Title: China

China was incredible! The ship docked in Hong Kong for 2 days and then sailed to Shanghai and stayed there for 2 days. It took 2 days for the ship to get to Shanghai but we had the option to travel over land and meet the ship so we had a total of 6 days in China. I decided to travel with some friends to Beijing to see the Great Wall of China and then meet the ship in Shanghai.

We spent the first day in Hong Kong. We went shopping at a market for a little while and then went to a temple. The temple was really cool and looked like typical Chinese architecture. We walked through the gardens and all around the temple. Then we took a train up to the peak of a mountain with a great view of the city. It was nighttime and the city was all light up. It was a beautiful view. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time there because we had dinner plans. Nancy’s family friends live in Hong Kong and they invited us over for dinner. They had a cook who prepared dinner for us and it was wonderful. We were all really excited to have a home cooked meal. We talked with them for a while and they told us all about living in Hong Kong. They had 3 kids. The oldest girl was 17 and the boys were around 10 and 12 I think. They’ve traveled all over the world and it was very fun talking with them.

The next morning we got up and ate breakfast and then went to catch our train to Beijing. Our group consisted of Kathryn, Sam, Tam and me. Several hundred students on the ship did a tour of the Great Wall through the China Guide. The China Guide cost $750 for 3 nights and they got to sleep on the Great Wall. A vast majority of the students on the ship either did that trip or a Semester at Sea trip. Our group wanted to save money so we did it independently. Plane tickets from Hong Kong to Beijing started at $300 so we decided to take a train. The train was 24 hours from Hong Kong to Beijing but it only cost $85 for a sleeper so we decided to do that. Tam and Sam ended up getting normal seats because they were only $50 and they wanted to save money. Kathryn and I decided to spend the extra money and go for the sleepers. The hard sleeper seats were 3 bunks high and we got the top bunks. The train ride wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. We slept for the first couple of hours and then we got up and ate dinner. They went around selling food so we bought some and it wasn’t bad. The 2 Chinese guys below us started talking to us and asking us about the U.S. and we asked them about China and it was interesting. Later that night they taught us how to play Chinese poker. Kathryn and I didn’t really understand but they were helping us. At 10 pm they turn the lights out and we went to sleep. We slept until around 10 the next morning and then we got up and found Sam and Tam. We talked to them for a while and then went to the restaurant section of the train and ate lunch. A couple hours later we were there and it wasn’t bad at all. My only complaint is the bathrooms. They only had squat toilets. I have made it this whole trip so far without using a squat toilet and China was the last country where it would be an issue but I had to breakdown and use one. In 24 hours I had to go to the bathroom and there was no other option so that was unfortunate.

We got to Beijing and it was freezing! We checked into our hostel, which was really nice. They had very clean rooms and bathrooms so we were pleased. We got changed, bundled up and went to Tianamen Square and looked around. We also wandered through some gardens and enjoyed the evening. We had to be back at the hostel by 6:30 so we could go see an acrobatic show. The show was pretty good. They managed to fit 5 motorcycles into a big sphere, which was really impressive. We got dinner next at a small little hole in the wall restaurant and it was delicious! We all ordered food and just shared everything and it was so good!

We ended up signing up for a tour of the Great Wall and they picked us up at 7:30 am. It was close to a 2 hour drive to the wall. Once we got there, we had the option to take a ski lift up or a cable car. We went with the ski lift and the view was awesome. We had 3 hours to walk around and hike the wall. We went slow and took lots of pictures. It was so beautiful and we had a great time. There were a bunch of Chinese military guys there touring the wall and they kept asking to take pictures with us. It was so funny. I think it’s because of our blonde hair. We were excited to take pictures with them too though so it worked out. After we finished walking around the wall, we tobogganed down to the bottom. It was so fun! We went to lunch with our tour group, which consisted of around 10 people. I was talking to one couple who told me they had just moved to Oregon from Hawaii and I told them I went to school in Hawaii last year. It turns out the lady’s sister was my biology teacher last year and she’s one of my favorite teachers! I loved that biology class and it was one of my favorite classes ever. We were so excited to meet each other.

We went back to the hostel after the Great Wall and gathered our stuff and Kathryn and I went to the train station. The two of us had to get back a day early but Sam and Tam were staying another night. Kathryn and I took an overnight train to Shanghai. I had an FDP, which is basically a field trip for a class, for my social issues class and Kathryn had to register for classes so we needed to get back. This train was a lot nicer and we had our own tvs. Unfortunately, the couple below us had a baby that cried a lot and they talked all night long. I was very mad because they kept waking me up. We made it back to the ship and ate lunch before heading out. We went to a market and shopped for a little while. The market was really cool and looked Chinese. We went to dinner and then Kathryn and I decided to go up in the big space needle, as well called it. It’s actually called the Pearl Tower or something like that. The view from the top was amazing. We really enjoyed it.

On the last day in Shanghai I had my FDP. We went to an urban planning museum and then met with a businessman who talked about renewable energy in Shanghai. It was pretty interesting. We ended up finishing early so I still had a little time before on ship time. I went shopping once again and I bought some fake UGG boots and a duffle bag so I can fit all the stuff I bought home with me. Shanghai is a great city. It’s humongous and there’s so much to do. I’d love to come back someday.

