I'm flying out of Togo in 7 hours and am devastated. It's absolutely awesome here, and I'm not ready to leave. There are a bajillion reasons why I've loved it, but the reason on my mind now is as follows:
When you're lonely in Togo, it's quickly rectified. You have to work hard to not make friends here. Everybody (or nearly) is insanely social and insanely friendly. It helps to be an American- many Togolese see Americans as glimmers of hope - potential ways to get out of Togo and into America, the land of opportunity. However, even if I weren't American and even if I weren't white, I would still be able to make Togolese friends in a heartbeat. It's a culture of friendship. At Duke, on the other hand, if you're lonely and looking for somebody to chat with, you'll probably find yourself in a hard place. Especially around exam week.
One more thing! Togolese people are straight-up cool: there's no concept of awkwardness here. Because everybody says hi to everybody, there is no such thing as an awkward moment. At home in the USA, and especially during university semesters, awkward moments happen as much as once a day. 'I met that girl once; should I say hi to her or not? And if I do say hi to her, do I stop and have a petite conversation also?' In Togo, the answer is usually always yes-yes.
Alors, au revoir, Togo! Visiting you was one of the best decisions of my life. See you again someday.
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