This year has gone by so fast that I barely know what happened. It seemed like just yesterday I was leaving a shitty job with terrible people and terrible technology and going to a company with real technology and real people who actually seem to be good and genuine. I can barely remember the winter of early this year, when I can probably count on my hands how many times I wore my snow boots (that’s very little – what a mild winter it was!).

Here we are, on day two of our safari to end 2017. Each day we get older, time passes by even faster. It’s like we just arrived in South Africa, yet in two days, we will be ending our 12-day trip to this incredible country.

Coming here has only magnified how little I know about the African continent in general. It’s always been the part of the world I’ve lacked the most knowledge on, both from a news and a geography perspective. But now, I want to learn more and see more. I’d love to see the rest of Africa and see the differences across all its countries, as well as its similarities. I’d like to learn what everyday life is like for people who live here who are rich and poor. I’ve seen a fair bit of Europe and Asia, yet Africa has always seemed so distant and far removed from me. Maybe that will be how I will start 2018, seeking to learn more about this beautiful part of the world that so many don’t even care to think about or visit, but really should know about to appreciate more about the world.

It’s so easy to live a sheltered life, stuck in our day to day, wherever we are in the world, whether we work on a game reserve outside of Kruger in South Africa or in a dense office building in midtown Manhattan. We lose so much perspective if we don’t stop to think about other parts of the world and visit them, and see how others live. I hope I don’t ever become one of those disillusioned people who stops caring about what’s outside her bubble. There’s so much to do, see, and change in the world. We can’t become complacent and indifferent.