You' just won't get it, unless you've done it.

Amazing

I have been in half of the worlds oceans.

I have been to 4 out of 7 continents

And I have been to 16 different countries, 10 of which I visited for the first time with semester at sea.

I have stood in all 4 hemispheres of the globe at one time

I’ve kissed a fish and eaten chicken heart

I’ve seen poverty and wealth beyond what I could imagine

And I’ve seen happiness overcome many obstacles

I’ve travelled the route of the slave trade

I’ve been to the slave castles and dungeons of Ghana

I’ve travelled in a cruise ship up the Amazon River! Yes the A-m-a-zon (think finding nemo)

I’ve been to Universal Studios Leavensden, where ALL the harry potter movies were filmed.

I’ve had the worlds best waffles, chocolate and fries all in one country I never dreamed of going to

I’ve watched my friends make new friends with pirates from Sweden in Portugal

I’ve seen 1000 dolphins jump at once in the strait of Gibraltar

I’ve been sun bathing on a black sand beach at the base of an active volcano on an Island I didn’t know existed.

I’ve watched the sun rise and set on Table Mountain in Cape Town South Africa

I went to a Japanese garden in Argentina where the people spoke, Spanish, English, Japanese and French, maybe even a little Portuguese as well.

And I watched President Barack Obama get re-elected for his 2^nd term in a hotel in Uruguay on Maldonado street (my mother's maiden name is Maldonado)

I got blisters the size of quarters in Rio 

And I’ve sunk my feet into the sugar like sand of Ipanema beach

I’ve seen the meeting of the waters on the Amazon, WHICH YOU CAN SEE FROM SPACE!

I’ve held a baby sloth, regretted it and learned

I’ve hiked to a waterfall in Dominica

I mourned the loss of a friend I never got the chance to know, Casey

And I have been elated to have cell phone service again!

But most importantly, I have lived.

Before leaving for Semester at Sea I felt like I had never done anything important or spectacular in my life. I took the easy route, and I doubted myself all the time. 

“You’re not good enough for that. You could never do that!”

I took a step back and realized I have done some great things and I should be proud of who I am regardless of any recognition I get or don’t. My life is amazing and it will continue to be because I choose for it to be grand. 

Casey

You never think it will be you.

You hear stories about stuff like this happening, but you never think it
will happen.

Today, in our last port of call, Casey Schulman, a student, lost her life.

She was my neighbor and I had done lip synch with her. I didn't know her well,
but she always gave me a smile when we passed each other in the halls.

Ya know Dean John said at the beginning of the voyage that we would all
make it back to Florida. Now, we're not.

I went upstairs to deck 6 to see who was on the ship. Then my friend
Lindsy came over and said have you heard about what happened?
I hadn't
Then she told me what happened
And then I heard the chorus of crying coming from the Union. I had no
doubts that what she was telling me was true.
I was in a state of shock for almost 10 minutes. Then I started seeing
people come out of the Union. How devastated they were. The cries you
give only when someone you love has died.
Lindsy left me
I sat down
And then my tears started flowing too.

It was like someone had just smacked me in the face with a gauntlet. Complete shock and pain.

Just that morning I had been thinking about how wonder life and this
trip is. I was so incredibly happy. Now it doesn't seem real.
This isn't how it's supposed to end!

I don't know what to say.

The ship is almost silent.

Perhaps that's what I should do. Reflect and mourn in silence.
Laughing certainly doesn't seem right, but I have no more tears to shed,
and all of the usual activities don't seem right either.

What should I do?!

What can I do?

Pray and then sleep. Tomorrow can come sooner then. We can have our
memorial then and we will have more answer then.

I guess it's time to go home and hug our loved ones just a little
tighter than usual


Below is a message from Semester at Sea President Les McCabe on the
accident.

http://www.semesteratsea.org/2012/12/01/statement-from-president-les-mccabe-on-death-of-fall-2012-semester-at-sea-participant/

The Rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain?

Yeah absolutely not! The rain in Spain stayed right where we were for all 6 days we were there!

