Sea Call

Sweet Home USA

2011-04-29T00:01:00.002-04:00

After packing all of our clothes, souvenirs and books from the past 3.5 months, we took our suitcases to the fourth deck where the crew piled our luggage onto huge platforms where they would be taken off by crane when we reached San Diego. The excitement in the air was ridiculous and people were staying up late every night to hang out, say goodbye, and squeeze every ounce out of the last few days. We counted down the meals...last lunch, last dinner, and last breakfast.

Sunday April 24th at 5:45 AM I woke up, grabbed some warm clothes, and headed upstairs to meet my friends on the seventh deck bow to watch the sunrise. This is a tradition on SAS to watch the sunrise the morning we reach the U.S. But when I got to the staircase leading to the seventh deck, Kerry and Hannah greeted me saying that it was cold, windy, rainy and cloudy. There would be no visible sunrise. I was disappointed but the day could only get better from there. We ate breakfast that morning, all of us a little quiet, not knowing what to do with ourselves or what to say. The mood was definitely bittersweet. By 7 AM we realized that we had phone service which meant we were fairly close to land....but this time it was OUR land. AMERICA. Such a bizarre feeling to think once we get off the ship, we're not getting back on anytime soon. As we got closer to the city, we could see Mexico's mountains in the distance and San Diego's skyline peeking through the clouds. We got closer and closer and I began texting with Chris, trying to figure out where to look for him. As we began to pull into our berth, we finally spotted each other after I began waving my red Miami hat in the air. What an amazing feeling it was to see all those parents out there eagerly waiting to reunite with their children. I couldn't wait to give a huge hug to Chris and I felt so thankful to have him meet me there. I can't imagine what it would have been like to get off without someone to greet you, but many kids did.

So by the time we pulled into the berth at 8AM on the dot, we had three hours to kill until disembarking would happen. So we went to the piano lounge and conked out on the couches for a few hours. After that we hung out on the decks and looked out at the San Diego skyline. Disembarkation started at 10:30 or so. They disembark by sea (hallway). We were the sixth group to disembark. I was so anxious to get off the ship but didn't want to get off either! When my sea was finally called, I rushed to my room, grabbed my backpack and headed off the ship. I swiped my ID card and handed it to the crew member. We were then spit out into this warehouse where we had to find our luggage. Porters were there to help us but I was so ready to see Chris and didn't want to wait in line. So I juggled all of my bags by myself (quite a feat I must admit) and headed to the gate. I could see Chris standing behind the gate with camera in hand. As soon as I crossed into the gates I let go of my luggage and gave him a huge hug. Best welcome back hug ever! We then moved out of the way of everyone and waited for my friends to come out so Chris could meet them. Brittany was the only one that came out soon so we left for the hotel which was conveniently right across the street with an awesome view of the ship that I pretty much stared at the whole night. Chris met my friends later that day when we were eating lunch and happened to run into each other so that worked out well!

Being in San Diego felt like another port at first. I felt as though I'd be getting on the ship in a few days. It's so weird not being there and I really do miss it. I think I'll be homesick for the M.V. Explorer once in a while. It was my home for a quarter of a year and I'm gonna miss it. Hopefully some day I'll be back to see her again.

I'm sure I will have more thoughts to post after this one but I wanted to make sure I had some sort of conclusion before it escaped me completely. I can't really imagine not writing in this blog once a week. It's been an amazing time being able to write down my adventures and thoughts and know that others are reading what I have to say. I hope it made it easy for everyone to keep up with me and know where in the world I was....literally. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has come across my blog, followed me, read my posts, commented, contributed to my savings, and shared my adventures with others.

In the words of Mark Twain: "Explore. Dream. Discover." You'll be amazed at what the world has to offer no matter if you travel 5 minutes outside your town or on the other side of the world. Take some time for yourself and get out there!

Exam Week & Alumni Ball

2011-04-28T23:46:00.002-04:00

After Hawaii, there was one study day followed by two exam days. The last thing I had on my mind was studying though! My Global Studies class was the only one that had an exam and that was over before we even got to Hawaii. So my exam week was exam-less. So nice! I tried to get as much sun and relaxation in as I could, but it proved harder than I thought. There was so much to think about, see and do before the week ended. I spent much of the time getting pictures and videos from friends and from the public drive in the IT lab where we could post pictures for the entire community to share. Another day was called Re-entry day in which we went to a bunch of little panels and seminars on re-entry into the United States as well as reverse culture shock. I think the best advice we were given was to continue to explore. We may not be able to travel the globe now, but there are cool places and things to see right around all of our towns. America has a ton to offer us! Another great piece of advice was to jump back into school and get involved again. This will help us take our minds off traveling and being at sea. Many kids said they have started to work in their school's study abroad office in order to live vicariously through other students.

I really do think I'm going to go through an adjustment after having been at sea for so long. Even while in Hawaii and having my phone with me, I realized that I really don't like phones so much. It takes work to keep up with it! I'm so used to being cut off from the world and socializing face to face with people rather than through technology....I think I like it better that way....you get to know and understand people better when you can actually sit down and talk with them for hours on end.

The night of the last exam day was Alumni Ball. This is the dinner where everyone gets dressed up, there is a champagne toast, dinner, and dessert, dancing, etc. To begin the night there was a showing of the voyage slideshow which was incredible. Brittany App, our photographer, did an incredible job with pictures. She's awesome! The slideshow was so well done and emotional and exciting all wrapped up into one amazing memory. There was also a musical performance. After that was pictures with Captain Jeremy followed by dinner with a champagne toast. Dinner was bread, spring rolls, broccoli cheddar soup, caesar salad and filet. Desserts were AMAZING. There was cake, pastries, jello, and so much more. It all looked really cool. Dancing was on the seventh pool deck with lights and music and basically a club scene. It was a super great night to wrap up our exam week and begin to look forward to coming home.

Mahalo Hawaii!

2011-04-19T21:53:00.001-04:00

Thanks Hawaii! What an awesome way to re-enter the United States! The night before we arrived in Hilo, we had pre-port as always. But this time it was so much different because we were actually entering back into the United States. During preport they said something along the lines of welcome back to the USA where you can eat the food, drink the water, and where the taxi drivers still don't speak English! They also said, Hawaii uses the United States dollar where the conversion rate is 1:1. We all thought it was funny considering the past three and a half months our main concerns are, can we eat the food without Pepto Bismol, drink the water, and how rich will we feel?!

We got into the Hilo harbor around 8AM on Sunday morning. It really reminded me of Ghana but just a little more civilized. Brittany, Stephani and I decided that we would end up spending just as much on taxi's as we would if we rented a car. We decided that would be fun and would give us more freedom. There was a shuttle to Hilo International Airport which took us to the Avis rental cars. We decided that it would be a blast if we got a Jeep Wrangler to drive around the island in. So we got hooked up with a Jeep, a Garmin GPS, three backpacks full of overnight clothes, and a set of scanned pages from The Rough Guide Hawaii travel book with the awful map that SAS provided us and instructions not to drive on Saddle Road which crosses the island. We headed out, SOuth to Puna to try and find a beach because we originally thought Kona would be too far as it's on the west coast. As we headed further and further South, the rain kept getting harder and harder. So we made an immediate decision to go to Kona. ROAD TRIP!!! We were PUMPED!

We backtracked through Hilo, passing good old American restaurants and of course a Wal-Mart. Ahhhh it's good to be "home." As we headed north through Hilo we started seeing signs of sun. We stoped at a scenic point to look at the view and "go topless" as Jeep fanatics say. So we found the instructions to put the top down, put on some sunscreen and continued on our trip to Kona with no real destination in mind other than a beach. The sights were beautiful and breathtaking. When I went to the Bahamas I thought the ocean was blue, but the Hawaiian water's definitely one up'ed the Bahamas. It was picture perfect. The radio was blaring, the sun was shining, our hair was crazy in the wind and we were just so excited to have so much freedom in a place where we could finally get out and about with no restrictions. As we continued northwest across the island aloing Hawaii Belt Road we went through a few small towns which were all so tropical and laid back. Everyone waved to us using the hang loose sign. It was awesome! We finally got hungry and decided to stop in a random shopping center which had a KTA grocery store where we could get some snacks. We decided to get pizza at this italian place. I got a "Big Island" pizza which was amazing! I love pineapple on ANYTHING! It was SO nice to be able to drink the water that they poured for us. The sun made us really thirsty. After chilling out there for a while we went to the grocery store. WHOA. Culture shock like non other. There's so much food and it all looks so good! I wanted to buy the whole store!!! We managed to get out of there with a bag of chips, two gatorades, and some cookies. Pretty good!

We continued our way west to the coast. The roads were fairly curvy as we winded our way around the hills that were at one point probably volcanoes. We could see the coast in the distance but no beaches. There was a ton of lava rock all around us and people took shells and white sand to write on the rocks, almost like a Hawaiian form of grafitti. We saw one that said SAS. We finally made it to the coast and passed a ton of resort entrances. We decided to drive through the resort. Wow....so pretty. The golf courses looked absolutely amazing and well kept. I wanted to play SO bad. I could smell the golf course....mmm! We couldn't manage to get to the beaches from the resort area but I'm sure there was a way somehow. So we decided to put "White Sand Beach" into the GPS which was on our map. Ready....GO! This sounds like a great beach! Along the way we passed a Target! So tempting to stop! As we continued our drive through tiny little neighborhoods, and past hotels we finally came to the beach. Except there was a patch of sand about as big as a king sized bed, and the rest was lava rock. The beach was surrounded by houses and looked like just a little local's beach. But we decided to give it a shot. We staked out our spot and chilled out, enjoying our snacks. There were a ton of body boarders catching waves into the cove. I thought we were going to witness one of them hit their head on the rocks...they were so close EVERY time! We were there for a while and watched as the sun began to set. While we were there we decided we probably should say in Kona that night at a cheap hotel. It was too late to drive the two hour drive back to Hilo. So Brittany ended up somehow calling Hotels.com. They hooked us up with a $97/night hotel called Kona Seaside Hotel. We weren't expecting much but were actually pleasantly surprised!

We got there and found out we had breakfast at a nearby restaurant included, there was a pool, shops, and restaurants within walking distance as well as a small beach. That night after showering, the three of us went to Splasher's Grill which was nearby. Brittany got her first legal drink in the U.S, Steph got a drink and I got a virgin daquiri (The drinking age should really be 18!!). We ended up going to sleep really early that night. We woke up at 7 the next morning and got breakfast at this place which had a view of the ocean. It was an indoor/outdoor kinda place and it was so yummy! I had a half a papaya with yogurt and granola on it along with passion orange juice which was AMAZING! They also had coconut syrup for pancakes which was super good! After breakfast we looked at the little shops around. We decided to just hang out by the pool for the first half of the day and then we'd have to head back to the ship. The pool was very nice!

We left Kona at noon and headed back to Hilo. We took a different route which took us more through the mountains and countryside. I had no idea Hawaii had rural parts but it really does! We saw some cows, cactus, little farms and lots of rock! It was sunny the whole drive back. We were kind of worried about gas since there weren't many along the way but we made it back to Hilo with plenty. We decided to go to Ken's Diner before returning the car. It's won a bunch of Reader's Choice Awards and some other awards. It was really good anda great local treat. I had the strangest sandwich I have EVER eaten. It had teriyaki chicken, a pineapple ring, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mayo on it. Really weird but surprisingly good! Lot's of SAS'ers were there. After that we dropped the car off at the rental plae, so excited that we were all great drivers after 3 and a half months. We didn't have any problems at all! We took the shuttle back to the ship where we were told that it was our last time we'd be swiping into the ship and having our bags searched. WOW! Where does time go?! It was bittersweet to see "Next Port of Call - San Diego" written on our info board.

We had a yummy barbeque dinner and "Last port" party last night. Only 5 more days until San Diego. Hawaii was the perfect place to end this trip. The relaxing atmosphere and ability to feel so free made it awesome. I'll definitely be back to Hawaii some day. One night wasn't enough and I'd love to see more of those resorts in Kona : )

In the words of Jock Jams "America, are you ready??"

We're coming home!!!!

Land Ho!

2011-04-17T14:55:00.000-04:00

After being at sea for 11 days we FINALLY saw land yesterday! We stopped in Honolulu, Hawaii from 2 to 8PM to refuel and go through United States immigration. It was so weird to go through immigration and greet U.S. officials. As I handed over my passport, they said "Welcome Home." It was really emotional for some reason and made the end of the voyage such a reality. I think it's really neat that they say that! Honolulu was beautiful! Hot and sunny. A hotel near the port was setting up some live music for some function so we were able to eat outside for dinner with some live music and watch the sunset which was awesome! Now that we're in the U.S my phone works. It's been great getting back in touch with everyone. It's really weird to have a phone again! Overnight, we traveled up the Hawaiian islands to Hilo. This morning I woke up around 8AM just as we were pulling into the harbor. The port area reminds me a lot of the port in Ghana, just a little more civilized and less sketchy. It's fairly industrial and the airport is literally a half mile away. Today we're planning on renting a car and traveling down the coast to Puna which should be a little less rainy and cloudy than Hilo, which is known as one of the rainiest cities in the U.S. Finding a beach is top on the list. More to come later but so far Hawaii is beautiful!

The Fruit War

2011-04-11T06:37:00.000-04:00

5:25 (5 minutes before dinner begins)

"There are APPLES tonight!"
"NO WAY"

"How many are there?"
"Should we go sneak some now?"

"Nah there will be enough"

"Yeah right....remember that night we had oranges...naked girl snatched them all!"

10 minutes later....

"THEY'RE GONE!....Who the hell took that many apples?!"

....and then the rumors fly..."I heard we ran out of apples until San Diego!"

This is the dialogue that begins almost every meal. Fruit has turned into a drug. Who can get the most, the fastest, and by talking to which waiter can they sneak us more. We literally turn into savages as soon as the trays hiding the fruit from our reach, are taken down and the fruits are subjected to the hungry hands grabbing and snatching at the fruit as if they'll never have another apple again.We glare at each other as we make eye-contact with an aquaintance who has turned into an enemy in the battle for fruit. Little kids are shoved out of the way as the college students lunge for the bowl and pile their arms high with apples, oranges, grapes, peaches and bananas. You would think they were giving away free beer. The waiters yell out to "use the tongs." But we don't care about sanitation. It's nothing but hands dodging in and out of that fruit bowl as quickly as possible.

Just two nights ago, it was as if I was watching an animal stalking it's prey. We were sitting at dinner having a nice conversation, when out of the corner of her eye, Kerry spotted the goods.

"They're putting out more oranges!!!!!"

And within seconds I saw her practically climb across the table and sprint across the dining hall as she met one of the waiters at the fruit bowl, who was coming from the complete opposite side of the room where the kitchen is situated. She came back smiling as though she'd won the lottery, with an orange for each of us, plus one to hoard in her room's fridge for a future snack.

Sometimes before dinner, when we're feeling really ballsy, we have a lookout and a snatcher. One person makes sure the waiters, students, faculty or staff aren't in sight, while the snatcher reaches around the tray blocking the fruit and grabs as much fruit as quickly as possible and then runs back to the table and puts them into backpacks to distribute to our friends during dinner.

It's crazy to witness but so much fun to be a part of at the same time. Everyone knows that there is a war for fruit and it's just a matter of who can move the quickest in order to get your hands on a delicious apple.

A little tip: forget the tongs.

Hi from the Pacific!

2011-04-10T09:13:00.000-04:00

Chris says that I must not be a fan of blogging on the ship....I guess that's true! I just don't really think about it or feel like I have anything to report about ship life. So this one's for you Chris!

