Growing up, I became familiar with the inner workings of the busy city life. People spend their weekends’ shopping or going to the movies. There are always lots of people milling around, the roads filled with the noise of the engines and hooting of the taxis, even on a Sunday afternoon. People always seemed to have something to do. Pretoria was my little city bubble, which I left once a year, for 18 years.

The only places which broke that bubble was Kenton-on-Sea and Durban (Pinetown). My family and I would travel to either Kenton or Durban for Christmas. It was our family tradition. We went there to visit family and it was always the best part of the year. When it came to the end of year exams, I would sometimes struggle to concentrate, because I was so excited by the thought of travelling. I loved the familiarity of the routine that we had before we left. We would wake up at five in the morning, the sky still dark but the birds were chirping, we would pack the car and have breakfast. Somehow we still ended up leaving an hour later than we planned to. The worst part of the travelling was that I had to take these vile ginger droplets because I used to get car sick. They put me off anything ginger related for a number of years. The thought of them now still makes me gag a little.

So after spending 18 years in Pretoria, with the yearly break, I decided to make a change. I knew that I wanted to study journalism because I fell in love with writing. My gran then recommended that I look at Rhodes University. So I did. I applied and got accepted. Once matric was over, and February of 2016 came leaping closer, my nerves blew up like a house on fire. There I was, someone who has always had the protective shelter of the familiarity of Pretoria, going to a town that I did not know, with no one that I knew. It seems rather insignificant, but to me, it was a big move.

Where is Grahamstown (now known as Makhanda)? It’s a small town in the Eastern Cape. I had only been to Makhanda twice. Once when I was too small to remember and the other time was when I was sixteen. My grandmother took me through to Makhanda to see a glimpse of Rhodes University. From the moment I saw it, I could picture myself studying there. It just felt right.

Now bear in mind, I am quite a shy person. All my close friends were staying in Pretoria. There was only one person that I knew from my school that was coming to Rhodes University as well. So even though I felt a bit anxious about being in an unfamiliar place, it was probably the best decision I could have made for myself. Finally, I was provided the opportunity to grow and become more of my own person.

So fast forward four years later, I have now become a seasoned traveller between Pretoria and Grahamstown. I have also become comfortable flying by myself. In my first year, the thought of flying by myself made me so nervous that sleep would evade me the night before a flight. But over time, I got used to the routine and I now find comfort in it.

My time in university has afforded me the opportunity to meet many interesting people and to go on some spontaneous adventures. These past three years, my life has changed drastically, in both positive and negative aspects. I hope that my journey’s give you some more insight into places that you would have never thought of visiting, but that they also show you the imperfections that exist within life.