I think one of the best ways I have heard the pacific crossing described is by my friend Julie on her blog. She asked have you ever tried to sleep on a roller coaster? We have had days, and nights, where we are rocking so hard that our drawers open and close by themselves, we have to be careful when going through a door because it moves on its own; and walking anywhere on the ship is a workout because at any given time you are suddenly climbing a mountain and the next instant racing down the other side. The pacific crossing is known for being the hardest leg of the voyage for several reasons.
1. The waves are usually the roughest here; in fact we went 600 miles out of our way to avoid a storm when leaving Japan.
2. It is our longest stretch at sea; we have 18 sea days between Japan and Costa Rica with only 1 day in Hawaii to get more fuel.
3. We are in our final stretch, only 4 more class days, which means only 2 more of each class before taking our finals.
Because of how fast we moved through Asia many of us were completely exhausted which means weakened immune systems so most of us are battling colds and we seem to just pass it back and forth, never getting 100% well. With just over 2 weeks left of the voyage we are at a bittersweet moment, ready to be home, see our families, and not live in a perpetual daylight savings time. But at the same time seeing our families’ means getting off the ship for the last time, it means our adventures are over.
One a brighter note since we were in Hawaii our phones all worked! I got to talk to everyone from my family so that was really nice, I feel like it has been forever since I have spoken to some of them. I made a Chick-fil-a date with my younger cousin; we shall belatedly celebrate his end of chemo since I had already left when he had his official party. I also got to talk to my 4 year old “boyfriend” who said “I miss you Kafwin, when you come home?” So I told him I would be home before Christmas. I think it was made even better by the fact that we were in Hawaii for thanksgiving so I got to talk to everyone that I normally spend the holiday with.
Hawaii was awesome; I went to a black sand beach as well as a lava rock beach. Of course on the black sand beach we made black sand castles with volcanoes in the background (I mean we gotta get in the spirit here). I admit I had fun telling people back at home that I was swimming in Hawaii and that the temperature was about 80 degrees. Just a note for all you upcoming travelers THE PACIFIC OCEAN IS FREEZING THIS TIME OF YEAR.
So right now we are just all working real hard to finish up school. I am down to one 6 page paper and 4 finals left, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Most of us are crazy excited for Christmas, like go find me the most excited child in the world and most of us can top that child in excitement. I don’t know why it is so exciting this year but my roommate and I have been cranking the Christmas music for a good 2 weeks now. It is funny when I get on facebook for a few minutes and see people back home complaining about Christmas merchandizing and music already started, it seems like such a foreign world right now for us. Although a few of us were talking about how we could smuggle a tree on board in Hawaii and set it up. Yeah don’t think that would have worked.
Oh the Pacific, we are really discovering just how big this ocean is. It takes 18 days for us to cross it. I can only imagine what and journey across the oceans used to be like, considering we have really good stabilizers so the rocking isn’t bad at all. Also we are a very fast ship, apparently fast enough to out sail pirates (which we didn’t see any of making our crossings quite boring). But the pacific can be quite frustrating, at least for us. One reason is the length, we felt like the majority of our class work was compacted into the last 2 ½ weeks; from research papers (ok so right now I am totally procrastinating that assignment) to tests, field papers and many classes without any breaks. We truly feel exhausted, especially since we don’t get weekends on this voyage, our “weekends” are ports which are anything but relaxing (one day in Hawaii does not mean relaxing, instead it means walking 10 miles because we are too cheap to pay for a taxi). So as we gently (or not so gently) rock our way across the pacific we have to make decisions between sleep, school, and social (have I mentioned that of the 18 days crossing 9 of them were 23 hour days because of changing time zones?) times; not always an easy decision but one that has to be made. Usually our meal times are when we get together and have our deep conversations over our pasta and potatoes (getting a wee bit tired of ship food) before finally going to write yet another paper or take a stab at our mountains of reading assignments. Some of us have started counting down to the end, to seeing the family and friends that will greet us in Fort Lauderdale. We are also looking forward to the giant welcome home party that the rest of the world calls Christmas. I mean seriously we couldn’t get home at a better time; all the get-togethers with family and friends welcoming us home and hey why not celebrate Christmas at the same time? Yes I promise I have learned that the world doesn’t revolve around me, but well I am still calling it a giant welcome home party. We are officially done classes and now we are all frantically studying for finals which are cruelly the day after Costa Rica (seriously do they think we are actually studying in port???). There really isn’t much to sea days, we go to classes, do homework, occasionally have a dance (the ambassadors/alumni ball was last night) but pretty much just mundane stuff. We have discovered that contrary to all the nature documentaries you can actually go almost 3 weeks out at sea and not see a single animal. Apparently the ocean is teeming with wildlife making dramatic leaps out of the water for no apparent reason. We stare out the windows hoping to catch a glimpse of anything but all we see are waves. A great joke to play on your friends is to yell our “Whale!” and they will all go and look hard and finally you say “oh sorry, I guess it was just a wave.”
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Japan!
Japan was….well expensive. Of all the countries we have been to, Japan is the only one where prices were equal if not higher than the US. Also you don’t bargain for prices in Japan. But other than watching my money fly away I loved Japan. It is a country based on honor, if someone drops something that item is put on a slightly higher place so when the person comes back to look for it they can see it more easily. I saw several wallets on ledges and was told that someone had put it there rather than leave it on the ground. Also people there are very polite, even though we couldn’t understand a word they said because hardly anyone speaks English. The first day I had a trip from Kobe to Hiroshima. I was really expecting a lot of anti-Americanism, especially after Vietnam. Vietnam would tell us that the war was in the past and to let it go, yet they teach that Americans were horrible, which is understandable but I have never experienced it to quite that level. But Hiroshima was different, it was a very peaceful place, and while they stated the facts I never felt like they blamed America for their suffering once. It was amazing. Another cool thing that day was we took the bullet train both ways! The whole day was just a really cool experience. The second day I had an FDP to Nara, the first capital of Japan. We saw a lot of temples and shrines, and deer. There is a park there that the deer come up to the people and you can feed and pet the deer even though they are wild. So I got my fill of petting deer and feeding them. To tell you how polite of a society Japan is, even the deer are polite (at first) they actually bow to you! We discovered this when one of the guys in our group bent over a little and the deer bowed back, we then spent several minutes bowing back and forth to the deer, most likely to the amusement of all the locals. But when you have food in your hand you better watch out, the deer get a little nippy when they want food. The third day I spent on the ship in transit from Kobe to Yokohama, it was a nice relaxing day with absolutely no plans, I got to sleep in for the first time this semester and literally all of us on the ship just had a bumming it kind of day, we were all quite happy with our decision. Day four Julie and I decided to go into Tokoyo, we went to a district called Harajuku which is where the young people apparently go. It was a lot of shopping and fashion, most of which we couldn’t afford (I mean t-shirts were $40) and we spent the day looking at stuff and moaning about the price. We took the subway into the city and back because taxi’s are crazy expensive in Japan, most everybody uses the subway and trains and I have to admit the subway map is just a little daunting. The last day I had another FDP (I have a class about Japan’s modern history, basically means I had very little free time in Japan) where we went to Kichojiji which is a place where you can still see some of the tranquility of “Old Japan” and see all the modernization of “New Japan”. Even when we were in these huge malls and department stores everything was very peaceful. We had lunch in a huge park that again was peaceful. Peace seemed to be my overall experience in Japan, everything was quiet, even when we were on the subway and you couldn’t fit another person on the car nobody spoke, everyone was silent. But it was nice and calm and I loved Japan.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
India, Malaysia, Vietnam and China
Wow India was so long ago but since we have been to India the rest has turned into about tornado speed. We had (have) 5 ports in a row with only 3 days in between to recover except this last one where we only have 2 days. Talk about exhaustion. We are about a day away from Japan before we start our really long crossing the Pacific leg of this voyage. But first I will give you the highlights of our last couple ports. When we were in Mauritius I met our Indian inter-port student Swathi, the next day was sea Olympics and Swathi and I got to hang out a bit and we got to know each other. The next two days I ended up spending in bed because my malaria medicine made me really sick. I finally made it out of bed in time to prepare for India. In India I flew from Chennai to Delhi where we were picked up by a bus and then taken to our hotel. Once we got there we got our rooms and most of us went to bed because it was after midnight and we had a long day ahead of us. The next morning we started off with trip to Rajghat which is where Gandhi and his wife were both cremated, this is a big deal in the Hindu religion. Then we went to the train station to catch our train to Agra, what we found instead was that all the trains for that time had been canceled for some reason so we had to call our bus back and took the bus all the way there. We did make it to Agra about 5pm and only because we skipped lunch. We went straight to the Taj Mahal We got there half an hour before they closed the gate and got to see it as the sun set. I have some amazing pictures there! Next we were taken to a marble factory where descendants of the actual workers who built the Taj Mahal now work, some of them were doing inlay work while we were there and watched. We were then given the opportunity to buy some stuff (ok we are all students why exactly do they think we have money for marble decorations??? Better yet where the heck are we supposed to pack marble stuff in our luggage?). We then went to a traditional Indian restaurant for dinner before heading to the train station to catch our overnight train. We were told that we were going to be in second class and have a car for just our group but things got messed up and we ended up in economy with a bunch of locals. So I used my backpack as a pillow and got the best night of sleep in port that I have gotten so far! A few people from our group complained that we weren’t in the car that we had paid for but I was fine. We made it to Varanasi and checked in to our hotel and got lunch. Then we went on a tour of the city and to a silk factory community where again we were given the opportunity to buy stuff after watching some people working (starting to see a theme in India?). It was really cool because the roads were so congested and small instead of taking a bus for the tour we took a bunch of rickshaws! That night we went to the Ganges River and watch a cremation ceremony (remember I said it was a big deal) and we got to take a boat ride by moonlight down the river a bit and saw the cremation site. The next morning we woke up really early so we could watch the sunrise over the Ganges again took a boat ride and got to see a lot of people doing the rituals at the Ganges. Then we went to the airport after lunch and flew back to Chennai. Our last day in India a couple of us went around Chennai and perfected our bargaining skills (ok maybe not perfected them but definitely practiced) before making our way back to the ship and saying goodbye to India.
Malaysia was our next port of call and a rather short one at that. With only 3 days between India and Malaysia we barely had time to recover, plus we lost time every single day. Then we only had 3 days to explore Malaysia. The first day I had an FDP where we walked around Georgetown Heritage Site and got to see pretty much every temple, mosque and church in the city. The next day I went to a tropical fruit farm and also a spice farm. It was really cool getting to try all these fruits that are exotic for us and also to see so many spices that I have only ever seen in spice containers at the grocery store. I got to see citronella growing and black pepper, cinnamon and vanilla. The last day I went to an orphanage in the city, we got to play games with the kids and color with them. I managed to go out with friends and have some fun quite a bit. One of the exciting parts for most of us was the fact that our ship couldn’t stay at he dock for the entire time so we had to tender. Tender means the ship goes and anchors in the harbor area and then we take the lifeboats back and forth from the ship to the shore. Just so everyone knows, my assigned lifeboat works well as it was used for the tendering.
After 3 more short days at sea we arrived at Vietnam. Mom and Tim actually flew to Vietnam to meet up with me and we had almost a week together. The first day we went to a tailor and got measured for having some clothes made. Tim got a suit, Mom got a couple of blouses and trousers, and I got a traditional Vietnamese dress. The next day we had to get up really early and go to the airport to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi where we then got on a bus to Ha Long Bay. We spent the night there and the next morning got on a boat to explore the Bay. The limestone cliffs are beautiful and except for the amazing number of other tourist boats it was rather peaceful. We then had the opportunity to stay on the boat or go and explore the cave, it was very similar to Luray Caverns and Tim and I had a good time going through there and mom enjoyed staying on the boat with several of the life-long learners. We then got back on the boat and had lunch on board. When we got back to land we got on the bus again and went back to Hanoi. That night we went to a water puppet theater show and even though we had no idea what they were saying or what was going on it was really cool. The next day after a city tour of Hanoi and a bit of free time to get lunch we went back to the airport and flew to Ho Chi Minh City. Day 5 we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Tim was the only one of the 3 of us that made it the whole way through the section of the tunnel that we were allowed to go through. It was a really interesting place but there was a lot of anti-American sediments, which is understandable but one second they tell you the war is in the past and they are very welcoming of Americans and the next you hear that they are teaching everyone how evil Americans are; a very interesting combination. We picked up mom and Tim’s clothes but my dress wasn’t ready. The last day I got my dress and wandered around the city with Rachael, it was a typical last day of hanging out near the ship and spending the last of our money.
