Things I miss 2

Things I miss about home. I miss grass. The smell of it when it is freshly cut, the feel of it in the morning when it has light dew resting on it. Oh what I would give to just lay in grass and gaze at the stars. I have not heard a dog bark in so long or have heard the sounds of sirens. I miss my car. Every country so far has VW golf’s and all I want to do is hop into one and drive away. Unfortunately SAS does not allow us to drive.

Things I love about this ship. I love waking up, rolling out of bed, walking up 2 flights of stairs and being greeted in the dining hall by the crew who like to sing in the morning. I take a plate and fill it with already made eggs and freshly cut fruit. Some days I toast a bagel and make an egg sandwich. Anything to spice up my life a little bit. Then I sit down and get served orange juice. Once I am finished I just walk away, leaving my dirty plate on the table. This was hard to get used to in the beginning ,because I can easily take my plate and clean it myself ,but the crew insists on doing it. I still feel bad some days when I ask for an extra orange juice ,but I just remind myself that that is their job…. Then I walk 10 feet to my classroom. Everything is so close and indoors on the ship. When I go back to Penn State it is going to be hard for me to put on a coat and boots, trek a mile to class and have to cook my own food. I AM SO SPOILED on this ship. It’s really nice and I did pay enough to be treated like a queen, so I am just going to enjoy the ride.

Now I am going to write about what I look forward to the most on my return home. I can’t wait to… see my parents for the first time at the airport, go food shopping, eat cinnamon buns and a chocolate malt, make chocolate chip cookies, go for a run on land with scenery passing by my eyes, drive my car, look at all the souvenirs I’ve collected on my journey, see my nephews, friends, and family, play in the snow, and last of all cook my own food. I can not wait to have a decision about what I eat. On the other hand there are going to be times when I am homesick for the ship. There are going to be little things that only applied to me on the ship and no where else. For example, it seems like we forward our clocks almost every other night to keep up with the changing time zones. It had almost become routine and I am going to forget I am not in the middle of the ocean anymore and am staying in the same time zone. We also have “dock time”. This is a term used when someone is late to the ship. That person receives dock time which means they cannot get off the ship at the next port at the same time as everyone else; they have to wait depending on how late they were to the ship. i.e. 1-15 minutes late means 3 hours dock time, 15-30 minutes late means 6 hours dock time, etc. When ever I am late for something I am going to say in my head dock time! I am really going to miss sleeping outside on the 5th deck gazing at the stars as the wave’s rock me to sleep. I only have 17 days left on this ship. It seems like yesterday that I boarded the ship for the first time, looked out my cabin window as we left the Bahamas dock and thought, what did I get myself into? I can’t believe its almost all over.

Japan Part II

Ok, are you ready for my adventures in Tokyo ? Before I start let me just add that I did not sleep for more than 9 hours in 72 hours. Saturday evening, November 15th ,I met my friends Eilis and Charles at the ship. My host mom drove us to Kobe ’s bullet train station and we got a train to central Tokyo at 7 p.m. We arrived in Akihabara around 9:30 p.m. Charles made a capsule hotel reservation the day before we got to Kobe, so we walked around for about 30 minutes trying to find this place. We finally did and it was awesome. If you have seen America ’s Next Top Model, the Japanese season ,you will know exactly what I slept in. Once we dropped all out stuff of we hit the town. I started talking to this group of Japanese people and asked if they would sing karaoke with us and of course they did so we went to a near by karaoke bar and sang for 2 hours. Then we retired to our capsule around 1 a.m. We woke up at 7 a.m. Ate sushi for breakfast and walked around the city of Akihabara . This is the famous electric town of Japan , it had every Japanese made electronic you could ever imagine. That afternoon we took a train to Shinjuku where Japan ’s Times Square exists. We ate lunch at a rotating belt sushi restaurant. Then we stumbled upon Hanazono-Jinja, a shrine surrounded by a flea market on Sundays. Well it was our lucky day. There were so many amazing smelling food stands; I ate a hot dog with an egg wrapped around it like a crepe, a banana dipped in chocolate and sprinkles, and these square little donut things. We hung out around the shrine for awhile and then decided we wanted to go to a spa. Down the street was the Green Plaza Ladies Sauna and across from that was the guys sauna. The first thing they asked when Eilis and I walked in was whether or not we had tattoo’s. So I said yes and she said sorry you have to leave. This was the first time in my life I have ever been discriminated against. I was not that offended because the Japanese have a fear of letting members of the Mafia into the hot springs . The woman thought I was in the Mafia, awesome! Eilis and I instead went somewhere else and got a massage. We met up with Charles for dinner and had the most amazing fried rice and gyoza of my life. After dinner we walked around the Golden Gai and Kabukicho which is their red-light district. There are so many details I am leaving out but they will make for good in person stories. Around midnight we decided we wanted to go to Akasaka and watch the Tsukiji market unfold. This is Tokyo ’s world famous seafood market. We knew the last train stopped at 1 a.m, so we ran to catch the last train, almost didn’t make it because the ticket office people told me no, and many of you know I do not take no for an answer when I want something. So somehow I managed to go somewhere else, get tickets and jumped on the train as the doors were shutting. Oh another side note, none of this trip was pre-planned, we did everything spur of the moment, which is the best thing I could have ever done. Ok ,back to my story, the fish are brought in at 3 a.m. and so we had 3 hours to kill. We found a super nice hotel and tried to find somewhere to crash but of course there was a bunch of people roaming around and we couldn’t fall asleep. We went to the 13th floor where the lobby was located and asked if they had computers we could use. They did but since we were not staying in the hotel we were not allowed to use them. One good thing we got from this hotel was a view of the whole city. I saw Tokyo Tower lit up in all its glory. We went back to the street in search for an internet café. We found one and rested there until 2:30 a.m. At that time we went to a restaurant and ate udon noodles and then made our way to the fish market. This was one of the highlights of my Tokyo trip. Japanese workers were hustling and bustling throwing huge fish to each other, driving little motor things that look like the ones in Sams Club they use to stock stuff on high shelves. I almost got run over by these numerous times. It was really cool that no one cared that three Americans were aimlessly wondering around, getting in every ones way. I saw every marine animal imaginable; octopus, eel, and tons of fish I don’t know the names of. There was one that squirted water out their mouths at us. We would move our hands around and they would aim for our hands. After walking around for about an hour we found out that there was a tuna auction at 5:30. We were all too tired to walk around for much longer so we decided to go back to that restaurant and sleep until it was time to go to the tuna auction. As I finally closed my eyes I heard stomping footsteps coming up the stairs. I opened my eyes to the owner yelling at us to get out. So we were kicked out of the restaurant and decided to go back to the fish market and find somewhere to just sit down. We finally did but then a few worker guys on break were curious as to who we were and started asking us questions. He was excited I could speak Japanese and had a conversation with me for a half hour. At this point I had been up for almost 24 hours, I’m sure I did not make a lot of sense to him. It was finally time to go to the tuna auction. It was awesome except for the fact that we could not go into the building, we had to watch from windows. The tuna were laid out on the ground on to of pieces of wood. Some were bigger than me. I took videos of the whole fish market experience and will edit them all when I get home. I will never look at a piece of fish the same way again. Now it was about 6 a.m. and Charles found an onsen called Asakusa Kannon in his traveler book. We figured we would just fall asleep for a little bit there. We took a train to Asakusa but we were all too tired to walk around searching for this onsen, so we got a taxi who also did not know where the onsen was, so he asked a bunch of people on the street and finally got us there. At that point it was 6 am and all I wanted to do was sleep. We went in the onsen and the first thing the guy in charge told us after we paid was no sleeping. We all kinda just ignored him and walked to the back where the lockers were and got undressed. This onsen was not nearly as nice as the one I went to with my host mom in Kobe . There were only two different baths. Eilis and I got in one and then this older woman was yelling and telling us to get in the other one. No really sure why we had to but we just did as we were told. It water was so hot I could not stand it for very long. Behind a wall was the men’s onsen so we yelled over to Charles asking if he was ready and he answered a very quick “yes” back. So we all met in the lobby after we washed up and Charles explained why he was so adamant in his answer. At first he was the only guy in the bath and then 3 men walked in covered in tattoo’s. oh side note, while in the fish market I took a piece of tan duct tape and put it over my tattoo and planned on telling the people at the onsen that I had just had surgery there. Anyways, the men had tattoo’s from their elbows down to their knees. Charles got really nervous because he knew they were most likely members of the mafia because not that many regular people would get that much skin covered in tattoo’s. Then one of the guys said hello to Charles and tried to speak English to him. This is when we yelled over. When we met in the lobby I asked the owner where we could sleep and he suggested a hostile a few blocks away. It was called the Sakura Hostile, and we each paid $10 to sleep for 3 hours. I don’t even remember climbing into bed. I was so delirious, we had been up for over 24 hours constantly on the move. We left at noon and ate lunch at a tiny little restaurant, who’s owner was confused as to why we wanted to eat there because there was a McDonald’s right next door. Then we walked over to the Senso-ji temple with a five story pagoda. Then we got a train to Shibuya, another district in Tokyo . This is where gyaru can be found, girls with big hair, fake tans and exaggerated eye makeup. There is a lot of youth culture in this area, in fact the majority of the people there were under the age of 30. We went around to all the malls and shops; I got hot pink shorts with suspenders, black knee high boots, and gray leggings that I wore out that night. There is an awesome 6 way intersection at the center of the city and looks crazy at night when thousands of people are walking in all different directions at once. We stood on the corner and stared at the Q-Front building with high screens and Byonce singing a song on her new album. Very cool. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before but in every country, American singers were very popular and well know to most of the public. It’s crazy how influential a pop idol can be around the world. Went to Tower Records and listened to J-pop, saw the Hachiko statue outside the train station. That night we made more Japanese friends and hung out until midnight. Eilis, Charles, and I decided then that we just wanted to go back to the ship and sleep. We had no idea where the ship was because it was in a new port; Yokohama . Again we caught the last train and took a taxi straight to the ship. It was the most amazing feeling to see the ship again. It was about 3 a.m. and I finally got a few hours of good sleep. Woke up at 8 a.m. and ventured out in Yokohama . Went to a silk museum, China town, and Cold Stone because I really wanted cake batter ice cream with heath bar chunks in it, but of course they did not have that. I can not wait to get home and eat everything I have been deprived of for the last three months. My time in Japan was exhilarating, tiring, memorable, and too short. I can not wait to return to my most favorite place in the world.

