AT&T Savings App Scholarship - The Ultimate Travel App

If I could design any application I wanted, it would have to be in the spirit of study abroad and Semester at Sea.  There are already tons of travel apps out there, but this would be the ultimate travel app for college students.  This would be a one-stop travel app geared towards helping students study abroad and save money while traveling.  One section of it would be able to list all the various study abroad programs that you can receive credit for from your school.  You would be able to filter these programs based on time of year, length, sponsor and location.  Each program would also have reviews and advice given by student alumni.  There would also be another section that lists all the scholarships applicable to you.  Again, you would be able to filter these scholarships based on the sponsor, the difficulty of the scholarship and the amount awarded by the scholarship.  

There would be a section of the app devoted to the traveling part of study abroad.  Students could shop for cheap airfare, trains and buses all around the world.  You would be able to buy your tickets directly from the app.  While abroad, the app would have a guide book section for every country.  In the guide book section, you could tell the app what you wanted to do (for example, go out to eat) and how much you want to spend (for example, less than $10).  You can also specify the maximum distance you're willing to travel for this activity (for example, within 10 miles).  Once you've specified everything, the guide book comes up with all of the applicable restaurants, etc., along with reviews from travel critics and users alike.  After the student experiences the restaurant, they can immediately leave their own review for other students to look at.

This application is my dream application to help students get the most from their study abroad experience.  I think that everyone should study abroad, since it is such a unique opportunity.  My travel application geared directly towards college students would be the ultimate one-stop resource for traveling students!

This scholarship is sponsored by ATTSavings.com

The very last port... Hawaii

The very last port! It was a very welcome break from 11 days at sea.
I didn't have any expectations for the day - I was prepared to be
content just walking around town. Instead, I ended up having one of
the best days of the voyage so far! (And I have yet to hear of
anyone's Hawaii day that sounds cooler than mine!)

I had planned to spend the day with my friend Grace, and we met up
with our other friends Brynn and Amy, who were going snorkeling. We
started the day by going to Ken's House of Pancakes, which was a
delicious way to start the day. I had coconut pancakes, and for the
first food off the ship it was delicious! The restaurant was really
crowded with SAS kids and locals. After breakfast, we headed across
the street to a gift shop. We ran into some other friends who were
going scuba diving, and Brynn decided to go scuba diving with them.
We then went to a shop next door that provided rental snorkeling
equipment. The shop also provided two hour surfing lessons, so Amy,
Grace and I decided to give surfing a try! The surfing instructor
came to the shop, and he was a fantastic guy. Unfortunately, none of
us ever quite got his name - at one point I asked him to spell it, and
I still didn't quite catch it. We're pretty sure he kept giving us
different names. He was tattooed all over his face and his chest, and
was constantly followed by his little dog named Pip. He was a very
laid-back guy - exactly what I would picture for a typical Hawaiian
surfing instructor.

Our surfing instructor offered to give us a ride to the beach where we
would snorkel. It was a very pretty little black sand beach. The
water was quite cold, but braving the cold waters was beyond worth
it! All of the fish and the coral that I saw were amazing. There was
so much variety, and they were all very brightly colored. I was much
more impressed here than with Dominica's Champagne Reef. However, the
best part of snorkeling was when we saw a giant sea turtle! It was
the first sea turtle I had ever seen, and we were literally swimming
inches away from him. It was incredible!

Our surfing instructor picked us up around noon, and drove us downtown
and recommended a place for us to get lunch. It was a cute little
sandwich shop, and we highly enjoyed another meal off the ship. After
that, it was time to go surfing! We headed to a different, bigger
beach for our surfing lesson. For the first part of the lesson, we
each sat on the surf board (on dry land) and pretended to paddle and
stand up. After that, our surf guy announced it was time to hit the
waves. We immediately protested, as none of us actually had any idea
how to surf. "Don't worry, you'll figure it out," was all our surfing
instructor told us. So, with no clue what we were doing, we paddled
into the ocean. And promptly got beat up by the ocean. It was a lot
of fun, but surfing is hard! I kind of caught one wave, but I spent
most of the time getting hit by wave after wave and my surfboard. Our
surfing instructor later told us that the water conditions were pretty
rough for beginners... But it was still a great time. We also had
another sea turtle encounter here! There was another big sea turtle
who was just hanging out on the beach. It was pretty funny to watch
Pip check out the sea turtle.

After we were done "surfing," our surf guide took us to Rainbow Falls,
a waterfall that was nearby. It was very pretty, and we had a little
time to just walk around. After Rainbow Falls we got a ride back
downtown, and then said goodbye to our surfing friend. We got ice
cream and spent our remaining hour in port eating ice cream and
shopping. It was a fantastic day, and a great way to end my travels
for now. It's hard to believe that in less than a week I'll be home!
I've had an amazing semester, and I already feel like I need to
revisit every single port. I've made some really good friends, and
there are some people that I will really miss. However, I am excited
to return home. This trip has really made me realize how lucky I am
to return to such an amazing home!

Japan!

Japan - our last country before the United States! It's so hard to
believe how fast time has gone, I still feel like we just got to
Brazil. And now, we're on our way back home!

DAY ONE

Our first stop in Japan was Kobe. I had an FDP today, but it wasn't
until noon so my friend Lexi and I went into downtown to explore for a
little bit (she had an FDP too). Downtown was very busy, with lots of
shops, restaurants and people going to the train station. Lexi had
studied in Japan in high school, and it was a very pleasant surprise
to learn she spoke Japanese! This came in very helpful when we tried
to get lunch, coffee, ATMs, etc! The Japanese people always got
pretty excited when she spoke Japanese too. We got coffee at a cute
little coffee shop, and Lexi pointed out a major faux pas by some
other SAS kids - apparently, in Japan, it's very rude to eat and walk
at the same time. Meals are meant to be enjoyed, not rushed through.
I stocked up on snacks in case my FDP didn't stop for lunch, and then
we headed back to the port terminal.

My FDP today was to the zen gardens at Daitoku-Ji, in Kyoto, for my
art history class. I had wanted to go to Kyoto anyways, so that
worked out! Kyoto seems like a very cute city, and the zen gardens
were beautiful. The first one we went to was a rock garden, and a
monk gave us a guided tour. That was cool, but I liked the second zen
garden better - it was so green, just filled with plants, and it
bordered a bamboo forest. It was very peaceful! After that, our tour
guide let us stop at the Cherry Blossom Festival. We were lucky
enough to get to Japan during cherry blossom season - it only lasts
for a couple of weeks, and Kyoto in particular is famous for its
cherry blossoms. We could only stop at the festival for five minutes,
but it was incredible. There were so many cherry blossom trees, and
the blossoms were in full bloom. When you looked up, you saw a
ceiling of cherry blossoms!

After the FDP, I grabbed a quick dinner on the ship and then went with
some friends to a Japanese baseball game! We arrived a bit late, but
we were in time to see a big balloon cheer: Everyone had these long,
skinny balloons and they all cheered and released them at the same
time. It took us a long time to figure out which team we were
supporting. We were on the losing team's side, but you never would
have guessed it from how enthusiastic the fans were! There was
definitely more enthusiasm at this game than at most American baseball
games I've been to, and I'm pretty sure we were at a minor league
game. It was a lot of fun!

DAY TWO

Today, I met up with my friends Sara and Grace bright and early to go
to an internet cafe. We ended up going to an internet cafe/comic
shop. They didn't have wifi, but little cubbies with computers. Some
cubbies even had beds! The place also had a shower, and there was a
free drink vending machine, so you could pretty much live there if you
wanted. We had a lot of fun with the vending machine! They had all
sorts of drinks, hot and cold, and we definitely abused the free drink
privileges. After we had enough drinks, we went to a nearby crepe
place where I unknowingly ordered the daily special and got a cheaper
crepe! It was very exciting, but I'm pretty sure the cashier thought
I was kind of stupid for not realizing I'd ordered the special.

After crepes, we went to Mosaic, a little amusement and shopping area
in Kobe. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain, so we didn't get to
enjoy the amusement park. However, there were lots of cute shops - my
favorite was one dedicated to Snoopy! We found a delicious spot to
have lunch. The menu was in Japanese, and there were no pictures, so
we had fun picking random things to point at and order. Luckily, we
didn't get anything too strange! After lunch, we headed to the sake
brewery district. The rain was still pouring down, and we
unfortunately headed in the wrong direction out of the metro station.
Once we finally made it to our first sake brewery, we were quite
damp! The brewery was fun though - we watched a video (in English)
about the sake making process. This particular brewery makes sake the
old-fashioned way, without automated machines, and they're very proud
about that. Then we had tasting. I'd never tried sake before - I
can't say it's my favorite! We braved the downpour to go to a second
brewery, which had a museum and free tasting again. It was pretty fun!

We went back to downtown Kobe for dinner. We stumbled upon an eight-
story building with a different restaurant on each floor. We went to
each floor to judge each restaurant, then decided on the fifth floor.
It was a good decision! After that, we went to a nearby Baskin-
Robbins for dessert, and then headed back to the ship.

DAY THREE

Like in China, we had an option to travel overland or on the ship as
the MV Explorer went from Kobe and Yokohama. This time, to save money
I decided to stay in transit. It was a good, relaxing day and I
managed to get some work done. I'm definitely glad I stayed in
transit - I saved a lot of money!

DAY FOUR

Now, in Yokohama! This morning I wanted to find wifi to call home.
My friend Sara and I went out to find a coffee shop with wifi. We
thought, in such a technologically advanced country like Japan, this
would be an easy mission. Not the case! The first coffee shop we
found had a wifi sticker on the door. I went in and confidently
bought a drink, but when we asked about the wifi they shook their
heads no. This happened at the next couple coffee shops. Finally, at
Starbucks we figured it out: Wifi in Japan is a paid service. Coffee
shops only provide wifi through different providers, you need to sign
up for wifi service through these providers to access it. Not very
traveler-friendly! We were about to go across town to a hotel we'd
heard had wifi, until we ran into another SAS kid, who informed us
that there was wifi in the port terminal. So, back to where we
started! That wifi worked great, but I'm glad we got the chance to
walk around Yokohama.

