It wasn’t until after all the papers and finals had been turned in, and we’d partied and packed up our things that it started to feel real that we were leaving.  We’d all made London our home without even realizing that it’d worked its way into our hearts and the prospect of leaving was not one we wanted to think about. Tuesday began my week of finals and I headed to CAPA tiredly. We all sat in a circle in our English course and waited for our professor to arrive, [...]

“Equipe Senegal” (Team Senegal) near the USAID/Senegal office on our first day of work. We have just begun our third week of eight working with USAID/Senegal on a local capacity development project. USAID has a global goal of channeling 30% of its total budget through local governments, NGOs (nongovernmental organizations), and businesses by 2015–currently the figure is 13%. This doesn’t mean that local organizations aren’t actively involved on USAID projects already: the current trend is that major Western NGOs like World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, and other giants are awarded [...]

I have started my internship at a veterinary office. Everyone is so kind here. Unfortunately, my supervisor has been on holiday until today and so I have not met him yet. However, I only hear good things about him. During my first week, I mostly became familiar with the office, figuring out where things are and how they work. I helped a lot with the cleaning; however, since the office only had stand in veterinarians, it was very quiet and hard to find things to do. The first day I [...]

Yesterday, I went back to the street vendors and managed to find myself a pair of regular jeans for $15, so now I can have a pair of pants to wear at my internship site that I don’t care too much about. Plus the jeans I managed to find are regular bell bottoms and not skinny jeans, since it appears like that is pretty much all you can buy here. Skinny jeans and more skinny jeans. I also started the process of hand washing my clothes, since in Chile if you do not have a washer [...]

Monday was my first day of my Australian Government and Politics class. I have 2 really cute old men (cute as reminding me of my grandpas ppl!). One was formerly in parliament for 10 years and the other wrote many political books and even ran some big campaigns around here. They talked for about 2 hours then took us to the pub down the street and bought all 11 of us around of drinks. Definitely something I was not used to, but absolutely enjoying!  Liz, my roommate, and I are [...]

So, you guessed it, I’m home! My last week in Dakar was…interesting. I was sick pretty much all week with a high fever and abdominal pain. Still not entirely sure what’s going on but do not fear! I have a doctor’s appointment here in the states tomorrow. When I wasn’t spending countless hours feeling sick in bed, I was exploring different markets I hadn’t visited before and, oh yeah, writing that final 20 page French paper about our internships. Fun times. Especially after this week, I am definitely going to [...]

At the end of our 5th week in Fatick, I was exhausted. I had been having some petits problèmes with my family and my internship, and Sophie and I had done an intense run with some four Senegalese garçons that left us pretty sore for the next few days (and me with a fresh cut on my knee! Note: roads in Fatick are not lighted at night).  So, naturally, I wanted to sleep in Saturday morning. Unfortunately, masonry workers outside my room at 7am made that impossible, so Sophie and I made plans to [...]

One of my projects was to interview two women who were head Panchayats and write success case studies on them.  Men within the Panchayat were arguing that women were struggling and were not doing their work.  I was to report that these women were doing their work successfully and give them credit for the work they deserve and make sure society recognized their accomplishments.   Maya   My first case study was on Maya Palival.  She has completed primary school education and her husband is an elected member within the [...]

As the time is getting closer to my homecoming, things are extremely hectic in London! Sorry for the lack of blogs posts lately but between finals, interning, and pre-packing there isn’t enough time in the day. Ten days from today I will be landing in Wisconsin and couldn’t be more excited to see my family and friends! It’s been the experience of a lifetime but it is time for a break. Here’s some brief updates I’ve missed this past week. Last week was jammed packed with PR events and homework [...]

First, I must say the worst thing about interning in the fashion industry is being poor and surrounded by beautiful clothing. Over the past four months, I’ve seen some of the most beautiful pieces of clothing but can’t imagine what it would be like to own it. I keep telling myself, someday it could happen but if it doesn’t a girl can look just as beautiful wearing confidence and jeans with a white t shirt. Wearing garments that retail for thousands of dollars are just a waste and there are [...]

I am interning with a Non-Governmental Organization by the name of Astha, meaning “faith” inHindi.  The organization is all about the empowerment of women in India.  Astha is made up of 8 different units centered around tribal women, education, culture, women rights, child rights, forest/land rights, and local self-governance.  I am specifically working with the local self-governance unit.  The main goal of this unit is to provide women, especially in the rural and tribal communities, with the assets and confidence to participate successfully in India’s governing system- the PanchayatiRaj.  The [...]

Things have been plucking along quite nicely here in Fatick. For one, my internship is getting much more interesting. Last week I got to work with some spreadsheets (if any of you readers know my mom, you know what a spreadsheet fiend she is. I definitely take after her). And on Friday my boss took me to visit various clients to interview them and see their projects in action. We visited a salt exploiter, a garden, and a woman who used microloans to fund the solar panel that powers her [...]

There are many things I’ve become accustomed to in my first few weeks in Fatick, like eating my weight in bread every day, sharing my dresser with a petit mouse I have named Franklin, walking about eight times slower than any New Yorker would ever dare, falling asleep sweating from the heat, being followed home by every child in the neighborhood, stopping for cows and goats in the street, and not knowing before opening the door to the communal shower if the resident cockroach will be joining me for a [...]

Well, the results are in, at least for the most part. We won’t know for sure until the Constitutional Council confirms this Sunday, but it appears that there will be a second round of elections between President Wade and opponent Macky Sall. They will take place either Sunday March 18th or 25th, by which time I will be headed to Fatick (Sall’s hometown, as it turns out).  The elections passed pretty calmly, and I even went out around my neighborhood over the weekend without running into any political demonstrations or [...]

It has been decided!! Internship with Astha in two weeks.  The program is stationed in Udaipur, about a 9 hour train ride south of Jaipur. This means that I will no longer be living in Jaipur, so for anyone who wanted to send me anything, I will be getting a new address in a couple weeks. However, I will only be at my internship until April 15th or so and it takes approximately three weeks for letters to reach me from the U.S. Astha, literally meaning “faith” in Hindi, is [...]