We only had 2 days at sea between Vietnam and China and by this time we were all thoroughly exhausted and not recovering our sleep. I seriously want to call Hong Kong the Land of malls and escalators; I don’t think I was able to go 15 feet without another escalator coming into sight. Also when Julie and I finally made it out of the mall that we docked at (yeah we docked at a mall, got the best parking spot possible because we couldn’t get out of “port” without going through the mall) we decided to try and find something else to see Hong Kong because we were only there really one day and ended up in another mall. Hong Kong is known as the vertical city but I think Land of the Escalator sounds so much more fun, either way they are both the truth. The next day I met up with the group I was traveling with and we headed to the airport. We flew to Beijing and were able to explore a little bit, most of us ate dinner and went to bed. I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 on the plane (fitting right? I was in China after all and it was either that or Mulan) and enjoyed a traditional Chinese dinner that night. The next day we got on the bus and drove about 2 hours north to the Great Wall! We hiked up to the Wall and then hiked about 5 km on the Wall. It was a lot of fun and the only down side was I randomly got altitude sickness but I powered through it and will never forget my experience. That night we bundled up in all our clothes, gloves, hats and grabbed tents, sleeping bags and mats and after our filling dinner hiked back up the Wall and set up camp. Yep I slept on the Great Wall, not many other people in my group got to say that because while I was asleep we ended up being kicked off the Wall in the middle of the night and had to move camp down to the base of the wall. I will end that story there because it is rather complicated and possibly more fun for me to tell in person :P The next morning we went back to Beijing and had lunch there. After lunch we went to Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City, at this point our guides were shocked that we ran into other SASers….again. Every day we ran into people from the ship and our guides couldn’t understand how in a country as big as China we would randomly meet up so often. That night we took an overnight train to Shanghai where our ship had moved to during our adventure. This train was a completely different experience from India; we had cabins on the train and only 4 people to a cabin. Each bed had a TV at the end of it and we could lock our cabin door. Everything about it was so much nicer then the India train. We then had a day and a half to explore Shanghai and that is what I did, with no particular plan I just wandered around the city, for me it wasn’t too exciting because it was just another city and I don’t think anything could top my previous China experience.
We had, yet again, 2 days at sea between China and Japan. Currently I am on the ship as we transit from one Japanese port to the other. We started in Kobe and are now sailing to Yokohama. The reason I chose to transit on the ship is because of how expensive it is to do anything in Japan. It is the only country that rivals the US in prices, and in some instances may be more expensive then the US. So many of us are taking the ship and enjoying a relaxing day of nothing. Also of my group of friends that are transiting almost all of us are battling colds right now, I think we are all run-down and exhausted and that is why this cold is going around. I certainly enjoyed sleeping in this morning and now it is just a lot of chill out time and homework catch up time. I will give you a Japan post after our two days in Yokohama.
Malaysia was our next port of call and a rather short one at that. With only 3 days between India and Malaysia we barely had time to recover, plus we lost time every single day. Then we only had 3 days to explore Malaysia. The first day I had an FDP where we walked around Georgetown Heritage Site and got to see pretty much every temple, mosque and church in the city. The next day I went to a tropical fruit farm and also a spice farm. It was really cool getting to try all these fruits that are exotic for us and also to see so many spices that I have only ever seen in spice containers at the grocery store. I got to see citronella growing and black pepper, cinnamon and vanilla. The last day I went to an orphanage in the city, we got to play games with the kids and color with them. I managed to go out with friends and have some fun quite a bit. One of the exciting parts for most of us was the fact that our ship couldn’t stay at he dock for the entire time so we had to tender. Tender means the ship goes and anchors in the harbor area and then we take the lifeboats back and forth from the ship to the shore. Just so everyone knows, my assigned lifeboat works well as it was used for the tendering.
After 3 more short days at sea we arrived at Vietnam. Mom and Tim actually flew to Vietnam to meet up with me and we had almost a week together. The first day we went to a tailor and got measured for having some clothes made. Tim got a suit, Mom got a couple of blouses and trousers, and I got a traditional Vietnamese dress. The next day we had to get up really early and go to the airport to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi where we then got on a bus to Ha Long Bay. We spent the night there and the next morning got on a boat to explore the Bay. The limestone cliffs are beautiful and except for the amazing number of other tourist boats it was rather peaceful. We then had the opportunity to stay on the boat or go and explore the cave, it was very similar to Luray Caverns and Tim and I had a good time going through there and mom enjoyed staying on the boat with several of the life-long learners. We then got back on the boat and had lunch on board. When we got back to land we got on the bus again and went back to Hanoi. That night we went to a water puppet theater show and even though we had no idea what they were saying or what was going on it was really cool. The next day after a city tour of Hanoi and a bit of free time to get lunch we went back to the airport and flew to Ho Chi Minh City. Day 5 we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Tim was the only one of the 3 of us that made it the whole way through the section of the tunnel that we were allowed to go through. It was a really interesting place but there was a lot of anti-American sediments, which is understandable but one second they tell you the war is in the past and they are very welcoming of Americans and the next you hear that they are teaching everyone how evil Americans are; a very interesting combination. We picked up mom and Tim’s clothes but my dress wasn’t ready. The last day I got my dress and wandered around the city with Rachael, it was a typical last day of hanging out near the ship and spending the last of our money.
We only had 2 days at sea between Vietnam and China and by this time we were all thoroughly exhausted and not recovering our sleep. I seriously want to call Hong Kong the Land of malls and escalators; I don’t think I was able to go 15 feet without another escalator coming into sight. Also when Julie and I finally made it out of the mall that we docked at (yeah we docked at a mall, got the best parking spot possible because we couldn’t get out of “port” without going through the mall) we decided to try and find something else to see Hong Kong because we were only there really one day and ended up in another mall. Hong Kong is known as the vertical city but I think Land of the Escalator sounds so much more fun, either way they are both the truth. The next day I met up with the group I was traveling with and we headed to the airport. We flew to Beijing and were able to explore a little bit, most of us ate dinner and went to bed. I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 on the plane (fitting right? I was in China after all and it was either that or Mulan) and enjoyed a traditional Chinese dinner that night. The next day we got on the bus and drove about 2 hours north to the Great Wall! We hiked up to the Wall and then hiked about 5 km on the Wall. It was a lot of fun and the only down side was I randomly got altitude sickness but I powered through it and will never forget my experience. That night we bundled up in all our clothes, gloves, hats and grabbed tents, sleeping bags and mats and after our filling dinner hiked back up the Wall and set up camp. Yep I slept on the Great Wall, not many other people in my group got to say that because while I was asleep we ended up being kicked off the Wall in the middle of the night and had to move camp down to the base of the wall. I will end that story there because it is rather complicated and possibly more fun for me to tell in person :P The next morning we went back to Beijing and had lunch there. After lunch we went to Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City, at this point our guides were shocked that we ran into other SASers….again. Every day we ran into people from the ship and our guides couldn’t understand how in a country as big as China we would randomly meet up so often. That night we took an overnight train to Shanghai where our ship had moved to during our adventure. This train was a completely different experience from India; we had cabins on the train and only 4 people to a cabin. Each bed had a TV at the end of it and we could lock our cabin door. Everything about it was so much nicer then the India train. We then had a day and a half to explore Shanghai and that is what I did, with no particular plan I just wandered around the city, for me it wasn’t too exciting because it was just another city and I don’t think anything could top my previous China experience.
We had, yet again, 2 days at sea between China and Japan. Currently I am on the ship as we transit from one Japanese port to the other. We started in Kobe and are now sailing to Yokohama. The reason I chose to transit on the ship is because of how expensive it is to do anything in Japan. It is the only country that rivals the US in prices, and in some instances may be more expensive then the US. So many of us are taking the ship and enjoying a relaxing day of nothing. Also of my group of friends that are transiting almost all of us are battling colds right now, I think we are all run-down and exhausted and that is why this cold is going around. I certainly enjoyed sleeping in this morning and now it is just a lot of chill out time and homework catch up time. I will give you a Japan post after our two days in Yokohama.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
A picture preview of my time so far!
<-- Landscape in Malaysia from the Floating Mosque
<-- This is rather self explanatory, I went to the Taj Mahal
<-- Mauritius, Land of the pretty water! I got to swim in the Indian Ocean here! (be jealous!!!)
<-- FIFA World Cup Stadium, sadly I couldn't go in because it was under renovations but I did lots of other cool things in South Africa.
Monkeys in Ghana! They live side by side with humans in this one village.
The Hassan II Mosque in Morocco, my very first adventure with SAS!
I will try and get some posts on here soon, I now have 3 countries to update about....yikes so much to write.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Lions, Springboc, and Sharks Oh My!!!! South Africa!
Quick note: We are now actually in Mauritius, or rather the harbor, we aren’t allowed off the ship until morning because of the past drinking behaviors of SAS students. It is quite unfortunate that they have forced Mauritius to shorten our stay because of past SASers drinking need. That being said we actually arrived early (we weren’t supposed to get here until tomorrow) because someone on the ship has a non life threatening medical emergency and we got here so they could go to the hospital (that person has been off pretty much since we got here several hours ago). So now we get to look longingly at this lovely island for the rest of the night before experiencing it for one short day (which has been extended now since customs did our paperwork tonight so we are allowed off starting at 0600 instead of shortly after 0800!!!). Thank you Mauritius Customs!!!!! More about Mauritius, Sea Days, and Sea Olympics soon!
Ok so South Africa was one of the best places I have ever been! I did so much there, and I learned a lot during my time in Africa in general. During our orientation meetings way back when (was it really only a month ago?) one of the people said something to the effect that the unfamiliar will become familiar and the previously familiar will become unfamiliar. I am still processing Africa but I felt that concept in South Africa. It was strange, everything was backwards; spring in September and cars driving on the opposite side of the road. Our first two ports we were in working ports, as in we had to go through a maze of containers to find our way to the city. We happily discovered that the city was literally on the water, no buses needed; no 20 minute walk to get out of the port. Instead we were greeted by a hotel and a mall just yards away from our ship. How could we possibly still be in Africa? Where is the poverty? This is not the Africa we learn about in school. We watched our arrival to Cape Town and were greeted by a sunrise over a developed city; there was even a ferris wheel right down the street. We could see the FIFA world cup soccer stadium, also within walking distance. Another difference was set prices, we have joked about how when we get back to America we would miss our bartering, we enjoy seeing if we can get a better deal than our fellow voyagers; well we were met with set prices and people looking at you like you were crazy when you said that price was way too expensive. We have only been away from home for a month, give or take, and already things that are home-like are strange to us. What will being back in America be like? So many questions have come out of Africa, we have had 3 very different experiences, 3 different views of Africa, and how do we meld that into what we know of Africa? If we have experienced such different things what is the rest of Africa like? Which countries resemble each other? Which are different? How will we ever figure out the answers to these and many other questions that arise daily now? South Africa had much in common with America, shopping, ease of access to everything, KFC (but to be fair I have actually seen KFC in each country except Canada), McDonalds. Yet at the same time we were in Africa, there were ostriches and baboons crossing the streets instead of deer and rabbits (that’s when you know you are actually in Africa). We were in a different hemisphere, time zone, world yet it felt normal, familiar, and comfortable.
So now onto what I actually did in South Africa. The first day we woke up early and watched our arrival into Cape Town. We have some amazing pictures of the sun rising over the mountains and of our first view of Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was once held prisoner) and table mountain with its lovely cloud tablecloth as the locals call it. Then we went and got breakfast and laughed at the fact that apparently our captain wanted to give us 360 degree picture opportunities because we had to do a few donuts in the harbor waiting for the pilot boat to lead us in (not sure why we didn’t just pull up to a stop like all the rest of the ships were, so we went in circles and rocked like crazy because we kept going over our own waves). Finally the pilot boat came out and we went into port, now the long process started – customs. South Africa’s policy is to meet face to face with each of us so as you can imagine, it took a while to get through that process as we were called up by seas (how we are divided, basically by floor) to get our passport, meet the customs official, have them stamp the passport. None of us could get off the ship until everyone had cleared customs, so even though our sea was called second we still had to wait for a long time. Eventually we got off the ship and were set free to explore Cape Town. The first thing we did was walk to the soccer stadium. We were very disappointed to find out that it is under renovations (seriously what is there to renovate????? it is like brand new!) and we couldn’t go inside, so I have 7 billion pictures of the outside. We then went to a nice little outdoor café and got some lunch, I had a Hawaiian wrap which was ham, pineapple, cheese, and mayo (that was the description, not sure why they included mayo….) anyway it was pretty good. We didn’t do much the rest of the day, just walked around the waterfront and discovered the mall and went to the bank and exchanged money.
