It's all ending...

I haven't posted in a while, I realize, but I've truly been too busy. The days are slipping by quickly and soon (in four days to be exact) I will be leaving Ghana.
Here is a quick update on my recent days:

I have finished writing all my exams, which is wonderful. As I think most of you know, the exam process here is three weeks long. There are three exam periods a day, seven days a week for 21 days. It's exhausting. My exams were all within the first week and a half of the exam period, and even that felt really spread out. The first exam was really stressful for me, mostly because I had no idea what it was going to be like. Turns out I answered three essay questions on three pieces of literature. 2 hours and 40 minutes and 11 pages later, I had finished my first exam. The rest were similar. Really intense writing for a few hours and then it's over. I was relieved when I finished my last one, to say the least. I feel terrible for the people that are still taking them.

I went traveling this past week up to the north, with the main intention of seeing elephants. For those of you who don't know, elephants are my favorite animal. Since I was a little girl, I thought we had some sort of connection because both our names started with E. I have a stuffed elephant named Jefferson who has kept me company over here all semester. Elephants are sweet. So, naturally, I've been excited for this trip the entire semester. Correction: The entire time since I decided to come to Ghana.
The trip up north is a rough 14 hour bus ride. We arrived in Tamale around 11:30 at night to find that all the hotels were full, including the one I had called and made a reservation in. Luckily, our friendly taxi driver offered us his room in his family compound, because he would be out driving all night. Gotta love Ghanaian hospitality. The next day we hung out in Tamale waiting for our afternoon bus to Mole National Park, and stumbled upon a huge celebration in honor of the Ghanaian holiday Farmer's Day. The national celebration was being held in Tamale! The president would be arriving around 10:30! We somehow got front row seats and were able to see the president of Ghana arrive at the celebration. I have a video of the back of his head about 10 feet from us. Cool.
We took the bus to Mole (a terrible terrible bus down a terrible terrible road for four hours) and the next day went out on Safari. The safaris in Mole are generally walking safaris, unless you have your own 4x4 vehicle. You go out with a small group and an armed guide and look for animals. I felt like we were in Jurassic Park. Everywhere were this HUGE footprints cutting across the dried mud. We saw so many creatures: warthogs, bushbuck, waterbuck, kob (another antelope), crocodile, monkeys, baboons, and lots of huge, beautiful birds. What we didn't see=ELEPHANTS. There were no elephants. We went out on the afternoon safari, too, and still, no elephants. They told us that at this time, right at the beginning of dry season, there is still enough watering holes elsewhere that the elephants are not drawn to the big watering hole by the park entrance. There is only one that comes around pretty often at this time (because he is somewhat used to humans) and he just wasn't around that day. I was pretty crushed. I've concluded though, that like dinosaurs, elephants just don't exist in real life. They are a figment of my fantasies. And I am satisfied with that.

I'm running around these last few days trying to finish everything up, buying presents, hanging out with people for the last time, etc. It's pretty hectic, honestly. And I'm starting to wonder how my suitcases are ever going to close again.