My boss asked me to write about culture shock here. And surprisingly enough not too much was jarring. I thought that there would be a skyline here, and how everywhere would be crowded, but that wasn’t the case. Out of sheer determination or was it recklessness, I decided to take walk home from the University of Ghana campus before sun set. While crossing the street was precarious as always, I was never bothered by the folks on the street, there also weren’t a lot of people walking about. Also, while I was nervous the first time riding the trotro, I find it enjoyable every time I go to and from work. There’s a sense of community when everyone’s smushed together in a tiny vehicle sweating and stuck in traffic waiting for your stop.

It’s hard for me not to compare a lot of things I’ve seen here to time I’ve spent in Indonesia. I hate to be reductionistic and simplifying these two places into just differences. However, there is value in understanding how lived experiences intertwine. Indomie – a source of comfort here I wasn’t expecting. I was shocked to see the number of kiosks and ads that were here lining the city streets and villages in Accra. When I sent photos of Indomie to my parents, it did put them in a sense of ease, that something we grew up with was present here.

My parents were very nervous about me coming to Ghana. This was my first trip traveling alone out of the country, I wasn’t going to be constantly supervised by adults, and it is important to note the double standard my parents held since she excited with my interest in going to London, but the second I said Ghana, she talked about how unsafe it could be and what would be there for me to learn. I want my experience here to be impactful for my parents to broaden their ideas surrounding people. I hate how little value is placed to countries that are considered “third world” or “developing” that become ahistorical to the generations of trauma inflicted beforehand through genocide, occupation, colonization from what is now wealthy and leading nations such as France, England, and the United States.

My first real day at my internship I was able to do to two press conferences. The first one was at this very bougie, fancy hotel that showed the signing of two companies into a multinational partnership between Ghana and the Netherlands. There were two things that were surprising for me. One, there was a welcome prayer for the signing. I knew that Christianity was everywhere, from advertisements to trotros but I didn’t realize how much time and space it would take up in everyone’s lives. The prayer reminded me of the prosperity gospels I’ve seen on TV. Two, I thought it was interesting to see how these press conferences, the media is referred to as a friend, which is very different from what is has been in the United States, where a newsroom was recently victim to a gun shooting and famous alt-right personality Milo Yiannopoulos. told his followers to go shoot journalists. It was interesting to see how the roots in state owned media, starting from Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president runs through how media is treated in present day Ghana.

Here are some observations from work. Even though The Finder is an English newspaper, the newsroom runs in Twi. Music ranges from Jackson 5 to Kendrick Lamar and SZA with air horn signaling song transitions. They also played music from my white prince, aka Shawn Mendes, and It G Ma, by Keith Ape, a Korean rapper who often uses black culture in his music, it was interesting to see the cross cultural exchange happening around the world. I’m excited to see what other things I’ll be covering next week.