What I Hate about the American Education System

I always envied my peers in the U.S., who went to schools in urban/diverse or predominately black areas in Chicagoland, who had the opportunity to take African American History and African American Literature as a courses in high school. While I was stuck in white suburbia, taking World History, American History, American Lit and British Lit; these courses included less than one class period to attempt to summarize contributions African Americans...

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What advice would you give yourself (6-8 months ago) about study abroad life in your host country?

Dear Niani,You are about to go on an adventure of a lifetime. As you prepare to go, stay calm. Everything is going to work out just fine. Everything is going to be new. You're going to have to test your boundaries all of the time. You should write as often as possible to keep track of your journey. When you're afraid, feel the fear and do it anyway. Trust me, you will regret anything you do not do; So try it all! Be open minded and don't judge people!...

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Climbing Lion's Head

While I was on holiday in Cape Town, I climbed Lion’s Head Mountain with my friends Jack and César. They are fellow AFS students, who live in the Cape Town area. Jack is from the States, and César is from Spain. We went to Long Street, a popular night life area in Cape Town, the night before our scheduled climb. This probably wasn't the brightest idea, but we wanted to make the most of my time there. So we were running on all of about 3 hours of...

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Sharing Is Caring

Back home, sharing is not a common trait. At school, people would fight if someone took food out of their hands or off of their plate. Here, everyone at school shares. If you are ordering food, it better be for everyone or you will be classified as a selfish human being, and people probably won’t want to hang around you. My friends and I switch off days where we buy each other food. If we order pizza, the person who paid gets the last slice. It’s...

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Words

A true adventurer adapts to the language of their newly found people.  As I write school assignments, I am constantly reminding myself to spell organize with an 's' and behavior with a 'u'. As I write this post, I spell those words with the British-English spelling and I get the red underline, reminding me that my audience is based mainly in the USA. A friend of mine has the song 'Worst Behavior' by Drake saved in his phone as 'Worst Behaviour'....

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Colorism

There’s more than one Lupita in the world. There are millions. Lupita Nyong’o has become a world phenomenon. She is an Academy Award winning actress from Kenya. Lupita has a flawless brown complexion, a short haircut, and a smile that makes the world a little brighter. With that being said, I see 'Lupitas' EVERYDAY. No they are not Academy Award winning actresses, but I’m sure they deserve an award for the work...

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Names

My name means joyful and I try to live up to my name. I was recently given the South African name Lethabo which means joy. African names are a big deal in my family. My cousins, my little brother, my mom and uncles all have have African names. Naasir (means defender), Amira (princess), Nyatu (tiger fighter,strong), Jamilah (beautiful), and Tykari (adventurous). I think each of our names describe us in some way. If I ever had children, they would...

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