WOW. So we're in the PACIFIC OCEAN! I've never seen the Pacific before. That seems funny to say considering I could have said something similar during every minute of this trip! "I've never seen....the Bahamas, Dominica, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, or (insert anything here!) before." It's certainly been an incredible journey....one that I would never have expected to have in a million years.

There have been times (especially in the past few days) when I'm wandering about the ship, and I get this thought in my head: "Is this real life? Am I really on a ship, studying, and sailing my way around the world?" And then I pause and think to myself..."This is ridiculously AWESOME!!"

We were told that in order to take full advantage of these last two weeks, we need to continue to live in the present. Thoughts of home, what I'm going to eat, do, and see are all trickling into my daydreams. There are times when I wish more than anything that we were skipping Hawaii and going to San Diego. Not to hate on Hawaii or sound snobbish but I mean Hawaii...really? After all these cool places we have been, do we REALLY need to stop in Hawaii for an overnight? And other times I am STOKED to be going to Hawaii because I never want to leave this ship! Some days I wish that all my friends and family could just fit in my pocket so I could just keep going 'round and 'round the world. Maybe I should consider Cruiseship Management as a career....nah just kidding...but I sure can see how some of our crew members get hooked on this kind of lifestyle. (Though I'm sure it's a little bit different for them!)

So the other day I decided to start writing down the foods that I would like to eat when I get home. Lately, conversations have revolved around the last day on the ship, and what food we will eat as soon as we get off the ship. Here's a little snippet of my list:

FOOD!!!!!

Chipotle

Lucky Charms/Reese’s

2% milk and chocolate milk

Pork chops with garlic

Flank Steak

Salad with hidden valley ranch

Burgers

Corn on the Cob

Sour cream and onion/ salt and vinegar/ original Lays

White Cheddar popcorn

Mashed potatoes AND gravy

Mexican chicken

White chicken chili

Tortilla soup

Grapes/apples (Pink Lady) /peaches/ cutie Clementine’s

Snap peas and garlic

Boneless chicken breasts with white rice or light and fluffy noodles

Chips and guac

Nachos with queso

Cream cheese & Hormel chili dip

As you can see the majority of it revolves around snacks....I really miss snacks. Though if they had free snacks on this ship....I'm pretty sure I would have gained even more weight than I already have. I guess that's why they sell butterless, saltless popcorn...mmm.

Finals week on this ship is SO much different than at any land campus. First of all, I only have one exam. Yeah....really stoked about that one! I have final projects in all my other classes. All of my work is due before Hawaii, which means after Hawaii, I am HOME FREE! Wooo hooo! But I can't get too excited....this week is going to be rough!

Lets see what else....I guess I should avoid the elephant in the room and talk about roommate situations. Yeah....so I have never had huge roommate problems before. I consider myself to be a fairly easy going kind of person to live with. I mean that's just my opinion anyways! So when I started on this trip, I found out I was living in a quad. This means that when you look into our room it looks like a double. There's a little secret door that opens up into another room that is the same size as the double. So it's fairly spacious compared to the other economy cabins! I definitely lucked out. For the most part, the roommate situation has been fine. We certainly aren't the best of friends but all four of us do chat once in a while and are courteous to each other. About half way through the voyage my roommate found friends who decided that their room made them homesick. So they've more or less been hanging out in our room when the seas are rough. For the past month this has become frequent and they have started hanging out in our room ALL day AND night. It's gotten a little ridiculous to the point where I can't get to my bed, closet, or go to sleep at 1AM because there's a party happening 5 feet from me. So I finally got sick of it and said something the other day. Not much progress has been made but I hope to get it resolved in the coming days. Everyone needs their personal space. I only can deal with sleeping in the same room with so many people! Plus....it IS a fire hazard and against policy to have more people living in your room than is allowed. We'll see how it turns out.

Not too much else is going on. I'm just trying to keep myself in the present and enjoy these last few weeks of the most incredible adventure of my life. It's hard to live in the present when you know that home is just around the corner. I can't wait to pull into port in San Diego and see Chris standing in the crowd. It's going to be bittersweet for SURE. I'm thinking that tears are definitely going to happen considering I well up even thinking about leaving all these friendships behind. I shouldn't think about it like that. The memories we have made as friends and the experiences I have pushed myself through as an individual have been exciting, heartwarming, challenging, overwhelming but most importantly have shown me that the opportunities life presents are limitless. This trip has made me hungry to explore our world even more. Somehow I think, this is only the beginning! : )

Keelung, Taiwan

2011-04-07T05:40:00.001-04:00

Taiwan was short and sweet. I still wish we had been able to go to Japan but I guess there was nothing that could have changed that. It just seemed weird to be in such a small port after China. Plus the fact that we had to backtrack to go to Taiwan didn’t seem logical. Anyways, we made the most of it! We got to Taiwan late Sunday night (April 3^rd). We actually went through immigration that night so that we could clear the ship early in the morning. The entire ship figured out that there was free wifi from the port on Sunday so much of the night was spent connecting to the 21^st century and getting in contact with everyone!

Monday morning the ship cleared around 9:30 AM. It was pouring outside and really cold. We were expecting sub-tropical weather! Kerry, Brittany and I had a trip that left at 1:30. It was a city orientation of Taipei and then Mongolian barbeque for dinner. There were only five students on the trip and about 15 life long learners. It ended up being a really great trip and we had fun hanging out with the adults. The first stop was the 101 building. This is the tallest building in Asia and the second tallest in the world. The bottom floors are a shopping mall and the rest of the floors are for businesses. The elevator in the building is the fastest one in the world. It takes 37 seconds to go up to the 89^th floor. The elevator is really cool because it shows you what floor you are passing and how fast it’s going. When you get to the top, you can see a really neat view of Taipei. When we were there though, it was super cloudy so we couldn’t see anything. Our next stop was this building that their old president built for himself when he died. There we were able to see the changing of the guards which is very similar to the one at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The guards stand so still that they look like statues. Our next stop was the Museum of National History. By that time it was dinner time. We drove to the Mongolian Barbeque restaurant which was AWESOME! It was really cool because it reminded me a lot of stir fry at my school. You got a bowl, vegetables, meat, and then could put on sauces. They cooked it in front of you and then gave it to you. I had two of them and they were so good. We were having a great time talking to the life long learners and staff about SAS. Al who is in charge of discipline was at our table and talking to us about discipline. We also talked about our experiences in Vietnam and how we all (students) didn’t know much about the Vietnam war. The life long learners were telling us all about lotto numbers and draft dodgers. At the end of our dinner as we were getting ready to leave, we saw this rat climb down from the ceiling and scurry across the floor. It was a HUGE rat and not a restaurant you would expect to have rodents running around. I guess it just adds to the experience! After dinner we went to the Taipei night market. This market was known for their snake wine, snake blood, and dishes. They had these huge snakes in tanks that were dead and people would eat them. It was disgusting. We saw some cute little puppies for sale that we all fell in love with and wanted to take home. After that we wanted something sweet to eat so we found a little stand that was selling homemade donuts. They weren’t as sweet as American donuts so I really liked them! We also got some caramelized sugared strawberries on a stick that were the juiciest yummiest strawberries I’ve ever had! SO GOOD. We got back to the ship around 11 that night.

Tuesday we got up early and took the subway to the National Palace Museum which is supposedly one of the best museums in the world. It had many different exhibits of Chinese calligraphy. It was interesting but probably would have been better if I knew Chinese! There were some outdoor gardens there too which were beautiful. Next we took a taxi to the Museum of Fine Art. Kerry has a family friend who paints and he supposedly had artwork there. We tried to find it but no one could speak English. At one point some random British lady came up to me and asked if I was interested in religion or art. Considering we were at the art museum….I said art. It was a very random occurrence! After, we went back to the 101 building to check out the mall which ended up being way too expensive for any of us. So we checked out the food court which was AMAZING. They had Coldstone, McDonalds, Burger King, Auntie Annes, and sooo many other things. It was delicious.

Monday, Brittany and I explored Keelung. We found this temple which we thought was going to be very cool but ended up being touristy and really weird. It was like a combination tourist attraction, kiddie-park, and temple all combined. It was fun to explore the city though. We also did some shopping and got a few snacks as well as tried to find a Taiwanese flag for me, with no luck. We ran into this French bakery which had delicious samples of their bread. It was so good. We got back to the ship a little early in time for a nap before dinner. The ship left for Hawaii at 8:30.

It’s really weird to think that Taiwan was our last international port. It’s weird to look back at the first day I boarded the ship when I didn’t know a single person and now I am literally with my friends all day whether we are on ship or in port. It’s crazy how fast friendships formed on this trip and how awesome they have become. I know it’s not the end but it feels like it’s coming up so fast. I’ve enjoyed myself so much on this trip and have not only learned about the world but about what I can handle myself as well. It’s really been eye-opening! Arriving in San Diego is definitely going to be bittersweet.

Best Day of my LIFE!

2011-04-01T07:36:00.000-04:00

What a View

2011-04-01T07:35:00.001-04:00

Thank You!

2011-04-01T07:34:00.002-04:00

Brrrrr!

2011-04-01T07:34:00.001-04:00

Sunrise

2011-04-01T07:33:00.002-04:00

Nightime on the Wall

2011-04-01T07:33:00.000-04:00

Hong Kong Harbor

2011-04-01T07:32:00.001-04:00

Hong Kong & China

2011-04-01T06:22:00.000-04:00

WOW! China was INCREDIBLE. I did so much and saw so many things in so little time. I could never have seen as much as I did by traveling independently. I went through a tour company that many other SAS students were using called The China Guide. Before leaving in January I had signed up for the basic trip but I found out my friends were doing the all out trip that went to three different cities so I changed to be in their group. I’m getting ahead of myself though…

We arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday March 26^th. We entered the harbor with beautiful views of the skyline. It was a little foggy....or perhaps polluted….but nonetheless it was great! I went to the front of the ship to have unobstructed views of the city. It was VERY cold outside compared to the past countries we have been too. Everyone had on their long pants, socks, hats, and fleece. We got off the ship around 10:30 AM. We were spit out into a really nice mall. Why do we always port near malls?! There was this awesome designer store in the mall that had bags with the world on them….I bet they made a ton of money! We had to find an ATM as always. The exchange rate in Hong Kong was 1USD to 7ish Hong Kong Dollar (HKD). We found an ATM near the Tourist information desk….and then it ate a kid’s card so we were sketched out and found another one.

We were then walking around and couldn’t find the star ferry which we thought we needed to take from Kowloon Island (the new territories) to Hong Kong Island. This British guy came up to us and asked us if we knew where tickets were too and we had no idea. Finally we found the ticket machine….and then realized it couldn’t take 100 HKDs. SO we got the most delicious iced coffees at a store nearby….got change, tickets and hopped on to the next ferry. It is apparently the cheapest transportation in the world. It was a fun little 7 minute ride. We decided that we wanted to take the Ngong Ping 360 tram ride to the Big Buddha. So we forced ourselves to learn the subway system because it was going to be WAY faster and cheaper than using a cab. We got to the subway station which was underneath a mall, talked to the customer service desk and figured out that we needed to go on the Tung Chung Line. The ticket thing at their subway stations is SO cool. It has a touch screen with the routes on it and you touch your destination. It tells you how much the ticket is, you pop in the change and it spits out a card and change. Then you take the ticket and stick it into this reader to enter into the boarding area. The Tung Chung line happened to go to Disney Hong Kong too!!!! We were so excited and really wanted to go but held back….we knew we would regret it. As we’re standing on the train trying to figure out where we are and where we’re going, this American guy came up to us and tried to tell us what island we were on because we didn’t really know at the time. I think he thought we were a little crazy but we were just so excited!

When we reached our destination we got out and walked to the Tram station which was very close. There was a huge long line but it had great views of Hong Kong. We decided to get the Crystal Cabin with the glass floor. It ended up being totally worth it on the way back because it had its own separate queue and we got to skip about 200 people. The tram ride was really cool and really long! We got to the other side just in time for lunch and ready to try real Chinese food! We went to this place and ended up getting a crazy waiter who basically ordered for us and told us we should share, plus ordered a side of fried rice for us. He gave us chopsticks and peanuts and said we couldn’t eat until the peanuts were gone. I’ve gotten pretty great at chopsticks lately!! We got our food which was fried rice, sweet and sour pork, cashew chicken, and some kind of really awful rice noodle and beef dish. It smelled like the streets of Vietnam and reminded us of this really smelly market. It was absolutely awful and we literally could not eat it. We told him at the end that we couldn’t eat it so he wanted to give it to us To-go. WE told him no, and he grumbled that we were wasteful and said “I give to someone.” Uhhh….okay dude. But then he DID! He put it in a to-go box and gave it to this lady. EWW!!!! After lunch we went to the Big Buddha which was really cool! We walked around and ate ice cream….we would be eating lots of ice cream in China too. We went back to the tram where we got to skip a ton of people, got in our Crystal Cabin and took it to the beginning of the tram ride.

At this point we had NO idea what to do! We decided to take the subway back to Central Station on Hong Kong Island. By the time we got there it was getting late and we still wanted to go to Stanley Market and the Peak where you can see views of the city. I thought we had plenty of time still so we decided to walk around the streets of Hong Kong. Turns out….the streets of Hong Kong are not pedestrian friendly. There were very few sidewalks. We decided to jump in a taxi and take it to the Peak. We knew there was another tram we could take there to see the city at night. The taxi drove us up this huge mountain and the whole time we were thanking God we didn’t try to walk there because we would NEVER have made it. So we get to the top….pay the taxi driver and look around. Now what???

We’re standing there looking very lost when the most awesome thing happens! This guy comes over to us and he’s like “Hey, you look like foreigners, are you trying to get to the city look-out?” And we’re like YES!!! He asks us where we’re from and Brittany says she’s from Massachusetts. And then he says “I’m from Israel.” We were so surprised! He totally looked, sounded, and dressed like he was from the U.S. He basically took us under his wing and found out where to go, leading us to the ticket counter and through this mall, up a ton of escalators and to the top where tons of people were looking out onto the city skyline. It was an AMAZING sight! At this point we all realized that we didn’t know what this guy’s name was or who he really was. His name was Mark and he’d been traveling in Hong Kong for the past three days. We explained to him why we were there and where we had been; he was impressed! We could actually see our ship from the point we were at so it was kind of cool to show him our home! He told us all the places he had been traveling to and that he just got out of the Israeli army at the age of 22. We stayed up at the top for about 2 hours. It was FREEZING!!! While we were up there, all the buildings that were lit up were supposed to have their nightly light show at 8:15PM. But it was also Earth Hour, so we never got to see it. When we got to cold and had to thaw out, we went back down through the mall where we saw a Bubba Gump’s Shrimp restaurant. I also bought some flags.

We went all the way back down to the bottom and decided we needed dinner. Brittany’s cousin who went on SAS last year said there was this AMAZING Mexican place in Hong Kong that we couldn’t miss. We realized it was dumb to eat Mexican in China. But we knew we would be eating Chinese food for the next few days. We told Mark about it and got him pumped up and craving Mexican too. He looked up the address and found out it was near the hostel he was staying at. We shared a taxi with him to the train station which we took back to Kowloon. We then wandered around and after talking to some locals….FINALLY found Tequila Jacks! It was an awesome feeling and we wouldn’t have found it without Mark’s help. We sat down, ordered up some frozen mango margaritas, nachos, burritos, fajitas, and tacos and went to town. It was the best tasting Mexican, outside of Mexico. YUM! They also had wifi there so I took advantage of it! We talked a lot with Mark about how Israel works. Boys and girls are required to go into the Army after high school. Guys go for three years and girls for two. It is customary to independently travel after you’re out of the Army which is what Mark had been doing for the past few months. We had great conversations and a blast hanging out in Hong Kong with a guy from Israel who we met on top of a mountain. It’s so cool the people you meet along the way! We also found out that Mark’s real Israeli name was Bar, and that he had lived in America for some time. After another round of frozen margaritas we knew we had to head home. It was getting close to 1AM at that point and we all still had to get to the ship, pack, and wake up the next morning to get to the airport.

