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Heather Wilford

Today, it’s over to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) student Heather Wilford, who recently returned from an exchange programme in Holland …

We’re pretty confident that once you have read her feedback, you’ll go scrambling about the NMMU website for similar opportunities because every year the university sends hundreds of its students overseas to get a taste of life elsewhere.

“How do you know what a dream is, if you never accomplished one? How do you know what an adventure is if you never took part in one? How do you know what is an anguish if you’ve never said goodbye to your family and friends with your eyes full of tears.

“How do you know what being desperate is, if you never arrived in a place alone and cannot understand what everyone else was saying. How do you know what diversity is if you never lived under the same roof with people from all over the world? How do you know what tolerance is, if you never had to get used to something different even if you didn’t like it.

“How do you know what autonomy is, if you never had the chance to decide something by yourself? How do you know what it means to grow up, if you never stop being a child to start a new course?

Heather (second right) experiencing Hup Hup Holande!

“How do you know what is to be helpless, if you never wanted to hug someone and had a computer screen to prevent you from doing it. How do you know what distance is, if you never, looking at a map, said ‘I’m so far away’? How do you know what language is, if you never had to learn one from friends. How do you know what patriotism is, if you never shouted “Hup Hup Holanda” wearing a flag around your body?

“How do you know what an opportunity is, if you never caught one? How do you know what pride is, if you never experienced it for yourself at realizing how much you have accomplished. How do you know what to seize the day is, if you never saw the time running so fast?

“How do you know what love is, if you never experienced the adrenaline from a summer fling? How do you know what a friend is, if the circumstances never showed you the true ones? How do you know what family is, if you never had one that supported you unconditionally.

“How do you know what borders are, if you never crossed yours, to see what is on the other side? How do you know what imagination is, if you never thought about the moment when you returned home?

“How do you know the world, if you have never been an exchange student?”

I told you you’d be yearning to experience the joys of travelling once you’d read this …

For more information contact NMMU’s International Office for Education’s Study Abroad Programme on studyabroad@nmmu.ac.za

Heather Wilford recommends travelling.