The Last Stretch

Here it is, less than a month left to go. So very much has happened. 

Joy 

tears

pain

sickness

comfort and discomfort

rashes

mosquito bites

amazement

And just pure growth.

This experience has been nothing like I thought it would be, not that I really had many expectations. But it was really so much harder than I anticipated. Some didn't struggle as much as me while others struggled more than me, we all coped with the cultural differences in our own way, and we all struggled with certain things to different degrees. There were times where I felt weak, like I had lost all bravery I thought I had. I felt like I had failed, because I thought I could tough out any situation and adapt and learn to love anything. 

First lesson: life isn't that easy.

But that's okay, if it was easy how could we learn? The struggles I've faced have helped me to see who I am as a person, where I need to grow, and how I am stronger in certain areas of life than I thought I was. Ghana has awakened passions in me that were underdeveloped prior, and it brought people into my life that have inspired me to push towards what I suppose I always knew God was calling me to. (I kind of officially declared a social work minor). 

I've learned I highly doubt I'll live in a developing country for an extended period of time, and chances of me going into the peace corps like I had once plane are very slim. My views on so many things have changed, and hopefully for the better. 

Although I'm 100% ready to head back to beautiful Chicago (minus the freezing cold) there are definitely a few things I will miss. I'm going to miss...buying dinner for the equivalent of 25 cents, holding the hands of sweet 14 year old Abigail (a vendor at the market) as she tells me about her day and gifts me with water and mangoes, I'm going to miss the random thunderstorms that blow in within minutes whipping us with wind and rain. I'm definitely not going to miss the blasted red dirt, but I am going to miss watching the cute children play in it. I'm going to miss the beautiful tropical flowers and the bright orange sunsets. I'm probably not going to miss Ghanaian man time (GMT)...I'm too punctual for that life. However, I'm going to miss all of the amazing people I have met here. They are some of the most amazing, intelligent, and inspiring people I have ever met; so full of compassion and drive for a better world. Cliché, maybe, but very true. They have taught me so much and have helped me believe in myself in ways they may never understand, all through their kind words and constant encouragement. I still can't believe I have to say goodbye to them all soon and suddenly this post is becoming more emotional than I had planned. 

Therefore, in other news, I'm leaving for Spain in a week! Yup, last minute beautiful plan. I'll be there for a week, then I go to Togo for another few days, and then I'm staying in Accra for another week before making my way back to the tundra of Chicago. 

The things I have gotten to experience, and am still experiencing, during my time abroad just leave me in awe. Never did I think my life would look this way, studying abroad and experiencing different ways of life was always just a far away fantasy. I could have never known as my 18 year old self that I would end up dropping nursing, picking up a new degree, and then sign up to live in Africa. It's times like this when reflecting on your life that it's extremely hard to doubt God isn't up there orchestrating amazing things. 

So here's to roughly 3 weeks left, two of which I will be spending away. My time in Ghana is basically gone, and I'm forever grateful for all it has taught me. 

Week...something?

You may wonder why I've been so absent with my blog posts...and I can't say I can give much of a good reason other than, perhaps, that I've been lazy and haven't known exactly what to write. 

Ghana hasn't been what I expected, not that I even know what I was really expecting. There are many ups and downs and countless unforeseen challenges that have consumed some of my time here. And, to be completely honest, I've struggled a lot more than I expected I would. I've had moments of pretty intense depression, and I've become homesick for one of the first times in my life. Life here is just...different. It's not bad, it's just out of my comfort zone, which is exactly what I wanted so I can't be upset about that. I still don't regret my decision to come here by any means. I'm learning about myself, growing, and making amazing friends. In the mean time, though, I'm feeling a bit excited to come home. 

Needless to say, I have 2 months left, so my attitude and comfort level still have ample time to change and I'm actively working on it. 

Through the broken MacBook Pro, to a twisted ankle and countless mysterious skin rashes and bacterial infections I've been able to find God, especially with the help of my lovely friend from back in Chicago who just happens to be living a few doors down from me in Ghana. God definitely knew what he was doing there. 

