Maa Afia dropped her bags on the thick woolen carpet in the room that was supposed to be her new home in the coming years and sighed. The 16-hour journey across the Atlantic had finally come to an end. She looked around the room and felt so thankful to be living her dreams. She was supposed to have three roommates, yet after days of living in the apartment, no one had showed up. Since she came for school, she assumed they would report when the school term began.

After a week of living alone in the four-bedroom apartment, Maa Afia finally came home from school one day and found three ladies cooking and chatting. Her roommates had finally reported. She had longed for other people in the apartment, but seeing them all together caught her unsure what to say or do. They seemed pretty okay, despite what she had heard about American culture being different from what she was used to. People often told her Americans were rude and dismissive, but her first impression of her roommates seemed good.

The days passed swiftly, and with that came familiarity. Soon, Maa Afia observed that the roommates did not always respond to her greetings. Neither did they initiate them. One afternoon, after the school's fall break, the roommates returned. She welcomed them at the different times they came in. However, only one responded. She was shocked when Mandy, one of them, asked her to scoot when she welcomed her back.

"Excuse me," said Mandy, signaling her to move aside.

Maa Afia wanted to let it go, but she thought, "Not today."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Like, scoot."

"You talk anyhow and treat other people carelessly. What if you need something from me tomorrow, huh?"

"Mind your business."

"Oh, you think you have it all figured out?"

"You know nothing about me."

"Oh really, nothing? Like how your life is all about you, you and you? How I wish we could switch places so you know exactly how shitty your attitude is." Afia pushed past Mandy, her jaw clenched.

The next morning came faster than she wanted it to. She felt her alarm had rung earlier than usual. She struggled to get out of bed, with her eyes still shut. Ambling towards the study table, she hit her feet against something on the floor. She opened her eyes and saw something unfamiliar.

"Now, what's this?" Maa Afia muttered to herself.

That was when she started to notice something. Her room looked different. Then she noticed her hands. They looked lighter than usual. Following that discovery came a loud yell as she ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror. She knew it was her, but why was she suddenly looking like Mandy? She was in Mandy's body.

It wasn't long before she heard a scream from the other room. Then came a knock on the door. She opened it to see herself staring right back at her. Both women yelled.

"What have you done?" Mandy asked Maa Afia.

"What do you mean? Give me back my body!"

"Oh God, this is happening... Okay, let's close our eyes and imagine switching back."

The two women tried everything and gave up when they realized nothing they did was going to work.

That evening, Mandy, now in Maa Afia's body, went downstairs to make herself something to eat and saw Lila, their other roommate. She said hi but was met with no response. Lila dropped the spoon she was using to stir her food. Mandy tried to pick it up but was quickly told to step aside.

"Excuse me," Lila said as she bent to pick up her spoon herself.

For a second, Mandy did not know how to react. She grabbed her food and headed straight to her room. Shutting the door behind her, she sighed and started to wonder what had just happened.

The days soon turned into a week, and both women had to go about their activities as if they were the other person. Their classes and assignments weren't going to wait. Mandy found herself eating the very dishes she had once thought smelled horrible when Maa Afia made them. She wished she could talk to her family almost all the time. She started to understand how deeply rooted the culture Maa Afia grew up in was. The "good mornings," "good afternoons," and "good evenings" filled the air whenever she met the other Ghanaians. Checking up on people showed courtesy, not a lack of respect for privacy. People who lived together knew and spoke to one another whenever they met, and knocked on their doors to ask if they were okay when they hadn't heard or seen one another in a while. Experiencing this new culture, even with this small Ghanaian group, gave Mandy firsthand experience of how it felt when the practices one was used to suddenly had to change in a new place.

Maa Afia, on the other hand, found herself understanding why Mandy was how she was. She started to understand that much of Mandy's behavior was rooted in her childhood experiences. Growing up with a single parent had been difficult and lonely. Doing things on her own and navigating life with barely anyone to care was all she knew. Expecting her to suddenly switch was too much. She started to understand that greeting wasn't as important to Mandy as actually helping out when someone needed something. Mandy didn't know how to be friendly unless she was giving help in a way that mattered to her. Maa Afia began to notice that judging others based on her own cultural norms was unfair. Everyone had been exposed to a different type of culture.

Maa Afia sent Mandy a text, hoping they could talk. But Mandy was nowhere to be found.

After two days, she saw Mandy walk into their apartment.

"Where have you been?" Maa Afia asked.

"Why?" Mandy asked and Maa Afia noticed she had been crying.

"Have you been crying?"

"Doesn't matter," she said and tried to walk away, but Maa Afia stopped her and asked, "Have you ever wondered how your behavior makes others feel?"

Mandy was silent, so she continued. "You dismiss others and act like they don't matter, and that can feel belittling."

"I never saw it like that. I grew up learning how to handle things alone and never understood why greetings and small social interactions mattered so much to you."

"Well, being far from home, these little gestures help me feel connected to people."

"I saw that as you expecting everyone to interact on your terms."

"I have to admit that I also judged you without knowing your story. We don't have to completely understand why we do the things we do, but we could give ourselves some grace."

"Hmm..." Mandy sighed. "I know and now understand that the things I may overlook may be important to you, while those you disregard may be what I find important and I'm sorry for being quick to expect you to see things the way I do."

"I'm sorry too." They gave each other a quick smile, as if they had just remembered that they were not friends.

That night, going to bed felt lighter for both women. They knew better now and were glad they had spoken about their issues.

Maa Afia's alarm rang, and as reluctantly as ever, she started stirring. The smell of the room felt familiar. When she managed to open her eyes, she noticed that the frame on the wall looked familiar too. "Oh no!" she exclaimed thinking she had missed the bus and rushed into the bathroom to brush her teeth. That was when she saw. In the mirror, she noticed that she didn't look as light-skinned as she did the day before. She looked at her hands, then back in the mirror. She touched her face and smiled. She looked like herself. Then she went back to the room and saw her things, everything in the same place she always placed them. She ran back into the bathroom and looked in the mirror.

She was back!