Mark took us to the train station where we had hugs goodbye. We felt so close to him in so little time. He made sure we knew where we were going and what trains to catch. As we got back to central station again, all the trains shut down because it was so late. We freaked out a bit and decided we could take a taxi from there. But none of the drivers could speak English or take us in the tunnels under the river to where our ship was. We were wandering around Hong Kong at 1:30 AM and I was pretty nervous! Luckily this teenage Chinese girl helped us translate and we got into a taxi. Everyone was so nice and willing to help there! Unlike America!! We made it back to the ship that night by 2AM. I was exhausted and didn’t get to bed until 3AM and had to wake up at 8AM but it was one of the best nights I’ve had on this trip.

Sunday March 27^th began our China Guide adventure. Even though the flight that Steph and I were on wasn’t until 5:30 PM….I had absolutely no idea how to get to the airport and knew I would be way more comfortable hanging out there than I would on the ship or in Hong Kong. So at 9:15 AM Steph, Kerry, Brittany, Hannah and I began our adventure to the airport. We took the subway which is right near our ship to Central station. From there we needed to get on the Airport Express. Both Brittany and I only had 100 HKD bill so we decided we should break it since the machine didn’t take big bills. We thought we were so smart for thinking ahead. It ended up being a huge mistake. We got to the airport express train ticket counter and how much was the ticket?? 100 HKD. UGH!!! NO WAY! We were so mad. Luckily we could use credit card to get tickets. The express train was great! All the subways are VERY clean but this one was especially awesome! We got to the airport and this little lady asked us where we needed to go and directed us. We ended up being directed to the wrong check in counter multiple times so just relied on self-check in instead. I was impressed! Obviously I haven’t traveled that much and I was so amazed it could scan your passport and pull up your flight info. SO COOL! I also found out my seat was 57L. Holy cow it was going to be a huge plane!! For some reason Brittany, Hannah, and Kerry had an awful time checking in but got it all figured out. We went through security and grabbed some Chinese noodles for lunch. YUM! Kerry, Hannah, and Brittany left to get on their plane while Steph and I waited around the airport for a wonderful 6 hours. Steph went off in her own direction which was kind of annoying and really boring for me. I slept, looked at stores, tried to use the awful wifi and got frustrated and ate some ice cream (Ben and Jerry’s!). The airport is crazy! There were so many designer stores in there it was insane! I looked around in the bookstore for a while too. Then I decided to pass out on some chairs which were super comfy! The entire time I was afraid I was going to sleep through my boarding time and miss my flight. But I woke up in plenty of time. The McDonalds was calling my name and I was really curious as to what it would be like in another country. So I wandered over and ordered up a spicy McChicken, fries, and drink which is automatically a Coke. I go to sit down at one of the bar stools and this old man sits down directly next to me. I thought it was so weird because there were plenty of seats. I continued to eat and as I was finishing up, he turns to me and says “Can I ask you an obscure favor?” I was like….yeah? “Do you happen to have 40 HK cents? You see…McDonalds in the city isn’t as expensive as it is here in the airport so I’m short 40 cents to buy my alcohol” he says. At this point I’m digging through my wallet and all I can find is 5 HKD. So I say “You can have this, I’m going to Beijing and don’t need it!” He has a strong Australian accent and is going back and doesn’t need that much either. He gives me a handful of coins and thanks me. I’m pretty sure I helped a struggling alcoholic…

Then I go to the gate and sit down and put my ear buds in. An announcement comes on so I take them off. Out of the corner of my eye this little Asian lady is walking swiftly towards me with clipboard in hand. She approaches me and says she is from the Hong Kong Tourist Association and can she survey me. At this point I just want to chill plus we are boarding the plane soon so I say that I have to board shortly and won’t have time. She goes “Oh no….you not boarding now, you have time.” She sits down and immediately starts asking me questions…..oh gosh. I’m trapped. She asked me questions like how I rate Hong Kong, what hotel was I at, how much I spent, did I go shopping, etc. It was really confusing for her because I had to explain about SAS and everything so I think her survey got messed up. At the end of it I was given a pin which was kind of cool!

I boarded the plane on time around 7PM (It was delayed). There were tons of other kids doing China guide on the plane too. The plane was HUGE! It had 9 seats across (2 seats, aisle, 5 seats, aisle, 2 seats). I had a window seat which was great! It was fun to see all the lights and it was really roomy between the seats too. The plane had TV’s and a camera on the front of the plane so you could watch it take off and land. That was exciting!!! They had a really funny video for the safety briefing. I couldn’t understand any of it really. When we’re in the air, we get drinks and dinner. I couldn’t understand the flight attendant at all so the lady next to me orders my dinner. It ends up being pork, rice, salad, roll, and cheesecake. It was surprisingly good! As I am eating my rice with a fork, the lady grabs my spoon, gives it to me and points to my rice. She wants me to use the spoon to eat my rice? Whatever you say lady!

When we get to the station, we meet up with our guide Tony. He tells us about how last semester some SAS kids taught him the Frosted Flakes song about Tony the Tiger. We teach it to him again as we are driving to our hotel. There, Steph and I collapse into our beds (which are way too short for me) and go to sleep. I have to sleep diagonal in my bed….it was great! The beds were hard as rocks though! The next morning we wake up and go to breakfast where we meet up with Hannah, Brittany, and Kerry. This is when the fun begins!!

Monday March 28^th

After breakfast at the hotel, we break up into our small groups. Kerry ends up being in group 2 and the rest of us are in group 1. We get into our coach buses with Tony the Tiger as our guide. We are SO SO SO pumped! The first stop is Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We walk around each of these places for about 2 hours. They were so crowded and full of Chinese tourists. All the tour companies have flags so you can recognize what group you are in. Or they wear matching baseball hats. We followed around a China Guide flag. The Forbidden City was awesome! We learned all about its history and how there wasn’t a place for the emperor so one of the Chinese emperors ordered it to be built. 500,000 people can fit into the Forbidden City. We saw the place where the Last Emperor sat to make decisions and this lady known as the Dragon Lady sat behind a curtain behind him to help him make decisions. He was only like 6 years old at the time. There were many sculptures of dragons and peacocks. The dragon represents the emperor and the peacock the emperor’s wife. We saw the rooms in which concubines stayed, the gardens, bedrooms, and a ton more! There are 9,999 rooms in the Forbidden City. 9 is a very lucky number in Chinese culture. After these places we went to lunch. It had a cool lazy Susan in the middle which we put all the food on. The food was delicious and the sweet and sour chicken was gone in 2 seconds! Next we went to the silk market which is a place to bargain. The prices are extremely high and you start out your bargaining at 1/10^th the price. I got a single pearl necklace there for 20 bucks! Bargaining ended up being a ton of fun! After that we drive for 2 and half hours to the place where we would sleep on the wall. We ate dinner in a restaurant at the base of the wall. According to our guide, the Chinese government has deemed it illegal to sleep on the wall but the tour guide company has special permission or connections or something. After dinner I realized it was freezing cold so I bought a hat and gloves from this lady who was pestering us to buy from her. That shut her right up! I was glad I had my gloves and hat though because I used them the entire night. We were given a sleeping bag, mat, and flashlight for the night and Tony showed us up the mountain to the top of the wall. It was a really hard climb and I had no idea how I would survive the next morning!! When we got to the top, we were greeted by our “body guard” who I honestly never saw again. There were snacks, drinks and beer up there too. We quickly picked out our spots, unrolled our sleeping bags and popped open some beers. Some girl brought external speakers for her iPod. We were jamming out on the Great Wall of China!!!!! It was a gorgeous, crisp, and VERY COLD night! It was probably about 32 Fahrenheit. It made for a fun time peeing in the woods with no toilet paper. At least I can say I peed on the Great Wall of China! I had on a sweatshirt, long sleeve shirt, coat, jeans, sweatpants, three pairs of socks, hat, gloves and sleeping bad and was STILL cold. But it was SO worth it. The stars were beautiful and many people saw shooting stars. We walked around a little but were too scared to wander off too much! We ate a ton of Oreos that night it was ridiculous! Tony taught us some Chinese songs and swears words which was fun! Around 10 or so we hopped into our sleeping bags and bundled up for the night. We all stayed up talking for hours. There was a group of about 8 of us who all huddled together to sleep. We told ghost stories and folk tales too. It was probably the worst sleep I’ve ever got but it was also the most amazing sleep ever!!!!

Tuesday March 29^th was probably the best day of my entire life. I really can’t even put it into words. We woke up at 5:30 AM to see the sun rise. It was freezing cold and we stayed in our sleeping bags to watch the sun come up. We had cold Nescafe and weird fruit bread for breakfast. The sunrise was AMAZING! Some Chinese guys came up to us giving us hot coffee. We thought it was free but we ended up having to pay for it which was a dilemma since few of us had money. We had to roll up our sleeping bags and hike down to the buses where we were the previous night to drop them off and then climb back up to the wall. While I was down by the buses the girls made this community peeing area and we were all just squatting in the bushes. It was really funny. I hiked up to the wall and began the most incredible four mile hike of my life. We went through fifteen different watch towers. At times the wall goes almost vertically upwards and the steps feel more like a ladder. The steps are also really tall and not deep at all so they can be treacherous especially if they are crumbling down. There is no railing throughout the hike either which makes it a little scary. The views got better and better and were breathtaking no matter where we were! It was definitely a hard hike but AMAZING!!! We didn’t see a single other person besides SAS kids on our trip. I literally don’t know what to say about it other than it was incredible. After our hike we were starving and drive back to the city where we had lunch. We went to the Jade market which was much like the silk market. We also drove by the Olympic stadiums. I was kind of upset because I wanted to walk around the Olympic Green but we didn’t have time. We also saw an acrobat show that night which was very cool! It was a great show and a little nerve wracking! Next we went to the same hotel we were in two nights before. Brittany and I roomed together that night. Our shower didn’t work and it took forever to get it across to them that it was broken because of the language barrier. After an hour it was finally fixed and we were able to get ready for dinner. We didn’t want to spend much so we walked to the mall nearby. Again….nicest mall ever! It had wifi and the cleanest, chicest, nicest McDonalds I have ever seen! We ate dinner there and used the wifi for a long time. We walked back to the hotel and conked out really quick! Everyone was pooped!

The next morning (Wednesday March 30^th ) we woke up for breakfast at the hotel. I was really excited because that night we would be taking the sleeper trains from Beijing to Xi’an. After breakfast we went to a Hulling village which is the typical neighborhood that people live in. It consists of a few houses arranged around a square. There are few of them left because the government is modernizing the cities, bulldozing the villages, and putting up skyscrapers with condos in them, however they are very expensive to live in. The Hulling village we went to is protected by the government for the sake of tourism. We got there and went to a drum performance which was very cool! We also saw great views of east and west Beijing. Then we took a bicycle rickshaw ride through the streets of the village to a local’s home. We had lunch at their house and learned how to make dumplings. They were so good! Next we took the rickshaws back to the city center. During the ride it was neat to see the locals conversing in the streets. It is funny to imagine this is their everyday life. We went to a tea ceremony after our rickshaw ride. I don’t even like tea but this tea was delicious! I think I’m addicted! This ended our Hulong village experience. Next we took the bus to the zoo where we got to see pandas! We were lucky because they weren’t sleeping and were actually active and walking around! That was pretty neat to see! All of them looked fake! Lastly, we went to the summer palace which is 4 times the size of the Forbidden City. It is a place that was built for the emperor to go during the summer. 3/4ths of it is made up of a lake….which of course I loved! It looked nothing like Lake Max but I think it made me a little homesick. It was absolutely beautiful! There were many people enjoying the late afternoon, crisp spring weather. Couples were walking hand in hand and of course tourists were everywhere. We had dinner that night and then we were taken to the train station. We said goodbye to Tony there. He was an amazing tour guide! We boarded our sleeper train and headed off to Xi’an! The train was really cool! The beds were comfy and we played a few drinking games and chilled out!

Thursday March 31^st

We woke up on the train to a Chinese lady barging into our room demanding our trash can. She mumbled something about being in Xi’an in a few minutes. I quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth, held my breath in the bathroom so I couldn’t smell the nasty smells, grabbed my stuff and stepped off the train into Xi’an. We were only in Xi’an for a day for the sole purpose of seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors. We took the bus to the museum which is huge! It’s only been 37 or so years since the warriors were first discovered. Someone was digging a well when they hit the first one. Now you walk into this building and in front of you are hundreds of warriors made out of clay. It was quite a site! There is still some digging going on to uncover more. There are also porcelain warriors that were discovered which are in worse shape but they have re-pieced them together. We were only at the museum for two hours or so. Next on the agenda was lunch. We hadn’t had any breakfast so we were starving. We went to this super fancy hotel which had a buffet. The best part was that they had French fries. Yeah….that’s sad but I am so incredibly sick of Chinese food. I can’t eat it for five days straight! I am craving American food so much! We filled up on food and then went to the city wall. The wall surrounds the city of Xi’an and is now used for walking, bicycling, and running. There is a marathon on the wall in a few weeks. Kerry and Steph rented a double bicycle which we all took turns using. It was a ton of fun and the first time I had ever been on a tandem bike. What a blast! It was nice to get some biking in! After that it was already time to go to the train station. Steph and I ended up in a sleeper car with a Chinese family who had a little toddler. He was really cute but was very loud and chattery all morning. I was in Hannah and Brittany’s room for much of the night along with a bunch of other kids from our tour group. We were playing more drinking games and hanging out. We were all exhausted but wanted to savor the last few hours of our trip! I passed out pretty quickly when I went to bed. It was really weird sharing a sleeper car with people you didn’t know and couldn’t communicate with. Last night I didn’t even change into pajamas. I fell asleep SO fast. Morning (Friday April 1^st) came quickly and we arrived in Shanghai. We were greeted by a China Guide tour guide who directed us to our buses which took us to the ship. It was an amazing feeling being back on the ship but kind of weird since I hadn’t been on it in so long. Shanghai is really cool. The architecture is awesome! It’s a little smelly and polluted. I caught a cold and a cough during my time in China….I think the bad air got to me. Yuck! I can’t wait to be on the ocean again!

I am so excited that it is finally the month that I come home! Happy April everyone! To Taiwan we go!

The Excitement!

2011-03-25T10:36:00.001-04:00

OF COURSE I Kept My Eyes On the Road....

2011-03-25T10:35:00.001-04:00

Bactracking to more India Pics - Rickshaw Ride

2011-03-25T10:34:00.001-04:00

Elephants at the Zoo!

2011-03-25T06:23:00.001-04:00

Bazooka Gun from the War

2011-03-25T06:22:00.003-04:00

American Chopper at the War Museum

2011-03-25T06:22:00.001-04:00

More Buildings...

2011-03-25T06:21:00.003-04:00

Historical Buildings Downtown

2011-03-25T06:21:00.001-04:00

Vietnamese Food

2011-03-25T06:18:00.000-04:00

One of the few times I actually knew what I was eating....

