Akwaaba! (Welcome)
After repeatedly typing out what i've been up to the past 2 months (holy shit I can't believe it's been that long.) to different people I have decided to start a blog to document my time here in Ghana. Since I've missed a little more than 7 weeks already I'm just going to roll these weeks into a few fun-sized posts.
Before coming to Accra I remember being told by a few people that men would readily propose to you or declare their love after knowing you for only a few minutes, mostly because they think you are a banking bank or a ticket to a visa. In other words, I was prepared (so i thought), but did not expect it to start literally the moment i hopped off that plane. I should also point out that walking up to the door of the plane was like being suddenly drenched in warm water. The humidity literally smacks you in the face faster than you can imagine. After the group of us Cali kids were shuttled into the airport we were, naturally, lost and confused. We had been told that the EAP would be there to pick us up but naturally, they were running on GMT (Ghana Mean Time AKA show up whenever the hell you please). And so, we wandered through customs, were continually yelled at in Twi and eventually made it out where we were immediately surrounded by no less than 50 people offering us various services, ranging from a cab ride to campus, an offer of a private tour of the country and a plea to "please leave the program and come to my brother's hotel, you will like it much better." A few of us got separated and were approached by 3 men wearing University of Ghana T shirts (still stand by the fact that this was what mislead us, they looked SUPER legit). Thinking we had found our people, but slightly confused that they didn't seem to be surprised there were 4 of us rather than 30, we followed them. 30 seconds later they were offering to marry us and take us on a private tour of the country.Quickly relaizing our mistake we dashed back ad found our REAL people who are quite literally the most welcoming and greatest people EVER. They all began introducing themselves as Auntie this or that which instantly makes you feel that much more at home, knowing that these people that are going to essentially be in charge of you are your Aunties, not just a program coordinator.
But diving into the stay itself, we were taken on a campus and city tour the day after we arrived. I think it is truly amazing how much the campus here reminds me of Santa Cruz. It has the same nature-y feel and has made me feel right at home. Instead of walking on sidewalks there are dirt paths through gardens and trees that make walks to class that much better. We began dance class immediately which is hands down my fav class. Our Professor, Oh! Ni Sowah is such a passionate man and believes that everybody has the ability to "boogie" within their soul. Class is super energizing and fun and is something I look forward to every Tuesday and Thursday.
After a few days of dance class and speeding around town, our program took us on a multi day, multi city tour of parts of the country. We hit Cape Coast first, and our drive there proved to be quite an eventful one! About an hour and half down the Accra-Cape Coast highway everyone was drifting off into naps. Suddenly there was a lot of yelling and shouting and pointing and BAM we were sideswiped by a taxi! Our bus driver, Solomon, naturally charged out of the bus guns blazing, only to realize that the taxi in question was indeed empty except for a lady sitting in the BACK seat. It took awhile, but we learned that the taxi driver had stopped the car briefly to run out and grab something and the break had slipped. Pretty dramatic stuff! Both the lady and all of us were fine though and we continued on to Cape Coast. Upon pulling into our hotel (The Anomabo Beach Resort) , we were all amazed. It was literally this very fancy beach resort right on the water. The rooms were these awesome two person huts with the waves just beyond the window.
We headed out to the Kakum National Park the next day. If anybody has ever seen a picture of Ghana anywhere I guaruntee you it was a picture of Kakum. It is the number on tourist spot in Ghana for sure, and the iconic rope hung canopy walkway is the highlight of the park. I would like to emphasize the ROPE TIED idea of the canopy walkway. It is literally a series of 7 bridges that are about 10 inches wide and several hundred meters long that are held up by ROPES. Now i'm a fairly tall girl so I won't lie and say I wasn't a little freaked. Those rope nets on the sides of the bridges are pretty darn short in my opinion and I can't say I was totally convinced of their effectiveness. Take a look at that pic and tell me I wouldn't have totally toplled over the edge if I had slipped! But it was a great experience and I think anyone that comes to Ghana should hit the spot, because it is beautiful and exhilarating and amazing.
Last on our trip was a trip to the cultural capital of Ghana, Kumasi. Kumasi is home to the iconic Ghanaian Kente cloth. This is cloth grown, dyed and loomed right in the Ashanti Region and all peices of Kente tell some sort of story. They are highly intricately woven, colorful strip of fabric that are worn in a toga-like fashion by the chiefs (Asantehene) of traditional tribes. We had a good time touring the village of Adanwomase (and spending waaay too much on all sorts of fun Kente) and the adjacent cocoa farm (Cocoa is one of the most commonly grown goods here! Many people chew the seeds in the raw form. I, however, will stick to actual chocoate, the bitterness is definitely not my thing.) We also went to Mahyia Palace, which is where the current Asantehene still lives! Unfortunately, he didn't make an appearance, but we did get to tour the palace, which was fasinating to learn about. We ended our 3rd night in Kumasi with a trip to a local bar called +2 Pub and then in the morning began the 5 hour drive back to Accra. It's funny how quickly we all have come to think of Accra and the International Student Hostel (ISH) as home. We had only been in Ghana for about a week and gone for about the same time but we were all saying things like oh i wana go home, but none of us were referring to the States.
Anyways tune in next time for an update on the challenges the Ebola outbreak has brought to us on campus and a crazy bus ride to the tallest falls in West Africa!
