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.