First

Dear friends, family, friends that feel like family, family that feel like friends, and whoever the aforementioned decided to share this with-

Hello from Ghana!
I feel like there is so much to tell, and I have less than an hour to 'whip this up', figure out my pictures, and send my parents a loving e-mail. I prepared to write this with bullet points, so I think that it only makes orgainizational sense to follow said points... plus, I like making lists when I blog. It's only fair to warn you now.

- Flights: I arrived in Ghana after a 30 hour travel bit that had me on my toes. One delayed and changed flight, the possibility of arriving in Africa without my luggage, and the general clumping of 25 uninformed and sleep deprived SIT students were what filled in the gaps between my otherwise uneventful travels. Note: Flying over the Sahara desert is pretty sweet, especially as the sun sets.

-Africa!: True or false: This statement is ridiculous- I live in Africa.

True. SO TRUE!

-Girls: After traveling for a bit with 25 students, the History and Cultures of the African Diaspora group slimmed down to our 7 girls (the rest continued on their Arts and Culture program). These women come from all over the U.S. and, oddly enough, I'm the only History major among them. Collectively our travels span the globe, from an exchange year in Ecuador during high school to Indonesia for Balinese dancing to living the first seven years of life in Jamaica. We collectively decided to drop all the awkward "getting to know you" attitudes and promptly began making fun of/supporting/challenging each other. For instance, I am now referred to periodically as Lady GaGa after a couple people heard me listening loudly to that catchy tune "Just Dance".

-Gaston: My friend Emma gave me a tiny alpaca llama from Argentina, and we have been taking pictures with him (ala Flat Stanley) almost everywhere we've been. He's now our scape-llama for everything from hot weather to traffic.

-Faux Pas- My first cultural faux pas was loudly laughing about the fact that the entire James Blunt CD was being played during our first lunch in Cape Coast. The second (or third... ) time I brought it up, the music switched over mid sentence. We ate there again today and James Blunt was on again. I have no idea if they love James Blunt that much or if the entire music program is on a loop. I'll investigate further and let you know.

-Canopy walk: This morning we went on one of only three rainforrest canopy walks in the world. It was astounding! Yay for being 15-30 meters above the ground on swinging walk ways! As soon as I have time to get some pictures up here, I promise they'll take your breath away.

-Food: The food great, although we've had basically the same thing so far for every lunch and dinner- chicken, a red slightly spicy sauce, rice, some form of plantain or startch, and vegetables. Oh, and PINEAPPLE. The pineapple is so good here, I could probably live on it and it alone. It tastes so sweet and fresh and... well, let's just say I'll never be able to eat pineapple from Commons again. I'm basically addicted.

-People: The people are so friendly, it's been very easy to feel comfortable. I move into my homestay in two days, so that will be an adventure.

That's all the time I have right now, but I love and miss you all. I'll be able to update some time next week, and that time look for pictures.
Keep me in your prayers, that I remain healthy and hydrated and sane (which has been going well, but really been in question before I ever decided to go to Africa).
Bye for now!