In Which I Contemplate Different Systems

I woke up today with one purpose in mind: to go and check when and where my classes will meet. I did not have much success. Registering for classes at UG is very different than registering for classes at Iowa. At Iowa, every part of registration takes place online, from selecting classes to dropping classes. There is a bit more involved in the process here. First, I have to register online, with the University of Ghana. Then I have to re-register with the International Programs office. And then I have to register with USAC! What a mess! I am so afraid that I will miss one of the steps and a class will end up on my schedule that I don't know about or that I think that I dropped, but actually audited or something like that.
But I have high hopes for my classes. I am taking two English classes: Introduction to Oral Literature and Introduction to African Literature. Both are classes that aren't really offered (or are seldom offered) in the US. I also want to take a Religious Studies class on African Myths and Symbols. That sounds like a lot of fun. But I almost think that I will be at a bit of a disadvantage. The Ghanian students have grown up with myths and stories that will probably be very helpful for the class, whereas I will be starting from scratch. Although, I guess I've heard a lot of Aesop's fables, and those are supposed to be based on traditional African stories. I guess what I mean is that I don't have the inherent knowledge of the meanings behind some things in stories. I don't know if a grasshopper is associated with particular traits or other symbols. I don't know about African plants or weather patterns. This will be an exercise in attention to detail, I think.

A Poem by W. E. B. DuBois, at his home in Accra

Kwame Kkrumah's tomb

Kwame Nkruma Memorial Park

I briefly met a Nigerian girl named Mary Ann this morning. One of our student guides, Peter, I think, said that there are a lot of Nigerian students here, both because the University of Ghana is better than most universities in Nigeria and because Ghana is generally more stable than Nigeria at the moment. I wonder what it must be like to have to leave your home country in order to get an education. Most of the professors and lecturers here received their advanced degrees in the US or in Europe. I wonder how it must feel to return to Ghana to teach. I would imagine that I would be grateful for the opportunity, in some ways, and be resentful in others. I think that there are benefits to international academic cooperation and education, but I think that there is also something to be said for being able to get everything you need to succeed from the country in which you feel at home. I think that I might like to come to an African university to teach at some point in the future. I think that I will learn a lot here, but that I could also teach a lot as well.