Gut Feeling

when you stomach tells you to call it quits… get out… my stomach issues started up again a few days ago (I can pretty much only eat bread and bananas sometimes) and, needless to say, Senegal and my bowels are not a match made in heaven… As hard as this is for me to do, it’s time to come home (yes early) It took a crazy day of doctors, taxis, and blood tests to confirm that while, I may love Senegal, my body does not right now. And that’s okay.

Too often study abroad blogs are full of sunsets and people smiling with drinks in hand. Very rarely do you see anything that would contradict that the writer is having the time of their lives. In reality, it’s ups and downs, days spent sick, days spent loving life, and everything in between. For a few weeks now, I’ve felt like I’m failing at everything I’ve set out to do. I don’t feel like myself. I can’t do everything I want to. I’m scared of everything. I haven’t sent a single snapchat (so unlike me!).  It took a long chat with one of my Senegalese friends/teachers/mentors to finally make the hard decision to go home. Needing to go doesn’t make me weak. In fact it makes me stronger to know myself and my limits. Additionally, it confirms that the home I’ve made for myself is a wonderful place to be. In that respect, I’m extremely lucky.

While I will miss the car rapides, the noise around the fruit stands in the morning, and the smells of Dakar (okay maybe not all the smells), the beautiful ocean and it’s breezes, and most of all, my wonderful host family who have adopted me as if I was their own, it’s time. Mostly I have learned that, while it takes bravery to stick out an uncomfortable situation, it takes even more to prioritize yourself and your own health.

Leggi Leggi, Dakar! I hope to return again at a time my body is willing to accept you.