22nd Birthday

MY 22nd BIRTHDAY IN GHANA

Having my birthday abroad has never been more interesting! I woke up to a door full of balloons and sticky notes from my roommate and floor mates. Went to class and could not focus at all because I have never had to use my brain on my birthday in a school sense. 

Than went to African Dance class and was surprised what came halfway through. The tradition here is to dumb loads of water on the birthday person to symbolize rebirth and leaving all your troubles in the past. So I got dumped in water from all the students I am taking the class with and the teachers. After being dumped in water I got sprayed with soda and than dumped again in water. The whole experience was one to remember thats for sure and I will never forget my 22nd birthday because of it. 

After dance I had to play drums while water was dripping down my neck and a large puddle built around me as the water drained from my clothes. After class was over, we walked back to the Tro Tro station to take one back to the hostel. Got ready for the night and went to a dinner place down the street at DNR. This restaurant has turned into our favorite place to go and get great Turkish food. We went to a Karaoke bar to start off the night and sang a few songs and than headed to a few bars and called it a night. The night life here is great but they stay out till early morning. The bars don't even close till 5-6 a.m. which is insane in my book. 

Overall my birthday was a great time and I had a blast with everyone! I have now had my birthday on 3 continents which is pretty cool! 

Kokrobiti Beach

Today we went to Kokrobiti beach which is about 45 minutes from the hostel. The cab ride there was very smashed but once we got there the view was well worth the crammed car ride. Below is the bar and restaurant area. We had lunch there and I had a burger that was not the best but hey can't top In-N-Out right? 

Here is the actual beach where we spent all day laying out and catching all the African sun rays we could... Don't worry I didn't burn 

Here is a picture of their fishing boats that are up and down the beach and the cast out this long set of nets drifting across the water catching fish. There are a lot of these types of boats right outside the Cape Coast Castle I am guessing because thats their main fishing breeding ground

Cape Coast Trip

Today we went on a tour of the Cape Coast Castle, went to lunch at an alligator reserve and to the Canopy Walk. Each of the tours were great and learned more about the history of Ghana at the Cape Coast Castle. To the left is a picture of the city of Accra before we left for our 2 hour drive to the coast. 

At the castle they showed us the slave dungeons (both male and female), the captains master bedroom and the amazing view it had and the Door of No Return/ Door of Return. When you would leave the castle for the Atlantic slave trade you would leave behind you name and dignity and on the boat rides if a lady became pregnant from one of the captains or British leaders than she would be thrown overboard because the wives of the men would know that they had been cheating on them the whole time they were away. Very sad!

 The alligator reserve was really cool because the restaurant was literally surrounded by alligators and the gators could go on to the pathways easily because there were no fences. The lunch was really good, I had Red Red which is a dish with noodles, black eyed peas and chicken or fish.

The Canopy Walk was really cool because the forest seemed like it went on for miles and miles before you even entered the forest. The actual canopy walk was only 4 bridges suspended high off the floor of the forest. The bridges were really woobly but it was fun walking over them. Wish it was longer but hey I have proof I survived the canopy walk with a shirt so I feel pretty legit!  

Bush Canteen

Below is the Bush Canteen which is the market place on campus. It has fresh fruits such as mangos and pineapples that they cute for you and place in a bag, bottles of water, electronics, CDs, can get your nails done there and a bunch of other stuff. When I took this photo there was a lady that got really mad at me for taking the photo even though she wasn't in it. I said sorry but she was really pissed that I had even considered taking the photo. Nevertheless, this place is where we go to get anything we want cheap and quickly. Been here a bunch of times already!!! 

Duck Duck Froose

Today we went to an after school program in the area that is relatively poor but is becoming a booming place with mansions spread all over the town. The kids immediately jumped on those who had cameras and as soon as I took mine out the kids wanted to snatch it from me and take photos of themselves. We taught them duck duck goose (but they called in duck duck froose). The kids had some much energy and wanted to be on top of us the whole day. One boy in particular called me his "beautiful friend" and hun by my side most of the day. He was super cute but very rowdy. There was one little boy that wanted to gauge your eyes out when he played "guess who" and every time he came near me I flinched a little knowing his tiny little fingers would soon be pressing so hard onto my eyes. Overall, the day was great and loved hanging out with all the kids. 

