First few days, first impressions

The five of us from the Penn program arrived in Dakar yesterday and are now settled in our apartment (Coumba Ndao) in Dakar. We are all exhausted but very excited for the journey that lies ahead of us! For the next two days we are sharing a 2 room apartment (one for girls, one for guys) with a nice, western style bathroom and great kitchen. Saskia noted that this is kind of like ‘The Real World’” Penn in Senegal edition, but much more tame, of course.
So far, we have spent much of our time orienting ourselves with our neighborhood, meeting our advisors, instructors and new friends at the Baobab Center, and hanging out and eating in our apartment. The section of Dakar we are in is about 15-20 minutes from the center of city, and is home to a few interesting landmarks: Le Grand Mosque a Karak, L’Universite Anta Cheikh Diop, Le Thiossiene Night Club (where Youssou Ndour, the most famous Senegalese music star plays), and many markets and schools.
The city is busy and active during the day, with Senegalese of all ages on the streets! They sell a large variety of items (from cell phone card minutes, clothes, to peanuts and fruit). There are also tons of yellow taxis on the streets that beep at us constantly. Senegalese ride either buses called “Dakar Deem Diek” (to or from Dakar), and “Car Rapides” (very colorful and packed small vans with people hanging out the backs of them, that are known for their wild and unsafe driving).
The Baobab Center, where we’ve begun our classes is really great. It was built by Gary Engelberg, who served in the Peace Corps in Senegal in 1965 and never returned. The center hosts students from many universities—Wisconsin-Madison, Lewis and Clark, Beloit, currently. Taking classes and hanging around the center also include 2 guys in the US Army studying French, a Brazilian journalist, and other American and European travelers. Our teachers are all Senegalese, and are excellent! Ismaila, our Wolof teacher is very fun and energetic. We all managed to learn a lot during our first lesson, Alhamdililaih!
A few other random facts to set the scene… the weather here right now is absolutely beautiful! In the morning it can be about 65 or 70 degrees with a breeze, and at mid-day with the sun it reaches 90. This is called winter for Senegal, and so many actually are wearing winter hats and scarves!! We love it though! In a few months it will be much much hotter, on some days it can reach 115F! It’s also very sandy here, going along with the desert climate. There are some sidewalks on the roads, but mostly just sand where you can walk in between the streets and the homes or shops. We’ve learned to stick with sandals and get used to have sand on us.
That’s all for now, next time we write we’ll have moved in with our host families! Ba Beenen!