Okay, so now I’ve been at sea for a few days, and we get to Honolulu on Sunday which should be awesome. Right now, we have traveled 1200 miles, and still have 1000 more to go. As for the boat….
This thing rocks all day long. It definitely isn’t as smooth as I thought it would be. However, I haven’t gotten sea sick which is awesome, I thought I would get really sick on this ship. However, the seas have been smooth the whole time, so I wonder what its going to be like when we get some rough seas. It probably won’t be that good. Also, you can hear the engines roaring in our room, but luckily its not too loud so you can sleep through it.
Classes are good so far. Nothing seems like it will be overly difficult. It looks like there will be a decent amount of reading but it doesn’t have to be done anytime soon.
Also, its definitely cool just seeing the ocean. Its always awesome looking out and seeing just ocean…I don’t think I’ll get bored with that the whole time I’m here, especially since I go to school in the desert where there is no water whatsoever.
For whatever reason, the A/C is always pumping on the ship so its always freezing. I have no idea why they do that. Also, the internet on here is terrible and it takes 4 minutes to check up on the latest Mariners scores (who, by the way, still have the lead on the Yankees for the wild card as of last night), but I knew that coming into it.
One last thing….the funniest thing that has happened on here is when they tell us to turn back our clocks. They make announcements saying “the clocks need to be retarded one hour tonight.” Since we are all immature and in college, we all think its really funny. We have already “retarded” our clocks one hour (the direction we are going is awesome because we gain an hour once every few days) and are “retarding” them another hour tonight.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
3 more days
I'm in Tucson and Semester at Sea starts in 3 days!!! I'm going to San Diego on Sunday, and then Semester at Sea starts Monday. I can't wait!!!!!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
How Semester at Sea Works
When I tell people I’m going on a cruise around the world for a semester, most people don’t believe me, or don’t understand how that’s possible. Well, I’m going to explain how it works. The program is called Semester at Sea, and it is run by the University of Virgnia.
Every semester, 700 undergraduates from around the US go on Semester at Sea. The ship used is the MV Explorer, which apparently is the fastest cruise liner in the world. The ship used to be owned by Royal Caribbean until Semester at Sea bought it a few years ago. Therefore, the ship has some of the same amenities as an actual cruise ship, which is awesome.
Academically, everyone on the ship takes 12 units, or 4 classes. At UofA, I take 5 classes (which is 15 or 16 units, depending on the classes I’m taking) each semester, so the course load on SAS is a little lower than what I'm used to. At sea, we have class almost everyday, and we are off every day we are at land. On the ship, everyone has to take a class called Global Studies. Unfortunately, this class is at 9:20 everyday we are at sea, which is obnoxious. I’m in college and don’t like waking up that early, haha. Okay, I’ll stop complaining, I shouldn’t complain about anything since SAS should be so awesome, even with class at 9:20 every day. However, I can guarantee SAS does that so they get everyone up early. Also, Global Studies is only 3 units but we have it everyday for 1:15, but we have all of other classes every other day for 1:15 and they count for the same as Global Studies. I don’t get why we have Global Studies for double the amount of time as the other classes when they all count for the same amount of units, but I’m sure there is a good reason for it. Global Studies, from what I’ve heard, just covers the countries we are going to, so it should be interesting.
Besides Global Studies, I’m taking 3 classes. Two of the classes, US Foreign Policy and Political Economy of Development, count for my Political Science major, while my other class, Cultural Geography, counts for my Geography minor. Since I really liked almost every Political Science class I've taken (and the one I didn‘t like had a terrible teacher and was probably the most disorganized class I‘ve ever taken), I’m sure I’ll like the ones I’m taking, they sound really interesting to me and I like practically anything that's Poli Sci. Also, one thing that SAS does that’s really cool is that every class has a field component. That means for each class, 20% of the grade is based on research you do in each country, which I think is cool since it lets us connect what we are learning in class to where we are going. So yeah, that's pretty much how SAS works.....less than 3 weeks until I actually go
Every semester, 700 undergraduates from around the US go on Semester at Sea. The ship used is the MV Explorer, which apparently is the fastest cruise liner in the world. The ship used to be owned by Royal Caribbean until Semester at Sea bought it a few years ago. Therefore, the ship has some of the same amenities as an actual cruise ship, which is awesome.
Academically, everyone on the ship takes 12 units, or 4 classes. At UofA, I take 5 classes (which is 15 or 16 units, depending on the classes I’m taking) each semester, so the course load on SAS is a little lower than what I'm used to. At sea, we have class almost everyday, and we are off every day we are at land. On the ship, everyone has to take a class called Global Studies. Unfortunately, this class is at 9:20 everyday we are at sea, which is obnoxious. I’m in college and don’t like waking up that early, haha. Okay, I’ll stop complaining, I shouldn’t complain about anything since SAS should be so awesome, even with class at 9:20 every day. However, I can guarantee SAS does that so they get everyone up early. Also, Global Studies is only 3 units but we have it everyday for 1:15, but we have all of other classes every other day for 1:15 and they count for the same as Global Studies. I don’t get why we have Global Studies for double the amount of time as the other classes when they all count for the same amount of units, but I’m sure there is a good reason for it. Global Studies, from what I’ve heard, just covers the countries we are going to, so it should be interesting.
Besides Global Studies, I’m taking 3 classes. Two of the classes, US Foreign Policy and Political Economy of Development, count for my Political Science major, while my other class, Cultural Geography, counts for my Geography minor. Since I really liked almost every Political Science class I've taken (and the one I didn‘t like had a terrible teacher and was probably the most disorganized class I‘ve ever taken), I’m sure I’ll like the ones I’m taking, they sound really interesting to me and I like practically anything that's Poli Sci. Also, one thing that SAS does that’s really cool is that every class has a field component. That means for each class, 20% of the grade is based on research you do in each country, which I think is cool since it lets us connect what we are learning in class to where we are going. So yeah, that's pretty much how SAS works.....less than 3 weeks until I actually go
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Where I'm Going: Part II
Okay, so after India, the next stop is Egypt. The ship docks in Alexandria on Halloween, and leaves November 4th. I’m really excited to go to Egypt. Many people have said that I should be scared to go to Egypt since it is an Islamic nation. Personally, I think it should be really interesting to go to a predominately Islamic nation and I’ve always wanted to see Egypt. Also, I’ve heard many times that Egypt is safe for tourists and that the Egyptian government is very concerned with making Egypt safe for tourists since tourism is such a huge part of their economy, so I‘m pretty secure about going there. I know there have been some bombings directed against tourists in Egypt the past few years, but Egypt is still considered to be safe and I really don’t think SAS would send us somewhere where we would be in danger.
As for what I’m going to do in Egypt, I definitely want to check out Cairo. Also, one thing I definitely want to do is ride a camel through the pyramids, I think that would be awesome. And Alexandria should be pretty cool too. Then again, I think everywhere I’m going will be awesome, but I’m really looking forward to Egypt nonetheless.
After Egypt, we go to Istanbul, Turkey. Turkey is our only port of call where I don’t think I will actually leave the city we are docking in. Istanbul is a huge city and is the number one thing I want to see in Turkey, and since we are only there for 5 days, I think I’ll probably want to devote all of my time to Istanbul. Turkey, like Egypt, is also predominately Islamic, but Turkey has a secular constitution and is not as religious as most other (if not all other) Islamic nations. However, the recent elections in Turkey saw the Islamist party win, but apparently most of the country is still against changing the secular constitution.
After Turkey is Croatia. We are docking in Dubrovnik. When I saw the SAS itinerary, I didn’t know what Dubrovnik was, but I looked it up and it looks amazing. It’s a small city, only has 50,000 people or so, but it’s a huge tourist spot (apparently Dubrovnik is horrible in the summer because there are so many tourists that you can barely move through the streets, but it shouldn‘t be so cluttered when we are there) and the whole city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I also want to go to either Zagreb or Split in Croatia. I’ve been to Europe, but never Eastern Europe, and I’ve heard great things about Croatia in particular, so it should be really good.
