This is the second summer that University students – led by professors Renato Perucchio, 迈克尔·贾维斯, 和克里斯·缪尔——正在十大赌博正规老平台工程学, 历史, 以及加纳沿海堡垒的文化方面. 他们将在这个博客上分享他们在这个领域的经验.
路易莎·安德森，20岁
在加纳的第一天很惬意. Some of the students and Professor Jarvis had arrived that morning so we wanted everyone to get settled in. 第一个, 我们去了加纳大学校园里一家叫the Basement的餐馆, 哪个餐厅的午餐是自助餐. Just like most of us on the trip, I had never had Ghanaian food before, so Saba – 一位来自十大赌博正规老平台的助教 – 向我们解释了所有的选项. 我决定吃jollofrice，辣番茄酱和炸大蕉. All of the food was delicious, especially the jollof rice, which is cooked in spiced tomato sauce.
当然是作为大学生, 为我们的手机买SIM卡是当务之急, so the second thing in Ghana was go to an MTN store (a multinational mobile telecommunications company).
在我们加载完数据之后, which was relatively cheap compared to US (about $20 for 6GB) we continued to explore the new Accra Mall. We treated ourselves to ice cream (more like bagged frozen yogurt) from Games, 附属于购物中心的大型箱式商店.
On our way back we stopped at a roadside coconut stand where a man with a machete hacked coconuts for us to drink. To be honest I was really worried he’d cut his hand off, but it looked like he was well practiced. Once we were done sipping the delicious nectar we handed back our shell to the man. 他把它切得很好，以便我们能吃到里面的肉. 味道很好! 晚餐是在一家土耳其餐馆，这家餐馆似乎从去年开始就很受欢迎. 那里也有jolloff米饭，所以我又高兴地点了一份!
On Tuesday we went to the University of Ghana in the morning to walk around and visit the bookstore. We met Marley, a graduate student at the University of Ghana who will be working with us this month. 在马利的带领下，我们开车绕着校园来到阿克拉市中心. 在公共汽车上，我们经过了阿克拉市场, the biggest marketplace in Accra where you could see a congregation of people carrying and selling goods. 我们的公共汽车司机，先生. Doh, said that it was impossible to pass through the entirety of the market in one day. 我想试试!
我们看到了詹姆斯敦灯塔，但不幸的是不能爬上去. 下午的重头戏是参观夸梅·恩克鲁玛的陵墓, 加纳第一任总统. 陵墓呈树桩形状, signifying the roots Kwame Nkrumah placed in Ghana as well as how his life was cut short. We were lucky to have a guide show us around the property and explain the recent history. There was a museum that housed a bunch of his belongings as well as peacocks roaming around the fields.
后, we had a delicious buffet lunch in the inner courtyard of the National Theatre, 它有令人印象深刻的屋顶. We then returned to the University for lectures by Professor Perucchio and Professor Jarvis (both from the 十大赌博正规老平台) and Professor Gavua (from University of Ghana). 加瓦教授提醒我们这次旅行的回报要最大化, 并努力充分利用我们短暂的时间! 我们在一家中国餐馆吃了晚饭, 哪里停电了, 所以我们用手机来做情绪照明.
周三是讲座日! We all headed to the archeology department at the University of Ghana caffeinated up because it would be a long day of sitting. Professor Perucchio lectured on the building material and structures we would see at Elmina Castle. 虽然我上过很多工程课, it was exciting to learn practical approaches to building and to learn about the materials the walls were built with. We had a quick lunch at the Basement again and of course I ordered jollof rice. 加瓦教授作了关于加纳历史和遗产的演讲. It was very interesting to learn in depth about a country that I had only been in for a few days. 我习惯了只了解我称之为家的国家. 然后，gblerkor教授就1482年以前的加纳做了一个简短的演讲.
星期四，我们起得很早，以便在一天的工作中有一个好的开始. 我们开了大约两个小时的车，向东北方向的沃尔塔湖驶去. 在那里，我们参观了一家制作手工玻璃珠的珠厂. The man who showed us around had traveled all over the world with his glass beading skills giving demonstrations and classes. 这真的是一门值得欣赏的艺术. He showed us all the different beads he had made and the whole process that was followed. It was a beautiful setting with palm trees and grass and a clay kiln in the center that was in the process of firing beads. We then were guided to the shop in which there were tons of colorful and unique pieces of jewelry. 我们很多人都买了礼物.
Our next stop on this road trip was the Akwamu Palace where a guide showed us many trophies and royal items that belonged to the community. 我们很小心，只用眼睛触摸它们. 又做了一些活动后，到了午餐时间. We situated ourselves at a restaurant with a wonderful view of the Adomi Bridge along the river.
午饭时开始下起雨来, 但这还好，因为这让那天剩下的时间都很凉爽. 我们的下一站是当天的重头戏，阿科松博大坝!
We were given special permission and a tour guide to show us the top of the dam. 佩鲁奇奥教授解释了许多结构成分, 导游给我们讲解历史. The tour guide boasted that Lake Volta was the largest (in total area) man-made lake in the world. The dam was expansive and it was quite impressive (and nerve-wracking) to be able to walk on the top of it. 就像佩鲁奇奥教授在前一天的课上提到的, 大坝呈a形，以有效地控制水的力量. I was surprised to find out that the dam produced around 1020 MW of power each day. That meant that each of the six generator and turbine units produces about 170 MW! The dam operated on a supply and demand basis and only two of the turbine units were in use that day. 人行道上有许多光滑的石头，看起来像珠子, 但也许我这么想只是因为我刚刚参观了一家珠宝店. It turned out to be a long day, and when we arrived back at the hotel everyone went right to bed.
现在开始新的冒险!
就是你了! @Kate
路易莎·安德森20岁，来自加州伯克利的机械工程专业. She is an active social chair for both 社会 of Women Engineers and American 社会 of Mechanical Engineers, 她在哪里计划和执行活动. 她对建筑有浓厚的兴趣, 结构工程, 还有旅行，这些都让她参加了这个实地学校. 她喜欢狗、果汁和芒果.