Hi Everyone,

My name is Liz Vallatini and I am one of the students who will be taking part in the Akoma group trip to Ghana. Today marks about two and a half days before we leave for the trip and I couldn't be more excited! I've been a part of African Drumming for three semesters now at Saint Michael's College and have really fallen in love with the type of music we play and the culture it represents. This trip is going to not only give me the chance to learn more music, but also will be a huge step into the culture that I have only learned about thus far. I am hoping that by going on this trip I will learn more not only about the music and culture, but also about myself and my connection to somewhere in the world that is very far from my home.

One of the main purposes of this trip is the drumming, which I am excited for, but I think I am most exited about learning about the culture. I want to learn everything I can while I'm there and I want to interact with as many people as possible too because I think those types of connections are important.

I've never written in a blog or been a par of one, and I don't know if this will be a great representation of the blogger in me because with limited access to the internet, I'm not sure how frequent my posts will be. However, I'm hoping that we as a group and I as an individual can blog well enough to try to give you at home a front row seat to even a fraction of our adventure because I'm sure its going to be something quite special.

Thanks for reading and I hope to be updating you from Ghana the next time I write!

Talk Soon,
Liz Vallatini