I have sort of fallen in love with Amsterdam over the past four days. It's been beautiful, fascinating, eye-opening and a lot of fun. One thing I've noticed and probably taken for granted is how safe I've felt as a young and single female traveler. When I was in Cambodia last summer, I felt constantly on guard and uncomfortable when I walked around. Here, I felt absolutely unthreatened, even walking around at night. I experienced no street harassment, which is something a lot of young women deal with all over the world and even in the US. Of course, I remained pretty aware of my surroundings (last night, maybe not so much), but I didn't worry about my safety walking around Amsterdam. That was definitely a welcome change from my travels in Cambodia.
When I reread that it sounds absurd to compare a place like Amsterdam to Phnom Penh, but those are the only two places I've traveled alone so they're the only comparisons I can make.
I was sort of hesitant to travel alone after the summer, but being in Amsterdam has completely reaffirmed what I like about traveling alone. I like being independent and making my own schedule. I like being able to decide if I'd like to go to sleep early or if I'd like to go out. I like deciding whether I'd like to bike, walk or take the tram to my destination. I really like autonomy.
So, in a way, I'm a little bit sad to relinquish my traveling independence to my study abroad program, but I'm also really, really thankful that I'll be with a group and have built in companions for my time in South Africa. I don't like orientations and forced interactions (I was reminiscing to my mom the other day about COOT, although not positively) but I feel a lot more secure knowing that I'll be with other students who are just as clueless about living and studying abroad as I am.
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