Four years ago on this date, I was far from 11 inches of fresh snow and any mention of "polar vortex." I was in Dakar, Senegal on the west coast of Africa spending a semester studying abroad. One of the highlights (there were so many!) of this semester's experience was getting to witness Senegal's Independence Day - April 4th - and in 2010 this happened to be the 50th anniversary of the country's independence! One of my neighborhood friends, Ndiarkaa, offered to take me to see the big parade downtown and then that evening we went to the big wrestling meet at the stadium. Thanks to Ndiarkaa, we were able to watch the parade from a prime spot, not far from where President Wade eventually viewed the spectacle from. (I'm fairly certain my friend told the security to the parade that I was an American reporter with my big camera, and needed to take important photos for the newspaper - or something to that effect!) President Wade waved at the crowd on his way to the presidential viewing stand and lots of the military guys enjoyed making faces at this crazy white girl with a big camera on the side of the road. There was red, yellow and green everywhere! The parade was more along the lines of a display, and sadly didn't include any candy.

After dinner, Ndiarkaa and I headed to one of Dakar's many stadiums to watch an intense wrestling match. To give you an idea, wrestling in Senegal is even more of a big deal than football is in America! Everyone is super passionate about their "luetter" or wrestler. I even bought a child sized t shirt on the street for approximately 50 cents to show my support for my luetter Yekini. At the stadium, we watched the wrestlers gather and prepare to wrestle, which could be a blog post all on its own! Even Akon (a Senegalese native) was in attendance and waved at the crowd from his fancy SUV. After about a minute of intense wrestling..Yekini won! Then the crowds rushed out of the stadium and into the streets to celebrate. Ndiarkaa and I took a bus back to our neighborhood of Wakam and took a walk to check out the newly opened - and heavily debated - African Renaissance Monument. What an exciting day!

Want to see more of my shots from my time in Senegal? Some more blog links to check out: Reminiscing of Senegal and Amanda in Senegal 2010