So much has happened since the last time I wrote,...as things piled on top of each other, I began to avoid writing new posts knowing that there would be so much to say, but alas, there is so much that I have no way of writing it succinctly...
Life has been crazy these past few weeks. I feel like I've spent much of my time trying to figure out what I am really supposed to be doing here... Life at the university is so far removed from ordinary Ghanaian life, life at ISH is even further removed from anything Ghanaian (since here we are surrounded by international students most of the time). I'm frustrated because I feel as though I have made few real connections with Ghanaians and have contributed little to my knowledge about what life here is really like. Overall I feel like I've been living here without really experiencing what it is like to be in Ghana. It's so easy to remain isolated within our group of international student friends and thus so difficult to truly experience Ghana. I finally got a room-mate. Her name is Adiza and she's absolutely adorable (I'll have to post a picture sometime). I thought that when I got a roomate, things would change, I thought that this person would be my "in" persay, but even though we get along great, and we hang out in the room together a little, somehow there is a great divide between the Ghanaians and the internationals, the groups just don't tend to mend well,... it's a bit disturbing. In a way the phenomenon makes sense...we're so different from one another, we have such different ideas about how to have fun etc...but still. I just wish cross cultural relationships were easy.
There's also been quite a bit of social drama among the Calvin group. I love everyone on this trip to death, but often I think my life would be easier (or just better) if I had come alone. I haven't made as many friends with people in other groups as I would have liked to, and although I know that it is mostly my fault, I also know that I would be more compelled to branch out if I were here alone, without a safety net of familiar comfortable people around me. As it is, it's more of a struggle. Also, it's seemed as though coming with a large group of Calvin folk has just brought Calvin drama here and I have had little need to deal with the other issues that should be consuming my thoughts while I am learning how to live in a foreign country.
Home-sickness has finally set in as well. Some of us girls were sitting in one of our rooms a little while ago talking about things we missed about home...I never before realized how much I love fall. I miss the mornings at school when the sky is open wide and bright blue, the sun is shining and illuminating the gold leaves on the trees. Those mornings when it's cool enough to wear jeans and a sweater a sip coffee as you walk to class...friends, when you encounter these precious moments on fall mornings, just think of me and how much I would love to be there with you. I love being here and would not trade in this experience for the world, but I still miss Michigan...