Blogs from Dakar, Cape Verde Peninsula, Senegal, Africa - page 6

Saalamalekum! I'm about to start my fourth week here and its gone by so fast... fall break is only 3 weeks away! I've also successfully been drinking the tap water, and so far no problems whatsoever, so I'm becoming more and more Senegalese every day! Life in Dakar is often exhausting, but I'm feeling very happy to be here. Even as I begin to feel accustomed to every day life, I'm surprised by something new every day, and we all find pleasure in little snippets of Western luxury here and there. Even though I'm living in an underdeveloped country, I can't help but feel that my status as an American and my relative wealth inevitably renders my time here somewhat unauthentic. But I suppose it's normal that my Western identity will influence my experiences here. (Side ... read more

So right now I'm on a friend's computer in the shelter of the student lounge while a tropical storm is going on outside... I wrote this last night/this morning at home and I don't have time to finish/edit/update... I will do that later when I have more time online. Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday. Wow... I feel like I haven't written in forever! Finding time to sit and write a long blog entry or email is very hard to do these days! Right now its Saturday morning (but almost 1pm) and most of my family is still asleep so I have a free moment to write a bit. Life in Dakar is going well. This week was busy with the start of classes, adjusting to a new schedule, bonding with my family, and the constant cultural adjustment. ... read more

I can't seem to title a blog entry without an excalamation point because everything here is still so new and exciting! Friday I moved in with my family, who sadly doesn't have internet, and now I'm at school for my first day of classes. So much to tell you all about! Friday afternoon our families came to pick us up... that experience was extremely stressful. We were all standing around waiting while people began leaving with designated family members, talking about our stress and getting worked up. Thank god I held it together because I was definitely on the verge of tears a few times. Ofcourse its nerve wracking, but the group atmosphere intensified the situation. Anyways... my dad came to pick me up with the youngest boy in my family, Mohammed. They brought their car ... read more

Humdeedum... I feel like I should update this thing pretty regularly so I shall cover the past few days. And I just realized that only one day has passed since I last posted so it just goes to show how much I'm doing here--I cannot believe its only been 3 days!! Today we had our first Survival Wolof class in the morning which was interesting. Its definitely unlike any language I've ever tried to speak, and this "survival" method at the beginning is not easy... Our group was split into small groups of 5-10 so it wasn't too overwhelming. Still, its like I'm basically trying to memorize a script of greetings but if the order were to change in the slightest I would have no idea what to say or what we're talking about. Hoh well, ... read more

Hey guys! My African adventure is coming to an end. My last month here I have been feverishly trying to see as much as I can of the country before I return to the good ol' U. S. of A! Last weekend I took a trip to Bandia animal reserve which is a bit more than an hour's drive outside of the city. I had such a good time and took literally hundreds of pictures! I don't have room to post them all here but I made sure to include a lot of the good stuff. We had an awesome guide who let us get out of our jeep and walk around the reserve. We walked right up to giraffes that were so beautiful and majestic. I was struck completely silent! I took lots of pictures ... read more