Hello from Ghana!

I have now had four full days here in Ghana and I am loving the experience so far! I'm in the Honeymoon Phase, so I'm told. The campus is HUGE in comparison to Truman, and self-contained, as opposed to the U of I. Each morning we set off from the International Student Hostel at the southern end of campus across the red dirt paths and under the branches of the incredibly big, beautiful trees to go to various lectures on safety, health, adjusting to Ghanaian culture and registration procedures. In a lecture yesterday that focused on cultural etiquette we learned that there are certain inappropriate topics that are generally covered by euphemisms.
For example: "I'm got to go greet the chief."
Or: "A woman's wealth"
Or: "Her cocoa farm"
Any guesses to what these might mean? I'll tell the answers next time....

I'm really enjoying our residence hostel also. It's a four story building with a huge courtyard in the center. The hallways are open to the courtyard, like a motel, and the ends of the halls have big open balconies. Each room has its own balcony too. The breeze up on the fourth floor (where I am) is great. I wake up cold in the mornings! Who would have guessed? They say August is the coolest month, though, an din a couple months it won't be the same story. I don't have a roommate yet, but I've heard that means I will have a Ghanaian roommate. While that kind of makes me nervous, I'm also excited that I'll have an inside perspective to help me out this semester!

Today we went on a driving tour of the Accra, the capital city, and were able to stop for tours at the W.E.B. DuBois Center and the Kwame Nkrumah (I think that's how it's spelled-- the first president of independent Ghana) Memorial. Both were very interesting! We also stopped at a cultural center market and I experienced my first bargaining session. I talked down a wall painting from 25 cedis to 10 cedis (about $7). It's a beautiful (small) painting of--guess what-- elephants. I know I'm boring, but it's really pretty!

This post hasn't been very long, but it took me nearly 20 minutes to connect to this site, so I have to get going! Know that I am safe and having a great time! I love you!