Back on track?

Hey!
So i guess for lack of stories on CNN about american students going missing in ghana, you realized that i'm back in california, which is completely true! i got back without any problems, actually nice flights, considering one was overnight to london and the other was the very long journey from london to SFO.
culture shock has been ok, much better than i expected. first difficulty was the damn COLD! the first time i left the house after i got to modesto i literally changed my shirt 3 times because i couldnt figure out how to dress myself. the concept of wearing 2 layers of clothes took a while to get used to! in ghana, i pretty much trashed all my white clothes because i sweated in everything, but the white was less conspicuous!
i'm still scared of the speed of life but i've gotten over american driving a bit more. First meal was definitely a burrito, and i still cant get enough of them, but maybe i should stop because my stomach isnt adjusting as quickly as my appetite! I'm still on my malaria medication (for 30 days after i get back), which isnt difficult, but i definitely dont miss the mosquito nets or being itchy from the knees down all the time! exciting!
i leave for UCSD on saturday, which is really nice, i cant wait to get down there, but i'm still really scared of it! its been really nice to get to see all the family etc, but there's def more life waiting for me down there! i'm taking 2 labs which will be interesting, but i'm pretty scared of the workload. to be completely honest, academics in ghana were absolutely nothing in comparison with UCSD. i only spent 11 hrs/wk in class, had a only 2 papers (one 5 pages, one 2) and 3 tests before finals; this quarter, i'll spend at least twice as many hours/week in class (thanks, labs), and actually have to study! crazy how that works out!
another huge shock has been general sticker shock! lets just say i sometimes got 10 cedi (almost $10) bills from the atm, and couldnt exchange the dang things! i spent about $3.00/day on food; try paying for your $.50 bowl of fufu! angry ghanaian women! yikes! although i ate out at nice restaurants WAY too much in south africa, i think i only paid more than $5.00 for a meal MAYBE 5 times since orientation ended, and now i go to fast food and my $5 almost disapears! boo!
anyway, its all good down here, i just realized i hadnt sent out any updates in a while! oh and make sure you check out the bbc news website, africa section, to see what happens with the election! maybe i'll get into that later when i have fast internet instead of mom and dad's dialup.....!
hope your new year has gotten off to a great start, and hope to see you soon if i havent already!

-me!