Vietnam and Cambodia

The ship was in Vietnam for 5 day and we had the option to sign up for a Semester at Sea tour to Cambodia. I decided to go to Cambodia so I was only in Vietnam for 2 days. I really enjoyed my time in Vietnam though and I basically shopped the whole time. There was a market pretty close to the ship and everything was ridiculously cheap. I got some polos for $4 and DVDs for $1. I bought tons of stuff. I also got a pedicure and a massage. The pedicure was $5 and the massage was $10. The traffic in Vietnam was insane though. Everyone drives motor bikes and the roads are filled with them. To cross the street, you have to walk slowly and steadily and just keep going and the bikes will go around you. It’s very scary and you can’t stop because then it will confuse them and you could get hurt.

My trip to Cambodia was awesome. The flight to Phnom Penh was 40 minutes and then we went from the airport to a museum. The architecture was amazing but the museum was a little boring. Then we went on a boat ride on the Mekong River and after that we visited an orphanage. The next day we got up at 6 am and went to the Royal Palace, which was beautiful. Later, we visited a genocide museum and the killing fields. In 1975 (I think), there was a genocide in Cambodia in which the Khmer Rouge killed around 2 million people. It was really sad and our guide actually lived through it and he told us about his experience with it. The museum had pictures of all the victims tortured and killed at that particular place.

Next, we took a flight to Siem Reap and checked into our hotel before going to dinner and watching a cultural dance. We got up at 4:30 the following morning and went to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. It was really pretty. After sunrise, we ate breakfast at the hotel and went Ta Prohm Temple, which is where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. I’ve never seen the movie but it reminded me of Indiana Jones or something. It was awesome old temple where there were overgrown trees and stuff. It was incredible. We went back to Angkor Wat later to finish touring it. Angkor Wat is the biggest temple in the world. We ate lunch and then went to some more temples before taking a flight back to Vietnam.

Singapore

We only had 2 days in Singapore. Our first day in Singapore was Halloween. They do celebrate Halloween in Singapore and some places had some decorations out. The first day I took a cable car to Sentosa Island. Sentosa Island is a little tourist island basically, and they have a Universal Studios. Some friends and I decided to go to Underwater World because they had pink dolphins. We watched the Dolphin show but it was nothing compared to Sea World. The dolphins really were pink though so that was pretty cool. The rest of it was just an aquarium. Next, we went to see the Merlion because Singapore is famous for it. It’s part lion, part mermaid. I had plans to meet up with some other friends later that afternoon to go see a show so I decided to split up with the group I was with and just go shop and explore for the rest of the day. Singapore is really safe so I felt perfectly fine going by myself. Singapore also has really strict laws. It’s illegal to sell chewing gum, litter, jaywalk, and all kinds of things. Singapore is also very clean and they have great public transportation. We took the subway and it was the cleanest subway I’ve ever seen. It was so nice. Later that afternoon, I met up with my friends and we went to see a show called Voyage de la Vie. It was supposed to be like a Cirque de Soleil kind of show. It was interesting but I didn’t love it. We went to dinner after the show and then went to Raffles for Singapore Slings. The Singapore Slings were $30 Singapore dollars which is like $21 USD. They were so expensive! Singapore taxes alcohol a lot so that’s why it cost so much. I just ordered a coke thinking it couldn’t possibly cost that much and it was $9 Singapore dollars! That’s about $6.50 USD. I was mad.

The next day I went to Chinatown with a couple other people. We shopped at the markets and walked around for a while. After eating lunch I decided to try to find some Internet, since we have such limited Internet access on the ship. I didn’t do a whole lot that afternoon. I finished shopping for some postcards and then got on the Internet for a little while, before getting on the ship. Our on ship time was an hour earlier than usual and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t late. I really liked Singapore even though I didn’t do a whole lot. It was so nice and I could definitely see myself going back one day.

Blog Title: India

In India, I met my dad in Delhi and we went to the Taj Mahal. The first day we got to Chennai, I went out and found some internet and then packed and went to the airport. My flight was supposed to leave at 8:40 pm but it was delayed over an hour. I guess this is pretty typical for India. I made it to Delhi around midnight and Dad and I went to the hotel and checked in. We ended up stayed up talking for a couple hours. The next morning we got up and went to the train station and took a train from Delhi to Agra. The train station, specifically the railroad tracks, was disgusting. People went to the bathroom on the tracks and littered a lot. We took first class, which cost like $7. The ride was around 3 ½ hours and we sat with an Indian family. They has a little boy who was 10 years old and they were all really nice. They talked to us and asked us about Semester at Sea and what we were doing in India. The little boy had a cell phone and he showed me how to play the Sims 3 on it. We also met a guy sitting across from us and he was from India but he lived in Hong Kong for 4 years. It was fun to meet them on the train. We got to Agra, checked into the hotel and went to see a show. The guy on the train from Hong Kong recommended that we see this show about the Taj Mahal. The man’s wife died and he built the Taj Mahal for her. It was kind of boring and the acting was bad but there was some cool Indian dancing and that’s exactly what I wanted to see so I was happy.
The next morning, we went to see the Taj for sunrise. Everyone kept telling us to go for sunrise so we did. The taxi driver picked us up at 6 am and by the time we got in and through security, the sun had already risen. Nobody made it in before sunrise so I thought that was kind of dumb. The Taj was really pretty and basically what I expected. We had a tour guide that our taxi driver provided for us. I hated him. He was so annoying! We didn’t even want a tour guide but our taxi driver told us we needed one. The guy just wouldn’t shut up and he was full of useless, boring information. I really didn’t care and he wasn’t informative. On the plus side, he did take pictures of us so Dad and I got some pictures together. My iphoto isn’t working though so I can’t upload any. We went inside the Taj and there wasn’t much in there. There were the tombs of the man and his wife and it was intricate but there wasn’t much else.
After the Taj, we went to the hotel, showered and checked out. We hired the taxi driver for the 2 days we were there and I told him I wanted to go find some markets and go shopping. I wanted a magnet and find a painting. He took us to some really expensive stores with $600 carpets and $200 paintings. They weren’t even really paintings. I was starting to get mad because I wanted cheap touristy stuff. Next he took us to a jewelry store and I got really mad. I refused to go in. I had heard that the taxi drivers do this. Apparently it’s pretty common. They get commission by taking tourists to their friends stores so sometimes drivers will make a detour from where they’re supposed to be taking you and take you there to shop. Fortunately that never happened to me but it happened to a lot of other people. I eventually gave up on the painting and just wanted a magnet. We ended up finding one and then I didn’t want to shop anymore because I was annoyed so we decided to go ahead and drive back to Delhi. This taxi driver was supposed to drive us but then he told us that someone else was actually going to take us. We were again mad because he lied to us but it ended up working out. It was almost a 5 hour drive back to Delhi and we checked into the hotel once we got there and went to sleep. The next morning I had to fly back to Chennai and Dad went home.
The next day, I went on a Semester at Sea trip to a college. We spent the day with the Indian college kids and talked with them and they performed dances and sang for us. It was interesting to talk to all of them. We sat in a big circle and just talked for a couple hours. We had lunch with them and then went to a woman’s home for a home visit. She was really well off and her house was very nice. It was cool to see someone’s home in India. She showed us around and served us some snacks and then we went back to the ship. India was really dirty and extremely poor, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I had heard terrible things about India so I had really low expectations but it was ok. I had also heard that it smells really bad and it did smell but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I enjoyed my time in India but it’s not somewhere that I really care to go back to.

Mauritius

We only stopped in Mauritius for 2 days and it was basically just to refuel. I’m disappointed with how Semester at Sea handled Mauritius. Usually the week leading up to a port we have seminars and learn about the country. Then 2 nights before we arrive, we have cultural pre-port and the night before we arrive we have logistical pre-port. They combined the cultural and logistical pre-port and didn’t have any other seminars. During the pre-port meeting, they basically told us that Mauritius doesn’t have any culture and we should make this our spring break. A couple professors spoke that night and kind of made fun of Mauritius. They told us to go to the beach, party and get drunk. Semester at Sea has issues every year in Mauritius because the majority of the students on the ship rent villas for the night and trash them. The villas in the city of Flic en Flac don’t allow Semester at Sea students to stay there anymore. This time everyone stayed at the Intercontinental hotel. The next day they all rented catamarans and drank as much as they could. People were being carried back to the ship because they couldn’t walk and a couple people are now on crutches thanks to alcohol related injuries. It was ridiculous and I was embarrassed that this is the way they are representing America in foreign countries.
Anyway, I had a great time! The first day, Sheriess and I decided we wanted to have a nice relaxing beach day, do some shopping, and find interenet. That’s exactly what we did. We went to Grand Baie and spend the day on a beautiful beach with crystal clear water. It was gorgeous! The water was calm and perfect for swimming. We laid out and swam for most of the day. We decided to get some lunch around 3 pm and we found a cute little café and ordered delicious Hawaiian pizza. After lunch, we decided to walk around the town for a little while and we did a little shopping. We were really just looking for postcards and magnets. Eventually we made it back to the ship and grabbed our laptops to go find internet.
The next day I went scuba diving! Brittany, Jeff and I were picked up from the port and we went to Tamarin Bay. It turned out that we were the only 3 people on the dive trip that afternoon. It was awesome! There were 4 crew members but only 3 of us. The first dive spot was at a drop off. We were told that we wouldn’t go off the drop off because it was deep and none of us had been down that deep before. When I got in the water, I couldn’t see anything. The visibility wasn’t very good. We used a rope to get down and it took a while before we could see the bottom. I hate not being able to see the bottom so I was kind of freaking out but we made it to the bottom and I was fine. The man leading our dive ended up taking us down to 100 feet! That’s about as deep as you can go when scuba diving. It was exciting but we didn’t realize how deep it was until after we came up. The visibility was better the deeper we went. There were lots of beautiful fish and an awesome coral wall.
The next dive was my favorite. The dive was a lot shallower and there was bubble coral everywhere! Bubble coral is my favorite coral and I’ve only ever seen it at aquariums. It’s light pink and looks like bubbles. I even got to touch it. We also saw several lionfish and eels as well as a lot of colorful fish. It was a great dive! When we finished diving, they took us to an island where they cooked lunch. It took them about an hour to prepare the food so one of the guys took us out on the boat to go snorkeling. I saw some huge trumpet fish and Jeff found a starfish! I was so excited because I’ve never found a starfish in the ocean before and I’ve always wanted to. I picked it up and it kind of wrapped itself around my hand. It was so cool! We went back to the island and ate a delicious lunch before heading back to the waterfront. At the waterfront, I looked frantically for postcards and stamps but I was in a hurry because I didn’t want to be late getting on the ship and get dock time in India. I made it on the ship with half an hour to spare. We’re only a few days away from India now and Dad is meeting me in Delhi so that should be fun.

