Hi wonderful friends and family,
Hope you are all well back at home or at school or traveling abroad! I'm all situated here in Ghana and things are pretty good-so far everything is better than expected! Here's a little update on my adventures:

The first few days they had us all stay in a hostel together in a neighborhood outside Accra called East Legon. The hostel was really nice (all the showers-yes showers, yay-have moving heads on hoses, so even though the water is cold, I just pretend I'm getting my hairwashed at the hairdressers-only one of my favorite things ever), and the leaders of the program are so smart and new exactly how to prepare us for our experiences-anticipating every question we might have. The first thing they did was have us all stand up and give each other massages, and told us we were creating a family, so these people are very me.

Walking around the neighborhood the hostel was in, we got our first taste of Ghana. Right next door to the hostel, there were people living in what looked like abandoned cement houses (except they were not abandoned) and tool shacks. When looking at the houses, you are sure no one lives in somewhere so small or so insecure or so dilapitdated, but then you see whole families and clothes and goats and chickens and you realize this is someone's home! There were also lots of little shops, that are the size of tool sheds or kiosks, with names like "God's Way Barbershop" around. Then across the street it was like we were in a whole other world. Apparently lots of ambassadors and rich people lived there, because there were tons of huge beautiful houses with lots of security and fences. It was pretty interesting that the contrast was so great.

We moved into our house on Tuseday-I live in a pretty sweet house with 10 people. Its really nice because its in the middle of a bustling neighborhood (lots more kiosks and a bar and an internet cafe, and the shop next door, called "the home of exclusive furniture") and the house is pretty big so people from our program use it as a hang. Walking around is a little intense because everyone stares at us, but as we get more into a schedule and we stop walking in huge groups, I think we will get less attention. I have to remember that it will never totally stop, though, which is hard to grasp.

Now on to the most important part-FOOD! So far, so good. We have some Ghanaian students who have signed on to help us out, and they've helped me troubleshoot all my allergies as I got used to whats here. There's a spicy rice here, which is a yummy staple, but there is also tasty chicken and plantains at most meals. I love plantains-I always have to make sure I don't take too many and stuff myself. Apparently pinenapples are amazing here, but I haven't had any yet. I'm also looking forward to trying fufu, the main staple here, which is a sort of ground up cassava I think. A few nights ago we went to a little strip mall-the only one I've seen so far-to eat at the pizza inn, which is is quite the hang on tuesday nights because they have by one get one free (Just like Two for Tuesdays at Dominos! A universal code of cheap pizza places, I guess!) Last night the power went out in our neighborhood (that happens every 5 days here) and we made noodles and cheese (like mac and cheese) in our house by candle and flashlight, which was pretty fun.

The last two days I've been registering for classes, which is QUITE an experience. We have to go to each department to register and stand in long lines waiting for our classes. Registering is often just writing our name on pieces of paper once we get to the front of the line. Some of my classes had no lines (or queues), which is great, but waiting in line for poli sci has taken at least 4 hours of my time. The first day we got to the front of the line when a ton of people, annoyed that the office was about to close for lunch, busted into the office and demanded to register. And then the computers froze, so I had to come back today. I think online registration at GW will be lovely when I get home.

Getting around the big campus to register for classes has been pretty fun. I often have to ask people for help finding things or understanding the system, but most everyone is really nice and sometime even walk me to where I need to go. One person said, "well, you are white, which is a rare species here, so people will understand that you need help, " which pretty much describes it. They think Americans are too individualistic, and so depending on others for help is much more common here. Everyone is really fashionable on campus, so I got some advice on where to go shopping to live up to these high fashion standards.

All in all, I'm having a great time. The people in my group are so nice and come from all over the country, and we all seem to be bonding very nicely. The program coordinators really know how to take care of us, and everyone in general is ready to help us. I'm learning so much about what I want to learn about-last night our program coordinator stopped by the house and I asked him a ton of questions about Ghana's development, and I felt like taking notes. It got me so excited about discussing this stuff with professors and other students. It seems like Ghana is really on a cusp, and students feel a lot of pressure to innovate and make their country a better place, so its exciting to be amongst that. There is a lot of hope, because of recent economic stability, that Ghana will really become less poor in the next few years, so its fun to talk to everyone about that. People here have been very peace-loving and patient-I've been told that a lot of folks sort of look to God to take care of everything. I'm learning to relax some too, and let things be, which is really what you have to do when you don't know when you will have power and when getting lunch takes 2 hours. I miss home and familiar faces, but I'm still so enamored with the new-ness of everything that I am too excited to be too sad.

I'd love to hear about how things are with all of you-please send me e-mails! Talk to you soon!

Micaela