Day 1: Six students, somewhat strangers, flew out of JFK filled with excitement and curiosity about traveling to a continent that no one had been to before. We landed Wednesday morning after the 8.5 hour flight! From the second we started descending, my eyes were glued to the window, I knew there was going to be no way that I could document everything I was about to encounter. I felt like I was on a new planet, where people walked around carrying baskets on their heads. One of the first things I took note of (possibly because I am a public relations major and marketing minor) was the difference with the billboards and advertisements! Completely new to what I was used to in New York.
It was at the airport we met our marvelous tour guide Maxwell, who was the first of many people to welcome us to Ghana with a warm, "AKWAABA!" A word meaning 'welcome' in the Akan language, native to people in Ghana.
Our day was pretty packed with orientation, a tour of University of Ghana, and our first taste of traditional African food. We learned from Maxwell that tipping is not customary, or expected in Ghana. Pretty good news for us, but we realized that tipping is also a hard habit to break (so that is good news for the Ghanaians).
We had our orientation at the Aya Centre with Michael Williams. This organization works with international groups to plan and coordinate site visits, community service projects, and classroom instruction to enhance the learning experience of the culture in Ghana. It was there he told us about the nature of people in Ghana (friendly, religious, touchy-feely, good-natured) as well as normal precautions to take (don't walk alone at night, and take your malaria pills).
The day continued with a driving our of the University of Ghana campus. Dr. Clark was able to revisit where he lived while studying there! Maxwell told us a lot about the history as well as the prestige of the school. He just graduated from University of Ghana, and is beginning a job as a news anchor the day after we leave! UG has 38,000 students enrolled, and is the 7th best university in Africa. Although it is a public institution and the tuition costs significantly less than private universities in Africa, it is far more competitive to get into and high school students must score almost perfect grades to even be accepted! The large and beautiful campus was a lot to take in and definitely nothing like our compact Riverdale campus that contains about 1/10th the amount of students.
We had a buffet style dinner where we tasted traditional Ghanaian food for the first time. Maxwell told us about his absolute favorite food: banku. This is a sticky corn meal mash that is served with either sauces or soups, and eaten with your hands. The first time I watched Maxwell eat it I was in such shock of how barbaric it looked to me! He said you are really not supposed to use silverware, so quite the culture shock there! Other foods served were jollof rice (spicy), chicken, fish, beans, yams, and plantains.
Overall very packed and exciting day and looking forward to touring this country and immersing deeper in the culture!
It was at the airport we met our marvelous tour guide Maxwell, who was the first of many people to welcome us to Ghana with a warm, "AKWAABA!" A word meaning 'welcome' in the Akan language, native to people in Ghana.
Our day was pretty packed with orientation, a tour of University of Ghana, and our first taste of traditional African food. We learned from Maxwell that tipping is not customary, or expected in Ghana. Pretty good news for us, but we realized that tipping is also a hard habit to break (so that is good news for the Ghanaians).
We had our orientation at the Aya Centre with Michael Williams. This organization works with international groups to plan and coordinate site visits, community service projects, and classroom instruction to enhance the learning experience of the culture in Ghana. It was there he told us about the nature of people in Ghana (friendly, religious, touchy-feely, good-natured) as well as normal precautions to take (don't walk alone at night, and take your malaria pills).
We had a buffet style dinner where we tasted traditional Ghanaian food for the first time. Maxwell told us about his absolute favorite food: banku. This is a sticky corn meal mash that is served with either sauces or soups, and eaten with your hands. The first time I watched Maxwell eat it I was in such shock of how barbaric it looked to me! He said you are really not supposed to use silverware, so quite the culture shock there! Other foods served were jollof rice (spicy), chicken, fish, beans, yams, and plantains.
Overall very packed and exciting day and looking forward to touring this country and immersing deeper in the culture!
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