Class Run-Down

I realized that I haven't talked hardly at all about my classes here at UG, despite the fact that this trip is "study" abroad. So I thought I'd go through each of my classes and fill you in on what I've been doing all semester.

AFRICAN DRUMMING: Yes, I took a drumming class, something that was way out of my comfort zone, but I ended up loving. I loved it so much, I bought a beautiful drum that dad so kindly took home for me when he left. This class was an all-Obruni class (all international students) so none of us felt completely incompetent. We spent the majority of the semester working as a full class and learning the 4-5 parts of 3 different songs. For each song, there is the bell part (which keeps the rhythm for all the other parts), the rattle, one or two supporting drum parts, and the master drum. Near the end of the semester, we each chose which song we wanted to be tested on and were split into those three groups to focus on our chosen parts. For the exam, we would be split into groups of four, one for each part (bell, rattle, supporting, and master), and we would play the song four times, rotating parts until we had each played each. Unfortunately, this was a lot harder than it sounds. Not only did we not know our specific group until the final class period (so we couldn't really practice much together), but just getting all the parts to fit together, was REALLY hard. We could each play each part individually really well, but playing them all at the same time was near impossible. It sucks, because when it fits together, it sounds really awesome, but when it doesn't, it sounds awful. Yesterday was our exam. My group was up first. Amazingly, it went pretty well, and there were some parts where I definitely felt the groove! I was much happier afterward than I thought I'd be. We are supposed to find out our grades by the end of next week (we'll see....)

ENGLISH IN GHANA: Every major has what they call Core classes for each level, classes that are mandatory for that specific semester. In the English major, there is a core grammar class and a core literature class. I took both. Being core classes that all 4th-year English students have to take, both were BIG lectures. 200-300 people. This was my first experience with big classes. The biggest class I've had at Truman was General Health, and that only had about 100. This class, the grammar class, was focusing on the history of English usage in Ghana and what makes Ghanaian English unique to all other varieties of English. I was excited to learn the linguistic side of it. Living here, I've obviously picked up that Ghanaian English is different from American English, and I thought it would be really interesting to pinpoint these differences. Unfortunately, we only got to this liguistic point in the last 2 classes. The rest of it was devoted to the history of English (and thus, Education) in Ghana. While this was pretty interesting, I was still disappointed we didn't work more linguistically.

GHANAIAN LITERATURE: I was super pumped for this class. This is why I came to Ghana! (well, not really, but still exciting as a World Lit Major.) This was the other core class, so again, huge lecture. But the professor was really personable and walked up and down the aisles while talking, which made it better. I think the coolest thing about this class was the books that we read. I've found that many of the authors I've read this semester have been from Accra, or at least lived here at some point, and use this in their work a lot. Thus, there are countless references to the University and to different places around the city that I have been to. This character goes to spend a day at Labadi Beach with his sweetheart (I've been there several times!), this character is rushed to 37 Military Hospital (I drive past that on a regular basis!), this character gets ice cream at Frankies (where I have eaten lunch, twice!). It's strange being so connected to the text, and at the same time, odd that this doesn't happen more often to me. Is Ghana that much smaller than America that I know more about it in these past few months than I've known of America for the past 21 years? In any case, it's really fun to read this way.

Side note: During my studies here, many of the authors I read for any of my classes, and the people we talk about (in my English in GH class, for example), have all attended or worked at this University. University of Ghana-Legon is the university in this country (not that it's the only one, but the most important). The important people of Ghana have all walked the same streets I do every day. It's a strange and exciting feeling. I think I would feel similarly if I went to Harvard or Yale or something. It's cool.

ISLAM IN WEST AFRICA: As a religion minor, I wanted to take some sort of religion class, and honestly, this is the one that fit in my schedule. I was okay with it, though, because Islam is one of the major religions that I haven't studied much. As the class got going, though, I discovered much the same disappointment I had with my English in GH class. It was much more history and much less religion. I had assumed we would be discussing the religion of Islam and how it is practiced in W. Africa. Instead, we studied the history of Islam emerging and developing here. In fact, we didn't even get very far in that respect. The last thing we talked about was in the 18th century. However, during preparation for a group presentation, I met several really great Ghanaians. We had a group of five, three guys and one other girl. These three guys were the first (and some of the only) Ghanaian men I met who did not try to hit on me or make me feel uncomfortable. They were genuine, funny, smart, and fun to hang out with. The other girl had such a gentle and friendly personality, that it was easy to get along with her. We met 3 or 4 times to prep for our presentation, and each time one or all of them would walk me back to the hostel, so I wouldn't have to walk alone at night. And now, whenever I see them on campus, they stop me with a caring smile to check on how I'm doing. So for that, I'm really glad I took this class.

NEW LITERATURES IN ENGLISH: If you remember, this is the class I switched into 3 weeks late, after the schedules were all changed. I'm not going to go into the scheduling confusion with this class (except to say that we met at a different time or place nearly every week), because it gives me a headache. But I will say that despite all the confusion, this was my favorite class here at UG. It was a small class, only like 12-15 people, which helped a ton. For those of you (like myself) who do not know what New Literatures in English means, let me describe it for you: it is the new term for literatures of post-colonized societies. We read, for example, lit from Ghana, Zimbabwe, the Caribbean, Nigeria, Canada, and Kenya. The term 'post-colonial' has been rejected due to its limiting nature. By saying post-colonial, it implies a connection to the former colonizer, when in fact, it could have nothing to do with colonialism. Post-colonized societies are making efforts to create new identities, instead of still being attached to colonialism. It's obviously more complicated than that, but you get the generally idea. I loved this class because I felt totally comfortable in speaking up. The professor was really great about encouraging discussion, and one day when I hadn't spoken up, she actually noted it, saying "Emily, you've been awfully quiet today!" On the one hand, it was intimidating being called out like that, but on the other hand, I loved that she knew my name and recognized my contributions to the class. Plus, on an essay we had to write, I was the only one in the class to get an A, so that's sweet.

All right, I think this has gone on long enough. It's been a great distraction from studying. But now I have to get back to the books. My first written exam is in 3 days!