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5 Highlights from Michelle Obama's Trip To Africa

by Julia Black

The Obamas wrapped up their whirlwind trip through Africa this week, and while most of the spotlight was on the president, we kept an eye on Michelle to see what she was up to. Here are the top five highlights from her trip:

1. FLOTUS addressed the haters.

The First Lady gave inspiring speeches to crowds of young people promoting health, economic empowerment, and education. She also addressed the topic of bullying, telling a crowd: "Haters are everywhere... But that’s one of the things that I tell [my daughters]—it's more important what they think about themselves than what other people do."

2. She became social media-savvy overnight.

While in Africa, Mobama debuted a new Instagram account, made her first Vine, and sent out rare personalized tweets from the @FLOTUS handle, all featuring the #FLOTUSinAfrica hashtag. She even used a Google+ Hangout to connect students in New York, LA, Kansas City, and Texas to an informal chat she was hosting in Johannesberg.

She also looked adorably awkward towering over the Bushes:

She took selfies:

Looks like everyone uses social media to make their friends jealous about their vacation:

3. She opened up about what it's like to be her.

At the African First Ladies Summit on Tuesday, the First Lady explained her belief that presidents’ wives “have probably the best job in the world because while our husbands … have to react and respond to crises on a minute-to-minute basis, we got to work on what we’re passionate about. I have just found it a very freeing and liberating opportunity … there are prison-like elements, but it’s a really nice prison. You can’t complain. There are confining elements.”

4. She called us out for being a little too fixated on her looks.

“While people are sorting through our shoes and our hair, whether we cut it or not," Obama said at the Summit. "We take our bangs and we stand in front of important things the world needs to see,” she said. “And eventually people stop looking at the bangs and start looking at the things we’re standing in front of. That’s the power of our role.”

5. ...And she happened to look damn good while she did it.

Okay, we know the First Lady just told us not to get too focused on what she was wearing, but we want to give sartorial credit where credit is due. Here are some of her best looks from the trip:

(Photos courtesy of her style-stalkers over at Mrs-O.com)