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!