Home sweet America

My time in South Africa has presented me with a lot of challenges. It was my first time living in a city, taking public transportation, living with a family other than my own for an extended period of time, and participating in classes provided by an international university. I’ve definitely experienced a bit of “cultural fatigue” here by being completely culturally immersed. The hour long commute each way, which frequently coincided with uncomfortable interactions with strangers, who are largely, but not limited to, colored males. The long commute also meant for cultural isolation. I had little interaction with Americans on a day-to-day basis, which meant that I didn’t have many people to talk about my experience and have “cultural reaffirmation.” My home stay mom’s home cooking, which is an towering pile of white rice topped with a meat curry or stew, is delicious, but very carb heavy and fattening, a complete converse of my family’s health conscious diet. I love rice and curry, but after 3 months straight of it, a few pounds gained, and a bit of indigestion, I think it might take a while to get excited about the concept of eating curry. This was an example of cultural differences. My classes here have a pretty heavy workload, and one requires online chats two nights a week as well as meetings with other students multiple times a week, which, along with my 1 hour commute, has isolated me from the rest of the students in the program.  Moonlit hike up Lion’s head? I can’t, I have a chat session. Yoga class this afternoon? Sorry, I have an urgent meeting with the European Union. The weird timing of all these meetings has kept me chained to both my computer and the university, preventing me from getting out to explore the city as well as from volunteering another afternoon per week. However, even with all of these stress factors, I’ve still absolutely loved my time in Cape Town. And instead of spending time with my fellow Americans, I’ve gotten to know South African students. I can’t imagine having studied abroad anywhere else.

It’s been quite interesting trying to figure out what it means to be an American in Cape Town. While the city itself is very welcoming, American students seem to have developed a reputation at UCT of being silly, ignorant, or stereotypical. Yesterday in our CIEE seminar class, a student said that he had grown to hate his American accent and the stereotypical ignorant American. Given, our accents as well as several other factors make us stand out from the crowd and make it difficult for us to assimilate into South African culture, but our accents are also a symbol of the incredible experience we have been given purely by the nation in which we’ve been born. Many of my conversations have started with: “Where are you from?” because people have picked up on my accent. But then, because they know I’m not from around here, they share personal stories, Cape Tonian tips, favorite spots in Cape Town.   I’ve spoken with many people about my heritage and cultural background while here, and though sometimes I’m scorned (especially by anti-capitalist UCT professors), many people speak of my country with a tinge of envy. “It seems like everything is so cheap in the U.S.…everyone goes to college, can get an education, a car…” I’ve heard variations of this statement on several occasions. True, this is a misperception created by American pop culture, particularly by the television and films that have completely infiltrated South African society, but we, the students of CIEE, are perfect examples of the incredible opportunity that our nation provides for innumerable citizens. Throughout this semester, I have found myself wondering what made me lucky enough to have been born into an accomplished American family. It seems to me that I could just as well have been born into a family that lived in a rural area in South Africa that was oppressed by the apartheid government and as a result lives in crippling poverty with little option for social mobility. To me, our accents are a representation of the opportunity that we have been blessed with. How can you hate a symbol of such opportunity?

The Bo-Kaap neighborhood.

                Of course we’re going to be separate from the culture here. Of course we’re going to stand out from the pack. But that’s why we are called study abroad students. We’re here to have a unique experience, not to blend into the crowd. We’re supposed to get to know the culture and the history of this country, and though I agree with the concept of shedding our tourist mindsets, much of the positive experiences that I’ve had here have occurred purely because I’ve let myself be a tourist. Of course I’ve put my camera down and stopped seeing Cape Town from behind a lens. But by being unique here, I’ve learned so much: about the country, the university, the people, and, probably must significantly, about myself. I’ve never been different: I’ve always been just another white, upper middle class, Catholic girl at my largely white, upper middle class, Catholic high school and university. Here, I’m a rarity. And I like it. I’ve discovered that I’m proud of my ugly accent. As a result of being so different from my surroundings, my comfort zone has been poked, pried, smashed, and has ultimately stretched to be a much bigger “zone” than it was when I got here.

The neighborhood I volunteered in

All the cross-cultural stress factors, stressful though they are, have made me see what it is really like to live as a South Africa, not an American abroad. The privileges I’m used to at home, such as use of a car, freedom of movement, tiny class sizes at my university, and having control over my diet, I’ve come to see not as the norm but rather as privileges. That doesn’t mean that I prefer my life at home, but I’ve come to enjoy living in a way that is so drastically different from the way my American life. This is so cliché, but I’m going to come back from study abroad a changed woman. This experience has totally changed my background and the perceptions that I will form about the world in the future.  The biggest change I’ve made has been overcoming being judgmental. I was never terribly judgmental at home, but here I’ve recognized that as humans, when we meet a person we form certain assumptions about them. Here I’ve learned that those assumptions are often wrong, and that it’s best to just go into a situation with no expectations. There is so much more to a person than what you get on your first impression. Everyone has something unique to offer the world. You really can’t judge a book by its cover, even those silly stereotypical ignorant Americans. 

view from the cafe I always studied at that i promised I would never tire of (I didn't)