DIAS: Internship and Study

Words can't describe the experience that DIAS provided me during my time in Senegal last summer. I landed in Dakar with high hopes, big dreams, and completely unsure of what to expect. The students, professors, friends and families of the Dakar Institute of African Studies somehow managed to blow my incredibly high expectations out of the water. I have never been so welcomed into a community before coming to Dakar, especially considering I didn't know a word of French or Wolof.

I chose the internship route for DIAS in the travel/tourism industry. Not only did DIAS place me in the biggest and fastest growing travel agency in all of Senegal, but Dr. Gueye went with me to show me how to navigate the streets of downtown Dakar, taught me how to hail and negotiate prices with a cab, and introduced me to the director of the company herself. This "above and beyond" attitude isn't limited to just one professor either. Every single professor at DIAS will go to extraordinary lengths to make this the best learning, cultural and social experience of your life.

Within six weeks, in addition to our internships and classes, DIAS brought us to incredible places such as St. Louis, Joal, Lac Rose, the African Renaissance Monument (with a special trip to the top!), a textile museum, the President's palace, and so many more. Many students also took trips to the beach, shopped downtown in the markets, found pickup games of soccer to join, and bought fabric to have clothes tailored for them.

DIAS provided us with an opportunity that you won't find anywhere else. I couldn't recommend this program any higher, it was only six short weeks but Dakar and my DIAS family will always have a place in my heart and I look forward to my next visit.