ninadorazi

11/29/2010 Only two weeks until my semester abroad is officially over. There hasn’t been much time for traveling outside of Accra these past weeks which was ok because I still had a few places to visit within the city. I have spend most of the past week shopping for souvenirs, visiting James Town, Ussher Town, and Independence Square, and of course enjoying the beautiful weather. James Town is a little historic town in Accra and has several colorful markets and colonial-era houses and shops. I visited the old lighthouse of Fort James and was given a quick history lesson of the town by one of the locals, then went down to the old fishing harbor before settting off for Ussher Town which is just northeast of James Town and within walking distance. There wasn’t much to ... read more

11/14/2010 Hello everyone! I have just returned from an amazing weekend in the Western Region of Ghana. I played almost the entire weekend at the beach so I am feeling a little sunburned on my shoulders and a bit tired from the long day of traveling. I spent last week studying hard for my first final exam in my Ghanaian society, government, and politics class so I felt a relaxing weekend trip out of Accra was much deserved and necessary. I left early Friday morning with my two friends Naima and Ric and we caught a cab to Tema station where we then boarded a bus that would take us to Takoradi. (A side note about these buses is that although they are quite comfortable and have air conditioning, they always play these horrible Ghanaian movies ... read more

11/2/2010 It doesn’t rain too often in Accra, but when it does it’s never just a drizzle. The rain here is often the kind that wakes you up at night and is too powerful for any umbrella’s protection. I sometimes like to go running in the mornings and today’s weather looked fine until halfway through my run when the sky turned black and those big fat African raindrops started falling. Luckily, I was only about a quarter mile from home at the time because it felt like I was in the shower with the water pressure on full blast. It was only about 7:30 when I got back to my dorm but everyone was outside their doors watching the rain pour down. People just laughed when they saw how soaked I was and told me I ... read more

10/18/2010 The rainy season is officially over and the weather is starting to get very hot. Now I see the use of the freezing cold showers! I no longer can wear my long hair down, wear pants outside, or drink hot tea in the mornings. Thank goodness we have a pool next to our dorm. The professors are finally done striking so the Ghanaian students are back on campus and everything is back to normal. I was able to get tickets to the Black Stars v. Sudan soccer game in Kumasi last weekend so I went with three friends of mine for the weekend. We have a friend who works at the French Embassy in Kumasi so she took us in for a couple days. I had never been to a real professional soccer game before ... read more

10/4/2010 Hello all! Ete sen? Sorry for not posting a blog for a while, there’s only 6 weeks of school left so my studying has been in full gear. Most of the professors here have gone on strike so now the international programs office has to work something out so the international students can have one-on-one lectures. A lot of the Ghanaian students have gone back to their homes so campus is pretty quiet and empty. My Twi class is going well and it’s fun to practice the language with the locals. So far I have gotten pretty good at bargaining in Twi at the markets, hailing taxis, and telling people about myself. It’s not much but you would be surprised how far you can get with just the basics. Here’s an update on what’s happening ... read more

9/26/2010 Bonjour mes chers amis! I have just returned home from an awesome weekend in Togo. A few Norwegian girls that I know from my Twi language course were going with a Togolese friend named Darou, so I decided to tag along. I was in need of getting my visa renewed anyway so I thought I would make a trip out of it instead of just going to the embassy here in Accra. I had heard from a lot of Ghanaians that Togo is very beautiful but can also be dangerous, especially by the boarder so I was glad to have a local with us to help translate and watch out for any trouble. We left Friday morning and took a bus to Aflao station in Accra so we could find a tro-tro. Darou told us ... read more

9/20/2010 It’s Monday morning and I am currently sitting outside on my balcony, having a cup of tea, and listening to a group of students practicing their African drumming down on the lawn. Last weekend I traveled to the Volta Region with five other international students on a mission to take part in Ho’s annual Yam festival, conquer the tallest peak in Ghana, and see some amazing waterfalls. We left early on Friday morning so we could catch a tro-tro to a town called Ho where we would spend our first night. It’s about a three-hour drive and tro-tros are not very comfortable so I was glad when we finally arrived. Ho is a small town located about southeast of Accra and is the capital of the Volta Region. We set off first to find a ... read more

9/10/2010 It’s hard to believe I have already been in Ghana for a whole month! It has gone by so fast but everyday I learn more about the Ghanaian culture and am slowly beginning to feel like I fit in here. Last weekend we took a trip over to Cape Coast, which is located about four hours west of Accra. Thankfully, the air conditioning in our bus was working again! Yay! A festival was going on in the city and the local Chiefs as well as the President of Ghana were speaking. All around the city there was music, food, and dancing as well as many people dressed up in elaborate costumes to celebrate the festival. We stayed at a nice hotel called Coconut Grove Resort which was right next to the beach, had a beautiful ... read more

9/1/2010 Happy September! Over last weekend was our big five-day trip up north to Mole National Park. We left early on Thursday morning in our big blue van and headed north to Kumasi, which is the seat of the Ashanti Empire. It took about four hours to get there and when we finally arrived we went on a tour of the city and got to visit the Manhyia Palace Museum, home and office of former Asante Kings. It was really cool to see all the ancient artifacts of the kings and we also saw all of the former kings thrones and festival clothing. After that we headed over to the Cultural Center where there was a traditional Asante dance performance going on. There are several studios at the Cultural Center of drum carvers, potters, painters, and ... read more

8/24/2010 Hello all! So I have officially been in Ghana for two weeks today, and I am starting to feel more at home. My roommate Sharon has moved in, she’s a senior and has lived in Accra her whole life. Classes have begun which are going alright so far. It’s a little difficult to understand the professors sometimes because they have such thick accents and speak very fast. Today I walked into my math class at 7:30 a.m. and was the only white person in the whole lecture hall. Everyone was staring at me and someone shouted out “Hey Obruni, are you lost?!” (Obruni means white person or stranger). I just smiled and laughed along with them. Back home it was so easy to blend in with the crowd but here I stick out like a ... read more