Sometime last November I set up an appointment with Nora Dock in the OIE because I knew I wanted to study abroad… but I just couldn’t seem to narrow in on the perfect fit for me in the 20 lbs of information I had picked up at the study abroad fair on campus. Within a few minutes, Nora was generating options that seemed to fit not only my desires for studying abroad but my career goals as well. She gave me two “normal” options and one “wildcard.” This third option instantly felt like a calling, and within half an hour I was home telling my mom she should mentally prepare herself – because I was going to spend my summer in Uganda & Rwanda.
I seemed impervious to fear. And then suddenly it was two days before the trip and anything that remotely sounded like the white noise of an airplane made me nauseous. I’m not kidding. The first page of my journal for the trip contains only a short list that reads: 1) nausea 2) “fear” 3) confidence 4) utter sadness 5) actually leaving. I can barely even comprehend it now, but at the time it probably made a lot of sense – I thought it was going to be the longest summer of my entire life.
Within twelve hours of arrival in Entebbe, Uganda the list was already fading from my mind. I experienced no culture shock, spent a grand total of twenty minutes being homesick, and was approaching every moment with unequivocal positivity. And within what seemed only a span of a few days, I was crying as I departed from my family in Gulu, Uganda… and then… from my parents in Kigali, Rwanda… and suddenly I found myself in the DC airport for a return layover and couldn’t remember how I had gotten there. Somewhere in between I found a lot of things, and these are only a few of them:
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New food addictions and a taste for Rwandan coffee
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Some of the best and most genuine friendships of my life
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“Africa” is not what American media tells you it is
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Filipino soap operas are ‘DA BOMB
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It is not a good idea to tell your mother back at home that “I’m so happy I could just live here” over the phone
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Rats have hobbies such as skydiving onto my mosquito net
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A love for my homestay families that can rival that which I have for my birth family here in Austin
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A greater understanding of loss, reconciliation, justice, and human connection
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If a Rwandan man wants to marry you, “no thank you” just isn’t enough
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Kigali nightlife.
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A complete and utter assuredness in my future
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And, last but not least, an eternal desire to return
When people say studying abroad is a “life-changing experience,” it is an understatement. If I had not had a return ticket, it is highly likely that I would still be there. Doing what exactly? Who knows. But I know that no matter what, I would be the most pure and genuine version of myself at all times… and I would be motivated everyday in indescribable ways. My time in Uganda and Rwanda was the happiest I have ever been in my entire life.
Studying abroad not only made me reevaluate my convictions, but gave me just a small glimpse into what it truly means to be one person within this world – just one within a complex network. Every person has a story… it is not my duty to unravel it but to make my small role in each story a positive one.
Kate Murray is a Global Studies Major who studied Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Lake Victoria Basin with SIT Study Abroad during the summer of 2011.