South Africa Day 6: Indlovu Project

Today is our last day in South Africa. I’m very sad to leave because I love it here! I’ve had such a great week. The Indlovu Project is an FDP (field directed practica) for my video journalism class. Each professor organizes several trips for their class and this one was to a township. A lady from Kenya named Di started the Indlovu Project to help the township. She has a guest house that we went to and it was very nice. It was kind of like a hostel/hotel and it was just a lot nicer than I had expected. We all sat down and she told us about the project and what she’s doing. She said that nearly 40% of the people in this township had AIDS. We got to interview her and then we played with the kids and interviewed other people in the township. Abiola, my partner for our class project, and I interviewed this one lady who invited us into her shack and she told us she was HIV positive. It was really sad. She had an 8 year old daughter who fortunately isn’t HIV positive but she didn’t even look old enough to be a mom. The shack had a double bed in it and a counter where they were preparing food. It was very tiny and there wasn’t much to it. We interviewed a couple other people and most of them seemed to be unemployed. At the end of the day, we compiled all of our footage together and we made a video for the children to watch in the community center that Di built. It was very inspiring because Di had so much hope for the township. She wants to make it an eco village and have tourists come stay. It was a great last day in Cape Town.

Day 5: Operation Hunger

I had a Semester at Sea trip today called Operation Hunger. We went to a pre school and we weighed the kids. Then we had to figure out their z-score by calculating their exact age and weight. It turned out that most of the kids were underweight and malnourished. They didn’t look too skinny though. The kids in Ghana were definitely a lot skinnier than these kids. We had time to play with the kids and that was fun. I sat down and the kids swarmed. They were all trying to sit on my lap and it just about knocked me over. They were really cute.
Next we went to a soup kitchen in a township. A township is a really poor area where black and colored people live. It started out during the apartheid when the government forced black and colored people to live in townships and a large portion of the population still lives like that. The townships consist of a community of shacks built with metal. The townships are really dangerous and there are high crime rates. I believe nearly 50% of the black population of South Africa is unemployed and AIDS is a severe problem. The soup kitchen we went to was run independently by a woman at her home. We helped serve soup and bread and then went to another soup kitchen. This one was also in a township and it was outside. Again we helped serve the food and then headed back to the ship. They ran the soup kitchen 2-3 times a week because that’s all they can afford. People brought their own containers for the soup and it was kind of surprising how many people didn’t have bowls. I saw very few bowls the whole day. People brought tupperware, lunch boxes, cups, and empty containers of all sorts.
Once I got back to the ship, I changed into warmer clothes because it was freezing outside and then I went shopping. I ended up running into Nancy who just got back from her safari so we went to dinner and caught each other up on the last couple days.

Day 4: Safari

I ended up going on a Semester at Sea trip today. The trip was $250 but someone was desperate to get rid of it so they sold it to me for $100. I was really excited! We went to Aquila Game reserve, which was a 2½ hour drive from Cape Town. I slept the whole way there. Once we got there they greeted us with sparkling grape juice and served us breakfast and then we went on a 2½ hour game drive. It was awesome! In South Africa, the “Big Five” are the main animals that you look for on safaris. It includes rhinos, elephants, buffalo, lions, and cheetahs. We saw rhinos, elephants, buffalos, ostriches and a giraffe. We stopped halfway and they served us wine and sparkling grape juice. Our guide was awesome and he took us a lot closer to the animals than the other guides did. Later, we saw lions, crocodiles, cheetahs, warthogs and a leopard in captivity. I’m not really sure why they were in captivity but it was still cool I guess. After our game drive, we had lunch and then drove back. Once I got back I went shopping around the waterfront and then had dinner.

South Africa Day 3: Aquarium and Penguins

This morning I went to the Two Oceans Aquarium with my friend Kate. It was a pretty good aquarium and I enjoyed it. They had a tank with sharks that you could scuba dive in but we didn’t have time. We went back to the ship for lunch and met up with Lonyae.
Kate, Lonyae and I got ready to go to Boulders Beach but we were afraid we were going to get robbed so we were extra careful and managed to not take any purses with us. We stuffed out money in our bras, pockets, and shoes and we were really proud of ourselves. We walked to the train station and it was an hour ride to Simon’s Town. Once we got there we had to take a bus and then a taxi. Instead of a taxi though we took a rikki ,which is a little bigger than a cab and they stuff a lot of people into it. Semester at Sea told us not to take them but we were fine. We got to Boulders Beach and saw the penguins. Unfortunately, we couldn’t walk on to the beach with the penguins but we saw them from the boardwalk. We walked back to the train station and made it safely back to the ship. We went out for dinner and it was delicious!

South Africa Day 2: Shark Cage Diving

This morning we got up and had to meet our guide outside the ship at 5:50 am. It was a 2 hour drive to the place where we were going to go shark cage diving. It was a beautiful drive. I didn’t realize how beautiful South Africa is. We drove through the wine lands and mountains. When we got there, they served up breakfast and loaded us on the boat. It was freezing outside! Cape Town’s weather was perfect but it was so cold where we were. We got in our super thick wetsuits and it was a lot warmer. The wetsuits even had hoods because that’s how cold the water was. The water was really rough but once we put the bait out a shark came pretty quickly. It was a huge great white shark! They quickly put the first 5 people into the cage but the shark swam away. Another one came soon after and it was also really big. I had a great view of it from where I was sitting but I don’t think the people in the cage saw it. They sat in the cage for close to a half hour and no other sharks came so they got out. We waited for a couple hours and moved around but we never saw anymore sharks. I never got to get in the cage so they said we could come back the next day but I already had plans and I didn’t want to ditch my friend so I didn’t go back. It was a little disappointing but at least I saw some sharks.

South Africa Day 1: Table Mountain

I am very excited to finally be in South Africa. I have been looking forward to this for so long! This morning we all had to wake up very early because immigration officials boarded the ship at 6 am. They did random searches and had to meet with all of individually before the ship could be cleared. Then we had a diplomatic briefing and the diplomat scared everyone pretty badly with his horror stories. He told us about how dangerous South Africa is and not to ever bring anything valuable with you because people get violently mugged quite often. He also said never to go to the bathroom alone because an American student studying abroad got raped in the bathroom. He went on and on and it was very scary. After that we were allowed to get off the ship. Obviously the guy was trying to scare us into being careful but I think he went a little overboard.
Once we got off the ship Nancy and I decided to go to Table Mountain. We took a taxi there and rode the cable car up. You can either hike or ride the cable car but I heard the hike was extremely difficult so I opted to ride up. The cable cars are kind of like the ones at Stone Mountain except these rotate so you can get a good view of everything. We walked around on the top of the mountain for a while and took some pictures. We ran into Eloise later and we all had lunch together at the café. She started to hike with her group but she said it was too hard so she decided to ride up and wait for her group. She met up with them after lunch and Nancy and I went back to the waterfront.
The waterfront where she ship is docked is awesome! It’s so pretty and you definitely don’t feel like you’re in South Africa. There is a lot of security around the waterfront so it’s pretty safe. We got back and we walked around and shopped for a while. There are tons of shops and restaurants and it’s so close to the ship. At some of the other ports we had a good 20 minute walk so this was very nice. We had dinner on the ship that night and then went out and found some internet. I went to bed early because I had to be up early the next morning.

Guest Blogger: Rachel (my roommate)

Here’s an excerpt from my roommate Rachel’s blog about Desmond Tutu and our inter port lecturer. I didn’t feel like rewriting it so I’m just stealing it from her.

Desmond Tutu speaking:

We had the opportunity to hear Arch speak to us about South Africa for the first time this week before we arrive there. He told the most amazing stories and has the most infectious laugh. When he is around you just can’t help but smile. He spoke of how he loved his country so much and thought it was so unique that it could go through so much and still do it with love and humor. He talked about how the country has many problems, but they have overcome so much, and were able to overcome Apartheid without war. Speaking with him was our interport lecturer, Louis Patler who does business in South Africa and is a SAS alumni. It was cool to hear his experiences in South Africa. He told a couple of really interesting stories that I think you might find interesting. His first story was about one SAS trip that went to Cape Town that he was on. When they arrived in Cape Town, immigration would not let the black students off of the ship. Louis got on the loudspeaker of the ship and told all of the students that if the black students weren’t getting off that neither was he and that all of the students could meet him in the Union. He said that about 98% of the students stayed on the ship and refused to get off until the black students could get off. After about 5 hours, South Africa granted the black students temporary European status so they could get off of the ship.

The next story he told was very tragic. He told us about the second SAS trip he went on, this time as a professor, where a black student got in a car with 3 white students that he was friends with to head up Table Mountain. Upon seeing the white students in the taxi with the black student, another car that passed them heading up the mountain proceeded to drive the taxi off of the road. But, they were heading up the mountain, so off of the road also means off of the side of the mountain. The black student was killed instantly and the white students were in such critical condition that they couldn’t continue their voyage. It was so powerful to hear of the impact of the apartheid on something that I am doing now. How going to Cape Town would have been different had I come not that long ago. We got to hear Louis talk about Africa the next night too, but this time about myths about Africa, many of them relating to economics and business which I found really interesting.

Ship Life

Here’s an update of what’s been going on on the ship lately. I’ve obviously had class and they’re all going pretty well for the most part. Some days at sea it gets a little boring but it’s nice to have time to relax and recuperate from each country. On A days I don’t have class so I usually sit outside and read. Since we have left Ghana though it’s been cold outside so I’ve been reading inside instead. I’ve seen some dolphins, whales and flying fish, which was very exciting. On B days I have all my classes and then I usually take a nap after lunch for a little while before my last class. Almost every night there is some kind of Explorer Seminar and I usually go to them because they’re pretty interesting. One night there was a Secret Service seminar. There is a couple on the ship who are retired from the Secret Service and they talked about their careers. It was so cool. The guy worked with Reagan, Carter and both Bushes. He showed us a picture of him running a marathon with one of the presidents. Another Explorer Seminar was about the Peace Corps. There are 5 people on the ship who were Peace Corps volunteers so they talked about their experience and how much they loved it. Desmond Tutu finally spoke at one of the Explorer Seminars. He is sailing with us the whole voyage but we’ve only heard him speak once and it was the second day we got on the ship. He hides out in his room most of the time and we rarely ever see him. It was exciting to finally hear him talk. We are about to get to South Africa and since he’s from South Africa he is giving a lecture during global studies and also he also did the seminar. Dean David asked him questions and he talked about his life and some of the work he did in South Africa.

A couple weeks ago I signed up for an extended family on the ship. An extended family is one of the many clubs on board and they assign you a mom and/or dad and siblings. The parents are either life long learners or professors of faculty members. I have 2 moms or a mom and a grandma, depending on how you look at it I guess. My “mom” is the Spanish professor and she brought along her mom. The professors are able to bring someone along with them so most people choose their spouse but since my “mom” isn’t married she brought along her mom. So, therefore, I have 2 moms. I also have 6 brothers and sisters. We meet for dinner every so often and just kind of hang out. It’s fun.

We recently passed through the Equator and the Prime Meridian at the same time, which means we went through the center of the earth. When you cross the Equator by ship you go from being a pollywog to a shellback but since passed through 0° 0° we are now Emerald Shellbacks. Semester at Sea has Neptune Day to celebrate crossing the equator. On Neptune Day, we were woken up by the sounds of whistles, drums, and cymbals as some of the professors paraded through the halls at 7:30 am. Then we went up to the 7^th deck by the pool and King Neptune made an announcement that to officially be a shellback, or Emerald Shellback in our case, we had to prove we were worthy. In order to do that we had to have fish guts poured on our heads, jump in the pool, kiss a fish, kiss King and Queen Neptune’s rings, and then we were finally knighted with a sword. Traditionally, sailors would shave their heads for good luck so many people on the ship decided to shave their heads include a surprising number of girls.

Not too much else has been going on. I took a bridge tour the other day and that was pretty cool. We’ve also had an awesome dance party and karaoke night. I’ve been a little sick for the past couple days. It’s just a little cold and I’m feeling better but I just want it to be gone before South Africa. Tonight is the culture pre-port meeting and Desmond Tutu is speaking tomorrow in global studies. We arrive in South Africa on Sunday Oct 3! This is the port that I have been looking forward to most so I’m very excited!

Takoradi, Ghana

We got back to Takoradi in time to each lunch on the ship, which was necessary because there were no restaurants anywhere. We decided to check out the Takoradi markets and it started raining again. We switched up the group a little bit and we all decided the rain was fine. There wasn’t much in the markets except for food and random junk. I was surprised by how un-touristy Ghana was. I have been collecting a magnet from each country because our walls are magnetic and I thought it would be a fun thing to collect. I looked all over and never found any magnets. It was even hard to find postcards and the ones we did find were really ugly and poor quality. Even though there wasn’t much, we just walked around for a while taking it all in. We all ate dinner on the ship again and I decided to just stay in for the rest of the night cause it got dark early. Some people went out to bars and stuff later but to me Ghana seemed like kind of a sketchy place to go party.
The next morning I went to an orphanage with a girl named Emma and about 20 other SAS people. Emma independently found this orphanage and organized the whole trip. She talked to the orphanage and asked if they needed anything and they said 75 children didn’t have shoes and they needed shoes to go to school. She made an announcement on the ship asking for shoes and people asked if they could donate money instead. She ended up raising $800. She bought 75 pairs of shoes, paid for every child’s school fees, bought supplies and donated the rest of the money to the orphanage. It was awesome! We were able to play with the kids for 3 or 4 hours. We started out by coloring with the kids and I brought some crayons so I handed them out. After a while, some kids started teaching some Semester at Sea people how to play the drums and before we knew it, there was a dance party going on. The kids started singing and dancing and it was amazing! Later on, they took us to their church and we saw a little bit of the village. It was very cool. We played with the kids for a little while longer before leaving. It was sad to leave but we had so much fun. That was definitely my favorite day in Ghana.

Ghana

Ghana was a bit overwhelming. I’m still not entirely sure what I thought of it. I don’t think I would go back if I had the chance but I’m glad I went. There was a group of 4 of us that were traveling together. It was me, Nancy, Alyssa, and my roommate Rachel. Rachel and Nancy had Semester at Sea trips planned the first day in Cape Coast so Alyssa and I planned to meet them at the hotel. Alyssa and I ate lunch on the ship and then headed out to go to Cape Coast. Cape Coast is about an hour and a half away from Takoradi. The moment we stepped off the ship we were approached by two Ghanaian men. They were very friendly and they walked with us to the front of the port. They asked us what we were doing here and about Semester at Sea. Apparently the guy talking to Alyssa asked her if she would marry him. This happened a lot to many of the girls on the ship. Anyway, as we were leaving, they asked for my phone number and I told him I didn’t have a phone. I actually didn’t have a phone with me at the time. He was very persistent and I ended up giving him my email address. So many people asked us for our phone numbers while we were in Ghana. I never gave it out. I think they were just excited to meet Americans but it got kind of annoying. Once we got to the gate we were bombarded with people. There were taxi drivers everywhere and people kept coming up to us and trying to talk to us and I was just overwhelmed. We ended up getting in a taxi and he took us to an ATM and then we asked to go to the bus station. Instead he took us to the tro tro station. A tro tro is basically a van that they squish a lot of people in. We made it to Cape Coast an hour and a half later and took a taxi to our hotel. The taxi driver saw us in the tro tro and literally ran after the tro tro cause he thought we were stopping soon. He saw that we were white and in Ghana they associate white people with money. We made it to the hotel and Nancy had already checked in and she was waiting by the pool. The hotel was pretty nice. There was a small lake that had crocodiles in it and a restaurant built on top of the water. Our rooms were better than I was expecting. We had a toilet, toilet paper, soap, a sink and a mirror in the bathroom so I was very happy! My standards have changed a little. In Morocco, our bathroom at the hostel didn’t have a sink, mirror or toilet paper. At our pre port meeting we had a little briefing on how to use a hole in the ground toilet. I was dreading using one so I drank as little as possible and fortunately I haven’t had to use one yet. I’m hoping I never have to. Anyway, Rachel met up with us a little while later and we ended up staying at the hotel that night and ate at the restaurant there.
The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, and went to Kakum National Park. The park has 1 of 5 canopy walkways in the world and this one is the biggest and highest. It was absolutely beautiful! We couldn’t see to the ground because the trees were covering it so it was hard to actually tell how high we were. When we finished the canopy walkway we went to the markets in Cape Coast and we searched for an ATM. The markets were not what I was expecting. They were not touristy at all. The markets were where locals bought their food and did their shopping. There was really nothing even remotely interesting to buy so we kind of just walked around. It started raining and even though it kind of felt nice, the whole group didn’t agree. Unfortunately, we ended up going back to the hotel at 1pm and staying there for the rest of the day. I felt like we wasted a day in Ghana but it wasn’t worth fighting about. We ate lunch at the hotel and that took a good 2-3 hours. I have never had worse service in my life at a restaurant but I guess that’s Africa. The food was fine but it was just super slow.
We woke up early the next morning to attempt to explore Cape Coast a little bit before going back to Takoradi. I wanted to get some pictures of the slave dungeons. I didn’t really care if we went in but I just wanted some pictures. We got there and again there was tension in the group so I suggested we walk down to the beach for some pictures. I got a couple of the Cape Coast castle and then we briefly walked through the markets before leaving. We left to go back to Takoradi at 10:15 am. I would have liked to stay in Cape Coast a little longer and explore but since others didn’t feel that way we went back.

Marrakech, Morocco

This morning we woke up at 6:00 am and walked to the front of the port. Usually buses take us because it's about a 30 min walk but it was too early so we walked. We took a taxi from the front of the port to the train station only to find out that our train left at 8:50 not 8:00. We decided to walk around and look for some food. We never really found any but we saw the call to prayer and that was pretty cool. When we got back to the train station we found out our train was delayed an hour. There were tons of SAS (Semester at Sea) kids at the train station so we kind of just talked to everyone. When the train finally showed up we didn't get seats because there were so many people. We eventually got seats about an hour into the train ride. We arrived in Marrakech about 4 hours later. We checked in to the hostel which was really nice! It looked so authentic and the people were very friendly! When we walked in they made us sit down and served us some delicious mint tea. After getting settled in we went to the marked and shopped for most of the evening. Our group split up and I went with Alyssa and Leah to eat. We had an amazing dinner on a rooftop overlooking the market. I had lemon chicken and it was very good! The next day we woke up and had breakfast at the hostel. Our breakfast was hand made and included several different kinds of bread and crepes. The crepes were a lot thicker than other crepes I've had but they were still good. Then we checked out and went to the gardens. We walked around the gardens for a while and then met up with Kathryn, Jared, and Sarah at the train station. I stayed with them that night because my group was going back to Casablanca. We went back to the market that night and we spent most of our time there. I had a lot of fun in Marrakech and I enjoyed it so much more than I was expecting. In our pre-port meetings I was thinking that I wouldn't like Morocco but it turns out that I loved it! The last day in Marrakech we found camels to ride! We were so excited! We only rode them for half an hour but that was plenty for us. My camel wasn't too happy though and he kept trying to get free. We were all really excited because a lot of our friends went on camel treks in the desert and we wanted to go but it worked out because we still got to ride them.

Morocco Day 1

We got to Morocco a day early and I went on my first Semester at Sea trip. It went to the SOS Children's village. It was basically an orphanage but the orphans couldn't be adopted because it is not allowed in Islamic culture. We started off by going to a high school. It was an American high school and they were taught English and used an American curriculum. Then we went to the children's village where we were shown around the facilities and then played with the children. It is set up with several little houses and each house has a mom that watches over about 10 children. The houses were actually a lot nicer than I thought. They had flat screen tvs. We played with the kids for a while and I met a little boy who I spoke to in French a little bit. He spoke some English and I spoke a little French and we tried talking in English and French. It was really cool and a lot of fun.

Malaga and Cordoba

We started the next morning in Malaga by going to get churros for breakfast. They're similar to the churros we have at home but these didn't have cinnamon sugar. Instead they bring you a cup of chocolate and you dip them into the chocolate. It was delicious! Picasso was born in Malaga so we went to go check out the museum but it turns out a lot of things are closed on Monday. So we couldn't go to any of the museums but we did go into the cathedral in Malaga. It was beautiful. After that we hiked up to a castle, which was closed, but the view was amazing! For lunch we went down to the beach and ate and then walked along the beach. Then we headed back to walk around some more. Things started closing for siesta so we went back and I took a nap. After my nap we went back to the beach to watch the sunset and then went to another cafe for dinner. The next day we took a train to Cordoba. We really wanted to see the mosque there. It's interesting because the mosque was built in the year 785 and additions were made as time went on. Eventually it became a church and the center looks like a cathedral and the rest of it looks like a mosque. I forgot all the details of the story but it was really cool. I'll put up pictures so you can see what I'm talking about though. We went to a plaza afterward where we took a break and drank a coke. Then we shopped around a little and looked for this statue of Jesus on a cross with lanterns around it. It was kind of hard to find because it was hidden. We were pretty worn out by this time because we were carrying around our heavy backpacks so we decided to just go catch a train back to Cadiz. Today is out last day in Spain and tomorrow we'll be in Morocco!

Spain!

