Salaam aleekum! Naka nga fanaane? Jámm rekk? Alxamdulilaay. Greetings from Dakar, Senegal! (The phrases above are Wolof, and it basically says hi and that I hope you had a good night/good morning) I’ve been here in the capital of Senegal for about nine days now. The city is a bit crazy: it’s dirty, noisy, crowded, and a lot of fun. There are almost no stop signs and very few stop lights (and most of them don’t work). Sometimes you’ll see a cop directing traffic, but other times, it’s every car for himself and traffic is almost always gridlocked as you work your way downtown. And pedestrians don’t have the right of way. Ever. So we do a lot of sprinting across streets…it’s a lot like being back in Safety Town because you really do have to ... read more

Note: I have not left Senegal for a beach vacation in France. I want to post some photos (and potentially a short blog) of my previous travels. You'll notice that the entry has been back-dated to August. After our overnight flight from Cleveland to Paris, Aude and I took a short nap (I can never seem to sleep on planes!), we unpacked our bags and immediately repacked. Armed with a little duffel bag containing a bathing suit, towel, and a few sundresses, we set off to pick up our traveling companions, Nico and Mathieu. Perhaps I was jetlagged, or maybe I just wasn't paying attentiong, but I really thought the estimated length of our trip was two hours. Apparently my French geography is a bit weaker than I had thought, and over five hours later, we ... read more

Photos from my spring break in Germany, starting with Berlin. ... read more