started my trip across the country, many of my South African and non-South African friends are going home. Although I am looking forward to traveling again, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by the idea of having to indefinitely say goodbye to many of my friends.

The other part of our Autumn Vacation was spent in the wonderful city of Cape Town. I think that part of the allure that drew me to South Africa was what I had heard about Cape Town. It is a diverse city that really lives up to the hype.
I think that as a group, it was a bit of a relief to be in a city, but it really is amazing how different Cape Town is from what I’ve seen of South Africa. It is a really metropolitan city, and I felt that at times I could be in any city in the entire world.
My friends and I stayed at several backpackers around Long Street, which is where most of the nightlife and action is in the city. We spent most of our time just walking around and exploring the different parts of the city and went to several of the tourist attractions, such as the Castle of Good Hope, Stellenbosch (the winelands), Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned), and Table Mountain. We enjoyed ourselves at the many restaurants and markets that Cape Town has to offer.
Visiting Robben Island was a very intense excursion. The ferry ride over left many of us feeling quite seasick, but I think that the seals in the harbor, and the whales in the ocean (a rare sighting!) pretty much made up for it. We were taken on a bus and were given a tour of the island. Did you know that Robben Island used to be a Leper Colony? Me neither!
We were given a tour of the prison by a former political prisoner and were even able to see Nelson Mandela’s cell and the mine where he worked. It was great to hear our tour guide speak about his personal experiences, something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I enjoyed Robben Island, but I think my favorite part of the trip was ascending Table Mountain. We tried several times to get to the top, but we were usually held back by the fickle weather, that really can change at any minute. It was the last thing we did in Cape Town, but what a way to end our time in the city! The view from Table Mountain is absolutely breathtaking, and in many ways it was a pinnacle for me because I have never been in such a beautiful country. Even when I step outside my door, I am constantly surrounded by beautiful things, whether I am in Grahamstown or Cape Town.

As part of our Autumn vacation (seasons are opposite in the Southern Hemisphere), a group of us went to the famed Kruger National Park in the Mpumalanga region of South Africa. It was an amazing trip, and is definitely something everyone who vists South Africa should see. Although we were there for a short time, we managed to see 4 of the Big 5 on a daytime game drive. Of the Big 5, we saw Rhinos, Elephants, Buffalo, and a Leopard. The 5th that we did not see were Lions.

The Leopard was a rare sighting, since it is nocturnal. We managed to see it in the middle of the day taking a nap on the side of the road, no more than 10 feet away from it! My friend Victoria, who also goes to Wheaton, spotted it on the side of the road, cleverly camoflauged and hiding in the grass. Not only were we able to see most of the Big 5, but we also saw many other animals, such as Hippos, Crocodiles, Tortoises, Giraffes, Kudu, Guinea Fowl, Zebras, Warthogs, Duikers, Impala, Wildebeest, Bats, Baboons, Vervet monkeys, plus many other as well as a variety of birds including Eagles. My numerous pictures surely serve as a testament to
the rich and diverse flora and fauna of South Africa.

Lately, I have been seeking out the many thrills that South Africa has to offer! Most recently, I wentngee jumping off the world’s highest commercial bungee jump situated atop the Bloukrans River Bridge that has even made the Guinness Book of World Records. Jumping from it was quite an amazing feat- if I do say so myself!
The bridge is located about 4 hours away from campus, but I went with a group of eager and willing individuals who, like me, were determined to put ourselves to the test. I don’t think that jumping 216 meters into a river really hit me until I was actually falling! Until you feel the resistance of the bungee cord, all you really feel is sheer terror! While dangling from the bridge, I noticed the peaceful scenery I was surrounded by-the Indian ocean to the South, and valley and dense forest to the North. Once I stopped bouncing, I actually found hanging above the river to be very tranquil. It was an amazing experience that can only be likened to a dream and is definitely something that I urge everyone to do.