Day 2 I was supposed to go great white shark cage diving but found out at 6:30 am that it was canceled because of the currents so instead I got back on the ship got some breakfast and went to Tymitz Square (on the ship) and met up with a life long learner that wanted to do the Hop on Hop off Tour bus around Cape Town, which is a double decker bus that goes all around and you plug your headphones into the bus and you can pick from 16 languages (can you tell they recently had a worldwide event in their town). I got off at Table Mountain and she stayed on the bus, and I took the cable way up to the top of Table Mountain. It was really cool, and the floor of the cable way rotated so you got a 360 view of your ride up. Once up there I discovered that I could see my home from the top of the mountain! There is such a sense of comfort seeing the ship, it represents safety and familiarity. There were a ton of SASers up on Table Mountain which was funny because I kept running into people I knew. I then went back down and got back on the bus and eventually made it back to the waterfront. I had bought a combo ticket that combined the bus, cable way and the aquarium (which I went to later) which was a really good deal price wise.
Day 3 was yet another early day but it was totally worth it. I went on a safari and we saw 4 of the “Big Five” (which for those of you who aren’t up to date with their African wildlife they are elephant, water buffalo, rhinoceros, lion, and leopard) the only one we didn’t see was the water buffalo, which our game driver told us is not uncommon. So along with those 4 we also saw: black wildebeest, blue wildebeest, hippos, ostrich, zebras, cheetahs, wild boars, crocodiles (apparently I have been to Florida too much, they didn’t excite me, also we saw them last), springbok, and elands (which are the largest type of antelope). All in all I would say it was a very successful day. It was really funny because when we got to the game reserve we were offered a “welcome drink” of either champagne (they called it wine) or sparkling grape juice. Most of us went for the grape juice since it was like 9 am and none of us had eaten breakfast yet. Later on in the middle of our safari we took a break to stretch our legs and have a drink. We got some good laughs about being in the middle of this game park drinking champagne out of actual glasses watching the elephants and the wildebeest walk by.
Day 4 I again had to be off the ship really early (are you starting to notice this theme in ports?) and we got into the buses to go on a half day cape tour where we went along the coast all the way to Cape of Good Hope which is the most South-Western point in Africa, we walked up the cliff and got some pictures of the Atlantic ocean and where (way off in the distance) the Indian ocean joined it. We then went off to Boulder Beach which is naturally inhabited by penguins (so does it seem like this voyage is turning into a wildlife trip? Camels in Morocco, monkeys in Ghana, incredibly long list in South Africa and I promise it gets longer yet); on the way to the beach we had to stop because there were a bunch of baboons in the street. We had planned this trip independently of SAS (everything I did in South Africa was “independent” and it was the best decision I have made so far, I saved hundreds of dollars doing this independent of SAS) and we talked our driver into making a detour to Cape Point Winery for some wine tasting; it was really funny watching everyone’s reactions to the driver agreeing so readily.
Day 5 was my ocean wildlife day. I went shark cage diving! We saw 7 great white sharks and also a pod of great right whales who are breeding and migrating through this area right now. But I actually got in a cage and was inches away from a great white shark! We had a 2 hour bus ride from Cape Town to Gansbaai (which for you shark week fanatics should recognize as one of the places where many specials are filmed) and then we were given breakfast (we left the ship at 5:30 am) and were briefed about safety and logistics of our day. We then got back on the bus and went 2 kilometers down the road to where we would get on the boat. As we were going to the dive place we had to stop for a few whales to pass by, you know one of those no big deal kind of moments. Then the moment of truth, we were at the dive site, the cage was in the water, they called us into the cabin and one of the guys determined what size wet suit we needed in about a 2 second glance and then we were all wrestling into our wetsuits while trying to stay onship because the waves were huge. It is never really a good thing when you are standing on the deck and have to look up to see the top of the wave. But once we were all zipped in one of the guys slapped a mask on our face, another strapped a weight belt on and we were ushered to the side of the boat and told to hop in the cage. As I was getting into the cage a 12 foot great white swam inches away from the front of the cage. We were in the cage, 8 at a time, and we waited, and waited, until the spotter yelled Down! Down! Down! So we took a deep breath and went under water and there right in front of us was a shark, about 15 feet long going for Gladys the seal dummy. Finally we got out of the cage and they pulled our masks off and our weight belts, asked us how it was and directed us to a cooler filled with water (cause there is never enough water when you are on a boat right? Well at least the water in the boat was for drinking and didn’t have more salt than anything else in it). At one point when we were in the cage a huge wave came and rocked the boat and we were all unexpectedly under water (that would be how I know about the salt content of the water) so we all swallowed more salt water than can be good for us, and later (much later) realized that we probably got a good amount of chum in those unexpected drinks. Not surprisingly with how big the waves were (and possibly the amount of chum and salt in our stomachs) many of us got seasick, me included, and therefore spent more time looking at the nearby mountain trying to keep from vomiting. Which was to no avail as many of us, me still included, ended up aiding in the chumming process (well it made the sharks happy at least). When we got back (finally) to shore our skipper told us that he had never been out with clients when the swells were that large (finally felt better about getting seasick) and that he was canceling all other tours for the day and for the next day. We found out later that we were the only company that even went out that day. I bought the video that they made of the day (should I submit it to shark week?) because the water had very low visibility so it was hard to take pictures.
Day 6, can you believe we still had one more day after the sharks? I went to the two oceans aquarium which was cool to see things from the Indian ocean and the Atlantic, they also showed a lot of wildlife where the two oceans meet. The aquarium is really close to the port and we all just kind of hung out at the waterfront, using up the last of our rand, buying snacks for the upcoming sea days and eating one last lunch off the ship. Then what is yet another highlight of this voyage occurred at on-ship time. We got to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and he gave us a short lecture. I was surprised at his sense of humor, I highly recommend trying to hear him speak if you ever get the chance. He has sailed on SAS twice before and one of the first things he said was it was nice to be back home but who the heck were all these people that were in his home. He also made a point of mentioning it is a ship not boat, one of the first lessons that they give to each new SASer. I don’t think there are words to describe Desmond Tutu. I sat in the union for almost 2 hours before he was supposed to speak to ensure a front row seat, so that was pretty exciting! And then he had to get off the ship, we had to eat dinner, and shortly we were leaving what had fast become the favorite port for many of us.
If any of you are still reading (I promise I am almost done), congratulations you made it through 6 packed days in South Africa. There is so much that I haven’t been able to process yet, let alone verbalize. My next port is now 6 days away and we are only there for one day. I will try and add some sea days descriptions in there so you can find out about life on the ship. We also have our sea Olympics the day after Mauritius, so there is stuff coming up, I will not drop off the face of the earth even though it may be a while until my next post. Until then, I shall reflect upon Africa as a whole and see if I come up with any answers.
Ok so South Africa was one of the best places I have ever been! I did so much there, and I learned a lot during my time in Africa in general. During our orientation meetings way back when (was it really only a month ago?) one of the people said something to the effect that the unfamiliar will become familiar and the previously familiar will become unfamiliar. I am still processing Africa but I felt that concept in South Africa. It was strange, everything was backwards; spring in September and cars driving on the opposite side of the road. Our first two ports we were in working ports, as in we had to go through a maze of containers to find our way to the city. We happily discovered that the city was literally on the water, no buses needed; no 20 minute walk to get out of the port. Instead we were greeted by a hotel and a mall just yards away from our ship. How could we possibly still be in Africa? Where is the poverty? This is not the Africa we learn about in school. We watched our arrival to Cape Town and were greeted by a sunrise over a developed city; there was even a ferris wheel right down the street. We could see the FIFA world cup soccer stadium, also within walking distance. Another difference was set prices, we have joked about how when we get back to America we would miss our bartering, we enjoy seeing if we can get a better deal than our fellow voyagers; well we were met with set prices and people looking at you like you were crazy when you said that price was way too expensive. We have only been away from home for a month, give or take, and already things that are home-like are strange to us. What will being back in America be like? So many questions have come out of Africa, we have had 3 very different experiences, 3 different views of Africa, and how do we meld that into what we know of Africa? If we have experienced such different things what is the rest of Africa like? Which countries resemble each other? Which are different? How will we ever figure out the answers to these and many other questions that arise daily now? South Africa had much in common with America, shopping, ease of access to everything, KFC (but to be fair I have actually seen KFC in each country except Canada), McDonalds. Yet at the same time we were in Africa, there were ostriches and baboons crossing the streets instead of deer and rabbits (that’s when you know you are actually in Africa). We were in a different hemisphere, time zone, world yet it felt normal, familiar, and comfortable.
So now onto what I actually did in South Africa. The first day we woke up early and watched our arrival into Cape Town. We have some amazing pictures of the sun rising over the mountains and of our first view of Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was once held prisoner) and table mountain with its lovely cloud tablecloth as the locals call it. Then we went and got breakfast and laughed at the fact that apparently our captain wanted to give us 360 degree picture opportunities because we had to do a few donuts in the harbor waiting for the pilot boat to lead us in (not sure why we didn’t just pull up to a stop like all the rest of the ships were, so we went in circles and rocked like crazy because we kept going over our own waves). Finally the pilot boat came out and we went into port, now the long process started – customs. South Africa’s policy is to meet face to face with each of us so as you can imagine, it took a while to get through that process as we were called up by seas (how we are divided, basically by floor) to get our passport, meet the customs official, have them stamp the passport. None of us could get off the ship until everyone had cleared customs, so even though our sea was called second we still had to wait for a long time. Eventually we got off the ship and were set free to explore Cape Town. The first thing we did was walk to the soccer stadium. We were very disappointed to find out that it is under renovations (seriously what is there to renovate????? it is like brand new!) and we couldn’t go inside, so I have 7 billion pictures of the outside. We then went to a nice little outdoor café and got some lunch, I had a Hawaiian wrap which was ham, pineapple, cheese, and mayo (that was the description, not sure why they included mayo….) anyway it was pretty good. We didn’t do much the rest of the day, just walked around the waterfront and discovered the mall and went to the bank and exchanged money.
Day 2 I was supposed to go great white shark cage diving but found out at 6:30 am that it was canceled because of the currents so instead I got back on the ship got some breakfast and went to Tymitz Square (on the ship) and met up with a life long learner that wanted to do the Hop on Hop off Tour bus around Cape Town, which is a double decker bus that goes all around and you plug your headphones into the bus and you can pick from 16 languages (can you tell they recently had a worldwide event in their town). I got off at Table Mountain and she stayed on the bus, and I took the cable way up to the top of Table Mountain. It was really cool, and the floor of the cable way rotated so you got a 360 view of your ride up. Once up there I discovered that I could see my home from the top of the mountain! There is such a sense of comfort seeing the ship, it represents safety and familiarity. There were a ton of SASers up on Table Mountain which was funny because I kept running into people I knew. I then went back down and got back on the bus and eventually made it back to the waterfront. I had bought a combo ticket that combined the bus, cable way and the aquarium (which I went to later) which was a really good deal price wise.
Day 3 was yet another early day but it was totally worth it. I went on a safari and we saw 4 of the “Big Five” (which for those of you who aren’t up to date with their African wildlife they are elephant, water buffalo, rhinoceros, lion, and leopard) the only one we didn’t see was the water buffalo, which our game driver told us is not uncommon. So along with those 4 we also saw: black wildebeest, blue wildebeest, hippos, ostrich, zebras, cheetahs, wild boars, crocodiles (apparently I have been to Florida too much, they didn’t excite me, also we saw them last), springbok, and elands (which are the largest type of antelope). All in all I would say it was a very successful day. It was really funny because when we got to the game reserve we were offered a “welcome drink” of either champagne (they called it wine) or sparkling grape juice. Most of us went for the grape juice since it was like 9 am and none of us had eaten breakfast yet. Later on in the middle of our safari we took a break to stretch our legs and have a drink. We got some good laughs about being in the middle of this game park drinking champagne out of actual glasses watching the elephants and the wildebeest walk by.
Day 4 I again had to be off the ship really early (are you starting to notice this theme in ports?) and we got into the buses to go on a half day cape tour where we went along the coast all the way to Cape of Good Hope which is the most South-Western point in Africa, we walked up the cliff and got some pictures of the Atlantic ocean and where (way off in the distance) the Indian ocean joined it. We then went off to Boulder Beach which is naturally inhabited by penguins (so does it seem like this voyage is turning into a wildlife trip? Camels in Morocco, monkeys in Ghana, incredibly long list in South Africa and I promise it gets longer yet); on the way to the beach we had to stop because there were a bunch of baboons in the street. We had planned this trip independently of SAS (everything I did in South Africa was “independent” and it was the best decision I have made so far, I saved hundreds of dollars doing this independent of SAS) and we talked our driver into making a detour to Cape Point Winery for some wine tasting; it was really funny watching everyone’s reactions to the driver agreeing so readily.
Day 5 was my ocean wildlife day. I went shark cage diving! We saw 7 great white sharks and also a pod of great right whales who are breeding and migrating through this area right now. But I actually got in a cage and was inches away from a great white shark! We had a 2 hour bus ride from Cape Town to Gansbaai (which for you shark week fanatics should recognize as one of the places where many specials are filmed) and then we were given breakfast (we left the ship at 5:30 am) and were briefed about safety and logistics of our day. We then got back on the bus and went 2 kilometers down the road to where we would get on the boat. As we were going to the dive place we had to stop for a few whales to pass by, you know one of those no big deal kind of moments. Then the moment of truth, we were at the dive site, the cage was in the water, they called us into the cabin and one of the guys determined what size wet suit we needed in about a 2 second glance and then we were all wrestling into our wetsuits while trying to stay onship because the waves were huge. It is never really a good thing when you are standing on the deck and have to look up to see the top of the wave. But once we were all zipped in one of the guys slapped a mask on our face, another strapped a weight belt on and we were ushered to the side of the boat and told to hop in the cage. As I was getting into the cage a 12 foot great white swam inches away from the front of the cage. We were in the cage, 8 at a time, and we waited, and waited, until the spotter yelled Down! Down! Down! So we took a deep breath and went under water and there right in front of us was a shark, about 15 feet long going for Gladys the seal dummy. Finally we got out of the cage and they pulled our masks off and our weight belts, asked us how it was and directed us to a cooler filled with water (cause there is never enough water when you are on a boat right? Well at least the water in the boat was for drinking and didn’t have more salt than anything else in it). At one point when we were in the cage a huge wave came and rocked the boat and we were all unexpectedly under water (that would be how I know about the salt content of the water) so we all swallowed more salt water than can be good for us, and later (much later) realized that we probably got a good amount of chum in those unexpected drinks. Not surprisingly with how big the waves were (and possibly the amount of chum and salt in our stomachs) many of us got seasick, me included, and therefore spent more time looking at the nearby mountain trying to keep from vomiting. Which was to no avail as many of us, me still included, ended up aiding in the chumming process (well it made the sharks happy at least). When we got back (finally) to shore our skipper told us that he had never been out with clients when the swells were that large (finally felt better about getting seasick) and that he was canceling all other tours for the day and for the next day. We found out later that we were the only company that even went out that day. I bought the video that they made of the day (should I submit it to shark week?) because the water had very low visibility so it was hard to take pictures.
Day 6, can you believe we still had one more day after the sharks? I went to the two oceans aquarium which was cool to see things from the Indian ocean and the Atlantic, they also showed a lot of wildlife where the two oceans meet. The aquarium is really close to the port and we all just kind of hung out at the waterfront, using up the last of our rand, buying snacks for the upcoming sea days and eating one last lunch off the ship. Then what is yet another highlight of this voyage occurred at on-ship time. We got to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and he gave us a short lecture. I was surprised at his sense of humor, I highly recommend trying to hear him speak if you ever get the chance. He has sailed on SAS twice before and one of the first things he said was it was nice to be back home but who the heck were all these people that were in his home. He also made a point of mentioning it is a ship not boat, one of the first lessons that they give to each new SASer. I don’t think there are words to describe Desmond Tutu. I sat in the union for almost 2 hours before he was supposed to speak to ensure a front row seat, so that was pretty exciting! And then he had to get off the ship, we had to eat dinner, and shortly we were leaving what had fast become the favorite port for many of us.
If any of you are still reading (I promise I am almost done), congratulations you made it through 6 packed days in South Africa. There is so much that I haven’t been able to process yet, let alone verbalize. My next port is now 6 days away and we are only there for one day. I will try and add some sea days descriptions in there so you can find out about life on the ship. We also have our sea Olympics the day after Mauritius, so there is stuff coming up, I will not drop off the face of the earth even though it may be a while until my next post. Until then, I shall reflect upon Africa as a whole and see if I come up with any answers.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Neptune Day (Day 23)
Today was Neptune Day, where we crossed the equator! As part of the festivities we had to have “fish guts” dumped on our heads and then jump in the pool. When you got out you had to kiss a fish pay your respects to Queen Minerva and kiss King Neptune’s ring. Once you did that you were no longer a scallywag but now a clamback. For people who wanted to pay the ultimate homage they could shave their heads. I DID NOT SHAVE MY HEAD! But many girls did. We then had a pretty cool dance party up on the pool deck which is now slimy and pretty darn gross. King Neptune was actually Captain Jeremy! It was a lot of fun and I have some pretty good pictures. And just think all this went down before 10 am! Oh yeah we were woken by the lovely crew who walked the halls playing instruments of some kind (mostly drums) and banging on our doors. So much for sleeping in on our first no class day. We are all still trying to catch up on sleep from the last 4 days in Ghana. So now we are supposed to buckle down and study (yeah right); but they actually have this listed as a study day on the calendar. We shall see how the rest of the day goes.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Ghana!
There was supposed to be another post just before we got to Ghana but my internet wasn't working so here is my Ghana post. Sea days aren't really that exciting anyway, rather boring and routine.
Ghana. There is so much to say about Ghana; on the one hand the official language is English so communication is relatively easy, as in English is taught in school and most people can speak and understand it along with their local language. On the other hand I am sure SAS just tripled the nations’ economy in less than 4 days. We definitely got extremely ripped off at points and it was much harder to barter here in Ghana than Morocco. The poverty is astounding here and you really feel bad for many of these people. But Ghanaian’s are the most friendly people you will ever find (if they don’t befriend you just to get your money for their product), but in generally they truly make an effort to get to know you no matter how short of a time you will get to spend with them. There is a very good chance when I get home I will have quite a few friend requests on facebook and at this rate they will all be from Ghana. We haven’t even left Ghana yet (we leave in a few hours) and I already want to come back because there is so much that I didn’t get the chance to see. The first day I got a very expensive (they guy we were with is terrible at bartering and we have banned him from bartering in the future, at least where our money is concerned) tour of Tema our port city. I still can’t tell you how to get out of this port. It is so much busier than the port in Casablanca, I am positive that I never entered or exited this port the same way twice. In morocco I had no problems with walking to the port gate with friends, it was really easy to find and not that bad of a walk; but here is a whole other story, short version: I have no clue where the port gate is.
On the second day I did Habitat for Humanity through SAS, I was looking forward to helping build houses and work alongside some local Ghanaians. Again things didn’t go quite as planned and my group ended up working solo filling in a foundation hole with “dirt” there were more rocks and roots than dirt. Let’s put it this way, we had to pickaxe the ground and it still took 3 people shoveling 20 minutes to fill one wheelbarrow. Not a fast process. We found out later that some of the other groups had locals with them who would always take over so those SASers ended up playing with the village children the whole time (yeah kind of wish I was in that group). But at least we got some work done and made a difference. The Habitat people were so grateful that a group of college students would leave their luxurious cruise ship and come move dirt around with bowls (I am not kidding, we had large bowls and had to search for the wheelbarrow) in the rather hot Ghanaian countryside.
On the third day I did another SAS sponsored trip to the Mona Monkey village and the Wli Waterfall. Both were really beautiful places. We went to the waterfall first and had a short hike through the forest to get to the actual waterfall. Our guide picked from a ripe coco plant and let us try some; it didn’t taste anything like chocolate. We also saw pineapple plants, banana plants, and citrus trees (the leaves smelled like lemon). A lot of people went swimming at the base of the falls but I didn’t because we had been warned about fresh water parasites (the pictures they showed us kept more than half of us from swimming). We hiked back to the buses hoping our lunches had finally showed up (they went to a different place then we did) and I bought a yard of fabric and a hand carved elephant in the little village that was there. We were happy to find out our lunches had arrived so we ate lunch on the buses while we were parked there. The children were begging a lot so most of us gave them some of our lunches, we didn’t know if the apples were safe or if they had been washed with local water so most of us gave the kids our apples. I was surprised at how the children weren’t very grateful for what we gave them but they didn’t look starving at all, I saw a lot of food there, women were trying to sell us food while we ate lunch. But at least we didn’t waste any of our food. We then went to the monkey village where monkeys and humans co-exist in peace. The guides took us into the woods with bananas and those of us who were braver got to feed the monkeys. It was really cool watching the monkey get on peoples arms and eat the banana that they held in their hand. It was amazing how gentle they were and if you watched the people were almost able to communicate with them and call the smaller ones closer so they could get some bananas too. When we were getting back on the buses some people still had some food left from lunch so they gave it to the kids at this village. Such a contrast to the children at the first village; these kids shared everything with all the other kids and kept thanking us for what little we had left to give them. It was a much nicer image to recall but I am so glad to have experienced both.
Day 4 started very early (before 6am) and I checked my email to see if there was any last minute stuff from our tour guide. Sadly there was; the guide said there had been a bad accident on the road between port and where we were going and that the traffic was going to be horrible. He didn’t want to risk us being late back to the ship so he refunded all of our money and got us a taxi at a fantastic price to Accra. When I come back to Ghana (not if) I will totally contact him and try to set something up because I still really want to see the slave castle’s and Kakum national park. So we went into Accra and went to the market and got a few things. Then I came back to the ship and have had a fairly relaxing day back on the ship.
Ghana. There is so much to say about Ghana; on the one hand the official language is English so communication is relatively easy, as in English is taught in school and most people can speak and understand it along with their local language. On the other hand I am sure SAS just tripled the nations’ economy in less than 4 days. We definitely got extremely ripped off at points and it was much harder to barter here in Ghana than Morocco. The poverty is astounding here and you really feel bad for many of these people. But Ghanaian’s are the most friendly people you will ever find (if they don’t befriend you just to get your money for their product), but in generally they truly make an effort to get to know you no matter how short of a time you will get to spend with them. There is a very good chance when I get home I will have quite a few friend requests on facebook and at this rate they will all be from Ghana. We haven’t even left Ghana yet (we leave in a few hours) and I already want to come back because there is so much that I didn’t get the chance to see. The first day I got a very expensive (they guy we were with is terrible at bartering and we have banned him from bartering in the future, at least where our money is concerned) tour of Tema our port city. I still can’t tell you how to get out of this port. It is so much busier than the port in Casablanca, I am positive that I never entered or exited this port the same way twice. In morocco I had no problems with walking to the port gate with friends, it was really easy to find and not that bad of a walk; but here is a whole other story, short version: I have no clue where the port gate is.
On the second day I did Habitat for Humanity through SAS, I was looking forward to helping build houses and work alongside some local Ghanaians. Again things didn’t go quite as planned and my group ended up working solo filling in a foundation hole with “dirt” there were more rocks and roots than dirt. Let’s put it this way, we had to pickaxe the ground and it still took 3 people shoveling 20 minutes to fill one wheelbarrow. Not a fast process. We found out later that some of the other groups had locals with them who would always take over so those SASers ended up playing with the village children the whole time (yeah kind of wish I was in that group). But at least we got some work done and made a difference. The Habitat people were so grateful that a group of college students would leave their luxurious cruise ship and come move dirt around with bowls (I am not kidding, we had large bowls and had to search for the wheelbarrow) in the rather hot Ghanaian countryside.
On the third day I did another SAS sponsored trip to the Mona Monkey village and the Wli Waterfall. Both were really beautiful places. We went to the waterfall first and had a short hike through the forest to get to the actual waterfall. Our guide picked from a ripe coco plant and let us try some; it didn’t taste anything like chocolate. We also saw pineapple plants, banana plants, and citrus trees (the leaves smelled like lemon). A lot of people went swimming at the base of the falls but I didn’t because we had been warned about fresh water parasites (the pictures they showed us kept more than half of us from swimming). We hiked back to the buses hoping our lunches had finally showed up (they went to a different place then we did) and I bought a yard of fabric and a hand carved elephant in the little village that was there. We were happy to find out our lunches had arrived so we ate lunch on the buses while we were parked there. The children were begging a lot so most of us gave them some of our lunches, we didn’t know if the apples were safe or if they had been washed with local water so most of us gave the kids our apples. I was surprised at how the children weren’t very grateful for what we gave them but they didn’t look starving at all, I saw a lot of food there, women were trying to sell us food while we ate lunch. But at least we didn’t waste any of our food. We then went to the monkey village where monkeys and humans co-exist in peace. The guides took us into the woods with bananas and those of us who were braver got to feed the monkeys. It was really cool watching the monkey get on peoples arms and eat the banana that they held in their hand. It was amazing how gentle they were and if you watched the people were almost able to communicate with them and call the smaller ones closer so they could get some bananas too. When we were getting back on the buses some people still had some food left from lunch so they gave it to the kids at this village. Such a contrast to the children at the first village; these kids shared everything with all the other kids and kept thanking us for what little we had left to give them. It was a much nicer image to recall but I am so glad to have experienced both.
Day 4 started very early (before 6am) and I checked my email to see if there was any last minute stuff from our tour guide. Sadly there was; the guide said there had been a bad accident on the road between port and where we were going and that the traffic was going to be horrible. He didn’t want to risk us being late back to the ship so he refunded all of our money and got us a taxi at a fantastic price to Accra. When I come back to Ghana (not if) I will totally contact him and try to set something up because I still really want to see the slave castle’s and Kakum national park. So we went into Accra and went to the market and got a few things. Then I came back to the ship and have had a fairly relaxing day back on the ship.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Morocco!
Morocco was awesome!!!! The first day (September 3rd) Rachael and I woke up early to see our arrival to Port of Casablanca. After standing outside and taking some pictures for a while we went down to the dining room and got breakfast. We then went to the union for the diplomatic briefing, although I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be there or in classroom 3, since we were early anyway I sat with Rachael for a while. Eventually I had to go to the meeting place for my FDP; we had to wait there a while until the ship was cleared but as soon as it was we were the first ones off! Dry land at last! We went straight to the bus and went to the Hassan II Mosque, which is the second largest mosque in the world. I was very surprised at the fact that we were allowed to take pictures when we were inside, so I have some pictures that I never expected to be able to get. Rachael was nice and let me borrow a head scarf since I sadly left mine at home. But it was really cool going through the mosque and seeing the amazing craftsmanship both inside and outside. I can’t imagine how much work building that was, each tile was handmade and placed. Once I got back to the ship I met up with Rachael and we got lunch then hoped on the City Orientation bus, it was nice being driven around and getting acclimated to a city we had never been to, we got to get out and walk through a market although there was a lot of stuff closed because it was Saturday and Ramadan had just ended. When we were brought back to the ship we met up with Allison and went out to try and find a place to eat. We were provided with a shuttle to and from the port gate to the ship but many times it was easier to just walk. I was surprised we were allowed to walk through the port because it is a working port and there were all sorts of ships coming in and out getting loaded and unloading goods. We ended up eating at a hotel restaurant but only getting appetizers and a large bottle of water. Between the three of us we spent 160 dirham (including tip) which equates to about $21, not bad for a college student budget. We went to bed early because we knew we had to wake up at 4:15 to leave for our camel trek.
Day 2 started bright and early (VERY EARLY) we got outside and Cassie (the girl who organized the trip) came out a few minutes later and we all walked up to the main gate (the shuttle had hours, it wasn’t going to start for several hours yet). We got up there and got on the buses and then picked up all the stragglers that don’t understand punctuality. We then began what ended up being the longest bus ride and coolest adventure ever (maybe I should note here that I am safe and currently on the ship and we are officially in transit to Ghana now). Our first stop was Marrakech which was about 3 ½ hours away. We picked up the rest of our group who had gone the day before by train; at this point we were told we were 7 hours away from our camels. Many people bought snacks and drinks at a little shop nearby and we loaded back onto the buses (at this point the time had changed to 8 hours away). According to the itinerary that we were given we were going to stop at some cool historical places so we figured that’s why it was so long until we got to the camels. Our next stop was a stop for lunch that we found out while eating wasn’t included in the trip, while it wasn’t expensive it was a little annoying to find out we had to pay more money and I was glad I had plenty of extra money. We were told after lunch that our next stop was 3 ½ hours away (some people wanted to buy alcohol). So we kept chugging along crossing the Atlas Mountains and getting some beautiful Moroccan scenery pictures. We finally stopped and again were told 2 ½ to 3 hours until we got to our camels. Long story short it was 14 hours from actually leaving Casablanca to actually getting on the camels. We were supposed to ride the camels into the sunset in the Sahara desert but we didn’t get there until 8:00 at night and it was already dark. Personally I think we got a better deal because we got to ride by moonlight and see all the stars. We finally got to the camp and were given dinner (which was included) and then sat around a campfire and listened to our hosts play music on their drums and sing. It was really cool and I will never forget this trip. The next morning we had a wake up call at 5:45 to see the sun rise over the dunes. It was really pretty and I got some amazing pictures. We then ate breakfast and packed up our stuff. There weren’t enough camels for everyone to ride back to the buses at the same time so some of us waited until the camels had come back. I was in the group that went very last and we got the bonus deal because we got to ride the 4x4 about a quarter of the way and met the camels that were coming back for us. We then got on the buses for our incredibly long journey back. We made fewer stops and everyone made sure to be back on the buses in a timely manner the second day so it went much faster. I think it was about 8-9 hours to Marrakech and then we split up as a group. There was a fairly large group that wanted to stay there because there is a good night life and Marrakech is catered to tourists. Meanwhile there was another group (which I was a part of) that wanted to just get back to Casablanca and get on the ship. So we had about an hour of free time until the vans came and picked us up and we drove about 3 ½ hours to Casablanca. We even managed to convince the port authorities to allow our van to drive us all the way to the ship so we didn’t have to walk since it was later then the shuttles ran.
Day 4 was our last day in Morocco and Rachael and I decided to let ourselves sleep in for a little, we really didn’t have much planned we just wanted to walk around Casablanca a little and be back at the ship well before on-ship time. So we went out and happily found a shuttle right outside! We first walked to Rick’s Café (duh who wouldn’t?) and found out that it wasn’t open for another hour and a half so we walked back to the market area and looked in shops and for the first time bought something other than food. I bought a cute little camel that is made out of leather and a keychain that is the shape of the traditional Moroccan shoe but also it is the color of the flag and has the star on it. It also says Moroc on it which is how they write Morocco. My other purchase is puzzle box which you have to move different parts to get the key out then move some more parts to find the keyhole. Many people bought them (although from the people I have talked to I have gotten the best price so apparently I am good at haggling!) so I ended up getting one that seems really nice and it’s made with cedar wood so it smells really good! We got some really yummy ice cream and called that breakfast since we hadn’t eaten yet and then walked back to Rick’s Café. The food there was too expensive so we just got coke which was still fairly pricey. We then walked back to the ship and stopped at a snack shop and got more coke and orange juice which we wanted to take on the ship and a pistachio ice cream bar. We ate the ice cream while walking to the ship and when we got to the ship we found out we couldn’t take the drinks on-board even though they hadn’t been opened yet because they were twist caps instead of cans. So Rachael and I sat near the check-in point and drank it before officially getting on the ship. We then went and turned in our passports because we didn’t really plan on getting off the ship anymore. Instead we went and took naps and just hung out until dinner time when we ate our first real meal in 2 ½ days.
Today classes started again and everyone is walking around like drunken zombies, we have a lot of rocking and we are all exhausted. I have already had one class and I have another after lunch. We have 5 more days at sea and then we do this all over again in Ghana. At least we don’t have a time change coming up (maybe not at all I believe Ghana and Morocco are in the same time zone!!!), until the next update enjoy this incredibly long update on the last 4 days of my life.
Day 2 started bright and early (VERY EARLY) we got outside and Cassie (the girl who organized the trip) came out a few minutes later and we all walked up to the main gate (the shuttle had hours, it wasn’t going to start for several hours yet). We got up there and got on the buses and then picked up all the stragglers that don’t understand punctuality. We then began what ended up being the longest bus ride and coolest adventure ever (maybe I should note here that I am safe and currently on the ship and we are officially in transit to Ghana now). Our first stop was Marrakech which was about 3 ½ hours away. We picked up the rest of our group who had gone the day before by train; at this point we were told we were 7 hours away from our camels. Many people bought snacks and drinks at a little shop nearby and we loaded back onto the buses (at this point the time had changed to 8 hours away). According to the itinerary that we were given we were going to stop at some cool historical places so we figured that’s why it was so long until we got to the camels. Our next stop was a stop for lunch that we found out while eating wasn’t included in the trip, while it wasn’t expensive it was a little annoying to find out we had to pay more money and I was glad I had plenty of extra money. We were told after lunch that our next stop was 3 ½ hours away (some people wanted to buy alcohol). So we kept chugging along crossing the Atlas Mountains and getting some beautiful Moroccan scenery pictures. We finally stopped and again were told 2 ½ to 3 hours until we got to our camels. Long story short it was 14 hours from actually leaving Casablanca to actually getting on the camels. We were supposed to ride the camels into the sunset in the Sahara desert but we didn’t get there until 8:00 at night and it was already dark. Personally I think we got a better deal because we got to ride by moonlight and see all the stars. We finally got to the camp and were given dinner (which was included) and then sat around a campfire and listened to our hosts play music on their drums and sing. It was really cool and I will never forget this trip. The next morning we had a wake up call at 5:45 to see the sun rise over the dunes. It was really pretty and I got some amazing pictures. We then ate breakfast and packed up our stuff. There weren’t enough camels for everyone to ride back to the buses at the same time so some of us waited until the camels had come back. I was in the group that went very last and we got the bonus deal because we got to ride the 4x4 about a quarter of the way and met the camels that were coming back for us. We then got on the buses for our incredibly long journey back. We made fewer stops and everyone made sure to be back on the buses in a timely manner the second day so it went much faster. I think it was about 8-9 hours to Marrakech and then we split up as a group. There was a fairly large group that wanted to stay there because there is a good night life and Marrakech is catered to tourists. Meanwhile there was another group (which I was a part of) that wanted to just get back to Casablanca and get on the ship. So we had about an hour of free time until the vans came and picked us up and we drove about 3 ½ hours to Casablanca. We even managed to convince the port authorities to allow our van to drive us all the way to the ship so we didn’t have to walk since it was later then the shuttles ran.
Day 4 was our last day in Morocco and Rachael and I decided to let ourselves sleep in for a little, we really didn’t have much planned we just wanted to walk around Casablanca a little and be back at the ship well before on-ship time. So we went out and happily found a shuttle right outside! We first walked to Rick’s Café (duh who wouldn’t?) and found out that it wasn’t open for another hour and a half so we walked back to the market area and looked in shops and for the first time bought something other than food. I bought a cute little camel that is made out of leather and a keychain that is the shape of the traditional Moroccan shoe but also it is the color of the flag and has the star on it. It also says Moroc on it which is how they write Morocco. My other purchase is puzzle box which you have to move different parts to get the key out then move some more parts to find the keyhole. Many people bought them (although from the people I have talked to I have gotten the best price so apparently I am good at haggling!) so I ended up getting one that seems really nice and it’s made with cedar wood so it smells really good! We got some really yummy ice cream and called that breakfast since we hadn’t eaten yet and then walked back to Rick’s Café. The food there was too expensive so we just got coke which was still fairly pricey. We then walked back to the ship and stopped at a snack shop and got more coke and orange juice which we wanted to take on the ship and a pistachio ice cream bar. We ate the ice cream while walking to the ship and when we got to the ship we found out we couldn’t take the drinks on-board even though they hadn’t been opened yet because they were twist caps instead of cans. So Rachael and I sat near the check-in point and drank it before officially getting on the ship. We then went and turned in our passports because we didn’t really plan on getting off the ship anymore. Instead we went and took naps and just hung out until dinner time when we ate our first real meal in 2 ½ days.
Today classes started again and everyone is walking around like drunken zombies, we have a lot of rocking and we are all exhausted. I have already had one class and I have another after lunch. We have 5 more days at sea and then we do this all over again in Ghana. At least we don’t have a time change coming up (maybe not at all I believe Ghana and Morocco are in the same time zone!!!), until the next update enjoy this incredibly long update on the last 4 days of my life.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Brutally honest and very excited Day 7&8
Quick note, this was supposed to be 2 different blog posts but the internet was giving me trouble yesterday so I couldn’t post it. So now you get yesterday’s and today’s in one incredibly long, emotional post. I could have skipped putting yesterday’s post in here but I think everyone needs to hear it, to understand what is going on here. So the first part is a lot rougher to read then the second (I promise the second part is better) so just stick with it.
Ok time for a vent session. This is way harder than I thought it would be. I figured I would get used to the class schedule, just like any other semester, as soon as you get into the swing of things then it’s easy. But there is no swing of things, every other day we change our clocks, every other day we lose an hour. I wish I could change my schedule so I wasn’t required to be up so early everyday but I can’t. I feel anti-social because I go to bed so early but I can’t even function on the amount of sleep I am getting and end up sleeping more during the day. Because of these naps I spend all my time awake reading assignments for my next class. I am so used to working ahead but right now I am just keeping up, and barely at that. I even read during meals to try and keep up and that keeps everyone else away. I never thought I would have an issue with seasickness and I don’t even know if I still am. I know my body has never tolerated breakfast, at least not early in the morning and now everything is so screwed up. I feel like crap most of the day and I can’t wait till we get to morocco just so that we can be in the same time zone for a few days. But I know that as soon as the ship sails again the same thing will happen. December 13th is still way far away in the future, and I know the seas are calm for us, which I am so grateful for, but I hear that the pacific is worse, and that is a 9 day trip with just a few hours in Hawaii and then 9 days to Costa Rica. On one hand I am happy that I didn’t consider all the time zone changes, I don’t know why I didn’t think of them so I could prepare myself mentally, but I am glad that I didn’t because I probably would have scared myself out of taking this trip. I want to make the lifelong friendships that come out of this program, I want to enjoy activities but right now I am so swamped with reading assignments that I have no idea how I will ever do anything, so far I have only gotten two of my classes reading assignments mostly done, we don’t get weekends, how will I ever catch up? But even though all this is going on I still don’t want to go home, I believe in this program, I know I can do this, I know I will never forget this trip. But I don’t want to just remember the good times; this voyage is about discovering things about yourself so I want to remember this so I can look back and reflect. I am starting to realize just what a range of emotions this voyage will bring out, and I am not sure if I am ready for that or not. But that doesn’t matter now because it is happening now, it will not wait for me to think I am ready. Even though most of this is being written out of shear frustration, I am still having fun, I am just having a hard day today. But what makes it harder is the fact that I can’t get away, unless I want to jump ship of course (and no that’s not happening, I know I will get through) I realize as I write this that many people will expect to hear all the great things, they expect to hear that I am doing fine. In reality I am still a person who can get upset at times, I get scared, and there are times I want to go home. Part of the reason I started this blog was so that everyone could travel the world with me, and that means the good and the bad. I know I usually try to put everything in a light mood, and that is generally how I feel but sometimes I don’t feel like finding the humor in every situating (don’t worry this doesn’t happen too often), and this is one of those times where I am just being brutally honest about how I am feeling right now about all this. This is only day 7 and I wonder how I am going to get through but I know that right now things can only get better. And that is what I am going for, looking for the bright side. Like the fact that it is a beautiful sunny day, and I get to do my homework looking out over the ocean, hoping to see dolphins playing in our wake again.
Tomorrow means Casablanca! I can’t wait, not only for being on land (and laughing at how we all walk) but for the trips I have planned. Tomorrow I will be going to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca; it is the 4th largest Mosque in the world. I am going there as a required trip for my Cultural Geography class and it will be my first introduction to Morocco. Then on the second day I will be leaving Casablanca and going out into the desert for a camel trek! I will get to spend the night in a desert camp with 90 of my closest friends (well by that point they may be my 90 closest friends), our camels, and of course the locals who live in the camp and are allowing us to come into their world. The following day I will be headed back to Casablanca, and will get to spend my fourth and final day with no plan as of yet. We have to be back on ship the 4th day and we leave that night headed for Ghana. Today has been much better then yesterday, I feel better, and we are entering into Mediterranean areas. The water is so pretty and there are very few waves today. I would say the water looks like purple Gatorade, but I am quite sure it doesn’t quite taste the same (although I haven’t actually tried it). The sun is scorching down on our ship so I might head out to the pool deck later to hang out there and maybe get some reading done, although so far from experience I end up watching the water and people far more then I actually get read. Fortunately I don’t have class tomorrow (NO CLASSES IN PORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so I don’t have anything pressing right now. Last night we had a cultural pre-port where we learned about the culture of Morocco, and attempted to learn some Arabic phrases, yeah didn’t go so well on the Arabic. Tonight we have the logistical pre-port where we learn about safety and when and where to meet if we have a SAS sponsored trip. I have one in Morocco, the Mosque. The camel trek we planned independently. I am hoping to find an internet café in Casablanca (someone mapped out the closest ones to port) and hopefully put some pictures up on facebook, I won’t guarantee anything yet so keep checking! I will definitely do a blog update at the end of Morocco, so check back in about 5 days to see if there is a new post!
Ok time for a vent session. This is way harder than I thought it would be. I figured I would get used to the class schedule, just like any other semester, as soon as you get into the swing of things then it’s easy. But there is no swing of things, every other day we change our clocks, every other day we lose an hour. I wish I could change my schedule so I wasn’t required to be up so early everyday but I can’t. I feel anti-social because I go to bed so early but I can’t even function on the amount of sleep I am getting and end up sleeping more during the day. Because of these naps I spend all my time awake reading assignments for my next class. I am so used to working ahead but right now I am just keeping up, and barely at that. I even read during meals to try and keep up and that keeps everyone else away. I never thought I would have an issue with seasickness and I don’t even know if I still am. I know my body has never tolerated breakfast, at least not early in the morning and now everything is so screwed up. I feel like crap most of the day and I can’t wait till we get to morocco just so that we can be in the same time zone for a few days. But I know that as soon as the ship sails again the same thing will happen. December 13th is still way far away in the future, and I know the seas are calm for us, which I am so grateful for, but I hear that the pacific is worse, and that is a 9 day trip with just a few hours in Hawaii and then 9 days to Costa Rica. On one hand I am happy that I didn’t consider all the time zone changes, I don’t know why I didn’t think of them so I could prepare myself mentally, but I am glad that I didn’t because I probably would have scared myself out of taking this trip. I want to make the lifelong friendships that come out of this program, I want to enjoy activities but right now I am so swamped with reading assignments that I have no idea how I will ever do anything, so far I have only gotten two of my classes reading assignments mostly done, we don’t get weekends, how will I ever catch up? But even though all this is going on I still don’t want to go home, I believe in this program, I know I can do this, I know I will never forget this trip. But I don’t want to just remember the good times; this voyage is about discovering things about yourself so I want to remember this so I can look back and reflect. I am starting to realize just what a range of emotions this voyage will bring out, and I am not sure if I am ready for that or not. But that doesn’t matter now because it is happening now, it will not wait for me to think I am ready. Even though most of this is being written out of shear frustration, I am still having fun, I am just having a hard day today. But what makes it harder is the fact that I can’t get away, unless I want to jump ship of course (and no that’s not happening, I know I will get through) I realize as I write this that many people will expect to hear all the great things, they expect to hear that I am doing fine. In reality I am still a person who can get upset at times, I get scared, and there are times I want to go home. Part of the reason I started this blog was so that everyone could travel the world with me, and that means the good and the bad. I know I usually try to put everything in a light mood, and that is generally how I feel but sometimes I don’t feel like finding the humor in every situating (don’t worry this doesn’t happen too often), and this is one of those times where I am just being brutally honest about how I am feeling right now about all this. This is only day 7 and I wonder how I am going to get through but I know that right now things can only get better. And that is what I am going for, looking for the bright side. Like the fact that it is a beautiful sunny day, and I get to do my homework looking out over the ocean, hoping to see dolphins playing in our wake again.
Tomorrow means Casablanca! I can’t wait, not only for being on land (and laughing at how we all walk) but for the trips I have planned. Tomorrow I will be going to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca; it is the 4th largest Mosque in the world. I am going there as a required trip for my Cultural Geography class and it will be my first introduction to Morocco. Then on the second day I will be leaving Casablanca and going out into the desert for a camel trek! I will get to spend the night in a desert camp with 90 of my closest friends (well by that point they may be my 90 closest friends), our camels, and of course the locals who live in the camp and are allowing us to come into their world. The following day I will be headed back to Casablanca, and will get to spend my fourth and final day with no plan as of yet. We have to be back on ship the 4th day and we leave that night headed for Ghana. Today has been much better then yesterday, I feel better, and we are entering into Mediterranean areas. The water is so pretty and there are very few waves today. I would say the water looks like purple Gatorade, but I am quite sure it doesn’t quite taste the same (although I haven’t actually tried it). The sun is scorching down on our ship so I might head out to the pool deck later to hang out there and maybe get some reading done, although so far from experience I end up watching the water and people far more then I actually get read. Fortunately I don’t have class tomorrow (NO CLASSES IN PORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so I don’t have anything pressing right now. Last night we had a cultural pre-port where we learned about the culture of Morocco, and attempted to learn some Arabic phrases, yeah didn’t go so well on the Arabic. Tonight we have the logistical pre-port where we learn about safety and when and where to meet if we have a SAS sponsored trip. I have one in Morocco, the Mosque. The camel trek we planned independently. I am hoping to find an internet café in Casablanca (someone mapped out the closest ones to port) and hopefully put some pictures up on facebook, I won’t guarantee anything yet so keep checking! I will definitely do a blog update at the end of Morocco, so check back in about 5 days to see if there is a new post!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Classes, seasickness and dolphins! Day 5
We are now on Day 5 and classes started the day before yesterday and we are officially out in deep ocean as of this morning when we left the Atlantic Shelf. With open seas comes the ever wonderful seasickness. I was so lucky has to have a slight case yesterday during my very first class of the semester. Apparently I didn’t look so good because my professor asked me how I was feeling and when I told her not so good she suggested I go to my cabin and lay down for a while so on my way down the seven billion stairs I stopped at the purser’s desk and got free seasickness meds and that stuff not only gets rid of the nausea but also makes you incredibly sleepy, also it was before 9am on our first morning post time change so I was already pretty tired regardless of going to bed fairly early. Fortunately I had enough brains to set my alarm for noon and was grateful for that 3 hour nap I got and when I woke up I felt perfectly fine and ate lunch and went to my second class. Another thing that worked out for me was both classes yesterday for me were taught by the same professor so I didn’t actually miss anything because she did the same introduction to herself and her expectations.
Now the way classes work here since we have so many port interruptions is that we have classes every day we are at sea. Even if it’s a weekend or a holiday (thus starting classes on Sunday) and it goes back and forth so we have “A Days” and “B Days” and we keep track by saying A1, B1, A2, B2, etc. So we have 6 days of classes before arriving in Morocco (so we get there the morning after B3). So my “A Classes are at 0800 I have Geography of International Development and at 1300 I have Cultural Geography. There are no classes from 1200 – 1300 so everyone can eat lunch and all classes end at 1600 and there is nothing really scheduled until 2000 so we have study time. My “B Classes” are at 0800 I have Japan’s Modern Story and at 0920 I have the required Global Studies which is more like a seminar type deal where we will have a bunch of other faculty come in and give mini-lectures based on their disciplines and their experiences in our upcoming ports.
Yesterday the campus store officially opened so I now have a voyage shirt with all the countries listed with their flags, a nice purple Semester at Sea sweatshirt and a really nice fleece SAS blanket! I also got sea bands after my slight attack of seasickness, so far they seem to work and if I can keep the seasickness at a bay by wearing bracelets that hit some pressure point instead of drugs that would make me so much happier. Tomorrow I have to start my malaria meds so hopefully I have no side effects with that (they include vivid dreams and imbalance….which could be interesting, maybe between the imbalance of a rocking ship and the imbalance from the meds I will be perfectly balanced).
My roommate and I have discovered that even though we are in the “dungeon” of the ship that there are perks. Such as our room doesn’t rock nearly as much as some of the upper decks, especially the rooms on the outside (we have an inside deck 2 room). We will also probably end up in great shape due to climbing the previously mentioned seven billion stairs to get to anything. But one drawback we have discovered is its very disorienting when we wake up in the morning because our clocks say 0700 but its pitch black still, so that is very weird.
Now the last bit of news I have is that today, at dinner, I saw a pod of dolphins!!! It was so cool to see them jumping out of the water! Apparently people saw both dolphins and whales yesterday although I really do not understand how since it felt like our visibility was about 20 feet. We spent the entire day surrounded by fog. But we have been lucky to not be affected with rough seas from the hurricane. In fact Captain Jeremy altered our course slightly to the north so we would stay at least 600 miles away from the storm.
By the way we are crossing our third time zone tonight so in the morning we will be 3 hours ahead of home (New Jersey). Also it kind of stinks having multiple 23 hour days in a row.
Now the way classes work here since we have so many port interruptions is that we have classes every day we are at sea. Even if it’s a weekend or a holiday (thus starting classes on Sunday) and it goes back and forth so we have “A Days” and “B Days” and we keep track by saying A1, B1, A2, B2, etc. So we have 6 days of classes before arriving in Morocco (so we get there the morning after B3). So my “A Classes are at 0800 I have Geography of International Development and at 1300 I have Cultural Geography. There are no classes from 1200 – 1300 so everyone can eat lunch and all classes end at 1600 and there is nothing really scheduled until 2000 so we have study time. My “B Classes” are at 0800 I have Japan’s Modern Story and at 0920 I have the required Global Studies which is more like a seminar type deal where we will have a bunch of other faculty come in and give mini-lectures based on their disciplines and their experiences in our upcoming ports.
