My name is Adwoa

Registration at the University of Ghana is a HOT MESS!!!!!! I have all of next week to get it figured out . . . even though classes start this week . . . but I am pretty sure I know which classes I'll be taking, so I can go to them even if my registration hasn't been fully processed yet. I'll be taking Twi three days a week for two hours each, my development studies class, and my internship (I get my placement for that on Wednesday). Then I'm also taking U.S. Foreign Policy Towards Africa, and Human Rights in Africa if I can get AU to approve that since it wasn't on my pre-approved list. Finally, I want to take a drumming class . . . I think they have a class that is specifically for foreigners (AKA oburuni drumming 101 . . . hah!)

Everything is still great. The only disappointment really is my living situation. I am in the Ghanaian dorms, but my roommate is Sarah, the same girl I lived with for 3 semesters at AU. In some ways it's a relief because I know my room will be some place that I can relax . . . but I had requested a home stay as my first choice and then the Ghanaian dorms specifically so that no matter what happened I would be living with Ghanaians. I have 4 other suitemates . . . but one of them, Kirsten, is also American, and 2 apparently keep to themselves and have no interest in talking to Americans. The last one, Faith, is Ghanaian and she is VERY nice. Really, all things considered, the situation isn't bad . . . I was just hoping for an easy way to make some local friends. I'll just have to try that much harder to meet people I guess!

Apparently there IS in fact a women's rugby team, but I haven't figured out who to get in touch with for information about that yet. There's some athletic office that I'll try to go to on Monday if I can figure out where it is. Campus is HUGE!! It's probably really not all that big but I'm used to a very small, compact campus where everything is in the same place even though it has a relatively large student body. It's also a really beautiful campus, minus all the construction (but I could say the same thing about AU too). I think the coolest thing I've seen so far is GOATS!!! Yes, there are GOATS that run around on campus! They're not in the middle of things . . . most of the campus is relatively similar to one in the U.S. with streets and sidewalks . . . but as you get further out towards the edges of campus there are lots of fields and grassy areas where you can play soccer, or places the university is clearly planning to add buildings, and that's where the goats run around. But it's still cool!!

Another cultural note . . . every Ghanaian has a name based on the day of the week on which they were born. They're commonly used as middle names, but can also be a person's first name. Since I was born on Monday, my name is Adwoa. That's how I've been told to introduce myself to people that I don't necessarily want to be able to find me later . . . because there are hundreds of Adwoas so who's to say I'm the one somebody is actually looking for? It's already come in handy, and it's cool having a local name :)

If not by tonight, I should definitely have more regular internet access by Monday. So I'll start calling everyone on Skype by next week. Until then, I miss you all . . . but I can't lie, Africa is pretty amazing!