Yaaaaaay Ghana!

As of right now I've been in Ghana for about 24 hours. It's definitely been a loooooooooooong day. Last night, we (several other students were on my flight) arrived at Kotoka International Airport about a half hour past schedule, but with no problems. After making it through Immigration (where the authorities had a rather humorous sign posted saying something to the effect of "If you're a pedophile or plan on being one while you're here in Ghana, turn around" right under AKWAABA ("welcome" in Twi)), we moved to get our luggage. Everything arrived safely. Toward the exit NYU in GHANA staff met us and after waiting for a bus to return, we were on our way.

I live in the housing facility called Church Crescent (apparently named after the street it's on...news to me.). It's four individual houses, each with three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, laundry room, dining room, and living area. The houses share a common courtyard and so far it seems like it'll be a pretty sweet living situation. I have a bunk bed. Top bunk. 'Nuff said. Last night I took a cold shower only come to find out today that the water heater switch in the bathroom actually had to be turned. I'd say it was one of my more intelligent moves. Between last night and this morning I completely unpacked and have already made a mess of my personal space. I'm also in the process of hanging up pictures on the wall with my unapproved tape...I'm such a rebel.

Today started with a severe lack of sleep (which I'm going to blame on all the sleep I got on the airplane). After waking up early, breakfast was had (food the CRAs (community residential assistants...or something of the like?) had provided) and then we all hopped in some vans and headed to the academic center. We were given a short tour of the five or so rooms and then proceeded with Orientation. After a couple hours we went to a Forex Bureau and exchanged dollars for Cedis then continued on to lunch. Lunch was surprisingly good. There was a ton of Ghanaian dishes, most of which I tried (I'm turning over a new leaf and being adventurous). My favourite at lunch was Groundnut Stew...there was also mad good rice and chicken and plantains. At lunch, a cell phone vendor came and I purchased a pay-as-you-go phone for 45 Cedis. Afterward, we headed back to our residences for a little break then a meeting with our CRAs. This evening we went to dinner at Tante Marie (one of the restaurants on our meal plan) and had more local dishes. Overall pretty good stuff.

Needless to say, it's been a long day and I'm pretty exhausted.
peace and love.