Kobe, Japan and my homestay

Japan . I have been waiting eight years to see Japan with my own eyes. As many of you know, I have been studying the Japanese culture and language for about eight years now. I finally made it! The whole time I was there, I kept thinking how surreal it was to actually be in the place that I had learned so much about. The ship got to Kobe on Friday, November 14th. The customs procedures here were the most detailed out of all the ports we visited. They took our fingerprints, our picture, and our temperatures. I then went down an elevator and as the doors opened, 30 home stay families cheered for us. They were holding signs with our name on it so I went around the circle searching for my own. I found a woman holding up a laminated paper with “Jemifer Winters” written on it. I said "hello I am Jennifer" to her and she gave me a big hug. I soon found out she did not speak English very well and I was her first home stay student. I could tell she was nervous so I started speaking Japanese which I’m sure was a big relief to her. We went to lunch with a few other home stay participants. Everyone was impressed that I could speak Japanese. After lunch Yuka, my home stay mom, drove me to her apartment. It was on the 6th floor and had a nice view of Mt. Rokko . It was around 3 p.m. and I think she wanted me to take a nap but although I was tired, I did not want to waste anytime in Japan . I tried to explain that I want to go out and walk around but she either did not understand or pretended not to because she did not want to. So instead, we sat on her living room floor for two hours and talked. At 5 we drove to another home stay mom's house and made maki rolls. Again, they were impressed that I knew how to make them without any instruction. At 6 we went to a party where there were two other semester at sea students and about 20 Hippo Club women and children. Hippo is the organization that the home stays are arranged through. It was a potluck dinner, we brought the maki rolls, other moms brought a bunch of different authentic Japanese foods that I do not know the names of but were very tasty. We then played a bunch of games including Tom and Jerry, London Bridge is falling down, and the Japanese version of rock, paper, scissors. We had a grand old time with the kids. They were absurdly smart, one little boy was speaking Korean and Spanish; another boy played the piano the whole time. It did not seem like the moms were the type to push their children into doing a lot of activities after school, the kids just enjoyed learning. At 9 p.m. a few of us went to a karaoke bar and sang American songs until 11. The Japanese are very serious about singing Karaoke, which is strange to me because any other time of the day they keep to themselves and are not outspoken. Well ,put a microphone in front of their face and play an old 90’s song, and another side of them comes out. Yuka was getting tired so we drove home and I finally got to meet her husband. He is 56 years old and Yuka is only 37, they have no children, but they work for the same company. His English was no better and I was exhausted from trying to communicate with them. Yuka told me to go shower, so I did and then I took a bath. I soaked in the tub for about 20 minutes because she told me to and then I went to sleep on my tatami mat cushion.

I woke up at 8:30 and ate breakfast with my Japanese parents. We had some kind of raw fish that did not look appetizing that early in the morning but turned out to be delicious. I also had miso soup, a bowl of white rice, and a vegetable that was a cross between a cucumber and squash. Oh and green tea of course. Then Yuka brought out sliced pears and persimmons. This might have been one of the best breakfasts I have ever eaten in my life. We sat around until 10 and then Yuka and I went to another home stay mom’s house where I was dressed in a fabulous kimono. It took about 15 minutes to wrap all the layers tightly around me. We then had a traditional tea ceremony and I learned all the rules of how and when to turn the bowl, what to say, and the proper way to drink. I then was fortunate enough to make the tea for my mom. The tea was a powder I had to stir with hot water until little bubbles formed. After that whole extravaganza, we all went to an authentic Japanese restaurant where we sat on tatami mats and ate udon noodles and tempura. Once everyone was finished we piled into a car and Yuka told me she had a surprise for me. We arrived at an onsen! This is a hot spring where women get completely naked and soak in extremely hot natural bath. At first when I had to strip all my clothes off in front of a bunch of older women I felt a little awkward but then once we got in the bath it didn’t even matter that I was naked. There were about seven different types of baths. There was one with a high level of iron and so the water was a reddish tint. One bath had jets that shot up your butt, another that felt like electric shocks going down your spine. There was a salt room where you rub salt all over your body and sit in the sauna like room and then rinse it off and jump in yet another spring that was super hot. I don’t understand why we don’t have these bath houses in the states. I also don’t understand why we don’t have toilets like them. They are heated, have vibrating seats, play music, and squirt water up your butt. After the onsen ,Yuka drove me back to the ship where I met friends who I was going to travel to Tokyo with. I will save that tale for another blog. I was in all my glory the whole entire time I was in Japan . Hands down my absolute favorite port.

China

I am in no state to write a productive blog.
China was the most physically, mentally, and emotionally draining port thus far. I did way too much in an extremely short amount of time and am just overwhelmed with information about the places I visited.
After Japan I will have 18 days at sea to seriously reflect on everything but right now I am just going to give a quick overview so everyone has a small idea of all the things I was involved with. The ship arrived in Hong Kong on November 6th where I spent the day touring the city. I went to Victoria ’s Peak and looked over the whole city of Hong Kong . From there a friend and I found our way to the Spencer market across town and wondered around observing all the European families shopping. We figured the father’s had important business jobs in Hong Kong and they moved the family there. That night I spent my time on the stoop of McDonald’s. We got beer from 7/11 and just hung out on the steps. The bars were a bit expensive so we opted for the cheaper route. The next day I boarded a plane to Beijing . For the next 4 days I spent my time at the Great Wall, the Beijing Zoo where I saw giant panda’s, Tsinghua University which is where we stayed in a guest house, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, a silk market where I bought many many good, cheap knock offs. We also saw The Summer Palace , the 2008 Summer Olympics Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. On November 10th we arrived in Shanghai late at night and then the next day I went to a few markets and the famous Television tower.

On top of doing all of this, the morning of November 8th right before climbing the Great Wall of China , we had to hear some very unfortunate news. Everyone was on the bus, sleepily awaiting the Great Wall to appear outside our window when our trip leader stood up and said he had to read something to us that he received from the Head Dean. My initial thought was that Obama had been assassinated because the leader had the most somber expression on his face. He instead told us that one of our fellow world travelers had died in Hong Kong . He had been hit by a drunk driver and died instantly. This was a huge blow to every single person on the bus. We could not believe what we just heard. I do not want to go into details right now but just know that this casualty has upset the whole shipboard community and we are all having a difficult time dealing with it. Kurt Leswing lived only a few doors down from me. I walk past his room everyday, I can not put into words what I and everyone else is feeling right now. This is the main reason I am in no mood to describe my time in China right now. We arrive in Japan tomorrow and then once Japan is over I only have 3 weeks left of my journey. I will write more in a week or so. If you would like to read more about the incident pertaining to Kurt Leswing you can go to semesteratsea.org and go to the headlines portion of the website.

Vietnam ,Part 2

On the third day in Vietnam I traveled 4 hours by bus to Cat Tien National Park. It was absolutely glorious! Many of you know am a fond of the wilderness and of hiking and that is all I did for the next 2 and a half days. 13 of us arrive around noon and got assigned room numbers. Since my name was at the end of the alphabet I got a room all to myself. Finally, a chance to be alone. My room was in a different building from the rest of the group and on top of that it was about 120 yards farther back in the woods from everyone else. I was in heaven. After getting settled in we took a boat ride up to a village where we spent time talking to the locals who were descendants of the X’tieng and Ma ethnic minority groups. We got back to our rooms 2 hours before dinner so I decided to take a walk with my Oceanography professor, his wife, and 2 other students. After dinner everyone went to sleep because there was not much else to do but I was not tired yet and decided to take a walk. I headed into the forest and then psyched myself out about 10 minutes into the walk and turned back. We woke up early the next morning, ate breakfast and then did a 10 km trek through the jungle. I was in front of the line with our tour guide and some of our group fell behind because they were taking pictures so I basically had a one on one tour of the Cat Tien jungle. Half way through the hike we stopped at a small village and observed crocodiles. On the second half of the hike I basically did a speed walk with my professor. It was an easy hike because the ground was flat and at sea level, therefore very easy to breathe. We got back for lunch and then had free time until dinner so I rented a bike and peddled 20 km through mud and rocks. So fun! I got really muddy and my shoulder muscles were sore because the bike was of course too small for an American. After dinner we got on a bus that did not have a roof and went searching for wildlife in the dark with the help of spotlights. The best part about this was that it was pouring rain, I was soaked the minute I stepped onto the bus. Loved it! The next day we went on a short hike and discovered a moon and sun bear sanctuary. It’s an organization called free the bears and they save black bears from bear farming and as pets. The bears were living in cages not much bigger than the actual bear and had catheter tubes running into their sides so they did not have to get out of the cages. The sanctuary was just built and only 16 bears lived there. This could be a good trip for future Semester at Sea participants who are interested in animals and in building onto the sanctuary. After the hike we had lunch and then boarded the bus for another 4 hour drive. I don’t know what part I liked more; having a whole room to myself, hiking 10 km in 2 and a half hours, biking through mud, sitting on a fast moving bus while rain poured down on me, or seeing bears regain their freedom again. This trip was hands down 10 times better than the Amazon but ties with hiking Table Top Mountain in Cape Town.

