October 23,1997
17
Student gains friends, learns lessons in Africa
Giselle Pole
A&E Editor
Sitting on her living room
couch, she leafs through a huge
photo album containing pictures of
her recent trip.
This wasn’t a family vacation;
she traveled with 22 other people
she didn’t know at all. It was a
three-week visit to another country
on a different continent.
Senior Erin Mirrett spent last
winter term in Ghana, West Africa.
er experience was one she felt
could not be matched.
It was awesome,” she said. “I
'vant to go again.”
Mirrett spent January study
ing Ghanian history, attending tribal
ceremonies, visiting historical sites
and walking through rainforests.
One of her most thrilling feats was
to walk on the rainforest canopy
400 feet off the ground.
“It was a challenge,” she said,
“but it was well worth it,”
Mirrett was not able to study
abroad for a semester due to her
Environmental Studies major, so
she decided to travel during the
winter.
“I wanted to go to a place that
was different,” she said. “London
was too common of a place for
Photos courtesy of Erin Mirrett
i Erin Mirrett, Kim Briggs and Mara Birnbaum hang out witli tlie
\ *^3stafarians.
; ^ove, right: Mirrett and friends show just how large Ghana s rubber trees ar
; they are sitting on part of its trunk.
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me... when I read about Ghana, that
was a place that I had never heard
or knew anything about.”
Mirrett got more than a class
room lecture; she learned the life
and culture of the Ghanians first
hand. She said that one of the coolest
things she learned was that natives
are named depending on the day
they were born.
“The boys’ names all begin
with a “K,” she said. “Since I was
born on a Thursday, I’d be called
Yaa.”
She learned the religion of
other tribal groups as well. One
tribe worships a golden stool, which
they believed fell out of the sky and
landed in their midst.
She saw other fascinating
things as well. Men and women
walking through markets balanc
ing things on their head.
Some of her experiences were
not all that “awesome,” she recalled.
She remembered walking around
the town feeing “strange being a
minority.” When the group attended
a ceremony, being the only whites
there was “a huge culture shock.”
The students were over
whelmed by the natives at the beach
and around the town, who kept com
ing up to them and talking with
them.
Nevertheless, she found the
people “friendly and fun.”
“They seem to have so much
happiness and family-oriented
lifestyles,” she said.
Mirrett had to keep a journal
chronicling her experiences in
Ghana. The journal was presented
for a grade.
The trip is being offered again
this winter, and Mirrett offers some
advice.
“People should prepare them
selves for the shock they will re
ceive in some kind of way.... they
don’t realize that they are coming
to a Third World country, sur
rounded by a different culture, and
many may take it hard.”
Mirrett also suggests that
people come prepared to learn from
the new cultures they will encoun
ter.
“People need to have an open
mind; it’s not for everyone... they
must have a willingness to learn.”
Write for The
Pendulum.
Call ext. 2331 for
more info.
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