Spiritual Ice Bath

At the time I committed to a 4-week Summer Program to Senegal I was ready to experience something other than North American and Western European culture. I ran from materialism and superficiality and when I looked down I was in Senegal with 8 like-minded people. Meeting people with such different beliefs and practices was essentially a mental/spiritual ice bath. I held hands with boys I met in streets and walked with a smile and received non of the venomous looks I would expect from home. Singing was encouraged and self-consciousness seemed not to exist.

The trip simply opened my eyes to the vastness of the world and all of the cultures and histories it (reluctantly) still holds. I am more interested in life and in people. I cannot imagine what it would be like to never have seen Senegal.