Vietnam

Before I discuss my adventures in Vietnam I have a few side notes. There is only 6 weeks left of this trip. It is going by too fast. We will be in China on the 6th and then Japan right after that. I feel like after Japan this trip is over because we will be at sea basically for 18 days straight except for the 10 hours we will have in Hawaii. I don’t want this trip to end!
On Thursday October 30th we arrive in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam around noon because we had to go up a river to the port which meant we had to wait for high tide in order to reach the port without getting stuck in the river. I had an FDP at one p.m. for my International Business class. We went to the Nike plant. First we sat in a really nice conference room and listened to power point presentations about where Nike stands in relation to their competitors and how they run the plant. Then we got to tour one of the buildings which made the top part of the shoes. It was very interesting to see first hand how a plant is organized and the incredible amount of work put into one single shoe. There are between 35 to 85 different parts in a shoe and there are that many different stations working on a certain part of the shoe. There had to have been at least 1,000 Vietnamese people in this one building which was the size of a football field concentrating on sewing, gluing, or cutting shoe pieces. I did not realize that this many people actually made the shoes; I thought there were machines that did all the work and only a few people overlooked the products. I am glad I had the opportunity to visit the plant; it definitely changed my perspective on plant workers.
That evening I went out to dinner at a really fancy restaurant that was super cheap. After that I went to a club and danced for 4 hours straight, it was a really good workout.My roommate’s brother is learning Vietnamese with the help of a Vietnamese woman in New Jersey. This woman has a sister who goes to college near the Ho Chi Minh port where we docked. Friday morning my roommate, Amanda, and I went to visit her at the university. Her name is Tu and she was very shy at first because her English is not that good, but I tried to reassure her that we understood everything she was saying. Tu showed us around her campus and then we took a taxi to the Vietnam War Remnants Museum which instilled a feeling of uneasiness. It was ironic to walk around the museum side by side this Vietnamese girl and her not feel any resentment towards me or Amanda. I understand that it is not our generations fault but it was still interesting. I’m sure parents out there who fought in Vietnam thought they would never see the day when their children would visit Vietnam and see the results of the war, just like my generation can probably not fathom our kids going to Iraq in 40 years. I’ve never learned about this war in school and so going to the museum was a huge shock for me. I do not understand how our government could drop Agent Orange over Vietnam which effected many innocent people along with our own troops. The whole war just does not make any sense to me and I wish I had learned more about it in school before actually going to the country and seeing the Cu Chi tunnels and reunification palace. After the museum I went to the Ben Than market and bought a lot for cheap. It seemed like the further into the middle of the market I got, the more aggressive the sales people became. I was in one shop where the woman would not let go of my arm, I had to force my way out of her shop.I’m sorry but I am just not into writing this blog, I feel overwhelmed with emotion pertaining to the Vietnam War. I just sat through a session of my professors describing what they went through during the war. Many of them were college students at the time and participated in protests against the war. This was another eye opener for me because I was not sure of the American stance towards the war. Then my oceanography professor stood up and explained how he grew up talking about WWII and how his family culture thought it was a duty to fight for America. He choked up and had to take a second to regain his stature. At this point I was crying because this is a man who is very strong and you would never think of him to be the type to get emotional. This discussion brought out a lot of emotion from the professors and students as well. My professor went on to say we all need to go home and have a conversation with our fathers about the war. The whole session was very moving and just made me take a step back from the fast paced life I am living and reflect on what is important in my life. I will write more about my time in Vietnam in another blog.

Malaysia

Not many people know a lot about Malaysia, it is a well hidden treasure. There is a good mix of Indian and Chinese culture here, with a twist of Muslim influence. Malay is the dominant language but it seemed like everyone knew English.
The first day ,which was last Wednesday ,I went to a Thai Temple called Wat Chaiyanang Alaran and saw the huge sleeping Buddha. Across the street from that was a Burmese Temple which was gorgeous, I watched a monk blessing a piety. Then I went to the Leong San Khoo Kongsi clan house. I used this visit as one of my Zen FDP’s. That evening I went to a mall that was 6 stories tall and basically had the same stuff in every shop. Then I walked to China town and had the most amazing fried rice in the world. Oh, before visiting the temples I had lunch at a restaurant where we were served two whole fish, head and all. The fish tasted good but it was hard to look at the ugly cooked fish and be able to enjoy the flavor.
On Thursday I went snorkeling on the island of Langkawi. The fish were so colorful and the coral reef was really cool. We got to feed baby sharks that were about 200 yards away from where we were snorkeling. I am not sure what kept them from coming over to us. After feeding the sharks we were going to go snorkeling again but the tide must have changed and a lot of trash and oil came into the area making it impossible to see anything underwater. So that ended our trip short. That evening I went out with a bunch of guys which was nice because as you know the girl/guy ratio is not on my side. Most of my friends went to Kuala Lumpur which is a city on the main land. I had a great time listening to Chinese karaoke and observing local life.
Friday I went to Starbucks in the morning to skype with my parents. It was the first time I have had a vanilla latte in over 2 months. That afternoon a friend and I went to the Batu Ferringhi beach which was a half hour away. We got a hotel room for the night which cost 88 ringgits for 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, and kitchen. We had a balcony that over looked the ocean. Malaysia is definitely honeymoon material for any newlyweds out there. There was horseback riding on the beach along with jet skies and para sailing. We went to the night market and I bought a few trinkets.
Saturday morning we went to the beach and I acted like I was 5 years old and collected ever shell I saw. We went back to the ship for lunch and then went out shopping again that afternoon. Sunday I went to Penang Hill and Botanical Gardens. We drove up to the top of the hill to find that the canopy walk was closed because a tree had fallen over it from the heavy rains they have been getting. We were also supposed to take the cable car to the top instead of driving but the cable was broken. So Penang Hill was not a great success but it was absolutely magnificent, almost prettier than the Amazon. The Botanical Gardens were nice but it was super hot and hard to really enjoy the flowers.The ship could not dock in the port so we had to tender back and forth to shore. This was inconvenient because the tender only left the boat on the hour and came back on the half hour, so we had to plan everything around getting on and off the ship. Malaysia was so calm and relaxing compared to India. There were no kids begging for food, no cars constantly honking, no trash on the ground, and no toxic air to breathe in. I would even go as far to say Malaysia is cleaner than the United States. I would definitely want to come back and go to the Highlands and Borneo.
Country ranking based on my own experiences . 1- Cape Town, South Africa, 2 -Penang, Malaysia, 3- Chennai, India 4- Nassau, Bahamas, 5 -Walvis Bay, Namibia, 6- Salvador, Brazil

