This is our last week in Ghana and all of us are starting to feel nostalgia already. We’ve loved everything Professor Steeves and her team here have provided for us thus far and don’t want it to end! We have a week left to plan dinners with all the wonderful people we’ve met here and who have helped us along our journey like Doc, the owner of the house we stayed at and an awesome guy just in general, and Sonny, a crazy awesome DJ we met early on as our tour guide to most places and ended up befriended and hanging out with multiple times a week throughout our time here. I’m going to look back on this trip with such fervor and excitement every time I think about all the experiences I’ve taken part in. There were times throughout the trip where I did feel homesick and pined for something I was used too. During those times, however, I reminded myself not just how lucky I am to be here but also how I may never get the chance to be here again. Ghana has given me such a refreshed look on how to view the world and see media differently when I get back to the US. I remind myself in those moments to feel incredibly blessed and to tell myself now I can go back and tell everyone what Africa is really like and how bustling and bumping a society it is and how it’s continuously growing! Every time I think about how much fun it will be to break down other people’s stereotypes of what Africa is I get so excited! Many people wondered why I was going on this trip and not a trip to Europe instead, and now I get to come back and debunk those thoughts. That’s not to say that those places of poverty and nature don’t exist they do and they are a big part of Africa, but more often than not they are talked about and overshadow the other awesome partsd of Africa as well.
Accra reminded me a of a small US city in many ways with it’s bustling streets, big shopping centers and malls, big buildings for businesses and just overall economy feel. I have loved being in this city and my expectations were absolutely blown out of the water and then some. Accra is a great example of where I think Africa is headed in general and it’s just going to keep getting better. Ghana does have an issue of a corrupt government system much like many other African countries but steps are being taken to address such things. Honestly being in the University of Ghana for my internship was the best opportunity for me because I got to see the next generation of leaders in Ghana learning and growing. Everyone I met was extremely bright and intuitive, and all seemed to know things had to change in Ghana’s government and seemed to have the will to help make that change. It’s groups of individuals like these that I really see being the change in their own world and setting the precedent of how Ghana should be for the foreseeable future. All in all, I’ve loved all the friendships I made here and I can’t wait to relish this last week and carry on my experiences I’ve had here to my friends and family back home!
Here’s a favorite photo from the trip:
