Learn Unexpected Lessons in Stellenbosch!

Every international experience helps you grow and provides context for your own life and experiences. But none of my prior experiences have opened my mind quite in the same way that this program did!

I selected this program because it was on a continent I'd not yet journeyed to and because it fell within the guidelines of the research grant I was awarded that summer. While short (8 weeks or so flies by so fast!), I felt challenged by the classes and cared for by the staff and local students. That's right, I said local students! Getting to meet and spend time with locals is unfortunately not always a given during academic-focused programs, but this unique program uses a crew of local volunteers who take classes with you (this is their winter term, so they are giving up their school break to hang out with international students - so cool), live in the dorms with you, and help guide your transition to the new city. By the end of the experience, it felt like a private school full of international friends.

In addition to that component, two other things really stand out about this AIFS experience: 1) The option to take part in a Garden Route one week tour when the classes are done. Your classes are finished, you've made close friendships, you've had a unique culture experience and now you get to take it on the road for a week! So fun and solidified the friendships I had made in the previous weeks. 2) The classes are interactive, exploratory, and created to open your mind beyond the classroom. I am struggling to think of a single course I took that didn't have a field trip or cultural experience linked to it. Taking the class about HIV & AIDS in South Africa? Well, not only do you learn about how it is affecting the nation, but you actually go to a site where locals are working to create legal action to make the change and get to sit down with them. Taking any class about Apartheid? You are learning in a classroom where political decisions were made about this injustice and learning from teachers who participated in the first open elections. You visit townships to see first hand how that still plays out in today's society.

It's not for the faint of heart, but it will open your heart in a big way.