India

Tuesday I woke up at 7 to the smell of something very foreign, apparently India has a “smell.”We were still piloting into port and the smell had already seeped into the ship. I was on my way to breakfast and I wanted to see what temperature it was outside, so I opened a door and got a mouthful of India. I haven’t figured out the words to describe the smell. The air was so thick, too. So then I went to breakfast had my usual 3 egg croissant sandwiches and a bowl of cereal. Then we had a diplomatic briefing with two of the American embassy officials. They recommended places to go shopping, where to eat and sightsee. They also informed us on what to watch out for, what prices we should be paying for the rickshaws, and other important information. Right after that meeting I had an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) in the same room with a man who ran a mining company here in India. When that was over I went to see what my friends were doing for the day. They all had plans, none of which involved walking around the city. So I walked around the halls and found my friend Drew who also had no one to walk around with, so off we went. (This was my first spontaneous plan of this whole trip, before I always had “a plan”) We walked off the ship and had no idea where to go or what to do. It was fantastic. So we just started walking, we walked about 1.5 km and then found all these rickshaws waiting for us. We got in one and just said take us somewhere. So we drove all around town and he gave a little tour and then dropped us off at a market. I found a lot of great stuff there for cheap. Drew and I spent the majority of our day in this market. We found a restaurant that was part of a hotel so we knew it was legitimate. This was quite the experience. We walked in and it seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at us. I felt a little intimidated at first. All the seats were full and one man gestured to go upstairs. So we did and when I opened the door all we saw were women so Drew thought it was like a bathroom or women only club. But I looked in more and it just so happened that they were waiting for a table as well. Again a man gestured to go upstairs to the third foor. So we walk up and sit on chairs in the waiting area. I looked around to observe what was going on so that when it was our turn to be seated I knew what to do. A waiter brought out banana leaves, one for each person. These leaves were huge! Bigger than a normal plate. Next they sprinkled water on the leaf to make it stay flat.. I think or maybe they were blessing it, I’m not really sure. Then a guy came upstairs and told us to come down again. So we go back to the second floor and get seated. We sat in a booth, side by side and then a young Indian couple sat across from us. I got really excited because I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk to the locals. So I said hello and they said hi in a manner as though they did not really want to talk to us. So the entire meal we did not talk to them. I don’t really know what the correct manner is, therefore Drew and I just concentrated on eating. Neither of us knew what anything meant on the menu so I just pointed to something. Our waiter came out with all these different spices and concoctions and put a little of each on our banana leaf. Next Drew got served chicken and white rice and I got this bowl of fried rice. My rice came with a spoon, which I was to use to spoon the rice onto my banana leaf. We used our hands to eat everything. It seemed counteractive to give me a bowl of rice and a spoon and then for me to take the rice out of the bowl and eat it with my hands. It was great! Oh we all know not to drink the tap water so I asked for bottled water and it took 3 men and 10 minutes for them to actually understand what I wanted. No one else in the restaurant was drinking while they were eating but my food was so spicy I couldn’t help myself. When we were full we had to fold over our leaf or else the waiter would keep bringing us food. We got the bill and a little bowl of white grain looking things. So Drew and I were like sweet! Mints. So we both ate a few and they tasted like licorice soap. Remember this part, it will come back up later in my day. After lunch we walked around the market some more and then went back to the ship. We had to shower real fast and then go to the Welcome Reception. This was at a hotel where we were greeted by university students. There was traditional dance, henna tattooing, Sari wrapping, and great Indian food. I met these two really nice Indian students who I talked to the whole time. I wanted to hangout more with my new friends but the female student had a curfew and was not allowed to stay out. She lived in a hostel near her university and the students had to be back at a certain time. We ended up going to a bar after the reception. Drinking in India is not very popular. We went to another hotel and the manager said the bar was not open so we just sat in the restaurant area and ordered a drink. Then the manager came back to us and told us to go upstairs. This is where the bar was, I guess he opened it just for us since we were American. It was me, two of my friends and the male Indian student. I have no idea how to spell his name. Then we just got a rickshaw back to the ship and called it a night.>One of my questions I asked during our time together was about those grains I had for lunch. They are actually meant for cleaning our fingers and to get a nice fragrance on them, not to eat. HA .I ate soap. Oh and the reason the Indian couple did not talk to us was because they did not speak English. Makes sense! Another thing I forgot. When I was in the market a woman came up to me and asked where I was from so I told her and she looked confused so I explained about Semester at Sea. Then she told me how her two daughters are studying in America. Her next question was whether or not I was Christian. This question came up many times during my time in India. It seems like their whole lives revolve around religion. This is one of the most culturally different aspects of India. Then she gave me her phone number and home address. I felt so honored. The Indian people are so welcoming, it’s a really warm feeling. Overall Chennai is a very safe city, or at least in the way of no one trying to pick pocket us or mug us. The market was a lot of fun, because there was not one single other SAS student there. For the first time I felt fully enveloped in a culture. Oh the “bathrooms”ha, oh man. Side note America does a lot of things weird. Two quick examples: every other country calls it “toilets”not bathrooms and they all drive on the left side of the road, as well as walk on the left. You know how in America you tend to walk on the right side when passing someone? Well everywhere else it is opposite. Back to my toilet story. It is basically a hole in the ground and there is a bucket of water next to you. That’s it. I actually brought toilet paper with me because I knew they did not use it but I did not think about where I would put it after I used it. And I did not want to fool around with the faucet because again the water is not safe. So I just decided to hold it.This is my attempt to describe the smell of India. Imagine the smell of curry, exhaust fumes, cow dung, incenses, body odor, rotten flowers, and more curry all mixed together. That is the best way I can portray the smell of India. Wednesday I woke up and had breakfast on the ship again and then met up with our male friend from the night before. We did some more shopping and then one of my friends had to be back on the ship by 1pm for a FDP. So we all came back to the ship and I jumped in the pool because I was so disgustingly gross from sweating and having all the soot/dust/pollution stick to me. Then I took a little nap because you all know shopping wears me out. Then another friend and me were going to go meet up with the female student from the night before and go to temples but on our walk to the rickshaw’s we started talking to another SAS student who also wanted to go to temples so we just teamed up and went on an adventure. We made it to one temple and then to St. Thomas church. They were both really cool. Then we walked around the streets and stuck out like a sore thumb. But whatever I thoroughly enjoy not being around a bunch of SAS students. Then we got back to the ship and jumped in the pool again, then had dinner. After that we went to Moca which is a hip and happening “café.”It was really sweet. It was an outside restaurant/hookah bar. I had a snickers bar milk shake. Non of us were really hungry because we had already eaten on the ship so I guess that saved us a few rupees. On the way there I drove the rickshaw!!! Only 3 people can fit in the back seat and it was 4 of us so I volunteered to sit in the front and I got to drive!!! It was super cool. I don’t think any other SASer will be able to say they have done that. Well that’s one thing I can check off my list. Then we came back to the ship because there is no where to really go at night and so we watched Billy Madison.Let me just tell you, I am the queen of bargaining. I owe this quality to my mother, I learned from the best. It just comes so natural. I am always in charge of making a price for the rickshaws. They try really hard to rip us off but then they realize who they are dealing with. I am no dummy. Haha we were in some shop today and I bought a piece of jewelry for half of what they were asking for and then a friend wanted to buy a ring and so I tried to help her get a lower price and the guy shooshed me! He said “you stay quiet and let me do my job”it was hilarious.Thursday I slept in, had lunch on the ship and then went on my overnight village stay. It was a two and a half hour bus ride which I enjoyed because the whole way we kept passing all these villages and markets. There is so much life in India. Yea it’s super over crowded and polluted but everyone is so happy. Chennai makes the most crowded city in the states seem vacant. We arrived at our sleeping quarters around 3:30 and had tea with the women who runs the RIDE organization. The Rural Institute for Development Education was started in 1984 to help disadvantaged residents of rural Tamil Nadu to improve the quality of their lives. They do this by educating the children and providing loans for the women of the villages. After tea we went to one of the schools and got to play with the children for a few hours. Some of the children performed a dance for us and then it was our turn to perform for them. We did “I’m a little teapot.”Then I took 5 of the kids outside and played ring-around-the-rosy and played a little Frisbee. It was heart breaking watching them leave; I just wanted to take them all back with me. Dinner at the sleeping grounds was really good. I can not spell any of the foods so I will not even attempt. I need to remember to bring a notepad with me for now on. The electricity usually shuts off at 9 but I assume they turned the generators on for us. It was a group of 20 SAS kids, 18 were girls. We played card games until everyone got tired, which ended up being around 9:30. I slept in a room that had 4 beds. One bed was taken by this German lady who was volunteering there for 2 weeks. She bought a bunch of library books and was in the process of organizing them and figuring out a way in which no one would steal them. Anyway, it was her, 2 other SAS girls and me in a room. The beds were just wooden boards, no cushion but I brought a sleeping bag. The room had no air conditioning and the fan did not work because the owner turned off the electricity. We had the windows open but the mosquito’s still got through the screen. So between the German lady snoring, the mosquito’s biting my feet, not being able to get in my sleeping bag because it was too hot, and dripping sweat down my back and face, I did not get much sleep. We got up at 7 had a quick breakfast and then took a bus ride to another village. We got to go inside the small shacks and see how the poor, rural Indian people lived. This whole visit seemed so surreal, like the people were just acting to put a good show on for the Americans. It is a hard concept to understand that there are still so many people in this world who do not know if they will have a roof over their heads tomorrow or food in their bellies. There is so much garbage everywhere in India. I asked one of the women in charge of RIDE why the government does not hire people to clean up the streets. She simply responded “and then where would they put it?”I guess I had never really thought about that. It is really hard for me to just accept their way of life and for me not to do anything about it. I wish I had more power and could help all of the people in the village. We also got to go to a silk shop and see how they weave the silk Sari’s. It’s a really intense process and hard to explain. We left the village around 3:30 and got back to the ship at 6:15. That night I watched Juno.Saturday I went out shopping again and basically bought out India. I got a rug that was $390 but I haggled it for $200, a emerald ring that was $69 but I got it for $40, a beautiful small chest, a plate, 12 scarf’s, 2 wall hangings, and 2 shirts. On the way home we got stuck in a rally. My rickshaw driver said it was a political leader who was visiting and giving a speech but later someone told me that they heard it was a celebrity from the Bollywood movies, so I am not sure who it was. Anyway I had planned on being back on the ship at 3 so we left the last shop at 2:30 thinking 30 minutes would be plenty of time. Well we did not get to the ship until 4:30. I was a little worried because on ship time was 6 and a lot of Taj trips were coming back at that time which meant a really long line before actually getting on the ship. Luckily there was no line and got on without any problems.I am really glad I got to go to India, it was a great experience but I do not think I want to come back. The culture and people were great but I can’t handle the air pollutions, the garbage everywhere, the heat and having to dress conservatively, wearing pants, closed toed shoes, and a big t-shirt, and the over crowdedness. It seemed like there was no place to get away, people are everywhere! I would like to come back and volunteer at the RIDE organization ,but I would not come back for a vacation .Malaysia in three days!

