I wonder if anyone can tell that we aren't Senegalese?

DAKAR! I finally made it! I am exhausted, but thrilled to be here! The flight was long, and of questionable safety—as much as I love roller coasters, I like them better in amusement parks than over the Atlantic Ocean. I did make a friend on the flight, a Senegalese man whose wife and family live in Dakar, but he has been working in Columbus, Ohio, and hasn’t been home in over a year. He proudly showed me pictures of his beautiful wife, sisters, brothers, and mother, and after giving me 4 of his phone numbers and his email address, he told me I was invited to dinner at his wife’s house any time, and he would love to show me and some of the other students on the program around Dakar. So far so good, but unfortunately, I have yet to contact him.



We arrived in Dakar around 5am, and after going through customs and finding our group’s bus to the study center, we were just in time to hear the call to prayer. We got to the dorms in which we will be staying for our first week, dropped our stuff, and got straight to exploring the campus; we were able to watch the sun rise, and see the whole school before breakfast. I was pretty amazed considering the only thing I usually do before breakfast is wake up, which is not even the case for me every morning.


I walked to the beach, about a block away, with a group of girls, and we watched as the Senegalese swam, rode the waves, splashed each other, and of course, washed their goats one at a time, which bleated very loudly. There will be lots of new noises to get used to here! After lunch, a group of us took another walk, this time with a Senegalese man who lives at the university; it was incredible to hear him tell us all about Senegalese culture, politics, religion, and humor. He asked us about Rhianna, Kobe Bryant, Obama, and Akon, some of his favorite celebrities. We walked to the nearby mosque, which was beautiful! It looked huge to me, but our friend/guide explained that was one of the smallest mosques in Senegal, and besides that, each neighborhood had at least one mosque! It was so neat to hear how the Senegalese didn’t like President Wade’s inconsistency, or why they supported Obama wholeheartedly, as well as our guide’s explanation of the differences between Senegalese Islam and Arab Islam. He and I got to talk about math some, which made me feel closer to home, he is studying electricity and chemistry at the university, but loved math (almost as much as me). He told our group that he would take us to his favorite night club, which I only hope we will be able to take him up on, just not tonight, bedtime will come very early!