Hello Home!

2011-03-25T06:17:00.002-04:00

Torture Device Used Against the U.S.

2011-03-25T06:17:00.000-04:00

Inside the Cu Chi Tunnels

2011-03-25T06:15:00.001-04:00

I have NO idea how the Vietnamese soldiers stayed in these tunnels. They're ridiculously small and my thighs killed after squat walking for just 10 minutes.

Now You See Me, Now You Don't!

2011-03-25T06:15:00.000-04:00

Into the Cu Chi Tunnels

2011-03-25T06:14:00.001-04:00

Motorcycles Rule the Roads

2011-03-25T06:13:00.000-04:00

Crazy Fast Harbor Ferry

2011-03-25T06:12:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Vietnam!

2011-03-25T06:12:00.000-04:00

Ho Chi Minh City Skyline

2011-03-25T06:11:00.001-04:00

Goodbye Vietnam

2011-03-23T07:22:00.000-04:00

The days tend to run together so I'm not going to go into too much detail about Ho Chi Minh. All you really need to know is that there are a ton of motorcycles and if you want to cross the street you just have to step out in front of thousands of oncoming motorcycles and keep moving while pretending as though you're Moses parting the red sea and praying to God you make it to the other side. I'm alive though, so that's good!

There is a ton of touristy shopping to do in Vietnam. There are also a lot of tailors that can custom make dresses so my friends bought some for the ball at the end of the voyage. North Face is EVERYWHERE! But it's all mostly fake and bad quality, however if you're lucky you can find the real stuff!

The second day Hannah and I were on our own so we explored and walked all over the city! We went to Highlands Coffee for lunch which is the Vietnamese version of Starbucks and can be found on every corner. We shopped, walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral, Post Office, Diamond Plaza (a mall with a bowling alley and bar at the top!) and everywhere in between! The post office is a beautiful building with amazing paintings on the ceilings, touristy shops, old phone booths and everything you could ever want in a post office! It was quite the outing! That night we met back up with everyone and went out to dinner.

The next day we went to the Vietnam War Memorial Museum which was an amazing experience. It was interesting to see the views of the Vietnamese. The first floor had a ton of pictures of protests all over the world which showed how controversial the war really was. It basically felt like....England hates the US, Cuba hates the US, Germany hates the US, Vietnam hates the US, the US hates the US. It was kind of weird. Outside there were many US fighter jets and tanks. Upstairs there was an Agent Orange exhibit talking about the side effects of this chemical that the US sprayed all over the fields of Vietnam. It affects the development of babies and can lead to disfigurement and many mental and physical disabilities.

Yesterday, I hopped on to a service trip with my friends. We went to a school for deaf children which was one of the first schools in Ho Chi Minh to cater towards the education of deaf children. The kids were about 6 years old and did a little performance for us. Then we got into small groups to interact with them and color. Many of them were super excited to get on our bus and go to the zoo. They would draw pictures of a bus with people in it and then point to each person in our group. It was a really neat experience! We took them to the zoo which was much different from an American zoo. The animals seemed overfed...they were all pretty fat! The elephants were in an outdoor enclosure where you could get close enough to reach out and feed them. Of course the kids were trying to feed them everything from crackers, to Capri Sun containers to m&m's. It was a great time but the kids definitely tired me out!

That night we went to the Japanese restaurnat close to our ship to get some Japanese food in since we won't be going there. It was very yummy but the service was terrible. (Seems like a common trend in Vietnam!).

Today we went to a coffee shop for the majority of the day to get some internet time in. It was fabulous! I wasn't quite sure what to do when I had the internet right at my fingertips. Maybe this means I won't be on my computer as much when I get home!

There was barbeque dinner tonight with ribs, corn, potato salad and amazing desserts. It's for the parents who are having a reception on the ship. Its been neat seeing parents around with their kids but it makes me miss home that much more!

I'm super excited for my trip in China. It's going to be awesome!

As for now, I need to get some work done during these next two days on the ship! Projects, projects, projects!!!

Later 'Nam!

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Day 1

2011-03-19T10:40:00.000-04:00

My initial impression of Vietnam is...AWESOME. Followed by lots of frustration...

This morning around 8 I was out on deck looking out on the banks of the Saigon River as the ship made its way to our port. It was like deja vu and all I could think about was going up the Amazon. But this was so much more interesting! I've never seen a river so busy! It was like a highway of boats and large container ships, each having somewhere to be. There were colorful boats and an ultra fast airplane looking ferry boat. A huge containership registered in Singapore was heading in the opposite direction we were coming from.

As I looked out to the banks of the river it was like I was in the middle of the jungle in Forrest Gump. The vegetation is so tropical and lush. I was surprised to see a vast number of skyscrapers being built a few miles from the riverbank. It was interesting because right on the river there were many broken down houses with small boats outside. There looked to be quite a bit of poverty in this area. And then in the background of these houses were these huge futuristic apartment buildings where I'm sure the middle and upper class is living.

We docked at 11AM and everyone was as excited as ever. But a few lucky students were probably the most excited they'll ever be to get off the ship. Semester at Sea does what is called Parent Trips where parents of students can fly to Vietnam and meet their children in Vietnam. They stay for the five days we are here in a hotel and go on many trips with their children. Everyone was saying they were a bit jealous of those getting to see their parents. As I descended the gangway from deck 5, I had a birds eye view of students being reunited with their parents with hugs, kisses, excitement and tears. It was really kind of an emotional sight....and I'm not going to lie, it made me homesick for a while there. There were students meeting with their boyfriend/girlfriend and meeting friends too. It was really cool to see. A large group of Vietnamese women dressed in traditional clothing and rice hats holding a "Welcome to VIetnam Semester at Sea" banner distracted me from the scene and the shouts of the trip leaders that the buses for trip HCM 04 to Cu Chi tunnels were boarding and leaving ASAP. So I quickly found the bus and hopped on. This trip happened to have parents on it which was kind of cool and exciting and sad all wrapped up into one....I MISS EVERYONE!!!!

Anyways....A 2 hour bus ride took us through the busy, motorcycle congested streets of Ho Chi Minh City. There are coffee shops, Karaoke bars, seamstress shops, billiard halls, and motorcycle shops every single block! We went down the main shopping street which had all the big stores again....Louis Vuitton, Polo Ralph Lauren, etcetera. The whole atmosphere of the city was really neat. I enjoy the oldness of it but it's also not dirty and smelly.

Finally after an hour or so we got to the restaurant where we had lunch. There was so much white sticky rice....I was in heaven! We also had this pear looking fruit with chili salt on it. The combination of the sweet fruit, with the bit of salt plus the kick of the chili's was the most perfect combination I have ever tasted. Delicious! Seaweed and tofu soup was also served....I ate the broth. Some shrimp eggrolls were delicious followed by some sort of other chicken and fish dish with vegetables.

After lunch a 15 minute bus ride took us to the Cu Chi tunnels. It felt as though we were in the middle of the jungle there. The first thign we did was walk into the jungle. We were that we were currently on top of a network of underground tunnels and that an entrance was nearby. We had to find it! It literally looked like nothing ws there. But sure enough our tour guide James knew exactly where it was. He uncovered this wooden plank which was probably about 2 by 1.5 feet. He lifted it up to reveal a hole where the Vietnamese soldiers would go into the tunnels. The guide then jumped into the hole, lifted the wooden plank above his head so his arms were straight up, shrunk down and disappeared into the hole. He was magically gone! This was how the Vietnamese would launch attacks on the US and then look as though they magically disappeared. The US even once unknowingly built a base on top of a network of tunnels and suffered many casualties because of it, until they finally realized their mistake! Everyone was able to try going into this hole which led to the tunnels. It was a tight fit for some....one girl got stuck...and then I got to do it and it was SO COOL!

After that we walked through the jungle to different "exhibits." We saw many torture devices which looked very frightening. We also saw these fake termite mounds which the Vietnamese used as a way to disguise air holes for the tunnels. We went to many different bunkers. One was a kitchen with a fire and the chimney was piped a few kilometers away and went through multiple chambers. This makes it so that when the smoke does come out, it doesn't rise into the air but rather just keeps low to the ground.

Next we went to these tunnels which had been enlarged a little for tourists to go through. They were SO small and really cramped. It was about a 7 to 10 minute crawl through the tunnels which go many stories under the earth. At one point one girl was like "Remember those miners...?" and we all told her to shut up and keep moving!! It was really hot and a little scary but also a once in a lifetime opportunity!

By this time, we had to head back to the ship. When we got back I found my friends and we went out to find dinner. We found this restaurant right by the port...literally 100 steps away. We were so excited and saw some life long learners had followed us there. The menu we got didn't have any prices....yikes, never a good sign. The exchange rate here is 256,000 Dong to 1 USD so we figured it couldnt be too bad! We sat down and ordered drinks from our waitress that spoke some English. She then apparently wanted us to immediately order food because she stood at our table the entire time we were looking at the one menu we were given. We decided to get 4 dishes and share. I really wanted Pineapple Fried Rice but they didn't have it. And then they didnt have so many other things. It was frustrating. The next thing that happened was the Life Long Learners came up to us and said to be careful because they were being charged for things like using napkins. Ridiculous!

We ordered spinach, chicken, noodles, and some tofu dish. What came out was not spinach...they told us it was cabbage but it definitely wasn't that either. So then we were still hungry and wanted more noodles. But the dish that came out wasnt the same as the one we ordered. Of course trying to communicate to a bunch of waiters, cooks, and then the restaurant manager in English didnt work out so well. We left the noodle dish and finally they figured out what dish we wanted and brought it out to us. In the mean time, our chicken had arrived. It was placed onto the table and I was the first one to say "You guys go first" And then Kerry (who's vegan) said "Get that chicken away from me." We just laughed and then she was like "No really, get it away, there's a chicken head staring me in the face!!!!" I looked at the chicken and sure enough....the head was on the plate. GROSS!!!!

We got the bill which ended up to be about $6 a person. But they didnt give us all our change back....we really didnt care since it was so cheap. But it was the principle of the matter. And then we finally got it back, wuickly left, without leaving a tip because we received such awful service. Honestly it wasn't anyone's fault and was probably just the language barrier. But we were fed up! We got back on the ship to take a breather. I am exhausted!

That's it for now...I'll be walking around the city tomorrow and we'll see how that goes!

Hannah, Stephani, Kerry and Mark

2011-03-17T11:38:00.001-04:00

MV Explorer Pool Deck

2011-03-17T11:35:00.000-04:00

Cruiseship

2011-03-17T11:34:00.000-04:00

This cruiseship looked huge in comparison to ours. It looked REALLY nice inside.

Night time in Singapore

2011-03-17T11:33:00.000-04:00

Seaweed Pringles....gross!!!!

2011-03-17T11:32:00.002-04:00

Fruit Stand

2011-03-17T11:32:00.001-04:00

This place had the best fruit ever! And they made fruit juices from their drinks. Sooo delicious!

Tiger Beer

2011-03-17T10:53:00.001-04:00

Tree Hugger?

2011-03-17T05:27:00.001-04:00

Botanic Garden Bathroom

2011-03-17T05:26:00.001-04:00

Cleanest bathroom I have ever been in...and an open-air bathroom too! So cool!

Sarsi = Rootbeer

2011-03-17T05:25:00.001-04:00

Hakerstall Lunch!

2011-03-17T05:24:00.003-04:00

Orchard Road

2011-03-17T05:24:00.001-04:00

Visitor's Center Sign

2011-03-17T05:23:00.001-04:00

I'm Lovin' It!

2011-03-17T05:22:00.002-04:00

Cool scultpures!

2011-03-17T05:22:00.001-04:00

Singapore Cruise Center

2011-03-17T05:21:00.001-04:00

Colorful Bugs in Singapore!

2011-03-17T05:20:00.001-04:00

Bendy buildings!

2011-03-17T05:18:00.000-04:00

I really liked these buildings....all the architecture in Singapore was awesome! This photo really doesn't give it justice though.

Singapore

2011-03-16T10:12:00.000-04:00

7:30 AM rolled around and I was actually awake and at breakfast before any of my friends! For all of you that know me....the early morning hours and breakfast don't work out too well! But as I was enjoying my breakfast, the MV Explorer was pulling into the beautiful harbor area! We could see skyscrapers, Hard Rock Cafe, monorail trains and another cruiseship docked in the harbor.

Once we cleared immigration and got off the ship, it literally felt like we were in an airport. There were little terminals for big cruise ships and there was advertising for Norweigen Cruise Lines everywhere! They were advertising for America like it was some exotic location. Pretty funny! I immediately noticed how clean and fresh everything was. The entire port area was spotless! Immigration took a while plus it felt longer than it actually was since we wanted to squeeze every ounce of fun out of the day and felt like the immigration officers were holding us up! When we finally made it through we didn't know what to do or where to go. The building that we were in was really large and had tons of stores in it and looked much like a mall. We finally found some other SAS'ers and made our way out a back entrance where we found a taxi. It probably wasn't the best entrance or first impression of Singapore, as we were walking through throngs of smokers. We got into a really nice cab which took us to Orchard Road. This is the main shopping area of Singapore. It is very similar to Michigan Avenue or Rodeo Drive. There is an interesting combination of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and cheap cell phone booths, electronics stores and restaurants. After realizing that we most likely wouldn't be going into these stores we checked out one of the shopping centers aka malls which have entrances like the stores do, right on Orchard Road. We walked around there for about 15 minutes and found.....STARBUCKS! Believe me I wanted an iced vanilla latte SO bad. But decided that I should probably enjoy the local food. We were hungry by this point and found what is known as a Hakerstall (sp?) center. These are basically food stands that are in permanent structures with some plastic tables and chairs around it. You sit at a table which has a number on it and then one person saves the table while the rest go look at the different foods. When you order the food you tell them your table number so they can deliver the food to you. We didnt realize this process until after we had ordered, but the way we did it worked just fine! The food was delicious and a little bit spicy! I also had a soda...had no idea what it was but found out it was Root Beer flavored....yuck!

After this, Stephani really wanted to go to Little India. I really didnt understand why considering we just came from India....but we went anyways. We took a taxi there and our driver was AWESOME. He said that Singappore has a large Indian population. We told him we had just come from India. Then he goes "OHHH so you know what they look like!!!" And then cracked up in a hysterical laugh. It was the best taxi ride yet! Little India was sooo much different than India! And a lot cleaner too! We walked around there for a while and ended up catching up with Kerry. She was starving so we stopped into this Indian restaurant and cured her desire for Indian food.

After that we went to the Singapore Botanic Garden. It was absolutely beautiful. There was an orchid garden, evolution garden, and many others! The whole place was so well cared for and there were many little water gardens too. It began pouring while we were walking around....the first time we've felt rain since Dominica. We then decided to go to the gift shop while the rain passed. We also ate at the little restaurant in the garden which had.....french fries!!! And the ketchup was really good....it tasted very tangy which was pretty cool! We needed to catch a taxi from there so they had this nifty little system where you press a button for a taxi which lights up a sign on the main road indicating that a taxi is needed. A taxi would come within 15 minutes. But sometimes people would cut us in line and take our taxi which was really weird and confusing. It was a pretty awesome and efficient system that they had though!

Next we went to a place called Holland Village (I think...) which had a bunch of stores and restaurants. It was fun to walk around but of course we were hungry again. So we stopped at another hakerstall place which was incredible! We stopped at this fruit stand which made juice from their fresh fruits. I had a pineapple, apple, watermelon combination which was absolutely incredible! And also got a slice of pineapple which was THE best pineapple I have ever had. We got a big bottle of Tiger beer to share as well. Tiger beer is award winning....but to me it tasted just like Coors Light....nothing special!

