an unexpected life

I had no idea. Nobody on this trip did, and I asked. The fact is, not one person out of a group of 22 really knew what they were getting into when they came to Senegal, West Africa to study abroad with the School for International Training.

Oh sure, we’d all read the handbooks and leafed through the glossy brochures in our respective study abroad offices. Some of us, bored at home with a long break before the February start date, had even gone to SIT’s website and looked at pictures from past years.

But those smiling faces in front of natural wonders and with cute African children don’t really do justice to the experience. Three days ago, I was singing “Shout” by Otis Day with my classmates in a tiny village west of Thiès because the people there wanted to hear American music. Two weeks ago, I was working in a bronze forge with fourteen members of the same extended family. Six weeks ago, I was in the mountains near Kedougou, on the borders of Mali and Guinea learning a language spoken in only a handful of villages.

And two months ago, I was getting off a plane from Paris, alone staring into a sea of faces behind a barricade; hustlers and mothers with their children, cabbies and businessmen, musicians and imams, all pushing into the sweltering night. When I think back, two and a half months feels like two and a half years, and even doing laundry on the roof beside the sheep pen has become routine.

I have a friend who told me that going to the “developing world” with SIT would totally change my life. She was in Nicaragua last year, doing the same thing, and came back dying to tell me what Senegal would be like. I am sure we all know people like this (in fact, I fear I am becoming one). The people that come back from abroad and can’t wait to tell you all about it, and how they grew as a person and learned so much about all these other “beautiful people.” They are our friends and classmates, but hearing (or reading) about their experiences can get tedious.
But they are right: it is impossible to study abroad anywhere and not have the experience change you. You can study almost any discipline, and you can travel to every continent, but you will come back thinking differently.

If you come to West Africa, you will be frustrated by some of what you see. It won’t ever feel normal or comfortable to throw plastic bags into the street instead of the garbage. The hustlers at Sandaga Market won’t ever stop hassling you, no matter how proficient you become in Wolof or French. And if you are a girl, you won’t ever be able to walk with your head uncovered into a mosque, or convince any number or Senegalese men that you don’t actually need a husband.
But you will be moved by the hospitality of the people here. You will drink gallons of Atayah, tea that came to the region with Arab traders centuries ago, along with Islam and certain salutations.

"The teranga is everywhere. This is the Senegalese word for hospitality, and you won’t be able to avoid making friends."

You will dance, and listen to Djembes and Koras, and probably understand better how Caribbean rhythms and the Caribbean in general are forever linked to West Africa through the dark past of the slave trade. You will listen to a lot of Youssou N’Dour.

You will play with the most adorable children in places where cars can’t reach, and talk to village elders that can remember not one, but two world wars, and the days when citizens of Senegal’s four communes were French citizens.

The teranga is everywhere. This is the Senegalese word for hospitality, and you won’t be able to avoid making friends. In villages where the people bathe in the Gambia River and sleep in mud huts, they will share everything they have with you. And you will share everything with your classmates.

Programs like SIT’s in Senegal pull students from places as different as Western Washington and Hampshire, Northeastern and of course, Hamilton. These students make lasting friends, not just with people here, but with each other. And they ought to because they have a lot in common…none of them knew what they were getting into.

And you won’t either, not after listening to your annoying study abroad friends, or reading this article. But think about it anyway. Go abroad. Go explore.

-eric thomas '09