At the end of June last year I arrived in Cape Town, South Africa to begin a semester studying abroad. I vividly remember the flat-screen televisions and sleek urban design of the high-tech bathrooms in the Cape Town airport. On leaving the airport, eight other students and I crammed into a large minibus which drove on the left side of the road. Leaving behind the modern luxuries of the airport, we drove past miles and miles of rundown townships used to house black and "coloured" migrant laborers during apartheid. This juxtaposition of striking privilege and incredible poverty became emblematic of the tensions I faced during my seven-month stay in a country just celebrating 10 years of democracy.

Founded by Cecil John Rhodes and now run by Nelson Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, the University of Cape Town is in a huge process of transition. Now almost half of the students are black, but the economic inequality between the different races is very obvious, and segregation is still rampant. Thirty American students and I became the token white students in an all-black residence. I lived with a girl from Zimbabwe and another from Kwa-Zulu Natal (a South African province). Both of them possessed strong anti-American sentiments which paralleled the beliefs of the rest of the country. For this reason, making South African friends and getting involved in activism proved more difficult than I had expected. Slowly I began building relationships and found students who were interested in sharing their experiences and learning with international students. Some would even tell me of their secret aspirations to work or study in the United States, but they would never admit this desire to their peers.

Despite the glaring economic imbalance that surrounded me, I had never before been to a more beautiful place or lived a more luxurious lifestyle. The events of my daily life sheltered me from South Africa's rocky history. It was easy to forget that I was not in America or Europe. Stunning beaches, trendy clubs and outrageous shopping malls were all at my disposal and, thanks to a strong dollar, were relatively cheap. Because of the color of my skin I was clearly granted "privileges" I didn't deserve. For instance, a coloured friend and I visited a small theater in an Afrikaans neighborhood near the University. In the middle of the afternoon we walked down the street holding hands, and people in the yards of their fancy houses shouted obscenities to us in Afrikaans which my friend was unwilling to translate. I was even stopped by a policeman who wanted to make sure I was okay and offered to take me home.

However, when another, more realistic experience of South Africa was available, I had to accept it. I spent the semester working at the Western Cape's Commission for the Retribution of Land Rights and learned first-hand the consequences of racial law and what is being done to correct the wrongs of the country's past. Most of the people I associated with were overly politically correct and sensitive to race issues, though not bitter about the past and at times were optimistic about the future.

Classes finished in October but I was able to stay until the end of January. I traveled to Zanzibar, an island off Tanzania, to visit a friend studying there. I visited during Ramadan, and the population is exclusively Muslim. Despite incredible summer heat I wasn't able to leave the hostel unless I wore pants, and I could not drink water in the streets. At night there were huge celebrations where the whole town gathered by the port and feasted on an amazing selection of food. We went on a spice tour, visited the old slave trading port and enjoyed the incredible beaches. There was obvious tension between the locals and the tourists, so we struggled knowing that our visit was giving people necessary jobs and money but at the same time was contributing to a system of exploitation.

From there I met my family in Zimbabwe, which is another county struggling with serious political issues. However, I was more sheltered from these issues there than in Tanzania, partly because most people we met were afraid to criticize the government. As a result, we spent most of that trip without interacting with the locals and were left to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Victoria Falls. Afterwards, we went on a safari in neighboring Botswana where we saw four of the big five: lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo (the fifth is the leopard).

I'm still trying to come to terms with my experiences in Africa. Being at Amherst, insulated and isolated, doesn't make things any easier. However, what I can say with certainty is that the past nine months were among the most incredible, inspiring and challenging of my life. I know I will be going back to Africa, but most importantly, I've brought Africa back with me.