Senegal; Buckle Up and Let Teranga Take You For a Ride Past Review
By Liz M (Pre-med, Trinity University) for
CIEE: Dakar - Language & Culture
My cultural awareness has honestly skyrocketed; I think that if I had to sum it up in one word, the thing Dakar gave me most was perspecive. I really enjoyed almost everything I did in Senegal, and I am also pleased that my passion for my proposed career is even stronger after my semester abroad. I will not, however, be joining the Peace Corps as I had previously intended, and instead I will (hopefully) go straight to medical school and then Doctors Without Borders or the WHO shortly thereafter.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
While I had a great experience overall, the academics were not as rigorous as at Trinity, but the overall shift in perspective that I gained was more valuable to me than anything that could have been taught in the classroom. I especially appreciated the home-stay and required language classes. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
My host faculty were amazing. They handed out their cell phone numbers to all the students at the beginning of the semester, and we were encouraged to call whenever we needed something that we couldn't find on our own. One faculty member, Victoria, invited everyone over to her apartment for dinner on several occasions. Serigne was Senegalese and therefore knew almost everything there was to know about the host country. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Everything, including filtered water, was provided by the host family. The program sets you up in houses in the nicer part of town, which is usually in the suburbs away from the city, where the nightlife was. Clubbing was a huge deal however, and there were several clubs in the suburbs where we lived. My neighborhood was very very safe, even for a single woman walking, although it was discouraged to walk alone at night. |
| * Food: |
Difficult to study abroad here if you are vegetarian or extremely dislike oily foods. Eating a lot is encouraged ALWAYS (I gained 20 lbs ever the semester), and while most meals are eaten at the home stay, there are always restaurants around for any foodie tastes. |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The field trips were the most important part of the experience. We took trips to all sorts of sites around Dakar, but also to smaller towns outside the main city. My favorite was a trip to Toubab Dialaw, which is always scheduled right in the middle of the semester when students need a weekend just to decompress and deal with everything they've experienced. I also really enjoyed the malnutrtion survey trip with my Public Health course. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
I usually felt very safe in Dakar, and only slightly less so when night fell and I was rushing home. My program took care of any problems with healthcare and/or safety issues (like stolen valuables) quickly and as effectively as possible. The most prevalent health issue in Dakar is malaria, and the program required that students be on some sort of anti-malarial medication. You were also required to get the yellow fever vaccine before arrival. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
|
Finances
|
* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
|
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Since I stayed in the homestay, paying for food was never an issue, unless you often went out for dinner. I spent about $8 (4000F) a week on foodstuffs, and $2 a week on transportation to and from school. Dakar is very cheap to live in with the homestay. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | I needed to buy a new harddrive for my laptop very shortly after arriving in Senegal, which cost about $50. If you are worried about money, buy souveniers over the semester, and not during one week at the end so you can spread your money out for activites that will pop up throughout the semseter. CIEE paid for all the school-sponsored traveling expenses, which included transporation, water, and a bed to sleep on. Also, find out if your home bank charges you a fee to withdraw from ATMs abroad - so you know whether to withdraw large sums at one time or smaller sums over several trips. Do not keep money in obvious places. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
|
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Most people on campus spoke English, although the population at large would speak French to the white population, and Wolof to others. You could get someone to speak Wolof to you if you initiated the conversation in everyday interactions. Communications within the host family were mostly in French. |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
|
A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Realize that you are dealing with a culture that is very unlike what you have at home, and that it's ok to make mistakes, look stupid, or feel uncomfortable; that's all part of the experience that makes living in Dakar so rewarding. A student who is seriously considering living in Senegal needs to be accepting of challenges and open to new, exciting experiences on a daily basis. Also, try not to get off the plane with expectations about how wonderful/awful everything will be, and you'll find that this blank slate of a mind will be more easily filled in than the minds of others who've already been scribbled on. |
