My experience and observations as an international student

Being an international student has taken quite some time to get used to. It feels like being “the new kid” at school. You have to start from scratch and learn a new curriculum, style of teaching, campus and school community.

I’ve met a lot of people since I’ve been here, most of whom are international students due to my living environment. Meeting Ghanaian students has taken more effort because they don’t come up and talk to me while I am on campus, unless they are students I've already met. As far as making friends, as a guy, it has been easier to befriend Ghanaian girls and for most of the international girls, it has been a lot easier to befriend Ghanaian guys. A lot of my international friends who are girls seem to find it quite difficult to befriend the local girls. I always mention to them that they still have an advantage over male international students because local guys they meet take them out to dinner, clubs and around the city all the time. And believe me; my friends take advantage of most of these opportunities. They always tell me that they are not “gold diggers”, they are just not going to pass up a free meal!

As for the campus environment, there is no sense of urgency. Everything runs on a term my program group coined “Ghana Maybe Time (GMT)”, which is a play on the words Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). It’s hard to tell when anything will start here. It’s actually worse than CPT (Colored People Time) for those who are familiar with that in the states. You can expect just about everything to start late, including classes, meetings, appointments and events.

Classes here usually meet once a week for two hours as opposed to Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday and Thursday (MWF, TR) which I was accustomed to at USU. My classes are a lot less challenging than those I’ve taken in the states. I haven’t received any homework and have only had one quiz since I’ve been here. I have participated in two group projects which I must say were quite difficult to accomplish. Working with 7-10 people who had different schedules and factoring in GMT when it came time to meet made the process quite difficult. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, final exams are usually worth the majority of a student’s final grade, so more emphasis is put on preparing and studying for finals exams than there is on homework, quizzes and midterm exams. Not having homework, quizzes or tests on a regular basis has made me feel quite unproductive. Although I don’t really care for any of them, not having them consistently like I am used to makes me feel like I’m not doing anything. It can be boring at times but I am learning how to enjoy my free time and use it productively.

There is a large Christian population on campus. I feel like I’m going to school with 30,000+ missionaries. Someone is always inviting me to church. It’s obvious that the majority of the students here love God. This campus actually feels holy. The students here praise the Lord the way adults do at my home church in Las Vegas and it’s impressive to see in person. There are church services, prayer meetings, bible studies, choir rehearsals and other church related functions happening throughout each week. On Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, I always hear the graceful melodies of church choirs who are either in rehearsal or church service. I usually see small and large groups of students in prayer circles around campus each day on my way to and from class. As I was walking home from a restaurant on campus around 11 P.M. this past week, I came across a group of nearly 30 students who were speaking in tongues on a grass field. It was astonishing to see this happening, especially so late at night. Although the religious presence on campus is overwhelming to some of the international students I've spoken to, I find it rather comforting.

The majority of the local students dress well. Their casual is what we refer to as “dressing up” in the states. At first, I thought the local students were just trying to show off and were overly dressed up for the first few weeks of class. But I soon learned that dressing well here is standard. Many of them have the impression, “you never know who you’ll meet, so you want to look presentable at all times.” A lot of the guys wear dress slacks and a collared shirt, either short or long sleeve and dress shoes. Others usually wear shorts or jeans with a t-shirt and sandals or a style of shoe that best resembles Keds. Many of the girls wear long skirts, dress slacks or jeans with a trendy button up short or long sleeved top, polo shirt or short sleeve shirt and either flats or trendy sandals (especially gladiator sandals). Most of the local students have conformed to these particular styles of dress, so they look quite uniform and it's impressive to see everyday. The way many college students dress in the states would be considered inappropriate here. Wearing sweats, basketball shorts, flip flops (which are considered shower shoes here), tank tops as well as revealing clothing will bring a lot of unwanted attention to you here whether you are a local or international student.

The local men stay well-shaved and their hair cut low to their scalp and neat (a fade). It’s uncommon to see men with cornrows or an afro. Dreadlocks are common amongst the Rastafarian community here in Ghana, but aren’t a style commonly worn amongst students. Many of the women wear their hair permed, in braids (micro or cornrowed) or natural (unprocessed).

There is not much cultural diversity on campus. My tables definitely turned; from attending a predominately white university to a predominately black university with more than twice as many students. I have noticed many similarities between the campus culture here and USU, especially the religious influence.

As far as the overall experience as an international student here, it is what you make of it. For example, some USU students “bleed blue”. These students genuinely love the USU campus community and environment. They participate in campus activities, join clubs and organizations, volunteer, attend Aggie athletics games, go sledding down Old Main Hill, love Aggie Ice Cream, become True Aggies (and even Ultimate Aggies and Extreme Aggies), strongly dislike in-state rivals BYU and the U of U with a passion and overall seek opportunities to do everything they can while a student at USU. There are also students at USU who aren’t into all of that “bleeding blue business”. They’d rather attend classes and SI’s, then go directly home, do their homework, then order a pizza, bundle up under their blankets, watch a movie and “call it a night”. Each of these students will have significantly different college experiences but they each will have the choice as to how they spend their time in college. The same factors apply while studying abroad.