Sea Time

12 days at sea from Cape Town to India is not a piece of cake. The Indian Ocean is rougher than the Atlantic Ocean which we had been traveling through before we reached Cape Town. It seems like the waves get worse at night, which is when I like to study and work out. On quiet a few nights I have had to retire early to bed because I could not handle the motion sickness. I have never actually gotten sick, just very nauseous. Time is going by a lot faster than I thought it would. We will be in India on Tuesday. It does not feel like I have been at sea for 7 days now.
They do keep us busy around here. This morning I had my Oceanography midterm, we had to make up 5 questions from each chapter and then we played Jeopardy. Tomorrow I have my Global Studies and International Business midterms. And then on Sunday I have my Zen midterm. Fun fact: since the beginning of this voyage we have only had 20 class days. This means only 10 classes for each subject. Oh how I love Semester at Sea. It is really hard to get back into the routine after 7 days off in Cape Town, 5 days off in Namibia, and 5 days off in Brazil.
Yesterday was actually a no class day. The Sea Olympics were held. The teams were made up by which hall you lived in. Each hall has a different sea name. Mine is the Adriatic Sea. I participated in the Olympic rely which comprised of an orange pass, wheel barrel race, 3 legged race, and a race where you balanced an empty cup on your index and ring fingers and then ran to the other end of the deck. I did the orange pass part. My sea won this event. Other events included a pizza making contest, hotdog eating contest, a spelling bee, sudoku, volleyball, dodge ball, synchronized swimming, and limbo. This was pretty much an all day event and then at night we had a God and Goddess dance. I was the Earth God, Gaia.
A few nights ago the LGBT club held a “Coming Out” stories discussion in the Union. I teared up a few times when people were telling their stories of how their family members did not approve of their life decisions, and basically disowned them. On the bright side a lot of people had funny stories of how they came out. I am happy that so many people have the courage to put themselves out there for judgment, and in most cases everyone accepts them no matter what their sexual preference is.
I am on the Ambassador’s Ball Committee, which is the big shebang at the end of this voyage. We meet every B day, so this is another thing to occupy my time. I am in charge of the alternative programming. There are 2 dinner sittings, so when people are not at dinner they come to the Union and watch people perform. I am in charge of finding people to perform. It is still too early in the voyage to get serious about this, so I basically go to the meetings and help the other committees like with the menu and decorations.
These are all the things that have been occupying my time besides eating and sleeping. Please keep the emails coming! jmwinters@semesteratsea.net

Skydiving

It was 6 a.m. and my alarm sounded. I jumped out of bed with a big smile on my face. I looked at Amanda and she did not seem as happy as me. She was terrified out of her mind. I asked her how much RAND I needed and she said 1500; well I only had 1130. So I got dressed in a haste and ran off the ship to find an ATM. We are always told not to go anywhere alone but I wanted to take this opportunity to be with myself and prepare myself for what I was about to do. As I past the security guards I told them where I was going and if I wasn’t back within 20 minutes to start searching for me. The ATM was about an eight minute walk from the ship. I was not scared; I was focused more on calming my mind and trying not to get too excited for the amazing day ahead of me. I got the rest of my money out and safely made it back to the ship. At this point I felt very brave for venturing out alone, even though it was not very far. This was a great start to my day. The drive to the skydiving site took about 30 minutes. The scenery was beautiful; mountains, vineyards, and ocean. When we arrived 2 girls ran out of the van to the bathroom and got sick. They were thinking way too much about it and could not handle the excitement. When the guy asked who wants to go first I raised my hand immediately without any hesitation. Everyone knows I am a very impatient person, so of course I wanted to go right away. That, and I knew the longer I waited the more I would start to psyc myself out. So the next thing I knew I was getting a harness strapped to me. I thought everyone was going to have to sit through a training class but we didn’t. After Amanda and I were all strapped up we set out for the plane awaiting us outside. The guy I was going to be tandem with was named Paul. During our walk to the plane Paul told me that he would be getting into the plane first and then I was to get in and sit in front of him between his legs and to not touch the pilot’s chair which was right in front of me. Then Amanda’s guy got in and the Amanda. There was also a random kid who went with us alone. He looked like he was only 12 years old but he said this was his 100 and some dive. Craziness! So as we were flying I focused on the scenery around me. I could feel Paul breathing against my back so I tried to breath in sync with him. I just kept saying over and over to myself I can not believe I am about to do this. Paul told me that once we reached 9,000 feet we would jump. Side note-writing about this is bringing back so many emotions, I feel like I am doing it all over again. At about 600 meters Paul attached himself to my harness and told me to wiggle around and try to get away. Of course I could not and I felt very secure. I put my goggles on and Paul tightened all my straps. All of a sudden the door swung open and I thought oh my gosh I am really about to do this! Next thing I know my legs were dangling out of the plane and air was rushing at my face. I think this was the most intense moment because I did not know what to expect or how it was going to feel, but I did not have much time to think before I was doing flips out of the plane. I am not going to be able to put into words this feeling. Freefalling is THE most invigorating, exhilarating, thrilling, amazing feeling in the whole wide world. It did not feel like I was falling, like my stomach was not in my throat or anything. It felt incredible. We freefell for 35 seconds and then Paul pulled the parachute. We glided around for about 4 minutes. Paul made us do flips and spins, it was sooooo much fun. No, it was more than fun; see there is no way for me to truly say how it felt. You will just have to do it yourself. My landing was funny. Paul told me to bend my knees as we got closer to the ground and a few seconds before we landed he said ok now straighten out your legs and so I did but the landing was a bit too much and I started to fall over and Paul landed on top of me. Very graceful haha. The whole time I felt so at peace with everything. I was not once worried about something going wrong. I absolutely am going to skydive again. I want to have that feeling over and over again. It is going to be hard to beat the scenery of South Africa... wonder where I will fall from a plane next.

Cape Town Part II

Sunday was the busiest day of my life. I woke up at 6 a.m. to go skydiving (I am going to write a whole blog entry just on skydiving), about 20 people went so it took a while for everyone to fall from the plane. Then I went on a wine tour at 1 p.m. I got to go to 4 different wineries and tasted over 20 different wines. The last winery had a Cheetah farm which was awesome. Some people paid to pet the Cheetahs but since I am allergic to cats I didn't want to spend money to sneeze. Then I went to Moyo, a restaurant in the trees! It was very cold but worth it. This is a very short summary of my day, but time does not permit me to write more right now.

Monday I was planning on climbing Table Mountain again but it rained so my roommate and I went to the biggest mall in all of South Africa. I do not like shopping so we just walked around and people watched. For people who do like shopping, this place would have been heaven for you. It had so many name brand shops, but expensive too. We actually ran into one of the skydiving guys in the mall. It was funny because I saw him first and knew right away it was him but Amanda, my roommate, did not think so, so I did not say anything to him but he actually came up to us and asked if we were the Americans that went skydiving the day before. What a coincidence! Out of all the people in South Africa we run into someone we knew. Overall this day was pretty boring compared to the past few days. The rest of the evening everyone lounged around the ship. That night a bunch of us went to a small sushi shop in the mall right on the water front and then headed to The Dubliner for drinks and then ended up at Mitchell's Brewery. Nothing really exciting happened that night.
Tuesday I went on an overnight Safari to the Aquila wildlife reserve. A group of 22 Semester at Sea students left the ship around 10 a.m. and took a 2 hour bus ride to the reserve. When we arrived we were met with champagne and then got to eat a delicious buffet style lunch. Right outside of the dining area was a pond with crocodiles in it. They were a brown color because of the water they lived in. After lunch we got into safari jeeps and off we went on our first tour of the safari grounds. First we past hippopotamus' who were laying on an island pretty far away but I got really close pictures so that I could actually see what they look like, because from where we were they just looked like big rocks. Then we pasted a giraffe and a few zebra's running around the bushes. Next we stopped right next to three ostriches that were eating stuff from the dirt. After that we ventured into rhinoceros territory. They were so large I could not believe it, and there was a baby rhino so the mother kept standing in front of it to protect it. The baby was so young that the safari guides did not know what sex it was yet. We then set out to the top of a hill and got out of the jeeps for a stretch. Once again we were given champagne. After about a 30 minute break we headed for the lions. The lions are separated from the rest of the animals, so we had to drive through an electric fence to see them. There were 3 Jeeps full of SAS students. My Jeep was the last. The first Jeep was stopped right in front of the lions when a water bottle fell from the Jeep and the lions pounced on it. It was the craziest thing, my Jeep guide, Liza, got really nervous and backed out of the fence and then we watched as the 2 other Jeeps were trapped as the lions walked around and blocked the road. Liza was telling us a story of how she got surrounded by the lions once with a Jeep full of people who could not speak English. One lion was coming closer and closer to jumping onto the Jeep so Liza put the Jeep into reverse and sped out quickly; she hit one of the female lions but did not hurt her. It is so crazy how dangerous these animals are and how crazy we are for trying to get close to them. Since my jeep didn't really get to go in Liza was going to try and get in from the other entrance on the other side of the mountain. So we were driving really fast to get there before dark and all of a sudden Liza slammed on the breaks. She was about to run right into buffalo. My heart was racing. Liza jolted the jeep into reverse and zoomed away really fast. No one really knew what was going on so we just sat there with frightened faces. Then Liza stopped to explain what just happened. She said that if we would have stopped for a longer period of time the buffalo would have charged the jeep. She said we were lucky that they didn't come after us. After that we called it a day and went back to the lodge for dinner. After dinner we had a big bon fire and looked at the stars. We were told to stay inside after dark because the buffalo have been running over the fences and endangering guests. So of course I had to venture out and look for the buffalo but they did not come that night. The next day at 7 a.m. I rode a horse for the first time around the Safari. We got really close to the Rhinoceros' and the protecting mother started walking towards us so we trotted away out of sight. Then I saw two elephants climbing a mountain, I was afraid they were going to fall over but the guides said they do it all the time. Then a wildebeest decided to run along with the horses. We didn't have to worry about it coming after us because it was intimidated by all the horses. There were a ton of springbok running around everywhere, for those of you who may not know what they are; springbok are similar to deer but smaller and cuter. After the hour and a half horseback ride we went back to the lodge for breakfast and waited for the other half of the group to get back from quad biking. Only seven of us did the horseback riding and the rest rode quad bikes around the safari. Around noon we went on another jeep tour. First we went back to the lions and were able to get really really close to them. I think my heart was racing more here than it was during skydiving. Next we saw elephants who decided to surround my jeep and pretend that they were going to charge us. This was another heart pounding moment because these elephants could have crushed us in a second if they wanted. So our guide was yelling at them to get away and they actually listened. Next we saw cheetahs but they were behind a fence so we couldn't play with them which made me sad. After that everyone loaded into the vans and we headed back to the ship. That night was the most fun so far this voyage. My roommate, Amanda, two guys from the safari, and I were going to meet up with two of the tour guides we made friends with to go out for dinner. The tour guides did not show up so the four of us jumped in a taxi and headed for Long Street. We ate dinner at The Dubliner and the guys kept ordering us all rounds of shots. Then we ended up at Hemisphere. This is a club on the thirty first floor of some random building. People were not allowed in unless they were really dressed up- no flip flops or sneakers. There was a 50 RAND cover charge which is pretty expensive for a Cape Town club. That's about $6. If this club were in a city such as New York the cover charge would be like $150. So we get in and one of the guys we were with gets us a VIP lounge and in the lounge we got bottle service. We had two bottles of Sky vodka and all you can drink red bull. I think I only had one drink and headed straight for the dance floor. I was dancing with this white South African man who was there with a bunch of his buddies for a bachelor party. He wanted to get me a drink but I said no and walked away. I was not about to get involved with a local. So for the rest of the night I stuck with Semester at Sea dance partners. I felt so grown up, it was wonderful. On the taxi ride home our taxi driver told us that only the white rich Africans go there and only on very special occasions. I LOVE CAPE TOWN.

