tonight our group was invited by the pro-vice chancellor of university of ghana to attend dinner at his on-campus residence. after a riding tour of the campus grounds and facilities, we met the pro-vice chancellor, an indiana university graduate from the 1980's, at his office and proceeded to his home. received by a lengthy line of iu alumni, exchange students and university of ghana faculty, we were greeted with a warm ghanaian welcome and a lovely moonlit feast.
speaking with a junior exchange student from iu over dinner, she explained that her dormmates are quite "jealous" of her as her room is equipped with a ceiling fan and shared hot plate. the students do not have regularly working electricity in their dorm rooms and the ghanaian student men's dorms do not have running water. yikes. a far cry from my flat when i studied abroad in london. surprisingly upbeat and positive about their semester-long experiences, however, the students (john would call them "hippies"), all seemed quite pleased with their time in africa thus far.
apparently plantains are to ghana as conch is to the caribbean islands. this was not my first experience with plantains. however, i did try a number of new dishes...some more appetizing than others. one was fish fufu. apparently some ghanaian meals tend to be served in a bowl and consist of three parts: a big fist-sized hunk of a starch placed into the bowl (consistency of raw bread dough and tastes like cornmeal), a soup or stew poured over top of the starch, and large pieces of fish or meat. see lamb fufu 
pictured here. the evening was rounded off by my first ghanaian beer: star.i am quite happy to be here and thankful for safe travels, new friends and a very full stomach. looking forward to a full day tomorrow.
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