By the time we got to Spain I was pretty well out of money. The exchange rate in Europe is just painful! As a result I couldn't afford to travel in Spain. Also my schedule with SAS trips worked out that I just didn't have time to go to other cities in Spain.

I spent all 6 days in Cadiz Spain.

Cadiz is essentially a holiday town, and holiday was over when we went there. Just about everything was closing or closed when we got there because the busy season was over.

I really wanted to go to a Flamenco show and a bullfight while in Spain, but unfortunately the season for bullfighting was over and we were not there for the Flamenco nights. Well we were there for 1 Flamenco night, but it was more expensive and out of the way than I could have afforded.

The one thing I did in Spain that I will always remember is whale watching in the strait of Gibraltar.

If you're friends with my on Facebook you've most likely seen the photos from that day, but honestly, my photos do not capture how amazing that experience was! There was more than one occasion that my jaw dropped to the floor. It was so amazing to see one thousand dolphins jumping at one time and being in the middle of the pod.

Utterly Amazing.

I signed up for that SAS trip ahead of time. I knew I would regret not going through the strait of Gibraltar. I signed up for the trip BECAUSE I was going to get the chance to go through the strait of Gibraltar. In all honesty as soon as we were in the pod I completely forgot about where I was.

It's a moment I will never forget

I went on another SAS trip during Spain because I was bored. Yep I was bored in Spain. I know I can't believe it either, BUT I had no money and I didn't have the best schedule for getting out of Cadiz. I went to a sherry production and andalucian horse show. The sherry production was LAMMMMEEE. I'm not a big wine drinker, but I can appreciate it and I think that's really all I did. I was more excited for the horse show because I had heard that they train these horses to do amazing things.

I wish I hadn't gone.

In the beginning of the show it was really impressive to see what these horses and riders could do, but at one point one of the horses wouldn't do the act it was being asked to do. So the rider put him in this contraption that the horse had to do this very meticulous and unnatural trotting. The horse did this behavior for almost 30 minutes without stopping. It was a hot and humid day in Spain and you could see the horse getting tired and sweating profusely!

Now, I have no education into this style of training for horses, but I have taken horseback riding classes and it is my own personal opinion that the horse and the rider need to have trust and respect between each other, and in that moment I saw trust breaking down between the rider and the horse. You could see in the horses eyes that it was going too far. I did attend this show with some lifelong learners who had trained and road horses for many years, and they too felt that the rider went too far with the "punishment" for the horse.

I guess the only excuse I can give for the rider is culture. I could see some of the humans dominance of animals that occurs during bullfighting. It seemed like the rider believed that this horse is just an animal and because he didn't do what I said, it is my job to break him down and dominate him.
Culture.
I don't think that would happen in the US to the extent that it did that day in Spain. Yes in rodeo shows we see cowboys dominating animals, but they also respect the animals to an extent. I didn't see respect oozing from the riders in Spain, and these riders were supposed to be the best of the best in Spain. One was a recent Olympic medalist in dressage!

Well,  Ill move on from my rant and rave about that.

The rest of my time in Spain was fairly mundane. I spent a lot of time just walking around Cadiz looking for reliable wi-fi. A few nights I went out drinking with some friends and getting lost in the streets of Cadiz was an interesting experience at 2am. I was convinced we were walking the wrong direction to get back to the ship, but it turned out we were headed the right direction just on the wrong road.

Dear Europe, NAME YOUR ROADS AND PUT UP A FREAKING SIGN THAT SAYS THE NAME OF THAT ROAD!!! If there isn't a sign for a road why  name it and put it on a map with that name?! You just confuse the shit out of your tourist.

All in all my time in Spain was okay. Nothing like I had hoped it would be. A few people that I knew who had planned things out ahead of time had an amazing experience in Spain. They got caught up in protest in Barcelona! How awesome would that have been?!

Anyway, I was not sad to say goodbye to Spain. I was excited to say hello to the Canary Islands! I had just learned that they existed 10 days before, and I was ready for a true vacation destination!

