Free Day #1 - 05/20/12

Today was our free day, meant for us to relax, unwind, and process our thoughts. When we woke up, Katie and I did some work on our journaling and assignments. Blalock, Dr. Hunt-Hurst, Dr. Smith, Olivia, and Caitlin were going to the mall, so I decided to join them. I was just so shocked when we got there. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what we drove up to. It was beautiful metal and glass, the kind of mall that could be placed in any city in America without a second glance. I think that may be one of the things that surprised me about coming here. It's really very nice, a lot of people seem well off - carrying iPhones and the like, and then buildings like this mall and our hotel exist. It's just not what you think of when you think of Africa. I love that this place is breaking so many stereotypes apart.

At the mall we spent a ton of time in the bookstore and I ended up buying a cool music and fashion magazine called FAB (Fabulous. African. Black.). Blalock found D.K.'s EP and we all got a slew of postcards in addition to our magazines and music. Caitlin and I found a wall of Doctor Who books and thought it was just hilarious and wonderful that we couldn't find anything like that where we lived, but they were here, in Ghana of all places. So great.



Back at the hotel Katie and I finished up our assignments and then I got to Skype with dad for about 30 minutes. It was nice to see his face, though when he asked me about Ghana, I realized I didnt have much to say. It's like, yes I've been doing so many things and having a wonderful time, but I have no idea how to articulate what I'm feeling about where I am and what's going on. That might just be a me problem in general, but I'm finding it particularly hard when people ask me what I think so far about this experience to come up with any kind of answer. I don't know why my brain seems to be all broken. Maybe once it's all over and done with I'll kind of stew over the information and be able to coherently share my experience here in Ghana.

We ended the night with a fashion show, which I was just so inspired by. .....