Here is the view of the town at the top of the hill 

Playing duck duck froose 

My little friend who called me "beautiful friend" 

The crew making baskets and playing with the kids 

Cute little boy that wanted his photo taken every second 

City of Accra Tour

We went on a tour of Accra today and saw the downtown area, drove by the Presidents house but it isn't occupied because of the tension between the winning and loosing parties, toured the National History Museum of Ghana. 

Here is the streets of downtown Accra

The women here wearing things on their heads and than babies on their back while still using their hands

Another intense picture of people carrying things on their heads 

Accra market place 

National Memorial of Kwame Nkrumah

who is the past president   

My group

Later in the night the hostel crew played SkipBo (an amazing card game) and talked about all the adventures we have had thus far and about our lives. 

University of Ghana Campus

We went on a tour of campus today and saw the building that we will be taking classes in and all the little restaurants we can go to.  

This is the International House where I will be taking History of Ghana

This is the courtyard inside the International House

This is a beautiful fountain on campus near the Economic Building and Bookstore 

This is the main gate of campus where we will be trekking through everyday after our ride to school

The tour of campus was really fun but I have a feeling I will be lost the first week of classes cause the campus is giant! We were told that it is so big because they wanted to own land to have rights to it so most of the land isn't even used for the university. So thats campus where I will be spending most of my time during the week! 

We also spent most of the day learning about Ghanian culture/customs, Twi (chwee) which is their native language here. Some Twi we learned...

Akwaaba -> Welcome

Medaase -> Thank you

Ete sen? -> How are you?

Eye -> Fine

Maakye -> Good Morning

Maaha -> Good Afternoon

Maadwo -> Good evening

Wo nso saa -> You too

Pa yie -> Safe Journey

Yebehyia biem -> We will meet again

Yoo -> Okay

Hostel Living

We arrived yesterday and got to our hostel pretty late so I didn't take photos till this morning. My roommate, Emma, and I had a rough time getting up this morning cause we had a 6:40 a.m. wake-up knock on the door from Woelinam (our U-Pal for the 6 weeks).

 Here are our twin beds... hard as a rock by the way

 Desk area and fridge, YES we have a TV but the channels are strange

 Pretty legit bathroom

Shower that I was pretty excited to see

We are going on a tour of campus today so I will be posting later with a load of photos of the campus that will be home for the next 6 weeks!

Heading to Ghana

Today has finally arrived, and I am on my way to Ghana for 6 weeks. I will be studying African Dance and Song and History of Ghana. We will be traveling all around Ghana and I hope to learn about the culture, way of life and how each community live within the big city.

I arrived at the airport very early, so my parents waited with me for awhile and than headed off. I almost got choked up when they left but held it together cause all I needed were so puffy eyes walking through security. Once I got through the hassle of security, I settled in a seat and waited for the announcement stating " Flight 180 to London will begin boarding in 10 minutes." But I waited and waited for the call for what seemed like 3 hours. Finally the announcement came and we were ready to board. I walked on the plane and found my seat and to my surprise the extended legroom was more than worth the extra money!

The flight was 9ish hours to London and than another 8 hours to Ghana. Had a small layover in London (2 hours) and than it was off to my next and final leg. We sat on the airplane however for 30+ minutes waiting for the maintenance people to fix a part that wouldn't allow the pilot to turn on the engine. So we sat there in the blazing heat FOREVER! I was sweating bullets and the larger man sitting next to me was swimming in his. We finally got off the ground but had to take a completely different flight route because the French air traffic controllers were on strike that day. So the 8 hour plane ride turned into 9.

We finally got to Ghana and to our surprise, yes I met a CIEE student on the plane that was in the row in front of me, no one was there to pick us up and take us to the hostel. We finally got someone to come pick us up and we were on our way! We arrived at the hostel around 11:30 p.m. and headed straight to our room. I yearned for a shower the whole ride to the hostel so when I finally got a chance to take one it was amazing! The next day is going to be an early was so we crashed hard!