Etosha National Park - An Elephant Encounter

Hi guys,

It's time promote Study Abroad to Africa (SATA) since colleges and universities are back in session. I can not stress to you how much this program has changed my life, or how much I learned about myself throughout this journey.  Yes, I was 30 when I started college, but I often think about how much of an advantage the younger people have nowadays.  The if I've known then what I know now mentality. 

Let me explain, if you're already in school receiving financial aide and always wanted to study abroad, then you should be aware that your aide may cover the program. Which means, you'll still receive your credits for your classes because I know you'll pass them as long as you stay focused, it'll just come from a university outside of the USA.  SATA administration works with the host universities to assure the classes are the same for that student's major.  When is the best time to go?  When you're classified as a sophomore; if you're a freshman, now is the time to plan and prepare for your study abroad experience.

One weekend while I was at my placement site, my director & I traveled to Etosha National Park (The Wild).  Who doesn't want to see the wild animals when they visit the continent of Africa?!  I said to myself as I went into this adventure, "I want to see an elephant, lion, and giraffe."  Man, did I see all of those and so much more.

When we first pulled up to a natural water hole, there were 3 elephants drinking.  As we enjoyed that, the rest of the herd started coming.

They drank, played, and made noises as we watched.

However, as we sat and enjoyed seeing the elephants in their habitat, a car with 2 individuals beside us kept cutting their car on & off, beeped their horn by accident, lol, moved the car back & forth bringing attention to us.  They left as soon the elephants went into attack mode to protect their babies and started coming towards us!!  Was I scared?  Of course, but I knew God didn't open the door for me to study abroad to get trampled by some elephants.  I received over $10,000 in scholarships!!

God's creatures knew I wanted to get up close and personal so they got really close and I saw some a very personal moment between mother and offspring.  My director and I are both caught on tape saying we were scared, but we still enjoyed the moment.  Before we were told to get out of there through a gesture, we were intimidated by this beautiful animal we named Sadie.

The only regret I have with studying abroad is the fact that I wasn't there long enough; I studied in the summer.  If I studied for a Spring or Fall semester, I would've had more time to submerge myself into the culture; the Summer semester is about 6 weeks.  I thank God I had the experience I had.  Stay tuned......Shauntay