5:40 pm

HELLLOOOOOO EVERYONNNEEEE!! : )
So I'm finally at a computer after a week of no communication with home. There is entirely too much for me to say all at once on here, but I'll do my best to catch up. I lost my journal (which I have stressed about now for the past 8 hours), so I'm recounting off the cuff, as it were.

So our travels here took about a total of 34 hours. INTENSE. We travelled, and did not sleep for two days straight. We walked off the plane and were bombarded, at 9 o clock at night, with 100 degree temperatures, and the densest humidity I ever felt. Even worse than Guyana. Anyway, I got used to the climate fairly quickly. This was suprising, but definitely a welcome surprise.

We have been staying in an International Student Hostel that we are sharing with Nigerians, Californians, and Oregonians (???). Our rooms are not air conditioned, and one of the walls is completely windows. We have a little desk and bed, and a place to stack clothes. Guys and girls share the bathroom (showers and bathroom stalls), because there is only one, which is interesting. Overall though, the hostel is nice and the people who run it are very accomodating. The group of people I am with is absolutely amazing. Everyone is outgoing, smart, funny... we all get along really well and all bring something different to the trip.

For the first week we got acquainted with the university and started our classes- African Culture and Politics, and And the Political History and Culture of Ghana. We took tours, saw the library, met the dean, etc etc. In class, we've been talking a lot about the slave trade and colonialism, and how these things have affected the development of Africa. We've also been discussing how and why AIDS is such a huge issue to certain regions of Africa, and finally the difference in attitude between Africans and Europeans and how this could have affected the way the Europeans came in and conquered Africa.

Now we are staying for two nights in a beautiful beach resort at Basua beach. It's been really nice and relaxing after a week of three hour classes in a small hot classroom, late nights, lack of sleep, and dehydration, long walking tours.

Today before we hit the beach we were able to actually visit a port in which slaves were kept until they were sent to their respective countries of brutal servitude. I stood in a room, smaller than my room in dickinson, in which 25 slaves would be kept for days and days on end. The intensity, and profundity of the experience still hasn't fully hit me.

During our walk there we passed through a fishing village. Words cannot do this area justice. The fishing boats are beautifully painted, the ocean and mountains, the blue sky, and of course the people are beautiful and as always winning my heart.

I was always lagging behind talking to people, and playing with kids. The people and their culture is what makes this country so beautiful. Everyone is trustworthy, and respectful. They are poor, but they don't beg. The are truly in conditions of despair but they still smile, and warm-heartedly open their arms to hug you.

I hope to find my journal so that I can post a few of my entries in which i was able to really capture what I was feeling and thinking at different times.

I'm so grateful to be here. I'm so in love with Africa. This trip is amazing.