Ashesi University...The School in the Sky.

This is Ashesi Universities court yard. We as NYU students have the option to take classes at Ashesi, although the drive there is brutal. I felt as though I was on a roller coaster ride as we made are way up a hill and through a village on a road that consisted purely of pot holes. Pretty crazy trip, but the views from the top of the hill are breath taking and the school itself is brand new and beautiful.

I am excited to add this to my arsenal of quotes. "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now".

Wow... Welcome to Accra

Today at orientation we were blessed enough to have a previous mayor of Accra (also a professor of one of my courses I intend to take here) come in to talk to us about the history of Accra and also to take us on a tour around the city.

Accra started as a small village with a very strategic location. Due to the fact that geographically Accra had very few resources, it thrived off the fact that it was strategically located for trade with the west coast. Below you will see a photo of an old dutch slave traders home, one of the few thats original structure still stands...well sort of stands. Due to erosion over time, as well as earthquakes, the structure no longer has a roof and many of the walls on the opposing side have crumbled. the structure itself is built out of the rocks that the dutch kept at the bottom of their ships as a tool to weigh down and steady the ships on their way over. When they arrived to Accra, the rocks were removed from the ships and the weight was replaced by human cargo, more commonly known as slaves.  The wall you see, just behind the little boys, makes a circle in which the slaves would stand as they were auctioned off to buyers. It is safe to say that it was an emotional place to be standing so many years later.

The house now serves as a home to a large Ghanaian family, who really just look to be squatters there. The two little boys that greeted us as we entered were just the cutest things in the world. They pranced around jumping up and down around our feet while in a sing song voice repeating the phrase "How are you?", clearly all they knew how to say.

This little guy grabbed onto my skirt and followed me as we were walking out, singing over and over "how are you?".
I melted.

From the back of the dutch slave house this was the view. There is a large fishing community in Accra, as you can see. The boats are all on the shore because it is tuesday and tuesdays are set aside to worship the god of the sea and mend fishing nets.

Day Bakko (one)!

After getting settled into my room yesterday evening, I took my first stab at sleeping in my new bed. Now I can sleep pretty much anywhere, so this bed will pose no challenge for me, but DAMN is it loud. You can not move an inch on this bed without the wood boards below it creaking like WOAH.  Had I been tired this would have been a non-issue, but I was not…so it goes.

Feeling slightly home sick and frankly overwhelmed by this huge and sudden change in lifestyle, I found myself wide awake at 4am. It was hopeless for me to try to return to my slumber, so I made the most of it. God knows there is nothing like a nice P90X core synergistic and ab ripper work out to start your first day in Accra!

As I stood in my room dripping buckets of sweat from my work out ….gross, I realized just what a pain in the ass it is to not be able to drink from the tap. #thirdworldproblems. All I wanted to do was dive at my sink and guzzle some water before collapsing onto my floor, but NO. I had to run downstairs and grab a bottled water from the supply NYU was kind enough to give us for our first week… How much is tuition again?

After talking to two of my favorite loves from home on facebook chat (thank god for the internet and facebook chat), I grabbed myself my first shower in my rooms bathroom. I could not have been more pleased, in fact thrilled, that when I turned on the hot water heater it actually worked. I am sure that will be short lived, but I will cross my fingers.

At just about the time I was getting out of the shower, the sun started to come up, so I grabbed my book and went outside to sit and welcome the morning. I was not the only one welcoming the morning it turns out. There was a chorus of roosters making it known that the sun was up and that it was time to get your ass out of bed. 

Later, I enjoyed myself a nice breakfast of toast. There was an array of different kinds of fresh baked bread in our kitchen. I went with a slice of banana bread and mixed fruit bread…neither of which taste like one would expect. I learned the hard way that the toaster here takes less than 30 seconds to toast something. Leave it to me to nearly burn down the place on my first day here…typical. 

After listening to a pretty epic sounding stray dog fight outside, we departed for our orientation at the academic center. Orientation was pretty intense, there is a great deal of information to take in and not a whole lot of time for the staff to prepare us to be on our own. Our attempts at learning Twi are pretty pathetic…

The whole group of us, which is about 38 or so in total, all enjoyed a great lunch of Ghanaian food and then began the long process of purchasing cell phones. Saying it was a long process it really an understatement, even for a group of tech savvy students, these cell phones were quite the struggle.

By the time we were done getting everyone settled with their new phone, it was time for dinner, which we enjoyed at a local restaurant that NYU set up a meal plan with.

Tomorrow is an 8:30am start, so it is off to bed for me! Fingers crossed I don’t wake up at 4am again…arg.

P.S. Embrace this constant stream of blogging mom, as I am sure it will not last long. Soon the fun starts :)

The view outside my window... interesting. There is a rooster hiding somewhere in there.

Our dinning area and lounge on the first floor.

