Arrival Day

The internet at the house we're staying in is really lousy. Only one person can use it at a time, and even then, it still crashes sometimes. Hence the reason I'm writing this so late- everyone else is already asleep.


Today was a really bad day for flying apparently. I think that I may have been the only one in the group who made their original flight AND layover flight, even though they were delayed, which sucks, especially when it means you have to be one of those idiots at the airport who you see running to catch their plane. Like I said, almost every single person's flight got messed up, delayed, or cancelled, so for a good part of the day, it was only me and three other girls that had arrived. That ended up being awesome, though, because instead of staying at a hotel like we were supposed to, Dr. A, my professor, decided to rent us a HUGE house, and out of ten or so rooms, only two had separate, full size beds, and I got one of them :D The girls who showed up later and have to share a bed aren't very happy about it, and honestly, we all kind of wish we were staying at the hotel since it's so much closer to the center of town, but the house is super nice, has AC and a pool, so I have no complaints.


I know I haven't seen much of anything yet, but I love it here already. Even just driving around here is completely different from anything in the United States. I don't think the word "lane" exists here when it comes to driving, and people literally walk through the middle of the streets, inches from cars, trying to sell the most ridiculous junk. I think I literally might be the only blonde in Ghana, too, haha. I've never been called exotic-looking so many times in my life, or at all for that matter.


 I absolutely cannot wait to start exploring and even more so, to start working with the kids at BASIC on Monday. But it's time for me to go to bed, because I have no idea what time it is here, but I know that it's late.

24 hours left...

In less than 24 hours, I will be on a 14 hour plane ride to a country that is 5 time zones away, and it really hasn't set in at all. I can't even begin to explain how quickly time has passed since I applied and got accepted into the program. Getting ready this past week has been rough, too between work and my summer classes. Packing wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be though, and I didn't over pack, so I'm proud of myself :)

For the next month, I'll be in Ghana, Africa with 13 other MSU students. For the most part, we're going to be staying in the capital, Accra, but during the weekends, we get to travel to all different  areas, like Kumasi, the Hohoe-Volta region, and Cape Coast. It's strange, that of all of the places in the world to study abroad in, I chose a country that barely anyone knows about. Everyone always asks me why I chose to go to Ghana and not Europe or some place like that, but after hearing about what I get to do during the program, I was absolutely set on going. It's not like a typical study abroad- we have no classes. Everything that we do while we are there is pretty much self-directed. We are keeping an ethnographic journal while we are there, so I am really looking forward to interacting with the community and a culture that is totally different than my own. Also, my group gets the work with a group called BASIC, which is a program for children in Ghana who are at high risk for either dropping out or never attending school. I'm really excited/nervous because I'm co-head of the Education Development part of the program that the students in my group are creating for the kids in Ghana. I get to create lesson plans, work with students, and educate teachers while I'm there, which is crazy because there are teachers who have been teaching for decades that can't say they've done what I am about to do.

I'd like to think I know what to expect, but really, I have no clue. But I think that I can make a difference while I'm there, and that makes me happy :)