Yebehyia bio! (Until next time)
After repeatedly typing out what i've been up to the past 2 months (holy shit I can't believe it's been that long.) to different people I have decided to start a blog to document my time here in Ghana. Since I've missed a little more than 7 weeks already I'm just going to roll these weeks into a few fun-sized posts.
Before coming to Accra I remember being told by a few people that men would readily propose to you or declare their love after knowing you for only a few minutes, mostly because they think you are a banking bank or a ticket to a visa. In other words, I was prepared (so i thought), but did not expect it to start literally the moment i hopped off that plane. I should also point out that walking up to the door of the plane was like being suddenly drenched in warm water. The humidity literally smacks you in the face faster than you can imagine. After the group of us Cali kids were shuttled into the airport we were, naturally, lost and confused. We had been told that the EAP would be there to pick us up but naturally, they were running on GMT (Ghana Mean Time AKA show up whenever the hell you please). And so, we wandered through customs, were continually yelled at in Twi and eventually made it out where we were immediately surrounded by no less than 50 people offering us various services, ranging from a cab ride to campus, an offer of a private tour of the country and a plea to "please leave the program and come to my brother's hotel, you will like it much better." A few of us got separated and were approached by 3 men wearing University of Ghana T shirts (still stand by the fact that this was what mislead us, they looked SUPER legit). Thinking we had found our people, but slightly confused that they didn't seem to be surprised there were 4 of us rather than 30, we followed them. 30 seconds later they were offering to marry us and take us on a private tour of the country.Quickly relaizing our mistake we dashed back ad found our REAL people who are quite literally the most welcoming and greatest people EVER. They all began introducing themselves as Auntie this or that which instantly makes you feel that much more at home, knowing that these people that are going to essentially be in charge of you are your Aunties, not just a program coordinator.
But diving into the stay itself, we were taken on a campus and city tour the day after we arrived. I think it is truly amazing how much the campus here reminds me of Santa Cruz. It has the same nature-y feel and has made me feel right at home. Instead of walking on sidewalks there are dirt paths through gardens and trees that make walks to class that much better. We began dance class immediately which is hands down my fav class. Our Professor, Oh! Ni Sowah is such a passionate man and believes that everybody has the ability to "boogie" within their soul. Class is super energizing and fun and is something I look forward to every Tuesday and Thursday.
After a few days of dance class and speeding around town, our program took us on a multi day, multi city tour of parts of the country. We hit Cape Coast first, and our drive there proved to be quite an eventful one! About an hour and half down the Accra-Cape Coast highway everyone was drifting off into naps. Suddenly there was a lot of yelling and shouting and pointing and BAM we were sideswiped by a taxi! Our bus driver, Solomon, naturally charged out of the bus guns blazing, only to realize that the taxi in question was indeed empty except for a lady sitting in the BACK seat. It took awhile, but we learned that the taxi driver had stopped the car briefly to run out and grab something and the break had slipped. Pretty dramatic stuff! Both the lady and all of us were fine though and we continued on to Cape Coast. Upon pulling into our hotel (The Anomabo Beach Resort) , we were all amazed. It was literally this very fancy beach resort right on the water. The rooms were these awesome two person huts with the waves just beyond the window.
We headed out to the Kakum National Park the next day. If anybody has ever seen a picture of Ghana anywhere I guaruntee you it was a picture of Kakum. It is the number on tourist spot in Ghana for sure, and the iconic rope hung canopy walkway is the highlight of the park. I would like to emphasize the ROPE TIED idea of the canopy walkway. It is literally a series of 7 bridges that are about 10 inches wide and several hundred meters long that are held up by ROPES. Now i'm a fairly tall girl so I won't lie and say I wasn't a little freaked. Those rope nets on the sides of the bridges are pretty darn short in my opinion and I can't say I was totally convinced of their effectiveness. Take a look at that pic and tell me I wouldn't have totally toplled over the edge if I had slipped! But it was a great experience and I think anyone that comes to Ghana should hit the spot, because it is beautiful and exhilarating and amazing.
Last on our trip was a trip to the cultural capital of Ghana, Kumasi. Kumasi is home to the iconic Ghanaian Kente cloth. This is cloth grown, dyed and loomed right in the Ashanti Region and all peices of Kente tell some sort of story. They are highly intricately woven, colorful strip of fabric that are worn in a toga-like fashion by the chiefs (Asantehene) of traditional tribes. We had a good time touring the village of Adanwomase (and spending waaay too much on all sorts of fun Kente) and the adjacent cocoa farm (Cocoa is one of the most commonly grown goods here! Many people chew the seeds in the raw form. I, however, will stick to actual chocoate, the bitterness is definitely not my thing.) We also went to Mahyia Palace, which is where the current Asantehene still lives! Unfortunately, he didn't make an appearance, but we did get to tour the palace, which was fasinating to learn about. We ended our 3rd night in Kumasi with a trip to a local bar called +2 Pub and then in the morning began the 5 hour drive back to Accra. It's funny how quickly we all have come to think of Accra and the International Student Hostel (ISH) as home. We had only been in Ghana for about a week and gone for about the same time but we were all saying things like oh i wana go home, but none of us were referring to the States.
Anyways tune in next time for an update on the challenges the Ebola outbreak has brought to us on campus and a crazy bus ride to the tallest falls in West Africa!
Yebehyia bio! (Until next time)
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