Classes have started and we have gone to all of them at least once. It will be quite an experience this semester I think. Our literature prof seems really cool. He is extremely knowledgeable and has really good perspectives on things. Now that he has started to set up and explain some of the things we are reading- and why we are reading them, I am really excited for it. The next class after that is a guest lecture. The past two classes we had a guy that talked to us about Chieftaincy in Ghana. It was pretty interesting stuff- and there are a lot of complications because of western cultural influence and how that has affected traditional views. He also discussed how chiefs are traditionally selected, their traditional responsibilities, etc. Then we had our politics and development class, I think it’ll be pretty cool. The guy is younger, but seems to really know what he is talking about. There are a lot of interesting aspects to colonization and how European powers have treated Africa that might not necessarily be taught in America. Mostly because this one is from an African perspective. Then we have a Religion, Family, and Human Services class. The reading for it looks interesting, I just read a couple chapters discussing Christianity and the African Identity. It was asking questions about what African Christianity looks like- and if it can even survive without western influence/culture. One of the guys the article talked about basically identified the European Christianity that was brought with colonization was essentially anthropomorphism. Which was cool to read, because thats almost exactly what I was thinking with the Christianity I have seen so far around the campus. We are also taking a Twi (pronounced ‘chwii’) class. It is the most prevalent local dialect. The professor is semi-old school and seems kind of intense. I’m a little nervous how its going to go, but we’ll see. I’m always a little quiet in language classes because I am not a linguist by any means. After that we have a drumming and dance class. We have dance for two hours on Tuesday and then drumming for an hour on Thursdays. I wish it were the other way around. I’m really excited for drumming. Dance was pretty crazy. It is quite a workout. I guess the good thing is that everyone pretty much just went for it and didn’t hold back. Even though we looked absolutely ridiculous and people watching laughed, we tried our best. The instructor seems cool though, so hopefully it’ll go well.
I’m feeling so much more comfortable on campus. There are restaurants that I really like going to and with classes, have a routine. Which is really nice. I’m still adjusting to the way of life here (obviously?), but its fun. There is such a different way of doing things. Especially with things I’ve noticed with talking with other students. They really want to be here, and be in school. The ones I’ve talked to have such aspirations to do cool things. Where as in the states so many people just party their college years away and don’t take it seriously, or just complain about all the work they have to do (which I am guilty of when school is crazy, I’d rather be doing other things instead of writing an easy for x class). But the students I’ve talked to have a completely different attitude. The school also has some super competitive programs. This guy Jibro that is in our hall that I have been getting to know came in hoping to get into med school. He said that technically the requirement is like a 3.5 (I think), but everyone that applies has a 4.0.. if you don’t have one you won’t make it. So he said that it really is by the grace of God if you make it in, because everyone that applies is like a perfect student. We went out to this restaurant on campus called ‘Tyme Out’ - its kind of like your typical college lounge type place. They have a big screen and play music videos on it, couple pool tables, and then like U-shaped booths around the pool tables. They have really good asian food- so I’ve been getting the noodles with vegetables. The only problem is it is a little expensive, we usually only go there once a week for dinner. Anyways- I was talking to Jibro when we went there and he was telling me how he really wants to go to Yale or Harvard for grad school- work in a really good lab, and his dream would be to win a noble prize for some research. I was just floored... I’ve never thought I would be capable of doing those things. And it was so interesting to see how different the perspectives of school and what not are between these students here and back in the states. At least in my experience, people don’t talk about winning the noble prize seriously.
Also- for those who were curious, I’ve been doing pretty well as a vegetarian over here. Originally I was planning on giving it up for the first couple weeks to make sure I got enough food in me and what not. But I’ve only actually had chicken once (because it was in a spaghetti sauce)- but my stomach really struggled with it. So I’ve been making sure I eat beans, peanut butter, eggs, and they actually have decent soy milk over here. But its been going well. The fruit is great- fresh pineapple and mango. The bananas are pretty good to, they are about half the size of normal bananas in the states, but they are sweater. This week I’ve started going to a place for breakfast where I get a big bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee for 1 cedi 50 peswas.. which is a little more than $1. Its really good and super filling, great way to start the day.
We have a trip to the Ga district this weekend. Grand Rapids has a sister city relationship with them, so we are going to go check it out. We are supposed to meet the mayor and some of the local chiefs. So it should be an interesting couple of days!
