Foggy Bottom is ripe with #OnlyAtGW moments, especially for Elliott School students studying International Affairs. Yet, there are some things you can only see once you go abroad. So, abroad I went. After twenty-two hours of flying, I stepped off the airplane and began my Fall 2024 semester in South Africa.
Studying abroad doesn’t just mean practicing a new language or navigating a different campus. Rather, the lessons you learn in class immediately come alive around you. Instead of flipping through flashcards, I practice my Zulu at dinner with my homestay family. I pass the inyama (meat) or comment on the weather, like izulu liyana (it’s raining). Instead of just hearing a lecture on Nelson Mandela, we visit his home, walk around the site where he was captured, and catch a glimpse of his Nobel Peace Prize.
South Africa’s history of Apartheid and 1994 liberation means that global politics is often at the forefront of the national psyche. Locals will sometimes share their experiences during the country’s dark history of racial separation. Legacies of Apartheid live on today through wealth inequality. In Johannesburg, the richest square mile in Africa sits across the hill from an informal settlement. Hard truths like these make studying abroad that much more meaningful.
My program, “International Relations in the Global South,” is based in the city of Durban and focuses on the political history and contemporary issues in South Africa and Africa as a whole. However, this program would have been incomplete without our excursion to Maputo, Mozambique. We visited a university, local markets, and the US Embassy to understand the intersection of South African, Mozambican, and US relations.
Experiential learning has defined my time abroad. I’m eight thousand miles from Washington, D.C. and ten thousand miles from home. As the US settles into autumn, the weather here is turning back into summer. Yet, the field of international relations has never felt closer to home as I pursue the very meaning of its name.
Hamba Kahle (Goodbye!)
Studying abroad doesn’t just mean practicing a new language or navigating a different campus. Rather, the lessons you learn in class immediately come alive around you. Instead of flipping through flashcards, I practice my Zulu at dinner with my homestay family. I pass the inyama (meat) or comment on the weather, like izulu liyana (it’s raining). Instead of just hearing a lecture on Nelson Mandela, we visit his home, walk around the site where he was captured, and catch a glimpse of his Nobel Peace Prize.
South Africa’s history of Apartheid and 1994 liberation means that global politics is often at the forefront of the national psyche. Locals will sometimes share their experiences during the country’s dark history of racial separation. Legacies of Apartheid live on today through wealth inequality. In Johannesburg, the richest square mile in Africa sits across the hill from an informal settlement. Hard truths like these make studying abroad that much more meaningful.
My program, “International Relations in the Global South,” is based in the city of Durban and focuses on the political history and contemporary issues in South Africa and Africa as a whole. However, this program would have been incomplete without our excursion to Maputo, Mozambique. We visited a university, local markets, and the US Embassy to understand the intersection of South African, Mozambican, and US relations.
Experiential learning has defined my time abroad. I’m eight thousand miles from Washington, D.C. and ten thousand miles from home. As the US settles into autumn, the weather here is turning back into summer. Yet, the field of international relations has never felt closer to home as I pursue the very meaning of its name.
Hamba Kahle (Goodbye!)
Elise Bourmatnov
Fall 2024
SIT - International Relations in the Global South in South Africa (Durban)
Elliott School of International Affairs
International Affairs Major