Here is a picture of Dubrovnik by the way, so you know what I'm talking about:
The last country we are going to is Spain. We dock in Cadiz, and I have no idea where I will go in Spain. I really want to go to Barcelona, it is probably second on the list of cities I really want to go to (first being Rio de Janeiro), but it is a 12 hour train ride from Cadiz and Barcelona is a city I should be able to go to easily another time. Instead, I might just go to Madrid or Seville (or both) since they are closer to Cadiz and I really want to go to both of those as well. I definitely have to check out a la liga match when I’m in Spain, I love soccer (and FC Barcelona) so hopefully FC Barcelona is somewhere in southern or central Spain the weekend I am there so I can see them. But if they aren’t, I will definitely have to check out some other match. I personally wouldn’t mind going to the Santiago Bernabeu and seeing Real Madrid….so I can root against them and their overpriced roster. Then after Spain, we go to Miami. We get to Miami on December 7th, and that is when SAS ends. I was hoping that the Dolphins would have a home game the weekend we are there (because if you know me, you know I'm a huge Dolphins fan), but sadly they are on the road that weekend. It's still pathetic that I've never made it to a Dolphins home game, I really need to work on that.
Okay, so that describes all of the countries I’m going to (and I'm obviously stoked to see each one), now I just have to see them.
As for what I’m going to do in Egypt, I definitely want to check out Cairo. Also, one thing I definitely want to do is ride a camel through the pyramids, I think that would be awesome. And Alexandria should be pretty cool too. Then again, I think everywhere I’m going will be awesome, but I’m really looking forward to Egypt nonetheless.
After Egypt, we go to Istanbul, Turkey. Turkey is our only port of call where I don’t think I will actually leave the city we are docking in. Istanbul is a huge city and is the number one thing I want to see in Turkey, and since we are only there for 5 days, I think I’ll probably want to devote all of my time to Istanbul. Turkey, like Egypt, is also predominately Islamic, but Turkey has a secular constitution and is not as religious as most other (if not all other) Islamic nations. However, the recent elections in Turkey saw the Islamist party win, but apparently most of the country is still against changing the secular constitution.
After Turkey is Croatia. We are docking in Dubrovnik. When I saw the SAS itinerary, I didn’t know what Dubrovnik was, but I looked it up and it looks amazing. It’s a small city, only has 50,000 people or so, but it’s a huge tourist spot (apparently Dubrovnik is horrible in the summer because there are so many tourists that you can barely move through the streets, but it shouldn‘t be so cluttered when we are there) and the whole city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I also want to go to either Zagreb or Split in Croatia. I’ve been to Europe, but never Eastern Europe, and I’ve heard great things about Croatia in particular, so it should be really good.
Here is a picture of Dubrovnik by the way, so you know what I'm talking about:
The last country we are going to is Spain. We dock in Cadiz, and I have no idea where I will go in Spain. I really want to go to Barcelona, it is probably second on the list of cities I really want to go to (first being Rio de Janeiro), but it is a 12 hour train ride from Cadiz and Barcelona is a city I should be able to go to easily another time. Instead, I might just go to Madrid or Seville (or both) since they are closer to Cadiz and I really want to go to both of those as well. I definitely have to check out a la liga match when I’m in Spain, I love soccer (and FC Barcelona) so hopefully FC Barcelona is somewhere in southern or central Spain the weekend I am there so I can see them. But if they aren’t, I will definitely have to check out some other match. I personally wouldn’t mind going to the Santiago Bernabeu and seeing Real Madrid….so I can root against them and their overpriced roster. Then after Spain, we go to Miami. We get to Miami on December 7th, and that is when SAS ends. I was hoping that the Dolphins would have a home game the weekend we are there (because if you know me, you know I'm a huge Dolphins fan), but sadly they are on the road that weekend. It's still pathetic that I've never made it to a Dolphins home game, I really need to work on that.
Okay, so that describes all of the countries I’m going to (and I'm obviously stoked to see each one), now I just have to see them.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Where I'm Going
It's hard to believe, but Semester at Sea starts in less than 4 weeks. I've been thinking about going for so long (I actually first heard about it in High School) and I decided in late March to actually go, and now it's so soon, I can't wait.
