Africa Intersession Trip 2018

Political Science 216: Politics and Society in West Africa This is a study away Intersession course at Washington & Jefferson College led by Professor Dr. Buba Misawa. Intersession is a three week class between the Fall and Spring Semesters held in January. This year, 16 students accompanied Dr. Misawa to Senegal and The Gambia to experience the African political and social systems through The Gambian and Senegalese societies. Village interactions, views of the education systems, tours of animal culture, social interactions with local crafters and businesspeople, and visits to towns and national monuments helped students learn about both the political and social culture of these two countries.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018             Today I woke up at 4:30, ate breakfast, left Pink Lake, and headed to the airport. Our flight left at 9:30. We were rushed at the airport and we had security guards yelling at us because we were supposed to arrive 90 minutes early, but we were late. I like that you board the plane from the tarmac. Both plane doors are open, so boarding is quick. The flight was surprisingly not bad. Thankfully, a girl from my class traded me her isle seat for my window seat. I cannot sit at a window seat without getting claustrophobic. I watched three movies: Beauty and the Beast, Baywatch, and La La Land. This took up the majority of the flight. The food wasn’t awful on this flight either. Usually, I absolutely hate plane food, but I ate most of the sides. The main dish was still gross.             We landed in JFK and had to go to customs. I must ...

Tuesday, January 23, 2018 I slept ok last night. Half of my body hangs off the bed because I am so tall so I slept curled up. I could not get the wifi to work at this new hotel. I was happy that at least the shower was warm. We soon moved to Chez Salim and had breakfast. I was happy to have orange juice at breakfast again. Our new hut is super nice. There is actually a bathroom, I have my own large bed, and the wifi works from my room. Too bad I did not get this hut earlier in the trip.             After breakfast, all of us went down towards the village to ride camels. This was another part of the trip that I have been waiting for. There were only four camels so some of us chose to ride quads while we were waiting for the camels. Rohit and I originally wanted to ride a dune so the guy brought us one over. We paid the man and got into our dune. However, the dune would not start. The men that worked with the dunes tried fixi...

Monday, January 22, 2018 Today I woke up at 6:00 to eat breakfast and to catch the 9:00 ferry. We loaded the bus and drove to the port. The port and border crossing was hectic as usual. There were crazy salespeople and the men carrying our luggage were all fighting with each other. We crossed on the ferry but our bus was not there when we arrived. We sat in a restaurant until our bus came. We drove to the border and handed our passports over to the chief so that he could take them to security. This worked last time when traveling from Senegal into The Gambia but would not work traveling from The Gambia into Senegal. They wanted to see us in person while stamping our passports. This took a lot of extra time and was a stressful process. We soon arrived at the lion reservation! I have been waiting for this moment all trip. It was $60 per person to walk with the lions. I thought that the price was outrageous. Anyways, we all had to carry wooden staffs into the lion area. The lions re...

Sunday, January 21, 2018 I woke up and ate breakfast at 9:00. We did not leave the hotel until 1:00 because everyone was still sleeping. All we have for breakfast is bread at this hotel. I feel like I am getting fat off all this bread. We ate lunch across the street and I had pizza again. After lunch, we had free time to go and do anything we wanted. Some students went to Coco Ocean to sit by the pool, other students went to Leybato beach. Matt, Rohit, Sam, and I went to a local market while the rest of the class either went to Laybato Beach or Coco Ocean. We were on a mission to find Gambian flags and Gambia Has Decided T-Shirts. We were pretty unsuccessful in both tasks. I was amazed that a tourist country like The Gambia did not sell a flag of their own country. We actually had to buy fabric and have a tailor cut and sew pieces together to make a flag. The end result was disproportionate and uneven. Additionally, the Gambia Has Decided T-Shirts could bring in huge revenue from...

Saturday, January 20, 2018             I woke up feeling much better today. I was woken up again last night when all of the drunk kids came back at 4:30. I was very mad. I showered and went to breakfast. There were only two of us at breakfast. All of the rest of the kids were sleeping. We did not leave the hotel until 11:00. I hate wasting the day, and I especially hate being held back by kids who need to sleep because they made bad choices the night before. We were supposed to visit the Law School at the University of The Gambia, but we never went. Nothing is going as according to planned from the itinerary. We were supposed to be sitting in on college lectures, visiting embassies and consulates, and meeting with dignitaries. We have done none of this. There is a lot of sitting around and napping that has gone on for the past few days. As you can tell, I am not happy.          ...