Bienvenue au Sénégal!

We’ve just finished our first week in beautiful Dakar, Senegal! These past seven days have been interesting, adventurous and above all, exciting! I have had the opportunity to meet so many different people and have been exposed to so many different ways of life in such this short amount of time that I cannot wait to see what more there is in store for us! When we made our arrival to Paris from Washington, D.C., I was feeling a bit apprehensive. Given that this is my first time abroad, the culture shock of being a different country – let alone one where everyone spoke a completely different language – was a tad overwhelming. I was wondering how on earth I was going to get used to the time difference, to the language barrier or to a culture that was massively different from mine. Thankfully, I got the chance to calm down after taking a couple naps during out eight-hour layover (since the airport was very nice and comfortable) although, I don’t believe I could have ever prepared for what was to come. The minute we got to the airport in Dakar, I quickly realized that I was a world away from home. We exited the plane, right onto the tarmac where we boarded a shuttle bus which took us directly to the baggage claim/customs area. Since I have never flown to a foreign country, I awkwardly gave the customs officer my driver’s license, passport, immunization card and even my school ID all at once, even though it turned out that all he wanted was my passport. I immediately wondered if the rest of the trip was going to be like this: idly floating around in a sea of language and confusion. I was instantly proved wrong. For starters, our advisor has been such a blessing. He has helped us get settled into our dorms (despite having to move around a little initially), got us adjusted to the campus and has shown us around this amazing city. That said, I believe that it has been a joint effort between our primary advisor, the professors on the university campus as well as the key architects of the Gear Up program from Howard. Everyone has been more than helpful in our journey of getting acclimated to the new surroundings, which has made the process a lot smoother. In conjunction, despite whatever previous assumptions I had made about travelling to Dakar, I would now characterize it as an extremely modern city. I felt as though I had judgements about what may greet me when I got here (i.e. would there be running water or will the living arrangements be similar to home?). Looking back, I almost feel childish for thinking such things given that my experience thus far has been much more than I could have possibly asked for. Our living accommodations are spectacular; equipped with a king size bed, mini-fridges, air-conditioning, personal bathroom, room & cleaning service and even WIFI! The campus itself is pretty nice and quite massive, which I’m sure is to serve all 100,000 of its students. The labs are fully fit out, with everything that we could possibly need to conduct our research (and there’s WIFI…which is an added bonus since this can sometimes be hard to find on our home campus). As far as the city goes, there’s always plenty to do! Everything from working out at their famed muscle beaches, to visiting the world’s largest monuments, to even going jet skiing is all just a hop, skip and a jump away from campus. An added bonus is how kind the people are. Though I believed that I was going to have a rough time not being able to speak a foreign language, everyone that we’ve met has been more than willing to ‘meet us halfway’. I am still determined though to manage some more French under my belt, however, it is still nice to know that I wouldn’t be lost without it. In all, the trip is going wonderfully. The culture, the sights and the people have made being in Senegal more than memorable experience so far, which only confirms that I know my time to come will be absolutely life-changing.