This summer I was blessed with the opportunity to volunteer and teach English to students in Senegal for 6 weeks. I applied to a variety of internships during the semester and ultimately chose this one because who wouldn't want to spend their summer abroad? Plus I felt like this internship would be the most fulfilling for me and prepare me for future opportunities to teach English abroad through programs such as Fulbright (Inshallah). Even more, my expenses are paid for: My round-trip flight, accommodations, and meals were all included in this internship. This first week in Senegal I have literally spent money on almost nothing except ice cream and a taxi here and there. Initially, I was nervous about doing this internship because for one, I’ve never been a teacher before, let alone taught English. Also, it would be my longest trip out the country to date and my first time traveling alone! I’ve always travelled with a group of people. The fact that my first time traveling alone was going to be to another country was nerve racking especially knowing that my trip was going to be a rollercoaster. Let’s take a look at this rollercoaster of a trip I had.
June 26th, 2019: Milwaukee – Atlanta – New York
Milwaukee is my hometown, and I would have liked to have flown from there or Chicago, but through the agreement with the internship, I had no choice but to fly out of New York or Washington, DC in order for them to pay for my ticket, so I chose New York. I had the shortest layover in Atlanta, one of the busiest airports, and I had to speed walk to my next boarding gate. When I got to the gate, they were already boarding the plane. So, I slid in line and wiped the sweat off of my brow, relieved that I made it just in time.I wanted to arrive in New York a day before my flight to Casablanca to ensure that I would not miss that flight. My cousin who lives in New York offered to let me stay with her for the night and show me around since this was my first time there. But before getting to her house, I had to catch an uber there from the airport. I never knew catching an uber could be so difficult! It was so many people, so many cars, and so much going on outside of the JFK airport that it was difficult for me to find my uber driver. After calling back and forth, eventually we found each other, and I was able to experience the crazy New York traffic. It took an hour to get to her apartment from the airport, but my uber driver was nice and we were able to have a good conversation about his experience moving from Russia to New York.I was happy to see my cousin when I arrived at her apartment. I hadn’t seen her in over 10 years (no exaggeration) so it was nice catching up, meeting her husband and exploring New York.I took the subway for the first time and she took me around to the touristy places like Times Square and the 9/11 memorial. Afterwards, we hung out at a balcony with a view of The Statue of Liberty and ate some of the best authentic Mexican food you can imagine.
June 27th, 2019: New York – Casablanca, Morocco
I ubered from my cousin’s apartment back to JFK in the morning. I had another experience with crazy traffic and an interesting uber driver who told me slavery never happened….but yeah I got on my long flight to Casablanca. My flight was delayed, and I did not arrive at the Casablanca airport until 1AM. I had a 16 hr layover in Morocco and I had a hotel booked for the night, but I had to figure out how to get there. I thought there was a shuttle from the airport to the hotel, but after asking around, there was no shuttle available. So, I had to get a taxi. 3 Senegalese men together walked up to me and asked if I needed a taxi. I knew they were from Senegal because of the shirt they were wearing, and I asked about it. I told them yes, but it was difficult conversing with them since they spoke French and I had no idea what they were saying. I speak very little French and that little did not help me in this situation. So, I just showed them where I needed to go on my phone. Before leaving I needed to take some cash out for the taxi, I video called my dad before doing this, but the taxi men were in my personal space trying to rush me while I was on the phone. I had to yell at him to tell him to back up and I was so annoyed. My dad looked concerned over the video call, but he saw I had everything under control (now we laugh about how I yelled at those men in the airport that day) Once I got off the phone with him, I took the taxi and arrived at my hotel. The man who checked me into my room ordered a taxi for me the next day to get back to the airport on time then proceeded to tell me how the Senegalese men ripped me off because they overcharged me for the taxi. It didn’t matter at this point. You live and you learn, ya know, so I was tripping too hard about it.
June 28th, 2019: Casablanca, Morocco – Dakar, Senegal
Even though I didn’t get back to my hotel until almost 2am, I stayed up and talked to my boyfriend for a bit. I wasn’t feeling the best, and I knew talking to him would make me feel better.After we ended our conversation, I ended up sleeping for an hour and woke up for a shower and breakfast. The breakfast was so good, but especially the pancakes. They were the best I’ve ever had. They used this sweet honey as syrup, and I would do anything to have it again.I took a taxi back to the airport and eventually boarded the plane to Senegal. My flight was delayed by an hour and a half, but I just slept the entire time because I was so exhausted. Once I got off the plane it felt familiar since this was my 2ndtime in Senegal and I felt relieved that I had finally reached my destination. I grabbed my bags from the conveyer belt and walked out to see a person with a paper with my name written on it. The driver took me to the house that I would be staying at in Sacré Coeur, Dakar. I had never felt so relieved in my life. This was a rollercoaster of a trip, and it will be the same going back, but hopefully better.
This is a part of the Teaching in Senegal Series.