Getting Ready

Hey Everyone,

I have decided to start a blog, much to my own chagrin, to make things a bit easier for when I travel to Ghana. For those of you who don't know, I will be leaving in 2 months for Accra, Ghana in West Africa to study Drama at the University of Ghana for a semester. I won't be returning until the end of December right before Christmas, so in an effort to keep in touch with people I have started this blog.

As far as pre-departure goes:

First off, there are two months until I leave for Africa, and there still feels like there is a LOT of paperwork to be done. I'm also a little worried about paying for all this, since my financial aid status hasn't been updated. So now I am wrestling with Financial Aid to get my loan amount increased for the year so I have enough money for everything. Thankfully, my father has stepped in to pay for my airfare over there (a whopping $2,000; EEEEEK!!) until I can pay him back. And I've had really excellent support from the Honors Program and the Theatre Department with scholarships for me. But enough about money.

I'm currently getting ready to send in my application for a Visa to Ghana and making an appointment with the WVU International Travel Clinic to get all my shots (Hep A & B, Typhoid, Cholera, and Yellow Fever plus Malaria pills for the duration of my stay in Ghana). I have about 6 different check-lists of things to do before I go, then as soon as I get there, and then before I come back. It's a somewhat complex process, not too effectively managed by the Study Abroad departments.

Anyways,
I hope that everyone checks this at least periodically, at least just so I don't come back from Ghana and have no friends cause I wasn't emailing them all individually while I was in Africa.
I'll try to post updates every couple weeks at least. But for now, it's more paperwork...