The first third of my semester abroad closes as we travel to northern Italy to study the Muridiyya in this country. I notice differences in the two countries and miss things about Senegal that I previously thought to be some of the worst aspects of living in Dakar. Although we’ve only spent a day in Brescia, there are vast differences in temperature, landscape, and architecture. In my homestay in Dakar, my room is situated about 15 feet from a busy street in a neighborhood called Mermoz. The one window in my room is high up and rectangular, and faces the street. The window has white bars and a screen, so I cannot shut out the noise of the street. Some common noises I hear at (any time of) night are: horses, goats, taxis and other cars going by, people singing, car horns and brakes, mopeds, voices, and laughter. Before coming to Senegal, I did not ever use or need earplugs, but they are a genius invention, one that I may not need in Italy. The streets are quiet at night in Brescia.

The buildings all seem to have accent-colored shutters on the windows, which gives off a picturesque country vibe. It’s much colder; about 30 Fahrenheit during the day and half that at night. The mountains all have snow caps and the trees are bare and brown, like claws reaching upwards. Cold temperatures also mean no mosquitoes, thankfully. I started out fine in Dakar; I kept the mosquitoes away by keeping my face and hands covered at night with clothing and bug spray. When we travelled to Touba and Kaolack, which are both inland from Dakar and about 20 degrees hotter during the day, it got much harder to fend them off. I ended up with 7 or 8 bites on each arm, and around 3 on each foot. They bit in odd places too- my elbows, fingers, and neck. The cold will keep me safe from bugs, so I’ll accept the freezing temperatures in Italy. I’ll look for similarities in the people instead, which I can always find, no matter how small.