Hey all, Just a quick little post to show you some pics of our recent day trip to the bead markets at Koforidua. I got tons of locally made beads and necklaces to share with you all when I get back! Also, we went to visit Boti waterfalls while we were in the area. It was tropical, magical...and beautiful! Though we weren't permitted, my roommate Jasmin, and friend Jessica, and I all took a hike to go see if we could stand (almost) underneath the main fall... a truly refreshing experience. Needless to say, we got drenched with the mist, but [View Full Entry]

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Step By Step Directions on How to Cook in Ghana: 1) Walk 15 minutes to the front gate of school, get hassled by the cab drivers for ignoring them, and proceed to wait for an indefinite amount of time until you hear a tro-tro (the Ghanaian hybrid of public transportation and car-pooling) “mate” (guy who collects the money) yelling out “Accra, ‘cra, ‘cra, ‘cra, Tema Station.” Try not to get sardined into the tro by the other 50 Ghanaians waiting for the two seats available. 30 minutes and three buckets of sweat later (these large vans hardly have win [View Full Entry]

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So, some of you have brought to my attention that the folks on the other side of the world would like to know how I am, so here's my best as to what's the haps: School has officially begun...it took a few weeks after the "start date" for classes to actually be taught, but it's happening, folks. I also finally got my schedule under control, too. Whew, paperwork at this school is like a full-time job! So it turns out, I am taking Botany 427: Conservation and Environmental Studies; Geography 307: Intro to remote sensing and GIS; GEOG 429: Environmental Ecology; [View Full Entry]

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Photos of our trip to the Ashanti region: Kumasi, and Lake Bosomtwe. [View Full Entry]

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These are a few glimpses of Accra and the ocean, as well as some of my friends here. [View Full Entry]

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I finally think I am able to post stuff. Here are some of the first pictures I took, and some pictures of the campus. Will add more pics of the campus later! Enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update the blog! I've been trying to balance my internet cafe time with registering for classes (similar to running around like a chicken with my head cut off), starting classes, finding them on this huge campus, and getting used to living in a country where things operate on a whole different plane. So much has happened since I last wrote, so I will try and give you a short-ish version. The group and I visited the slave castles at Cape Coast and El Mina. They were these 500 year old monstrous [View Full Entry]

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Soooo...everything is going well here...the power hasn't gone out for a week now, knock on wood. The water is another story though- it goes out about every other day. Fortunately, we have been making a few trips to the markets down town...(will tell you about those details later) so we can get buckets for storing water when it is running. Either way, the showers are cold in my dorm, so no matter what, getting clean is treacherous! I tell you, the sticky sheets and sweaty nights are the hardest part to adjust to. I wanted to mention stuff about getting around [View Full Entry]

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We've been traveling to inner Ghana...a city called Kumasi. Let me just say that Kumasi is wayyyyy nicer than Accra, though it is still chaotic and interspersed with nice homes amongst the shanty-towns. W'e're staying in a hostel, called, "Royal Gate Hostel" which brings me to a side-note...almost everyone has a shop here, usually out front of their dwelling...and they are the funniest names I've ever seen! There's the religious names, like "Gate of Heaven Liquors," or "God's Love fast food," or "Lion of Judah internet" and then there's the crazies...like "Passionate Love Drinking Shop [View Full Entry]

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Well, things are so awesome here...it's so much different than I thought it would be, and also so much the same. Red dirt roads everywhere, but not very hot- it's only 80 with a stiff breeze (whatever that means). There is so much going on...very overwhelming. We went on a campus tour today and had two lectures on different Ghanaian things and then we have a dance class tonight. This campus is SOOOOO huge, it's ridiculous! My classes will be on the exact other side of campus...haha...seems like college will include exercise, whether at HSU or here! I took a lot [View Full Entry]

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