I imagined this moment (the last few days of my study abroad in South Africa) a few months ago, when I lost track of time while scrolling through blog posts from previous cohorts, feeling excited and impatient to experience what they’d written about in their final reflections.
I especially enjoyed reading the blogs posted over the last week, where students shared their final reflections, and now I am surprised to be writing mine, wondering when six weeks started to feel this short. I think I had been especially drawn to the blog posts describing the final days because, before I’d walked through the streets of Cape Town or edited my first interview on Premiere Pro, it was hard to imagine what my time here would look like, but it was even harder to imagine the end of it all. In the end, I was going to be someone who’d spent six weeks in South Africa—someone who had arrived with no experience with filming or editing, but had submitted a final documentary. Therefore, the end was harder for me to wrap my head around than the beginning, which only made me more excited for it. In a way, I’d say I subconsciously evaluate many of my experiences based on how I feel about them at the end. And now that I am three days out from the end of my time here, I can say it seems like it will be a good ending after all. I pray this ages well.
Although my group’s final project has yet to be submitted and about twenty percent of my bucket list remains unchecked, I’ve done a handful of things I couldn’t have imagined myself doing a while ago. As I write this, I am reminded of something Liana said after an afternoon we spent in the conference room, familiarizing ourselves with the filming equipment (if I recall correctly). She said something along the lines of how impressed her pre-program self would be if she’d walked in to see her using all the production gear we’d been working with. Looking back, I feel the same way. Compared to who I was six weeks ago, I am proud of the progress I’ve made.