On my way to Brazil

January 30, 2008

Another day at sea…I know that my days are much more exciting to me than they are for you but I will tell you about them anyway.  I went to Global Studies at 0920, laid out on the deck and tanned until lunch at 1230, and then went to my second and last class, Choices in Relationships at 1335.   My professor for my choices in relationship class is hilarious; I have been writing down quotes of some of the things he says during class, I will post them weekly.  After class, Candice and I play basketball with a bunch of the guys.  We played horse and 21…I won both games!!!  It is very hard to play ball on the boat because the wind just carries the ball when you try to shoot the ball.  I did P90X abs today and rode the bike to get in some daily cardio.  I started going to Portuguese class tonight (Portuguese is the language spoken in Brazil and Brazil is my next port of call).  I also got a note on my door tonight telling me that I was chosen to get a little sister on the boat and how to contact her the following day.  My little sister is the daughter of one of the professors on the boat.  That is it for today.

January 31, 2008

I never knew panties could be so loud…I woke up to the sound of my underwear drawer slamming open and shut as we have entered some rough seas.  When I looked out my window, I could see some of the waves crashing against my window on the fourth deck, luckily it is not making me seasick.  I needed to get up anyway, I had 3 classes today….it’s a B-day, my hard day.  I had global studies at 0920, then I laid out until my Sociology class at 1335 and my HIV and AIDS class at 1445.  Rough life.  On B days, I tan my Back side…A days I tan my Ab side (front side).  I don’t really know what I did today that you all would find too exciting, but I had a lot of fun just hanging out.  I have been sticking to working out everyday with Candice and doing P90X abs with the Tennessee boys, Candice, Whitney, Allie, and Andres!  I also got to meet and eat dinner with my new little sister on the boat.  Her name is Bridget and she is 9 years old.  I am very excited to be her big sister this semester and I think she is excited to be my little sister!  After dinner I went to a meeting for learning Portuguese (Bridget came with me).  I am learning Portuguese to be able to try and communicate while I am in Brazil.  I am in the process of learning basic phrases and defense phrases for when I go to Carnival and the Amazon.  That’s all for now…tchao (bye in Portuguese). 

***I am trying to find a quick way to upload pictures because it would definitely make this blog much more fun and interesting.  Right now if i try to upload pictures, it takes forever and eats up my internet minutes, so we will see what i can come up with.***

Gringos in Puerto Rico

January 26, 2008- Day 1 of Puerto Rico

I haven’t seen land for a few days now.  I woke up at 6am to the sound of Candice knocking on my door to watch the boat pull into port at Puerto Rico and to watch the sunrise.  I quickly got changed, and ate a very early breakfast with Candice, Adam, Zach, Andy, and Michael.  After breakfast we went outside to watch the sunrise and to see our first glimpse of land for a few days…quite exciting.  I have always been the one on land looking at the cruise ships arriving, however this time I was the one arriving on the cruise ship, I was and am the lucky one. 

So about my first day in Puerto Rico…After we watched the sunrise and the boat pull into dock, we had to wait to go through customs to get off of the ship.  We were told that they would call us in groups by our SAS ID #, of course my number is 561, so we all went back to our rooms to take a little nap before we could get off the ship.  When we got off the ship, Candice, Andy, Adam, Michael, Zach and I walked to El Morro.  We were told by Andres, one of my other friends from SAS that is from Puerto Rico to walk all the way to the left and then up, NOT UP first, otherwise we would be shot.  The day before he also showed us a map of Puerto Rico and pointed to this place called “La Perla Comunidad” and said “this is the one place you shouldn’t go to.”  Guess where we wound up on our walk to El Morro?  La Perla Comunidad.  We are all a bunch of gringos just walking around Puerto Rico…clueless.  La Perla Comunidad is a community of houses that are clustered right on the coast.  We were in the main part of the city, up on the hill, over-looking La Perla.  La Perla Comunidad is a drug community; we were told that as soon as you walk down the steps in La Perla Comunidad, people come up to you with trays of drugs for you to choose from.  So we saw the sign and knew not to go down there but still looked at the community from up above, well at least some of us did.  Andy and Zach decided to walk down some of the steps to get a better look at the community, they were never planning on going all the way down.  As they were walking down the steps, 2 locals walked by us and said “They will be killed.”  Candice heard the locals and told Zach and Andy to come back up…stupid gringos.

