Day 1!

First of all, I made it to Senegal safe and sound. I arrived at 5:00 a.m. here in Senegal, which for reference is 5 hours ahead of central time. After a long day of traveling, I was tired and not reallyup to par with my French or Wolof, and found out that the airport in Dakar is not extremely user friendly. Example, after filling out the slip of paper that is required when you enter a foreignfollowing the directions that said the bottom part is for ministrarial use only, I was yelled at for not filling out the whole card. Then the lady asked me what my address would be, and being quick on my feet I said, "I don't know." Wrong answer! oops, but after she sent me over to this other guy who ignored me for a while, I finally just told him the name of my University and I made it through customs! I had some other interesting run ins at the airport with some overly aggressive workers and taxi drivers looking for a little money, but my ride eventually found me!

They took us to a wonderful apartment building with running water and flush toilets and someone to prepare meals for us. It's a pretty sweet deal, but I only get to stay there for one night and then I'm off to my family homestay. I spent a few hours chilling out in the apartment and trying to sleep, but I was kind of freaked out by the sights and sounds from the airport ride. Strangely, I was aware that Senegal is a developing country, but the first stretch of buildings I saw were pretty much the opposite of developing. So, as you can probably tell, my first few hours in Senegal did not give me the most positive outlook for the rest of the year. BUT,

someone from the Baobab center, which is a truly awesome center devoted to language and cultural orientation for students from abroad as well as advancing health care in Senegal, came and took us to our orientation at the Baobab center. The orientation was nice because I learned what the center is all about, and met some of the staff members who are really great, speak like a hundred languages (including English), and truly want us to get the most out of our experiences. Next Adama, a former student at the Univeristy I will be attending gave me a tour of the area of Dakar surrounding the Baobab center. Most of the street names went over my head, but I have a general sense of the layout now. Senegal is definitely a developing country, the streets are mostly dirt and the sidewalks don't always function, but the people so far are wonderful. They are very friendly, even to people they've never met before! Plus, I met my host sister and sister in-law, and they are really nice, and my sister speaks English, could be a good and bad thing.

After some afternoon rap up at the Baobab center, the other girls and I did some wandering looking for a telecenter and atm and cyber cafe. Right now, I'm truly enjoying Senegal and learning about it's culture. It's frustrating that my Wolof is too poor to communicate, but French will do for now.

Well, I am now totally exhausted, but it's been quite a day, and it's amazing how much you can learn and change in perspective in one day.