I knew I wanted to come to Cape Town a year and half before I started my internship. I came across Connect when I was searching for a study abroad program. Connect-123 was the only organization I found that seemed like it'd work out for me. I knew I wanted to go into the field of human rights and I knew that I couldn’t spend a lot of money. Also it seemed so perfect to doing human rights work in a nation with so much social justice history and not to mention the most forward human rights constitution in the world. Before I came to South Africa I mentally prepared myself that this trip was about work and not fun. I told myself that this trip would help me get serious about my career and that would be my number one focus. I could not have been more wrong. Not only did I get a lot out of my internship working with refugees but I also made life long friends. I did things I never thought I would ever do such as jump out of an airplane and off the highest bungee in the world. I went to my first musical festival and experienced an authentic South African Braai. My trip was more than just about my work but it was about the experiences I had and the people that I met along the way. Not just people from Connect or from work but locals I met on the train, at a park, or out on Long st. My internship was really hard seeing people who have experienced the worst in life: homelessness, war, and genocide, but it gave an insight and appreciation for life after seeing it in their eyes. It is going to be really hard to leave Cape Town but I will never forget it and I will definitely be back.

