here's just a brief sketch of what finals are like here in ole ghana

now, do remember that the university of ghana is considered to be one of the best universities in africa. one of my profs went so far as to say that he thinks its one of the top ten unis in the world. now i find that laughable, but you see what im getting at...it does have some sort of reptuation as a respectable institution.
first of all, the whole semester long the international students have been told that our exams would be held at the same time but in a different location as our ghanaian peers. we were to be sequestered in the great hall so that our exams could be graded separately and therefore faster...then on the first day of exams, a notice was printed stating that we would indeed be taking them with everyone else, so we had better look up the locations....
i had my first exam on the second day of exam period so i set off to campus early so i could look up where i had to go. the exam schedules were supposedly posted in all the dorms so i popped in the first one on the main drag. however, the schedule for that day had already been taken down... of course.... soooo then i wandered all over trying to find a schedule that said where my exam was taking place oh, you know, just in the next hour or so. fortunately i did find one outside the library and made it on time.
around this time a rumour started brewing that all the international kids had/could/should (no one really knew which) change their exams to all be before the 12th. exams were supposed to run until the 20th of may, but apparently one of the international programs got the date wrong so their kids had plane tickets back home on the 15th. so i had a final on the 20th, but no one really knew what i was supposed to do about it... the problem was solved when i ran into my religion prof who assumed i needed to change it. we made arrangements to move it up. as i was the only foreign student in the class, it wasnt really a big deal. though i was generally advised not to change it since profs apparently have a habit of losing exams taken separately...of course, they do... as you can see, communication isnt really a strength of this renoun institution.
well then, the actual exams. re-diculous. i found that the perfect amount of studying was to read my notes two to three times prior to the test. i should add that i generally only had about ten pages of notes (in a notebook the size of a blue book) for most classes... all of my exams--geography, poli sci, religion, social work, you name it--consisted of six essay questions. you picked three to answer and had two to three hours to do it. you were expected to write approximately 3 pages on each...front being one page... so really, you had to learn about three things from the whole semester... brilliant! our whole grade pretty much rests on these exams. in fact, i only had other assignments in two of my classes. but, a 70 percent is an A and something like a 40 percent constitutes a C, what i need to get transfer credit at GW. so in sum, i congratulate the university of ghana on my easiest, stress free exam period to date :)

burkina and mali

i know its been a while since ive written, and all of my ardent followers are waiting with bated breat for an update (haha, yea right)
so here are the highlights
joanna and i decide on tues we are gonna take two weeks off and jet up to burkina and mali. bus doesnt leave until saturday. mia, our housemate going alone, but on the same bus, etc so we did the first five or 6 days with her.
-sat leave accra. 40 hour bus ride from accra to ouagadougou (capital of burkina, pronounced waga-do-goo). bus broke down twice
-first impressions of ouaga: dusty, poor, lack of development, hot (breeze like a wafting oven), motor bikes everywhere
-first day in ouaga easter monday so nothing open (despite being only 10 percent catholic); sorta ruined our plans to get visas for mali that day. also couldnt find anything to eat... did manage some pastries...the one thing france has done right in west africa is the food. spent some time with some fruit market ladies...including surviving a dust storm. i held down two umbrellas (glad to say i did my part! hehe). did a little craft shopping pretty woman style. joanna and i were led upstairs and sat down and vendors kept bringing over anything and everything for us to look at. i bought some fabric for blankets or god knows what. surpirse, surprise.
-next day got malian visas and set out. met up with 3 peace corps volunteers from togo doing the same route as us. got all the way to bankass, mali the base point for excusions to dogon country.
-spent night on roof. woke up at dawn. watched sunrise over malain town. v. different than towns in ghana. large compounds. rectangular buildings enclosed by mud brick walls. flat roofs, good for sleeping on. lots of animals...pigs, donkeys, cows, etc. dont see much of those in ghana. huge mud and stick mosque.
-took ox cart 12 km to teli and began trekking dogon country. spent two days on flats. edge of desert. base of plateau. dry season (hot as hell, very dry). dogon very unique architecture, culture, religion, etc. have built their homes in the walls of the platuea and above.
-end of second day hiked to top of platuea and spent night in village at the edge. amazing view and geography. coolest place ive ever been in my life. next day more hiking across plateau which is actaually cultivated and relatively fertile. dunes off to the north. more general bad-assness.
-then to mopti, mali. mia had gone back to ghana at this point. we carried on with the peace corps. they spoke french. very convienient. the five of us got a room together in mopti.
-mopti has beautiful blue green river between sandy banks and neat old town of mud brick buildings. spent day wandering around, buying crafts etc. i bought some silver jewelry and 6meters of turban fabric. you know how i love my turbans.
-then joanna and i set out forbobo, burkina faso. two days and many nightmares later we arrived. spent first night in beautiful rasta man's brother's rasta compound. long story.
-bobo very nice city, nicer than ouaga. explored a bit. happened upon a burkinabe wedding. also, cultural group practicing. had some more good food.
-got on the road back to accra. took a couple of days and many more break downs to reach home.
alright so there's the long and short of it. in other news, i braided my hair before i went. long, auburn, "rasta" braids so thick i couldnt hold 'em all in my hand believe it or not. did it so i wouldnt have to wash my hair while traveling. they served their purpose but when i took 'em out, half of my natural hair came out with 'em. i think im balding. its terribly sad. now's its final's time. ive taken two already. medical geog-easy. poli sci-bombed. oops. done on the 11th but couldnt get an earlier plane ticket home so i guess im giong to travel around with however else is left...probably to togo and benin.
now consider yourself updated!!
ciao.