Time to try Tro-Tros!

           After a second day of orientation, the Pitt crew and I took our first trip into Accra with the help of our friend Hilda!  I finally got to take a tro-tro—the 70s style “hippie vans” filled with 20 people that are notorious for tackling the reckless city driving with full force.  It was not nearly as bad as I had read prior to coming to Ghana, and they are super cheap, so I anticipate taking tro-tros for most short distant trips into the city.  While on the tro-tro, you will see your fair share of women with baskets of goods on their heads coming up to the opened windows and offering cold bags of water, or plantain chips, or other miscellaneous things.  We had to get off the tro-tro at the circle which is a very large market/bus stop, and flag down a 7 person station wagon for the rest of our journey.  In Accra, we got cell phones, SIM cards, and had a bite for lunch.  All of the local school kids were either out for the day or on a lunch break and I loved seeing them run around in their uniforms, shyly watching us foreigners.  As soon as I waved and smiled, they lit up and waved right back--they are so so cute!  That afternoon was Ghana’s first game of the African Cup of Nations, and although we weren’t able to watch it, we knew when Ghana scored.  We were headed back to campus when all of the sudden all the cars in the streets starting honking their horns loudly and the kids started running around weaving in and out of the traffic—word of the Ghanaian goal had spread rapidly and everyone was celebrating!  I am excited for the next game which I will hopefully be able to watch.

Tro Tro in Accra

Last night all of the international students were invited to a “get to know each other” event by the Ghanaian students who have moved in already.  They were very friendly and enjoyed teaching us the Azonto dance which is a recently popular song that is played everywhere in Ghana.  Then we all went to a live concert at Labardi Beach where we sat and chatted with one another (and put our Azonto dance skills to the test)—it was nice to finally have real conversations with very interesting people and start some lasting friendships!

LaVonda, Ama, and I in front of the library as we walked around campus

Today, our main task was to register for classes which proved to be just the challenge I had heard about.  This was mostly due to the constraints put on us by Pitt, and not the system here in Ghana, but that comes with being the first students to come to this university from Pittsburgh.  Because this is a Pitt abroad program, we have to take very specific classes that are similar to those offered at Pitt in order to get credit and for grades to transfer.  We were given 7 classes of which we were to pick 5, but not all of them are being offered here this semester and those that are, are a mix of 300 and 400 level courses (therefore the class times conflict).  We spent most of the day walking from department to department to see if they had posted their class options and time.  I’m sure we will work it all out, and we have 2 weeks to finalize our schedules before they become official—plenty of time!  Tomorrow we plan on going to the mall in Accra to do some shopping, and Saturday the international students who didn’t come with a larger exchange program are going to the beach for the day!  I am so looking forward to that!

Akwaaba to Ghana!

Akwaaba! Welcome! The notoriously friendly Ghanaian people were excited to welcome us to their country, and after over 15 hours of travel time we were equally thrilled.  The flight itself wasn’t too bad; food was served and each passenger had a personal tv to watch movies.  The occasional turbulence and a woman laying sick in the isle with fellow passengers (nurses) trying to help her, were a bit nerve-racking, but altogether a decent flight.   Our plane landed in the Accra airport around 1:30 pm yesterday (Sunday) and as soon as I stepped out of the air-conditioned craft, I made my first declaration about Ghana—it HOT!  Although a drastic change from the snow storm that hit Philadelphia on Saturday prior to my departure, the weather was surprisingly pleasant at first.  However, I have absolutely no idea how people walk around in long pants, jeans, and long sleeved shirts here, because I only foresee skirts and dresses for my stay.  By the time we got through immigration, got all of our luggage, and found our way through the sea of people at the airport we met Akua who took us in a bus to the University of Ghana.  On the bus ride we had our windows open (the breeze was phenomenal) and at a stop, two adorable young boys came up to the bus asking for money and food.  This made me so sad, because if I was capable, I would feed all of the children I meet in Ghana (and all over the world for that matter), but it reminded me of why I came to such a country—to experience something I never have, or may never again.

Upon arriving to the University, we were dropped off at the International Student Hostel 2 (called “ish” like the sound not the letter abbreviation by the local students) where we were given our rooming assignments.  The four girls from Pitt expected to room together in two doubles, but the U of G chooses to pair international students not traveling with an exchange program with a Ghanaian student as a roommate.  The Ghanaian students won’t move in until the weekend so I have a few days to get situated, unpacked, and hang out my mosquito net before my roommate comes.  Like most buildings I’ve seen so far on campus, the hostel is set up with an open courtyard in the middle and each room has a balcony that overlooks the outside as well as one that looks into the courtyard.  That being said, the rooms are by no means luxurious (although apparently a giant step up from the other dorms around campus where 10 students cram into a 4 person room).  One of the biggest surprises so far was the lack of toilet paper anywhere!!  This is fine now that we’ve gotten some from the local market and know to carry a bit around in our bags, but it was an unpleasant encounter at first.  After getting our luggage into the rooms we immediately had to go to dinner with the dean of the International Programs department where we met a few other students living in our hostel.  The dinner was a traditional Ghanaian meal of joloff rice, chicken/pork, fried plantains, yam balls, and some more questionable options that I was not brave enough to try.  After dinner and a few musical performances, a large group of us international students from ISH 2 went to a local bar to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls.  My favorite part was when the taxi didn’t start and two guys had to push it for a while until the engine turned on.  It was an outdoor bar filled with Ghanaians just sitting and enjoying the music, so we did the same.

This morning we had to get up bright and early for an orientation which was supposed to go until noon, but as “Ghanaian time” goes it lasted until about 1:30 and we will have another tomorrow morning to cover what went unfinished today.  They explained how to register for classes on Wednesday and how the examination period at the end of the semester works.  Then this information was repeated for about 4 hours with a quick snack break in the middle.  I’m sure the information will be extremely helpful, but the jetlagged audience was not very interactive this morning.  Afterwards, Dr. Adjaye (my prof. from Pitt who brought us over) introduced us to Hilda who is a Ghanaian graduate student here and will be helping us set up bank accounts, get phones, and learn our way around.  When we finally got a chance to rest later in the day, we all took a long nap.  In the evening we went to the night market which is located right behind ISH 2, and I tried “red red” for dinner which is basically rice and some spicy bean mixture in a red sauce.  I thought it was delicious, especially compared to the yam and some spicy green sauce I attempted for lunch.  The night market (which is open all day actually) is a wonderful place for us to get food because it is usually only 1.5 cedi or less for a meal.  We also buy our water there which comes in a giant bag of 20-30 little baggies of water for 1.5 cedi—it’s funny to see people take a baggie of water out of their purse and tear it open with their teeth to enjoy!

At night, the international students organized a soccer competition and we watched while the self-declared teams took turns playing in the parking lot for a few hours.  Then we did a bit of exploring the other International Student Hostel (ISH 1) and bought some time on the internet before settling in our rooms for the night.  So that is all for my first 24 ish hours in Ghana! So many new experiences already, and so many more to come (but I’ll try to keep the blogs on the shorter side). Also when we figure out a better internet situation I will add pictures!! I am truly grateful to have this opportunity and am so excited to see what Ghana has in store for me!