By this time it was late and we had to get a taxi back to the harbor. We needed two taxis for the majority of the day because there were five of us and only four could fit in each taxi. Unlike India, we actually have to wear seatbelts! And cramming 5 people into a car is illegal. So Kerry and Brittany got one cab and Me, Hannah, and Stephani got another. Except our driver was really old and couldn't hear. Instead of taking us to the Singapore Cruise Center, he took us to the River Cruise area and was trying to convince us this was the right place. We were so frustrated. At this point Brittany texted us wondering where we were. We finally got another cab and took it to the Cruise Center where we met up with Kerry and Brittany. They were in this grocery store which had....Tostitos and Queso imported from the US!!! Being the awesome Americans we are, and craving nachos more than ever, we paid and made our way back to the ship where we enjoyed a lovely dinner of plain pasta, chocolate cake roll, pineapple juice, tostito corn chips, queso and salsa. What a nutritious dinner! (Sorry mom!)

When we were walking back to our ship, a new cruise ship had pulled up next to ours and it is absolutely GINORMOUS compared to ours!!!! It looks incredibly nice in there!

Apparently many kids trated Singapore much like Mauritius and there were a bunch of kids coming onto the ship drunk. I heard a story from a guy who said Singapore immigration questioned him if all American college kids were this drunk and obnoxious all the time. They wanted to know if this really was a study abroad program or not. He quickly tried to reassure them that not all American kids are like this....not sure how much that worked. Immigration was definitely mad at many of our fellow students. It's so sad to leave such a bad impression of America on a country when we leave. I feel like I have a red stamp on my forehead screaming "American college student. Beware!" It's really annoying!

Overall Singapore was incredible! The architecture is breathtaking and even though its a city full of skyscrapers, they all look amazing and add some spark to the city. It's not a very claustrophobic city at all. The taxis are clean and the drivers are nice. People don't look at you crazy and thehy are very helpful. It's pretty easy to get around and everything is clean, the air quality is great and everything is well organized.

Some things I noticed about Singapore were that they are really into Montessori schools and advertise their preschools like they're colleges. The signs for preschools are huge and really nice! Apparently the school system here is one of the best in the world. People here also felt like they had a purpose. They weren't lazily napping on the sides of the streets or constantly bothering you. They seemed to be on a mission and had places to go! I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the city.

I guess that's all for now...it seems like I had more to say...Singapore was awesome and if given the opportunity, I would love to come back. There seems to be so much more to explore in this city!

No word yet on our mystery port!

Destination: Unknown

2011-03-15T12:12:00.000-04:00

This morning as I stumbled my way to my 8AM class, I sat down to the sounds of people chattering about Japan. At first I thought it was just talk of the ongoing devastation in Japan and the possibility that we won't go to our intended ports of call, Kobe and Yokohama. I then realized that it was more like a buzzed excitement coming from my classmates....it was too early in the morning for them to be this talkative. As I began to wake up a little more I realized that we weren't going to Japan at all! But how did everyone know and was this just another rumor flying around the ship that got started overnight?!

I decided to investigate and checked my email. I found an email from Chris titled Kait's Trip to Japan....interesting.

I was directed to the semesteratsea.org website where I found this message:

ISE Cancels Call on Japan; Alternative Port to be Announced in 48-72 Hours

March 14, 2011: The Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE), in consultation with our shipboard administration, has resolved to cancel the Spring 2011 Semester at Sea voyage's call to Kobe and Yokohama, Japan on April 4 and April 7 respectively. This decision follows our careful assessment of the conditions in Japan which raise serious concerns about health and safety as well as concerns that our visit would impede relief efforts currently underway. Our assessment also takes into consideration a recent travel warning for Japan issued by the U.S. State Department. Currently, ISE and senior voyage officials are evaluating alternative ports in consideration of safety, logistics, and maximum value to the academic and field programs. Thank you for your patience during this complex process. A revised voyage itinerary will be announced on the SAS website in the next 48-72 hours. Participants who have signed up for ISE-sponsored field trips in Japan will be reimbursed.

The ISE and SAS people were apparently busy late yesterday as we SAS students were sleeping the night away! I can't quite believe the news. I was very excited to go to Japan but am very thankful that SAS and ISE has made the decision to keep us safe from the ongoing tragedy taking place. It would have been a neat experience to help in the relief efforts. I am excited to find out our port of call after China....at this point, Destination: Unknown!

According to Dean Dan, three contenders are out there right now but suggestions are being taken. The countries are, Taiwan, South Korea, and the Phillipines.

Out of those I think I would pick South Korea. At first I said no way to it, but now that I think about it...considering all the crazy things happening between North and South Korea, I doubt I'd ever be able to go there again! The Phillipines would also be interesting as the majority of our crew is from the Phillipines. This could potentially create a better understanding and relationship with our crew and would expose us to the country that they grew up in! Now if I had my choice....I'd choose Australia but I think it's a tad bit far!

The next day or so will be full of all sorts of surprises! ISE and SAS as well as faculty and staff are working really hard to make sure we are committed to our new port and that we get the most out of it!

Our Voyage Tshirts are now wrong....as they sport the Japan flag....but it will be a cool story to tell and will be a reminder of how Mother Nature is the ultimate itinerary maker and breaker!

As for now, we are on our way to Singapore. We will be there from 8AM to 9PM tomorrow March 16th.

I'll keep everyone updated about our mystery port!

Please keep the people of Japan in your thoughts and prayers...

Goodnight everyone!

Mv Explorer Technology

2011-03-15T11:31:00.000-04:00

So today has just been full of all sorts of blunders with technology and I'm really just using this post as a way to vent!

It IS a wonder that we even have the capability to email, surf the net, and call home but really it would be nice if these capabilities actually WORKED!

-Today it took around an average of about 5 minutes per webpage to load

-To look at individual emails can take up to around 1.5 minutes for them to load

-Internet explorer repeatedly crashes

-Phone lines are down/ don't work/ or people hear silence from one end or the other

I'm really kind of fed up with it and would really like to be able to just check my email in 2 seconds or call up someone knowing that the phone will work, or not spend countless hours on computer homework when i could have spent a third of the time on it!

You think you're going to have so much more time on the ship to do things for yourself but really you just spend twice the amount of time waiting for things to work so really....you don't gain any time at all!

I realize this blog makes me sound like I don't appreciate what I have on this ship....but I really DO. Frustration just builds up a little bit!

So a message to parents/friends/future SAS'ers.....have patience!

Neptune Day Friends!

2011-03-14T10:25:00.001-04:00

Kerry and I Covered in Fish Guts!

2011-03-14T10:23:00.002-04:00

I don't know if this was actually fish guts but it sure did smell AWFUL!

Another part of Neptune Day is shaving your head. I would NEVER do it...but Kerry did and she rocks the look!

55 people shaved their heads with 18 of them being girls!

The Fish I Kissed!

2011-03-14T10:23:00.001-04:00

King Neptune aka Captain Jeremy - Neptune Day

2011-03-14T10:22:00.000-04:00

Thanks Spice Jet for Awesome Flights!

2011-03-14T10:21:00.000-04:00

The Taj at Sunset from the Agra Fort

2011-03-14T10:20:00.004-04:00

Agra Fort

2011-03-14T10:20:00.003-04:00

The Taj Mahal!

2011-03-14T10:20:00.001-04:00

Looking Touristy

2011-03-14T10:19:00.000-04:00

Enjoying some Chai! (Crazy hair day?!)

2011-03-14T10:18:00.002-04:00

Varanasi Riverfront

2011-03-14T10:18:00.001-04:00

Daily Baptism on the Ganges River

2011-03-14T10:17:00.001-04:00

Sunrise on the Ganges River

2011-03-14T10:16:00.002-04:00

Best Indian Food...EVER!

2011-03-14T10:16:00.001-04:00

Nightly Ceremony on the Ganges River

2011-03-14T10:15:00.000-04:00

The Crowded Streets of Varanasi, India

2011-03-14T10:14:00.000-04:00

Neptune Day

2011-03-12T02:58:00.000-05:00

Today is a reflection day so we don't have class. It's also Neptune Day (which is supposed to be when we cross the equator) and you basically "graduate" to someone who has passed the equator. Captain Jeremy dressed up as King Neptune and was painted green with a big white beard and holding a staff thing. All students get their suits on and we get fish guts dumped on us and then you jump in the pool. And then you kiss a fish and the rings of King Neptune and get a certificate. It was really fun!

Four Cities in FGour Days - India Part 2

2011-03-12T02:57:00.000-05:00

March 9^th

5:00 AM

Our group met in the lobby to set off on our train ride to Agra. We stepped outside into the chilly morning air and made our way to our taxi. On the way to the airport we stopped by a store to pick up our box breakfasts. We then walked from the store to the train station. It was crazy to see so many people up and traveling so early in the morning….welcome to the real world! There were many people sleeping all over the train station wrapped up in blankets. I’m not sure if they were waiting for a train or were just homeless and using it as a warm place to sleep. There was no security at the train station so we just printed out our tickets at one of the kiosks and waited for the train to arrive. It was kind of annoying and scary because me and two other girls were in a different car from the rest of the group. We found what we thought was the correct car and sat down. After us this large group of young school kids came onboard and we were told we were in the wrong seats. So we asked where we were supposed to sit and they directed us to one car further. This car must have been the next class up because it was very spacious and the people traveling in the car looked more upscale. There was a family in front of us that had the cutest kids ever. They would stand on the seats and smile and giggle at us throughout the entire ride. We were also served breakfast by the train stewards, and given a free bottle of water too! I just ate the sweet cookie that they gave us. The train ride was about two hours. We watched the sun rise over the horizon as we made our way towards Agra.

When we got there I could tell it was going to be a lot different from all the cities that we had been too. After walking out of the train station we were immediately swarmed by beggars. They would hold onto our clothes, poking us and trying to get us to give them our water bottles. I would have except it was the only water I had for the day and just really wasn’t comfortable with the situation. There were also many beggars who had deformities and some of the SAS kids would just take pictures of them and run away which was really sad and childish to see. We got into our vans and were greeted by our guide, Sunny. He gave us a background on the Taj Mahal. I could tell that this was going to be a very touristy kind of day.

We arrived at the building where we had to buy our tickets for the Taj. 750 rupees a piece got us a ticket, shoe booties, and complimentary water bottle. We had to take a limo golf cart to the actual entrance of the entrance. There are three entrances to the Taj; East, West and South. There is more at the Taj than just the Taj itself. There are other buildings on the complex that are a part of the temple as well. It was all very meticulously manicured and the grass looked like a golf course. It was really neat to set eyes on the Taj Mahal for the first time. I couldn’t believe I was actually there. The Taj Mahal is symmetrical. The only thing not symmetrical about it is the grave for his last wife who the Taj Mahal was built for. Her grave sits next to her husband’s whose of course, is right in the middle of the Taj. IT was a breathtaking sight but also full of lots of tourists. It’s incredibly hard to get your picture taken in front of because so many people want the same shot. Sunny showed us some great spots to take pictures….he was also taking pictures of us and acting as our own personal photographer. We were given shoe booties that we had to put on to walk inside the Taj and see the tombs. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside either. It smelled like dirty, sweaty feet in there especially because many of the locals just walk around barefoot and there are thousands of people going in the Taj every day. The Taj is made out of marble and has many inlayed semi-precious stones on the inside that are in a floral pattern. Its incredible work and very intricate. I can’t imagine building the Taj. It is such an incredible building. As we made our way through the other rooms of the Taj we learned a little more history. We ended up on the other side which looks out on to the Ganges River. I never realized the Taj was riverfront property! Apparently some guy wanted to build the exact same Taj Mahal but make it out of sandstone. It would have been called the Black Taj and been directly across the river from the Taj Mahal. We saw where it would have been built. After walking back through the Taj complex we were taken to lunch which was okay. It was kind of a dirty restaurant though.

After that we were taken to the Mini Taj. This temple was built just a few years before the Taj Mahal. The architecture from the Taj is inspired by this monument and looks quite similar. It was an interesting building to go through. By this point I am very used to leaving my shoes in order to go into the temples. I always wonder if my shoes will be there when I get back though! This monument was also on the Ganges River. After this stop we were taken to a marble store where they showed us the artisans making marble and inlaying semi precious stones just like the workers did when building the Taj. It was very interesting to see! We were also taken to a carpet store. All these stores are interesting because they are just like a home show. They sit you down, offer you soda and tea and make you watch them show you all of their goods. At the carpet place we also saw a man making an oriental rug. The shopkeeper explained how it worked. And then the next part was the best. He says that they like the small kids because they have good eyes and nimble fingers. Cory asked him…”Uhh so, how old are these kids then?” Of course the shopkeeper tried to cover his butt and said ohhh 20 to 30 years old. Yeah RIGHT! None of us bought anything from the store after we realized they employ child laborers! It’s sad to see how many people are turning their backs on this issue. I am currently working on a project for my global studies class on child labor in agriculture in India.

Our last monument stop was a fort at sunset. From the fort we could see the sunset and the Taj Mahal. During sunset the marble of the Taj turns a reddish color which is beautiful! The fort also had wild monkeys all over the place which was kind of crazy. And then these Indian guys followed our group all over the fort taking pictures of us. It was like having paparazzi and REALLY annoying and sketchy.

By this time it was getting late and our last stop was at a music store where some of our group tried out traditional Indian instruments like the Sitar which looks like a funky guitar. And then we sang “Jai Ho,” a song from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. Some Celine Dion was also thrown in there for fun. The Indian guys that were playing instruments knew SO many songs!

We made our way back to the Agra train station….again swarmed by begging children. We got our tickets and found our platform. Our train was late by 40 minutes or so. As we were standing on the platform, there were all these kids coming up to us begging for money. It was really sad. There was a child with a cleft palette that reminded me of those ads you see on TV or in the newspaper. It made me think that maybe this kid wouldn’t be begging on the streets if he had gotten help or money through one of those programs. After a long wait at the station, our train finally pulled in. We quickly hopped on and found our seats. We were given dinner on the train. It was really delicious! And also ice cream! A two hour train ride back to Delhi FLEW by. We got into the vans and took them back to Rockwell Plaza. Before I went to bed, there were three girls in the lobby all trying to connect to wifi. Every time all three were on they blew the power out for the entire block! It was kind of hilarious but I’m sure really annoying for the locals! I had an awesome sleep that night.

March 10^th

7AM

It was nice to have a little more time to sleep in. We had a delicious breakfast but it made me a little queasy afterwards. I don’t know what I would do without Pepto Bismol! We got to have a little more freedom that morning and walked around Delhi thinking that stores were be open. We realized that nothing was open and found out they wouldn’t open until 11:30 AM. So we found some rickshaw drivers who took us to yet another store with more textiles and goods. I am so tired of shopping!!! We went to the airport at 10:30 to catch our 12:45 flight. But it was delayed an hour and a half so that was kind of annoying waiting around the airport. I really just wanted to sleep. This flight was the only time I had a window seat which was really nice for resting my head but really cramped! All the other flights I had aisle seats. We got to Chennai around 5:30 and found a taxi. It was right at rush hour and so hot and cramped in the taxi that I couldn’t even breathe. Plus the pollution makes me think at least 5 years has been shaved off my life after being here. So after a loooong ride to the port we made it through security, bag search, and into dinner by 7:20, just ten minutes before it shut down. Thank God! I was exhausted.

