After spending the past weekend in a wonderful beach side resort along Cape Coast, we had to head home. The following day would be Monday, aka the first day of internships. I was very excited for my internship, but the commute to and from work is what turned my excitement into more of an uneasy feeling.

We woke up to the next day and I prepared as much as I could. I awaited breakfast, but it never arrived. I settled on a bowl of rice crispies, packed two snacks and called it good. We took our first day of school picture and crammed into either a van or bus. I was in the van, and as we left the gates I asked Senyo who was first to be dropped off- in the back of my mind hoping it wasn’t me. He called out, “Emerge.” The nerves settled and I knew this day was starting sooner than expected.  After some confusion on where Emerge actually was located, we identified a large, eight story building near the airport. The front had a little café that made me less nervous about what my lunch might be for that day. We waited amongst two other men in the waiting area. A woman greeted us fifteen minutes later and introduced herself as Barbra. She showed us to where we’d be working, a small office with three other people.  Senyo took me and Aviva’s picture and left us for our first day. Aviva is also assigned the same internship as me, which I’m very grateful for because jeez… this first day was anything but ordinary.

Our day began with Barbra listing the ten accounts that we will be working on, and I scrambled to write everything down as best as I could. We waited for our boss to arrive, Michelle. Once she finally arrived, everyone in the office was called into her personal office space to do introductions. I always appreciate a leader who understands the importance of getting to know people that you will be creatively collaborating with.

Michelle, our boss, is an amazing woman. She is the founder of Emerge and works to increase its size in any way she can. The project she’s working on that sparked my interest was titled Made in Ghana, which is essentially a “one-stop shop” for products made in Ghana. I’ve realized that Emerge, and other companies, love the term “one-stop shop.” I think maybe they’re intrigued by this term because it seems simple and efficient. She explained that even though she moved out of Ghana at a young age and people sometimes say she’s not Ghanaian enough, she is from here because she’s made here, hence Made in Ghana. Throughout the two weeks I’ve been here this sense of pride in one’s country is prominent everywhere we go.

We’ve now been at our internships a full week and I’ve come to learn a lot about Emerge and the companies within the same building. At lunch we see many white men and some white women. This is definitely a nicer area that caters to the American lifestyle. I guess I’m conflicted about this because I’ve come on this trip to immerse myself and although I’ve experienced so much of Ghanaian culture, I find myself purchasing that seven-dollar turkey sub each time at lunch, as opposed to the one-dollar rice and cow-back meal that my coworkers get each day. Yes, you read that right: cow-back. But it’s only the first week and I’m excited to challenge myself and break out of my comfort zone in the coming weeks. I think choosing what I want for lunch each day, as minuscule as it may seem, has brought me to the realization of whether I will take the easy or hard path for every decision I make on this trip, and even beyond that.