What are Fearless Fridays?
Unfortunately, for the next two months I will not be able to travel. I will be working in the hospital six days a week completing the remainder of my contract. During this time, I want to keep the spirit of travel alive on this blog and thus came the idea for Fearless Fridays (thank you Emer).
Luckily, I know many inspiring people who have gone on some incredible adventures that are definitely worth sharing. Each Friday, I will be bringing you a story about someone who has ventured out of their comfort zone to experience a new part of life.
The purpose of these posts is to inspire bravery in both big ways and in every day ways. In life, it can be so easy to put our dreams aside either due to inconvenience or fear. After reading these stories, I want you all to feel empowered to seek your own adventures whatever they may be.
Now, onto our very first post.
Katie Turgeon // Capetown, South Africa
(Yupp, we are starting off with some good old fashioned nepotism- my younger sister.)
Katie Turgeon is currently in her 4th and final year of veterinary school at the University of Auburn, located in Auburn, Alabama. She loves animals, Jesus, the Crimson Tide and her friends and family. She’s got a heart of gold, a goofy sense of humor and is a major trail blazer. After her junior year of college she decided to embark on a solo adventure to Capetown, South Africa and volunteered her time with local animal shelters.
Tell us about the trip that you went on.
I went on a 6 week trip to Capetown, South Africa with the company Projects Abroad. They are a volunteer organization that coordinates projects to serve the surrounding community; I worked with local veterinary clinics and animal shelters. They also set up housing with host families to further integrate us into the community
The very first week, I traveled to Gansbaai to work with a local animal rescue organization where we conducted a spayed, neuter clinic. The remaining 5 weeks I spent in Capetown staying with my host family. We had a mobile clinic which was essentially a van with all of our supplies in it; we would drive into the townships, which were the impoverished areas and administer vaccines, deworm animals, etc.
On the weekends I got the time to myself to explore the city!
What made you decide to go on this adventure?
I needed to get 400 hours of hands on experience with animals to apply for vet school. I also wanted a very unique experience that would set me apart and that I could talk about with enthusiasm in my interviews. This was what spurred the initial idea for the trip, and the more I started looking into it the more exciting it became. At that point, I had never even been anywhere you had to fly across the ocean to get to so this was a major leap.
How did fear play a role and how did you overcome your fear?
The idea of going to a new continent, especially by myself, was pretty terrifying initially. One thing I did to make the whole experience less daunting was to gather all the information I possibly could. I talked to one of my grandparent’s friends who lived there and was able to reassure me it was safe. I looked up the area on Google Maps and stalked it. I wanted to feel like the area was familiar to me. Learning more about the country increased my excitement; I was looking forward to all of the new experiences I could have while overseas. Slowly my excitement began to outweigh my nervousness.
I was also realistic about what I could handle and set up multiple safety nets so I wouldn’t feel completely alone. I very intentionally decided to go on this trip through an organization called Projects Abroad. They sent someone to pick me up from the airport and placed me with a host family. Having a structure built in from the beginning made me feel more secure as I ventured into a foreign country by myself.
Another draw of Projects Abroad was the community that came with it. They had a Facebook page which allowed me to start networking before my trip and talk to people who would be there at the same time as me. Connecting with people in advance was a huge comfort to me.
I was able to take big risks in some areas by playing it safely in others. Its all about balance and knowing what will work for you.
Were there any other obstacles that could have prevented you from going on the trip? How did you overcome these?
Finances were a big obstacle as well. I was obviously a broke college student at the time and a 6 week trip to another continent is very expensive. Ultimately, I had to drop out of my sorority in order to cover the costs of the trip. This was a big decision to make, but looking back I have zero regrets.
Usually, you have to make sacrifices in order to travel, but in my experience they are typically worth it!
What was one moment of your trip that still stands out to you?
Shark cage diving in Gansbaai!
This experience actually ended up just falling into my lap in the most serendipitous way. As I mentioned earlier, my first week in South Africa we traveled to Gansbaai for a spayed/neuter clinic. It turns out that Gaansbai is actually one of the Great White capitals of the world.
One of the locals we were working with in the spay/neuter clinic, his wife owned one of the shark diving companies. Once I expressed interest in going, they set it up for me and allowed me to do it for free as a thank you for volunteering. The connection just happened to be there and worked out; it was amazing!
