akwaaba

Welcome! (Akwaaba means just that, in Twi, the most widely spoken tribal language in Ghana ... thanks for bearing with me while I get a little practice in). Many of you know that this blog has been a long time in the making, and I am very excited to have it up and running! This is just the first of (I hope) many exciting posts about my travel, internship and cultural experiences in West Africa this summer, so check in often for updates. I promise not to throw too much more Twi at you, if it helps.

I've spent the last few days since I've been back in Palo Alto running around like a madwoman to get ready for this trip ... I've purchased enough protein bars, Purell and 100% DEET spray to last until Christmas, so the trick now is to make it all fit in two suitcases, and to not exceed that 50 lbs. limit on each, which I have a terrible tendency to do. (Yes, it's quite likely that everything I pack for this trip will weigh more than I do ... it happens).

Anyway, I depart Thursday, June 19 in the early afternoon (and many apologies to my dear sister, whose 18th birthday I've preempted with my international departure). It'll take about 26 hours and stops in Chicago and London to reach Accra, and I'll arrive Friday evening. Hopefully in enough time to hit the bars with the group ... but we'll see. Basically, the moral of this paragraph is to not expect any posts between now and then. Nothing exciting is happening.

While I'll be working diligently to keep you all updated and entertained, the road goes both ways, and I would LOVE to get emails and messages from everyone. I'll be checking both katherine.dally@gmail.com and dally@uoregon.edu fairly regularly, so please write! It would make me so happy, and I'll respond to everything I receive. So do it!

Again, THANK YOU (or Me da ase ... but don't ask me to pronounce it) for visiting and reading. It should be an amazing seven weeks, and I cannot wait to share the stories!