Since this is my first post, I should probably write about the countries I am going to. We start in Ensenada, Mexico on August 27th (Ensenada is an hour to an hour and a half away from San Diego, we are taking a bus down there.) Our first stop is Hawaii on September 2nd, which should be awesome since I've always wanted to go there. We are only there for a day, but it should still be cool to chill out on the beach for a little bit.
The real traveling starts September 12th, when we arrive in Yokohama, Japan. We leave the 16th, so I'm going to hang out in Tokyo for a few days with two UofA people (one of whom is going on Semester at Sea with me) and then we might check out some other part of Japan if we have time, we haven't planned it out.
We leave from Kobe, Japan on the 16th, and we get to Qingdao, China the 19th. (Sidenote: In Japan and China, the boat arrives and leaves from different cities, but we do not have to go on the boat between the two cities, we can go to the city we leave from on our own, which I will do because it lets us do more traveling) We are in China for 5 days, and leave from Hong Kong (which isn't really China, but is at the same time) on the 24th. In China, I signed up for a SAS trip in Beijing, so I am pretty excited about that (and I'm stoked to see Hong Kong too). The SAS trip leaves from Qingdao, goes to Beijing for a few days, and then goes to Hong Kong, where I will get to spend a day before I have to get back on the ship on the 24th. On SAS, you can plan your own trips or do the SAS trips. In most countries, I won't be doing SAS trips, but I am doing them in two: China, because the trip is a good value (most SAS trips are a rip off and can be done way cheaper if they are planned yourself) and in Cambodia because you aren't allowed to do that trip unless you do it through SAS.
After Hong Kong, we go to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, arriving the 27th of September. In Vietnam, as I just mentioned, I plan on doing their Cambodia trip where we will go to Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat. I didn't even know much about Cambodia until I decided to do Semester at Sea, but the more I read about Cambodia (and more specifically, Angkor Wat), the more I want to go there. Besides spending 3 days in Cambodia, I'll still get to spend 2 in Vietnam, so I'm excited to see some things in Ho Chi Minh City too.
We leave Vietnam on October 2nd, and we get to Thailand on October 4th. The ship docks in Laem Chabang, which is 2 hours from Bangkok. We were originally supposed to go to Burma instead of Thailand. However, SAS removed Burma because of their oppressive government. Even though Burma has an absolutely terrible government, definitely one of the worst in the world, I thought it would have been really interesting to see and people who have gone with SAS in the past said it was an amazing country to go to. Even though I really admire Aung San Suu Kyi (the leader of the democracy movement in Burma, she is currently under house arrest for expressing her beliefs and she doesn't want tourists going to Burma), there are other people who support democracy in Burma that think it is good for tourists to go there as long as the tourists give as little money to government supported business as possible. If I went to Burma, I would make every attempt to only give money to the Burmese people who have barely anything and need the money and to not give anything to any government supported businesses. However, at least SAS came up with an awesome replacement with Thailand, I've wanted to go there forever. We'll be there from October 4th-8th, and I haven't planned anything there yet, I'll just figure it out on the ship. I know I want to see Bangkok for a day or two though, and I definitely want to hit up one of the beach towns like Phuket since Thailand is supposed to have awesome beaches.
After Thailand, we go to INDIA!!! We arrive in Chennai, India on October 15th, and leave there the 19th. Now, I am very excited for every country on the itinerary, but I've probably thought about India the most. I'm not doing an SAS trip in India, but I know I'm going to fly up from Chennai to Delhi and then take a 2 hour train ride to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal!!! Besides that, I'm also going to try to go to Varanasi, which is supposed to be amazing. India should be awesome, I can't wait to see it.
I'm also going to visit Egypt, Turkey, Croatia, and Spain on this trip, which I'll write about later. Overall, I'm just really excited for every country and to visit so many places that are so much different than the place I'm from. I love traveling and I've already been to a few different countries in Europe (as well as Mexico and Canada), but I've never been to any of the countries we are going to and I can't wait to go to each one.
