Downtown Dakar

Since I don't have any school work and I'm really enjoying that the power has been working so well the past few days I thought I would post again...Yesterday night we were all able to hang out as a group in the off-campus dorm and try some Senegalese beer. It's nothing special...but it's cheaper since it's local. It was nice to get everyone together to hang out on our roof until we decided we were being too loud and went inside. Today we were able to go into downtown Dakar for the first time. We tried to bargain with the cab driver in Wolof but really just stood and said numbers in French until we were satisfied with the outcome. If one doesn't accept our price there are many more taxis willing to pull over. We went to the Sandaga Market which has everything from boxers and bras to q-tips. We were swarmed wherever we went since we were a group of Americans but we were lucky in that no one was pickpocketed. We later read in the Lonely Planet Guide that this is the biggest market and most overwhelming. We aren't really sure how reliable this guide is since it's a bit outdated, but it's the only one on Senegal. We also went to N'ice Cream which is apparently the best place to get ice cream in Dakar; it's really more like gelati. It wasn't as good as ice cream in America but I'm sure we'll get used to it. We chose our classes today too and I'm going to be taking all of my classes in French except Wolof so hopefully I'll make some progress with my French skills...We're going to the cross-cultural orientation tomorrow and we get to meet our host families!