If you get the Broadway reference in the title – you win! (the satisfaction of knowing that you are probably as big of a theater nerd as I am) Last month was the five year anniversary of receiving my Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, and I realized it’s been almost 10 years since receiving…
I wanted to share a recent phone call I had with a colleague from my days at KU. He reached out last week asking if I wanted to do a virtual happy hour to talk about my experience in the private sector, specifically tips for finding work and how I navigate being an anti-racist in…
The holidays this year are already shaping up to be different than almost any I have experienced (with the exception of the year I spent living in South Korea). This is the first year my husband and I will be spending the holidays together at our home, at least for Thanksgiving. Our families live near…
I think I went over a year without writing anything in this space. If you’re new here, welcome. If you have been here before, welcome back. Over the past year, I got married, accepted a new job, entered a new decade of my life, and like the rest of the world, ended up locked in…
Our first stop when we arrived in Italy was Milan. The train station in Milan is absolutely beautiful. Getting around Milan is not too bad. There are public transit options such as the subway or bus, and there are also taxis. We took the subway to the neighborhood where the hotel was located and walked…
As many of you know, I took a two-week trip to Italy in early April to celebrate my one-year anniversary with Brock. We met on April Fool’s Day, and when plane tickets to Rome came up for super cheap the day before our anniversary, we booked them and started planning! Out of all of the…
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I know, the photo is blurry. But it was taken while my best friend was laughing uncontrollably in a quiet coffee shop near my apartment just over one year ago. Chelsea and I met almost every week for a year to work on our dissertation projects and other graduate school work (I was enrolled in…
What the heck is a first-gen??? That was the first thought that went through my mind as I sat in the office of the Director of Graduate Studies for my department.
While everyone is figuring out creative ways to engage in timeless holiday traditions, I am already pondering new opportunities. As I bake cookies and pie with my mom, two-stepping to holiday music around the kitchen, I am simultaneously thinking about how far I have come this year, and how many more opportunities are still…
After being here for almost a month, I realize that I have not talked much about my host family or what my experience living in Dakar has been like this year. The Baobab Center (or ACI, as many people now refer to it) arranged my homestay, just like WARC did for me last January. I…
This past weekend, my friends and I went to Saint Louis/Ndar in the northern part of Senegal to escape the hustle and bustle of Dakar. Saint Louis is also where Younnouss Seye, the artist I am looking for as part of my research, was born. I heard lots of good things about Ndar: a coastal city,…
I know that it has been almost a week since my last post.I was sick.Like, incredibly sick.As in, had to call a house-call doctor and explain in broken French, Wolof, and English how to get to my house using a map of Dakar in bed and hope for the best. When the doctor arrived, I…
Today was one of those “researcher days.” I am tired. My feet definitely hurt. I did not eat enough food today (my teeth hurt too much to chew) or drink enough water (I’m sick of the taste). I still do not have regular access to the internet without being at the Baobab Center or Le…
I did my first load of laundry in my homestay today. According to the terms of my homestay for the Baobab Center, I am supposed to have laundry service once per week in my household. After a few confusing conversations with yaay, I still do not know which day the household does their laundry. Whoops.…
Earlier this week, Emily, Sierra, and I went to the fabric market in Dakar called HLM. After our experience using Kaar Rappit with Mamaa to visit the boutique in Medina, we decided against taking a taxi. To give you an idea, going in a given direction on kaar rappit is 100CFA, taking a taxi is…
This first week in Dakar was filled with random adventures. It’s a long-ish post, so grab the popcorn!On Tuesday, Emily, Jessica, Avey, Sierra, and I all decided to see a free movie at a place called Hotel du Phare in les Mamelles. Their Facebook page lets you know which movie is showing, and it happens every Tuesday evening…
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Angela D. Murphy, Ph.D. 