More Information on My Bridge Year

Hello Confidantes, 

   Many of you have asked me what exactly I will be doing in Ghana over the next nine months.  I realize that my responses have been more general and lacking clarity than informative and satisfying.  I recently found this pdf document on the Princeton Admissions website.  It does a much better job than I could of breaking down my experience to be in Ghana.  It details my: arrival and orientation, homestay, language instruction, community service placements in Accra and Kumasi, cultural enrichment activities, excursions, the group service project, and the program wrap up.  I got more excited once I read this description, and am confident that it will do a better job of answering questions than I could at this point.  Plus, it saves me the time of writing a lengthy summary.  Also, below I am including a link to the Princeton press release which offers brief detail on the Bridge Year students, the selection process, and logistics of the program.  Take a gander if you wish.  

http://www.princeton.edu/admission/whatsdistinctive/bridgeyear/bridge-year-experience/ghana/Ghana-Bridge-Year-Description.pdf    

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S24/60/49I38/index.xml?section=topstories

Communication

Hola,

I am writing this note on the eve of my departure for Princeton.  I am nothing but excited and primed to spend four fun-filled, informative days  in Princeton.  However, as I look forward to my imminent departure for Ghana on Sunday I am struck with a much broader mix of emotions: uncertainty, enthusiasm, eagerness, nervousness, a sense of purpose, and vim.  I suppose there is one easy word to sum this all up: bittersweet.  In many ways I am moving from the known to the unknown.  However, as I set out to leave my own metaphorical cuckoo's nest, I depart with confidence and fearlessness because I know that I have the love and support of my family and friends at home.  This is why I will write often, and have made it a chief goal of mine to stay close to you all - my best friends.  Below I am including my two addresses that you can write to me at during my sojourn in Ghana: 

For the first four and a half months I will be staying in Accra, the capital city. While there, I can receive letters at:

Nicholas Amedio Ricci

c/o SIT Study Abroad

Institute of African Studies (Affiliate)

University of Ghana

P.O. Box 73

Legon, Ghana

Around mid-January I will be located to a village near Kumasi (Ghana's 2nd largest city). During the second half of my stay I can be reached at:

Nicholas Amedio Ricci

c/o Yaw Gyamfi

P.O. Box OA 16

Aboabo-Kumasi

Ashanti Region

Ghana, West Africa

I checked USPS and sending postcards or letters in normally-sized envelopes to Ghana costs $0.98 while sending oddly-shaped (square, shorter, etc.) usually costs $1.18 as long as it is not a big packet and is still flat.

Please, write me!  I WILL write back!  

I will try to update this blog as much as possible.  I am not bringing a laptop, so I hope to gain access to a public computer in an internet cafe as every few weeks or so. Since I will be using a public computer, I am not sure if I will be able or allowed to upload my personal photos to the digital processing device.  However, I will try my best.  I expect to undergo some pretty unique and interesting experiences and hope to capture some of them on photo.  I am by no means a genius, but as a "young, southern poindexter budding with curiosity" I know this much to be true: Expect the Unexpected...