I am realizing there is a difference between feeling and saying you do not take things for granted. If you continue to have access to your comforts, if you are never actually  in a situation where you are without your conveniences, you won’t realize how much you really did take things for granted all along. Paved roads, food safety and variety, hot water, air conditioning, bus schedules, clean streets, maintenance of parks, streets, traffic, and reliable electricity are just a few examples.

These things are different in Ghana. While in the situation I feel blessed for the opportunity to experience time abroad, and it is a blessing, but secretly deep down at times of struggle I wonder: how much longer until I am back home? These thoughts make me feel guilty, but it is ok because people never truly have to think about what life would permanently be like without a house built to give you all your comforts of hot water, cold water, hot air, cold air, flushing toilets and safe water. It is hard to be born into all of that and not miss it.

I have had a couple moments when I just wanted to be back in my comfort zone. Forgetting I can’t drink the water out of the faucet or wash my toothbrush off with it. Constantly having to question if food was cooked safely. Eating the same meal for the fifth time in a row. Just wanting to order a salad with rare steak on it and not question if I will get sick when I eat it. Walking around and keeping in mind that there is a foot wide two-foot deep gutter next to me with dirty water, trash, and waste in it and making sure I do not accidentally fall in it. Avoiding multiple piles of garbage and mysterious liquids while walking around on sidewalks, dirt paths and streets. How bumpy and uncomfortable my ride to work is in an old rickety VW van packed with 20 seats, known as a tro tro, that often goes off-roading to get to multiple destinations, and that ultimately I could wait for hours or minutes trying to get on in the first place. Even being without my car feels like a hardship. Many people in Ghana do not use cars, just as many people in the US don’t drive, but it is out of my comfort zone to not be able to simply jump in my car to go to work. Transportation here makes it very hard to schedule things, which is also something we are accustomed to.

In Ghana there is something called Ghanaian time or Ghana man time (GMT). This basically means that things do not need to happen at an immediate time, things can be easy going and not so much on a schedule. Can you imagine anyone in the US going for that? There are too many hurried people. Ghanaian time is a cool cultural mentality and I do enjoy the idea of stopping to take a breath. However, GMT is unpredictable and forces you to be very flexible, which is both good and bad. Coming here as an American I am not on this time. So, when some of my group and I went to an award show that started at 8pm, we showed up at 7:30pm. No one was there. On GMT this means leave your house at 8pm and leisurely make your way. Many people arrived by 10pm.

I know what you’re thinking too. Some people don’t get to choose if they even get to eat, or go to bed warm and safe, or have a job, or have clean facilities. Here I am, complaining about these things. Well, for clarity, I wrote this post for discussion, and I know many people are secretly feeling this way, as well. So this is the woe of traveling from an American perspective, which no one wants to blog about for this precise reason- we look shallow. But I think it is important to point out these feelings and talk about how they induce thoughts like these, no matter how shallow they may be.

I believe comfort zones can be like graves. We take many things for granted, and I do not look down on people who have never gone out of their comfort zone, but I do think it is an important thing to do if you have the ability to. Studying abroad and traveling gives you two things in my opinion. One, it shows you that life the way you live it or the way your country lives it is not necessarily the right way or the only way to live it. And two, it makes you appreciate the things you do have. Putting yourself out of your comfort zone is a challenge and it helps us grow.

Thus far, my experience has been amazing and although, at times, I yearn for convenience, the benefits and experiences, by far, outweigh the discomforts.