The Trip to Volta Region Day 1

During the last weekend of March my friend Patrick and I went to the Volta Region.  The Volta Region is northeast of Accra.  While on our trip we saw the tallest waterfall in West Africa (Wli Falls), fed monkeys at a monkey sanctuary (Tafi Atome monkey sanctuary), and climbed the tallest mountain in Ghana (Mt. Afajato).  This whole weekend trip only cost about 90 cedi which equates to about 60 USD.  This was an adventure, and for the cost it was unbeatable.

The day started at about 9a.m. when Patrick and I caught our first tro-tro to the Madina tro-tro station.  After that we found a tro-tro going to Hohoe (Hohoy) which cost 9 cedi.  This was a very good price since we would be traveling quite a distance.  Upon our arrival in Hohoe we were very hungry so we planned to get food.  This plan was diverted for a few minutes because the taxi drivers bombarded us with the question of where we were going.  One taxi driver said he would find us food and take us to the falls for 30 cedi.  When we walked with him to get food another taxi driver came up to us and said he would take us to get food, go to the falls, and take us to Tafi Atome for 30 cedi.  The first taxi driver became angry at the other driver and they began to argue over who was to take us.  We ended up going with the younger taxi driver because he had the better price.

Yabi and Amos were our “guides” for the first day.  Yabi’s role was to get travelers to the cab and Amos was the driver.  We went to the Wli Falls and it was magnificent.  The falls were extremely high and the water was warm.  The light sandy colored rocks that made the falls formed around us and lush green foliage was found creeping down the rocks.  The sound of the waterfall was very relaxing and the way it echoed within the cove encompassed me with a calm not found in Accra.  The walls jettisoning out of the cove served not just an aesthetic feature but, also was the home of many bats who simply hung on to the rocks and slept.  These falls were unlike any other I had seen before and they may in fact be my favorite place in Ghana.

After the falls we started what came to be our “adventure” to Tafi Atome.  The adventure ensued directly after leaving Wli Falls.  The driver had to stop at his house in order to get his driver’s license because there was a checkpoint on the way to the monkey sanctuary and without a license he would have to pay a bribe to go through.  This stop took us about 40 minutes out of the way and since we were on a tight schedule this was not a good thing.  The next stop was to by corn milk which Yabi insisted that we should have; Patrick and I did not want the milk and simply took it not to offend Yabi.  Next, Amos saw a friend and decided that he needed to get some more “African Snuff” (African Snuff is merely tobacco in powder form so it is not illegal).  This took about 20 minutes and then we still had to drive about an hour to get to the monkey sanctuary.  At this point Patrick and I were more than ready to get to Tafi Atome and we made that known to Amos and Yabi.  They eventually got on the road to Tafi Atome; however, Patrick and I had to call the sanctuary in order for them not to close.  After speeding down a dangerously rough dirt road we finally made it to Tafi Atome.  After we paid to stay at the sanctuary we went back to Amos and Yabi and gave them the 30 cedi price we had agreed upon.  Then both of them started asking for 10 more cedi.  This caused a rather large argument between Yabi and I and Patrick and I walked away without giving them any more money.  While this was a trying experience it taught me to stand firm on the agreed upon price no matter what.  This was a very beneficial experience for not being pushed around.  The thing to keep in mind while traveling in Ghana is that everything is negotiable and sometimes you may encounter people who want to take advantage of you; however, if you stand your ground and make sure you listen to your intuition about danger you should be fine.  Overall, I would say that even with the suspicious activity done by Yabi and Amos I still enjoyed the first part of my trip to the Volta region.

Classes at The University of Ghana

The classes at the University of Ghana are based in lectures. Many of the classes are between 50-150 students. This makes things very interesting for learning since at Central Michigan University a large class is about 150 students; however, most are less than 40. There are three distinct things that are very necessary to know about when attending classes at the University of Ghana, these are: signing up for classes, differences that international students may find in their classes, and exams.

Prior to even going to class one must sign up for classes which requires you to follow the rules of groupings and levels. Students must only take one subject from a group but can take any number of different groups. Also, students must have all the same level classes, e.g. POLI 404, SOCI 420, ARCH 412. This is set up by the university to avoid conflicts in the end of the semester exam schedule. If this sounds confusing it is because it is somewhat confusing. Once a student signs up for classes online during orientation the student has to go to each department and sign a sheet that says which classes they are taking. This is a prolonged process because not all of the departments have what classes are offered and the timetables up until after the start of the semester. While some departments may not post the timetables on time almost all of the departments post the timetables without any issues.

Once you are signed up for classes it is now time to start going to them. This brings us to the first difference international students may find with their classes. The first difference is that many of the students and professors do not hold class on the first week. This is due to the fact that many students are still making their way to the school and professors have grown accustomed to this practice. While this may occur, newer professors have started to change this by holding class on the first week. Basically, you should show up to the spot where your class is going to occur but do not feel strange if it does not occur. This is simply part of the experience and is helpful in teaching you to “roll with the punches”.

Once you start to have lectures you will notice that the classes are very loud and not always on time. Professors may show up on time, or they may show up an hour late but it is best to stay until someone tells you the lecture is not going to happen. Students are expected to come to all lectures and the professor will know if you are not there so be sure to make it to every lecture you can. Also, the lectures are normally quite good. Though they are mostly dictation the information is beneficial when understanding Ghana in a more conceptual way. For example, my political science classes have given me many different ideas about the society within which I am currently living. While there are practical sessions these are not as necessary to attend because, if you understand the lecture the practical sessions will be redundant. Also, practical sessions do not go by a set timetable so you may have a class during the practical and therefore be unable to make it to the practical.

Exams are very important within any school but at the University of Ghana they are your grade in many cases. The exams are cumulative and should be taken seriously. If you want to prepare the best the Balme Library offers exams given in classes from prior years. You can look over these exams and find some correlative questions asked throughout the years. This is very beneficial because even good students may find it hard to stay calm about their entire grade being based off of one exam. The thought that should help to calm you is that the grading scale is not the same as it is at CMU; 70 percent to 100 percent are considered to be within the A range. The more intricate exam rules will be given at the orientation but overall if you are a good student at CMU then you should be a good student at the University of Ghana.

While classes may be very different than what you are used to they are one of the larger parts of the experience and should therefore be taken seriously. Some issues may come up but this has been the best time to simply allow the experience to happen and understand that “while the systems may not always work the people do”.