Yesterday the campus store officially opened so I now have a voyage shirt with all the countries listed with their flags, a nice purple Semester at Sea sweatshirt and a really nice fleece SAS blanket! I also got sea bands after my slight attack of seasickness, so far they seem to work and if I can keep the seasickness at a bay by wearing bracelets that hit some pressure point instead of drugs that would make me so much happier. Tomorrow I have to start my malaria meds so hopefully I have no side effects with that (they include vivid dreams and imbalance….which could be interesting, maybe between the imbalance of a rocking ship and the imbalance from the meds I will be perfectly balanced).
My roommate and I have discovered that even though we are in the “dungeon” of the ship that there are perks. Such as our room doesn’t rock nearly as much as some of the upper decks, especially the rooms on the outside (we have an inside deck 2 room). We will also probably end up in great shape due to climbing the previously mentioned seven billion stairs to get to anything. But one drawback we have discovered is its very disorienting when we wake up in the morning because our clocks say 0700 but its pitch black still, so that is very weird.
Now the last bit of news I have is that today, at dinner, I saw a pod of dolphins!!! It was so cool to see them jumping out of the water! Apparently people saw both dolphins and whales yesterday although I really do not understand how since it felt like our visibility was about 20 feet. We spent the entire day surrounded by fog. But we have been lucky to not be affected with rough seas from the hurricane. In fact Captain Jeremy altered our course slightly to the north so we would stay at least 600 miles away from the storm.
By the way we are crossing our third time zone tonight so in the morning we will be 3 hours ahead of home (New Jersey). Also it kind of stinks having multiple 23 hour days in a row.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Vacation and Embarktion!
Here is a quick synopsis of my last two weeks. August 13th was my last night of work at the rodeo; it was bittersweet because I absolutely love working there, but on the other hand it was exciting because it meant I left the next day. So bright and early Sunday morning dad and I woke up and hitched up the trailer (in the pouring rain) and left New Jersey. We drove up to Maine and got a hotel room. Mom, Tim, and Ben boarded a train that night and we picked them up the next day after we had set up the camper in Bar Harbor. We spent 2 ½ days there visiting Acadia National Park and celebrating my 21st birthday! Then we went inland to Greenville near Moosehead Lake. There we went on a moose safari and saw 2 moose! We were really lucky because we saw both a bull and a cow! After days 2 ½ we drove up to Quebec City and spent 3 ½ days there. We got to see a free Cirque de Soleil show (it was a little sketchy sounding because it was performed underneath an overpass) but it was really awesome! We got to tour the citadel and we did TONS of walking. Then it was down to Montreal we went; we found a campground that was right on the St. Lawrence River which is the river that the MV Explorer had to travel down in order to get to Montreal. We spent 3 ½ days there and the first order of business was to go check Pier Alexandra to see if the ship was there yet or not. As soon as we saw the empty port we decided to take a double-decker bus tour of the city which was really cool. We also spent a lot of time walking in Montreal and in my opinion it is easier to get around in Quebec City than Montreal, but people speak more English in Montreal than Quebec. Finally August 25th came and early in the morning Ben woke up to go to the bathroom and saw the Explorer passing by! (Dad seriously thought they had changed the port because the ship wasn’t there yet). That night the whole family (except me) got to go on the ship to an info session and tour. I stayed at the campground, did some final packing, got a shower, and washed all my laundry.
Now the best day of all, August 26th! We left the campground early in case of traffic (we encountered more traffic in Montreal alone than the rest of our vacation combined) and got to the port an hour early but went up anyway and were able to unload, check my bags and get me through security in what I can only call record time. I believe it was only about 15 minutes between arriving at the port and walking onto the ship (at least that’s how fast it felt). I then had to go through a check-in process which was really fast and smooth and then I was set free to find my room. When I got to my room my luggage was waiting right outside the door so I dragged it in. My roommates luggage was already there and semi unpacked but she wasn’t in the room so I assumed (and I was right) that she was a work-study student that got to board the day before and therefore gets to help with the check-in processes. We then pretty much had time to explore around the ship until 1600 (4pm…gotta get used to military time now) when we had a lifeboat drill. So when the alarm went off we grabbed our life jackets and headed up to our assigned lifeboat, then they did roll call and we stood there very close together for a half hour until Captain Jeremy gave the all clear and we were allowed to take our life jackets back to our rooms. We left port at 1700 (do the math….that’s 5 pm) and were well on our way up the St. Lawrence and out to sea! We had an orientation meeting in the Union at 2000 and after that we had “Sea Meetings” we are split up into seas based on where our dorm is, so the sea meetings are kind of like hall meetings. After that my roommate and I came back to our rooms and cleared off our beds and went to sleep.
Today (day 2) we had to wake up and start a full day of orientation (last night was just the intro session). Orientation started at 0900 and we stopped for lunch at 1200-1330 we then resumed until 1600 when we were introduced to the professors and got a chance to meet with them and start to get to know them. Then it was dinner and next at 1930 we will basically have an activities fair and following that we have another sea meeting. Then tomorrow classes start (lucky me at 0800) and even better news tonight we lose an hour of sleep! Again lucky us; apparently we are going to have 23 hour days for almost the next week as we cross the Atlantic going from Montreal to Casablanca.
Now the best day of all, August 26th! We left the campground early in case of traffic (we encountered more traffic in Montreal alone than the rest of our vacation combined) and got to the port an hour early but went up anyway and were able to unload, check my bags and get me through security in what I can only call record time. I believe it was only about 15 minutes between arriving at the port and walking onto the ship (at least that’s how fast it felt). I then had to go through a check-in process which was really fast and smooth and then I was set free to find my room. When I got to my room my luggage was waiting right outside the door so I dragged it in. My roommates luggage was already there and semi unpacked but she wasn’t in the room so I assumed (and I was right) that she was a work-study student that got to board the day before and therefore gets to help with the check-in processes. We then pretty much had time to explore around the ship until 1600 (4pm…gotta get used to military time now) when we had a lifeboat drill. So when the alarm went off we grabbed our life jackets and headed up to our assigned lifeboat, then they did roll call and we stood there very close together for a half hour until Captain Jeremy gave the all clear and we were allowed to take our life jackets back to our rooms. We left port at 1700 (do the math….that’s 5 pm) and were well on our way up the St. Lawrence and out to sea! We had an orientation meeting in the Union at 2000 and after that we had “Sea Meetings” we are split up into seas based on where our dorm is, so the sea meetings are kind of like hall meetings. After that my roommate and I came back to our rooms and cleared off our beds and went to sleep.
Today (day 2) we had to wake up and start a full day of orientation (last night was just the intro session). Orientation started at 0900 and we stopped for lunch at 1200-1330 we then resumed until 1600 when we were introduced to the professors and got a chance to meet with them and start to get to know them. Then it was dinner and next at 1930 we will basically have an activities fair and following that we have another sea meeting. Then tomorrow classes start (lucky me at 0800) and even better news tonight we lose an hour of sleep! Again lucky us; apparently we are going to have 23 hour days for almost the next week as we cross the Atlantic going from Montreal to Casablanca.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Almost there! 14 days
In just 2 weeks I will be embarking from Montreal! It seems so surreal that this is actually happening. So whats going on? I am 99% packed (woohoo!!!!!!!) and I just have a few things left to print off (confirmations for trips) and I have been slowly saying my goodbyes. I am officially finished at 2 of my 3 jobs and only work one more night at the other. So its really close now to the end of my summer but the beginning of a journey.
This past week has been consumed with more things then I want to count. First (and perpetually) was packing; then Thursday was my twin brothers 18th birthday ( Happy Birthday Tim and Ben!); then tonight was Ben's Eagle Ceremony (highest rank possible in the boy scouts). So maybe we were a bit crazy to plan all this at the same time. And if all that isn't enough my 21st birthday is Tuesday! August is always hectic in our house due to 3 birthday's in 5 days but this year we add in an Eagle ceremony and preparing to travel around the world. I'm not sure if I have time to sleep anymore.
I also found out today that I got all the presale trips that I wanted. Presale trips are trips we want to take through SAS that happen in the first 4 ports and any overnight trip throughout all ports. So I am going to a mosque in Morocco, doing a Habitat for Humanity project in Ghana, Going to a monkey village in Ghana, going to the Univeristy of Mauritius, and taking a cruise on Ha Long Bay and visiting Hanoi in Vietnam (Mom will be joining me on this one!!!). When we get on the ship we sign up for the rest of our trips from Malaysia through Costa Rica, which for me will be a couple things in Japan and snorkeling in Hawaii!
This past week has been consumed with more things then I want to count. First (and perpetually) was packing; then Thursday was my twin brothers 18th birthday ( Happy Birthday Tim and Ben!); then tonight was Ben's Eagle Ceremony (highest rank possible in the boy scouts). So maybe we were a bit crazy to plan all this at the same time. And if all that isn't enough my 21st birthday is Tuesday! August is always hectic in our house due to 3 birthday's in 5 days but this year we add in an Eagle ceremony and preparing to travel around the world. I'm not sure if I have time to sleep anymore.
I also found out today that I got all the presale trips that I wanted. Presale trips are trips we want to take through SAS that happen in the first 4 ports and any overnight trip throughout all ports. So I am going to a mosque in Morocco, doing a Habitat for Humanity project in Ghana, Going to a monkey village in Ghana, going to the Univeristy of Mauritius, and taking a cruise on Ha Long Bay and visiting Hanoi in Vietnam (Mom will be joining me on this one!!!). When we get on the ship we sign up for the rest of our trips from Malaysia through Costa Rica, which for me will be a couple things in Japan and snorkeling in Hawaii!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
So Close! 22 days!
Although its 21 days until my mom, dad, and brothers get to board the ship.....
I have been informed that it is time to do another post so here goes. My room looks like a bomb went off in it, I am close to being done packing. As in all my school supplies and essentials are packed and my clothes are about 90% packed! This is awesome because I still have tons of room! I have my backpack, which my computer and other electronics will go in and 1/4 of my clothing (a freaking huge) suitcase left. So plenty of space for the last of my stuff. On a side note for anyone planning on using the spacebags that you are supposed to roll the air out.....don't sit on the bed and roll them, they get slippery and you will take a nose dive to the floor so be safe fellow packers!
On another note my foriegn currency came in today! I ordered money for Morroco, South Africa, Malaysia, India, Viet Nam, China, Japan, and Costa Rica. I couldn't get money for Ghana, Mauritius or Cuba (can't imagine why...) So now I have my starter fund, and I must say I now think American money is the ugliest, but that could just be the excitement of holding all this awesome money in my hands.
So now its off to try and see about getting the camper ready. Anyone interested in helping come on over. Otherwise Peace out!
I have been informed that it is time to do another post so here goes. My room looks like a bomb went off in it, I am close to being done packing. As in all my school supplies and essentials are packed and my clothes are about 90% packed! This is awesome because I still have tons of room! I have my backpack, which my computer and other electronics will go in and 1/4 of my clothing (a freaking huge) suitcase left. So plenty of space for the last of my stuff. On a side note for anyone planning on using the spacebags that you are supposed to roll the air out.....don't sit on the bed and roll them, they get slippery and you will take a nose dive to the floor so be safe fellow packers!
On another note my foriegn currency came in today! I ordered money for Morroco, South Africa, Malaysia, India, Viet Nam, China, Japan, and Costa Rica. I couldn't get money for Ghana, Mauritius or Cuba (can't imagine why...) So now I have my starter fund, and I must say I now think American money is the ugliest, but that could just be the excitement of holding all this awesome money in my hands.
So now its off to try and see about getting the camper ready. Anyone interested in helping come on over. Otherwise Peace out!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Packing! 33 Days
I can't believe the ship sails in just 33 days! I feel like it was just yesterday we were in the 200 day range (back in January) and I felt like I would never be leaving. But now I am just a month away from sailing around the world. That means that I am up to my eyeballs in in my suitcase and piles of stuff ranging from shampoo to notebooks to clothes. Also I finally got my passport back yesterday! I now have my Ghana, India, and China visas in my possession!!!! I have also finished my shopping (I think), my medical forms are done and sent in and have been marked received. I do believe that I am done sending in paperwork to SAS.
