“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!!