“If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten. Nothing changes until something changes” -Anonymous

My experience in Ghana has been nothing short of inspirational. I’ve had to step outside of my box and learn how to adjust to a culture that I was unfamiliar with. It has been a challenge but I’ve been making progress each day to learn more about Ghanaian culture and to adjust to living here. I have had to push myself to get out of my comfort zone and try new things and adapt to my living environment. I’ve been more successful some days than others but I’ve always kept in mind that what I am experiencing will greatly benefit me throughout the rest of my life.

Before studying abroad, one will probably hear stories about being abroad and what some of their friends, past students and even parents have experienced on their trips. One will strive to make the best of their opportunity: to travel, to meet people, to try unfamiliar foods, listen to music, learn a language, to volunteer … to do everything in their ability to have a so –called “life changing experience” and to come home with a story to tell. I have chosen to simply make the most of my experiences abroad whether good or bad. I know that I will have a story to tell when I return home and it will focus on how much I’ve learned about myself.

Ghana is definitely growing on me. This is a beautiful country and its culture has provided me with a greater appreciation for life, family, spirituality and time. There’s a lot to learn about and sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed, but I’ve been trying to take in what I can for the short period of time I am here and plan to continue to learn more about the country once I return home.

Time seems to be going by fast. Today, I finally understood why it’s encouraged to study abroad for one year at the same place as supposed to one semester. There’s so much to learn and things to do and by the time one finally becomes adjusted and familiar with their surroundings, it will be time to head home. I lived in Las Vegas for 18 years and I still don’t know everything about it, let alone the state of Nevada, or the U.S., so imagine what it’s like to study abroad in a country for only four and a half months.

I plan to take advantage of what time I have left here in Ghana and appreciate this experience and hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to return in the future.

The wait is over

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) finally called off their strike to back demands for unpaid allowances and pay rise. The strike lasted from October 1st-22nd and almost resulted in the university shutting down for the semester if it had lasted over 21 days.

All lectures will resume on Monday. Because of the strike, the academic calendar has been extended. The full-time students will begin taking their exams in mid-December until early January and will begin their winter break in early January and will begin their spring semester a few weeks later. Do to contract agreements, the foreign students will take their exams separate from the full-time students and will have no exams held after December 11^th. A new final exam schedule will be coming out soon for both the foreign and full-time students.

We “gotta” do better

While growing up, my friends and I regularly joked about Africa. It seemed like such a foreign place. A place where many of us knew our ancestors came from, but a place we never thought we’d have the opportunity to go. Whether our jokes came from a general lack of knowledge about Africa or other factors, our jokes were very ignorant. Now that I am in Ghana, I think back on the jokes said as well as what I was exposed to about Africa before coming to Ghana and I have to admit that the media played a large role on my perception of Africa and plays a large role in the lives of the many Americans. Although many Americans have access to public libraries, book stores, the Internet, televisions, radios, people who have traveled to Africa and/or Africans who live in their communities and various other sources of information, many will never research anything about Africa.

Many Ghanaians I’ve spoken to say that Americans think that Africans live in trees and in the jungle with lions and monkeys … and I think that observation holds some truth … it’s definitely something my friends and I joked about “back in the day”. But what I found more interesting is that when I asked these same Ghanaians about the U.S., their perceptions were based on American movies and television shows they had watched. I think many Americans have fallen victim to doing the same.

Through mass media, a lot of quality information as well as ignorance are distributed. If I were to solely base my perception and what I expected my experience in Africa to be like on movies I’ve watched such as “Coming to America”, “Blood Diamonds”, “The Last King of Scotland”, and shows on National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet and a Jamie Foxx stand-up comedy skit I saw on YouTube called “Africaaa can you feel it”, I would have a very skewed perception!

It is vital to seek information from various credible sources, not just the mass media and especially not from only television shows or movies.

I think there is a general misconception amongst many Americans that all people in Africa are living in poverty, have HIV/AIDS and are exposed to wildlife on a daily basis. I think the reason why this occurs, is because many Americans simply lack knowledge about Africa but also because they perceive Africa as a country. So when some Americans are watching a movie such as "Blood Diamonds", they may think that those events are happening throughout all of Africa.

It has been a well worth it experience to come to Ghana and be able to see things from my own lens and not rely on what the mass media decides to expose to me. Hopefully I’ll get many opportunities to share my experiences with others once I return home.

Teachers on strike

I haven’t had class for the last week and a half due to the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) strike.

On October 1st, UTAG decided to withdraw their service to teach at public universities in the country due to an unresolved wage dispute.

Efforts are being made to make sure that at least the international students are able to continue lectures while negotiations continue between the government and lecturers to settle the matter. Most of the international students are only studying here for one semester, so they will need to complete their courses and get grades transferred their home universities. Most of the international students seem very concerned, especially since classes end in four weeks.

The International Programs Office has done a good job at keeping the international students updated on the courses professors have agreed to continue teaching. Luckily, almost all of my professors have agreed to return to teach.

Hopefully the strike will end soon.