I had another FDP at noon today - my last FDP! This time, it was "Zen
Meditation with Monks," for my World Prayer class. It started with a
presentation on the ship about the history of Japan, Buddhism, and tea
ceremonies. Then we went to Kamakura, a smaller town. It was a very
cute place! Our first stop was a tour of a large zen garden, which
was very beautiful. Then we walked through Kamakura to go to a
smaller zen garden, where we would participate in a tea ceremony and
meditation. The tea ceremony was very different from the tea
ceremonies I had in China! Instead of sampling different teas, we had
a bigger cup of one tea, and a small pastry to go with it. We learned
about the proper etiquette to drink tea. I liked the pastry, but the
bright green tea was a little strange! Then we went to the
meditation, which was lead by the garden's head monk. It was very
peaceful, but then the monk started smacking people's backs with a
plank of wood! This is a traditional practice, and is supposed to
help with posture. You didn't have to participate in that part, which
was good - it sounded painful! After meditation, the FDP was over. I
thought it was a very good FDP!

Once I was back on the ship I met up with Sara again to head to
Tokyo. Tokyo and Yokohama are pretty close to each other, so we had
planned to spend the night in Tokyo tonight. We already had a hostel
booked in Asakusa, but it took us a long time to get there! It was
raining again when we got to Tokyo, and we did not have the best
directions! We finally found it though, and it was a very cute
hostel. There were lots of people there! We got a late dinner at a
nearby noodle shop, and it was very tasty.

DAY FIVE

Our big day in Tokyo! I was hoping for sunshine, but we woke up to
another rainy day! Oh, well. We checked out of the hostel and went
out to find a coffee shop for breakfast. We went into the first cute
place we saw, only to discover that it was outrageously expensive:
Coffee - just plain coffee - cost more than a Starbucks latte, and
toast cost $8. Just plain toast! Needless to say, our next stop was
Denny's! Here, I had delicious and reasonably priced french toast.
It wasn't exactly like our Denny's though - they served rice dishes
for breakfast! Since it was raining pretty hard, and we didn't feel
like aimlessly wandering around Asakusa in the rain, we decided to
head over to the famous Harajuku district. This place was a lot of
fun! We went to another coffee shop, where we had a delicious latte.
There were tons of stores - unfortunately most were out of our price
range, but they were fun to look at. I also had fun looking at
everyone's outfits! People here have a lot of style, I definitely
felt pretty shabby in comparison. We found a cheap noodle shop to
have lunch, and it was delicious. One of my favorite meals in Japan.
It was when we were leaving the noodle shop that I noticed something:
I didn't have my backpack, and couldn't remember the last time I'd had
it! Panicking slightly, I tried to retrace my steps. Luckily all my
important valuables - my passport, medicine, money, iPod - were in my
purse, but I still didn't want to lose my backpack (technically my
sister's backpack!) with all my other stuff in it. I was fairly
certain I hadn't left it on the subway, so we ran to the coffee shop -
it had been several hours since we'd been there though. However, as
soon as I told the waitress I was missing my backpack, her face lit
up, and she reached behind the counter for my backpack! I was SO
relieved. I don't think that would have happened in all of the
countries I've been to on this trip! After we rescued my backpack, we
walked around a little more, and then made the journey back to the ship.

I really liked Japan - I definitely want to come back here with more
time and money! And now, next stop: United States of America!

China

China already! This rapid travel is really getting intense, and as I
write this we are a mere two days from Japan. Time is going by so fast!

DAY ONE

Today was my free day in Hong Kong! Hong Kong is pretty separate from
mainland China. They use their own currency, and Americans don't need
a visa to visit Hong Kong, but Chinese require a permit to go to Hong
Kong. I spent the morning walking around with my friends Lexi and
Alexa. Our port was in a nice mall area, and our first stop was
Starbucks. The first Starbucks in months! Alexa's brother has a
friend living in Hong Kong, and she recommended a temple for us to go
to. We had no idea what we were going to, but the temple ended up
being really cool! It was Palm Sunday, so on our way to the temple we
saw lots of people in Christian services walking around celebrating
Palm Sunday. The temple itself was very crowded! It was a huge
temple, and there were people everywhere. There was also a lot of
incense burning. We spent about an hour just wandering through the
temple and trying to see everything. Around noon Lexi had to go back
to the ship, so Alexa and I decided to get our fortunes read.
Apparently this area is famous for palm reading! The woman said that
I would be rich - she could tell because of my nose. I hope that's
true! The first thing she asked when she looked at my palms was if I
had had an accident with scissors as a child. I don't know if I have
a scar or something, but when I was in third grade I did accidentally
cut my hand with scissors!

After the fortunes, I had read about a place called Snoopy's World, so
we decided to go there. Snoopy's World was definitely meant for
kids! I'm a huge Peanuts plan though, so I still had fun looking at
all the giant Snoopy statues! Right next to Snoopy World was a random
dance competition, so we watched one of the dances. That was pretty
interesting! Alexa's brother's friend was meeting us for coffee, so
we headed to the area where she was meeting us. We walked around that
area for awhile, and then found Alexa's friend - funnily enough, she
was also named Lexi! Lexi had brought another friend, and the four of
us went to a very cute independent coffee shop. It was definitely the
type of place I would frequent back home. We then headed to
Victoria's Peak, and we were going to go up, but the line was over an
hour long! We decided to instead head back to the ship for dinner and
go to the Hong Kong International Film Festival. We saw a very
strange Japanese film! It was cool though, it was very crowded! It
was cool to go to an international film festival in another country!

DAY TWO

Time to go to Beijing! I came to Beijing on a SAS trip. We spent
most of the day traveling. When we got to Beijing, we met with our
tour guide and went to a local restaurant for a traditional dinner of
Beijing roast duck. It was pretty good! Our tour guide, Jessica,
spoke very good English, which was very nice! She was very
informative. Apparently, English has replaced Russian as the most
popular foreign language for Chinese people to learn. Jessica also
mentioned that people are still very proud of the 2008 Olympics - it
was a very big deal! Our hotel was the Holiday Inn- Temple of Heaven,
which was pretty funny. It's the nicest hotel I've stayed at on this
trip. We even get HBO!

DAY THREE

We had a continental breakfast at the hotel, which had everything from
fried rice to Honey Nut Cheerios. After breakfast we went to
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is huge!
There lots of Chinese tourists there as well, and they kept taking
pictures of us! THat was pretty funny. Tiananmen Square was very
impressive, and then we entered the gates to the Forbidden City. It's
called the Forbidden City because when the Chinese emperor lived there
commoners were not allowed within its gates. The Forbidden City is
also huge! It feels like it never ends. I really liked exploring it
though, especially the Imperial Gardens. Again, it was very
impressive! I liked it more than I was expecting. After lunch we
went to a silk "museum". This stop wasn't listed on the itinerary and
it was basically just guided tour of a government-owned silk shop.
Very strange! After the silk store we went to the Guang Ai Migrant
School, which was a boarding school for kids whose parents don't have
the means to provide for them. We played basketball and tug of war
with them. It was very different than the school in Ghana I went to!
The kids did not seem so excited to see us. It was a good experience
though. After the school we went on a rickshaw ride through a very
cute area of Beijing to a local home for dinner. It was very good!
They even taught us how to make dumplings. It was a very busy day!

DAY FOUR

Today we went to the Great Wall of China! It was fantastic, I can't
believe I was really there! It's pretty funny, there's a big market
and a Subway at the bottom of the wall. We took a chairlift up to the
wall, and had about an hour to explore it. There were some sections
with very steep steps! I really liked it. We even got to toboggan
down! After lunch we went to a kung fu school. Students at this
school performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 2008
Olympics, and they performed for us! That was very cool. After the
performance they taught us some kung fu. It was a lot of fun! There
were lots of cute little kids there, and they were all so talented!
Afterwards we passed the Olympic Village on the way to dinner, and
then went to an acrobatic show. The acrobatic show was very good! My
friends and I snuck up to VIP seats, so we had a prime view. It made
me miss gymnatics!

DAY FIVE

Last day in Beijing! We spent the morning at the Temple of Heaven,
which was even bigger than the Forbidden City. We spent most of the
morning playing shuttlecock, which was fun. We had a tea ceremony at
the temple, which was very interesting. We tried some delicious tea!
After the ceremony it was time to fly to Shanghai. Once I got back to
the ship I met up with my friend Alexa, and we wanted to go see the
Hunger Games. Unfortunately, the only English movie at the theater we
went to was Wrath of the Titans, so we just got chocolate from the
Hershey store and walked around Nanjing Street for awhile.

DAY SIX

Today I went with a large group of people to the Shanghai Science and
Technology Museum. The museum was pretty good, but the English
translations for the exhibits was a little humorous at times. The
museum was crowded with schoolchildren! When we were done with the
museum we got lunch at Papa John's - we were a little done with
Chinese food! Papa John's was actually a sit down restaurant, and it
was delicious. After lunch we wandered for a couple of hours through
a large underground market. We found lots of knock-offs! There were
even knock-off iPods that played MP5s - not sure those would be a wise
purchase! Later, Alexa, Liz, Peter and I tried to see Hunger Games at
yet another theater. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that the Hunger
Games is playing at all in China - no one knew what we were talking
about! That was a little disappointing. We went back to the ship for
dinner, and then I met up with some other friends and went to a local
bar. There were lots of SAS kids there - I think we overwhelmed the
bar! It was a fun evening though.