Since this is my first post, I should probably write about the countries I am going to. We start in Ensenada, Mexico on August 27th (Ensenada is an hour to an hour and a half away from San Diego, we are taking a bus down there.) Our first stop is Hawaii on September 2nd, which should be awesome since I've always wanted to go there. We are only there for a day, but it should still be cool to chill out on the beach for a little bit.
The real traveling starts September 12th, when we arrive in Yokohama, Japan. We leave the 16th, so I'm going to hang out in Tokyo for a few days with two UofA people (one of whom is going on Semester at Sea with me) and then we might check out some other part of Japan if we have time, we haven't planned it out.
We leave from Kobe, Japan on the 16th, and we get to Qingdao, China the 19th. (Sidenote: In Japan and China, the boat arrives and leaves from different cities, but we do not have to go on the boat between the two cities, we can go to the city we leave from on our own, which I will do because it lets us do more traveling) We are in China for 5 days, and leave from Hong Kong (which isn't really China, but is at the same time) on the 24th. In China, I signed up for a SAS trip in Beijing, so I am pretty excited about that (and I'm stoked to see Hong Kong too). The SAS trip leaves from Qingdao, goes to Beijing for a few days, and then goes to Hong Kong, where I will get to spend a day before I have to get back on the ship on the 24th. On SAS, you can plan your own trips or do the SAS trips. In most countries, I won't be doing SAS trips, but I am doing them in two: China, because the trip is a good value (most SAS trips are a rip off and can be done way cheaper if they are planned yourself) and in Cambodia because you aren't allowed to do that trip unless you do it through SAS.
After Hong Kong, we go to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, arriving the 27th of September. In Vietnam, as I just mentioned, I plan on doing their Cambodia trip where we will go to Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat. I didn't even know much about Cambodia until I decided to do Semester at Sea, but the more I read about Cambodia (and more specifically, Angkor Wat), the more I want to go there. Besides spending 3 days in Cambodia, I'll still get to spend 2 in Vietnam, so I'm excited to see some things in Ho Chi Minh City too.
We leave Vietnam on October 2nd, and we get to Thailand on October 4th. The ship docks in Laem Chabang, which is 2 hours from Bangkok. We were originally supposed to go to Burma instead of Thailand. However, SAS removed Burma because of their oppressive government. Even though Burma has an absolutely terrible government, definitely one of the worst in the world, I thought it would have been really interesting to see and people who have gone with SAS in the past said it was an amazing country to go to. Even though I really admire Aung San Suu Kyi (the leader of the democracy movement in Burma, she is currently under house arrest for expressing her beliefs and she doesn't want tourists going to Burma), there are other people who support democracy in Burma that think it is good for tourists to go there as long as the tourists give as little money to government supported business as possible. If I went to Burma, I would make every attempt to only give money to the Burmese people who have barely anything and need the money and to not give anything to any government supported businesses. However, at least SAS came up with an awesome replacement with Thailand, I've wanted to go there forever. We'll be there from October 4th-8th, and I haven't planned anything there yet, I'll just figure it out on the ship. I know I want to see Bangkok for a day or two though, and I definitely want to hit up one of the beach towns like Phuket since Thailand is supposed to have awesome beaches.
After Thailand, we go to INDIA!!! We arrive in Chennai, India on October 15th, and leave there the 19th. Now, I am very excited for every country on the itinerary, but I've probably thought about India the most. I'm not doing an SAS trip in India, but I know I'm going to fly up from Chennai to Delhi and then take a 2 hour train ride to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal!!! Besides that, I'm also going to try to go to Varanasi, which is supposed to be amazing. India should be awesome, I can't wait to see it.
I'm also going to visit Egypt, Turkey, Croatia, and Spain on this trip, which I'll write about later. Overall, I'm just really excited for every country and to visit so many places that are so much different than the place I'm from. I love traveling and I've already been to a few different countries in Europe (as well as Mexico and Canada), but I've never been to any of the countries we are going to and I can't wait to go to each one.
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