The Wait
This
past week leading up to my trip has been a rough one. It was kind of
like the week leading up to skydiving a few years ago, when I kept
trying to picture standing at the edge of a plane and then next second
jumping out of it. I just couldn’t formulate this image in my mind,
since it was something so foreign and chilling, and thinking about it
created a knot in my stomach. Imagining landing in Ghana – and then
staying there for a whole semester – has been a similar challenge.
I don’t think I’m alone in not being able to imagine Ghana. “Will you live in a mud hut?”, “Do you ride a goat to school?” and “Do they have celery there?” are just a few of the questions that I have been asked when people hear about my abroad choice. Compared to Europe or other abroad options, Africa is relatively unlike America, which is why, of course, I wanted to go to Ghana.
Yet this definitely heightened my nerves leading up to the trip, because I honestly couldn’t visualize where I’d be, or answer any of the above questions (except perhaps the one about the goat). And despite attempts to Google image search terms like “Ghana,” “Accra,” and “Ghana Landscapes,” I still could not put together a cohesive sense of where I’d be, who I’d be with, and what I’d be doing for the next 4.5 months.
Currently I’m staying at a hotel for orientation with the other students on the program. The flights over went smoothly, except for a lost (then found) phone and passport. There was one person from CIEE on my flight from Boston to London (who’s mother has my father for an optometrist, we discovered), and we met up with 6 others in London. Though the anticipation leading up to this trip has been tough and scary, it’s definitely less stressful now that I’m here. I also want to give a shout out to my family – my mom, dad, and you too Gooby – for all the support. I don’t think it’s easy having a kid go to Africa for parents, and I really appreciate the support.
-Reposted from http://ghanawiththewindadventures.wordpress.com
I don’t think I’m alone in not being able to imagine Ghana. “Will you live in a mud hut?”, “Do you ride a goat to school?” and “Do they have celery there?” are just a few of the questions that I have been asked when people hear about my abroad choice. Compared to Europe or other abroad options, Africa is relatively unlike America, which is why, of course, I wanted to go to Ghana.
Yet this definitely heightened my nerves leading up to the trip, because I honestly couldn’t visualize where I’d be, or answer any of the above questions (except perhaps the one about the goat). And despite attempts to Google image search terms like “Ghana,” “Accra,” and “Ghana Landscapes,” I still could not put together a cohesive sense of where I’d be, who I’d be with, and what I’d be doing for the next 4.5 months.
Currently I’m staying at a hotel for orientation with the other students on the program. The flights over went smoothly, except for a lost (then found) phone and passport. There was one person from CIEE on my flight from Boston to London (who’s mother has my father for an optometrist, we discovered), and we met up with 6 others in London. Though the anticipation leading up to this trip has been tough and scary, it’s definitely less stressful now that I’m here. I also want to give a shout out to my family – my mom, dad, and you too Gooby – for all the support. I don’t think it’s easy having a kid go to Africa for parents, and I really appreciate the support.
-Reposted from http://ghanawiththewindadventures.wordpress.com
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