i'm here!

these thoughts are sporadic as i am copying and pasting various parts of my email to my mom for brevity's sake. however, I AM HERE IN GHANA! and it is fabulous. i miss everyone at home, but am making a new family here which is wonderful.



We still haven't been to what they call "Circle," or the center of town, and haven't gone to any markets or anything yet. I keep forgetting that it's only the first full day here and that I have four months to see and experience everything but I am just itching to go walking around the local markets. We may do that on Saturday, I think. The trip we had planned on Saturday to go to a Torgome Village got cancelled because the chief's mother died a few days ago and they are throwing a funeral this weekend. In Ghana funerals are huge celebrations and parties, much like birthdays are celebrated. We were going to see a naming eremony, visit with local cheifs, learn kentle weaving and pottery making etc. I think the trip will get rescheduled at some point, hopefully! Sunday we may go to the beach. The girl, Katie, who's been here two semesters already said that there's an incredible beach about an hour away where you can learn how to surf and rent a tent for like $3 and hang out all day. Sounds amazing! She said she'd take us soon.



Gillian and I waiting outside an exchange Bureau to exchange money. (Great exchange rate btw!). It was about a billion degrees outside so we're looking good.

everyone is SO nice! We are all getting along so well. There are two dorms or "houses"- Solomon's Lodge and Church Crescent. I'm in Solomon's Lodge which is the newer house- they've only had it for two semesters now. It's SO nice- nicer than the dorms at NYU. It kinda feels like what I think a sorority house feels like. There's one HUGE kitchen with many stovetops and refrigerators, a living room, two breakfast tables, and then like 10 or so bedrooms, each which house either singles or doubles. There are 15 girls living in my house, and we are all starting to become like a little family. There are 5 guys on the trip, but they're all in Church Crescent. We've had some amazing food and some very spicy food too! Ghanaian food is very spicy and I do not like spicy, but it's pretty good. Tonight we went to Tante Marie's for dinner, which is one of the places we have a meal plan to on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. We had chicken and rice, yams and ice cream with peanuts in it for dessert. They LOVE fruit- like pineapple and papaya and have it for dessert.

This is what I ate for lunch- a bunch of traditional Ghanaian dishes. White rice, gelled rice, two types of meat which have Ghanaian names that I can't remember, yams, fried plantains, and some pasty thing on the right hand side which tasted awful. But I'm proud of myself for trying all of it and eating most of it! On the top left corner you'll see a water bottle and FRESH pineapple juice made literally of pineapples only. Delicious.



We basically spent the majority of the day going through basic orientation type things. We went to lunch at a restaurant that served the really spicy food. It was an outdoor restaurant under this big canopy- so beautiful! What I've seen of Accra isn't what I pictured, visually, about what Ghana/Africa would look like, though I don't really know what I imagined. Perhaps it's because we haven't gone to town yet, and we've just been in our neighborhood (Lebone- pronounced Leh-Bone-A). All the houses are surrounded by high walls and so it kinda feels like I'm in a tunnel vision maze almost. Like I don't know my way around and the streets are all kinda walled in from these walls guarding the houses that it's not open or anything. But we're going to take many weekend trips all around Ghana, so hopefully we will see different parts of the country in different ways. I'm excited! Did you know we can get clothes for us made for us in any pattern or design we want (or can create!) for only $5??? We just buy the fabrics from the markets and take it to this tailor in town. How incredible!


I haven't started my internship yet. I think I meet with my director on Thursday to discuss how that all works. But I'm really excited to get started. Gillian is considering doing it with me, which would be so great to get to go to work together. She's a great roommate and we're getting along so well. Thanks for everyone who has sent their prayers to heaven. I truly feel blessed to be here in such an oftentimes uncomfortable environment, because I know I will be stretched and grown in ways unimaginable.

For the worried family members- I am taking my malaria meds every single day- Gillian and I wake up and the first thing we do the second we get out of bed is take our pills. Using lots of bug spray and keeping our room cool. We boiled the water we'll use to brush our teeth tonight. Staying healthy and safe. :)



Sending love to all!!!

LOVELOVELOVE