By: Tori Lemon
Lantern Staff
When many of us think of going on vacation or moving to our “dream country,” people oftentimes think of a place on the other side of the world; however, for sophomore Dieme Youssouph, the country he wanted to move to most was the United States.
After living off of the coast of West Africa in Senegal for 29 years, Youssouph felt as though it was time to come to El Dorado to start on his college career; however, the values and culture he grew up with will stick with him wherever he travels.
“Back home we live in a society where everyone cares about the well being of others,” he said. “Our culture allows us to show up to our neighbors’ without giving a notice. They call it country of hospitality.”
Like many students, he chose to come here for the reasonable prices of the classes.
“I chose Butler to complete my general education because it is cheaper and helps save money,” Youssouph said.
He is currently a mass communications major, and he would like to take his interests in media to field of film.
“My best experience was learning how to operate a camera in a studio,” Youssouph said. “Also, I am having a great experience working with Facilities Management at (the) Andover campus.”
As many could imagine, moving to a completely different country was not an easy transition for Youssouph. He said there were two big struggles he faced when moving here– having to adjust to a completely different culture and having to learn a new, complicated language different from his French-speaking home.
“The first struggle was culture shock. The second would be the language, not only do I have trouble getting what natives say, but sometimes they hardly understand what you try to say too,” he said. “It is frustrating most of the time. It is actually hard to hold a great conversation.”
Another struggle of Youssouph’s was the not-so-simple task of moving here to begin with. In order to relocate to a new country, one must obtain a visa. That is just authorization by the government of your destination country that permits you to remain within its borders for a specified purpose and period of time.
“I would say it was like a nightmare to come here,” he said. “I had to apply seven times to get a visa, and each application I had to pay $160 for visa fees. They kept denying me a visa without telling me the reasons. But since I wanted to explore both a new world and culture, I never gave up. Here I am today answering your questions.”
Through all of these conflicts and stumbles, something good definitely came out of all of this for Youssouph.
“I am learning new things as far as school is concerned,” he said. “I am learning how to be independent and taking care of my expenses by myself.”
If everything goes according to plan, Youssouph will attend Wichita State or moving to a different state after his time at Butler; however, he will never forget the “Amazing, quiet and welcoming” Butler County.
