I'm a junior in college majoring in International Studies with a concentration in the Francophone world. I've been fortunate and blessed to have visited more countries in my 20 years of life than most people do in a lifetime. Right now the count stands and 18 and in just over 4 months that will be up to 19. Ultimately I want to work for the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO).
My concentration is the Francophone world because I think French is a beautiful language and grew up in a town heavily influenced by Franco-Canadians. Contrary to popular belief French is still spoken in places other than Québec and France. Twenty-nine countries consider French an official language and even more consider it to be a language that is culturally significant. Other than English, French is the only language to be spoken on 5 continents. It is spoken as a first language by 136 million people and as a second language by 190 million people. How Many Countries Speak French?
I have known I did not want to spend my semester abroad in France for a while. I was already there in 2005. Though that visit was only a week, I feel as though returning to France would be returning to something semi-familiar and that is not what I want out of my semester abroad. I want a program that will really push me away from everything I know and that will let me see the world from a completely different perspective. I want my world to be turned upside down. Besides, for the rest of my life France will only be a passport and plane ticket away. But there is much more to the Francophone world than France. I just didn't know what exactly when I first considered my semester abroad.
When the time came to start planning my semester abroad over a year ago, I approached each study abroad company at my college's study abroad fair. I told each of them the exact same thing, "I am concentrating in the Francophone world but don't want to go to France, where can you send me?" Most of the companies gave me a look first of shock (Who DOESN'T want to go to France? Really Paris is fabulous! I know...I've been there.) then of mild horror as they realized they didn't have an answer for me. But CIEE out of Portland, ME promptly responded "How does Senegal sound?" As the representative promptly answered each of my questions, I fell a little bit more in love with the idea of going to Senegal for a semester.
"Senegal...where is that?" and "Africa, isn't that dangerous?"
Senegal is the westernmost country on the African continent. I'll be spending my semester at the Dakar campus of Suffolk University, in the capital of Senegal. Though many countries in Africa have political issues, Senegal is one of the most successful and stable democracies in Africa. I'm a bit nervous because I know things will be different but at the same time I know this will be one of the most amazing experiences of my undergrad career. So I hope you follow me as I prepare to live 3674 miles away from home for an entire semester!