I wish that I could say I'm loving every minute, but that would be a lie. However, I think even more important than fully loving something is the experience and the growth taken out of it. I know without a doubt I will come out of this changed and hopefully for the better...I'm thinking for the better. For now I have 2 more months to live here and I'm going to do everything in my power to enjoy it. Because when else will I get the chance to study abroad in a place when power goes out during lectures and we continue to learn in the dark, or where I can buy freshly picked delicious mangoes for less than a dollar, or where I can buy beautiful fabrics and have clothes made specifically for me, and the beautiful smiling faces of children (or the screaming ones who are scared of me because I'm white and they think my skin has been peeled off). There are things that still seem very strange to me here, but the more I think about it these strange and different experiences are what is going to stick in my mind as a moment in time in which I was able to learn a new way of life and cherish what I've always taken for granted. I'm learning to enjoy the little things in life.

Week 4/5

As I write this I am sitting on a bus packed with students embarking on a 12 hour journey back to Accra. 

Life has been interesting here to say the least, and I've found I am becoming used to things I would generally find extremely abnormal back home. For example, riding in a rickety, rusted out van with wobbly benches and no seatbelts all while driving down a jam-packed street with virtually no organization...totally normal. Albeit completely unsafe. Let's be honest, I should have probably died about 10476 times by now, but what's a new experience without some excitement? 

In other news, Last weekend I went on the most beautiful and perfect trip to the Volta (eastern) region of Ghana; hiking distance from the Togolese border. I went with five amazing friends I've made while in Ghana and got to partake in things I've always dreamed of doing. We embarked on a 3 hour hike up a mountain to the top of a waterfall (Wli falls)....so 6-7 hours hike total. Easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The hike, however, was definitely a challenge for me. One friend carried my backpack for me the whole way, if he hadn't I probably would have collapsed. But hey, I made it and now I can say I've hiked a mountain...and I most definitely would like to do it again many, many times. The next day we hiked again. A much smaller, but still very steep, hike. It took only about 30 minutes to reach the top and the panoramic views were outstanding. We were extremely lucky and had practically flawless weather, perfect transportation both ways with no major issues (other than being stopped for IDs, which I stupidly didn't bring. But Tyler being the genius that is he showed his school ID and told the police we were all from the same school, to which the police shook their heads and let us pass. But I could have passed out.) 

This weekend, however, was a completely different story all together. A few friends and I decided we wanted to plan a trip to go to Mole National Park in the north to experience wildlife and get out of the city. However, when we looked up plane tickets we found prices had increased substantially to where flying became too expensive. The other alternative, driving, just seemed too dangerous and unpredictable with the condition of roads. Therefore, when the international programs office at University of Ghana announced a trip to Mole we decided it might be best, although there was some apprehension based on prior stories we had heard about IPO trips. Regardless, we went for it. However, literally 24 hours before we left, plans changed quite drastically, as in the number of days we were staying had been cut down to only one full day rather than the two we had been promised. Driving 12 hours there and back for only one day seemed a bit ridiculous, therefore one friend dropped out but 2 of us decided to remain because mole was one of our top places we wanted to go in Ghana. 

Come 5am the next day (Friday), we got up and headed towards the north, expecting everything to go as planned (at least relatively because nothing ever goes as planned in Ghana). It was a bit of a difficult ride, as can be expected for a long journey, but otherwise everything was fine. We stopped at kintampo falls on our way and some people swam for a while and then we continued on our way. At this point we were still imagining everything was going as planned. We arrived at what we thought was our hotel around 9pm that night and waited hours...like literally...for our dinner. Mine actually came last and at that point I was feeling extremely crabby and frustrated. But, I had the idea of sleep dangling in front of me so I held on to that and tried to remain positive. However, when it came time to go to our rooms we discovered we had to drive a few minutes away to a guest house in the middle of what seeme like nowhere and, mind you, the power was out so it was pitch black. We were told all of a sudden that the roommates we were supposed to be with didn't apply and we now needed to fit 7 in a room. At this point we were annoyed and confused but willing to make it work, because when in Ghana  this kind of stuff seems to happen a lot. Then, to our surprise, we opened the doors to two beds and several very small, old, dirty mats on the ground without any sheets...our beds. I was again very annoyed but thought "that's okay let's just push the two real beds together and all squeeze in together and try to get some sleep. However someone had the absolutely brilliant idea to check for bed bugs...and there were many. We grabbed our things and booked it to the pitch black courtyard and stood, ready to neglect sleeping for obvious reasons. We complained and our bus driver came back to get us. We then drove back to the hotel we ate dinner at, the place we were supposed to sleep at all along, and decided sleeping on the bus was our best option. Apparently they had given our rooms away, which our guides seemingly knew about the whole time but none of us were ever updated on the issue. They were able to secure two rooms but that still left about 15 of us roomless. I therefore curled up in the steaming hot bus and resigned to the fact I would get very little sleep. Our saint of a bus driver ended up sacrificing his sleep to periodically turn on the air conditioning to keep us comfortable. If it weren't for him I wouldn't have had even one hour of sleep. 