On our walk to El Morro, not only did we encounter the one place that we were told to stay away from, but we met Francisco aka the pigeon guy.  Francisco was surrounded by about a few hundred pigeons and he held a bag of seeds to attract the pigeons.  I went into the middle of where all of the pigeons were and Francisco handed me some seeds and numerous pigeons came and landed on my arms and hands to eat the seeds.  Then, to my surprise, Francisco put a bunch of seeds in my hair, so I had pigeons in my hair and all over my arms, I felt like I was in home alone.

We stopped at a restaurant called la Amapola along the way for lunch.  All I have to say about this restaurant is that our waiter knew that we were gringos because we got ripped off.  Some of us tried ordering just a glass of tap water to have with lunch, but our waiter told us that they shut off the water in Puerto Rico so we couldn’t get tap water, we would have to get bottled water ($$$).

Anyways, we finally made our way to view El Morro.  We got to see the wall that was built many years ago to keep people out of the country as well as Fort Morro itself.  As we were walking along the field of El Morro we met a group of kids that were eating birthday cake, so we decided to stop and talk to them.  We found out that it was Eduardo’s birthday, so we asked the locals to teach us how to sing Happy Birthday in Spanish and we all sang to him (Feliz cumpleanos a ti).  I also saw tons of kids with their families on the field by El Morro flying kites and just taking in the beauty of their surroundings.

After El Morro, I went with Andy, Michael and Justin to the local beach to take in some rays.  We only stayed for about 2 hours because we had all singed up for the welcome reception later that night.  For the welcome reception we got the opportunity to go on a bus with Andres to his university, Universidad de Puerto Rico.  The welcome reception was one my favorite things in Puerto Rico.  We sat around a table with a bunch of students form the University.  We introduced ourselves to them in Spanish and they introduced themselves to us in English, very interesting.  One of the students sitting at our table was named Qi (pronounced Chi), a SASer from China.  Qi is still in the process of learning English, so when he had to introduce himself in Spanish he used his creativity.  We all look over to see Qi reading words that he wrote on a magazine of how to introduce himself in Spanish (sentences that he got from another student of the Universidad de PR).  We got to eat Puerto Rican food, and learn/dance the salsa.  All in all, it was a great learning experience. 

After the Welcome Reception I decided to experience a night out in Puerto Rico.  Puerto Rican’s know how to party.  Outside of the bar called La Romba, there were a group of kids playing the drums in the street and singing.  Hundreds of kids were grouped around them singing, cheering, clapping, drinking, and just having a good time.  You would never see this sight in New York.  What stuck out the most from my night was meeting Rafael, one of Andres’s best friends from school.  Rafael made it his business to make sure that I had a good time at the bar and to teach me how to salsa dance.  He also told me that he would take me and my friends to El Yunque the next day so that we didn’t have to pay for a taxi.  As my night ended at 5 am, Andy, Zach, and Adam were on their way off the boat to go on an early fishing trip.  What a long, exciting day for us gringos…

 

January 27, 2008

Knock-knock-knock….it’s 9 am and Candice is knocking on my door.  I am not ready to wake up, as I had just recently gone to sleep, but I did.  I layed outside with Candice and Michael, waiting for the Tennessee boys to get back from their fishing trip.  Rafael was nice enough to pick all 6 of us up and take us to El Yunque for a day in the rainforest.  We hiked down La Mina trail and got to go in one of the rainforest’s waterfalls.  The waterfall was colder than any water that I would normally go in, but it was one of those things that I just had to do.  At the waterfall I saw Qi.  So, I see Qi standing on the rocks looking like he wants to go into the waterfalls, but he has jeans on.  When Qi sees me he comes over to say hello.  I told him that he has to go in the waterfall, but he tells me that his bathing suit is in his backpack and doesn’t have anywhere to change.  I told him to change right there and that we could hold a towel up for him and block him from others seeing.  I can’t describe how funny this scene was, but I have a picture that is worth a million bucks…

