A picture-perfect moment w88 slot online

There are many wonders associated with Ada w88 slot online in Ghana, where the coconut palms have a pleasing, almost drowsy lean to them. A nearby estuary is sanctuary to a number of different species of birds; the waters are breeding grounds for sea turtles.

Kara w88 slot online and some of her fellow classmates who were studying in Accra, Ghana, as part of the University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC), visited Ada Beach during the summer of 2011.

They were expecting to experience some of the w88 slot online's physical beauty.

What w88 slot online found, however, was something more. It was captured in a photograph. And more than a year later, whenever w88 slot online looks at the photograph and remembers her day on Ada Beach, surrounded by the world's greatest wonder of all - the joyous curiosity of children - she can't help but smile.

"Every time I look back at this w88 slot online," she said recently, "it just makes me smile and remember how much I miss Ghana."

w88 slot online's photo, of herself and two Ghanese children sitting together at Ada Beach, was chosen in mid-October as the first-place winner in USAC's photo contest launched this summer to commemorate the program's 30^th anniversary.

The w88 slot online has all of the ingredients of a memorable moment.

w88 slot online, a senior social work major from Reno, sits on the beach, seemingly balancing two children in both hands. One of the children's arms is loosely draped around w88 slot online's neck, looking as relaxed as a long-lost friend. The second child sits practically on w88 slot online's lap, the way a child seeks the comfort of a mother's touch.

The children didn't speak English. Yet through a series of gestures, w88 slot online and the other USAC students were able to teach the children how to use the cameras which would eventually capture their day at the beach.

"This was the first time the children had seen cameras and had tried using them," w88 slot online remembered. "The children absolutely loved learning how to use them on the beach and we started taking pictures of everything.

"We didn't know the w88 slot online at all ... we just started playing around with them on the beach and shortly after we were teaching them how to use our cameras."

Any cultural trepidation about appearing in a photo was non-existent, w88 slot online said.

"It was not hard to convince the w88 slot online to pose with me because they actually loved taking pictures with all of us," she said.

In the flurry of photos and laughs, w88 slot online said it's hard to remember who actually snapped the winning photo.

"I don't remember who took this photo," she said. "It could have been one of the w88 slot online or a fellow student. I didn't know it was going to be such a good photo until later that night when I was looking through my photos.

"I fell in love with w88 slot online one."

The experience on Ada Beach has stayed with w88 slot online ever since. It's an example of the contrasts between two cultures when one travels to a foreign land. These days, it seems almost every American has a camera phone, or a disposable camera, or some sort of hand-held gizmo to pictorially capture every waking moment of their life.

In w88 slot online, such self-aware reflection is not nearly as self-evident.

"This experience in a foreign country humbled me as a person," w88 slot online explained. "Something that is so natural to us ... for example, using cameras ... can be such a foreign object to another country. Just being able to teach the children how to use cameras for the first time was so rewarding.

"The looks w88 slot online when they could instantly see the photos they took and pictures of themselves was priceless."

The w88 slot online on the beach weren't alone in their wonder.

"One of the children took the camera over to her parents and they were fascinated by it," w88 slot online said. "They started playing around with it and while they were doing so, they had a huge smile on their faces, too."

Not surprisingly, w88 slot online, once she graduates in May, hopes to teach English abroad and, as she enthusiastically put it, "travel the world!" She also has plans to become a social worker, and one day pursue a master's degree in the field.

When asked why she feels traveling and studying abroad add to the college experience, w88 slot online didn't hesitate.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be able to experience another culture and to also go to another university other than in the United States," w88 slot online said. "There is so much one can learn getting out of w88 slot online comfort zone. You will be surrounded by a bunch of people you have never met, from all walks of life that may become your best friends by the end of your journey.

"I still have friends I talk to, to w88 slot online day, both in Ghana and other fellow USAC students I met abroad. You will come back a changed person and have a better understanding of how diverse our world is ... and isn't that great?"

When she submitted the photo for the USAC contest, w88 slot online didn't expect to win. When informed she won, w88 slot online admitted she was "shocked."

"I actually forgot I entered the contest and had to ask USAC what w88 slot online I submitted since I have so many great photos from my time in Ghana," she said.

It was a happy moment, one where a group of children learned how to use cameras for the first time in their lives, and w88 slot online learned from the children that wonder, even when beautifully captured in a snap, is something that never fades with the passage of time.

The top three finishers in the w88 slot online 30^th anniversary w88 slot online contest: