Be prepared to Change

As a Black person (from America) I admit I should have been prepared to learn more about myself through an experience in an African country, but nothing could have prepared me for the cultural exchanges I was influenced by. One of my close peers an African-American Studies major stated that she chose South Africa for its deeply rooted and controversial race history, but me on the other hand I was fascinated by the scenery Cape Town could provide me. One day while in a terribly long line at the University of the Western Cape while waiting to print I struck up a conversation with one of my local peers. Granted this man was a stranger but something motivated me to want to speak to him in this moment. I asked him something about campus or what his major was and he automatically pin pointed me as an "American" my North Carolinian accent gave me away. He then did something that completely took me off guard. He asked me if I thought being a Black person in the United States gave me more credibility than being Black in South Africa. I responded quickly babbling something to the effect of "no I still feel just as Black or authentic here in Cape Town. If I could go back to that moment I would have told him the truth that I had never before been faced with questions of my identity more than I did while in South Africa. That while interacting with Black people from so many different walks of life and experiences I desired to know a tribal language and be able to trace my lineage back to one specific area, other than the plantation that my fore-parents were born. So thank you mystery man and Cape Town for making me formulate questions to deeply rooted areas of my identity I am not sure I will ever fully understand. I am so grateful for this city and I wish that before I started my program I would have been more prepared to change.