I slept in the next morning and then just walked around town with my roommate Amanda. We ran into the tour guides from the Safari and they took us out to lunch. We had a platter of all different kinds of seafood. Then we had to go back to the ship for "onboard ship time," this is basically 2 hours before the ship leaves so that incase people are running late they have a time buffer. I was so sad to leave Cape Town, I can not wait to visit again in 2010 for the World Cup.

Capetown Part 1

My seven days in Cape Town can not fully be described in a simple blog, I could write a book about all of my experiences I had in Cape Town. It is going to be hard for me to decide what is important enough to mention here and what I should just keep to myself for story telling when I get home. My words will not give Cape Town the justice it deserves. I fell in love with the people and the surroundings of Cape Town. I plan on coming back in 2010 for the World Cup and staying with my new Afrikan friends. I keep wanting to sit down and finish writing about Cape Town but every time I start writing I feel like I am not expressing myself well enough. This is a warning- anyone who has important things to do, don’t read on, wait until you have time to spend hours thinking about what I am about to write.
Last Friday, September 26th we arrived in port at 8 a.m. and did not have to stay on board for the diplomatic briefing because there was some confusion and so we were allowed to leave the ship right away. I walked around the harbor area, which looked similar to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Eating outlandish foods was one of my top priorities, so I ate an ostrich wrap for lunch. Then I found a craft market and bought a few trinkets and saw some really creative artwork. This one guy was playing a guitar made out of old oil cans and it sounded really cool, so I bought his CD. In the afternoon I went to the Khayelitsha Township. This is a town where all the blacks live in tin/scrap metal huts. It was really sad to see the awful conditions these people were living in. As we were driving by I thought to myself wow, I can not believe I am seeing this with my own eyes. I’ve always seen and heard about this kind of life from tv and from classes but it never really hit home until I saw it with my own eyes. I was so excited that we were about to get the chance to actually go into this town and talk with the people. So we stopped at a school and got to give the children stickers and pens, which they loved. They seemed so thankful for these simple little gifts. Then we went to two different Bed and Breakfasts’ within the Township. The owners explained how and why they started the business and it was motivating to hear how it all started. So these two women decided they wanted tourists to come into the Township to see how people were actually living and it was a way to bring in profit to the community. This is a great idea, although it is actually keeping the people in poverty because since foreigners like me and the other Semester at Sea participants are coming in and spending money, the people have no reason to go and look for a real job. I think the statistic was like 98% of the people living in the Township were unemployed. The whole visit to the Township was my first culture shock. Until then I had not been exposed to anything radically different from conditions in the United States. Surprisingly all the people we met on the streets of the Township were so happy and full of life. No one seemed depressed or hating life there in the slums. It just goes to show how life can be so simple and still bring joy to the people who live it. There is still more I could write about the Township but I will save it for another blog, when I have had more time for the experience to soak in. Oh one thing that shocked me was when I saw a little girl about 3 years old walking around the streets alone, swinging a used condom around in her hand. I really wanted to take it away from her but at the same time I did not want to touch it and I did not want to upset the girl who seemed so happy to have it... That night I went out for Thai food with a bunch of people and then tried to go to a jazz bar but it was too full, so we walked to another bar and got these huge cylinders of beer. I think they were 3.5 liters and they had a little spout like a keg. Between 6 people we shared two of these things. The bar was boring so we left after the beer was gone.. about 20 minutes after they were ordered. Haha then we just went back to the ship, everyone had a long day.

On Saturday a friend of mine and I hiked Table Top Mountain. It took us about an hour and forty minutes to get to the top which is a pretty decent amount of time, we past quite a few groups of people on the way up. The mountain is 1,086 meters high; the view of Cape Town was breath taking. I am definitely going to have to climb that mountain again. Hiking is one of the most invigorating feelings for me, my whole body aches as I am climbing up and there are times when I just want to stop and say no more. But when I finally reach the top after a lot of hard work it feels amazing. The view is worth all of the pain to get there. Eilis, my friend, and I had an Indian family come up to us and ask us where we were from and I said America. One of the sons got bright eyed and said “you mean the United States of America?” and so I said yes and he wanted to take a picture with us. I’ve never had anyone come up to me and be so excited about my nationality. It felt nice to be appreciated, although I am not sure how this little boy really sees the states... After a warm meal at the top of the mountain Eilis and I headed back down the mountain on a cable car. I felt very accomplished on the taxi ride back to the ship.
That night we ate dinner on the ship to save money and then went to Mitchell's Brewery for drinks. Three of us shared a fish bowl which is a huge bowl filled with blue Curacao, vodka, and sprite. It looked like a lot of alcohol but it didn't really affect any of us so I ordered a few draft beers. I have tasted so many different local beers on my journey, its great.

A Few Things I Miss....

Even though I am only 20% into this trip I am already thankful for so many things that I used to take advantage of. Washing machines, these devices make life so much easier. I just spent an hour hand washing 4 pairs of pants, 6 t-shirts, 2 long sleeve shirts, 2 sweatshirts, and a few pairs of socks. Then I had to rig up clothes lines all over my room. The ship does have laundry service but it costs $6 per bag and it only comes to my hall once every two weeks. My hands are now pruney and I get slapped in the face by wet clothes when I walk around my room. I am grateful for the invention of the washing machine.
It is 12:13 a.m. and in 6 hours I will be in Cape Town, South Africa. I can’t believe I am already this far into my journey. It feels like I just walked on the ship yesterday for the first time. I am so fortunate.
Another thing I am thankful for are microwaves. I have not been able to pop something into a microwave for over a month. Those things are amazing, wish I could use one... even though I wouldn’t have anything to warm up. Oh if only I could have macaroni and cheese, or cold pizza, or a grilled cheese sandwich. The food on the ship is getting worse and worse. I am going to pick up some spices in Africa.
The internet! I am oh so grateful for high speed internet. I mentioned this a while ago, but I will again. We only get 2 hours of free internet for the whole 3 and a half months on the ship. Although we do get free email, it is very slow and some days its does not work at all. I do have the option of going to internet cafes in port but do I really want to spend precious time staring at a computer screen when I could be exploring? I am going to feel so spoiled when I return home and can get on the net within seconds.
Trying to workout on the ship is difficult. First off there are only 2 treadmills to share between 720 students. There are signup sheets which get filled up 5 minutes after they are put on the desk. When I do actually remember to sign up it is always at a really random time. Second, trying to actually run is quite a task. The ship is constantly rocking which obviously makes the treadmills move from under my feet. I slipped once, which is pretty good. I have seen others take a bad tumble. Overall it is just not enjoyable to try and keep my balance at the same time as running as well as trying to spacing out and not constantly think about staying in the middle of the treadmill. Most of the time I try and think of running as a challenge, and see how long I can keep my balance for before having to reach for the side bars for support. Speaking of balance, yoga, ha, forget it. It is usually at 4 p.m. outside on the 7th deck. Between the wind and waves there is no way to fully get a good yoga session in. Overall it is hard to concentrate on anything on this ship!
I want everyone at home to take a step back and look at all of the things that you have access to, things that you don’t appreciate and abuse on a daily basis. For example, a clean glass of water, a vehicle, air conditioning/heat, soap, and food-when ever you get hungry, even when you are not but just have a craving for a certain taste. Just be thankful.

