Starting to get settled

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First off... wow, thank you so much for the messages!! I was getting really annoyed because I couldnt get on the internet for the longest time and then I got on and found all these amazing messages that made my day!! You guys rock just for the record. I am still trying to figure out if I can reply to each mesage individually or if I will have to just email you. Hopefully I can do it here because these computers dont seem to like yahoo mail very much. and mom, the lilly comment was for girl casey, not boy casey just for clarification. My only request if any one sends me care packages is to include pictures and there is a madatory Little Debbie snack requirement to get through customs. I dont know why, but for some reason Ghanaians just demand that every box that comes into Ghana must be stocked with atleast one box of classic American junk food. OOO and mac and cheese!! but more than anything I just relaly want photos of friends adn family to put on my walls. just as a reminder:

Loren Price
International Student Exchange Program
Private Mail Bag L4
Legon, Accra
Ghana- West Africa

I dont know my cell off the top of my head but someone said you have to dial 011 before the number to get out of the country so that may be why some where having problems getting ahold of me. I have free incoming calls so thats always a plus.

Now to the good stuff, what Ive been up to. Well while you all were facing record cold temperatures, I was sitting on the beach on Sunday getting an awesome tan. And you know what I am doing tomorrow? going to the beach to continue working on my tan.. HA!! no but serious, I have been actually doing real things too. Classes officially started today, but that is a little misleading. I went to each department and they have posted out on bullentin boards what classes they are offering this semester and what time. Real old school. Problem was, some departments still didnt have their classes posted up!! CLASSES STARTED TODAY!!! I didnt have any that fell on a Monday, but everyone who went to class said the professors didnt even show up. The first week is pretty iffy about if you really have class or not, most classes aren't started for the first week o rtwo but you still have to show up JUST IN CASE the professor feels like showing up. Welcome to Ghana time. The classes are only once a week and are only 2 hours long. The lectures are pretty big, about 3-500 which has some people from smaller schools freaking out. I just keep thinking about having 300 people in a lecture hall during the day with no AC... ew. We arent officially registered for any classes yet. We are supposed to go to a few classes for a few weeks and then we actually go and register for them. Its a little different, adn has a lot of the control freaks in the group about to have an anxiety attack, but I am quickly adjusting to the "whatever" attitude. As my family is very familiar with, its the infamous Loren "I will" attitude 😉The classes I am considering are 3 Sociologies, Poverty and Rural Development, Societies in Ghana... and i dont remember what else. I was thinking about some histories but I heard bad things baout one professor (couldnt understand them, the material was really dry) and it was 730 on a Monday so I think no for that one. I am DEFINATELY taking a religious studies class, I am taking African myths and symbols and possibly Christianity and African culture. And then Im taking an African Dance class, gunna get some rhythm in these chicken legs Aunt Nancy!

The beach was an experience. It was so pretty, but the hecklers were insane. After an hour you just get so tired of being harrassed! Parents send their kids out on the beach to beg tourists for money and people are constantly trying to sell you something. You cant politely tell them no, they just keep bothering you. Its really sucky that you have to be forceful with them and almost get rude, but it is the only way they can get the point. The only time I didnt have someone begging for money or hitting on me or trying to sell me something was when Obed came and hung out with us girls. It was like he has to be the little Obruni body guard (Obruni is Twi for "white person" or foreigner, its actually a term of endearment and we call them Obibini in return) sunday is supposed to be the day that everyone in Accra goes to the beach and people say it is not as bad during the week. We are going back Wednesday night and they have a reggae band that plays on the beach all night long. Supposably its the "it" place for students to go.

A little out of order now, but now back to what I did today. After we went around looking for classes this morning I went with Bethany and Melissa on our first adventure. We decided we wanted to go back to the market to get some fabric to get some dresses made and to buy some basic household stuff. Well, I wouldnt call it too much of an adventure because I called Obed first to make sure we knew where to go and how to take the tro-tro there. We went to the tro-tro stop right outside of campus and found the one that was going to Medina. The tro-tro is just an old van that has one guy driving and then they have a "mate" who opens the sliding door, takes the money from the riders, and he hangs out the window yelling where they are going. they just yell out the end of the line and you have to know that your stop falls somewhere before there. Luckily the market in Medina is the end of the line so you just have to listen for a guy yelling "Medina-aug-aug-auga" Well... something like that, I wouldnt even know how to type the sound they make. Well for a whooping 20 pesawas (about 15 cents) we made it the 20 minute tro tro ride to Medina in one peice. The people at the market were actually really nice!! they werent harrassing us like the last time we were there, no one grabbing us telling us to look in their store or anything! it was really pleasant!! I ended up buyiong a total of 7 yards of different fabric and I will have to go to Jane to have her make a dress for me for 5 cedis!

After our successful trip back to campus we got lunch and hung out until our last orientation meeting. Then we had our first Twi class. Because th class is through the program I am with and not the University we actually had class tonight. Twi is a really cool language and will be really easy to learn. There are NO verb conjugations!!! which means there are no irregulars! Now that just makes sense! I am really excited to learn it because it will make things like getting a taxi or going to the market a lot easier. One girl in our group speaks Twi and it is amazing how differently they treat her once they know she speaks Twi. That'll be me soon enough...

Tomorrow I am going to my Dance class that will hopefully be happening and then the beach for a little bit, and then we are going to the W.E.B. DuBois Center for Barack Obama's inauguration where there is going to be quite a celebration. I think its going to be really interesting to see the reaction here and how different yet the same as it is back home. Will update as soon as I have something interesting to talk about!

oh and PS- I am feeling much better now, thanks for your concern. We think we found the culpret. There is a market right outside my hostel and I have been getting food and water from there some days. WELLL apparently you have to check the seals of your water bottles. If the seal comes off with the lid instead of staying on teh bottle and breaking you need to be careful. Well I remember one day the seal didnt break, and I thought it was funny that the bottle was filled up so much. Turns out Auntie Theresa was telling us that they will find bottles that the seal did not break adn they will refill it with lovely African hose water and resell it. Even the "bottled" water isnt what you think it is...

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