One thing that I like about traveling is being able to experience cultures that are so much different from mine. Getting out of America allows me to open my eyes to the world and get out of my comfort zone, showing me how diverse our world is.

Today, the whole group decided to go to “Monday Night Futbol,” where there were about five hundred Ghanaians that gathered around a dirt field to watch the amateur team play soccer. When we got off the bus, every single Ghanaian broke their neck to look at us as we walked to find a place to watch the game. I have never felt more awkward in my whole life and I thought to myself – this is what it feels like to be a minority. It’s not every day that Ghanaians see a group of Obrunis, what they call white people, in their neighborhood.

Living as a white woman in America my whole life, I sometimes forget how privileged I am. This unconscious privilege proves that I don’t have to think about things like sticking out like a sore thumb at a soccer game. It’s humbling to get to experience the Ghanaian culture because it reminds me that the world is so much bigger than myself.

I’m blessed to have the opportunity to be able to travel as much as I do and gain these experiences because it will help me achieve my goal of wanting to work to correct the misrepresentation of different racial and ethnic groups in media. There is a stigma about what Africa is like. People think Africa is nothing but poverty and disease and before leaving, a lot of people asked me, “How can you work for an advertising agency in a place like Africa?” Although it is very true that there are parts of Ghana where people suffer, there are also very affluent parts as well.

I’m not here as an American who is about to work with individuals who live in an underdeveloped country. I’m here to collaborate with other successful and creative advertising professionals and work for Innova DDB Ghana, part of the second largest advertising network in the world called DDB Worldwide, which has over 206 offices in 96 countries.

I’m still trying to grasp the fact that I’m in Africa on the adventure of a lifetime and I don’t think it will set in until I’m back in America.