Registration

I have up to date neglected to mention anything academic about this experience, and now that classes have finally started up, it seems like the right time to post about the registration process. The way you register for classes ("courses") here is to examine the handbook of courses (which unhelpfully contains a large number of classes that aren't offered and omits a number of classes that you can take), go around to each department you are interested in, see if the classes you like are actually available, fill out a form for each department, staple on a passport photo and you're done. Until, that is, you leave and you realize you didn't find the separate bulletin board listing the course times and locations, also often incorrect. We are now in week 3 here. The first week a couple of my professors showed up, but a number of them had just found out moments before that the semester had started and were not yet prepared to lecture. I met some other Ghanain students, but for the most part, this is the main week that classes are starting.

Although there is something to be said for internet registration, I have found that I like this system better than Telebears for all of its problems. My one wish semester after semester at Berkeley is that I could find the human being behind the computer who could listen to my problem and help me out. Unfortunately, I have not yet found this person, and have problem after unsolved problem plaguing me (such as a random change in my telebears appointment with no notification, my desire to add a class that isn't in reality full but the computer seems to think so, etc). There are frustrations here for sure, but at least when I end up in a bind, I can always ask somebody in the departments for help, and they always walk me through the process.

This is generally the theme so far in Ghana. There are no maps, and often people give directions that end with "and then you can ask somebody and they will tell you where to go". I've found that it's true in the US that we develop these systems to allow people to figure it out on their own (by checking the internet or following signs/notices) and then expect them to do it. I remember feeling relieved at home when I would find somebody who would give me directions to a place. Here there are not helpful guides or hints, but the advantage is that (especially as a white foreigner) I am not expected to know everything. I can only imagine how unfriendly the US must feel to somebody who has just arrived and can't just figure things out. Just a reminder that if somebody asks you for directions, remember that they may not know the "figure it out" system as well as you, so you should be extra nice to them.