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Speaking in Wolof.
That’s how you say good morning, how are you today in Wolof. I went to an international
bilingual high school. And they were having sessions about different universities in different
countries and I knew I wanted to go to America just because I wanted to try something else.
So I went to the U.S. session, and someone... And then the lady that was talking actually mentioned
North Carolina. And I was like, ‘What’s that? Is that a state?’ And she said ‘Yeah
that’s a state in the U.S.!’ And I said, ‘Well I’ve never heard of it before.’
And she said ‘I mean, well they have great schools there, so I can give you a list and
you can just check.’ So I took the list, and there were a bunch of universities and
I just picked UNCG Greensboro because she talked about how diverse the school was, and
I was like ‘oh that sounds great.’ I learned to live with French people for eight years,
and I think southern people in here are way nicer. ‘Cause in France no one would hold
the door for you or anything. But yet, it is still nicer in Africa, because I don’t
know, people know each other. They talk to each other a lot, like people know their neighbors.
They say hi to you in the street, God bless you today. Even though they don’t know you,
and it doesn’t really happen in here often, but I really do like the South. What first
struck me when I came to Greensboro is it’s a really quiet city I would say. And also
sometimes I had trouble understanding the southern accent. The ‘y’all’ and…
yeah they would say some things like that and I would just be like what? So I had a
really hard time understanding people and talking to them. But it gets better with time
‘cause you get friends, and you start to know the way they talk and what they mean.
I’m double majoring in sociology and international studies, and I have a concentration in criminology.
I already knew that I wanted to work with something like the United Nations just because
I like traveling and getting to know new cultures and ways of life. I already knew I wanted
to learn about society, the social norms, the social standards, and what people consider
deviant and non-deviant in different countries. I would say that I’ve learned that different
people in different countries, continents, have different ways of life. And that’s
basically the biggest thing I’ve learned because I didn’t know that before I came
in here, I just thought well I’m pretty sure it’s not that different. I’m pretty
sure they live the same somehow. But I’ve learned that different people live in different
ways. What’s considered to be a social norm in Africa wouldn’t be a social norm in America
and I think that’s quite impressive.
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