All Moved In...Well That Was Quick

Well, being that I brought next to nothing, it took me no time at all to unpack and get settled in. And Oh boy is my decorating lame. I think it is safe to say that I am going to have to purchase quite a bit of fun, pretty, cultural, bad ass stuff to cover these white walls if I am going to live here the next 110 days.

I have the bucket list front and center... ready to cross a few of those off.

I miss all of my nick nacks....paddy wack, give a dog a bone.

People have been flying into Accra through out the day. Tomorrow we begin orientation...whatever that means exactly. So tonight I get to chill and sleep for my first night half way around the world.

EEEk....GOOD GOD, I AM IN GHANA.

"Akwaaba"... Welcome Home

Upon reaching Atlanta, I began my preparation for the second leg of my journey. After upgrading my seat, shoving food court chinese food down my throat and popping two... ok maybe three... sleeping pills, I was mentally prepared for my eleven hour flight.

My premo seat was next to a lovely gentleman from Liberia named Jarred, who would inevitably be my cuddle buddy (whether he liked it or not) for the journey ahead. It is safe to say that I was out cold before the plane even took off. I slept the majority of the flight, awaking only to eat two subpar airline meals and to watch the Adjustment Bureau, as well as Water for Elephants, on my personal TV (Score!). 

As we came in for landing, Jarred opened the shade on the window. At first there was only blinding white light, but as we descended out of the clouds the african landscape came into view. Jarred chuckled as he looked over at me, "I bet you didn't expect to see that". He was right. While I very well should have expected to see such a lush and foreign landscape, part of me, or all of me, had not come to terms with the fact that I was landing in Ghana. 

As we descended even farther the landscape became speckled with colored roofs. Soon enough, it was colored roofs crammed together in clumps with seemingly no order. In the movie of my life this is certainly when I would turn to my dog Toto and say, "I've a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore".

While waiting to exit the plan, I gathered my belongings and gave one final sweep to make sure I had everything. In doing this, I noticed something that my mother is sure to appreciate. In big bolded letters on the outside of the delta flight manual it read, "BE SAFE".................like come on! As if I needed any more reminders.

Walking off the airplane I got my first glimpse of the airport. It was astonishing to me that it even functioned. Out of the very few airplanes there, one of them looked functional and it was the one I had just arrived on. 

Upon entering the airport, I read a big sign saying, "Akwaaba", or welcome home. I had a moment of panic as I realized that this foreign land would in fact be my home for the next few months. 

After going through customs and retrieving my luggage from the single baggage claim, I headed outside to meet my NYU greeter. Standing there, while waiting for others to arrive, I observed the interactions of the people around me. I decided that either the security guards working knew everyone getting off the planes, or they were just super freakishly friendly. Being that the planes coming in were from Ethiopia and Dubai, I am going to guess that they are just freakishly friendly... 

From the airport we boarded a bus to our dorms. On the 7 or so minute drive, I began to realize that Ghana may very well be more underdeveloped than I had imagined. For one thing the open drainage system is going to be difficult to get used to. 

There is a huge disparity between the rich and poor here. A gated nice house is followed by a half finished crumbling cement foundation that people are clearly living in. The US embassy (2 mins from my dorm) sticks out like a sore thumb, as it is way nicer than anything else around. 

My dorm is clearly on the nice end of the spectrum. It is fairly new and is protected by a huge wall with an electrical fence and 24 hour guards. There are about 15 kids in my dorm and only 2 of us have a single....Some how I manage to always hit the housing lottery. My single is pretty large and I have my own bathroom...SA-WEEEET!

SO.....that is the overview.

P.S. You should see how much the people here can carry on their heads.....it blows my mind. They are so incredibly casual about it. 

Guess What Mom! I Am Still Alive!

The last leg of my journey was from Atlanta to Accra, which was an 11 hour flight! Gah.

Here is my new home! And yes, it is a single with its own bathroom....I am one lucky duck when it comes to room assignments....

I have no idea how to figure out this adapter that I purchased at REI, so I will blog some more when I can charge my computer. As for now, I am still alive!

I Am Engaged!

No people, I am not making a virtual attempt at backhanding you, I am just showing off my new rock. Thats right, I got engaged! I finally found the person I want to spend the rest of my life with...the yin to my yang if ya know what I mean. Now Daddio, before you go and get your gun, you should know that the person I am engaged to is....well... me.... naturally. No I did not stutter, I am going to marry me. Who else did you think was worthy enough? Sheesh.

But really, while I may be crazy enough to try to pull something so ridiculous off, I only got this ring as "proof" that I am married and off the market. Apparently the men in Ghana are quite aggressive with marriage proposals, so I have purchased a ring as I was advised to by both NYU and my travel guide. Now I just have to think of who my fake husband is going to be.

Options:

Ryan Gosling

Ryan Reynolds

Channing Tatum 

Choices, choices, choices....

So while I may not be technically engaged, due to the legal complications, myself and I will still be accepting congratulatory gifts.