I visited the University of Oregon as an incoming Media Studies doctoral student in May 2018. After visiting with a few folks in the department, I was advised to introduce myself to Dr. Leslie Steeves as we both shared a passion for travel and study abroad. Shortly after arriving at her office, I found myself sitting in her Media in Ghana course and learning about this amazing country and great study abroad opportunity as the 2018 cohort gave presentations about the history of media and journalism in Ghana and went over their packing list for the trip. Now over a year later, I am in Accra after having completed my own spring term preparation course, packing from my own checklist, and getting to know my own wonderful cohort of undergraduate and graduate SOJC students.

While the 36 hour day of travel to arrive in Accra from Eugene was certainly long and exhausting and the airline somehow failing to include half the plane’s luggage on our last flight resulted in some inconvenience during the first couple days of the trip, this study abroad experience is off to an awesome start. I am fortunate to have traveled previously throughout Europe and much of Latin America, but this is my first time to experience the continent of Africa, and the uniqueness of the Ghanaian culture, language, food, and people is exhilarating. Accra is an impressive city. The capital is home to massive football stadiums, striking government agency buildings and national theaters as well as the poorest, most overcrowded neighborhoods I have ever seen. It was heartbreaking to see so many unsafe homes without clean water or reliable electricity and gutters and streams overflowing with trash and plastic bottles which also clearly pollute each incoming wave and beach along the coast. We also toured the lovely, sprawling campus of the University of Ghana which is home to over 40,000 students and beautiful grounds of massive tropical trees and gardens. Higher education is also notably accessible in Ghana as it is well funded by the public in addition to a universal healthcare system.

I know that being only a couple of days in, we have only scratched the surface of what we will see and learn. It still feels surreal finally being here as my excitement for this trip has been building since my very first visit to the U of O. I feel so grateful to be in this extraordinary country and am excited for the many experiences that await us during the next 6 weeks.