With today officially marking four weeks since I began my journey in Senegal, I figured that it’d be a good time to begin working on one of my goals for the semester — a semi-regular blog of sorts. I’m not exactly sure what it’ll end up looking like, but I do hope to post somewhat often so that when I look back on this experience, I’ll have things like this to read and reminisce upon.

First things first: What exactly am I doing here in Dakar? This is a question I was often asked before leaving and, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have had a great answer back in April when I first made the decision to come here. But, at this point, I’m confident that this type of experience is a great fit for me at this point in my life. I’m able to fully immerse myself in a culture that I’d likely never otherwise experience, all while taking intensive French classes with a tight-knit group of some of my closest friends. It’s certainly not the study abroad experience I had envisioned — traipsing around Europe, a new country every weekend — but it’s somehow just the right fit for me. Now, back to Dakar, where my average day looks something like this, with slight variation:

• 7:30 am: Wake up, take an ice-cold shower, and eat breakfast. In general, the freezing water and my morning go-to of steaming hot instant coffee and a baguette serve the same purpose of stimulating the senses before starting the day.
• 8:30 am: Meet Lucas and Adam, two of my classmates who live in my neighborhood, to head over to school. We live far away, so a taxi is necessary — as is the very involved bargaining process with the driver, which we have come to learn is just part of the culture.
• 9:00 am: Begin classes for the day with either Senegalese History or African Politics. With the thematic courses, our entire group of seven is together and we can typically expect to receive a mixture of lecture and discussion — all in French. At 11:00 am, we switch to our second class of the day, usually grammar.
• 1:00 pm: Walk over to the outdoor school cafeteria surrounded by a leafy courtyard, where we order a home-cooked meal prepared in-house for just about $3 USD. The options typically involve meat, fish, rice, and the elusive vegetable once in a while.
• 2:00 pm: Join our language partners, university students in Dakar, to practice French in a conversational setting. Sometimes we’ll get ice cream or walk around the neighborhood if we don’t feel like sitting in a classroom (last week, I even got my hair cut with our conversation group).
• 4:00 pm: Head home in another taxi before greeting everyone at home, because it’s considered rude and closed off not to. My five-year-old host brother is typically ready to play at this point, but sometimes I lay down for a bit before getting into a soccer game or boxing match with him.
• 6:00 pm: Spend the early evening either with my host family or at the gym with Lucas and Adam, where there is no air conditioning but plenty of good vibes. Afterward, we’ll take the long way home to stop at the supermarket for snacks or the ice cream spot that offers a local hibiscus flavor.
• 9:30 pm: Eat dinner! At this point, I’m often not even hungry anymore, but can just feel a gaping hole in my stomach that needs to be filled before heading to sleep. My host family makes really great meals, though, and I never go to bed not feeling full.
• 10:30 pm: Another ice-cold shower, a bit of reading (or scrolling on Twitter), and lights out!

So, that’s what a typical day looks like for me thus far in Dakar. Reading it back, it doesn’t sound like the most exciting life ever — but, we regularly explore the city, take weekend trips, and try out new restaurants, so rest assured I’m having a good time here! Of course, outside of the physical things like going places, eating meals, etc., there exist an innumerable amount of cultural and social activities that have characterized my experience here. From learning lots and lots of Wolof greetings and salutations, to feeling like I’m in high school once again with seven hours of school each day, and even just walking around the sandy city streets, I can feel my perspective changing — and hopefully evolving — each day. That, to me, is the most exciting part. I hope these next few months are as rewarding and engaging as this past one has been, and I’m looking forward to checking in on this blog. If you’ve come this far, I thank you for reading!