Well I think it’s about time to give this blog a test run! Only one week to go until the big departure! Internet access will be limited, but I’ll post when I can and keep you up-to-date on all of my adventures! For those of you who don’t know, let me fill you in on what I’ll be doing for the rest of the summer. One week from today (July 3), I leave for Cape Town, South Africa with 16 of my fellow MSU College of Education graduates. We are going as part of a six-week study abroad program called “Cross-Cultural Teaching Abroad: South Africa.” The first two weeks will be spent touring Cape Town and attending an orientation at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Then, we move in with our respective host families and spend the remaining four weeks teaching in a South African school (and traveling on the weekends)! Excited doesn’t even begin to capture what I’m feeling right now!
Those of you who’ve known me for a while know I’ve been “planning” on this trip since I graduated from high school… and it’s a good thing because it’s taken just about all four years to get my parents on board! They really had no choice. My Mom remembers when I first picked up the study abroad brochure at the ADS competition back in 2007. Among all the loads of information given to us that weekend, I handed her the South Africa brochure and said “And this is the study abroad I’m going to do after I graduate…” What can I say? I knew what I wanted! Of course, my mother’s response was “Wouldn’t you rather do the Australia one?” So I spent the next four years “prepping” my parents, as I like to call it. I would casually mention it whenever we got to talking about future plans: “…yeah, and then I’ll move home to student teach when I get back from South Africa,” and “well see, I have to do the Detroit Fellowship after junior year because I’ll be in South Africa after senior year.” Sound familiar, Mom? My method was to act like it was set in stone and eventually my parents would forget they didn’t want me to go in the first place, right?!?! When it came time to apply, I just did; with another casual, “by the way, Mom and Dad, I’m applying for that South Africa study abroad trip.” I’m not sure when the actual turning point occurred, but at some point, my method worked and my parents actually seemed ok with the idea of me going… OR they just realized that I was going to do it whether they wanted me to or not and they might as well support me before I jumped on a plane and few halfway across the world. I can be stubborn like that ;)
And so, Mom and Dad at least came to terms with the fact that I was going to South Africa this summer. Of course, there was still much “prepping” to do after that. I was able to convince some good friends of mine to sign up, which is great for me because I get to share this experience with some pretty amazing people… and it’s great for my parents because they can rest a little easier knowing that I won’t be there alone! This is also making it easy to set up what I will call a “Parent Support Group,” or, more specifically, “MY Parent’s Support Group.” Luckily, one of the other travelers is a childhood friend and our parents have known each other for a long time: Support #1, check. I also thought it would be a good idea to put my parents in contact with another good friend’s parents – they will need the extra support. Since our parents had never met, we had Kayla and her family over for dinner last night and set up Support #2. Their phone numbers and email addresses are now on our refrigerator (covering my brother’s report card, as he bitterly pointed out). The other great thing about introducing Kayla’s parents to mine is that they are pros on this whole study abroad thing since Kayla went to Spain for eight weeks a few years ago. They’ve got the whole “been there, done that” factor and I am hoping some of their peace of mind will rub off on my parents. No noticeable change yet – will keep you posted.
But, of course, I can’t just leave my parents and their Parent Support Group to deal with all of their worries while I am gone for six weeks. And so we are in the midst of arranging all possible forms of international communication. With the time difference (South Africa is six hours ahead!), limited Internet access, and international call fees, this is a challenging task, indeed! I have assured them that email will probably be our best bet and I will do so as often as I can. But, alas, typed messages for six weeks is not enough to comfort my parents. They insist they will want to hear my voice and see my face. Behold the power of Skype! Now, I have never been a Skyper myself, and so last week, I set out to train myself in the technology of Skype. If you haven’t used Skype before, it’s really quite simple. I can “video call” my parents’ computer from my computer. They see me, I see them, we talk through microphones in the computer, and it’s FREE – just what we need! And so yesterday came the infamous training session with my mom. I showed her the icon to click on and how to login – easy enough! But, of course, we had to make an actual call so she could see how it all works. So, I moved to the dining room with my laptop and… yes, my friends, we practiced Skyping two rooms away. And it was HILARIOUS!!!! We had way too much fun! I can only imagine what our Skype dates will be like when we aren’t in the same house. “Mom, Mom, move the webcam so I can see you.” “Why are you instant messaging me while we’re talking!?” It’s her new toy. Don’t be surprised if she starts Skyping you!
I would say that I am just about done successfully prepping my parents for this trip. Whew, that was the hard part! Now on to the rest of the preparations!
Love always,
Megan