DAY SEVEN

A week has gone by already! It went by so fast! I had an FDP in the
morning to two different temples. The first was the Longhua Temple,
the largest Buddhist temple in Shanghai. It was fun to just explore
all the different buildings. They were all very beautiful, inside and
out, decorated with lots of different art and sculptures. The next
temple was the Jade Buddha temple, home to the largest jade statue of
Buddha. It was very pretty. This temple was smaller, so instead of
wandering we had a tea ceremony. It wasn't quite as good as my tea
ceremony in Beijing, but it was still fun. Afterwards, I went to
another market with my friends Matt and Liz. This market was a lot of
fun - it was very busy with a lot of locals! Unlike the other
markets, this place actually felt like a cultural experience.
However, this market didn't have the same knockoffs, so we went to yet
another market to buy knockoffs. There were even knockoff Rosetta
Stones, so now I'm going to learn Italian!

I really enjoyed China! I had a great time here. There's so much to
see - again I feel like I barely scratched the surface of this country!

Vietnam

It's pretty crazy how fast things can change! Only a generation ago,
Vietnam was NOT a place you would want to go to. Now, it's quite the
tourist destination! I had a great time here, but it was also
interesting to observe lasting effects of the war.

DAY ONE

Today was my day for Ho Chi Minh City! SAS had a free shuttle from
the ship into downtown, and I was a bit surprised by how nice the area
was! We were dropped off at a very fancy hotel, which was surrounded
by designer shops such as Gucci and Prada. Today I was just going to
explore the city with my friends Brynn and Meg. Since we were quite
tired (we always get very early starts on the first day!) we made our
first stop a coffee shop. We went to Ciao Cafe, which was pretty
close to the Rex Hotel. It was a very cute coffee shop, with
delicious lattes and ice cream. I even got an ice cream in the shape
of a snowman! After coffee we just walked around the area we were
in. We all had bought fabric in Ghana which we wanted to get made
into dresses, but every tailor we went to was a little more expensive
than we wanted. We finally asked a hotel's reception desk where we
should go, and they directed us to Ho Chi Minh City's backpacker
district. It was within walking district, and we had a very pleasant
walk through a park on our way. The backpacker district was a
slightly more crowded area, and we instantly found cheaper shops!
After we found a tailor for our dress, we were ready for more food, so
we got Vietnamese food at a very cute little restaurant.

After lunch, we walked around the backpacker district and went into a
few shops. We went to a spa and treated ourselves to $3 manicures! I
wish manicures were that cheap in the states. We made our way to the
Ben Thanh Market, which was a huge indoors market that was full of
different vendors, from food to knock-offs to Vietnamese souvenirs.
This place was very crowded and bustling! We spent awhile exploring
the market. We got pho, a traditional Vietnamese meal for dinner. It
was very tasty! It's a noodle dish that is cooked in a broth, and you
also get additional veggies and spices which you can add yourself to
customize your pho dish. After dinner, we headed back to our coffee
shop from the morning to use its wifi. It's always nice to get some
Internet time in. We found out that Facebook is blocked in Vietnam,
but there are ways to get around the blocks to access the site, which
was an interesting discovery!

DAY TWO

I woke up very early to catch my flight to Hanoi, Vietnam's capital.
This was the first day on my trip to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay with the
company Global Citizens. Once we were in Hanoi and checked into our
hotel, we were ready for lunch. I went with my friends Kellie, Allie
and Lukas to walk around and find a good place to eat. Our hotel was
located in Hanoi's French Quarter. Hanoi was pretty different from Ho
Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City felt more modern and cosmopolitan,
while Hanoi felt more crowded and busy. We found a very nice place
for lunch, and had some interesting times with the language barrier!
At one point Kellie tried asking for salt for her fries, and they
brought her an empty salt-rimmed glass. The language barrier
consistently keeps things entertaining! We spent the rest of the
afternoon shopping and stopping for some more food. We met up with
other people from our tour for dinner, and we went to the CIty View
Restaurant. The restaurant did have a good view of Hanoi, and the
food was good, but unfortunately the language barrier caused some
problems here. The wait staff did not seem too pleased with us for
some reason. After dinner everyone hung out at the hotel for the rest
of the evening.

DAY THREE

We woke up early to eat breakfast at our hotel before our four-hour
drive to Ha Long Bay. Once we got to Ha Long Bay, we boarded our
junkboat. The junkboat was very cute! Ha Long Bay was very
gorgeous. It is one of "The New Seven Natural Wonders of the World".
I'm not exactly sure who comes up with these lists, but the Amazon and
Table Mountain are also on that list, so now I've been to three
natural wonders! We spent the rest of the day cruising through the
bay. We stopped at a very big natural cave and walked through it. We
also went kayaking for about an hour, which was my favorite part of
the trip. Right before dinner, we hiked up the highest point of Ha
Long Bay, which provided gorgeous views of the bay. It's pretty
funny, Ha Long Bay has lots of "floating markets", where people have
little boats that they sail around and sell stuff on. They even came
up to our bedroom window on the junkboat! While we were there it was
pretty foggy, which gave the area a very mystical feeling. That
evening there was karaoke on the ship, which was pretty entertaining!

DAY FOUR

We spent the morning cruising through the bay again. Lunch was our
last meal on the junkboat, then it was time to head back to Hanoi. We
had enough free time in Hanoi before our flight to do some more
shopping and grab dinner. After that it was time to go back to Ho Chi
Minh City! I'm glad I did the Global Citizens trip, Ha Long Bay was
probably my favorite part of Vietnam. It was unlike anything I've
ever seen, and so beautiful.

DAY FIVE

Today I was on a SAS trip for the whole day. The first part of the
trip was to the Cao Dai Temple. The Cao Dai religion is a new one,
founded in the 1920s. The temple was built in the 1930s. The
religion blends many elements of different religions, especially
Buddhism and Confucianism. The temple was very beautiful and
elaborately decorated. We got to witness part of a service, which was
very interesting even though I couldn't understand a single word! It
was interesting to see such a unique religion, and I loved all the art
in the temple.

After lunch we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were used by
the Vietnamese guerilla forces in the Vietnam War. On our way there
we saw a short propaganda video on the bus. This video had a very
anti-American slant, and it was very strange to hear about the war
from that perspective! The video highlighted child guerrilla soldiers
who had killed over a hundred American soldiers. I hadn't realized
that the guerillas were not just made up of soldiers, but also the
local women and children. We visited different points of the
tunnels. We saw an entrance point that was so tiny - I can't imagine
how people fit in there! We saw some of the traps that were used by
the guerillas and this was again strange as they had illustrations of
Americans falling into the traps. We got to walk through a section of
the tunnels, which was very small. It's lucky I don't get
claustrophobic! I'm glad I went to the tunnels, because I learned
more about the war and I think that it's important to see history from
a different side. It really showed that where you live determines how
you learn history. However, it did stir up a lot of mixed emotions in
me. For me, it really strengthened my feeling that war is truly one
of the most horrific things imaginable and I have a hard time seeing
how it is justified.

A Day in Singapore

Singapore is a fantastic place! I wasn't quite sure what to expect
here, but I really enjoyed the city and I want to come back. I wish
we could have spent a night here!

As soon as we got off the ship, we knew Singapore was going to be very
different from all of our other ports. The cruise terminal dock in
Singapore looks like a very nice airport terminal! There were TVs,
moving walkways and Starbucks was one of the first stores we saw.
Very different from our port in India! Surprisingly, I was able to
resist Starbucks. I went with my friends Brynn, Meg and Sara to just
walk around and explore Singapore. Our first stop was Chinatown.
Singapore's Chinatown was pretty similar to the Chinatown in New York
City. We found a local coffee shop here that was much cheaper than
Starbucks, and had a mini coffee museum in the back. It was really
cute! It was pretty funny, we actually didn't do anything related to
China in Chinatown. We saw a very elaborately decorated Hindu temple
and for lunch we went to an Indian restaurant! It was a very cool
place, because it was an all-you-can-eat buffet run by volunteers, and
at the end you simply paid whatever you wanted to. It was very
delicious, we enjoyed one last taste of India!

After lunch, we decided to head to the colonial district. Here the
buildings were a bit bigger and more modern than in Chinatown, I think
this was more of a business district. We went to the Singapore Art
Museum, and it was only $5 to go with a student ID. The museum had a
lot of modern and contemporary art by Asian artists, and it was very
cool! We also talked to some workers for awhile, and they were very
impressed by the SAS program. One of the coolest exhibits was a
tunnel with pages from books taped everywhere, that lead into a little
room with a writer's desk and all his notes and books. I was very
impressed with all the different art here and how nice all the workers
were. After the art museum, we went to the famous Raffles Hotel.
Raffles was the British man who founded Singapore, and the hotel
considered one of Singapore's most famous landmarks. Its bar is
famous for having all sorts of famous people come drink Singapore
Slings here over the years. It was a very pretty and fancy hotel. We
wandered around for awhile, but unfortunately Singapore Slings cost
$30 here - so no imitating famous people in the lobby!

Brynn had a friend living in Singapore now, and we were going to meet
her for dinner at a restaurant on Arab Street. We decided to head to
Arab Street a little early and have a nice snack before dinner. We
got on a bus that we thought went directly to Arab Street.
Unfortunately, the bus did not go to Arab Street at all! We got off
when we figured this out, but it worked out because we found a very
yummy snack place right where the bus dropped us off. We got pastries
and boba tea, and it was delicious! After our snack, we then took the
metro to Arab Street. When we got off the subway we heard a loud
crack of thunder and then it was a torrential downpour! We ran from
the subway through the pouring rain to the restaurant, which luckily
was pretty easy to find. We found Brynn's friend and had a really
yummy dinner! After dinner Meg and I did quick souvenir shopping and
then we all went out for gelato. After gelato, it was time to get
back to the boat. This was a shame, because Arab Street was really
starting to come alive! I think it would be a great place to go at
night, because there were many restaurants with everyone out on the
patios. I wanted to stay so badly!

We only had an hour to get back to the ship, spend our remaining
Singaporean dollars, and go through immigrations again! The terminal
was full of SAS students running around, trying to make it back to the
ship. For the second time, I clocked in right at on-ship time! I
didn't get any dock time good, so that's good. I'm simply maximizing
my time in port!

Elephants, Yoga and More in India

India! Our port was Cochin, India, located in the southern state of
Kerala. Even though we were so far south, 75% of the ship went north
all the way to the Taj Mahal. However, I stayed in Kerala, and I have
absolutely no regrets about this! I had a wonderful time, and I saved
a lot of travel time - the people who went to the Taj had to go on a
day's worth of travel time there and back!

DAY ONE

Today was our arrival in India! We were all very excited to get off
the boat and experience the country as soon as we pulled into port.
My roommate and I both had SAS trips around 2 so we decided to just go
out and try to do some shopping and get lunch. However, we had been
warned about delays in India, and we experienced our first Indian
delay before we even got off the ship! We started the immigrations
process at 8, and customs didn't clear us until 11:30! By that point,
we decided that we should just get, so our friend Meg joined us for
lunch. We found a taxi and told him to take us to a good lunch spot.
He took us to a place called The Tourist Net Cafe. It wasn't exactly
what we'd had in mind, but we didn't have time to look around too
much. The food here was surprisingly good: I had fish masala and
coconut rice, and it was absolutely delicious. Good start to Indian
food! Lunch took awhile, so we had to head right back to the ship so
Brynn and I could make our trips.

That afternoon I had an FDP for my art history class to see some
buildings showing influence of Western architecture and to go to a
spice market. We started by going to the Mattancherry Palace. This
was a palace that was built by the Portuguese, renovated by the Dutch,
and is now home to a museum. The highlight of this museum was a
series of remarkably well-kept Hindu murals. They were all
beautifully done, and fascinating to look at. After the palace, we
headed to Jew Town, a large market area with lots of different shops.
It was very tempting to buy stuff everywhere, but we didn't have any
time to stop! Our destination was a Jewish synagogue. This synagogue
was really beautiful and eclectic on the inside. It was filled with
different chandeliers, the walls were painted a bright blue and the
floors were made of hand-painted Chinese tiles. We didn't stay here
long, because we had to get to a spice market. This part of the FDP
was a little disappointing. I was hoping we were headed to a huge
spice market, with lots of different sellers and a variety of spices.
Instead, we headed to New Cochin, a more developed part of Cochin than
Jew Town, and just went inside one spice store. There was a great
variety of spices there, but it was not quite what I had expected.

After the FDP, I had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat
before heading to the Welcome Reception. This was a gathering of SAS
and Indian students. I got free henna here (not great henna - it's
already disappearing!) and there was also a variety of different
Indian snacks. The food was delicious! The best part of the Welcome
Reception was the chance to talk with Indian students our own age.
They were all very interesting and friendly. They taught us that the
best way to eat Indian food is with your hands, just ignoring the
silverware! We were also treated to a traditional dance performance -
one of the dances was the national dance of Kerala - then a couple of
students sang for us. They sang so beautifully, I wish I could sing
like that!

DAY TWO

When I asked people for advice on what to do in Kerala, everyone told
me the backwaters was a must-see. Today I went on an SAS trip to the
Alleppey Backwaters, the "Venice of the East". The trip was pretty
small for a SAS trip, which was really nice, and the backwaters were
very beautiful! The backwaters consist of connecting canals, and are
very peaceful and incredibly green with all the vegetation. We just
took a relaxed cruise along the backwaters, where we could just sit
back, talk, and enjoy the scenery. There are a lot of villages right
by the backwaters, so we got a very intimate view of the village life
while we floated by. We also had fun looking at all the elaborate
houseboats! Renting a houseboat here is a popular tourist attraction
for many Western and Indian tourists. It was a very relaxing
afternoon! When I got back, my friend Lexi and I went to a very fancy
hotel and got an elaborate buffet dinner and hookah. The dessert part
of the buffet was incredible! They had a dozen different deserts,
with names like "Chocolate Melt Duet Surprise". We of course had to
sample every dessert!

DAY THREE

Woke up bright and early today to leave for the boat at 7! My friend
Lexi and I were headed to Mata Amritanandamayi Math, an ashram about
three hours south of Cochin. It was a very interesting experience!
Staying at the ashram was super cheap - only $5 a night, all meals
included. Other things at the ashram were very cheap too - they sold
other food, including mochas and other western food, all for under a
dollar. Lexi and I didn't know anything about this ashram when we got
there. It was a beautiful place - it's right by the seaside, so it's
surrounded by palm trees, and the backwaters on one side and the ocean
on the other. The whole ashram is centered around one woman, Amma,
who is known as the hugging guru. She has given hugs to over 30
million different people in her life! The process of getting a hug
from Amma is known as darshan, and this was actually going on when we
went. For the first couple of hours we were there, Lexi and I looked
pretty clueless as we wandered around trying to figure out how the
ashram worked. We made our way to the beach, and sat there for
awhile. The beach was a very beautiful and peaceful area, and we
enjoyed sitting there and watching the crabs. At 5 we had a long
overdue orientation meeting. Here we learned more about Amma and what
she does. They showed us a very powerful video describing Embracing
the World, the non-profit charity organization run by Amma. They do
some pretty incredible things, namely helping out with disaster relief
worldwide. We also got a walking tour of the ashram and learned more
about the people who live there. Some people believe Amma is a
religious leader who has a direct connection with a higher power.
Other people there just think she is a very admirable leader. There
are about 2,000 people who live at the ashram full time. I can't
really imagine that - I think I would last about a week before I
desperately needed more civilization. After dinner we went to receive
darshan. Apparently we were pretty lucky that Amma was there, she
normally travels this time of year. Darshan was a pretty odd
experience. We waited in a line to receive a hug from Amma. This was
around 9 at night, and I'm pretty sure Amma had been giving hugs for
about 12 hours that day. We received some rules for darshan - you
couldn't actually touch Amma, but you had to support your weight with
the arms of her chair. I'm not quite sure what to make of the whole
thing - my hug just felt a little awkward and she whispered something
in my ear that I couldn't understand because it wasn't English - but I
could tell that some of the other people were truly affected by
receiving their hug.

DAY FOUR

Woke up way too early - 5 AM! - to observe one of the ashram's daily
practices, archana. This is the chanting of the 1,000 names of the
Divine Mother, and it lasts for an entire hour. I didn't really know
what was going on, but I was struck by how many people were in the
temple and had this chant memorized. After archana, we went to 6 AM
meditation at the beach. It was very relaxing to just sit at the
beach and zone out for awhile. Right after meditation we went to a
yoga class. I thought it was pretty funny that everyone at the yoga
class was a white woman. The yoga class was quite good though - it
had been awhile since I'd done yoga, so it felt really good! After
yoga Lexi and I just had a leisurely breakfast at the Western Cafe,
and then went to see if we could get an astrology reading. I've
always wanted to do that, but never wanted to spend the money. We
were in luck, and the astrologer wasn't doing anything and was able to
give us a reading. He didn't tell me much about my future though, but
he said I was a priest or some kind of spiritual leader in a past
life. It was mostly just things about my personality and current
life, and he was right about most things. It was pretty cool, but I
certainly wouldn't pay more for an astrology appointment!

We left the ashram right after lunch to head to the Periyar Tiger
Reserve in Kumily, a 3.5 hour drive away. We found a very cute hotel
named Coffee Inn, where we spent the night. Coffee Inn bordered the
inn, and as soon as we got there the receptionist showed us a wild
boar that was right by the hotel! We went out to a very nice dinner,
but called it an early night - we were tired from waking up at 5!

DAY FIVE

After a good night's sleep, Lexi and I spent the morning walking
around Kumily and did some shopping. It was funny, I noticed some
things advertising the "Wild Five" at Periyar - surely a play on the
Big Five from Africa! Around noon, we went for an elephant ride!
This was such a cool experience. We got to ride an elephant on a
trail for about a half hour, and then take a lot of pictures with the
elephant. We also got to feed the elephants bananas! This was lots
of fun, the elephants really like their bananas! I'm very glad I got
to do that, I've always wanted to ride an elephant! After the
elephants, we went on a spice tour at a local spice gardens. We
wanted to do this because we were in an area that was so well-known
for its spices. The spice tour was very interesting, our guide was
very informative. We saw a plant that folded its leaves when we
touched it, and we saw an incredible amount of different spices and
plants. After the spice tour, we got a head, face and shoulders
massage at a local Ayurvedic center. They are all over Kumily! The
massage was pretty different than any other massage I've had, but it
was very relaxing! We went back to Cochin around dinnertime, and a
local Indian woman helped us find a cheaper taxi. She was very nice,
and told us that her daughter is currently abroad, and she's hoping
someone is helping her out too. Our taxi ride was uneventful until we
got into Cochin. Our driver didn't know where the port was, and it
took us an hour to find the ship!

DAY SIX

For the last day in India, I went with some friends to Fort Kochi. We
got a couple of rickshaw drivers to show us around for the day. We
saw a place where the locals do their laundry, a local church, the
outside of a Hindu temple and the famous Chinese fishing nets. After
all that, we went back to Jew Town to do some laid-back shopping and
spend the last of our rupees. India flew by so quickly! It was an
incredible place, and I know that I need to come back. There is so
much to see and do in India, I would love to come back to travel
around the whole country.

Maurit-ish and Mauritius

Mauritius is sometimes referred to as the "Spring Break" of SAS, and I
was really looking forward to spending a day at the beach! It falls
in the middle of a fairly long stretch of sea, between Cape Town and
India, so it's a very welcome break. However, our time in Mauritius
did not come easily!