Belgium. Portugal. No Morocco

Finally getting to Belgium and Portugal. Spain and South Africa will come before Argentina I promise! Maybe... there's a lot of classwork during my 11 days crossing.

BELGIUM!!

I went to this country with absolutely no expectations and no idea what I would do! It's Belgium for christ sake what the hell is there?!

Most people while in Belgium took the opportunity to go to Amsterdam, Germany and France. I really really really wanted to go to Germany since it's literally the only place I could go and speak the ONE second language I sort of have. Ich spreche kleine deutsche.

I ended up staying in Belgium for the entire 6 days we were there. Note: 6 days is a long time to be in a country for Semester at Sea!
Since I was in Belgium for such a long time Im just going to give you the highlights of my experience there rather than a play by play.

Let it be known that Belgium has a very good and cheap transportation system if you know where you're going and how to get there. That being said the group of people I was with didn't speak dutch or french and we didn't know where we were going.

I believe it was the second or third day (I slept off a cold the first day) it was just POURING rain and we got lost in Mechelin Belgium. We were trying to get to Fort Breendonk and there were buses that said they were going to Breendonk, but apparently that's not where FORT Breendonk is located... We waited and looked for a bus for about 2 hours while sitting in the rain. Eventually we decided to get on the next bus and see where it took us. WE WENT IN THE ABSOLUTE WRONG DIRECTION! We ended up in Boom Belgium....

-.-
 
If you don't know where that is don't feel bad, we didn't either. At first some of us were like awesome we're in a small town in Belgium let's make the best of it! That didn't happen because the town was essentially a junction between Mechelin and Antwerp,  and most things were closed. We quickly found someone who spoke English who could translate directions to the train station for us and we headed back to Antwerp.
By that time the sun and all the people had come out in Antwerp and I did some shopping and people watching.

The next day I decided I was going to Fort Breendonk NO MATTER WHAT!!! So I bought a ticket for the SAS trip =)
Best decision I made in Belgium! I didn't realize that Fort Breendonk is basically on the outskirts of a very small town in Belgium, still don't know which town, and people don't exactly like to talk about it, which is understandable! I don't want to tell everyone too much about Fort Breendonk because there is so much to say about it, yet no words can describe the feeling that you have while you're there. I suppose you would like a little history on this place though.

Fort Breendonk was an internment camp during WWI. Thousands of people stayed there, hundreds died and fortunately less than 100 were executed there. yes fortunately this is WWI we're talking about! 

The history that the fort is steeped in is too much to give justice to in a few words. Look it up on Google because you can and I can't! Or go there and give respect to the people who were imprisoned or executed there.

Fort Breendonk= a very profound experience that I will never forget.

Another highlight while in Belgium was the Antwerp Zoo! It is the first or second oldest zoo in Europe. It was established in 1843. During that year they also thought the world was going to end, set out on the Oregon trail, and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was published. Fun year.
The Antwerp zoo is a must see.
After the zoo my friend Brooke decided to go on the Ferris wheel in Antwerp. It was a beautiful day so I was more than willing to go. However, Brooke didn't share with us that she is scared of heights!!!! She was freaking out 90% of the time and it was hilarious. We make fun of her all of the time and I made a video. Ill share it with you all one day =)

The next day we went to Ghent. Beautiful town. Lots of canals and bridges and churches with really weird carvings on them. We walked around Ghent and shopped while taking in the sights. Later we went on a trek to a street that apparently has the most bars on it, but we went really early and it looked incredily lame. It was also under construction, so we opted out.

That night we went out drinking in Antwerp. Had a ton of fun, ate too many AMAZING waffels and not nearly enough french fries! I had no idea Belgium was known for its french fries, but they're pretty tasty. They're just like steak cut fries, but the put a mayo like sauce on them. You should try them if you're ever there.

The last day I went and used wi-fi to load pictures. I also ate some chocolate, because that's a requirement for doing in Belgium, bought souvenirs and then headed back to the ship for dinner.

