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Study Abroad Student Stories

A Semester Abroad: Emily Zucker

Emily Zucker, spent her 2016 fall semester studying abroad in Accra, Ghana at the University of Ghana. Below, she shares a few of her many experiences with her math professor and courses in Ghana.

Math is definitely a universal language. Although everything is different here, the math isn’t. My professor for both Discrete and Complex Analysis, Dr. Acquaah, is one of the best professors I’ve ever had.

In the beginning weeks of classes, I ended up in Dr. Acquaah’s office reviewing a Complex Analysis class I had missed. Upon my entrance to his office he instantly handed me a marker and said, “I’ll teach by having you do it”. Next thing I knew I was in a race to complete the proofs faster than his standards. This didn’t suck. This was bliss.

Math is beautiful. And maybe it took being in a third world country for me to see it’s pureness and importance in society. That change can happen, so long as someone is standing for it.

“What’s the most powerful country in the world?” Dr. Acquaah once asked my 60 person Discrete Mathematics class. “The U.S.,” the room of all-black students responded in unison. I can’t express how I felt being American in that moment. “Yes. And why is the U.S. Powerful?” He answered something along the lines of “Because they know math.”

Are you kidding me? No offense, but there is nothing that separates what I learn in the U.S. to what Ghanaian students are learning here. So why do I have the opportunity to work for big companies? Have a six-figure job with a nice apartment and an air conditioned work environment? To go eat sushi, chicken, burritos, burgers, pizza, cookie dough or any other food I can think of whenever I want. And them? They’re using composition notebooks in a humid classroom and they’re trying to become an actuary to make the money needed to survive. Working for a company in the U.S, any company, is so much of a dream to them that it’s impossible to obtain.

The classrooms and study rooms here have piles of broken chairs and desks in them. At night their only option to study is in their room or their hall reading room… both of which get old quickly. Their only fast food options consist of Jollof rice, chicken and beans. Also obtaining food, even snack food, by themselves at night isn’t a possibility. For the few women who study math at the University of Ghana, they experience unnecessary flirts and mansplaining from their classmates. Needless to say my experience as a white American woman studying math in this country is not easy. In fact, at some points it has REALLY sucked.

Studying here sucks. It sucks really bad. It sucks so bad that I’ve grown substantially. I’ve seen beautiful people trying harder than anyone I’ve ever seen in the U.S to make a difference for themselves and their country. I’ve seen an importance for diversity in mathematics, and the difference that I make for other women by simply being a woman in math.

I’ve seen the importance of resources in education, and I’ve gained an appreciation for rules and structure. This experience, though hard at times, is something I would recommend for anyone, especially math majors. Talk to the study abroad office and do consider coming to meet Dr. Acquaah in person.

If you would like to follow Emily’s story and journey, visit her blog: www.emilyexplorer.com