First day in Dakar

Dakar really is right on the ocean! Here's proof from my landing in the South African Airways plane.
Apparently one of the men sitting behind me is one of the most famous Senegalese wrestlers coming home from training in New York. There is going to be a big match coming up in April for the 50th Anniversary of independence..that we may be able to go see.

Another view from the plane. There's a statue in the background. I think it is the highly controversial structure commissioned by the president that is being unveiled in April.
In a haze of blinding sunlight and no sleep, I met my future classmates on the bus ride to our hotel. We managed to adventure around the neighborhood on a very short walk after we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (perfectly buttery and crispy croissants accompanied by not so perfect instant coffee). It is a good thing we're staying in a hotel so close to the ocean. No one had the energy to actually do anything, yet no one wanted to simply sleep away their first hours in Senegal. The hotel we're staying in, about a minute from the ocean, is just until Friday. This is orientation week - getting introduced to the city and the schedule for our spring classes - then we move into our family homestays on Friday.






It seemed as if every road or street corner was under some sort of construction. This made it somewhat difficult to tell what was off limits/private property, especially since our logic and reason had fallen asleep somewhere over the Atlantic. Fortunately we were mostly welcomed wherever we walked.




This still doesn't feel real, and I don't know if it ever will, but sun in January is a nice change from the bone chilling Massachusetts winters.

Happy New Year

So I hear this "blog" thing is what you're supposed to do when you go abroad, so your parents know you're alive, and your friends can have a sense of what you're actually doing in "where...Morocco? No, Spain right?" Actually, just a little south, in Senegal. The plan in this West African nation, is to spend the spring studying with SIT, which stands for School for International Training. My specific program is called "Senegal: National Identity and the Arts," which is wonderfully unrelated to my major in Economics. I say this not because I wish I had another major, but because going abroad is a time when we get to experience a different culture, language and life - so I might as well experience a different academic course-load.

The program starts in Dakar. (My flight from Portland to Dakar has one layover, in DC. This is a crazy idea for me to understand, as my trip from home to school generally involves just one layover as well, but this time I'm going a little further east). We stay in Dakar for a total of 6 weeks, and have 2 week long rural home stays. For the last four weeks of the program each student is able to create his or her own independent study project - based on something we've found interesting during our initial studies - and can stay anywhere we'd like (at least this is my understanding so far...)

What we're actually studying includes two languages (French and Wolof - the language of the largest ethnic group in the region), and as the title of the term suggests - national arts, dances, religion and other cultural activities. Senegal is 95% Muslim, but it is well known for its cultural tolerance, and acceptance of Christianity.

If you don't know where Senegal is, unfortunately you are not alone in that all 8th grade lessons of world geography have been lost. Senegal - roughly the size of South Dakota - lies on the western coast of Africa, 14 degrees north of the equator. So fortunately it will be springtime there as well, only a lot hotter, sunnier, and more humid...I think yesterday it was 94% humidity in Senegal. Coming from a pretty dry Portland, OR that may be somewhat of an adjustment..

So that was a fun test run. Thanks for reading this. Don't worry, next post I may actually be in Senegal, and will hopefully have more interesting things to say.