But the fun didn't stop there. We were eventually given rooms for the following night (Saturday) but our roommates were all changed and some of us were given nice rooms with air conditioning while others were given partially clean looking rooms with questionable pillows and a fan on the cieling...still obviously better than bed bugs. We were promised things and then not given them, and communication was a constant struggle, as it usually seems to be. 

Despite the craziness of the weekend I got to see elephants up close in the wild, I went on a night safari with friends and had a bird land next to me and then slap me in my face with its wing, I woke up to baboons parading about the hotel grounds, some with adorable babies latched on to them, and I got to see a beautiful star filled sky. In the end everything worked out and I'll forever have stories to tell, but I can guarantee you I will be planning my own trips from now on.

 

Week 3

Well, it's about 4am here in Ghana and I'm laying awake with a headache, stuffy nose, and just crazy pressure in my head.  I've managed to stay fairly healthy up until this point, and of all the sicknesses I could have gotten here I honestly didn't expect my first one to be a head cold. Regardless, I thought I'd take the time to post a blog since the wifi is remarkably good when I'm one of the only ones on it.

This past weekend I went to Kumasi, which was fun but was very similar to Accra in that it's a busy city. Honestly my favorite part of the whole trip was petting a baby elephant at the zoo. It kept holding my hand with its trunk and it was just the best experience ever. I also was able to feed monkeys, however the monkeys seemed to get a bit impatient with us and decided throwing their bodily waste at us was a fabulous idea. I luckily did not get hit, but two people in my group did an we spent the next few minutes buying water and covering them with hand sanitizer. It was absolutely hilarious, and everyone was a good sport about it.

On another note, I've been a bit frustrated with school here. It's much slower paced and directions for assignments are always very vague. I've kind of just taken an attitude of "try your best and hope for the best". It's really all any of us international students can do. I swear it's like there's this non verbal telepathic communication between the Ghanaian students and the professors, somehow they always know what's going on and know exactly where to get the reading material. It blows my mind. 

Other than what I've mentioned I feel like not much else is new. I'm still adjusting and dealing with the effects of a new culture, but mostly I just try to laugh off the small annoyances. It's all you really can do. I'm hoping to have some more to write in the week to come!

Week Two

Power has been out for a while and, even with a generator, that means WIFI is out as well. Therefore, I am overdue for my week 2 blog. I had a hard time thinking about what to write for this blog because it’s been one of my hardest weeks so far, so I figure honesty is the best way to go. I was told there are stages you go through while studying abroad, stages like a honeymoon phase, the hostility phase, the humor phase, and so on. This week I officially hit the dreaded hostility phase. I’m not sure I have completely bypassed it at this point, but I’m definitely feeling much better than I was.

Food in Ghana, although delicious, is a bit repetitive. You can only eat so much rice and chicken before you want to go insane. I got to a point when I would dread getting hungry because nothing sounded appetizing. I ate a bit less than usual and would often buy bread, fruit and Nutella for my meals…definitely not the kind of nutrition I needed. I feel like I’ve finally gotten past this, though, because as of yesterday (Sunday Aug. 23) I was actually craving Ghanaian food.

However, I still feel a lot of anxiety when going outside. Back at home I can walk to the beach and just sit by myself and relax. I’m the kind of person that craves alone time, and I need it to function. Unfortunately, this concept is almost non-existent in Ghana. I walk outside and, depending on where I am, people grab at me, propose to me, ask me for money, or even ask to take a picture with me because I am an obruni (Twi for foreigner and being white makes it obvious). The picture thing has specifically been getting to me. Being white seriously makes you like a celebrity here, and now I officially know I would hate to ever be one.

