When I decided to study abroad in Accra, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to take courses focused on my specific interest: Literature. Although NYU Shanghai has great general curriculum courses, many of the classes I needed to gain access to the major I was passionate about were either not offered in the first two years or were too limited in their scope. During my first two years, I focused on completing every possible required course. By the time I was ready to register for classes in Accra I had completed all of my core requirements and many of my major cores, granting me the ability to be a little more liberal in my course selection. By the time it was early summer, I had already begun to feel pumped up about my courses in Accra. I had three literature courses, and one psychology course in my schedule. Nothing sounded better to me than the image I had of lounging in the sun and reading. Unfortunately, before the Spring 2015 semester was even over, all of my classes got cancelled. There were only 9 people studying in Accra (which turned into 7) and the amount of classes they were offering was deemed unreasonable for so few students. Despite this being extremely disappointing, the Accra staff was more than happy to try to accommodate my academic needs in whatever way possible so I could still study in Accra. Although, in the end, only one class I had originally planned to take was running, NYU Accra agreed to run Colonialism and the Rise of Modern African Literature so I could spend my first study away semester there. I can say quite confidently choosing to study in Accra led me to an incredible academic semester in the sense that the professors at NYU Accra are some of the most brilliant minds in the entire country, and in their fields. Many of the classes, however, are quite unstructured and this can be extremely challenging. . While my comfort with the system of office hours and familiar operation of class lectures made a lack of structure difficult to adjust to at first, this was not entirely a bad thing. The lack of structure means the classes are much more fluid, and rely heavily on what you bring to the table when you walk through the door. The best class I am taking right now is definitely the Literature course I had to beg to be added back into the offerings: Colonialism and the Rise of African Literature. African Lit is majorly underrepresented in the United States curriculum, as well as elsewhere in the world. Consequently, I walked into the class with a limited scope of what literature was like on this continent, something remedied by the incredible classes I have had. The class consists of only me and my NYUSH classmate, Claire Schapira, making intense reading absolutely necessary in order for a three hour class every week to be fruitful, and also to avoid incredibly awkward pauses. The course is instructed by Kofi Anyidoho, a world-famous, award-winning poet, academic and professor at the University of Ghana Legon. In addition to having thought-provoking insight about the readings, he has had personal friendships with almost all of the authors we have read making the semester unique and his instruction irreplaceable. Outside of class, he has provided various opportunities for the two of us, as well as our other classmates, to meet authors and poets we would otherwise never have the opportunity to meet, and attend events he has received special invitations to. Even if a student were not majoring in the Humanities, I would highly recommend this course due to its content and its instructor. I am overloading this semester, and found the workload perfectly reasonable. This is mostly because at many of the Global Sites (if not all) you meet for class once a week for three hours. This applies to all of my classes aside from one, which is six hours a week because we have one filming and workshop session a week as well. Generally, the individual classes avoid assigning so much work to the point of making the total amount overwhelming. Most of this is on purpose, as your experiences volunteering, interning, or just exploring the city are equally as important to your learning here--something NYU Accra is completely cognizant of. In addition to classes with NYU Accra, students have the option to take courses at the University of Ghana Legon where all of the NYU Accra professors teach their other classes. Although I did not have room in my schedule to do this, taking classes at the University allows you to meet students from Ghana as well as other students studying abroad, and access the classes of many other brilliant professors. This avenue is best for music and dancing classes, and a handful of students have chosen to take Traditional Drumming as a 2-credit option, which fits nicely under the 18-credit limit, to meet people in Accra and learn about music, which is a key part of the culture. Life as a student here is altogether quite relaxing, and the general pace of life is much slower than at Shanghai. Academics are extremely easy to balance with the rest of life, making a semester here more manageable than many of the other sites, especially if your main goal is to experience a radically different culture within an academic setting. Yet even with the laid back atmosphere, you are still able to make valuable connections through volunteer work, internships, and even just by walking into class. Accra is vibrant, enriching, and fun. The academics are only a small part of the entire picture, but even that small sliver is enough to make a semester here completely worth it.This article was written by Madeline Farquharson. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Claire Schapira