A First Time for Everything

I felt like everyone was looking at me. I kept my head down and walked to seat 28A. I asked the two men already seated in row 28 if I could get to my seat and awkwardly maneuvered myself over them, somehow still managing to hit each of them in the face with my purse. I shoved my oversized backpack underneath the seat in front of me as I apologized to the two men who now had tight smiles on their faces. I felt odd, out of place. As a caucasian woman born and raised in America, I have never been a minority. I have never looked around and been surrounded by people who do not look like me. The first time I have ever felt this was on the plane to Accra. I didn’t know how to feel or how to interact with the men sitting next to me, so I sat for 7 hours, feeling very alone. I didn’t have the nerve to get up and go to the bathroom or stretch my legs. I simply sat and tried to comprehend what I was getting myself into, and let the nerves set in. I figure this will be one of the many eye opening experiences I have in Ghana, and I haven’t even landed yet.