We left El Yunque around 0400 to try to make a quick stop at K-mart to pick up last minute things as Michael and I had to get back for the Bioluminsecent Bay trip.  So Rafael was nice enough to drop us off at K-mart and we told him we would take a taxi home.  Little do we know that k-mart is closed and Rafael has left… so much for that idea.  The bio bay…I shared my Kayak with Michael.  The Kayak had a glass bottom, so as we kayaked our way into the bay, the bottom of the kayak looked like shooting stars from the bioluminescence.  The water lit up wherever we would paddle, it was amazing.  Unfortunately my camera was not able to capture the uniqueness of the bioluminescent bay, so it is something that you will have to see on your own.  I got back from the Bio bay trip around 0100 (1 am).  Since before we got to Puerto Rico I knew I wanted to make it to the casinos in Puerto Rico and play some roulette.  So at 0100 some of  my friends and I made our way to the casino…it is never to late to play roulette.  We all played roulette and we all walked out of the casino winners…we beat the casino.  Our night ended at 0330.

 

January 28, 2008

Since we were unsuccessful getting to k-mart yesterday, we woke up early to go to k-mart today as we had a bunch of random things to get.  So we all get what we need at k-mart, for me it amounts to 6 or 7 k-mart bags; Then Zach decides to go to the mall that is right across the street.  Poor planning on our part because here we are, 6 gringos walking around the mall with our k-mart bags!  After k-mart we came back to the boat to eat lunch and then head over to a local beach.  At lunch, Zach taps my leg and whispers to me to take a picture because he is going to throw his roll at Candice.  So I get up and pretend to be taking a picture of the scenery from the boat, but in reality I took the best picture of Zach nailing Candice with a roll in they eye (when I figure out a way to show you pictures I will post this one).  After lunch, we all walked to the local beach and just took in some nice weather for our last day in Puerto Rico.  Puerto Rico was fun and different than any experience that I have had so far in Puerto Rico with my family every year; but I am ready to move on to the next country…Brazil.

The Adventure Begins

Sorry for not posting in a while, it has been crazy on the boat with meetings, meeting people, and setting things up. hope you enjoy what I've got so far, nothing too crazy yet...

January 21, 2008 

Today, we flew down to the Bahamas.  Our flight ended very interestingly when the pilot overshot the runway and we had to pick up off the ground very quickly and try landing a second time (however the pilot told us that there was traffic on the runway and that is why we couldn’t land…LIAR).  Anyways, I flew down with my mom and dad.  By the time we got to the hotel, it was raining and late, so we didn’t go outside.  Instead I went out to dinner with my mom and dad, and then gambled in the casino for a while.  Of course I played roulette, and I WON!  The Atlantis was filled with other SASers…so I was able to meet a bunch of them in the casino and at the bar.  Tomorrow night we will all be going to good ‘ole Senor Frogs (good times)!!!

January 23, 2008: My first day on the boat

Today is the start of my voyage around the world!  I woke up really early because I was so excited and anxious.  I had 4 big duffel bags to get to the boat, one with food, one with toiletries, one with clothes, and one with miscellaneous stuff… I always pack too much.  When I actually got to go on the boat, I was amazed!  I have never been on a big boat before, so to me this boat is humongous and absolutely beautiful.  I walked around the boat, unpacked my bags, and met these boys from Tennessee for lunch on the boat.  After lunch I went back to my room and continued to unpack until my parents came on board to hang out for a little while…my parents helped me set up my room and then we walked around the boat for a little bit; eventually it was time for mom and dad to leave the boat, and for the boat to pull away from port.  Here is what it looked like:

After the MV Explorer left the port, I layed out on the deck with a few other kids and got to know them while watching the sunset over the ocean. 

 

I looked around at the boat, the land in the distance, the water all around, and the luxury of the boat and thought….I can’t believe I am traveling the world, I can’t believe that this is school!  Like most other SASers I felt a bit seasick my first day and had to take some Bonine, which didn’t really do much; they say you get used to the rockiness of the boat, I hope so.  Later on at night I hung out on the deck and watched the boats fall and rise in the horizon.  As I try to find my way around the boat, I feel like a freshman, I don’t know my way around.  Today was mostly filled with meeting other kids on the boat, asking them their names and where the were from (half of which I have already forgotten). 

