Hello from Ghana! I have now been here for six days…I can’t believe it! It is so, so different from America…definitely still in culture shock! In these days, I have unpacked, met my roommate, tried to figure my way around campus, went to the markets, tried many new foods, met many other international students, and much more! Stepping out of the plane at the airport in Ghana made me realize just how hot it is here…I haven’t stopped sweating and I don’t think I ever will here! Customs at the airport was not intense at all, as I never had to show proof of my yellow fever vaccination (as I was told I had to) or any other documents that they said we had to have. It was soon easy to tell that English is not often spoken, except to foreigners.
I am still in the process of getting used to everything. Many things have surprised me or made me laugh, such as the porters questioning what I was eating when I had pretzels in my hand (although they did like them when I gave them some to try!), my roommate and other Ghanaians being very cold even when all of us international students are sweating, have both the water and electricity go out at the same time, having to say hello when passing people to not be rude, not using my left hand because it is a sign of disrespect, sleeping with a bednet, boys hissing to get your attention rather than saying something, cold showers (which actually feel very good because of the heat!), people carrying things on their heads everywhere (even things like mini-fridges and heavy sacks of water- it is amazing), some type of music (whether it is Akon, other American music, or Ghanaian music) always blasting from the markets or halls or hostels, always having red dirt on my feet (I think it is impossible to keep your feet clean here), bartering (something I am not good at), being called ‘obruni’ all the time (which means white person). And so many more!
I have been a little homesick, and am still in the process of adjusting. I have met many of the international students and all of us have been hanging out a lot. Something I really like is that almost all of the international students I have met are very knowledgeable about the world and really care about the issues facing the world today – it has made for some very interesting conversations from very different perspectives.
On Sunday night around 4am, people came around knocking on everyone’s doors telling us to evacuate immediately. Since there is no power, everyone in the hostels trudged outside using phone lights or flashlights to see. We stood out there for about 20 minutes before figuring out the reason for our evacuation: an earthquake warning. Apparently, some radio station in Accra said that there was going to be an earthquake, so people all throughout the city and campus went outside. We stayed outside until about 5am, when people starting thinking that the whole thing was a hoax and that the radio station (or someone else) had made the whole thing up. So, we all trudged back inside. It was so interesting to see the way that news travels here without many TV’s and limited access to internet.
Classes started yesterday...but not really. It is a well-known fact that most of the professors don’t come at all during the first week, but some students go to class anyway and wait for awhile to see if the professor shows up. Lots of Ghanaians don't even com back to the university until the second week of classes. The class system is very different here, all classes meet only once a week for two hours, and the only grade is the final exam. To find out the class times and places where they meet, everyone has to walk around to all of the different department buildings (which is no small task, because this campus is HUGE) and check to see if the timetables are up yet. Many of the departments haven’t put them up yet…which I’m guessing means that classes for that department don’t start until next week. So different from Elon :)
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