Along with packing comes all the planning, so right now our living room is looking more like a giant map as I have maps for all of New England, Canada, soon to have New York and New jersey spread out, also there are tour books and camp books all over the place also. This is because my family is awesome and doesn't want to go straight to Montreal, we are going to camp our way up. I am also planning things to do in each country, whether its independent travel (not by myself but with a million of my soon to be new best friends) or required ones for classes. Along with planning my own travels I am working out the logistics of my mom visiting me in Vietnam and what we want to do there along with flights and hotels for her. And the last part that I have to plan is in December my dad will be picking me up in Florida, so that is one last thing to get finalized before I leave. Did I mention that I leave in 3 weeks?
So this was my fast update before I have to go get ready to go to work soon (job one of three). Thanks for checking in. Peace out
Along with packing comes all the planning, so right now our living room is looking more like a giant map as I have maps for all of New England, Canada, soon to have New York and New jersey spread out, also there are tour books and camp books all over the place also. This is because my family is awesome and doesn't want to go straight to Montreal, we are going to camp our way up. I am also planning things to do in each country, whether its independent travel (not by myself but with a million of my soon to be new best friends) or required ones for classes. Along with planning my own travels I am working out the logistics of my mom visiting me in Vietnam and what we want to do there along with flights and hotels for her. And the last part that I have to plan is in December my dad will be picking me up in Florida, so that is one last thing to get finalized before I leave. Did I mention that I leave in 3 weeks?
So this was my fast update before I have to go get ready to go to work soon (job one of three). Thanks for checking in. Peace out
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Almost a month away! 40 Days
Well here we are just over a month away, it seems like everything happens in a month. My Birthday, SAS, family vacation. Everything right now is moving so fast and at the same time August isn't getting here fast enough. This week I paid for my trip in China, I am actually going to be SLEEPING on the Great Wall of China!!! Can you believe that???? It is gonna be crazy cold (well it will be November) but who cares? Nobody else I know can say that they camped out on the Wall.....well except everyone who is going to be there with me. So whats next? Well my next trip to pay for is the Taj Mahal, not sure when I have to pay for that but probably soon. I also need to pay for my camel trek in Morocco, the very first thing I am doing with SAS is riding a camel, how much more awesome can this get? I will also be riding elephants in India! Really going to up my list of animals I have ridden. Other than that, the final list of Faculty Directed Practica (FDP's) finally comes out tomorrow, we already have a sample which they say that it is going to be very similar. But what we are waiting for is the dates of the trips and the final prices would be very nice to know. The final list was supposed to be out last week, but we all know how that ended. Oh well I already have some ideas for what I want to do but it would be nice to finalize plans. Next on my list is to start packing, stuff that I won't need for the rest of the summer can go in the suitcase, hopefully I will be able to get everything in. I was much more optomistic before I had my two suitcases and one backpack sitting in front of me. Wish me luck on this and check back later to see how I manage with the packing! Peace out for now.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Catching up 50 days
Wow I can't believe that in just 50 days I will board the MV Explorer and sail off on this adventure! There is so much to catch up on, I have been so busy I haven't been able to get on and post an update. I found out that I got $1,000 in need based scholarship; now it doesn't sound like much in the grand scheme of things, but I really applied for that one expecting absolutely nothing considering that I never qualify for financial need when they look at my dad's income. I didn't get the work study position either but I look at it this way; now I have more me time on the ship! Fortunately I have never had to sit here and say if I don't get financial aid then I can't go. My parents have always been supportive, from the very beginning when I first told them about SAS they told me if this is something I want to do then they will make sure it happens. So now everything is sort of a waiting game, I went and got my physical and 4 shots: typhoid, yellow fever, hep A, and tetanus booster. My arms were sore for a week but its all worth it. So now I am starting to plan what to do in each country! I have several things that I have already committed to but I want to leave some open space and enjoy some spur of the moment adventures. So far I know that I am going on a camel trek in Morocco, to the Taj Mahal in India. In China I am going to not just visit the Great Wall but sleep on it! In Costa Rica I am going on a zip-lining canopy tour, and quite possible my most adventurous plans as of yet is South Africa. For being a country that I have honestly never looked into, South Africa plans filled up quickly. I am going on a Great White Shark Cage Diving trip where I will actually get to be in a shark cage and watch the sharks swimming around and the cool part is that I have watched shows on Shark Week on Discovery Channel that were filmed there (my brother is a HUGE fan of sharks and Shark Week). I am also planning a 1 day safari while there and a Cape tour. I still have many places that I haven't planned yet and that's ok, next Monday the final field practicum list comes out from SAS and I can look those over and see if there are any FDPs that I am interested in. Otherwise my summer has been fairly typical, going to the cottage and spending as much time on the boat as possible, and of course working. I am currently working 3 jobs in order to help pay for SAS, and to just have spending money for the 4 months that follow this summer where I won't be working. Oh and even though its 50 days until the ship leaves, I am actually leaving in 38 days for Canada, I am going to take a nice leisurely drive up to Canada and see what all I can before I leave!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Chaos 92 days
So as the title says we are now 92 days away from embarking from Montreal. The last couple days have been insane for me from frantically filling out the last of the scholarship applications to finishing the visa applications and finally this morning registering for classes.
The registration was supposed to start at 8 am so like a good college student on summer break i set 2 alarms; one for 7:50 and the other for 7:55, I actually woke up with the first one! Anyway I was just a few clicks away from being ready to register right at 8 am. I had facebook up and was chatting with fellow early birds (I was up rather late compared to anyone living in a time zone west of me) and 8:00 came and went and we couldn't register. Well as you can imagine facebook lit up with frustrated sleep deprived fellow college students. And then the Semester At Sea website kicked us off. We got an email asking us to log off and to not log back in until they told us so I spent an hour of refreshing my email and hoping that I could register soon and being thankful that I don't have to go to work until 6:30 tonight. We were finally able to register at 9:15 (I would have appriciated more sleep since I worked last night) and I got all the classes that I wanted.
The only thing that I am not too thrilled about is the fact that I will have to be up for an 8am class every day; The way the schedule works is we have A days and B days becuase of going back and forth from being at sea to being on land and we don't have classes when we are in port. So my schedule is on A day I have Geography of International Development at 0800 and Cultural Geography at 1300. On B day I have Japan's Modern Story at 0800 and Global Studies (required course for everyone) at 0920. Hopefully I will get the work study job I applied for because I can easily work 2 hours every day with that schedule and then earn some money towards tuition!
So in the midst of all this chaos for SAS I am actually trying to get summer started around here. For my family that means putting the boat in the water at our cottage. It has been raining alot so I haven't been able to clean out the boat for quite a while but I finally got things going on monday.....yeah I still have no idea how I had time to do anything other then paper work. But I did it I got the boat cleaned, ordered a new hitch for our car and got the boat in to the boat place down the street to get the bottom painted (short side note here I painted it last year and I was literally blue for weeks after, the doctor thought I was really sick because I had a blue tinge to my skin so mom voted we get it professionally painted this year). So right now it looks like we are all on track to get the boat back and the hitch on friday. All I will have to do after that is hook up the gas lines, unwinterize the moter, and install the front seats. There actually seems like there is a chance that I will have the boat ready to go to the cottage this weekend!
So thats all I have to say for now, thanks for checking in! And until the next development (finacial aid award notice on June 3rd) have an awesome beginning of summer!
The registration was supposed to start at 8 am so like a good college student on summer break i set 2 alarms; one for 7:50 and the other for 7:55, I actually woke up with the first one! Anyway I was just a few clicks away from being ready to register right at 8 am. I had facebook up and was chatting with fellow early birds (I was up rather late compared to anyone living in a time zone west of me) and 8:00 came and went and we couldn't register. Well as you can imagine facebook lit up with frustrated sleep deprived fellow college students. And then the Semester At Sea website kicked us off. We got an email asking us to log off and to not log back in until they told us so I spent an hour of refreshing my email and hoping that I could register soon and being thankful that I don't have to go to work until 6:30 tonight. We were finally able to register at 9:15 (I would have appriciated more sleep since I worked last night) and I got all the classes that I wanted.
The only thing that I am not too thrilled about is the fact that I will have to be up for an 8am class every day; The way the schedule works is we have A days and B days becuase of going back and forth from being at sea to being on land and we don't have classes when we are in port. So my schedule is on A day I have Geography of International Development at 0800 and Cultural Geography at 1300. On B day I have Japan's Modern Story at 0800 and Global Studies (required course for everyone) at 0920. Hopefully I will get the work study job I applied for because I can easily work 2 hours every day with that schedule and then earn some money towards tuition!
So in the midst of all this chaos for SAS I am actually trying to get summer started around here. For my family that means putting the boat in the water at our cottage. It has been raining alot so I haven't been able to clean out the boat for quite a while but I finally got things going on monday.....yeah I still have no idea how I had time to do anything other then paper work. But I did it I got the boat cleaned, ordered a new hitch for our car and got the boat in to the boat place down the street to get the bottom painted (short side note here I painted it last year and I was literally blue for weeks after, the doctor thought I was really sick because I had a blue tinge to my skin so mom voted we get it professionally painted this year). So right now it looks like we are all on track to get the boat back and the hitch on friday. All I will have to do after that is hook up the gas lines, unwinterize the moter, and install the front seats. There actually seems like there is a chance that I will have the boat ready to go to the cottage this weekend!
So thats all I have to say for now, thanks for checking in! And until the next development (finacial aid award notice on June 3rd) have an awesome beginning of summer!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Semster at Sea is 100 days away
Ok so here we are 100 days away from debarking on what will undoubtedly be the best 4 months of my life (ok maybe getting married and having kids will change this but for now I am sticking with the best of my life) I guess I will start with a little background, last fall I transferred to Rowan University for Elementary Education/Liberal Studies: History/Geography, and Special Ed certification. One reason I chose Rowan was because they had study abroad opportunities, for as long as I can remember I have wanted to study abroad. So after I was accepted to Rowan I scoured their study abroad website and found the best study abroad program there could possibly be. I was so excited for the prospects of going around the world that I filled out the applications in the summer and on the first day of school went to the study abroad office and was promptly told that I was way to early for their office but to go send the SAS application in.
In October I found out I was accepted to SAS and pretty much screamed for a long time, I called my mom and I still to this day don't know if I said anything coherent to her on the phone that day, or to anyone else for that matter. All I could think about was my semester abroad and how far away it seemed. As soon as I found out I was accepted I sent in my $500 deposit and got myself confirmed for a deck 2 inside room. Now started months of monotenous school while Semester at Sea floated there, always in sight, always willing to drag me away from my school work. I spent many a day search SAS videos on youtube, meeting people who will be going with me on facebook, and I have looked at every page of the Semester at Sea website.
I think now I will get into where I will be going on this incredible journey.
In October I found out I was accepted to SAS and pretty much screamed for a long time, I called my mom and I still to this day don't know if I said anything coherent to her on the phone that day, or to anyone else for that matter. All I could think about was my semester abroad and how far away it seemed. As soon as I found out I was accepted I sent in my $500 deposit and got myself confirmed for a deck 2 inside room. Now started months of monotenous school while Semester at Sea floated there, always in sight, always willing to drag me away from my school work. I spent many a day search SAS videos on youtube, meeting people who will be going with me on facebook, and I have looked at every page of the Semester at Sea website.
I think now I will get into where I will be going on this incredible journey.
- EMBARK: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Casablanca, Morocco
- Takoradi, Ghana
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Port Louis, Mauritius
- Chennai, India
- Penang, Malaysia
- Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
- Hong Kong/Shanghai, China
- Kobe/Yokohama, Japan
- Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Puntarenas, Costa Rica
- Traverse Panama Canal
- Havana, Cuba
- DEBARK: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
So now my every thought seems to be consumed by Semester at Sea and I am up to my eyeballs in scholarship applications, finacial aid matters, visa applications and figuring out what FDPs (Faculty Directed Practicum's) I want to do in each country and for countries that I am not doing FDPs what independent travel and service projects that I want to do. Right now if anybody talks to me they can be sure that SAS will come up whether I am telling them about something I want to do in a certain country or just telling them how many days are left till I leave. I found a countdown thing on my computer in January so I have been counting down since then. I decided to hold off on the blog until now because I wasn't really doing anything other then just getting through each day of school and trying so hard to remain focused. Now that school is done and I am starting summer jobs (yes thats plural, I currently have 2 and tomorrow I go for an interview with a third). This summer will consist of going to the doctor and getting my yellow fever vaccination and malaria medicine, figuring out how to pack for 4 months of every type of weather imaginable into 2 suitcases, picking and signing up for classes and FDPs, and earning as much money as possible.
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