“Hasn’t She Left Yet??”

Departure is imminent!!! I am preparing to head out of the country this coming Friday, 1 September. I’ve already left my family and friends back in Colorado, however. The past few days I’ve spent driving to Pittsburgh with my fiancé, Mike Demmon, newly-upgraded from boyfriend status! (To see pictures from the proposal at the tiptop of Seattle’s Space Needle three weeks ago, visit here. Yes folks, I’m a blessed lady!) Somehow I’ve survived packing, accepting congratulatory dinner invitations, climbing a couple of peaks with my cousins, dreaming about wedding plans, all the while coping with the fact that I’m going to Africa very soon. And here in Ambridge, PA I rest for a few days, somewhat of a mess, but a happy and excited one.

Here is a little background information for those of you who may be thinking to yourself, “Now why, again, is that Libby character flying off to Senegal?”

The University of Denver has a partnership with an institution in Vermont called the School for International Training (SIT). It is with this institution that I will be studying for the next semester, effectively as a transfer student. The name of the curriculum I will be following is “Senegal: Arts and Culture.” I will join seventeen other students from American schools on this trip, and each of us will stay with different host families in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. I’ll be studying the languages of French and Wolof, attending lectures of the influence of art in the culture of Senegal and West Africa. Following is the field-based portion of the semester, which means I get to go to actual dance lessons, drum lessons, ceramics and batik, and so forth. Field Trip! Then, there is a month-long independent study project.

Senegal is a former French colony in West Africa, independent in 1960. It is bordered to the north by Mauritania, to the east by Mali, to the south by Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, and to the west by the Atlantic. It appears to be eating poor Gambia. It is currently one of the most stable democracies in West Africa, and is a cultural center, scintillating with colorful art and clothing, popular music and soon, my very self. To find out what the CIA has to say about it and impress your friends, click here. To find out what I say about it, with much less hope of impressing your friends, come back to this site.

I know, as I prepare to leave, that there are many of you who are thinking and praying about me. It gives me great confidence to know I have your support. All my thanks!!

And the adventure begins! Or will...in a month...

1 August. In exactly one month from today I will be on an airplane with a group of perfect strangers, flying over the Atlantic Ocean. When I land in exactly one month and one day from today, I will be in a country I’ve never visited, on a continent I’ve never set foot on, with three and half months to spend getting used to it all. How fast can a month go by?

The thoughts and feelings going through my head range from “I wonder how to say ‘stomachache’ in Wolof” to “What do I do with my car while I’m gone?” There just seems to be so much to do in order to prepare myself for this great adventure. I only hope I can remember the important things like addresses to send letters to once I’m in Senegal and, oh yeah, traveler’s checks. But the largest thing on my mind as I prepare myself is exactly how little I can prepare myself indeed. No amount of background reading, travel guides, advice from EVERYONE—solicited or otherwise—will truly do enough to prepare me. As my mom mentioned jus a few days ago, nothing about this trip will be easy. I believe it, and it fills me with excitement! I think about many of my colleagues from DU who chose an “easy” study abroad location, and I wouldn’t take their spots for the world! I look forward to learning not only about Senegal and its people, but about myself as an American, a human and a child of God. I wonder how to say “bring it on” in Wolof... Oh well. They speak French their as well, so: laissez les bons temps rouler!

I hope that as I near my departure and throughout my voyage, I am able to share some of my experiences with all of you readers. I know that some of you are bound by unwritten duty to read whatever I put here, fluff or not. For you and for those willing fans out there, welcome to my travel blog.