Right after Cape Town, the seas were getting very rough! Apparently,
we were following a cyclone, which was causing the rough seas and
making us go slower. A couple days before we were supposed to get to
Mauritius, the dean made a very sad announcement: Since we were
falling behind schedule, we would only stop in Mauritius to get fuel,
and no passengers would be allowed to get off. This was to make sure
we got to India on time. Obviously, the news was very disappointing.
Even though it isn't a major port, everyone was still looking forward
to it.

MAURIT-ISH DAY

However, to try to make up for it, SAS planned a Maurit-ish Day on the
day we would have gone to the actual Mauritius. This day was actually
a lot of fun! They served brunch until 1- very exciting, since
breakfast normally stops at 8:30! There were also various activities,
like a Zumba class and an improv workshop. The day ended with a big
barbeque on the pool deck. I was at the afternoon Zumba class when
they made a new announcement - we were going to Mauritius after all!
We wouldn't get to Mauritius until about 10 PM, but the next day we
were allowed to leave the boat for four hours, from 8-12. This was
very exciting news! Not only did we get a fun day off, but we still
got to experience Mauritius - for only four hours, but it was
definitely better than nothing. Everyone was in very high spirits
during the barbeque!

MAURITIUS DAY

Real Mauritius day started bright and early - the immigrations
officers got on at 6:30, and we had to quickly go through immigrations
to get off the boat as soon as possible. Around 7:30 AM, everyone was
cleared to leave. I went into Mauritius with my friends Kathy and
Lucy. We wanted to check out the beach and do a little shopping for
some souvenirs. When we got off the boat, everyone quickly remembered
that it was barely 8 in the morning - no shops would be open for a
couple of hours! We decided to head to the beach before really doing
any shopping, but we got to see a little bit of Port Louis. Port
Louis is Africa's wealthiest city, and it's very busy and chaotic - a
little unexpected for an island that is known for its relaxing
beaches! Kathy, Lucy and I got a taxi to take us to Pereybere Beach,
a half hour away. The beach was very nice, with white sands and
clear, blue waters. It reminded me a lot of the beach in the
Bahamas. We spent about an hour swimming, and it was a lot of fun.
We're constantly on the ocean, but we never get to swim in it, so the
chance to go to the beach was very satisfying!

An hour went by very quickly. When it was time to leave, Kathy and I
were feeling very hungry, so we asked the taxi driver if we could go
to a lunch place on the way back to Port Louis. He took us to a
little shopping center. It was still before 11, so many food places
still weren't open, but we found a little convenience store, and I had
a delicious salmon quiche. After lunch, we really didn't have time to
do much but head back to the waterfront. We ran into a little bit of
traffic, and by the time we got to the stores it was already 11:30 -
only a half hour before on ship time! SAS has a dock time policy,
where you get two hours of dock time for every 15 minutes that you're
late to the ship. Dock time refers to the time in the next port where
you are "grounded" on the ship, and can't leave and go into the
country. We quickly picked out souvenirs, and got on a water taxi at
11:45. The water taxi people wanted to wait until the taxi filled up,
which would have taken awhile, but luckily the ship photographer got
on with us and stressed to the driver that we needed to get back to
the ship immediately. We clocked into the ship right at 12 - perfect
timing to avoid dock time!

I thoroughly enjoyed my very brief visit to Mauritius! I'm very glad
I made it to the beach, and didn't just spend the day shopping at the
waterfront - I think Lucy, Kathy and I really maximized our four
hours! It was a welcome break from the ship, and now we are looking
ahead to India!

South Africa!

DAY ONE
My roommate and I started the day bright and early to watch the sun
rise as the ship pulled into Cape Town. This was the first port I've
woken up early for and... it might be my last! I definitely like my
sleep, but it was very cool to watch us pull into Cape Town, with
Table Mountain in the background. We also saw seals play around our
ship as we pulled into the dock, so that was really cool.
Today was my last FDP for Marine Biology: a trip to the Zandvlei
Estuary, Boulder's Beach, Cape Point and Cape Peninsula. Zandvlei is
a wetlands area, and it's one of the most diverse places on Earth.
You wouldn't necessarily guess that by just looking at it though: It's
quite pretty, but basically just looks like a lot of grass and some
ponds. We did see several different birds, and in the visitor's
center our guide brought out an endangered leopard frog. After that,
we drove to Simon's Town, right by Boulder's Beach. We had a
delicious lunch of fish and calamari at a local restaurant. Next, it
was time for penguins! I wasn't sure how close we could get to the
penguins, or even how many we would actually see. As we walked into
the beach, right by the boardwalk, were already a couple penguins!
They were just chilling, and they didn't even care when a large group
of people would just stop right by them to take pictures. The beach
itself was very pretty in its own right - the water was a lovely shade
of blue, and was also a nice swimming temperature. The boulders made
the beach very pretty. However, the real highlight was when we saw
more penguins! I was surprised to see a penguin right by the crowded
beach. My Marine Bio teacher had gotten a map of where to go to see
even more penguins, so we climbed over some boulders and waded through
a lot of water. It was more than worth it! At some parts, we were
literally swimming with the penguins, as they would come swim right
next to you. Then, when we got to the next beach, there were dozens
of penguins all over the beach! These penguins have the life: They
just spend all day sleeping and swimming at this beautiful beach. I
really wanted to steal one, but couldn't make it work.
After the penguins, it was time to go to Cape Point. It was a short
walk to the top, where there was a lighthouse. The views here were
gorgeous. Then, on the drive back, we saw some African wildlife! It
was a pre-safari. We saw a couple ostriches hanging out by the beach,
zebra, and even baboons crossing the road. (Baboons are similar to
bears in Colorado: There are a ton of warnings to not feed the
baboons, and apparently they are quite the nuisance). That night, I
went out to eat at the V&A Waterfront with some friends. The
Waterfront was very nice - it was a short walk from our ship. It has
a lot of really nice restaurants and shopping. However, it does feel
very Americanized, but it was a fun place to go out to. After dinner,
we went to a club on Long Street. Long Street has more nightlife than
the waterfront, so a lot of clubs are here. We went to one called
Concept, and it was a lot of fun. There were a lot of locals there,
and it felt pretty similar to some American clubs I've gone to. It
felt like a smaller version of the club Beta in Denver. While we were
dancing, I noticed that literally no couples were dancing together.
Everyone was just dancing by themselves or in groups, which I really
liked! We got some good dance circles going, and had a very good time.

DAY TWO
Today, I left for my safari. I did an SAS overnight safari at the
Garden Route Game Lodge. It was a four-hour drive from the ship, but
the drive itself was quite pretty. We passed some townships, which
were incredibly contrasted with the rest of Cape Town. The Game Lodge
was very nice. It had a very cute pool, and the lodge overlooked the
game reserve, so if you looked into the distance you could see
giraffes and other wildlife, with the mountain range in the
background. Seeing mountains in the distance reminded me of
Colorado! One of my friends said, "It would be so cool to wake up
everyday and see mountains in the background," which I thought was
funny, because that's what I get in Colorado! I guess I just live in
the best state.
We had our first game drive that night. We separated into different
groups, and drove around the game reserve in open 4x4's. My group's
guide, Ronald, was very cool and informative. The first thing we saw
were elephants! They have two elephants living here, and they might
have been my favorite animals. Did you know that elephants revisit
the graves of family members to mourn for 30 years after they've
died? They are very smart, and our tour guide emphasized how he
really feels that elephants have a conscience and are very self-aware
animals. Next we saw the giraffes, and they have a little family
here: A mom, dad, and a two-year-old baby girl, who is about half the
size of her parents. Apparently the mom was pregnant with another
baby while we were there, but you couldn't tell! We also saw zebra,
antelope and buffalo. Buffalo are the most dangerous animals of the
Big 5 (the Big 5 is a hunting term, and describes elephants, leopards,
lions, buffalo and rhino), but crocodiles and hippos are the most
dangerous animals in Africa. We also saw the lions, which have their
own area in the reserve because they eat so much. Ronald gave us many
warnings about the male lion - apparently he's chased Ronald before!
We stayed a safe distance away, and when it was time to leave, Ronald
booked it out of there! On our way back to the lodge, we saw the
family of rhinos, who were just hanging out by the road.
For dinner, we had a buffet back at the lodge, and it was delicious.
We spent the night hanging out with everyone in the hotel lobby and
bar area.

DAY THREE
We started the day early with a morning game drive. We started the
drive with some excitement! One of the first animals we saw was
actually a dead antelope - freshly killed by a cheetah. Ronald drove
up a little ways, then came back and the cheetah was there, enjoying
its breakfast! The cheetah would get nervous when it noticed us
though, and he kept dragging the antelope back into the bushes. After
that, we saw a bunch of ostriches. I think ostriches have to be some
of the silliest animals out there. We also saw more giraffes, zebra,
alive antelopes and buffalo. After the game drive, we went to the
cheetah reserve, which is where they keep cheetahs until they are
ready to be released into their reserve or another area. It was a
pretty cool area, with about three cheetahs just wandering around. We
had lunch at their restaurant, and I tried springbok, which is SA's
national animal. It was pretty tasty, but I liked ostrich better.
After some free time of just hanging out around the pool, we had
another evening game drive. This time, we saw the female cheetah.
She was off in the distance, but Ronald got out and started to call
her. He told us this is what they do to fee her, and he wanted her to
think we had food so she would come closer. At first we weren't sure
if Ronald knew what he was, but the cheetah came right towards us!
When she found out there was no food, she just plopped down by the
car. She was very cute, she rolled over a couple times, playing it up
for our cameras! We also saw the rhino family again, and Ronald told
us a lot about the different birds and plants in the area. He was
like an encyclopedia!

