Greetings from Ghana!!
Today we kicked off our classes at Cape Coast University!We got up, did the usual routine and headed off for class at 9:00am. Our lecture topic for today was the Political, Social, and Cultural History of Ghana delivered by the esteemed De Valera Botchway, from the History department. We learned about some of the Ghanaian governmental history, the different ethnic groups found in Ghana and about how early Ghanaians dealt with European influence. The professor was a lively, fun guy to be around. He brought copies of the book he wrote, Polishing the Pearls of Ancient Wisdom, for us to look at and purchase if we wanted to.
After class, we headed back to the guest house to cool off and grab some lunch at the place of our choosing. A couple of us went to a local restaurant called Goiles to grab some lunch. Later we headed out for our first dancing/drumming lessons!! We did some warm up exercise at first to get us limber and stretched out, but to be honest the warm was a true workout. The exercises were fun, but some of us had to get re-accustomed to the intense workout while experiencing the Ghanaian heat. After warming up, we went on to learn some of the dance moves that are in our final dance. Learning them was a fun and energetic process. We laughed, sweated, stumbled, and had a great time (not meaning to brag, but so far our group has been the most advanced in learning and skill)!
Cooling off from dance practice, we transitioned to the drumming portion of the class. We learned two different kinds of drumming patterns and a couple rhythms. It was a like having an African drum line, straight out of the movie, but better! We had rest breaks in between but after a while our hands got a little tired from beating the drums, but we still continued laughing and joking the entire time. Today was a great start to our classes and I look forward to attending more as the weeks go on!
Peace, Love, and Happiness
Olivia Brown