January 24, 2008

I woke up this morning feeling like I was being held and rocked in a rocking chair…talk about a good night sleep.  When I lay in my bed, the ship rocks back and forth and is quite soothing in the morning, however not so much when I try to walk around.  When you try to walk around the boat it kind of feels like you have had a bit too much to drink 24/7.  The rocking of the boat has actually made me feel quite sick during the day.  I have trouble walking straight when I am on land, just imagine how much I trip and walk from side to side on the boat!

Today is my first full day on board the ship.  I woke up to at 8:00am to take a shower and eat breakfast.  Breakfast is only served from 0700-0900, so if I want food I have to wake up early.  I actually enjoy the food so far on the boat (could have to do with the fact that I went to camp for so many years J).  I can definitely get used to the way meals are served here on the boat, we just leave our dishes on the table when we are done, the staff takes them away for us!  For breakfast I had fruit, pancakes, and a hash brown…yummy!

Today is full of meetings…voyage mission and introduction of faculty and staff, intro to the honor code, faculty/student conferences, intro to global studies, safety at sea, student life meeting, and a field office briefing.  Going to all of these meetings kind of makes me feel like a freshman all over again.  I especially feel like a freshman due to my lack of direction, I get so lost on the boat every time I try to go somewhere, whether it be to other kids rooms, to meeting spots, the decks, or the dining hall!  I still cannot remember the boat terminology for the front side, back side, right and left L, it will take some time.

I am currently somewhere in-between the Bahamas and Puerto Rico.  As I look out my window, all I can see is the ocean, no land, no other boats or ships, just BLUE.  It is incredible.

At 1141:

My current Latitude is 23 degrees 59.94 N

Longitude is 074 degrees and 3.57W

Speed of the boat is 13.1 knots

Course 128 degrees

(All of this information is found on one of the channels on my TV in my room…I have to get a map to better understand it though)

When I came back to my room in between a meeting and lunch, I came back to a clean room; my bed was made, the floors were vacuumed, the bathroom was wiped down, and we were given fresh new towels.  This is the life.

At dinner tonight, I tried Mahi Mahi…didn’t really like it to tell you the truth.  After dinner and another speaker, I hung out with a group of kids and played some card game that was a lot of fun.  So far I am having a great time and meeting a lot of great friends.  

Anyways, I will arrive in Puerto Rico tomorrow, 1/26 at 0800, so I will blog again in a few days to tell you about my experience in Puerto Rico, as well as my day today- my first day of classes.  Until next time...

How to Call Me

After a few frustrating days of setting up an unlocked phone with a go-sim international sim card, my phone is ready to travel the world. With that said, I do not plan on using the phone as my main source of communication...I plan on sticking to emails, blogs, and maybe airmal?! However once in a while, and for very very short periods of time, a phone call may be appropriate.

Here is the idiot guide to help those of you who wish to contact me via phone:

If you are using a house phone, you must make sure that your plan includes international calling, otherwise you can either purchase an international calling card or call from your cell phone (which will probably cost a LOT of money).

Anyways, to call me, you must look on my itinerary to make sure that I am actually in a port. I cannot receive calls when I am on the ocean traveling. Click here to view my itinerary to see if you can call me.

If I am in a port, you can now make your phone call!!! All you have to do is dial
01137259501063
It may take a little while to go through, but just wait a little and you will get to hear my beautiful voice.

Just in case you are interested in how I can call you (or if I forget and I need to look this up)…I must dial
001 (then the number I wish to call)
Ex: 0015165798722 = Home Sweet Home

Just to give you an idea of how much each phone call costs me, I have broken it down by country for you:

Country -- Cost of Receiving Calls in Country -- Cost of Making Calls from Country

Puerto Rico -- $2.00/min -- $2.50/min

Brazil -- $0.10/min -- $0.65/min

South Africa -- $0.20/min -- $0.60/min

Mauritius -- $0.35/min -- $0.79/min

India -- $3.00/min -- $4.00/min

Malaysia -- $0.50/min -- $0.85/min

Vietnam -- FREE (you call me) -- $0.79/min

Hong Kong -- $0.65/min -- $0.85/min

China -- $0.75/min -- $1.25/min

Japan -- FREE (you call me) -- $0.55/min

***If you plan on calling me in one of the ports, please email me or post a comment to this blog letting me know the time and day, this way I know to keep my phone with me and to be expecting your phone call***

Trips so far...

