On the coast of West Africa lies a place where the wind that blows in the middle of a warm February carries the sweet smell of hibiscus flowers, mingled with that of the amaryllis and bright orange lilies around town. Binghamton University students have a chance to go there, to Ghana, to study abroad this summer.
Students have until Monday, March 16, to submit their applications for a three-week program in Ghana. The trip offers six credit hours and allows students to partake in a research project that can be developed to satisfy any degree program at BU. It runs from May 24 to June 14.
“If the student is in School of Management, for example, they could design a project to look at alternative sources of finance used by local market women,” said James Burns, an assistant professor of Africana studies at BU and the trip’s faculty director.
Eva Ng, a senior philosophy, politics and law major, studied abroad in Ghana during the fall 2008 semester. During the program, Ng studied with other international students from Norway, Germany, South Africa, Venezuela and Japan, among other countries.
“It was a life-changing experience for me,” said Ng, who is currently studying in Thailand. “Learning things from a different culture is amazing. It is a humbling experience and you would know more about yourself, other people and the world.”
Ng said studying in Ghana was incredibly different than studying in the United States, and that classes were also different.
“It can be frustrating sometimes because there are limited resources, like books or reading materials,” Ng said. “And there was limited communication between professor and students because classes are really big and the Internet isn’t widely used there.”
“So students don’t get notified by the professor until they go to their classes,” she added.
According to Ng, her participation in a State University of New York at Brockport study abroad program took her to different regions of the country and even to Togo, Ghana’s neighbor on the east. Ng said the experience broadened her scope of knowledge on the topic of the influence of globalization on African countries.
“I would definitely go back to Ghana if I have another chance and I definitely recommend students to go study abroad if they have a chance,” Ng said.
Burns said students who participate in the summer program will stay at the University of Ghana during the first week, where they will have lectures.
“They [the students] will also see performances by the national dance ensemble as well as other cultural troupes,” Burns said. “We will also attend festivals, funerals and ceremonies if and when they occur.”
According to Burns, students can pick up applications for the program at the Office of International Programs in the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center in Hinman College, which is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Burns encouraged students with questions to e-mail him at jburns@binghamton.edu, or visit him during his office hours, Mondays from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Fine Arts Building, room 116.
An information session about the program will be held next Tuesday, March 3, at 7 p.m.