Less than two weeks to go

It's been over four weeks since my last entry, and this time has been amazingly uneventful. I've mostly spent this month sorting out the last details before my departure (visa, malaria meds, vaccinations, etc) and waiting for the time to pass; feeling like I should be making every last second here in Italy memorable, but not really knowing how.
I've started saying goodbye to everyone, but my departure doesn't feel completely real yet. It probably won't until I'm sitting on the plane in Frankfurt leaving behind everything and everyone I know.

My pre-departure nervousness and fear of homesickness aside, I feel incredibly fortunate and blessed to even have the opportunity of going abroad for a year; let alone of going to such an amazing and welcoming country as Ghana! I've dreamed about being an exchange student for about as long as I can remember and knowing that in 12 days it's actually going to happen is unbelievable.

 On a side note: I was reading "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith, when I came across I phrase about Ghanaians which made me smile so I decided to share it since I don't usually come across many references to Ghana.

"Ghanaians were Mma Ramotswe's favorite people; they had a wonderful sense of humor and were almost inevitably in a good mood."

Thanks for reading, I'll try to write soon!

First Post ever!!

I am very happy to be starting this blog on the 15th of July, a date which marks an exact year from two very important events. The first one is my departure for Nepal, exactly a year ago I was landing in Kathmandu for what would become one of the most amazing months of my entire life. At the time, I knew nothing about that small country at the top on the Himalayas which I would soon grow to learn and love; now looking back at that day I feel a mixture of satisfaction for all the challenges I overcame there and nostalgia for all the amazing people I met there. The second date is in the future: July 15th 2012, the day my year in Ghana ends and I have to come home. It is impossible for me to predict the emotions I will feel on that day; all I hope is that in the year I spend there, Ghana will enter my heart as forcefully and as permanently as Nepal did. I hope that I'll have learned to appreciate this country's complex and wonderful culture and when the moment comes to leave this country and make my way home, that I'll carry with me a small part of it and of my experiences there.

I leave for Ghana in 48 days and cannot wait! I have been informed of my host family: their names are Kwasi and Stella and they have 4 daughters ages 10, 13, 20 and 25. I have already chatted on Facebook with some of them and they seem very nice. I'll be living about 45 minutes from Accra.

I'm currently hard at work: pathetically trying to learn some Twi (pronounced Chwee), choosing my host families presents and, most of all, procrastinating packing!!

I'll write when I have more news!