First day of classes

Whew - orientation is finally over, and classes have begun! Last week we had orientation from sun-up to sun-down. The NYU staff here took us all over Accra, in an attempt to get us acclamated, but all I felt last week was extremely overwhelmed! As crazy as last week was, we got to visit some really cool places. We visited the National Museum, and the Artist Alliance Gallery where we saw artisans do kente weaving and batik making. We went to the Kaneshie market, which is this indoor/outdoor market that sells everything under the sun, but you're not supposed to buy any of the food there unless you want to get sick. But I bought some really pretty fabric for around 3 dollars that I'm going to get a dress made out of. There's a seamstress that comes to the residence every couple days and will make you anything for 3 or 4 dollars. Pretty sweet deal, huh?!

Classes started yesterday, but with my schedule right now I don't have class on Mondays or Fridays, which is
awesome! I had my first class this morning at the University of Ghana-Legon. It's actually a graduate
journalism course, but it's introductory, so NYU is allowing it as a journalism elective. It went pretty well today. There are four other NYU kids taking the class, and about thirty students in the class as a whole. The class actually began last week but we couldn't go because we were in orientation. So today, several students led the class with presentations on the development of mass media from books to the Internet, which was interesting, but I'd already learned most of it in my previous journalism courses. What I thought was really interesting was the difference in class dynamics. The presentations were much more relaxed here than any of my classes in New York. And if people got tired, it wasn't a problem to stand up and stretch and wake up a little. The professor actually stood up several times herself and made phone calls right in the middle of the class!

My second class today was at Ashesi University, which is right around the corner from the NYU in Ghana Academic Center. It's called Traditional Medicine, and it was kind of dry today, but the subject matter's really interesting so I'm hoping it will get better. Plus it will count towards my Anthro major so I won't be behind when I come back to the States. My favorite part of the classes is just observing how different they are from those in New York. For instance, the syllabus my Traditional Medicine teacher gave us all today just listed the different books we would be reading throughout the semester, but didn't lay out the different assignments or provide deadlines for any projects or anything; whereas in New York, the syllabus is always five pages long with every detail you could possibly need!

Tomorrow I only have one class: Projects in Photography, which is three hours long, but I think it'll be okay because I think we'll be going on excursions and doing developing and that sort of thing as well. And then Thursday I have Traditional Medicine again, followed by another class at the University of Ghana-Legon called Pidgin and Creole Languages, which will hopefully count towards the Linguistic part of my Anthro major. I'm kind of nervous because it's a 400 level course, and I haven't taken a linguistic course yet, but my friend Ben is taking it with me, so we'll survive together I'm sure.

Tomorrow I have to get some community service things organized as well. During the week of craziness last week, representatives from various community service programs in Accra came to speak to us. I'm excited about several of them - the Osu Children's Home and the New Horizons School for the Intellectually Disabled, especially, but I want to check out this other program called Theatre for a Change first. It's a program based in the UK and they have a project in Ghana called InterACT!, which puts on workshops and performances to educate people about HIV/AIDS. I went to the website and it looks like there's an extensive training program, but there's a phone number to call if you want to volunteer, so I'm going to call them tomorrow and see if there's anything I can help with.

We visited the Labadi Beach Hotel this past Sunday, and it was AMAZING! The beach itself is not so much fun - the water's really rough and full of trash and you're only allowed to swim in a specific area, so there are swarms of people. But the pool at the Labadi is lovely, and the hotel is beautiful. One of the girls here, Francis, negotiated with the hotel manager, and NYU students can pay $40 and get unlimited beach/pool/gym/sauna access for the entire semester. I really want to do it, because it's only $10/month, but then I'm debating...I only get to spend four months here. How much time do I really want to spend laying out by the pool, when there is so much else to see?! Still, sometimes it's nice to have a place to go to chill out, and work out, so I might decide to do it anyway.

Yesterday morning, I walked around the neighborhood with a couple of the other girls here. We tried to do it again this morning, but sleep got the best of us. I'm going to try to get up early several times a week and walk around and just explore Labone. Yesterday, we walked from our residence to the NYU Academic Center to Ashesi and all around, and realized just how close everything is!

For everyone starting classes, best of luck and enjoy! And to all, have a great week!