The attitude I bore coming into Ghana went something along the lines of, “Prepare for the worst. Hope for the best.” I wanted to anticipate anything that could go awry during the trip. I followed the advice I had received before arrival as closely as I could to avoid a meltdown or intense culture shock.

For four days the surprises had been pleasant. Most of the problems that I was told about had yet to materialize.

Monday and Tuesday changed a lot of that. While I avoided falling ill like other group members, I finally did end up getting my first mosquito bite (albeit it was a small one). For the first time since my arrival, I didn’t eat chicken for lunch or dinner as I went for fish instead. I love fish, but usually I’m hesitant when it comes to ordering the dish if it doesn’t come from a dependable body of water or from the West Coast of the US. Whenever I think about eating fish in unnatural settings I always think about that scene in Airplane! when everyone on the flight gets sick from eating fish. Thankfully my risk payed off as the fish ended up being quite good.

I ended up taking my first nap due to exhaustion which forced me to miss my first group activity. Most importantly, we lost power for the first time. I’m surprised we hadn’t experienced any power outages up to that point. At about 5:50 p.m. all of the electricity went out. Inconveniently this was also the first night that we weren’t provided dinner by Professor Steeves. This limited our dining options as all of the kitchen appliances were dead. But rather than be disheartened by the outage I was actually excited for the whole experience. I wanted to see how the group would react in the situation and ultimately it spawned some of the best bonding time we had had up to that point.

Continuing with the theme of firsts, I smacked my head on the top of the bed frame twice in 10 seconds Tuesday morning (I sleep on the bottom of a double bunk). Again, I’m surprised that hadn’t occurred earlier. I also successfully bargained for a item at one of the markets in Aburi. My first time as a shrewd costumer in Ghana was very satisfying. More firsts are certain to arrive soon.