DAY FOUR
Our last day at the Garden Route! We had another morning drive, where
we saw a lot of animals again, including the lions. We all made sure
to get a group photo with Ronald at the end! After breakfast we
toured their reptile center, where they actually keep reptiles from
all over the world. Our tour guide was pretty funny - he took a jab
at Australia when he told us they have 7 of the world's most dangerous
animals. He said, "So next time, don't go to Australia, just come
back to SA! We're much safer." After that, we left and made the
drive back to the ship. Shortly after we got back, I left the ship
again with my friends Kellie and Sarah to go to Table Mountain. We
got there around 5:45, so it was too late to hike, but the cable car
was half price at 6, so that worked out. We met up with a friend of
Sarah's from the US who happened to be studying abroad at the
University of Cape Town. We explored the top of Table Mountain and
saw the sunset, and it was so gorgeous. There were great views of
Cape Town and the ocean from the top, and the sun set over the ocean.
After we got down, we went to the Waterfront again for dinner, and
Kellie and I went to an Italian restaurant. We were treated to an
opera concert there, and we had the most delicious pizza! I hadn't
had pizza in awhile, and it was so good! We had an early night,
because we wanted to be ready for our wine tour tomorrow morning at 9!

DAY FIVE
Today was our wine day! We did a biking tour that took us to two
wineries and a brandy distillery. We had some gorgeous views on the
trails, but the biking was much harder than expected! It was a bit
like mountain biking: There were no paved roads, it was all sand, and
there was some uphill that was fairly strenuous and some downhill with
a lot of rocks and logs in the way! We all made it though, even if
our tour guide put up with a lot of complaining! The first winery was
very cute, and that's where we had lunch. The second winery was also
a cheetah sanctuary, so before we tried the wine we got to go say hi
to the cheetahs. The brandy distillery was last, and the first thing
we tried was a delicious brandy cocktail. Although, I have to say, I
think I much prefer trying wine to trying brandy! It was a very fun
day, but even though I put on sunscreen I got very burnt! I guess I
didn't reapply enough times... That night I went out to dinner on the
Waterfront again, and then went to a pub. The pub turned out to be a
lot of fun, and we spent the evening dancing and meeting some very
interesting locals.

DAY SIX
I saved my last day for a laid-back shopping day. I started at the
waterfront, and ran into my friend Lexi there. We decided to go to
the Green Market on Long Street, and I found a lot of stuff there. We
also got smoothies from a place that seemed like it was straight from
Boulder! Lexi and I felt right at home there. It was a lot of fun to
just stroll along Long Street, which definitely has more character
than the Waterfront. We did not want to go back to the boat!
However, once we'd spent our last rand, it was time to go back. I was
very sad to leave Cape Town!

Welcome to Africa: 5 Days in Ghana

My first time in Africa! Without a doubt, I think this has been the
most culturally shocking and different place I've ever been to. I
decided to do a homestay through Can Do Land Tours, and I'm so glad I
decided to do that. It was a truly amazing and unique experience.

DAY 1
For the first day, we woke up bright and early to get breakfast.
Immigrations wouldn't be cleared until around 10, so at 9 we went to a
special event featuring a US ambassador in Ghana and Sheriff Ghale,
the visiting Ghanian musician. The ambassador was pretty interesting,
he was also an SAS alum. However, the real highlight was Sheriff. He
had performed a couple times between Brazil and Ghana, and this
performance was just as good as all his other ones. He's really an
incredible musician - his music is on iTunes, so I encourage everyone
to check it out.
Our plan for the day was to just walk around Accra, the capital city.
On the shuttle ride, one of the first things I noticed was the
incredible amount of stuff everyone was carrying on their heads! It
really is an amazing talent. People were carrying basins of water,
huge piles of clothes, food, and pretty much anything else you can
imagine - all on their heads. It was very impressive!
Accra was a little... overwhelming! As soon as we got off the
shuttle, we were immediately bombarded by a ton of people trying to
sell things. Before I knew what was happening, someone had put a
bracelet on me, asked for my name, and when I gave it said he would
make another bracelet with my name on it. He wouldn't stop when I
told him I didn't want it! Another guy put a necklace on my head, and
when I told him I didn't want it and wouldn't pay for any necklace, he
insisted it was free. There are so many people selling things on the
streets, and they are all really pushy. It's pretty overwhelming, so
that was the first culture shock. However, as soon as you asked
someone for directions they were more than ready to help. We wanted
to get lunch, and so we asked a seller where a good place to get lunch
was. He led us to Buka, a really good Ghanaian restaurant. I had
fufu in ground nut stew. It was pretty good - but spicy! After
lunch, we spent the rest of the day walking around and shopping. We
ended the day by going to Makola Market. This was an extremely
crowded outdoor market, where you could literally buy anything. I
found the whole fish sold everywhere to be a little gross, but I
bought some nice fabric. Once we were finished at the market, tired
from all the walking, people and heat, we headed back to the ship to
call it a day. I had to be ready to be picked up for my homestay at 7
am the next morning...

DAY 2
Or did I have to wake up at 7? I met my friend Lexi for breakfast.
We had heard that most people had gotten an itinerary for our homestay
emailed to them, with the original pickup time of 9 changed to 7.
Everyone (there was about 30 of us) got off the ship bright and early
to meet the tour guides at the port gate at 7. We had been warned
about "African time" - things in Africa tend to run slower and later
than Americans are used to. So, when it was 7:30 and we hadn't been
picked up, we attributed the lateness to African time. But when it
got to be 8, people started to grumble. Some people even started
giving up and leaving at that point, assuming that the tour people
would never come. But then we wondered if the second itinerary with
the 7 leaving time had been a typo... So we decided to wait until
9:30. At 9:45, we finally got picked up! The leaving time was always
supposed to be 9. A rough start to the homestay, but it was all
uphill from there. Our tour guide was named Emmanuel, and he was a
very adorable, nice man. We started the trip by getting lunch at a
big lake, Lake Volta. The lake was very beautiful and peaceful. I
had heard that the tilapia in Ghana was really good, so that's what I
ordered. Perhaps I should have expected it, but needless to say I was
a little surprised when a whole fish was brought out to me - including
the head and the tail! I don't think I've ever been served an entire
fish before. The tilapia did taste good though, and that wasn't the
weirdest at lunch. Some people ordered banku, a native Ghanaian
dish. Banku was essentially uncooked dough that tasted like sourdough
bread. It was really strange!
After lunch, we headed to our first village, Amedzofe, where we would
spend the night. It was a very cute little village, with a lot of cute
little kids and goats! Baby goats ran all around the village. All of
the people in the village were really nice, and the kids could melt
anyone's heart. The kids really liked to dance, and they were
fascinated by the camera. They could be amused for hours, just taking
pictures. We had a delicious home-cooked meal for dinner. After
dinner a small group of us went to a local bar. At first, we thought
no one was working there, despite its loud music and lights. No
adults were there, just three small kids. However, we quickly learned
we were wrong: The oldest girl, who was only 10 years old, was our
bartender! It was one of the strangest sights I've ever seen. We
weren't there too late though. Our guide Emmanuel came and told us we
had to wake up at 6:15, and be ready to leave at 7 tomorrow morning.
He seemed worried we wouldn't be able to wake up, so we went to bed.

DAY 3
This morning, we experienced African time again. Emmanuel had
emphasized multiple times that we had to leave by 7. We had breakfast
at 6:30, and we were ready to go. But 7 came and went, and then
around 7:45 we actually left! We went on a hike up a small mountain,
where a big cross had been put up by German missionaries. We had
beautiful views of the village and the countryside. We stayed there
for awhile, just enjoying the scenery. After we hiked down, we rested
at a small prayer center at the base of the hike. It was a very cute
and peaceful place, just some benches set up between trees. After
that, we took a long bus ride to our next destination: lunch! While
on the bus ride, I noticed that the majority of businesses in all the
villages had religious names: like God is Good Electronics. It was
pretty clear that people are very religious! I had also met a local
named Daniel, and he was very excited to tell us the Christian story
of Daniel and the lion's den, It was just very interesting to notice
all the misplaced religious names everywhere. We drove to another
village for lunch, but we had to stop at a couple of places before we
found a restaurant willing to cook for all of us. Lunch was really
good, I had jollof rice with chicken. Jollof rice is a Ghanaian rice
with spices. It was one of my favorite Ghanaian dishes. .
Next, we went on a short hike to the Wli Waterfall, the tallest
waterfall in Ghana. This waterfall was amazingly beautiful. It was
incredibly tall, and there was a little pool you could go in and stand
right under the waterfall. However, for me, the most incredible part
of the waterfall was the bats! There were hundreds of bats sleeping
and flying all around the rocks by the top half of the waterfall. I
don't think I've ever seen so many bats in my entire life!
After the waterfall, it was another long bus ride to the Tafi Atome
monkey village, where we would spend the night. As soon as we got
there we had dinner. Our tour guide Emmanuel is from Tafi Atome, and
we could tell he was very excited to be back home. He was really
excited for us to participate in the drumming and dancing performance
the village put on for us. It was very cool: We were told two
stories by the storyteller of the village, with Emmanuel translating.
Then we were treated to several different performances by the drummers
and dancers. The last song was meant for everyone to participate, so
we all got up, danced, and tried not to make complete fools of
ourselves. After the dancing, Emmanuel was very excited to have us
all go to the local bar and socialize with each other and the local
villagers. It was a pretty fun evening. We once again had a lot of
kids at the bar, which was a little weird! They kept asking every SAS
kid to buy them Fanta and malt. We stayed at the bar for awhile, but
Emmanuel warned us that we had another early morning ahead of us, so
we didn't stay out too late.

DAY 4
This morning, we actually got started early. Around 6:45 we went to
see the Mona monkeys! They are considered to be sacred monkeys by the
people of the village and they are super cute. They literally live
right next to everyone in the village - we fed the monkeys from the
path the women of the village would take to get water. There were
dozens of monkeys, and they were very friendly: Emmanuel gave us
bananas, and the monkeys would come right up to you, peel the banana
in your hand, and then take a chunk of banana to put in their mouth.
Some would even jump on your arm!
After we'd had our fill of monkeys, we were served breakfast, which
was... pasta? Surprisingly good, but a little strange! After
breakfast we went to the local school in the village to play with the
kids for an hour. The kids were really cute. I had brought a
Colorado wilderness calendar, but a lot of other people brought candy
and coloring pages. I was a little worried none of the kids would
care about the calendar, but they were actually really interested in
it. They were especially fascinated by the December picture of a big
snow field: I don't know if they see many pictures of snow. And, just
like the kids at Amedzofe, these kids loved the camera! I don't think
they see many images of themselves, so they loved taking pictures and
then immediately seeing what it looked like. All of the kids were so
cute. When we had first walked into the classroom we weren't really
sure what to do. The kids all sang a song to welcome us and we just
had a lot of fun playing with them. After an hour, we had to leave
the school to let the kids go back to class.
We had about an hour of free time before we had to leave the village,
so Emmanuel showed us around his home. We saw his kitchen: It really
wasn't much, just a small one room hut with a thatched roof. They had
food, but no kitchen appliances. It was so different from my kitchen,
but Emmanuel showed us it with such pride. Even though none of us
would probably ever be able to get used to a kitchen like that, he
loves it. Then we went to a market near Emmanuel's, where we met a
Peace Corps volunteer from one village over. He was really interesting
to talk to. He had been in Ghana since June 2010, so he had a very
interesting perspective on the country, One of the most shocking
things he told us about were the hospitals in Ghana. Shortly after he
had arrived in the village, he hurt his leg, on the waterfall hike we
did earlier. They took him to the nearest hospital, and he said it
was the scariest experience of his life. Apparently there was blood
all over the walls, the staff didn't seem to know what they were
doing, and the people who couldn't be helped were just left in the
halls to die. He said there was only one decent, clean hospital in
all of Ghana, and that is the hospital in Accra. It's a really scary
thought though: What if something did happen, and you didn't have time
to make it to Accra? Talking with the Peace Corps man reminded me of
how poor Ghana truly is, even if the people do seem really content and
happy. At both of our villages, we had no running water, and it was
common for the electricity to randomly go out. The whole experience
made me so grateful for everything I have back home.
Then, it was time to go back to Accra. We went to Fred's house (Fred
is the head of Can Do Land Tours) for dinner, and we had red red, a
local beans dish, and delicious fried plantains. Everyone from Can Do
Land Tours was really nice again. I'm definitely glad I decided to do
this homestay - I would have had such a different and limited view of
Ghana if I had just stayed around Tema and Accra for the whole time.

DAY 5
For the last day, we just went back to Accra. We walked around the
art market, which had some very cool stuff to buy, but some of the
sellers were very pushy! We also noticed some "Ghanaian" goods had a
tag that said "Made in China". I managed to find some pretty cool
things, and I'm pretty sure they are authentic! To make it back to
the ship on time, we didn't really do anything else in Accra. Accra
is a very bustling city, but it is hard to get used to. I liked many
parts of Accra, but it was also a little stressful in parts,
especially in the markets.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed my time in Ghana. It was truly the
most eye-opening and culturally shocking place I've ever been to.
It's amazing to think that, poor as it is, Ghana is one of the
Africa's most well-off countries. It really made me put my own life
in perspective: i just feel so incredibly lucky for everything in my
life right now.

Seasickness, Super Bowl Sunday and Neptune Day

Between Brazil and Ghana, there are a full nine days at sea - our
longest stretch yet! Luckily, we had some big events to keep things
exciting on the ship.

Super Bowl Sunday was the day we left the Amazon. There were a lot of
Giants and Patriots on the ship - strangely, most of the ship faculty
seemed to be supporting the Patriots. My Marine Biology teacher
warned us we might not have class again if the Giants won, since she
would have jumped off the ship in despair. Also, over the evening's
announcements, the Dean told everyone to get excited to watch the
Patriots beat the Giants. Luckily, the Giants fans had the last
laugh! It was a very intense game, made all the more intense by the
fact we were watching it live in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! It
was pretty funny to see movie and tv show advertisements for things we
wouldn't be able to watch. It was a lot of fun to watch it with most
of the shipboard community - it was an exciting game that kept
everyone interested until the last second. Go Giants!

The day of the Super Bowl, the waves were starting to get intense.
The next day, at least half the ship seemed to be suffering from
seasickness. I had both my classes cancelled - for World Prayer, my
teacher was seasick, and in my normally 30-person East Meets West
class, only eight people showed up, so the professor just cancelled
class. A bonus reading day! It was fairly enjoyable since I wasn't
one of the seasick ones. The waves were consistently around 10 feet
high. Luckily, the ocean is getting calmer, and everyone on the ship
seems to be back to normal. There could be more seasick days ahead of
us though - apparently we haven't seen the worst seas yet!

Finally, today is Neptune Day! Neptune Day is the celebration for
when you cross the equator at sea. We actually crossed the equator
when we went into the Amazon, but we didn't celebrate until today.
Around 7:20 in the morning, the crew came marching down the halls,
banging on pots and pans and pounding on people's doors. The Dean
made an announcement: We needed King Neptune's approval to go through
the Southern seas. Everyone went on the pool deck. We stood by the
pool, as faculty poured some sticky green goo on us. When I went, the
videographer told the people to pour it on us slowly, so he could
capture the best video - that was nice... Immediately after we got
covered in green goo, we jumped into the tiny, salty pool. As soon as
we got out of the pool, we kissed a fish! Yes, it was a real fish.
Dean Bob was covered in green paint, pretending to be King Neptune,
which was pretty funny. After that, all that was left to do was watch
people shave their heads. I couldn't do it - I love my hair way too
much! An impressive amount of people did it, including several
girls. My friends Brynn and Grace shaved their heads, and they looked
good! Even though they said it was worth it, I still felt no
temptation to shave my hair off. However, I have a lot of admiration
for everyone who did!

Going Wild in Brazil: Manaus and the Amazon

When my sister Carrie did SAS when I was eight, her trip to the Amazon
was the one of the stories I was most impressed by. Ever since then,
I've dreamed about going, and the Amazon is one of the things that
made me want to do SAS the most. I can't believe I've really been
there now! My four days in Brazil went by really fast - it was a lot
of fun.

DAY 1:
Day 1 was my day to explore Manaus. Manaus is a huge city (2.5
million people) in the middle of the jungle. There aren't many roads
that go to Manaus, so the only ways to get there are by boat or
plane. Manaus is also fairly divided between its downtown, which is
where our port was, and the nicer part of the city, where more upper-
class people live. As soon as we stepped out of the cruise terminal
we were immersed in a market. There were a ton of street vendors,
ranging from the normal (food, clothes) to the strange (underwear,
tattoos). We walked around downtown to find things to buy and found
some good finds. It was a little overwhelmingly busy. We walked to
the Opera House, which is one of the most well-known landmarks of
Manaus. It was very pretty - it was inspired by Parisian
architecture, and is a beautiful building.
Later that day, we wanted to find a Brazilian steakhouse for dinner.
We had a recommendation for a really good one within walking distance
from the ship, so we set off, hungry for dinner. Unfortunately, we
got a little lost, and asking people for directions with the language
barrier was at times interesting. The people we asked were all really
nice, so we found it eventually - but unfortunately, the restaurant
was closed. Not knowing what to do, we flagged down a taxi, with the
thought that we'd ask the driver for another good steakhouse.
However, the taxi driver we pulled spoke no English, but somehow we
got the idea of restaurant conveyed. She took us to Picanha, and it
was an amazing dinner. The waiter spoke English, which was very
exciting! All the food was so amazing: the roasted cheese, the fruit
juice, the rice, and of course, the meat. The meat was cooked
perfectly, and seemed to melt in my mouth. It was one of the best
dinners I've ever had.

DAY 2:
Time to go to the Eco Park Jungle Lodge for my overnight trip in the
Amazon! I was really, really nervous about the mosquitos in the
Amazon, but it was actually not bad at all. This is because the lodge
is located on the Rio Negro, not the Amazon river. The Amazon is very
muddy and high in sediment, which attracts a lot of bugs. The Rio
Negro is full of black water, and is more acidic, which does not
attract mosquitos. I definitely appreciated that! Before we did
anything, we had time to explore the lodge. It was a nice lodge - it
had a natural sandy beach by the river, where the water was
unexpectedly warm. It had refreshing natural swimming pools, which
were very beautiful to swim in. It also, very randomly, had a
trampoline! As a gymnast, I got very excited about this, and
naturally I took every opportunity I had to get some gymnastics time
in. It wasn't the bounciest trampoline, and a funky-looking spider
had taken residence in part of the net, but it was still a lot of
fun. After exploring, we had lunch: like every other meal at the
lodge, it was a buffet of amazing food. I especially like the fried
plantains and the passionfruit ice cream.
Our first activity was a tour of a local's home. It was very
interesting - we learned how they use the land around them and how
they make the food and products they use and sell. After dinner, we
went caiman searching. We went onto the river in these motorized
canoe boats. It was really cool at night - the jungle really comes
alive then, and there's a symphony of frog, insect and animal noises
that's really beautiful. We saw several caiman eyes - they glow red
in the light the guide shined around the jungle - but we saw none up
close. It was still a lot of fun to just be on the river at night,
even without caimans.