To give you a picture of what I mean, yesterday when I went to an art festival with some friends I was approached at least 5 times for pictures and 90% of the rest of the time I would see people sneaking pictures of us from afar. You have no privacy, none. There was one point where I became so overwhelmed by it all I was on the verge of tears. Its one of those things where you tell yourself it really shouldn’t matter, and you should just get over it. But blending in is what I do, I hate attention. And, unfortunately, attention is just what I am going to get here. I really do just have to get used to it.

I’m in a major adjustment period. I still love Ghana and definitely don’t regret coming here, I am just struggling a little. I was always aware this may happen and I 100% know it is going to get better. New cultures are hard, especially when everything is opposite of your culture back home. All you can do is change your perspective and laugh off the annoying, weird things that occur and eventually things will fall into place.

And on a brighter note, I’ve met amazing people from all over the world here. We’ve become friends fast and always have so much to learn from each other’s cultures. I’m enjoying every minute of it. All of the international students here are kind of like my “safe haven.” We’re going through all of these changes together and venting is one of the best ways to get through it. Without the friends I have made there is no way I would be doing as well as I am. They are some of the most compassionate, and inspirational people I’ve ever met. 

So for now this is it. I leave for Kumasi on Friday and I'm sure that will bring about a whole new set of experiences. Oh, it it'll be my 21st birthday while I'm there. And, as always, I'm excited to see what the next few days will bring.

Week One

Ghana....how do I begin to describe it? The best I can come up with is It's like New York City but with shorter buildings (some new and some very old), a lot more dust, much more chaos, and most of all extremely friendly, loving, beautiful people. Seriously the best smiles you could ever see. 

As expected I have had my struggles. For one, power has been out 3 of the 6 days I've been here. But in all honesty that hasn't bothered me much. I think what's been the hardest is adjusting to the importance of contact in Ghana. Everyone grabs at you, holds your hand, hugs you, etc. additionally, being white you are often asked to stop for a photograph because white people aren't seen often.  I think that has been the strangest experience so far. It's been really hard to get used to the attention, especially when I'm the type of person who loves to blend in. However, I'm learning to just accept. Accept that things are different and latch on to the culture in front of me. I'm trying to learn everything the best I possibly can. The correct way to greet, what is considered rude and not rude, and how to bargain at the markets and know what prices you should be getting. I keep having to remind myself that this is only day 6 and I will be so much better at everything in the weeks to come.

One of the best things I've already begun noticing is how laid back I've become here. It's been so easily for me to talk with strangers and make friends. I have been having so much fun getting to know people and dressing in the native clothing.

 It's hard for me to sum up these past few days because they are still such a blur, but I suppose I can just end by saying I'm happy, I don't regret my decision in the slightest, and I truly can't wait to see all that this beautiful country has to teach me. God is very present here, and I have no doubt this is where I was meant to be. 

Campus library

The night market near my dorm

Such strong women

Easily one of my favorite moments.

Indigenous area of Accra 

And So It Begins

Well, it's here. 

The night before I leave for Accra, Ghana. The moment I have been waiting for since those desperately cold, depressing winter days many months ago. I'm not really sure what I feel. Over the past few months countless people have been asking me if I'm excited, to which I always enthusiastically replied yes. And although the excitement hasn't changed, there is definitely the presence of a multitude of new overwhelming emotions. Fear, uncertainty, anticipation, anxiety, and a few more emotions I am unable to explain with words. 

I have dealt with inexorable medical drama; trying to figure how to make my insurance approve months of medications for while I'm gone only to have them repeatedly tell me I had never even called them to have it approved. I have dealt with airlines complications and the stress of trying for figure out what to pack for a country so unlike my own. 

Yet, something tells me these troubles will be the least of what I face. I suppose that's where my anxiety stems from, but in the same note it's where my excitement begins. How lucky am I to have an opportunity to travel to a country with an extravagantly rich culture, and not only experience it but also live it for a whole five months. I can't even begin to imagine the things I will learn and the way God will grow me. Most of all, I can't wait to meet all of the beautiful people I am to encounter in Ghana. 

This is the first of hopefully many blog posts to come, I'm going to try my absolute best to keep up with them at least once a week. But forgive me if that doesn't happen, as I am told WIFI isn't the most predictable, and neither is electricity. Please be praying for me during this journey, especially for my health as I tend to get sick very easily. And for my mother, because I'm a bit too independent for her own good and me leaving for Ghana is going to drive her nuts ;) . Thank you to everyone who pushed me and guided me to this point, I am forever grateful. 

<3