"She's Got Her Ticket..."

On January 16 I will be leaving for South Africa, where I will be attending the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban for one year. I decided that I would jump on the blogging bandwagon in an attempt to stay in touch with people while I’m abroad. I’m not sure how regularly I will be able to update this, but I’ll try to keep it fresh. I’ll also try to figure out how to upload pictures onto this, but if not I will put them on my snapfish account. In addition, I will still check my Villanova email account (jaime.gentile@villanova.edu) and will be using skype when I can (go to www.skype.com and download it and we can talk for free via the internet). Because I don’t know where I will be living, and will not know until after I arrive, I don’t know my address yet, but will let you know when I do.

While in Durban, I will be getting my masters in Development Studies. It’s a one year program, during which I’ll take classes including Economics of Development, Poverty and Inequality, Social Policy, and Development Management, as well as completing a semester long dissertation. If you want to learn more, check out the School of Development Studies’ website: http://sds.ukzn.ac.za/. For more info on South Africa, visit: http://www.southafrica.info/.

And ‘why go to school in South Africa?’ you may ask, in fact many have asked. Well, there’s no simple answer really. Part of my desire to go back is that I absolutely fell in love with the country when I studied there for a semester in 2005, and have since then felt a strong desire to return. It’s an amazing country; absolutely beautiful and filled with hope and progress, yet also haunted by its past and plagued by AIDS and violence in the present. A country of contradictions, South Africa is a fascinating and exciting place. Another more tangible reason for my desire to return is that when I decided I wanted to pursue a degree in Development Studies, I began looking into American schools and found that the programs were always called “International Development” studies in the US. That’s a big difference when compared to UKZN’s “Development” studies. The issues of poverty and inequality and the struggles involved with development are very real in South Africa. I believe that the hands-on experiences and the opportunity to learn from professors who have actually worked in the field will combine to provide an education that I could never receive at an American institution. So the long and the short of it is, I am going back to South Africa because I love the country and because of the educational experience. And, to be honest, I can’t wait for the adventure, independence, and excitement that come along with living abroad!

So, that’s my little pre-departure message for you all. The next time you hear from me I will be in sunny and beautiful Durban, South Africa :)