Landfall in Namibia

The MV Explorer (the name of my ship) is now leaving the port in Namibia. The past five days have been extremely enjoyable. We arrived last Friday in the port of Walvis Bay which is Namibia’s only port. We are the first Semester at Sea participants to journey into Namibia. Not one person on our entire ship of over one thousand people has ever been to Namibia before. This was definitely not a tourist stop. Many of the locals have never been exposed to so many foreigners before. It was about a mile walk from where the boat was docked to the closest sign of civilization. On Friday I walked around Walvis Bay where there were only a few small shops that mainly sold western style clothes. There was not much difference in these stores from the ones at home , based on few that I saw. It was a very quiet town although during our diplomatic briefing we were told the crime rate went down from critical to high. I felt more safe in Namibia than I did in Salvador. The night life was a lot of fun, although the restaurant service was very slow. At one restaurant called Crazy Mama’s it took 3 hours until my meal was brought out. It was not a bad thing, just a different way of life. All the taxi drivers played American music as well as did the dance clubs. It’s crazy to think how influential American pop culture influences so much of the world.
A few locals asked where we were from and we said America and they all seemed to envy us. It is still hard for me to understand why different cultures think America is so great. Well I mean I know why, I am just not used to being respected so much just because of where I am from. Saturday I went to Swakopmund which is a German town about a half hour away from Walvis Bay. There was a little market there where I managed to haggle for a wooden bowl with a giraffe sticking out of it. The guy wanted 180 NAD but I only wanted to give him 40 NAD. It took me about 25 minutes to talk this guy down. It was very entertaining and no one believed I got if for so cheap of a price. 40 NAD is like 5 US dollars.
I stayed over night in Swakopmund from Monday to Tuesday. The hotel we stayed at was called Deutsches Haus. It was very quaint. Many German tourists come to this town which was interesting to see the mix of Germans and Afrikaans. The German food was delicious. One meal I had Schnitzel and sauerkraut, which was 10 times better than any I have tasted in the U.S. Tuesday was the most fun. I went quad biking in the desert. For two hours I was basically on a roller coaster. We would just ride around the huge sand dunes going up really steep inclines then cutting the edge real fast to go down again. I do not know how I did not fall off. It felt like the 4-wheeler was going to roll on me quite a few times. The pictures are amazing, I wish I had enough internet time to upload them.
We arrive in Cape Town, South Africa on Friday! I have to go do school work now for the first time in over a week. I does not feel like I am in school because my classes actually interest me and I do not really have to do a lot of work, so I am basically on a 3 month vacation around the world. If there is anyone out there who would be interested in doing this please feel free to email me at jmwinters@semesteratsea.net
I want to thank everyone who has been emailing me, I really appreciate it!

Ok and now for the good stuff. The drinks in Namibia are really cheap, about one U.S. dollar. At one of the German restaurants we got 3 liter beers. I could not even lift the thing when it was full, we had to tilt it haha! I also had cider there which is similar to a white wine but a lot smoother. Oh and I had a shanty which is beer and lemonade mixed. All of the bars were packed with semester at sea kids and the bartenders were very overwhelmed to say the least. The first night, last Friday, we went to a bar called The Raft which was a restaurant/bar in the middle of the water. After drinking all we could there, everyone went to Champs, which was a dance club. A lot of people continued to drink there but I just danced the rest of the night. Saturday night we stayed in and watched a movie to recover from the night before. Sunday night we went to Crazy Mama’s, had 2 bottles of wine there and then told the taxi driver to take us somewhere fun. So we ended up at this brothel. Haha it was hilarious, some of the SAS guys would dance with local women and then the women would ask them for money. It was very entertaining. Monday night was the 3 liter beer night at the German restaurant. After that we went to Rafters where I danced all night until we went to another club which had little balconies where we could dance on. From there we walked back to our hotel singing at the top of our lungs in the middle of the street. Don’t worry I am always with a large group of people. Good times in Namibia!

Emotions

Thus far all my blogs have been mostly factual and not many of my opinions and/or feelings have been expressed. It takes a lot of effort and control to find a quiet space to focus on my thoughts. It is a lot easier to just hangout with my friends and chat all night. After only visiting one country so far I have realized more than I expected. After visiting the villages in the middle of the Amazon and seeing the sparse living conditions they deal with everyday, I still can not fully understand how they do it. “Seeing is believing” but even so, I can not believe there are people in this world who live such poor lives. And yet they seem like the happiest people in the world.
I am worried about my return home. I am nervous for two reasons. People are not going to understand me, understand everything that I’ve seen, understand the way I think because of the experiences I have gone through. I just really hope it will be a smooth transition and people will try and accept my stories. I am also concerned about going back to school and my fellow students not giving me the time of day to explain certain things about the world. What if no one cares?
I miss all my friends and family, it is hard not being able to communicate with everyone as I please. If I am still in your thoughts please send me emails: jmwinters@semesteratsea.net it would be greatly appreciated. I can’t wait to go home again and see how big my nephews are getting, to see my newly born second cousin, and of course to see all of my family. PSU friends- I’ll see you in January : ) and home friends- I get back mid December, I have a month to hangout! But first I must travel the world and bring back something that will help me influence many lives in the future.
The food selection is starting to turn my stomach some days. It’s the same thing every meal: salad, pasta, potatoes, meat, and vegetables. But it all tastes the same, there is no seasoning. I can’t wait for Namibia so I can eat decent tasting food again, hopefully.

Life back on the boat

Between Salvador and Namibia we have to advance our clocks 5 hours. With only 7 days to do this in, we are all acting a little wacky. Before Brazil we advance one hour so as of Tuesday, September 16th I am 5 hours ahead of time at home, with one more hour to advance before Namibia. I am starting to get a little stir crazy and wish I could just go out and take a walk on a street or lay in the grass and gaze at the stars.
Monday evening was pretty eventful. I had dinner with the Ambassadors Ball committee where we got a lot accomplished. The menu is coming along as well are the favors. After the meeting I went salsa dancing for the first time, we learned a few basic moves and just danced around the pool deck for an hour. Dancing is a lot of fun for me, it’s a great way to relieve stress. I then went to a documentary about acid victims in Cambodia. I can not give any details because the film is not going to be released to the public until 2009 and because of safety issues regarding the families involved in the documentary. The only reason we go to preview it is because one of our professor’s was a co-producer of the film. It was an extremely moving film and I can not wait for the world to acknowledge this problem and to help resolve the issue which is facing more countries than you think. I wish I could project how much the documentary affected me and many of the other students who viewed the film.
The days are going by fast but time is melting together. It is hard to remember what I did which day. This whole trip feels like one long day. We arrive in Namibia on Friday and will leave next Tuesday. If you have any questions or want me to write about anything in particular please feel free to email me at jmwinters@semesteratsea.net I can not see any of the comments you are making for each blog entry so please email me any requests for information.

The Amazon Adventure

I was to report to the Union at 4:50 a.m., as you know the previous night I got back to the ship around midnight. At that point I thought to myself what is the point of sleeping for only 4 hours? So a few of us just stayed up all night and talked. I was in Group B which consisted of 60 people. We had to split up into 2 groups and then we walked to the buses which were waiting for us outside the boat ramp. The bus ride to the airport was about 45 minutes long. The flight was at 6:40 and we had a layover in Brasilia with a flight at 9:10 which took us to Manaus. Once we arrived in Manaus around noon we took another bus ride to a boat dock which was about 30 minutes away. There were many fishermen standing around the boat docks and watched as 60 Americans were rushed onto boats decorated with red white and blue balloons. This area was also very dirty; I had to walk over a dead cat and had to walk around little children in ragged clothes with no shoes. In order to get onto the boat I had to walk up this very unsteady ramp which crossed water filled with garbage and again smelled like urine. At first the boat was cute, and I looked forward to spending the next 3 days on it. (we were called the Anacondas and the other part of the B group were Jaguars) There were dancers who welcomed us with hats and necklaces. Everyone then proceeded to the second deck where we found hammocks stowed across the roof planks. This is where we would all be sleeping. We then walked back down the steep stairs and ate pineapple and watermelon as we watched the boat leave the dock. The boat tugged down the river where we would see the Meeting of the Waters, where the black waters of the Rio Negro meet the brown waters of the Solimoes. It was interesting to see the color of the water change at a certain point. I have never seen water that did not mix, that just stays totally different colors due to its density (just learned this in Oceanography). After that we visited the giant Victoria Regia water lilies. They we so big a small alligator could lay on them, which we saw happen. On that short hike I spotted a monkey, a sloth, a colorful caterpillar, and a woodpecker. We then hopped into motorized canoes and went fishing. No one caught anything exciting, just a few sardine fish and some other small fish that I can not recall the name of. It then got dark and mosquito’s swarmed our skin. Yes I had 100% deet on but apparently I missed my ankles and lower back. But that is why I am on Malaria medicine. After we had enough of the bugs our guide, Ennie, wanted to catch a jacares (alligator). We putted down the river along the edges in search of alligators. It was then that it finally hit me, “I am in the Amazon,” I thought to myself how awesome this is to be floating along the Rio Negro in search of alligators! Ennie finally spotted one and jumped off the canoe to catch it. He then let us all hold it and take pictures. By the time we got back to the boat everyone was tired. It had been a long day. I passed out in my hammock around 9:30.
Everyone woke up with the sun and attempted to get out of the hammocks. This was no easy task. My knees had locked up because you can only really lay in one position in the hammock- straight and on your back. I never sleep like this and so my knees locked up and it took me a few minutes to be able to bend them. Other people’s backs and necks were in pain. The hammocks were so close I had one person’s head on my hip all night and someone else’s feet right next to my ear. Everyone ate breakfast and then hopped onto the motorized canoes again and went for a trek in the forest. The only wildlife I saw was a huge grasshopper which some people thought was a scorpion... And I only saw 2 flowers that were pink, everything else was green shrubbery. It was 30 students stomping through so I’m sure if there were animals, they were all scared away. We walked 5 feet and stop for 15 minutes while our guide would explain something and then walk another 5 feet and stop. We were only there for 2 hours and then left for lunch. I was disappointed about the degree of difficulty involved with the trek. I was ready to hike 5 miles and see crazy animals but that did not happen. We were supposed to go on another hike the next day but a bunch of people complained about the bugs and sweating so we didn’t go. After lunch we visited the Terra Preta community where we learned about their lifestyle. The men would go into the forest for 18 hours at a time collecting wood and producing rubber products out of them. We got to visit the school which looked new compared to all the shacks surrounding it. One of the classrooms had a huge flat screen television which they used for satellite classes. The government funds all the school programs and tries very hard to get as many children involved as possible. We then proceeded to the arena where SAS students played soccer with the locals. They were extremely skilled and fast. It’s pretty cool that I can say I played soccer with Brazilian people. The games lasted all afternoon, almost until dark. We got back in the canoes and Ennie told us we were going to have a surprise. We arrived at a beach with fireworks going off and Brazilian dance music playing. We had an amazing cookout on the beach followed by musical chairs and tug-o-war games.
We again woke up with the sun the next morning. The sunrise was amazing, wish you all could have seen it. That morning we visited a manioc-producing community and observed the people as they prepared Indian pancakes. Manioc is a root which looks like a potato, from this they make flour which is used in most of the foods. We got to sample the Indian pancakes and acai which I mentioned in my Salvador blog. I could tell this acai was much fresher than what I had in the town of Salvador. At the village they added tapioca which made it have more texture. It’s delicious and I am going to want it back home but it is very hard to find and is expensive. It is hard to embrace the idea of people actually living like the people do in these small villages. They live very simple lives consisting of preparing food, playing soccer, making crafts to sell to tourists, and some how making enough profit to stay alive. I wish my life were that simple sometimes. After saying goodbye to the village family we went piranha fishing. Only one person on our boat caught one, it was not that exciting. After lunch on the boat a few of us jumped into the middle of the river. This was very exhilarating because I spotted a dolphin a few feet away and there was a possibility that piranha’s were swimming around. The water was really warm in some spots and cold in others. When I floated and only a thin layer of water covered me, it looked like I was swimming in iced tea. The color was an orangey brown, not too appealing. Later I learned the toilets flushed right into the river. Either way at least I can say I swam in the Amazon! We got to lounge on a beach for a while and then the boat started heading back down the river. At this time most people took naps. That night was the most fun. We docked at a really nice resort where a show was put on for us. Probably the coolest thing I have ever seen. The locals dressed in native attire- feathers and fruit- and danced around the stage. There were fire breathers and just outrageous costumes. After the first hour and a half they invited people on stage to dance so of course I was one of the first people to jump up and dance in the front row like a fool. I had the time of my life, danced the whole night away with the locals. It went downhill from there. We left for the airport at 11 p.m. and we did not arrive to Salvador until noon the next day. Many people got very sick and it was just a miserable time.
It is nice to be back around English speaking people. While in the Amazon and in the airports the locals all spoke Portuguese and I always wanted to know what they were talking about. They probably felt the same way about us and speaking English. It’s just frustrating when you can not easily communicate with people.
Overall the trip to the Amazon was a success, just a bit disappointed about the hiking part, but pleasantly surprised about the beach cookout and dancing. This adventure will forever be on my mind.

