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June 2 -
I have finally made it to my destination - Accra, Ghana! My flight was the first non-stop flight from Atlanta to Accra and there was a ceremony at the Atlanta airport before we took board. It was pretty cool to see the Ghanaians of Georgia there to celebrate this new direct flight. Now I am here many many hours later. We arrived at the airport (which was much different than the usual airport) where we got off of the plane down some steps to the ground outside, took a bus about 3 blocks, then got off at customs. It is also the rainy season here so it is extremely humid. We arrived at Coconut Grove Regency hotel, which was a relief because it had AC! It was a really nice hotel with a pool and good food. We ate chicken, rice, plantains, and some other stuff for dinner. Then went straight to bed!
June 3 -
Today was the first real day of exploring Accra. One word, CRAZY! We had small groups and got with a student from the University of Ghana at Legon and went around Accra in the different ways of transportation. There are 3 main kinds! The first one is called a tro tro, this is a van that fits about 20+ people in it but extremely close! There are routes that the tro tros take but I am pretty confused about it because there aren’t maps or directions, you just have to know where you are going! The second and third way of transportation is a taxi, but there is a line taxi and a drop in taxi. The line is when you wait for the taxi to fill up and you are all going to the same place. The drop in is when a person asks the taxi to go off the route to a different destination and the taxi driver can say yes or no to the offer.
Accra has 4 million people in it, it reminds me of NYC but less developed and with nicer people. As a white American I get stared at constantly because I do stick out. My group with the transportation was a Ghanaian student and an African-American student, so I was the minority, clearly. It is defiantly an experience. I walked through some markets today and also sweat about a liter or sweat! The rainy season is killin me! I’ve had soooo much water. I will have more time to explore the city in the next few days after class. I don’t have internet access everyday so I will be recapping in some posts. I can’t post the pictures yet because of the slower internet connection but hopefully I will have a good enough connection soon to upload them to here or facebook!
Have a great night and I will be posting again soon!
-Julia
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Aunt Nancy
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Excited to hear about the trip!
Hi there, Julia! I look forward to living vicariously on your experiences, as it is such a wonderful opportunity for you to learn and appreciate. I always felt that it would be dangerous for me to ever visit Africa (perhaps not in the vicinity in which you are in now) because of the beauty of those people, those animals, that country in general - I am fearful of losing my heart to it and never wanting to return to this country. Travel is a way in which we can expand our thinking and our acceptance of others who are not like ourselves. I am so happy that you are there. Enjoy. And I will take the trip with you via the blog. Love and hugs. Aunt Nancy