Fall break trip plans

I’m sorry it has been so long since my last post, but I did not have anything major to talk about since last week. Last weekend was pretty uneventful except for our large group outing to a sushi restaurant called Monsoon on Saturday night. The food was surprisingly good (Daniella and I shared vegetable tempura, spicy tuna roll, and a platter of mixed salmon and tuna sashimi and rolls), and not ridiculously expensive like we were expecting. Most dishes were between 9 and 16 cedis (probably about 5 to 12 U.S. dollars), so we did not feel too guilty ordering a lot of food. We needed a night to splurge on good food anyway, since most of us are growing tired of eating rice, plantains, and mixed vegetables nearly everyday. A few of us have decided to go there at least once every couple weeks, if not every week, to share a couple appetizers and have a drink in the very nice lounge they also happen to have. I forgot to mention that before we left the restaurant, after someone complained to the manager about an extra charge on the bill, we each received a free shot of B52, which I found surprisingly good. Most of you know that I am not a huge fan of alcohol, but this was very sweet (a mixture of Bailey’s and Kahlua), so I was even hoping for another one after I finished it. I think I have finally found my drink, strangely enough, in Africa.

Speaking of discovering things here, we had a very interesting discussion last night about racial differences among our group that allowed us to all evaluate our experiences here so far. Many of us have realized that being here as a minority for the first time has made us self-reflect much more and get more in touch with parts of ourselves that we may have overlooked while in the U.S. For example, a girl from a Jewish family spoke about how she feels much more Jewish being here in a predominately Christian country where she has to search for others with whom to share the holidays and traditions. It was nice to be so open about our races as well, since my experience in the U.S. is that it would be awkward to approach the subject with someone of a different race that may be sensitive about it. We did point out that coming here to Ghana in the first place was to leave our comfort zone, so why not talk about a subject we would normally be too nervous to discuss since it is on all our minds everyday? I for one definitely feel much more aware of my skin color and my background when I walk outside everyday, and am always wondering whether the African-Americans in our group feel the same way or have more a sense of belonging. What surprised me was that each one of them actually feels very differently, as do many of us with lighter skin, which made us realize that our experience here is very much shaped by our personal experiences back in the U.S. and our views of the world.

This weekend we have another two day trip; though this time it is to another large city called Kumasi about 6 hours north of Accra. It apparently is famous for its enormous market (the largest in west Africa), so we are advised to bring money for souvenirs and whatever else we find interesting. I will put the full itinerary in a separate post since it takes up a lot of room, but I will mention that we have to leave by 5am tomorrow morning since it is such a long trip and the traffic can get horrendous. I am not as excited for this trip as I was for the last one, since we are going to another big city that will probably also be very westernized and modern, but it should be nice to see another area of Ghana. Speaking of traveling, we are all pretty frantic about figuring out our plans for fall break, since it is very difficult deciding where to go that will not be expensive or difficult to get to. Daniella, Ivy, and I spoke with Christa, the associate director of NYU in Ghana, today about ideas of where to go and have basically decided to take a bus up to Burkina Faso right above Ghana. From what we have heard and read about the country, it sounds like a great choice since it is one of the safest countries in west Africa and has a lot of natural beauty and wildlife. I personally want to see as much African wildlife as possible, so I am in charge of researching game reserves up there while Daniella and Ivy figure out most of the transportation and visa fees. I will help with that too of course, but it just makes it easier when we all have separate jobs to worry about. We may be joined as well by a girl in the other dorm named Caitlin who I am slowly getting to know better, which will be nice since it will give us a chance to bond more. Traveling is by far the best way to get to know someone in my opinion; that’s how I learned to love Daniella in Florence after all. We will keep researching next week, so I will let you know our final decisions when we make them.