I arrived in Cadiz, Spain yesterday! It was exciting to finally get off the ship. I thought I would be more sick of the ship after a week but I really wasn't. The seas calmed down after those first couple rough days. We didn't hit any of the bad weather they expected to from the hurricaine which was such a relief. After the seas calmed down I haven't had any headaches and it's been fun. Anyway, I had a change of plans and I decided to stay in Cadiz yesterday and explore. It was really pretty and hot! It kinda feels like Georgia. I guess I should be used to the heat after this summer. We basically walked around and shopped and found our way around town. We found the beach too which was pretty. I walked along the beach and put my feet in the ocean and it felt wonderful. Hopefully, I'll have time to go back before I leave. Today, my friend Sarah and I got up at 5:30 am to catch our train to Sevilla. The sun doesn't rise til 8 so it was kind of weird being up so long before the sun rose. We got to watch the sun rise which was cool I guess. It's not something I see often haha. So we got to Sevilla and it was beautiful! There was a huge cathedral that was gorgeous! Sarah went to mass but since I don't know any Spanish I decided to go walk around and explore Sevilla. I met up with her after mass. I found this really beautiful plaza or something. I don't actually know what it was and I couldn't find any brochures or maps. I brought Sarah back after mass. I'll put pictures up soon though so you can see it. While we were there though, I set my backpack down to take a picture. I should have known better but there was only one other couple around so I figured it would be fine and the backpack was really heavy. Sarah was taking a picture of me when I look over and see this man walking off with my back pack. I yelled and him and ran after him and thankfully he dropped it and kept walking. I was so scared. There was nothing valuable in it. It was just my clothes but it would have not been fun to be without clothes and make up for 3 days. I'm so lucky he just dropped it! I sure learned my lesson. I've been super careful with my purse the whole time though because it has my passport, money and cameras in it. After that little incident we went back to the train station to go to Malaga because Sarah has a friend Drew that lives here. He and Sarah are both from Colorado but he's been living in Spain for the past 4 years. We're staying at his apartment and thankfully he has internet! We went out to dinner and he brought along his Spanish girlfriend. She was really sweet but she didn't speak much English and I don't know any Spanish so he translated the whole time. Dinner was interesting. We started out at one cafe and just got drinks because it was early and restaurants don't open for dinner until around 9pm. I got a coke because they don't have coke on the ship and I was craving one. We stayed there for probably close to an hour and just talked. Then we walked around the town and he showed us around. It was like having our own tour guide. Then we went to another cafe for basically wine tasting. They ordered 4 little glasses and we all tried them. I tried them but I didn't particulary care for any of them. After that we went to another cafe for tapas. Apparently this cafe hopping is common. You go for drinks and then go to another cafe and just keep moving. It was kind of cool. We ordered 4 different tapas and all shared. I liked some of them and some I didn't but I ate enough to where I was full. I'm glad we had them order for us because I would have no idea what to order or what anything was. After dinner we walked around for a little while again. It was around 11:30 pm at this point and we stopped at one more place and I got a coke again. They give you a glass bottle of coke and you don't get refills. Drew has some touristy stuff planned for us tomorrow so I'm excited.

Aboard the MV Explorer

Since I haven’t updated for the last couple days here’s what’s been going on. I got to Halifax with Mom on Wednesday and we checked into the hotel and I basically slept all that evening. The next day Dad and Michael were supposed to meet us but they got to New York didn’t make the flight to Halifax so they turned around and went home. On Friday, I boarded the ship. We had some meetings and stuff that night which were kind of boring. They introduced the professors and the crew and stuff like that. Saturday was orientation and again there were just a bunch of meetings all day. Some were informative and some were boring. Yesterday classes started but we’re on an A Day/ B Day schedule and I only have classes on B Day so I started class today. I pretty much like all my classes. I’m taking geography, contemporary social issues, video journalism and global studies. Global studies is required for everyone and they teach us about each country before we get there.
Our rooms are very small. They’re smaller than I thought they would be. We have a window though which is nice. My roommate and I get along really well. Her name is Rachel and she goes to Vanderbilt. The ship was rocking a lot yesterday and a lot of people got seasick. I’ve been getting headaches but that’s it. Apparently there is a hurricane not too far away. We’re not going too close but we’re supposed to get some rough weather from it. Today it’s a lot better though. The ship is smaller than I expected it to be. I thought it would be about the size of a cruise ship or just a little smaller but it’s a lot smaller. Cruise ships are about twice the size of this ship. It’s pretty cool to have class on the ship and look out the windows. I laid out the other day on the top deck and it was nice. We arrive in Spain on Saturday and I’ve been planning a trip with some of my friends. We’re going to go to Madrid and Sevilla. I only get 125 minutes of internet for the whole voyage so I’m trying to get online as little as possible. Email doesn’t count against my minutes though so you can email me! Well I miss you guys and hope all is well at home!

email address

I'm heading to Halifax, Canada tomorrow and I thought I would go ahead and give you guys my ship email address. This is the best way to talk to me because it doesn't use up my limited internet minutes on the ship. It's klsola@semesteratsea.net. This email address won't work until I leave on Friday Aug 27.

21 days to go

Hey everyone! I'm getting ready to leave for Semester at Sea in a little less than a month and I'm planning to keep this blog so you guys can know what I'm up to. Basically, in case I haven't already told you, Semester at Sea is a program for college students sponsored by the University of Virginia. I will be traveling around the world on a boat and taking classes while I'm at sea. When we get to port there are no classes and we are free to travel. We're usually at each port for about 2-5 days. It's a 590 foot ship that holds somewhere around 700 students I believe. I will circumnavigate the globe in 109 days!

Here's the itinerary for the trip:

Depart from Halifax, Canada on August 27

Cadiz, Spain September 4-8

Casablanca, Morocco September 10-14

Takoradi, Ghana September 22-25

Cape Town, South Africa October 3-8

Port Louis, Mauritius October 14-15

Chennai, India October 22-27

Singapore October 31- Nov 1

Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam Nov 3-8

Hong Kong/Shanghai, China Nov 11-16

Kobe/Yokohama, Japan Nov 19-23

Hilo/Honolulu, Hawaii Dec 3-6

San Diego, California Dec 13

If you guys want post cards from any of the countries email me your address. I will have unlimited access to email while I'm on the ship so once I get my Semester at Sea email address I will post it. For now you can email me your address at katiesola@aol.com.