Here are the trips that I know I am going on so far. I am so excited!!! Some of them are pre-sale trips that I got through Semester at Sea, others are trips that I have planned independently with my other ship mates.

For Puerto Rico, the first port of call, I got the Welcome Reception and the Bioluminescent Bay through SAS. There are only four bioluminescent bays in the world, and Puerto Rico has three of them. Basically bioluminescence is the abililty for living organisms to emit light. When you touch the water in the mangoves lagoon, the water glows blue, although red, orange, yellow, green and violet may also be found. I'm going on the night of Jan. 27, to the calm waters of Las Cabezas Bioluminescent Lagoon, about an hour away from the ship. Click here for an article from USA Today about the bio bays in Puerto Rico.

For Brazil, I did not get the Amazon trip that I signed up for through SAS. But, I did not give up, I was determined to get to do this trip indy (not signing up for the Semester at Sea-sponsored one). Basically I get to sleep on the Amazon River for 3 nights on a small boat...my bed is a comfortable hammock. For my full itinerary while on the amazon click here. I should also tell you that we get into Brazil for the last day of Carnival. I made sure to book my flight late enough so that I can get some of the experience in; I get to party all day and then make a flight that leaves for Manaus (to take me to the Amazon) at 2:50 AM...YIKES!!!

For South Africa, I will be doing the 3-day camping safari in Kruger National Park -- this one . I am doing this trip indy because they wanted about $1,700 to stay in a luxury Kruger resort (we're going to be in a camp ground for a thousand dollars less). I am going with 22 other people interested on the Facebook group, plus there's another group going so there's a lot of us going indy!! We'll be there Feb. 20-22. Kruger park has the "Big Five" -- lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino. There's also cheetahs I think, zebras, Pumbaas (warthogs), Rafikis (baboons) and giraffes. Hopefully I'll see all of them!! If you haven't seen the "Battle at Kruger" video yet on YouTube, check it out here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Another pre-sale trip I got is the Delhi/Agra/Taj Mahal in India. This is a 2 day trip. I couldn't make it all the way to India without seeing one of the 7 wonders. While I am here, I will get the opportunity to view the Taj Mahal at sunset.

For Vietnam, I signed up for Cambodia: Phnom Penh & Angkor Wat. Once again, I will be given the opportunity to view another one of the world's 7 wonders. Some of the things I get to do while here...I will visit the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. I will also enjoy a sunset cruise on the Mekong River. I get to explore Angkor Wat at sunrise and sunset.

Anyway. Those are just the trips I know I'm going on. I'm planning to go on a lot of others, either through Semester at Sea or indy.

The ship, classes, my room: What I know so far

So I've been researching what the ship is like, what my room will look like, and little bits of info I have learned over the past year about Semester at Sea from alumni and student blogs. I know my entire perception will probably be shattered once I set foot on the ship, but this is what I know so far, at least...

MY CLASSES

Academic credit will transfer to University of Delaware from the University of Virginia (12 credits). I will have classes almost every day I'm at sea.

1. Global Studies (required for everyone to take)
2. HIV and AIDS Pandemic: The Communication Imperative
3. Choices in Relationships: Introduction to Marriage & Family

4. Introduction to Sociology

THE SHIP -- MV Explorer
(Learn more here)

The MV Explorer is a 24,300-ton motor vessel with a length of 590 feet. It was built in 2002 by Blohm & Voss in Germany. From the SAS site: "The shipboard campus includes classrooms, study areas, and an 8,000-volume core library that supports the itinerary and the global, comparative academic focus of Semester at Sea. Other facilities include two dining rooms, a student union, a campus store, a swimming pool, fitness facilities, a wellness center, and a health clinic." The ship has 418 cabins and 6 passenger decks. There is also sparse laundry service, so I will be doing a lot of sink laundry. There's a computer lab (I'm bringing my laptop).

MY ROOM

What my standard outside cabin will look like (I signed up for the room with a small porthole). I will have one roommate, and I will find out who she is when I get on the ship (SAS doesn't tell beforehand). We'll have a small private bathroom with a shower, sink, toilet, drawers and clothes line. A cabin steward comes and cleans the room every day...a little unnecessary, but cool.