Ever since the start of spring term, I’ve been itching to get to June 28th. Over the course of the term and the pre-departure orientation course, I’ve become more and more intrigued by the culture of Ghana, its people, and its food. I can’t wait to get over there and begin to experience everything I’ve been learning about and reading up on for all of this time. While the orientation class has been interesting, the entire pre-departure process hasn’t been easy.

It was definitely a nerve-wracking experience having to mail my passport to Houston for the Visa application. The University Health Center was pretty swamped by the time I wound up making my GEO check-up appointments and I had to wait for about a month to get all of that paperwork done. In addition to that, the Yellow Fever vaccine wasn’t exactly easy to come by. In order to get that, I had to take a weekend trip to Portland to go to the clinic. Thankfully, now that most of those moving parts are taken care of, most of my pre-departure work has boiled down to getting packed and catching up with friends and family before I leave. My dad is a chef so he has asked me to try as many of the local foods as I can and to pick out a local spice as a “favorite” by the time I leave. My mom on the other hand just wants me to work hard, have fun, and experience as much of the culture and music as I can during my time abroad.

It still doesn’t feel real to me to even think that I was accepted to be a part of this trip, but I couldn’t be more excited to get underway! I can’t wait to see what this trip and this country have to offer me, I am sure the experiences will be unforgettable. Hopefully, nobody ran into too much trouble getting their affairs in order before we leave, and I can’t wait to see you all over there!