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Published: August 26th 2008
Alright!! Now that I've been here for a day, I am ready to blog!
I've been in Senegal since 5 am on Sunday and it feels like I've been here a week... its hard to even know where to start! The actual plane ride here was pretty uneventful, although leading up to it was fairly stressful. I forgot my proof of vaccination packet at home (I know, predictable) and realized it half way to New York... FREAKED out and tried to call CIEE but they wouldn't give me contact information, I was exhausted and overwhelmed. Luckily Peter was able to find it in the house and he faxed it to the airline so I picked it up when I got to JFK. However.... the traffic to New York was outrageous. There was backed up traffic on every single highway and even though we gave ourselves spare time, I didn't end up getting to the airport until 4:15 and my flight was at 5:20. STRESS!!! When I got into the terminal, the lady at the counter was yelling at me to hurry because check-in was closed and then I forgot to ask for the fax, so I had to run back, and it was a rushed goodbye... but finally I got on the plane with the fax in hand. Phew!
Arriving in Senegal was surprisingly easy. We were warned that the scene at the airport would be very overwhelming, with people everywhere offering to help us and demanding money. But the airport was pretty quiet at 5 am and I saw my bags on the conveyor belt the second I walked into baggage claim. They didn't even ask to see my proof of vaccination when I passed through immigration! (But apparently I definitely need it if I want to travel anywhere, so it wasn't a complete waste of stress and tears!) Someone from CIEE was there to meet us as soon as we walked out with our bags (there were 30 of us on my flight), and he led us to two buses. A group of men loaded our bags onto the roof of the bus... with nothing to keep them secure except very short metal railings. I was especially nervous when I saw them put mine on top of the first layer all by itself, but somehow it made it to the school... As we were waiting on the bus for two girls to sort out their lost luggage, the men who helped load the bags started pestering us for money, as we were warned... but they continued for almost half an hour, watching for the guide to turn his back and talking to us through the windows and the door. Obviously I couldn't understand them in Wolof, but there were definitely some very angry words exchanged between the CIEE program workers and the insistent men. Welcome to Senegal!
Finally we drove from the airport to the Suffolk campus, which is actually within the ENEA campus (the national school of applied economics) and a few doors down from UCAD, the main university in Dakar. My first view of Dakar from the bus was definitely eye opening... it reminded my a little bit of St. Maarten in the Carribean. We passed so many unfinished buildings that look either abandoned or still in the process of being built, and there is definitely a lot of trash on the sides of the road as I would have expected. I was still half asleep from the flight, but nonetheless excited for my introduction to Senegal!
The campus is nice... I will eventually post pictures to show you what it looks like. It is really close to the beach, with brightly painted buildings, a quad, a basketball court, and a soccer field. We are living in the dorms until Friday when we will be meeting out host families. The dorms are fine... I know we are definitely very privileged compared to the average Senegalese person living in Dakar, but I'm not sure my sheet is clean and there is no shower curtain or slope in the bathroom. I'm definitely adjusting to a different level of cleanliness but today has already been a lot better. I didn't expect to have air conditioning, but all the bedrooms do and ours was broken the first day! Speaking of which, it is SO HUMID HERE. Saturday I was drenched in sweat basically the entire day and took two showers because I felt so disgusting... It rained last night so it was a lot cooler and less humid today, thank god. And I thought DC was bad, but here its hard to breathe in the humidity and it just weighs you down.
Of course this entry is already shaping up to be extremely long! Sorry for those who don't care to read every detail... feel free to skim! Back to the chronology of events... After we arrived around 6 am, everyone wanted to wait for breakfast at 8 before sleeping, so we walked around the campus and socialized a bit before finally getting some sustenance. I tried to take a nap after breakfast, but our room was so hot and stifling I couldn't sleep for more than 5 minutes. A group of us decided to walk to the beach before lunch, so we made our way down to the ocean, which is about 10 minutes from our campus. Some people swam in the ocean, frolicking with adorable african children, and it felt great to feel the breeze and wade in the surf, though the huuuuuge waves eventually soaked us all. The beach was nice except there was some sort of residue in the water, either oil or tar that is STILL stuck to the bottom of my feet... yuck. Walking around the city is everything I read about... there are horses tied up on the side of the road and goats and sheep wandering around everywhere. A goat herder actually brought his flock of goats through the rocks on the beach yesterday... I'm not quite sure why. There are lots of vendors lining the road our school is on, selling African art and fresh vegetables and fruit, though I have yet to buy anything. I'm sure I'll get to know the area better as I walk around more and more.
After the beach, we came back to campus for lunch, and then we went exploring again. This time we went to see the off-campus hotel where some of the students in our program are staying this week. After jealously eying their very luxurious bathroom, we all left to explore a different part of the coastline, first a cliff over looking the ocean, and then this fisherman's beach right next to a big mosque that was... interesting, but kind of gross and dirty. DEFINITELY not going swimming there. At this point I had been awake for who knows how many hours and I was kind of in a delirious, hot, sticky daze, so three of us walked back early and just sat and talked in an air conditioned room for a few hours until dinner. After dinner we played card games and socialized with the Senegalese students living in our dorm, and finally went to bed around midnight. LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE! And definitely really overwhelming and in a lot of ways uncomfortable... but after talking to people today, I'm pretty sure everyone was feeling the same way.
Because I don't want to go on forever, I'll be brief about today. I was finally able to sleep last night, despite the terrible heat and the torrential downpour--that drenched our desk and my closed computer, might I add... luckily, everything seems to be functioning fine because Erica, my roommate, woke up and quickly moved it. This morning we went to breakfast and then spent basically the whole day in orientation, minus a much needed two-hour break for lunch. We mostly talked about cultures and played some ice-breaking games, and what not... I really like our director who headed the orientation. His English is impeccable, he has a good sense of humor and the six hours of his talking were actually really interesting and made me more excited for the program!
After the orientation ended around 5:30, we went off to explore our future neighborhoods!! I was actually really nervous for this part... he announced to us that there were three neighborhoods: Mermoz, the area our school is in so a short 5 minute walk to class, Oukam (sp?), a neighborhood closer to the beach and a "Car Rapide" away (a crazy public bus that I will describe later), and Sacré Coeur III, a 15 minute cab ride from our school and a 30-40 minute walk. I am in Sacré Coeur III which disappointed me at first, but the majority of the friends I've made here are in the same area as me and supposedly we're all going to be neighbors, so I'm very excited for that. Plus I don't think you can walk from Ouakam, so at least we have the option to walk or take a cab (transportation to the school is subsidized by the program). After finding out our location, we took cabs to visit the area, guided by Senegalese students. The area I'm in seems really cool... Its more urban than where our school is but still very residential, with small streets, a park, little store fronts, and children playing in the street. The apartments also seem nice, and some are definitely upscale with amazing architecture.
After visiting the area, we came back for dinner, and sat around talking for a few hours... and I've been here blogging ever since!!! I promise all my entries won't be this long and descriptive. There's so much to take in that I'm not really at the point to reflect yet... it feels good to get a lot of it down without analyzing too much. I'm sure that will come in future entries!! Today was really great, less hot, less overwhelming, more comfortable with friends, informative, interesting... I'm glad I finally got some sleep and was able to enjoy this amazing experience because I think Saturday was a little bit too much for me all at once with 52 new people to meet!
Time for bed since I have to be up early for Survival Wolof (gahhhh!!!) and a French placement test. Hope all is well at home, and I'm sure I'll be updating soon. (Wednesday I find out who my family is and I register for classes... exciting!)
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YAY FOR KIMMIES
Ahh Kim, everything sounds great!! I tried calling you before you left but didn't get a hold of you (rats!) but seems like you're very well-connected there computer wise so I expect to see you on gchat often. Can't wait to see the pictures!! PS- Please do not agree to elope with any Senegalese man who offers you riches and an adventurous life. But if you do, I expect to be invited to the wedding!