March 11^th

8:30 AM

I am awakened to the sound of our room phone ringing. It was Brittany telling me they were going shopping today. Oh gosh. I decided to go with them since I hadn’t seen much of Chennai. We ended up going to Spencer’s Plaza which is basically a shopping mall. Comparing shopping habits to that of Indians is interesting. They have people outside the doors trying to lure you in but really they’re just annoying and you end up blowing them off. And then when you enter the store they walk around and follow you everywhere trying to make you buy stuff. They don’t understand the meaning of browsing. You’re able to barter in malls! After shopping we met up with Steph’s Indian friend Adeit (sp?). They had been traveling with him all week on their tour. It was fun to meet him. This is where we learned about the Tsunami and earthquake in Japan. We hope it will not impact our trip. We then went to the post office and bought stamps and then got back to the ship. It’s always so nice to be back! Dinner was bland as always especially compared to the Indian food we were eating all week. They broadcast a news station in the Union so we could be updated on the tsunami as well. And then we watched as we pulled out of port.

Things I’m Thankful For

Indoor plumbing

Driving laws

Public education

Toilet paper

Western style toilets

Sanitation laws

Garbage men

The right to wear whatever clothes we want

Hot water

Electricity

Building codes

Zoning laws

….and a LOT more!

I really wonder how people live in this country. I am absolutely exhausted. I guess if you grow up in India, you are used to it. I’m not sure if I’ll be back to India, at least for personal travel anyways! It has been a great experience but I am very ready to be on my way. So long India! Hello SINGAPORE!

If anyone has any recommendations for Singapore that would be awesome! Just comment below!
Thanks again to all my readers and positive comments! They keep me going and make my day!

Four Cities in Four Days - India

2011-03-10T13:01:00.001-05:00

4 cities + 4 days + 4 flights + 2 trains + 2 rickshaw rides + 2 hotels + countless bus rides = recipe for excitement, enlightenment and most of all...exhaustion!

What a crazy 4 days it has been traveling literally all over India. By plane, train, and bus, I think this is the most I have ever traveled in such a short amount of time. I feel like I've become a pro at going through Indian airport security.

I've decided to break this blog up into days to hopefully give it some sort of structure. I might not get through all four in one post.....but we shall see!

March 7th

3:45 AM I am up, dressed, packed and ready to meet my group in Tymitz square. It's an early morning and some people haven't slept but we are all so excited to start our journey. There were supposed to be 10 people in our group but only 8 of them showed up. There is another group of 8 kids doing the same trip as us as well as a group of 16 also doing the same thing. There was an SAS group of 90 kids heading out at the same time we were and we wanted to make sure that we beat them at the port gate so we could get to the airport on time. Then two people in our group went to try and find others so left them behind and they were to meet up with us at the airport. We hopped into a cab for 300 rupees a person, later finding out they ripped us off BIG time. As we drove to the airport there were a few roadblocks, blocking the entire road but our taxi driver just wandered over to the police car and made them open it for us. And the roads have these crazy lights on them that make it look like a futuristic highway. We got to the airport which is pretty funny because it's basically like an indoor/outdoor building. The check-in counters are all outside and the only thing inside are the gates and baggage claim. We checked into Spice Jet Airlines and then went through a series of checkpoints to check our bag of liquids, go through security, and pick up our tickets. We were pretty lost as to how the whole process goes but Spice Jet is really friendly and helped us out a lot! Security is SUPER touchy-feely and they basically grab you everywhere....and men and women go through seperate security lines because the men cannot scan the women. We were there about 2 hours early so had plenty of time to sleep and wander about the airport. It was really dingy and unclean. I decided to try my hand at the bathrooms. I hadn't used a public bathroom until this point. So as I walked in, I saw the squatty potties. Yikes. I really don't know how they do it. And then I spotted the "regular toilet." It said EWC on the door.....not sure what that means but I decided to go for it. I realized that they didnt have toilet paper and I hadn't brought any with me....uh oh. So even though I didnt go for the full out squatty potty experience, I got a little experience by not having TP to use! I came out of the stall and an Indian lady was staring me down. I'm not sure if it's because I'm white, or because I used a regular toilet (possibly there for the handicapped?). I don't know....it was really uncomfortable so I quickly left! When they announced our flight we got to the gate, they scanned our ticket, and then we hopped on a bus. This ended up being a common occurence in all the airports we went to. They take you on a bus to the airplane where they rip off the stub and you walk up some stairs into the plane. So that was different! A lot of times the bus rides were literally 30 seconds long. Spice Jet gives you a free water bottle on every flight. This ended up being really nice and saved us from buying water in every city. Security is pretty lax too and they let you bring on opened bottles of water that you got from outside the airport. So we left the city of Chennai behind and landed in Delhi. We had a six hour layover there. It went by fast since we had to find our tour guide, eat lunch, get our tickets and go through security again.

Our next flight took us to Varanasi. We found our tour guide....it was just like in movies where they hold up a sign for you. Ours read "Semester on Sea." We loaded up the vans and hopped inside. Ours had an astroturf floor inside....it was quite interesting. The ride was crazy with traffic. At one point this HUGE public bus jammed full of people was coming straight at us. It was passing another car and swerved around it, tilting off its center of balance. It was really scary. I saw some kids working in the fields too. Child labor is a major problem in India and is ignored by many people as we later learned. In some ways, the rural part of Varanasi that we were in reminded me of Ghana. There were many shacks, dirt and trash. We got to our hotel, New Temple Town, where there was some sort of problem with fitting all three groups into the hotel. At one point we thought our group of 8 would have to sleep all together. It was all worked out in the end. We then got into some bicycle rickshaws which took us to the Ganges River for sunset. Barely two of us could fit into each rickshaw and it's so funny because we saw family's of four on these things. Our driver was coughing the whole way, while also avoiding cars, motorcyclists, cows, dogs, people, goats and autorickshaws that were literally coming at us in all directions. There were thousands of people everywhere and we were in the middle of rushhour traffic. It was really neat to have this local experience. Rickshaws are a common mode of transportation for locals and very cheap. It's pretty funny to watch them drive because even though there are lanes, they are not used. Cars have signal lights but they arent used. Instead they blast their horns every chance they get. We called them "Horn happy." As we drove through the traffic there was loud music playing in the streets.

We finally got out and continued walking toward the river. We passed this huge caouldron which is there for people to put money into for the homeless. If you donate, it is good karma. We saw a marriage going on as well. These are public spectacles in which anyone can join in and walk to the marriage center. You never know how many people will be at your wedding! We made our way to the Ganges Riverfront. Here there is a nightly ceremony that many people attend. Honestly I cant remember exaclty what it is about. They use seven elements of earth during the ceremony...some of which are air, fire, and water. It was a verylong ceremony and we had a birds eye view of it from atop a building. People were watching the ceremony from boats in the water as well. And then the craziest thing happened. As we know...the cow is sacred in the hindu religion. Basically what this means is the cows are literally free to roam anywhere. So as this ceremony is going on, this cow wanders into these group of local people who get very scared and scatter everywhere. No one does anything about the cow and lets it mosy on over to the pile of trash to find something to eat. It was a very funny sight! After the ceremony we walked back through the streets passing many begging children, handicapped persons and beggars. It was sad to see and many of the kids were asking us for food. We didnt have any to give. We ended up walking to this restaurant which was a whole in the wall. We would never have found it without our tour guide. Our guide told us he takes us there because no one ever gets sick and it's so true! It was the best Indian food EVER. We ordered some naan bread which is amazing. We wanted plain, buttered, cheese and garlic naan and the waiter thought we were crazy but we ate it all! YUM! We also had rice, green curry, spicy sauces, and mango pickles. These palette cleanser seeds were given to us with our check and we all ate a huge amount of food for around $5 each. We went back to the hotel in the bicycle rickshaws. We were excited to see our room had a shower, toilet, TP, and TV! I stayed in a room with a girl Ali who is super cool! We had to be ready to go by 5AM the next morning so we quickly went to bed. Of course....both our alarms didnt go off the next morning so it was a little bit stressful!

March 8th

5:00 AM

We met in the hotel lobby and got into vans which took us to the Ganges River again. The Ganges River is a holy place where the bodies of the dead are burned and their ashes are placed into the river. Our group of 8 got into a boat. It was really cold, dark, and windy outside. A boy about the age of 14 rowed our boat. We went all along the riverside looking at the buildings. Many prominent people own the buildings along the river, though they don't look like much. We also saw a mint green colored building where our tour guide was born and raised. As the sun began to get closer to the horizon, it got lighter and many people could be seen splashing themselves with the holy water from the Ganges. It's basically like a daily baptism and removing of sins. People were also washing their clothes along the river. We saw school children who were learning tradional hindu practices. They were doing yoga as well. These school children belong to the class in India's long-standing caste system which would allow them to become priests later in life.

We made our way to the part of the riverside where bodies were being burned. It takes a very long time, as the fire has to be hot enough. Children under the age of 14 years of age are not burned, but instead bound to stones and placed into the river. Next we made our way to a riverside Buddhist temple. There were many kids pestering us to buy things from them. We were told never to buy from the children, as the money is usually never going to them. When we got to the temple, we removed our shoes and walked inside. A white dot of paint was placed on our forehead between the eyes to cool the mind and makes you not able to be angry. This was a Kama Sutra temple and had many intricate and explicit carvings. It's intersting that India is so reserved yet Kama Sutra originated here. We then had a city orientation where we wandered through many back alleys and "holy streets" of Varanasi. We passed many children going to school. There was trash, poop, and urine everywhere. Again, there were cows in these very tiny alleyways and we had to pass them which was kind of scary. We made our way to this temple where we could see a building with a solid gold cupula. It was so cool! The security to get into this temple was very tight and security feels you up so much. When we exited the temple, we were given Chai tea (Masala) in clay cups. It was the best Chai I have ever had and I am obsessed with it now! We got to keep the clay cups too! Next, we continued walking through the streets. As we began to round a street corner, I could hear yelling that sounded like panick. Then our tour guide jumped to one side as a cow and two bulls literally rounded the corner and almost ran into us. It was so scary and it felt like we had just participated in The Running of the Bulls in Spain. It was INTENSE!

We visited many temples that day including a monkey temple! There were wild monkeys everywhere! Orange paint was placed on our forehead here. Not sure why...We then went to the University. It has over 30,000 students and emplys 2,000 faculty. (Hopefully those numbers are right...) It is a huge campus. We went to a temple there which was made of marble. It was very relaxing and felt cool inside. It was a great place to sit, relax, and meditate. It also had many scriptures on the walls which were interesting to read. We made our way back to the hotel for breakfast around 10AM where we ate chocolate cereal, fruit, beans, and some kind of delicious bread. Indian food is my kind of breakfast!

After breakfast we went to yet another temple. It had prayer flags which were really neat. Following this was the archaeology museum and also the silk factory. We were able to see the workers making silk scarves and bedding. The workers, work for 9 hours a day and make about 13 cm of progress per day. Lot's of work goes into the silk! After this we headed back to the airport where we flew back to Delhi. We got into our van, which this time was driven by a man with a turban and had black light mood lighting inside with hardwood floors. Quite the ride! Delhi is much different from Varanasi. Very city like, updated, and still very dirty. We stayed at Rockwell Plaza. It was so exciting to see that in the lobby there was a free computer to use with internet!!! Of course I hopped on to facebook for a while! The rooms were nice minus the bathroom which was basically a single room with a sink, toilet, and shower that had no bathtub so the water just went all over the place. The best part though was the bed which was super comfy and i got a great nights sleep. We had to wake up the next morning at 5 to catch our train to the Taj Mahal in Agra!

To be continued...

Intro to India

2011-03-06T08:15:00.001-05:00

I'm going to preface this with I love America.

The past four days have been filled with nothing but worry and craziness. I am very excited that I am doing a tour to Delhi, Agra, and Varanasi rather than figuring it out on my own like some people are doing. Even this has become somewhat stressful. So to start out, our flight leaves at 7:30 AM on March 7th. Which means in order to allow us ample time to get together, get taxis, and catch our flights, we were supposed to meet in Tymitz Square (the reception area on the ship) at 4:30 AM. So this plan sounded wonderful until a few things popped up. One of them is that there is a curfew in the port area from 12 midnight to 8 AM meaning that no one can be in the area at this time and we would be restricted to the ship. And then they said that since this is an industrial port, we are not permitted to walk through the port area, plus India is on high security risk. So they have a shuttle running all day from 8 AM - midnight we're told....except we need it to run 24/7 so they tell us they'll work on it. As of this morning at about 10AM we still hadn't heard whether there would be this shuttle service and had no idea what we were going to do. So the kid who set up the tour said he would scout out some hotels and we would just stay in one of those overnight. Except there's one problem....there's a Cricket World Cup game being held in India tonight....so all hotels are most likely full. I left the ship this morning not knowing how I would get to the airport or hotel or even meet up with my group. I wasn't going to wait around all day for news. So I left the ship just a tid but frenzied.....more like SO scared!!!! But as Chris always says...everything falls into place and works out in the end! I tried to keep that mindset all day....and sure enough there is a 24/7 shuttle and we're meeting in Tymitz Square at 4:30 AM. Thank God that logistical nightmare is over. This little blurb doesn't even give justice to the amount of worrying I have been doing for the past 4 days.

Anyways! Within the first ten minutes of being off the ship, I was driving a rickshaw through the streets of India....yeah you read that right....not sitting in a rickshaw but DRIVING one. If you don't know what a rickshaw is, it's this taxi thing with three wheels. One wheel in front and two in the rear. It can fit 5 people MAX if you're squished in and one person is sitting all cozied up next to the driver. The steering wheel is in the middle and it's like a 4 wheeler...you twist the handle to rev it and the more you twist it, the faster you go. These things are wild....when you're in one of them they drive SO close to the other cars that you could honestly "pick someone's nose" as Kerry said. They swerve around through traffic. The two other girls who Kerry had been on a trip with before, as well as Kerry, also drove the rickshaw. We were laughing and smiling the whole way. There were random shoes in the road that you had to swerve around, goats, cows, children, bikes, mopeds...so crazy. It felt like you were in a racing game like Mario Kart and it was so unreal that we were like..."Wouldn't it be hilarious if a little box popped up for you to drive through and get points?!" The inside of the rickshaw on the dashboard had these stickers of different Gods....many of them which we had learned about during preport. We really just wanted to go to this market but we were warned that rickshaw drivers end up hanging on to you and taking you everywhere...even places you DONT want to go. Sure enough....that's what happened.

Our first stop was the ATM. Of course my card didn't work in it. What else is new?! And then I tried another card that worked....not realizing later that I got out 500 Rupees and not 5000. 1USD=45 rupees. So basically I got out around $10. Awesome.....I really hate foreign ATMs. We drove by the beach....no bikinis in India. And then we drove to this store to buy Saris...the pieces of cloth that Indian women wear. The cloth is about 3 meters long. We were the only one's in there looking at beautiful cloths, silk, etc. and then ten minutes later, BAM. SAS kids everywhere. There were probably about 30 of us huddled into this store. Then we were taken by our rickshaw driver to another store. All of them are nice and sell beautiful cloth, crafts, jewelry etc but it got to the point where it was just STUFF. It became really overwhelming. And when we would ask our driver questions.....you couldn't understand his English at all and then he would get frustrated at us.

Next he stopped the car along the streets. The streets by the way are crazy. People everywhere, crossing the streets. There are no lines on the road and traffic lights are actually just recommendations to stop and don't actually mean...."hey there's a truck full of hay about to plow your little dinky rickshaw over so you should stop here." The most intense driving I have ever seen. There are many old homeless people on the streets and for the most part the public sphere is very male dominated. You don't see too many women walking about unless they are with another man or if they are working in the stores. There were tons of fruit stands and men on bicicles with basically a table atttached to the front, selling watermelon.

