Despair: that is the only thing I felt boarding my 13-hour flight to Ethiopia alone. My mom embraced me for the last time before sending me on my way through security. I broke down immediately. The months I had spent excitedly preparing for this trip of a lifetime suddenly meant nothing as the familiar faces of my family disappeared in the crowd of the airport.
I landed in Botswana a full 24 hours after my mom last hugged me. I was drained both physically and mentally. Sitting on an airplane alone for an entire day left with nothing but my thoughts, I had convinced myself that this was the biggest mistake I had ever made. I racked up a $600 phone bill begging my mom to buy me a plane ticket home immediately. Homesickness might sound like something only young kids at summer camp experience (which I guess in a way I was), but it can be extremely difficult to handle when paired with culture shock. We were forewarned about the apparent stages we would go through as we experienced culture shock, and I spent a fair amount of time in “panic.”
While in the “panic” stage, it was hard for me to realize the value of some of the things I was experiencing, but as soon as I touched back down on American soil I felt differently. Cliché, I know, but all of my life I had been able to count on someone else to help me through difficult times and handle less-than-ideal situations, but while I was abroad, I was forced to rely on myself to get through tough circumstances.
During my time in Botswana, I ate a variety of things I had never been exposed to before, including mopane worms and impala poop. I came face to face with a 12-foot python and witnessed a giraffe fight. I spent three days completely off the grid camping with 10 strangers where we had to take precautions to protect ourselves from three rogue elephants and a small pride of lions in our camp. I came down with a terrible bout of food poisoning and had to go to a local doctor, but finally, I learned the importance of taking risks and doing things independently.
I journaled every day I was abroad, and the last thing written in my notebook sums up my feelings best: “This trip gave me the opportunity to learn and grow as a person more than my 11 years of education have ever. Thank you, Botswana.”
– By Chloe Maynard
