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My Average Day

Living abroad in Senegal isn't always glamorous Instagram pictures and one long extravagant vacation. Most days are the same but share similarities and differences to how my life was in the States. I wake up at 6am and put on my uniform for school. For breakfast I eat a crepe with Chocolion which is similar to Nutella. Then I walk to my bus stop and greet the store keeper who owns the boutique near my house. In Senegalese culture the Wolof  word "teranga", or in English hospitality, is very important. Commonly people will say "Ca va?" "Ca va bien" to greet each other which roughly translates to "How's it going?" "It's going well." My bus comes early around 7am making me one of the first people at school. A difference I had to get used to is people shaking hands with everyone as a greeting, even if they don't know that person well. I try my best to remember to shake hands with all my friends. At SABS (Senegalese ...

First Two Weeks in Senegal

I've officially been in Senegal for about two weeks and it has been the most eventfully two weeks of my life. My cohort and I had the pleasure to travel and spend part of the first week with the very famous program coordinator Adam Zeender, who was there for a site visit. We got to go inside the African Renaissance Monument and have our first experience "eating around the bowl" while at our hotel. "Eating around the bowl" is when Senegalese people gather around one big serving bowl and share the food rather than having individual plates for everyone. Typically people use spoons not forks and knives and I am very impressed with my host family's ability to cut meat with one spoon. On my third day in Senegal I finally met my host family. They welcomingly greeted me and gave me a tour of the house. I have a mom and dad, two sisters, Aby is 17 and Sophie is 13, and a brother who's 23. My first night I went to the pizza shop close by with my sisters to grab ...