Wednesday took on a slower pace, which, after three days of early starts and late nights, was greatly appreciated. Feeling slightly worse for wear, with Bohemian Rhapsody tuned tinnitus resounding in our ears, we arrived at LU Ghana, where each faculty would be presented with specialised lectures. The English language lecture was given by Grace Diabah from the University of Ghana, who had studied at Lancaster University herself. She provided us with a fascinating insight into the presentation of male sexual power in Ghanaian radio adverts. While the term ‘thought provoking’ is bandied about a lot, the number of questions and depth of discussion following the lecture were demonstrative of how much Grace had taught us in the hour long talk. Following our subject specific lectures, the Law society presented some talks for us. These were more interactive than our lectures back home, which was facilitated by the considerably smaller lecture sizes – comparable to our seminars. The afternoon was to be filled with school visits, so those of us who were less well read on legal jargon used the lecture time to prepare a powerpoint about our Lancaster experience.

My talk was clearly enthralling

Lunch was eaten in a tutorial room, and comprised a selection of Ghanaian dishes…and spaghetti bolognese. Our palates were still adjusting to the spiciness of the local food, and we had learnt over the course of the week that vegetarian dishes are somewhat of a rarity in Ghana. The vegetable curry for instance, contained a healthy portion of chicken to ensure our veggie friends didn’t miss out on their protein.

Post-superhotlunch, we split into groups and went to two local schools. The group that went to Corpus Christi school were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the pupils, who, after their talk, requested all their contact details so that they could find out more about the university experience. The pupils at the international school that the Linguistics and some Law students visited were slightly older, and clearly ready to go home by the time we arrived to give them our talk. As student ambassadors, we explained Lancaster University’s collegiate system, talked about the available extra curricular activities, gave an insight into the local area, and ensured they were left in no doubt as to Lancaster’s depressing meteorological conditions.

Jess chatting to Corpus Christi students

Our evening activity today was a visit to a church service, held in a hotel. It was honestly like nothing I have ever experienced. As we were now well-rehearsed at karaoke, we joined in enthusiastically with the sing-along screen displaying all the words to the hymns. Despite having no faith myself, it was clear to see how important these services were to the members of the congregation, and how genuine and enthusiastic their faith was. Within no time we were dancing and clapping along, and at one point there seemed to be some sort of mosh pit forming at the front of the room – thankfully for everyone else in the room I decided to refrain from busting out some of my best Sugarhouse moves in time to the hymns. After a considerable amount of singing came the sermon, during which I am assured all of us stayed wide awake and alert. After being there for over an hour we made our getaway when the congregation began talking in tongues, and were greeted by the priest as we tried to leave surreptitiously through the carpark. Exhausted by our enthusiastic participation in the Ghanaian church experience, we headed back to the hotel.

Charlotte Davey