So our third and final Francophone country that we studied in was Senegal. It is the most Western country of Africa, it's capital Dakar being the farthest west. We went for a week to take classes on Senegalese customs, values and language as well as traveling and seeing as much as we could in 8 days. Needless to say, it was quite a full schedule.
I stayed in a host family with my friend Thahitun that was not far from the Baobab Center, the headquarters of ACI. This is where we had our classes and served as a center point for everything that we did. Our house was about a 15 minute walk from the center.
Coming into this trip after spending a summer in Malawi, I didn't realize the expectations I had unconsciously made. I expected it to be more modern and more western than what my idea of "Africa" was. For the most part I was right but there were some things that threw me for a loop. For instance, there were horses and buggies everywhere. I figure it is a sign that the country is more prosperous because people can afford horses but it was such a weird contrast between the large government buildings and the sickly skinny horse pulling a make-shift buggy. Was not expecting that.
Another thing that struck me was when I walked past a Muslim man praying on the sidewalk next to his stall. I am a religious studies major but I had never, in person, seen any part of Muslim worship. Since Senegal is 95% Muslim, I was exposed to many different aspects of Muslim life. First semester Freshman year was all coming back to me. It was really an interesting experience.
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