5 days and counting..

My summer now has 5 days left on it.

Working at a warehouse this summer made it drag on forever, especially after an amazing year up in Minneapolis and this trip to Ghana in my future. This last Saturday I was in Chicago for a Bloc Party concert, tickets of which were an early birthday present from my parents. I went with an amazing friend, and it was an amazing concert--not to brag or anything, but the lead singer, Kele, bodysurfed above me twice :) .

The excitement of a Lolla-crazy Chicago and the International aura of the concert (Bloc Party is British, and the opener CSS is Brazilian) has made me even more anxious to leave than before. Another great friend of mine, Chelsea, is going to be in London for her study abroad, and so I'm also looking forward to visiting her for maybe even two weeks before going back to Ghana for my second semester.

So here I am sitting in my living room on my laptop dreaming of what it will possibly be like. Before college, the only place outside of the US I'd been was Tijuana and Ensenada in Baja California on day trips from San Diego. Then last summer I had the opportunity to go to Tanzania to volunteer and it was the most magical month of my life. I didn't know that life could be so exciting and raw at the same time. Now I guess you could call me a travel junkie that's been in withdrawal. I lack the funds to travel a ton, but I have enough to take advantage of the occasional opening. And my next experience starts in 5 days.

While there I will be attending classes at the University of Ghana in Legon. Legon is just outside of Accra, the main city in Ghana which is right on the coast. Campus, from what I hear, is about 12 kilometers from the center of Accra. U of Ghana has about 28,000 students and former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, was just named Chancellor of the University. I am part of a Development Studies track, so along with taking classes I will also have an internship with an NGO, or other humanitarian or developmental organization. I expect to see many different sides of life for Ghanaians.

I've started this blog for a few reasons. I'll be able to look back on it later and reminisce. My friends, family, professors and advisors will be able to keep up with my experiences and get to see how it's helped me grow as a person and as a student of global and racial studies. Mostly, though, I think this will help me vent my thoughts. I have this habit of overanalyzing things and thinking about them for long periods of time. Now I will have an outlet through which I can let others know what I'm thinking and allow my thoughts to develop even more.

Well I hope that you enjoy my future posts. I may not be able to get pictures up until the ends of each semester, but hopefully my posts will be interesting enough to keep you checking up on me. I anticipate my blog to be a bit more analytical than purely descriptive, just to let you all know. My free writing tends to gravitate towards my passions and emotions than anything else, so if I start to rant, I apologize ahead of time.

Next time I write, I'll be in Ghana!
I hope you all only the best this year...