Wisconsin to West Africa: How Studying Abroad Helped Me Reclaim My Story
by Dr. Devin Walker
After my first semester on campus, I started doubting that I had what it took to get through 4 years in Wisconsin. I was starting to get fed up with all the White folks and their ignorance towards non-White mid-westerners, especially Black folks from LA. Folks generally engaged me on three topics: sports, LA gang culture and Hip-hop, while at first, I was happy people wanted to talk to me - after about a month, I got tired of having the same conversation.
They struggled getting to know me beyond the Black kid from LA with an afro pick in his hair. Not to mention, the weather was demoralizing at best - it was tough for me to imagine another 4 years in Wisconsin. You know the saying about New York, “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”
That’s exactly how I started to feel about Wisconsin. If I could make it through the cold and the overwhelming ignorance I experienced, then I thought to myself, I can probably make it anywhere. So that's what I decided to do. I said to myself, ''You know what? I'm going to study abroad.'' Anywhere has got to be better than here! A friend from Chicago had just been accepted to study abroad in Thailand which gave me the extra bit of confidence I needed to make that decision for myself.
“As soon as my sophomore year started, I began seeking out my options. I wanted to go to the continent, I wanted to go to Africa.”
My heart was set on West Africa, either Senegal or Cameroon, where they spoke French. So, I decided that I would spend the summer of my sophomore year in Quebec, Canada and to learn the requisite French I would need to spend a semester in West Africa. J'ai étudié à l'université de Leval pendant 6 semaines.
Outside of not being able to communicate due to the language barrier, the thing I remember most about that experience was the maps. Growing up in the states, when you look at a map of the United States of America, oftentimes, Canada is represented by a big patch of green, like its just some big ass forest. Rarely do US maps highlight the provinces, the cities, really anything that depicts the civilization of Canada.
However, Canadian maps were interconnected with the US. The highways crossed from the US to Canada, huge cities like Toronto were just hours away from Buffalo and Detroit. It felt as if something was being hidden right in front of my eyes. I started to question why I knew so little about a huge country that was right next to mine. Why didn’t we learn much about Canada, their history, their governance, their racial politics.
“Shit, I realized I didn’t even know the capital city of the entire country. Do you?”
Dr. Devin Walker
CEO and Founder
World Walker