Oh- I was looking in the paper this one day this week (Calvin buys the two major papers and we get them in the classroom for us to see what is going on), and there was an article about child trafficking in Ghana. It was really interesting and I was kind of like oh... I’m really interested in this. A lot of major organizations were at a meeting to discuss what Ghana is going to do about it. Representatives from Amnesty International, UNICEF, and ILO were meeting with Ghana’s Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare to finalize a National Plan of Action. They said that child labor/trafficking is being targeted in development plans as well as put into a class for a graduate level course in Social Policy Studies- which the University just happens to have. So I am going to go over to the Social Policy office and see if there is a class I can sit in on, or maybe if they have some other connections with these other organizations that I could go check out.
I hope everyone is doing well back home, thanks for reading!
I’m feeling so much more comfortable on campus. There are restaurants that I really like going to and with classes, have a routine. Which is really nice. I’m still adjusting to the way of life here (obviously?), but its fun. There is such a different way of doing things. Especially with things I’ve noticed with talking with other students. They really want to be here, and be in school. The ones I’ve talked to have such aspirations to do cool things. Where as in the states so many people just party their college years away and don’t take it seriously, or just complain about all the work they have to do (which I am guilty of when school is crazy, I’d rather be doing other things instead of writing an easy for x class). But the students I’ve talked to have a completely different attitude. The school also has some super competitive programs. This guy Jibro that is in our hall that I have been getting to know came in hoping to get into med school. He said that technically the requirement is like a 3.5 (I think), but everyone that applies has a 4.0.. if you don’t have one you won’t make it. So he said that it really is by the grace of God if you make it in, because everyone that applies is like a perfect student. We went out to this restaurant on campus called ‘Tyme Out’ - its kind of like your typical college lounge type place. They have a big screen and play music videos on it, couple pool tables, and then like U-shaped booths around the pool tables. They have really good asian food- so I’ve been getting the noodles with vegetables. The only problem is it is a little expensive, we usually only go there once a week for dinner. Anyways- I was talking to Jibro when we went there and he was telling me how he really wants to go to Yale or Harvard for grad school- work in a really good lab, and his dream would be to win a noble prize for some research. I was just floored... I’ve never thought I would be capable of doing those things. And it was so interesting to see how different the perspectives of school and what not are between these students here and back in the states. At least in my experience, people don’t talk about winning the noble prize seriously.
Also- for those who were curious, I’ve been doing pretty well as a vegetarian over here. Originally I was planning on giving it up for the first couple weeks to make sure I got enough food in me and what not. But I’ve only actually had chicken once (because it was in a spaghetti sauce)- but my stomach really struggled with it. So I’ve been making sure I eat beans, peanut butter, eggs, and they actually have decent soy milk over here. But its been going well. The fruit is great- fresh pineapple and mango. The bananas are pretty good to, they are about half the size of normal bananas in the states, but they are sweater. This week I’ve started going to a place for breakfast where I get a big bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee for 1 cedi 50 peswas.. which is a little more than $1. Its really good and super filling, great way to start the day.
We have a trip to the Ga district this weekend. Grand Rapids has a sister city relationship with them, so we are going to go check it out. We are supposed to meet the mayor and some of the local chiefs. So it should be an interesting couple of days!
Oh- I was looking in the paper this one day this week (Calvin buys the two major papers and we get them in the classroom for us to see what is going on), and there was an article about child trafficking in Ghana. It was really interesting and I was kind of like oh... I’m really interested in this. A lot of major organizations were at a meeting to discuss what Ghana is going to do about it. Representatives from Amnesty International, UNICEF, and ILO were meeting with Ghana’s Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare to finalize a National Plan of Action. They said that child labor/trafficking is being targeted in development plans as well as put into a class for a graduate level course in Social Policy Studies- which the University just happens to have. So I am going to go over to the Social Policy office and see if there is a class I can sit in on, or maybe if they have some other connections with these other organizations that I could go check out.
I hope everyone is doing well back home, thanks for reading!
Are your professors mostly natives, or is the faculty pretty international? Drumming class sounds really awesome.
Yeah, all the professors actually are typically graduate level profs (I'm not sure if thats true for the drumming and dance profs..). Calvin's program is technically through the Institute of African Studies, which is somewhat separate from the typical University of Ghana classes- so its just the 12 of us with the profs, instead of 1200 for one class. And they are all native.