"Feel Free, Ghana"

I like to stalk the lizards.

Well I've hit the 3 week mark here in Ghana & it could not be going by any faster!! Though each day yields newly exciting (and sometimes frustrating) adventures, generally, my life in Africa is so simplistic and refreshing! There as so many sites and experiences that I would love to photograph and share with you guys but it can be challenging as I have to be sensitive towards the privacy of the locals. What I may find interesting is actually, in most cases, a way of life here in Ghana so I do not want to be disrespectful in invading their space. But I will try to do my best to take better pictures of the things that I can.

The past two weeks have been dedicated to registering, attending and finalizing my class schedule. The university's system of registration is an extremely exhausting process and the teaching styles/atmosphere, I am finding, may commit to being more difficult than expected. Differing from Salve, class sizes can be anywhere between 30-300 students with a very diverse student body ranging from young women to middle aged, married men. Classrooms and departments on their own are least a good 15-45 minute walk apart and one professor I encountered attempted to incorporate religion into his teaching as factual-based evidence. But what IS nice about the University of Ghana's system is that they allow students to sit in on sessions to ensure that it is the class that they want, need and expect it to be.

Lecture Hall

Apart from school, my life has not been amazingly entertaining, but I've put together some random bullet points from a few recent experiences....

• Last Friday was my first adventure to the local marketplace and it was emotionally overwhelming! There were hundreds of vendors to choose from and thousands of products to buy. Fabric, shoes, mirrors, soap, electronics, food- anything you name & it was there (I can see why Ghana would be weary of a Wal-mart as so many families would lose their sole source of income selling on the streets). I loved the vibes and energy throughout the walkways, but it was quite obnoxious to have people attempt to sell you items for 4x its normal price & to physically grab you to get your attention.
• Lately I have been absolutely craving a bowl of Fruit Loops and cold milk (hey, its the little things in life...!)
• Some common house animals include goats, sheep, chickens & stray dogs.
• My grandpa says that I eat so much rice by the time I leave I will have a "rice baby".
• You know that itchy feeling you get when you think a small bug is randomly crawling on your body? Well here, it is most likely not just a feeling lol the bugs here are quite persistent (esp. flies or mosquitoes) and will go to all ends to ensure that they invade your personal space one way or another.
• You can buy practically anything from your car. It's a very convenient method that I think America should employ (not that we're not lazy enough right? lol)
• Life outside of my window in Legon is LOUD. Between football games, stray animals, pigeons, parties and religious gatherings, I am surprised that I sleep through the night! To top it off, cars. are. constantly. beeping. They beep to turn, they beep to stop, they beep to get your attention, they beep to get you to move, they beep to say hi, they beep for traffic & they beep just for fun.

Until next time my friends <3