Update

Moving to New Zealand in February! Stay tuned!!

A Retrospective

This entry was written for the Office of International Studies at Goucher College. A more edited version will probably be on their website soon enough.

Important Lessons from the Dark Continent (alternate title: Africa is Hell; alternate alternate title: I Really Like Meat)

Nearly two years after studying abroad, I feel that now is the time to evaluate what I have learned from spending nearly four months on the African continent. There are the usual realizations: an appreciation for what I formerly considered basic necessities (cheese, toilet paper, eating utensils), and a concrete example of cultural differences, such as that bendy and fluid concept of “time”; and the unusual ones: that I sink into my hips when I dance (which may not be West African, come to think of it, but my own idiosyncratic movement), and I’m more invested in where the meat I eat comes from. While my study abroad experiences provide comic anecdotes (“the time I saw a baboon on a leash in Bamako”; “the time I saw a man riding a motorcycle with a goat wrapped around his waist”), and a bangin’ wardrobe, what has it actually done for me? As a recent college graduate with few job prospects, it is easy to say “nothing.” But that can’t possibly be true, so instead I have created a list of the things that studying abroad actually taught me:

● Realizing I have the freedom to make my own choices. Rice and beans or beans and rice might not sound like a choice to most people. When faced with a grand total of four meals in heavy rotation, all of which involve sauce poured over rice, you’ve got to change your mind set—do I want to eat the pepper this time, or leave it out? Are there carrots instead of onions? Is the meat goat or beef? And so on. On a more serious note: traveling to a country, by choice, where most people cannot afford to leave, made me realize that I have truly myriad of options before me in life. So coffee or tea, the 8 bus or the 48 bus, graduate school or work, I can pick and choose.

● Learning to laugh at myself. Studying abroad is a lesson in humility that I had to re-learn every day. I spoke with the proficiency of a five-year-old and couldn’t even do my own laundry. But every day I woke up and tried earnestly to fit more into a world filled with rice, sauce, and people eager to point out my mistakes and if I was lucky, correct them. People liked me more when I laughed at myself, and I liked myself more too.

● Having an open mind. That day I was served spaghetti with ketchup? Maybe my host family had the vague idea that it was an American dish, and being the polite guest that (I hope) I am, I ate it without complaint. However, as I lived in Bamako, I tested and learned my limits. I definitely turned down devil fish, a disgusting monstrosity made entirely of teeth and bones.

These lessons may or may not help me as I try to forge my way in this post-grad, recession-economy world. But no matter what happens I can take comfort in knowing that I have eaten cold mutton head for breakfast, and if prompted, can curse you and your entire extended family in Bambara.

And a final lesson: food is important to me. Next time I go abroad, I’ll go to Italy.