I am now in the third week of my time in Ghana, time is flying and everything is beginning to feel less like a foreign place. So far I haven’t been able to upload my blog posts due to Wi-Fi issues, but here are some of the things that have been going on.

Pre-departure: The final week before we left, everything still felt like a dream. The idea of being over 7,000 miles from home and living in Africa for two months was both exciting and intimidating. I had ideas of what it would be like (non stop mango eating, shopping at the markets, embracing Ghanaian culture, and adjusting to the heat). I had no idea what to really expect in regard to interacting with people and the culture. Before we left we were given all kinds of advice, but it all just kind of goes over your head and you don’t learn anything until you find out you paid three times what you should for a soccer jersey.

Day 1: We arrived in Ghana at about 2pm local time, and as the plane wheels hit the ground my heart started racing. I had no idea what it would feel like to finally have my feet on the ground of Accra; it’s something I have been trying to imagine for the past five or six months.

It was very hot. I think I was sweating within 5 minutes.

All of us on the flight were nervous and flocking everywhere together to make sure we got out without any confusion. We were picked up by a bus at the plane and driven to the terminal. This was my first experience of truly feeling like I was out of my element, trying not to feel uncomfortable by the many eyes on us.

We headed to the house, quickly overwhelmed with our surroundings and dripping sweat. I was fairly quiet up to this point, trying to take it in that I was actually now in Africa. AFRICA. It seemed like such a distant idea for so long, but I made it, and I am really doing this. When we arrived at the house I was immediately amazed by how beautiful it was. We were settling in our rooms and unpacking our bags, completely exhausted from roughly 15 hours of flying, discussing our expectations and worries for the trip.

That evening we had our first group meal, with the exception of two people that hadn’t arrived yet. We went to a restaurant owned by Doc’s wife, called Chez Afrique. This is where I had my first of many laughable moments. Our instructor Leslie had told us she was going to order the “little lizards” or “Kelly Welly” and that we would all love them, leading me to believe that we were getting actual lizards.

The server brought out the order and I asked “Oh, are those the lizards?” as soon as I said it I knew I had missed something – she looked confused and started cracking up. FYI, Kelly Welly = Fried Plantains, but with a small resemblance to little lizards.

Anyhow, they were delicious. 

One of the first things I learned about Ghana in comparison to the United States is the minima; relevance of time. It’s truly refreshing. I notice I seem to never know what time it is, I rarely have a phone on me to check and we all just of go with the flow.

At dinner, we had our first observation of this different concept of time. In the US we are used to going to restaurants, eating, and getting the check immediately so we aren’t taking up table space; it’s not the place to spend hours with your friends.

I think we were at this restaurant for roughly four hours, and we were all served at different times. Some people were done eating by the time others received their food. It was definitely different than what we were used to, we tried to be as patient as possible given our level of starvation.

The food was delicious and it was a fun experience. So far, almost every time we have gone out to eat I have ordered something different – most of the time the food has been good, but not every time. Our immune systems are still very much adjusting to the differences.

After dinner we came home with full tummies and ready to hit the hay. Just one thing stood in our way: setting up our mosquito nets. Long story short, humidity and duct tape were not our friends, I gave up on mine pretty quick but my roommates were more determined.

I woke up only to see my roommate Megan’s net had fallen on her face, but it didn’t phase her sleep, by now many of us have given up our nets.

It’s these moments that I appreciate the most about this trip, the challenges we are overcoming while being in a completely new element. Things will not always go as planned and we have to learn to work with that, and although this is a very small and funny challenge, I know that we have many ahead.