To all of you who keep telling me to get a job, t’en fais pas: I have now officially entered the feast portion of this Olmsted Experience. 

 My new hangout.

Classes started this week, and let me just point out that I’m not a huge fan of the rainy season after my first commute to class.  I chose my ridiculously nice digs in Point E due to the close proximity to UCAD (Université Cheikh Anta Diop). I don’t have a car here, and I figured it would be a convenient walk to make each day- even in the African heat.

Convenient walk. That’s what I called it before last week.  

Now, I call it a walk. Or better yet, pioneering. Especially during this rainy season. Pardon my camera phone photography, but check out the shot below of the road that leads to FASEG (Faculté des sciences économiques et de gestion). I took this in June:

See this road? It becomes a river come round this time of the year. 

In fact, here’s what it looks like right about now:

 And I forgot to ship my Conestoga wagon to Dakar…

So you might laugh, but this has more dire consequences than you might think. Not only do I have to negotiate this fickle body of water each day, but I have to plan my footwear, which in turn affects my wardrobe selection. These are significant factors for this girl who wants to take advantage of an underutilized wardrobe.

When I studied at the University of Vermont for a year, I was told that it had the number one snow removal system in the country. Why? Because it’s Burlington, and everyone knows that this beautiful town is swallowed in snow each year for many months. The Vermonters are ready for this reality, and as such there are never any snow days that call off classes- rather the professors only compete with students who’d rather be on the slopes than sitting in classes on those beautiful wintry days. But I digress…

Senegal knows that this rainy season thing comes along every year. But still, each time the skies open up, the streets are inondé partout. This leaves everyone (not just me) grumbling and cursing their mud-coated legs as they try to achieve seemingly simple tasks like commuting. 

I know what you will tell me- there is nothing in the way of quality snow removal procedures here in Dakar, and that I am lucky to be from a country where basic civic services are taken for granted. I get it. I am also not lost on the grand irony that I must endure such obstacles each day so that I might get to my classes in sustainable development. 

You can’t make this stuff up.

Yesterday, thankfully, the field in front of FASEG was dry enough to allow for safe passage. How did I know it was safe for me and my shoes to ford the mudflat? There were lots and lots of sheep grazing.