Savador,Brazil

On Sunday September 6th the MV Explorer arrived in Salvador, Brazil. A big group of us ventured out into the town of Salvador. This was quite an experience; we had to walk down this street that smelled like urine to get to the first market. As we were walking, all of the locals stopped and starred as these frightened Americans paraded down the street. Once we arrived at the market we were met by capoeira dancers, which is like a graceful fighting type of dance. So we watched for a little while but when we tried to walk away they got angry because we did not give them money. It seemed like if we were to even glance at a local they wanted money. We quickly learned our presence was an easy target and from then on we walked quickly and did not look at anyone. The market was similar to any flea market found in the U.S., every stall basically had the same merchandise which you could haggle for. One real is equivalent to about $1.70 U.S. dollars. After the market we went to the upper city. In order to get there we had to take an elevator that was about 3 or 4 stories high and it cost five centavos ($0.05). We then went to lunch at a quant little café where we had Acai. This is a famous dish in Salvador. It consists of the fruit acai which is only found in the Amazon, the consistency of the dish is like a smoothie. There was also banana slices, raisins, and granola mixed in. Delicious! I also had a crepe with ham and cheese which was also very good. After lunch we continued to walk around the sketchy upper city. Somehow we took a wrong turn and an older couple was yelling at us in Portuguese. We later found out that they were saying “danger, danger! Put your camera’s away and walk fast” Apparently we put ourselves in a dangerous situation and were very lucky nothing happened. (At the end of the week I found out that a few people got mugged, one guy had a gun pulled on him, and another a razorblade pulled.) We eventually found our way back to the lower city and walked through the market again. During this time one of the guys had a little boy following him asking for a coke. So the guy finally gave in and went over to a drink stand. Well they didn’t have coke, but they had plenty of other drinks. The boy would not take any other drink and he would not leave the guy alone so the guy had to walk to a few other drink stands to find the boy a coke. I thought beggars can’t be choosers...? I guess not in Salvador. We walked back to the ship around 3:00 and went back out for dinner around 7:00. We went to a Brazilian BBQ (Churrascaria) called Sala e Brasa. This restaurant was amazing! About 23 SAS students sat at one big table. It is set up like a buffet and then they have guys walking around with huge prongs of meat. This was some of the best meat I have ever tasted. I am not sure what some of it was but the flavor was just delightful. I know I ate a chicken heart which was pretty good. We were there for about 4 hours, and the check was 1,159.00 reals. The biggest bill I have ever seen. The buffet was $40.00 alone and then drinks were extra. Some people wanted to go to a dance club afterwards but most of us had excursions starting really early the next day and decided to just go back to the ship. Overall the day in Salvador was a success, just different from anything I have ever been exposed to.

Neptune Day and more...

“You are a human being not a human doing” these are the words spoken by a new friend who was sitting in my room as I was complaining about how much reading had already built up after only 5 days of classes and how I would have to stay in my room for the next two days and have to constantly read. He made me realize that I need to take a step back and just live this whole experience and not worry so much about my classes. Of course I will still get all my work done, but I will not let it get to me and ruin my experience.
Tonight we crossed the equator and had a big celebration. Everyone went out to the back deck to proclaim our joy of crossing into the southern hemisphere. Many of us have never been this far south and are very exciting for the near future. We cheered as the camera man raced through the huge crowd of us to capture the exhilarating moment. Tomorrow is Neptune Day which is a celebration of crossing the equator. I will give more details after.
Today after my Oceanography class I went to the pool deck and laid out reading about Zen as the wind from the speeding ship whipped through my hair. I gazed out into the wide expanse of ocean surrounding me and thought how amazing this opportunity has been so far. It is difficult to put into words how I am feeling.
On the second day at sea in one of the meetings we had a snowball fight. Everyone had to write 3 emotions down on a piece of paper of what they were feeling at the moment and then throw them to the center of the room. My three words were elated, anxious, and hopeful. I am elated about meeting new people and seeing the world. Anxious about what I am going to see in all the different countries and hopeful of the future.
Neptune Day: I was rudely awakened at 7:30 by the sound of drums and loud voices. A group of crew members were marching down each corridor to wake everyone up and start the celebration of crossing the equator. Everyone stumbled up to the dinning halls and ate a quick breakfast and then went out to the pool deck. This is where all the action happened. All the professors were dressed up in bed sheets and ridiculous head dresses while all the students surrounded them and watched as participants got their heads shaved. 80 students went through with this and a few professors also joined in the fun. While all these people were getting their hair cut off, the rest of us made a long line and pranced around the pool as “fish guts” were poured over our heads. The substance was just orange liquid that smelled like fish... most likely just fish oil. Then we jumped in the tiny pool and kissed a fish. This whole ceremony was done by 10 and we all wondered why they woke us up so early. The rest of the day I sat outside with a bunch of friends and had a nice leisurely day.
The next night a bunch of us slept outside and woke up with the sun as we pulled into the port of Salvador. Before we were allowed to get off the ship we had to sit through a diplomatic briefing where we were told what to look out for and informed us of the latest news in the Salvador area. Once that was done we had to claim our passports and off we went into town.

Schedules

It is day number five at sea. Everyone is pretty much settled in and daily schedules are forming. We have A days and B days, I might have mentioned this before but I will go into more detail now. On A days I have Oceanography at 8 a.m. so I wake up at 7:30 and eat a quick breakfast before class. Then I usually read until lunch at 11:30 and then either take a nap, lay out on the deck by the pool, or read more. Then I have Zen class at 3:45; classes are and hour and fifteen minutes long. After Zen I wait around in the dining hall until dinner is served at 5:30. Every night is different; there are usually activities going on or friends who want to hangout at the piano bar or more reading to be done. Tonight, Wednesday September 3, I had an Ambassador’s Ball meeting. This is the big shindig at the end of our trip where we celebrate our travels. The meeting was for people who want to be involved in planning it. I am in charge of the entertainment. There are two dinner sitting because there is not one big room large enough for all the students so one sitting is from 6-7 and the other is 7-8. Well when people are not eating dinner they will be in the Union enjoying music and entertainment which I will be putting together. I am quite exciting about seeking out people on the ship with musical talent and asking them if they would like to perform at the Ball. Back to my schedule, On B days I have my Global Studies class at 9:20 so I have to eat breakfast by 8:30 or else I have to wait until lunch time to eat. Right after Global Studies I have International Business which ends at 12. I then eat lunch and then either read or lay out by the pool. Oh life is good. Dinner is served from 5:30 to 7:30 but I am usually starving by 5:30 so that is usually when I eat.
I am finally getting used to the constant motion of the ship. A few nights ago I felt like I was on a carnival ride and could not get off- not a pleasant feeling. The food choices each meal are already becoming repetitive and I do not think I will want to eat potatoes ever again after this voyage.
We will reach Salvador, Brazil on Sunday!