By Megan Gignac

Hi friends! Here are some updates from my fourth week in Ghana. I hope you enjoy! After I got the first week of my internship under my belt, I was feeling confident and getting in the groove of corporate life in a new country. At the end of our long work week, it was time to celebrate and hit the Accra nightlife. I was really excited to dress up and have some fun with my roomies and the locals. We met up with some of our local Ghanaian friends, and they showed us all the fun spots. One thing we came to notice was that Ghanaians sure know how to party…apparently they don’t call it a night until the sun comes up! We tried our best to keep up, but eventually admitted defeat and went home to get some sleep.

The next day consisted of four separate craft markets followed by a nice and relaxing movie night. Sunday, we did a whole lot of nothing which was much needed. Then another week of work!! Woohoo!! I did lots of copywriting at work as well as some production management which was something I had never tried before. I actually found it really intriguing and perhaps a path I may pursue in the future. The following weekend, we made the six-hour road trip to Kumasi, home of the Asanti people, kente cloth, and fufu!!

I was very excited to explore a new city with my friends. We stayed in a hotel called Sweet Pee (yes, I spelled that correctly), and I roomed with my bestie Kenzee! Once we settled in from our long voyage, it was time to hit the town. First, we went to the Kente village where we got to watch them make their traditional garbs and we even got to try making them ourselves!

We got to go to the palace of the Asanti’s and learn about their history which was incredibly interesting and I learned so much about the Asanti legacy. Man, are those some noble, impressive people. Next we visited a man named David who showed us how to print adinkra stamps onto the kente cloth and we also talked about what each of them means. The adinkra symbol that I picked was called “Osram Ne Nsoromma,” which stands for faithfulness, fondness, harmony, benevolence, love, loyalty and femininity.

We ended our daytime activities with a visit to the Kejetia market, the second biggest open-air market in all of Africa. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. There were people everywhere you looked selling everything you could ever imagine. I could have spent hours upon hours exploring and bargaining for cheaper prices. We made sure to use the buddy system and hold on to each other because if we were to have lost each other, we would be toast. 

After all of our day time adventures, we had a yummy dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then it was time to have some fun out on the town. We went to two lively spots with loud music and we danced until we were too sweaty to continue. Eventually, our beds at Sweet Pee were calling our names. The next morning, we packed up our things and headed back to home base in Accra. Overall, week 4 was quite the success! I learned valuable new skills, explored a new city, immersed myself in rich history, and made some unforgettable memories along the way.