So back to my actual story...we stopped along the side of the street and were led into this store. We were told to take our shoes off.....considering there is poop and trash and dirt on the streets....I really wasn't keen on this idea. But handed over my filthy Nikes and stepped into the streets in my white socks. We were led into this Hindu temple where hundreds of people were gathered around. Most of them were just talking but had many fragrant flowers all around them. We were told that it was a big marriage day. We wanted to get pictures so we gave our driver our camera and then about 20 Indian's got into our picture and were SO excited to have their pictures taken with us. Then a lady said "I give you my address and you send me picture from America" so that's what we did!

I've gotta say....my feet were BURNING on the ground. I had socks on....remember most of these people are walking around barefoot. I'm really not sure how they do it. And I was constantly jumping over puddles of who knows what. I decided to think of it as water...but I'm pretty sure it was urine. Then we were shown this pond that had a ton of catfish in it and fed them bananas which was gross. I hate catfish. We saw some cows in the temple too. Cows are sacred in India so I guess that's why they were there? I don't know...By this time we were hungry so our driver took us to this vegetarian restuarant. We realized we didn't have hand sanitizer. The one thing you NEED in India. And then we remembered in India you eat with your hands....yikes. We ordered some rice which was super gloppy and camewith other spices, curry, peppers and hot sauce. Luckily it was served with a spoon! It was incredibly spicy. And I could feel the food going right through me.....thank goodness I remembered to take Pepto Bismol this morning.

After that we were taken to store after store after store. We really just wanted to go to an open air market but I guess those don't exist here in Chennai? And there were SAS kids everywhere you looked. When you realize that all the rickshaw drivers all go to the same places you ralize they have a system. They take you to the stores of their friends and relatives. You end up buying stuff and after all 800 SAS kids have been there, they've made BANK. It's so obvious that they've just set us all up. I got exhausted from shopping and I was tired of looking at the same stuff over and over again....I'm not a "stuff/worthless souvenir" kind of person like so many of these kids are. I was worried about how I would get with my tour group for tomorrow at that point and really just wanted to go back to the ship. So we drove there, where I was getting dropped off (the other girls stayed on). I handed the guy 200 rupees and he just looked at me and said too little. That's the price he told us at the beginning of the day! I couldn't believe it. I only had 500 and I need some for tomorrow! So this was the first time during this entire trip where I literally broke down and held back tears as much as I could. Kerry ended up covering me and I figured out how to check in with the scary port guards, find the shuttle, and get back on the ship.

This study abroad program was seriously made for me. It's so nice to be able to come back to a place you know is going to be the same, where it will be Americanized and safe and feel like home. Seeing the sign for a 24/7 shuttle and checking my email to find out that we really are leaving from Tymitz square was the icing on the cake after a long stressful, busy, dirty, day. It felt like the Amazing Race all day. Crazy!

Pray that the rest of my time in India goes just a little bit smoother for me.....I sure would like it too! That's what you get when you travel though.

Thank you to everyone who is reading these blogs and leaving such positive, uplifting, awesome comments! They make my day, they really really do!!!

That's all for now....I'm sure I'll have some crazy stories after I come back from my TRIP TO THE TAJ MAHAL!!!!!

Floats

2011-03-02T15:16:00.000-05:00

These were floats for a Hindu march to a statue. The Hindu's had been fasting for 14 days and this was the culmination of their fasting. They made elaborate floats, dressed in white, and walked to the holy statue which I believe was 40 km away.

Flic en Flac Beach

2011-03-02T15:12:00.001-05:00

Mauritian Lunch

2011-03-02T15:09:00.001-05:00

Adventure Park & Beach- Loving the Harness Look!

2011-03-02T15:07:00.001-05:00

Overlooking the beaches of Mauritius

2011-03-02T15:06:00.001-05:00

Adventure Park & Beach ....Loving the harness look

2011-03-02T15:03:00.001-05:00

Indian Ocean Pit Stop

2011-03-02T05:40:00.000-05:00

This morning at 7:30 AM Captain Jeremy came over the loud speakers to announce that we would be making an emergency stop at the Island of Diego Carlos (I think that was the name). This island is a top secret US military base in the Indian Ocean and we were given special permission to stop here due to emergency medical circumstances for a number of peopla aboard our ship. They would be emergency airlifted to Singapore where they have the best chance of medical treatment. We were told to not take pictures of the island and that a number of armed US Marines would be boarding the ship to do a security sweep. I rushed to get up and ready for class a little early so I could see what this top secret island looked like!!! As I stood on the starboard side, I looked out at the island and saw....nothing. Just an island with lots of scraggly bushes and some cell tower looking things. A white dome which looked like a planetarium was situated not too far from the beach. We were told in global studies that there is an airstrip on the island and that the size of the island accounts for more than 50% of the chain of islands we are currently passing. We were also told that there are Coconut Crabs on the island that can reach sizes up to 3 feet across and can open coconuts with their claws....ewww!

I was in class, but my friend Kerry said that she saw two small boats pull up to ours as we were floating out in the ocean (We didn't end up docking....most likely for security reasons). One of the boats had an American flag and the other had a British flag. A number of armed marines boarded the ship with HUGE guns in hand, thought to be AK-47's. They also had a German Shephard with them. Nurse Randy was seen throwing SAS tshirts to the Marines as a "thank you" present!

Rumors say that two students and a crew member got off the ship with luggage. We're hoping we'll be able to meet back up with them when we are in Singapore in a few weeks.

I wonder if all voyages have this many medical stories to tell!? I sure hope not....it seems we've had too many!! It was quite an interesting announcement to wake up to and certainly made the entire ship very curious! You must have to be very flexible when you're the captain of a cruise ship, especially one full of college students!

Thank You!

2011-03-01T14:28:00.001-05:00

I wish I could do this more personally but I'm unable to directly access my blog due to the limited internet usage we have. As my Mom said, "amazing kindness from an anonymous person!" A huge thank you to Linda for reading my blog. It is so much fun to know that people are finding it and following my Semester at Sea adventures! I really appreciate your kindness!

Thank you!!!

-Kaitlyn

Where are the pictures?!

2011-02-28T01:02:00.000-05:00

People keep asking for pictures of Mauritius....and unfortunately there won't be any more pictures until my computer decides to start working again (which may never happen if my power cord doesnt find me in India!) I can't resize pictures anymore because I'm relying on the computer lab computers. I'm sorry! I'm bummed too!

Mauritius

2011-02-27T09:28:00.000-05:00

Our glorified pit stop in Mauritius was awesome!

Thanks to Pete and Aunt Debbie for awesome letters! I love the lobster note cards!!!! And Pete, thanks for all the cool India info!

We arrived at about 8AM and went through immigration to get another stamp in our passports!

I had a Semester at Sea planned trip today called Adventure Park and Beach. We headed off at 9AM and I really had no idea what to expect from the description that SAS had provided us. Our tour guide's name was Ejazz or that's what it sounded like anyways! He was a really nice guy and very sarcastic which was awesome! We went to the South East part of the island and along the way went through many little towns and villages. Mauritius is interesting because it reminded me a lot of Ghana. There are many poor areas but there are also some very rich areas where the "White Mauritian" live. These people tend to own the sugar cane plantations which is a major industry in Mauritius. The other major industries are tourism and textiles. We learned that the textile workers work 6 days a week for 11 hours a day and make around $600 USD per month.

As we made our way to the Adventure Park, we drove up these mountain slopes and stopped at a point where we could take pictures of the mountains and beaches below. It was an incredible view! We drove further up the mountain where we finally got to the reception area of Adventure Park. We signed our lives away and got situated into our harnesses. We were told to put on bug spray (which no one bought) and we definitely learned our lesson. I have never seen so many mosquitoes on my legs in my life. Luckily they don't itch...yet. We were also warned that Adventure Park was for people with moderate strength and exercise levels....they weren't kidding!!

We were in charge of our own carabineers during the entire ropes course. We had to clip two carabineers onto a safety line. The first thing we did was cross seven different suspension bridges. The first one was very close to the ground but as we got further, the bridges got further away from the ground and the wooden planks on the bridge got further apart so sometimes you would have to hop from one to the next. There were rope handrails on all of them except one. On this one I held on for dear life to the carabineers that were attached to the safety line. After each bridge we had to remember to unclip our two carabineers and reclip them to the safety line on the next bridge. It was so much fun!

After that we made our way up a really steep hill to the Parcour course. This course was a little bit more difficult; requiring more strength and skill. The climb to this course just about wiped me out...and the course itself was brutal but probably one of the most fun ropes course experiences ever!

It consisted of seven different challenges and bridges. The first was just a rope suspension net that we had to cross. It was pretty easy but the mud made the ropes very slippery to climb on. The next was essentially the same as the suspension bridges except the planks were very far apart and we had to jump from one to the next. There were no hand ropes on this one. Instead, there were ropes hanging down from the safety line that we had to hold on to in order to balance and jump. The next one was a rope net that had a top and two sides. There was no bottom so the rope net on the sides swung around making it really difficult to balance on. I was getting quite the work out and my arms were exhausted. This obstacle basically had me doing the splits the entire way! The next one basically had logs hanging down from two ropes that were attached on either end. They swung back and forth like a swing. We had to jump from log to log like standing on the seat of a swing and jumping from one to the next. I felt like I was in a Donkey Kong game!! The next obstacle was the most strenuous. It was just a huge rope net hanging from the trees and we had to scale it to get to the other side. It required a lot of upper body strength. I literally couldn't even unclip my carabineer at the end. My arms had no strength left in them.

The next obstacle was the BEST. A zip line from one tree to the next. We were responsible for rigging up the pulley at the start and taking it off and clipping it back onto our harness at the finish. It was a great ride and way too short! I loved it! The final obstacle consisted of four ropes and the safety line. There were two ropes for your feet and two very loose ropes to hold on to. People were falling all over the place. I decided to forget holding on and shuffled along using the foot ropes. I held on to the safety line with both hands and balanced the whole way across, never falling once. I was proud of myself!!

I made my way back to reception where we were greeted with a washcloth to take all the dirt off, some water and soda, and a Mauritian meal. the lunch consisted of chicken with curry, rice, vegetables, and some kind of small round black beans that were on the rice. It tasted amazing after the strenuous exercise we had just gone through! We piled into the buses and headed to Flic en Flac beach. The sand was beautiful and so fine! There was coral everywhere and the water felt like a bathtub. It was so relaxing! After an hour or so on the beach we had to head back to the ship. The day FLEW by!

Here comes the scary/sad part for Semester at Sea...

Our trip was in two buses and our bus noticed that there was a boy in the other bus that looked drunk and out of it. Our tour guide went to investigate and he came back saying it was like nothing he had ever seen before. Someone found out that he had met up with some friends on the beach and most have gone to a bar to drink. They think he either did drugs or drank Petrol. On the bus ride home he was totally unresponsive and people were holding his head up. When we got to the ship there were about five guys that tried to carry him to the pier. He looked unconscious and literally almost on the verge of death...he was very white and his eyes were rolling around. It was very scary. The medical staff rushed out in a wheel chair but he was so dead weight that he couldn't even stay in it. So the man in charge of discipline on the ship, Al, and who also happened to be on our trip, picked him up and put him in one of the vans where they were going to drive him to the hospital. The hospitals in this country though, are very unreliable and we're pretty sure they don't have the things necessary to take care of him. Most likely we will leave Mauritius and him behind and he will end up going home. I just think it's so dumb of these kids to spend their 8 hours in port getting absolutely trashed to the point of near death. So many kids did all you can drink catamaran booze cruises and came back trashed. And then they get in trouble with the ship. There are so many more deserving kids that could be on this trip. The crew was saying that this is the most rowdy, rude, and drunken bunch of kids that have ever been on an SAS voyage. Hopefully kids will learn after seeing the state that this student was in...

Mauritius was a great day trip and I'm sure there is a bunch to see, but overall 8 hours was the perfect amount of time and I had a BLAST at Adventure Park!

Here are some funny things I saw in Mauritius:

Mauritius Post "More than just letters"

So delicious. So Mauritius.

Laughing Cow cheese advertisements were painted on buildings everywhere...

Spotted a Pepsi ad...first one I've seen since....the US? Coke is definitely winning!

Doom. -A bug spray ad that was hilarious

On to India!

Goodbye Africa

2011-02-22T14:01:00.000-05:00

It was an amazing time in Cape Town and I'm pretty sure I'll be finding myself here again, sometime during my lifetime. We thought our time might be extended here for a few more hours since we lost a day but no such luck.

We pulled out of port and watched as it faded into the night. It was neat to see Cape Town and Table Mountain lit up at night from a distance.

The highlight of the night was tacos for dinner!!! They were delicious but I wish they had done it when we were at sea because we had it right after a delicious midday snack before we boarded the ship! Oh well...still a great surprise!

On to Mauritius!

Things I noticed about Cape Town....

Coke didnt come in glass bottles :(
Many stores are really similar to American stores like Simply Asia=Noodles & Co
The mall was HUGE and had the widest range of stores from your average grocery store to Gucci and Burberry
The bathrooms in the mall are ridiculously clean and fancy. The sinks looked like a flat countertop but they were slanted just a tiny bit so that the water ran ito a skinny basin that ran along the mirror edge....basically I was impressed!!!
Chocolate Frio's are delicious
They're really into ice cream/gelato
Everyone is so nice and wants to know who we are, about SAS, where we're going and how long we're staying
Everything is clean!!!
Their accents are amazing
It's a very active city
Advertising is awesome and according to one lady, the industry is doing extremely well
World Cup soccer jerseys are very hard to find : (
Vuvuzelas are everywhere
They seem to be more into rugby than soccer (The 2011 Rugby World Cup is being played here as well as the Cricket World Cup)

Thinking of Chris

2011-02-21T16:40:00.001-05:00

There are a ridiculous number of Audis around here

The Tablecloth & Sunset

2011-02-21T16:38:00.000-05:00

2011-02-21T16:37:00.003-05:00

Table Mountain

2011-02-21T16:37:00.001-05:00

What a view!

Peanut Butter Jar Plant (This one's for Chris!)

2011-02-21T16:33:00.000-05:00

This was actually a tree but when I picked off the...leaves?....they were exactly like the peanut butter jar plant! But in miniature form! I was excited!

Chillin with the Giraffes

2011-02-21T16:31:00.000-05:00

Excited for a Safari!!!

2011-02-21T16:30:00.000-05:00

River & Mountain Overlook on the Forgotten Highway

2011-02-21T16:28:00.000-05:00

Inverdoorn Game Reserve & Cheetah Rehabilitation Center

2011-02-20T15:41:00.001-05:00

What I love about South Africa is that you can experience all different types of terrain and environments in so little time. Today we saw everything from city life to dry Sahara to country life and mountain ranges. We squeezed every ounce out of this day that we possibly could and my current mood is exhausted, irritable, tired, homesick and I should probably just go to sleep but I am always anxious to write these blog posts as soon as I get back on the ship.

