Semester Abroad in Senegal: Dakar

My first day in Senegal felt like three days. After a 7 hour flight from NYC, we arrived in Dakar at 8:00 am local time. Getting off the airplane I was struck by the view of the extremely large African Renaissance statue in the distance, which could be seen past abandoned buildings, houses, and small mountains. As soon as we left the safety of customs we were bombarded by many people asking to carry our bags or telling us to choose their taxi. I could barely make it to our professor because there were about 10 men surrounding us trying to take my suitcase and expecting a tip. This was not unique to the airport; everywhere we go people come up to us and try to sell us things, trying to figure out where we’re from and charm us by speaking the same language. If you try to be polite and friendly, they will never stop following you, so we just have to keep moving and avoid eye contact.

We headed a bit later to Goree, the island that marks the western most part of Africa. It is home to the Maison des Esclaves, which is where people from around Africa were taken after they were captured, waiting to pass through the “door of no return” that would take them to a lifetime of slavery. It was an intense experience to see the size of the rooms the slaves were kept in, and the places where they kept those who “rebelled” were even smaller. It was kind of surreal to think of what went on where I was standing a couple hundred years ago. I asked how many people were kept in these small spaces at a time, to which the answer was, “as many as they could fit while still being able to close the door.” The island itself is a very pretty place, but also very touristy, and there are people all over selling things. At lunch a man walking around singing and playing a Kora asked our names and sang to us, using them to make up a song. My first Senegalese meal (Poulet Yassa) was chicken with a kind of caramelized onion and rice, which was very good, while many others ordered an entire fish, sharp teeth and eyeballs included. Later that night, we had dinner in what looked like just a large room in somebody’s house with tables and chairs, but the food (once we got it, after over an hour and a half of waiting and eating peanuts) was very good.

Today we walked around the city near our hotel, and spent a lot of time in the phone store trying to get SIM cards and new phones. We also went to Le Theatre National (de Daniel Sorano), which seats over 1100 people and hosts many different concerts, dances, and plays. At lunch I split a pizza with Michaela, but it was definitely not enjoyable. At least now we know what not to order. Because we were so tired, we came back to the hotel pretty early. We’ll eat at the hotel tonight if we’re hungry so we can get some rest before leaving for Saint Louis at 7:00 am tomorrow.