Later Gator...

...Though technically in Ghana it's crocodiles not alligators.

Anyway, next time I'm around these parts I'll be home sweet home. As I pathetically lay around recovering I can't help but think that it feels like just yesterday that I was pathetically laying around recovering post-wisdom teeth waiting to come here. I don't think any period of time in my life has moved as quickly as these last five months have.

I could probably get all nostalgic and blabber on about everything I loved and learned and am going to miss so much, but I think those things will actually be more clear once I'm home. So instead I'd like to give a quick thank you.

Thank you to my parents for their love, support, and sponsorship. Thank you to my extended family and friends for the constant stream of emails and hellos. You have no idea how much a simple email could make my day, even if my internet was too shady for a prompt reply more often than not. Thank you to my roommates back in Berkeley for making sure I was kept up to date on every event this semester. A giant thank you to Paige for sending me Cheez-its and Sour Patch Kids. I was going to dedicate a whole post to that thank you, but I accidently ate everything before I could do so. Oops. Another giant thank you to my roommate here. Thanks for being as lazy as I am, for loving the forest, for cooking, and for forcing me to eat crackers while I've been sick. Also for surprise attacking me with that temporary tattoo while I was too weak to fight back. Thanks to the amazing EAP staff for making this semester so fantastic. Thanks for keeping us all happy and healthy. Thank you Ghana. Thanks for your oceans and trees and monkeys. Thanks for your... interesting cuisine and new life experiences. Thanks for teaching me patience, for helping to mold me into a better person and hopefully a better global citizen. Thanks for opening my mind and teaching me more than a life time of books or lectures ever could. 

See you all soon!

One last stereotypical I'm-in-Africa picture.

Another One Bites the Dust

Trip to the hospital: 64 Cedi

Medication: 15 Cedi

Counting down the hours until you go home based on Malaria treatments?: Priceless

It started out innocently enough. We went for Indian food Tuesday evening, so naturally my stomach hurt in a too-full kind of way. But then on Wednesday it still hurt. Sweet, excuse to sleep all day. Then Thursday it still hurt, but I figured I would just hike it off (I don't recommend that method). Then Friday it still hurt. So I sent a text to my program director, something casual about 3 days of stomachaches and should I be worried. She instantly called and was like uhhh yeah.

So I was back to the hospital. After chatting away with the doctor about Ghana and my research and all he got to the issue. He determined it was the pre-cursor to ulcers. Which was interesting because I've had that for years (thanks Berkeley), so funny that my mind didn't instantly go there. He asked if I wanted a blood test anyway just to double check. I was going to pass it up but Auntie Rose said I should just do it.

Good thing I did, turns out I have ulcers and malaria! Wow! So yeah, that'd pretty much definitely give anyone a stomachache. Ha. 

It was all fun and games until I thought I was going to die. I now 100 percent understand how and why malaria kills so many people. I would not wish the feeling of those little plasmodium eating you alive on anyone. I won't go into detail, I'm pretty sure the description alone would cause a person physical pain, but the crazy part is that you wake up the next day after starting treatment feeling better. Crazy that so many people die from something so easily and quickly treated because they don't have the means or access. 

A big giant thank you to everyone who called, texted, emailed, and facebooked! It's way easier to be sick when so many people are looking out for you. 

Some malaria facts:

*In Ghana, malaria is transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito

*Only the female mosquito bites (a blood-meal is necessary in egg production)

*This mosquito is active between 10 pm and 1 am

*Some 1.2 million people died from malaria in 2010

*Something like over half of us UC-EAP kids have gotten it

*It sucks

Thanks Parasitology and Public Health! If you want to know about this little protozoan parasite, here's wikipedia.  

The image of death. 

Hahahah.

Die plasmodium Die!

Goodbye Forest

Yesterday I got to say goodbye to the rainforest. Besides wanting to die (on day 3 of food poisoning here or something like it, thanks Ghana) it was lovely. Also, Mariel saved a bat.

All those tiny dots are bats!

I don't have rabies at all!

Promise ;)

Mole

I have been very lazy on the blog front. But between finals, trips, goodbyes, and internet destroying storms, there's been little time for such things. Here's a summary:

Last week I saw elephants. I took many finals. I turned in my independent research. I danced, I laughed, I adventured.

FOUR DAYS.

It's hard to be sad about leaving when I'm this excited to go home. I'm sure that will all change on the ride to the airport, but still, I started packing today!

Time for some more last minute fun, see you all soon!