Today we (Me, Hannah, Alyssa, Amber, Stephanie) had to be at the circle in town at 6:40 AM where the tour bus would pick us up and drive us to Inverdoorn Game Reserve. At 7 the van finally arrived to pick us up. We were getting worried that we were standing in the wrong place! There were three other ladies in the van, two from Brazil and one from Argentina who are in Cape Town to take English language classes. It is very cheap for them to take the classes here compared to in their home countries or in Europe. So we got to practice some English with them along the way. Our tour guide, Bruce was really cool and knowledgeable about the route that we were taking to get there. He took us on a scenic route which ended up taking about 3 hours to get to. We took the Forgotten Highway which was a route they originally thought would be the main route from Cape Town to Johannesburg. As you drive on this route, you realize why it is called the Forgotten Highway. It is now mostly a scenic route that winds around the most incredible, huge, cloud covered mountains and through wine lands and pear and apple farms. The mountains form a ravine where there is a river at the bottom and many people camp there. Since today was a Sunday summer morning, we saw many people enjoying their breakfasts at the campsites. As we made our way high up into the mountains we saw many troupes of baboons which were everywhere! They were scampering up and down the windy roads looking for foliage to eat. Since it was so early in the morning, it was the perfect time for all of them to come out and we got quite a few good pictures! Bruce was telling us that the scenic viewpoints along the road have to have special trashcans with lids that lock to keep the baboons from getting inside. But the males are still strong and smart enough to rip the lids off. It was quite a contraption...they're VERY smart!

As we made our way closer to our destination, the land began to get arid. The trees disappeared and mostly scrubby bushes and thorns grow on the ground. The road turned to a desert brown sandy dirt color at the entrance of the reserve. It was very bumpy but nothing like what we would experience with the safari ride! We piled out of the van at the main building of the reserve. There are many geologists that set up permanent camp there to research. The site was beautiful with canopies and tables and chairs with tea, coffee, and cookies to begin our day. It was funny because we ran into a whole group of SAS kids who stayed the night there -you can do an evening and morning safari with overnight accommodations. We piled into the safari vehicles at 10:30 AM and set out on a 2.5 hour ride to spot the big five (lion, elephant, rhino, leopard, water buffalo...minus elephants since they didn't have them there).

First of all....safari vehicles are the most uncomfortable vehicle I have ever ridden in. The safari vehicles in Animal Kingdom at Disney World are spacious and luxurious compared to these!!! I literally had to sit sideways the whole time to give myself enough leg room. The first animal we looked for was a lion. The lions are kept in a separate part of the reserve. our safari guide, Eugene, told us that 10 years ago, farmers would raise lions in an abusive environment where they feed them and make them big as fast as possible with the intention to kill. Then people would come to these places where they would pay 150,000 Rand to kill the lions. The lions would be drugged and placed in a small area where the people would then shoot them. This practice was made illegal 8 years ago. Inverdoorn buys the lions from the farmers and takes care of them, feeding them lean meals and introducing them into the wild where they can learn to hunt on their own. The fence that separates the lions from the other animals was really neat...all the fences are like it...the gate uses solar panels and motion detection to open for the safari vehicles and they have to make sure they close behind the vehicles so the lions don't get out! We were given specific instructions not to stand up in the vehicle as that ruins the outline of the vehicle and the lions pick you out as an individual and could attack. It took quite a while to spot the lion which was hiding in the brush. We only got a glimpse of her.

Next we saw zebra and water buffalo which were very impressive...kind of ugly and scary looking. At this point Eugene said we had a bit of a problem. Something about the vehicle overheating. We were literally 20 steps from these water buffalo. He got the vehicle going and stopped a little further to adjust some things. We were off again very quickly. Giraffes were next. We were able to get out of the vehicle and actually walk up close to the giraffes. Of course people walked way too quickly and scared them away but it was neat to get more up close and personal with them. We looked for the Rhino for quite a while but never found him. He was hiding from us the whole time! We also saw some springbok which are kind of like kangaroos. Some kind of gazelle or similar animal were grazing by a pond where the hippos live. We saw them sticking their eyes above the water. Lastly, we went to the Cheetah Reserve where they breed Cheetahs. They are going extinct and apparently some son of a royal Indian man who lived in the Taj Mahal wiped out a whole species of Cheetah. Not sure how he did that..! The cheetahs were gorgeous though and really lazy! We were able to get very close to them. They told us how they exercise mostly the female Cheetahs because it increases their body temperature and ovulation where as when male Cheetahs run, their body temperature increases and burns their sperm. This means that the females are exercised the most to increase breeding.

We made our way back to base camp where the most amazing lunch and dessert was waiting for us. We had a mango salad, chicken, pasta, rice, rolls, chocolate pudding and coconut cake. Scrumptious and I most definitely enjoyed seconds! After that we were asked if we brought our "costumes" aka swim suits...and if we wanted to swim in the pool. No one brought theirs of course.

We all piled back into Bruce's van along with a guy, Sam, from Australia who had stayed at Inverdoorn overnight for their evening/morning safari. He was really cool! We took the highway back to make the trip a little faster. Bruce asked us if we had been to Table Mountain which is the mountain that Cape Town is known for. We hadn't been there yet so Bruce suggested that we get dropped off at the lower cable cars and ride up to the top. He took everyone home, driving past Bishop Hill where all the really really nice houses are and dropped us and Sam off at the cable cars. These cable cars are AWESOME. They hold about 65 people and take you super fast to the top of the mountain. It was sunset at this point and the clouds (the "tablecloth") were rolling over the mountain. It was the most incredible view I have ever seen overlooking Cape Town, the harbor and you could see Robben Island (Where Nelson Mandela was kept in prison) in the distance. There were so many couples up there sitting and enjoying a picnic dinner with champagne and watching the sunset. The view was absolutely breathtaking and I just can't get over the view. We were up there for about a half hour taking pictures. It was FREEZING. Many people were wearing winter coats and long pants. They were prepared! We looked silly in our shorts, flip flops, and tank tops! Luckily I had a fleece jacket with me!!! We made our way back down the mountain via cable car and took a taxi back to the ship. Home sweet home! It's always an amazing feeling walking back onto the ship.

It was a jam packed fun filled day. Tomorrow I am going on a Freedom in Creation trip to Capricorn Primary School where we will do some art projects with township kids. It should be exciting! I just realized that I need to get money out of the ATM.....I guess I'll figure that out bright and early tomorrow. So much to do here in Cape Town and so little time!

Cape Town, South Africa

2011-02-19T16:15:00.001-05:00

First off: Thanks to everyone who sent me mail! Aunt Debbie & the Harpers!

Second: If you don't have time to read this really long post, here's the synopsis: I LOVE Cape Town.

We were supposed to arrive in Cape Town on Thursday morning but as many of you know that definitely didnt happen. It was such a tease. We were headed straight to Cape Town on course on Thursday morning. It was an amazing sight to see 21st century civilization. There were seals in the ocean flipping and barking as though they were greeting us. As we got closer to the harbour the ship began to turn to the left and eventually made a full 180 degree turn. We were all wondering what was happening and trying to rationalize the abrupt turn around. "Maybe we're backing in?..."

Announcements (which we call The Voice) finally came on stating that its too windy for us to go into the harbour and that the winds are being monitored to get us in as soon as possible. An hour passes as we continue to watch Cape Town disappear into the distance. We decide to head back to bed in disappointment thinking that by lunch we'll most definitely be there.

As I woke up before lunch and looked out the window...Cape Town was no where to be seen. Lunch was a disappointment. The Voice came on again and said they'd be playing Karate Kid in the Union to pass the time....No thank you. By this time it's about 1PM and we decide to relive our childhoods and watch Beauty and the Beast. Surely we'll be to Cape Town by dinner time....

We stuff our faces with popcorn, candy, and ice cream for a mid afternoon snack. And then put on our hoodies and sweatpants and pull up some deckchairs to the railings and watch the ocean for another hour. We pass the time by playing the Price is Right on our iPods. Cape Town is still no where to be seen. And we also see some other ships out in the ocean circling. Dinner finally comes around and its stirfry! And then the movie Salt followed by Toy Story 3 plays in the Union so we're SUPER stoked. After the movies there was an open mic night to help take our minds off things. It was time for bed when we were told the winds were cooperating and we would surely be there between 11PM and 1AM. Tons of kids planned on getting off the ship in the middle of the night to explore and hike some mountatins to watch the sunrise. I chose to hit the sheets and wake up to a docked boat in the morning. We were planning on horseback riding on Friday so we were going to meet at 7AM for breakfast.

As I wake up to the annoying beep of my alarm on Friday morning....I think to myself "The boat is still rocking...and the boat doesnt rock while we're in port. What is going ON??" I find my friends for breakfast and we're all in a very grumpy state. We want to know why we arent there and WHEN we will be! We're no where near Cape Town. And the Google Earth map that shows the rout the ship has taken is absolutely insane- it was a bunch of circles like the Captain had been stearing the ship while sipping on some hard liquor! So we decided to hit the sheets again and wait it out. At that point we couldnt handle the thought of another extra day on the ship, joking that we should try out the lifeboats and take them to shore. As I was sleeping, The Voice came on saying we should attend the Positive Energy meeting in the Union where they would send good vibes in hope we'd make it to shore.

At about 10 AM we were told that we were on Pilot's watch where the South African Pilots (the tug boats) would tell us when it was safe to come in to the harbour. By 11 we were being tugged into the harbour and it was an amazing feeling knowing we would get off the ship! I watched as the people on the docks were thrown the huge ropes that secure us to the dock. They literally use an electrical cord and tie it around the rope and then throw it to the guys on the dock who wind it up as the huge ship ropes are being pulled with it. It take three men to lift it out of the water....they're REALLY heavy!

We had to go through immigration on the ship where we get our passports, look at an immigration officer and get a stamp. It took a surprisingly short amount of time to get all 800 passengers through. By 1PM we were off the ship! It was one of those moments where I really wanted to kiss the ground. The next thing we noticed was we were offered taxis and we said "No thank you" and they immediately left us alone, unlike other places we've been! I'm gonna like this place...

As we walked further into the V&A Waterfront, there was a huge fancy hotel in front of us, a Ferris Wheel, stores, fancy restaurants, shops, and...I know this is going to sound really bad...but people that actually look like us! We're no longer the outcasts! People dont give us a second look. There are so many people here and I love their accents! British with a twist! The weird thing is, I defiinitely felt reverse culture shock. It's so Americanized...well more like England-ized...everything is so clean and fresh. The food and water is safe to eat and drink. And there are stores we actually recognize. It was a bizarre feeling.

We spent much of the afternoon walking around and going into many stores (Soccer jersey stores galore!). But an ATM was first on the agenda! The exchange rate is 1 USD to 7.29 Rands. We tried to get tickets to a soccer game at a World Cup Stadium but the team wasn't playing at the stadium near the harbour. We were crushed! I found a vuvuzela to buy! And a South African flag. We booked a horseback riding trail ride on the beach for Saturday and learned about some Safaris. We had Haagan Daz ice cream which was delicious and found some wifi too. Then we rode the huge ferris wheel which has air conditioned gondolas with flat screen TV's that show cool pictures of the ferris wheel. The Germans built it and apparently it is traveling around the world....soon to be in America. Last night we ate at a South African Grill. I wish I could remember the name of it...it was delicious! Many of my friends had crazy meats like Springbok and Ostrich. I had some kind of local rice dish with chicken. But the best part was the sour cream on top!!! And we all split three traditional desserts which were outstanding too!

Last night we went to Long Street which is the main strip in Cape Town. There are so many bars and clubs....including some interesting looking gay bars...They don't call this the Rainbow Nation for nothing! We ended up at Long Street Cafe which was a little more laid back. We ordered some beer followed by the best drink EVER. Choco Berry Cooler. I dont know what it was made with but I sure do need to find out!!! After that we went upstairs to a place that had a DJ. It had a balcony looking out onto Long Street and we saw some friends up there so decided to join them! The DJ played a strange mix of old American rap songs with South African music. There were some creepy South African guys there who were totally loving dancing with American girls. When we were there, we ran into these college kids who happened to be from England and a girl from Washington state. They decided that they were going to move to South Africa after college and have been rooming together. The girl we met, Lucy, bartends and told us how little she gets paid. Basically $35 for an 8 hour shift. They gave us some info on the waterfront as well...

Cape Town is the most dangerous port we are going to. The reported number of stabbings is very high and rape is also a problem. Mugging at knife point is common. Lucy was telling us that just a block away from where we were, it is a common occurence for people to be mugged at knifepoint. She said that even locals take taxis everywhere. During the daytime it's fine but night time is a different world. This information has made us really cautious the past two nights but overall, we tend to feel very safe in the areas that we've been in. We caught a taxi back to the ship that night and ended up trading numbers with the taxi driver who said he would pick us up in the morning to take us to the horseback riding stabels which are 40 minutes away.

Today (Saturday) we got up really early to head to horseback riding. The taxi guy picked us up and charged us 800 Rand for the total trip. Apparently, after talking to many people, he gave us an awesome price. Plus he waited for us and took us back to the ship. He was awesome and really friendly. Horseback riding was beautiful! I hadn't ridden a horse since I was about 10. My horse's name was Conac (sp?) and only had one eye. It had been abused but was taken to the stables we were at (Sleepy Hollows Horse Stables) to be used for therapeutic riding. He was very tame which was comforting. We were taken through the brush and dunes to the beach which was pure white sand. The ocean is crystal clear and absolutely picture perfect. The mountains were amazing with the clouds wrapping around them and spilling over like you see when the water makes mist at the bottom of a waterfall. Two women were also with us who were from Johannesberg and Cape Town. They were great to talk to and ride with. After the two hour trail ride we were exhausted and came back to the waterfront in search of booking a Safari for sunday, wifi, and food. We ate these really weird chicken and mayonnaise sandwiches at this cafe called Love Revenge and Cappucino. They were interesting but I'll definitely have to go back and hit up their awesome looking gelato. Safari was next on the agenda. We're going to Inverdoon (sp?) Game reserve tomorrow morning at 6:40 AM...yikes! It will be AWESOME. Wifi was next and I got to facebook and also skype Mom, Dad, Pete and Chris! It was SO awesome to see everyone! It made my day complete!!! We had the South African version of Noodles & Co. for dinner. It was out of this world....fresh peppers, peas, bamboo shoots, and yummy noodles. I wanted more!! We also hit up the grocery store to stock up on some things like granola bars. I found Special K with berry cereal and I can't wait to eat it!!!

Thats it for now...more to come after my safari tomorrow!

Sunsets

2011-02-14T15:56:00.000-05:00

More fabulous sunsets over the Atlantic

Random Activities

2011-02-12T16:45:00.001-05:00

The thing I love about SAS is I find myself at random things that I would never normally go to. At lunch today, Brittany asked me if I was going to check out the meditation in the Union at 3. I didn't think I would go but whaddya know...3 rolls around and I'm in the union with Brittany and Hannah listening to this lady talk about meditation and how she's been to these 10 day sittings where all they do is sit and meditate. So then we meditated for 15 minutes and I end up drifting in and out of sleep rather than meditating....how the hell do people do this for 10 days!!! I dont get how people can do that for 10 days let alone these 90 day sittings she was talking about....I'd feel like I was wasting so much time! But it was neat to experience!

Zero Zero

2011-02-11T14:21:00.001-05:00

Today at about 12:15 PM we crossed the Prime Meridian and Equator, (0,0). The Captain joked that we might feel a bump as we crossed this point! It looked just like any other place on the ocean of course!

At about 4:30 or so the Captain alerted us about whales on the port side of the boat. Sure enough, along ways out there were what I guess were whales, surfacing the water. It was really neat! We also saw another ship passing by during dinner.

Other than that, not too much has been going on. I've been reading for a quiz this week in Global Studies and thats about it! Tonight there is a lecture "What's Good About Africa?" that I'm going to....mostly for extra credit! Seems like a strange title for a lecture but it should be interesting!