DAY 3:
Today started very early with a 6:30 canopy walk in the jungle. It
was worth waking up early for though. Walking through the jungle at
that height was very beautiful and fun, and we saw our first Amazonian
monkeys! There was a large group of them leaping from tree to tree,
which was really fun to watch. We had breakfast after, which was
unexpectedly entertaining: A small green parrot decided he was hungry
and started to nibble on people's food. Shortly after, a big scarlet
macaw came and stole an entire breakfast roll from someone and flew
off with it. Gotta watch out for those parrots!
Right after breakfast, we went on a two-hour jungle walk. It was a
lot of fun to see the jungle from the ground, but it unfortunately got
very hot and humid. We saw some crazy bugs from this view - a few
people even ate these tiny termites! They said it wasn't all bad,
just had a weird aftertaste. I was not brave enough to try a
termite! We also saw funky spiders and large bullet ants. They're
called bullet ants, because apparently if they bite you, it's as
painful as getting shot. We had downtime after the hike. With our
downtime, people mostly either went swimming or hung out in the
hammocks. I also took advantage of more trampoline time!
That afternoon, we went to my favorite part of the trip: the monkey
village. It was back at the head of the canopy walk, and they set out
fruit for the monkeys. A lot of monkeys came! It was super cool.
There was one red monkey that liked to check people's heads for lice.
There were some monkeys with babies on their backs, which was really
cute. They were mostly just jumping from tree to tree and swinging
upside down by their tail - literally monkeying around! It's crazy
how they jump between trees - it looks like there is no way the branch
will support them, but they never fall!
After the monkeys, it was time to go piranha fishing. We attached a
piece of raw beef to the end of homemade fishing poles.
Unfortunately, there weren't many piranhas. Only a couple people
caught one, and I wasn't one of the lucky ones. We did get to look at
the piranhas before they threw them back in the river, which was
interesting. They were a lot smaller than I expected! They were also
prettier - their scales really shine in the sun.
That night, all the SAS students hung out at the Jungle Lodge at a
dock by the river. It was a lot of fun, and our dock also turned into
a popular spot for bats. After awhile, the bats started freaking
people out, so some went to bed. Three of us (me, Alex and Amanda)
decided to go on the trampoline for awhile, which was lot of fun in
the jungle at night!

DAY 4:
Our last day in the Amazon! We went to the Meeting of the Waters,
which is where the Amazon River and the Rio Negro come together. The
two rivers have different compositions, temperature, and speed, so
instead of mixing together, they flow side by side for a couple of
miles. It's a really cool thing to see. The black Rio Negro waters
contrast greatly with the muddy-brown Amazon, and they really don't
mix at all. After that, we went to a small Amazon village. It
started to pour as soon as we got to the village. We waited to go to
the village until the rain stopped, but it got very muddy! The
village was very small, and it was fun to walk around. There were a
lot of chickens and dogs running around. The coolest part was a
little girl who was carrying a baby sloth! The sloth was one of the
cutest things I've ever seen. We got to pet the sloth, and it was
very soft. It just looked so sleepy in her arms - it made me want a
sloth!

And now we have left Manaus, and are on our way out of the Amazon. I
had a lot of fun in the Amazon! It is a very, very beautiful place.
It's crazy to think that there is so much more to the Amazon than the
small section that I experienced - it's truly amazing. I feel really
special to have been able to experience this rainforest, if only for a
few short days. Now, we're on our way to Africa!

First Port: Dominica!

I am now on the way from the first port, Dominica, and headed to
Brazil! It's hard to believe that we are already past a port.
Dominica was amazingly beautiful - it surpassed my expectations
completely. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the view
from port was an island filled with rolling mountains, jungles and
bright houses.

The First Day: I had a Marine Biology FDP at 1:30, and so did my
roommate Lucy, so we went with some other people into downtown Roseau
and just walked around the markets. It's a very interesting city:
Most of the shopping seemed to be these markets set up specifically
for tourists, and I bought a couple of souvenirs. Lucy and I went
back to the ship for lunch to save money, and then I went to my first
FDP: Snorkeling in Champagne Reef. We had a bus with a tour guide
there, and that was unexpectedly really interesting. We learned many
facts: Like that Dominica is about 60% uninhabited, which is pretty
incredible. She also gave us her insider's view of Dominica's
politics and economy, which was interesting as we toured the city. I
felt like I could see areas that seemed fairly poor right next to
nicer looking houses, so that was interesting. The actual Champagne
Reef was quite pretty - there wasn't really a beach, since the jungle
went almost right up to the shore. Dominica is a volcanic island, and
Champagne Reef has vents that bubble up, giving it the name of
Champagne The coral and the fish of the reef were pretty, but not the
best that I've ever seen. However, when you looked back at the
"bubbles" in the sunlight, it was quite beautiful. My friend Mike and
I had plans to meet up with a few people after snorkeling, but could
never find them. It's hard to find people without a cell phone! So
instead, we just went to a local bar, JR's, in Dominica. It was
pretty fun, there were a lot of SAS kids there, and the locals were
pretty interesting. I kind of feel like Dominica has more character
than Nassau - it at least feels less touristy. After that, we went to
Krazy Koconut. It's a club in Roseau that's usually closed on Monday
nights, but it opened up just for Semester at Sea. It was pretty fun
to hang out with a lot of SAS kids there, and was just like one giant
party.

Today, my day started with a Whale and Dolphin Safari. I had high
expectations, since Dominica is supposedly the "Whale Watching Capital
of the World". However.... I did not see a single marine animal. Oh
well, it was pretty cool to get pictures of the SAS boat at the dock
from the sea. I really wanted to explore Dominica's jungle before I
had to board the ship, and so did a guy named Alex from the whale
cruise. We recruited two other girls, Jessica and Caroline, and
together we went to Trafalgar Falls. It was a short hike there, and
then we scrambled up some rocks to get to a pool beneath a waterfall.
The whole place was unbelievably beautiful, I've never seen anything
like it. The jungle is just so big, never-ending, and incredible. I
can't really put into words what an amazing sight it was - you'll have
to wait for my pictures!

At first I was disappointed when our Cuba port got cancelled, but I
think it worked out with Dominica. If we hadn't gone here, I would
never have known what Dominica was, but it's an incredibly gorgeous
island. People don't seem to go here because of its lack of beaches,
but the rainforest was a beautiful and unique place. It made me
excited for the Amazon!

Classes On a Boat

Well, school is officially in session on the MV Explorer. Today was
the second day of class, and we have now had one A day and one B day.
I'm happy that my class schedule is fairly evenly divided - I have two
classes on A days, and two on B days. As all the students learned
yesterday, there was some miscommunication about the FDP policy.
Older syllabuses and alumni had made it sound like FDP's (Faculty
Directed Practica) were really flexible, and teachers often let you
substitute independent travel for FDPs. Turns out they are not that
flexible about it: We have to do two FDPs for each class, except for
Global Studies. It's not too bad - some things, like going to Cape
Point and seeing the penguins (an FDP for Marine Biology), are things
that I wanted to do anyways. Others I wouldn't have done on my own,
but they all sound really interesting. The hardest part is now
planning around these FDPs, and now there's just less free time in
some ports. For example, I had to add two FDPs in South Africa, so
with my safari, I only have one totally free day in Cape Town. I'm
thinking of purchasing another SAS trip on that free day - there's a
trip to a winery/cheetah conservation center that sounds really cool.

The classes themselves seem pretty interesting, if you can get there!
I definitely got lost trying to find some of my classes, especially
since some are set up with fake walls that don't exist all the time.
On A days, I start with East Meets West, an art history class that
focuses on the historical trade routes, and how that influenced art
worldwide. Professor Wilkinson seems very nice. I didn't realize
this was an upper-division class, but I don't think I'll have any
problems! I have to do FDPs for this class in India and Hong Kong.
One thing to watch out for in class is the boat rocking - it feels
like being rocked to sleep, which makes staying awake at times
difficult...
My next A class is World Prayer. This class seems like it will be
very interesting, and a very different way of analyzing prayer. It
feels very open-ended, which is good, because I think any class
involving prayer should be quite open-ended.

Today was a B day, which meant that I had Global Studies and Marine
Biology. Global Studies is the class offered on every SAS voyage, and
everyone has to take it. I've heard that the Global Studies professor
can make or break a voyage. Good thing my professor seems like he'll
be a great teacher! We learned about Dominica's history today, and it
was actually really interesting. The professor is clearly really into
it, which makes the lecture engaging. I'm excited, because I think
this class will end up being very interesting. My teacher for Marine
Biology was also very enthusiastic. I definitely feel like I'll have
an advantage, after taking Intro to Oceanography last semester.

So far, ship life is going well. I've met a lot of really interesting
people. It's pretty funny to see everyone attempt to walk in a
straight line as the ship is rocking back and forth. The food is
unexpectedly good, and so far I have yet to feel seasick. I'm not
sure if that because of the ear patch - I put one on before we left,
just in case - or if I don't get seasick. I'm hoping I just don't get
seasick! I actually think the rocking is pretty fun.

We had a Student Involvement Fair, and I signed up for a few things:
Yoga, Insanity and Extended Family. Yoga on a moving deck seems like
it would be really fun. I've never done/heard of Insanity before, but
apparently it's super intense cardio - I'll at least check it out.
Extended Family seems like it will be a really cool program - you get
matched with a Lifelong Learner, or a professor you don't have, along
with a few other students. Together, you form a "family" for the
voyage. I just think it will be another great way to get to know more
people on this voyage.

Tomorrow we get to our first port! It's pretty exciting, and I think
Dominica will be a lot of fun. At first I was disappointed to not go
to Cuba, but Dominica seems like a really unique place in its own
right, as the "Nature Island" of the Caribbean. It's where they shot
scenes for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, and it's sperm whale
mating season, so our chances of seeing sperm whales are quite high.
Good news for the Whale and Dolphin Safari I'm signed up for!