• It’s hot, but not as humid as the Midwest.
  • Lots of people there speak better French than you: you really will learn from them.
  • The music is brilliant.
  • Senegal is a stable West African democracy, with peaceful transfers of power exemplary in the developing world.
  • You can get an introduction to Africa without the commitment of a semester-long program.
  • Dakar is no further from New York than Paris.
  • The food is excellent and perfectly safe, with only common-sense precautions.
  • You will meet people who really are not just like you, and some of them will become your friends.
  • Senegal has very successful public health programs.
  • Dean Diallo, an American who knows Senegal well, will be there.
  • Did we mention the music?
  • You get to propose a research project.
  • Um, the Senegalese?
  • It costs no more than Wash U’s other summer programs.