... and in my spare time, I am also a university student.

Well it looks like I survived the first real week of classes. Unfortunately, a class time was changed so my schedule will have to be rearranged. And as fascinating as that is to you all, it will be a story for another time...

As for my first impression of my classes, (since I'm sure my college administrator and student exchange director are dying to know) it's definitely the case that African university classes are much different from Canadian ones. It seems like they will require less work (at least now, when they are in their infancy), but the marking system here is British, so the difficulty may offset it. At the U of Ghana, they start as early as 6:30AM (poor buggers) and end as late as 7:30PM (which is still after sundown) Here's a rundown of what I've got so far...

Elementary Arabic: easily the most difficult and exciting class, it's going slowly since we have to learn an entirely new language, alphabet and script (plus we're learning ancient Arabic history). I'm kind of the star of the class (see my next post concerning that), which is not exactly why I'm there, but I'll have to roll with the punches on that one. It's three days a week, so there's a large committment, but I'm game for it, since it's kind of my pet project for the next nine months. It will be done, inshallah. (God willing)

Theories of Social Development: is a fourth year course with something like 600+ students in my lecture, which is larger than anything I've ever seen. The first class made it look pretty basic, but I'm totally psyched to hear the African perspective on it. (plus I had a time conflict with my Theories of Underdevelopment class, so I had to sink that one and put my eggs in this basket)

Management of NGOs: is an administration class and reminds me the most of B.PAPM back at Carleton, so Meghan, Adrienne and I will definitely feel at home in it. Plus our prof is a big Canada fan and apparently CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) is well known in Ghana, so Canada has a good rep.

Colonialism and African Response: was cancelled due to a death in the history faculty, but it looks like a fantastic class. I'm so hyped for it that I don't care that it's my only class on Friday from 5:30-7:30pm. That's freaking dedication. (If I decide to go away for the weekend, I know I can call a favour for notes anyway)

So while I'll have to add another class to make it a full course load (6 credits is the norm, but the Arabic is like 1 2/3), but it looks like I'll enjoy the semester... that is, unless Carleton admin won't transfer my courses. But I hope they will, inshallah.