"Being in Ghana will change your life."

"You will never be the same when you come home!"

Lately, everyone who learns about my upcoming trip to Ghana is excited to tell me how different my life will be after the trip. Or even tell me how different I will be. I do not doubt these statements to be valid, because I feel like a transformation began many weeks ago when I got the BIG envelope from Lilly Endowment out of my mailbox. Over the last few weeks I have been reading non-stop about Ghanaian culture and history. Not to mention, my body has been in a state of chaos building up antibodies for many foreign diseases. On the upside my social calendar has been rocking thanks to my Ghanaian drum Master, Bernard, and all the rest of my new Ghanaian friends. It turned out the drum Master that I'm going to study with in Ghana is currently at Indiana University. He has been doing performances that I've been attending, plus we've spent time bonding. I love showing him around my town before he shows me around his this summer.

Today I'm on a high from attending an Ethnomusicology workshop focusing on African culture and Ghanaian music. All morning we had lectures on African music as speech and then on the history of Ghanaian music as it transitioned from tribal celebration to popular hip and highlife music. During the afternoon, Master Woma, aka Bernard, taught us traditional drumming and dancing that could be taught to students in our classrooms. It was absolutely enthralling! I can't seem to get enough of it. I always seem to leave my time with Bernard more fired up and empassioned for music than when we began. I can't wait to get on my way across the pond!