It was winter in South Africa when I went so we had to wear wet suits. We road the boat out into the ocean for about 15 minutes; it was super rocky and I was worried I was going to get sick. The cage itself is attached to the side of the boat, part of it is above water and part of it is below.
When we got out far enough, they opened up the cage and 8-10 of us hopped in. While we were in the cage, there were people on the boat who were “baiting” the sharks to make them swim towards us. We were lucky and got to see a TON of sharks. Sometimes its possible to pay all that money, go all the way out there and not see any.
One of the sharks literally came right up to me and ran into the cage and shook it- which was scary, but also so cool! Oddly enough, I actually felt safe while I was in the cage. My biggest fear was that a shark would attack me when they opened the cage for me to get out. But thankfully that did not happen.
What other experiences would you recommend for someone traveling to Capetown, South Africa.
- Hiking Table Mountain
- Paragliding over Capetown
- Knysna Elephant Sanctuary and Safari (5 hour drive from Capetown, but totally worth it!)
- Touring the Winelands
- Surfing at Muzienberg Beach
- Driving out to the Cape of Good Hope
- Checking out the penguins at Boulders Beach
All of these experiences were so incredible, but really when I think of South Africa, I think more about the friends I made and the people I met. I met this great group of girls through one of the outings with Projects Abroad. They invited me to hike Table Mountain the next day and from then on we planned all of our weekend activities together.
I definitely think that because I met them I was much more apt to venture out and seek the sights in the city. I was also so much more excited to explore and to share these experiences with my new friends.
Did anything go wrong that seems funny now?
I lost my credit card on my second to last week of the trip. My parents ended up having to wire me money to get me through the rest of my travels.
I was grateful that it happened towards the end of my trip. I wasn’t worried that I would go hungry because I knew I had my friends and my host family who had my back. I was honestly more worried about telling my parents than anything else. But they were very understanding 🙂
What are two interesting things about Cape Town, South Africa that the average person doesn’t know?
The landscape is incredible. It has mountains and oceans squished together. Which means, with all of the hiking and water activities, you never run out of things to do. Also seeing a beach right up next to a mountain is so unreal and something I had never witnessed before this trip.
There is a huge disparity of wealth. There are plenty of areas that seem similar to cities I have seen in the United States. Then there are areas where they don’t have running water and they live in metal shacks. We spent lots of time in these areas, called townships, while volunteering for the mobile vet clinic. The level of complete poverty I observed was so shocking and sad to me, especially in comparison to the wealthier areas inside the city.
What did you learn about yourself during this trip?
I learned that I CAN do something like this and that I like to travel.
What initially propelled me to go was the fact that I was more nervous about not getting into vet school than I was about going on this trip. This turned out to be such a good thing! I learned that I really did enjoy the adventure and the traveling and newness. Since then, I’ve had more of a desire to travel which I wouldn’t have known about myself otherwise.
What is a lesson or life philosophy that has stuck with you from this trip?
Seize opportunities. The biggest opportunity was going on the trip in the first place, but while I was there, there were so many little things I said yes to that enhanced my experience even more.
Why was it worth it for you, what do you feel like you got out of it?
I got into vet school, and now I have a go to fun fact for icebreakers (shark cage diving in South Africa)
I also got first hand experience with facing anxiety and facing my fears instead of letting them keep me down. Since then, I have gone on a mission trip to Africa alone and flew over to Germany by myself. This experience helped jump start my ability to travel on my own. I still get nervous when I travel by myself, but knowing I have done it successfully before helps to calm my anxiety.
It has even helped me deal with fear and anxiety in non-travel related situations. Walking into vet school on the first day, I didn’t know anyone and I knew I was going to have to make friends. Because that was something I had already done in South Africa, I knew I could do it again which gave me confidence.
What advice would you have for someone who is embarking on a solo adventure?
Don’t be afraid to talk to people on the road and make friends as you travel. Some of the best conversations I’ve had are with people from completely different backgrounds. Meeting someone when you are both on an adventure gives you an immediate connection and allows you to enjoy your experience that much more.
There you have it friends! Our first Fearless Fridays blog post 🙂 Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.
Comment below if you have additional questions that you want me to ask in the subsequent interviews!
Very inspiring. Great idea for fearless Fridays to keep the spirit of the blog alive while you finish up your work commitments.
I cannot adequately articulate just how much of an inspiration you are to me and many others. I am incredibly blessed to have known you in high school.