March 23rd to March 29th, 2024
Well, this week could have gone better. It was filled with canceled flights, food poisoning, and being banned from flights. There was some good moments throughout the week and I did manage to get to Senegal and spend time with other Fulbrighters which was pretty nice and informative. Overall, it was a tough week and I’m glad that I was able to get through it.
The week started with my flight for Saturday at 2:30am to Senegal being canceled 15 minutes before I was about to leave the hotel for the airport. I then was on the phone with the travel booking agency for a couple hours and finally figured out that my new flight had been rescheduled for 37 hours later. That really sucked because I was pretty excited to get to Senegal and spend time with the other Fulbrighters there, instead I was stuck in a hotel room in Tana by myself.
Thirty-seven hours later I went to the Tana airport and got on my flight. I first had to go to Kenya and then Kenya to Senegal. I got to Kenya okay, but then had another moment of panic as I could not find my connecting flight from Kenya to Senegal. My boarding pass told me that my flight was supposed to leave from Gate 21 in 45 minutes. I raced through security and got to Gate 21 and asked someone who was waiting there if they were going to Senegal. They said no, they were going to Ghana, which resulted in more panic for me. I eventually asked a few other people and found out that the plane landed in Ghana first for an hour, dropped people off, and then continued to Senegal. It turned out I was in the right place, and I didn’t need to stress about anything.
A ten hour flight later and I finally landed in Dakar, Senegal at 4 in the morning. Fulbright was nice enough to have a driver waiting at the airport for me who took me to the hotel. I was able to sleep for about 2 hours before I had to wake up again and get ready for the conference which officially started at 8 in the morning. I showered and was surprisingly feeling okay. The beginning of the conference was really nice, I got to meet some of the other Fulbrighters and say hi to my Fulbright mentor, too. Then we had lunch, and I started to not feel so great. During the next presentation, I really did not start feeling good and had to rush to the bathroom because I was about to get sick. After that, I left the conference area and went back to the hotel where I was out sick the rest of the day Monday and all day Tuesday with some sort of bad food poisoning. So yeah, that sucked.
Finally, Wednesday came around I was feeling better, so I got to join the rest of Fulbrighters at the conference. I was able to join for one of the most meaningful days where we visited the Island of Gorée, which had the House of Slaves. This was one of the main islands during the slave trade where slaves were kept before being shipped to the Americas. It was a lot to take in and it is hard to believe how cruel people can truly be. It also made me reflect on how cruel some people still are today. Our tour guide told us that none of the European countries or countries from the Americas that were responsible for the Slave Trade ever apologized to the African countries because they did not want to take blame for what happened in the past. It was pretty emotional to see, but also something that is part of the World’s history that we should never forget.
On Thursday, I had a fun last day with the rest of the Fulbrighters. I was able to present my presentation on “Having Flexibility When Teaching,” something I know very well after my teaching schedule here in Madagascar. After our sessions, we had a nice final dinner and the conference organized musicians to come play for us. We didn’t stay out too late because many of us had to leave for the airport at 3 am the next day, such as myself.
I woke up at 3 am said a little prayer that hopefully all my travel would be okay and went to the airport. Well, it was not okay. I tried to check into my flight but because I did not have my yellow fever vaccine, I was banned from boarding the flight. I guess this was my fault this time because apparently you need the vaccine when you are traveling through Kenya from Senegal. But I wasn’t aware of this, and I didn’t need it to get into Madagascar, so I was vaccine less. The rest of the day I spent trying to reschedule my flight and get the yellow fever vaccine. I was able to get a new flight for the next day and the vaccine at the hospital which was good. It just added to an already stressful travel week. Anyway, I am writing this and everything always works out so it’s okay.