While we were leaving we had a band playing music for us! And a lot of people came to a walk way which was level with deck 5 to wave goodbye to us.

So we all sat outside on deck 6, waved goodbye to people and wished we could have more waffles!

Portugal

As with Belgium, I had no expectations for Portugal. I honestly had the idea that Portugal was just going to get in the way of more time in Spain, but I ended up wishing for more time in Portugal and less time in Spain.

Portugal was absolutely beautiful. It was the first port I was fine with just walking around the streets looking at the tiles on the buildings. However Portugal is REALLLLY hilly and it was REALLLY hot outside so that put a damper on that.

The first day in Spain we set out some what early to wander the city. We got lost really quickly and decided to come back to the ship to meet up with some more friends. Once we all met up we decided to go to the castle because we heard it was a good place to sit down enjoy some lunch or dinner and look out onto the city. It was a glorious view and the castle was a lot of fun to explore. When we were done exploring the castle we found a restraunt with seating on the roof. We ended up staying at the restaurant for 4 or 5 hours. We had great food and conversation, but honestly the fact that the waiter never came with our bill till we asked for it made us stay quite a bit longer. There wasn't even any wi-fi there!!!!! The sunset was gorgeous, but once the sun was down it got cold fast.

The next day was equally beautiful and we decided to go to a beach about an hour away. The beach was located in Cascais and the very last stop on the train. The entire train ride was simply beautiful and Cascais was gorgeous as well. I have only seen a small part of the country but I have this feeling it's all gorgeous. Anyway, hanging out at the beach was wonderful. The water was a little cold though and had a lot of seaweed and stuff that shouldnt be in the ocean floating in it so I passed up on swimming. My friends however LOVED it. My friends went swimming and while they were out there they swam out towards the sail boats that were lining the beach. One of the boats asked them if they wanted to jump on their sail boat and I about crapped my pants when I saw them climbing into a strangers boat in a foreign country!!! All I could think was they are going to be kidnapped by these creepy old men in a sail boat and Ill have to go back to the ship and explain to them why all 3 of them are dead/missing. I was so incredibly worried about them! The other people I was with helped me to not freak out as much, but after an hour of them sitting on this boat and not saying anything to us we started to get worried, and we wanted to leave. I didn't want to leave them behind and I also didn't want to just leave their stuff on the beach unattended. Now, here's my side of the story, I called out to them on the boat about 5 times telling them we were leaving. Another girl we were with joined me another 3 times. We got one response where one of my friends on the boat waved and laughed. The rest of the people we were with were ready to go and frustrated that they couldn't get on with their day because of my friends. So we gathered up all their stuff, hid the most valuable things and slowly began to walk away. 2 of my friends on the boat jumped out and looked like they were coming back to shore, but they got back in the boat. So I continued to walk away. Eventually the girls couldn't see me anymore, but I could see them and I could see and watch their stuff. They decided to come back to shore and we told them we were ready to go. They decided to stay and I went and had pizza with my friends who had other plans for the day.

The people my friends got into a boat with ended up being the most interesting people they will probably ever meet. They were the youngest swedes to ever circumnavigate the globe in a sail boat. There was a parade for them when they left! They had dropped everything in their lives to accomplish this dream they had and while they were doing it they just wanted to meet new people. Another one of my friends ended up staying the night on their boat and sailed back to the ship with them the next day. She said it was the most amazing experience of her life, and I don't doubt it in the slightest.

That night I ended up with a group a friends and we went to the main drinking/bar area of Portugal. We had heard great things about it, but honestly it was kind of boring and really not my thing. I enjoy sitting around a table drinking and talking about random crap with my friends. This area is geared toward people who LOVE to bar hope. No one and I mean NO ONE was actually in any of the bars. You order your drink then stand outside on the street with your closest 200 friends and have a drink. Really really not my thing.

The last day we went to the Lisbon Oceanarium, HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend if you are at all interested in wildlife. They had a sea turtle exhibit while we were there and it was AMAZING. Its a huge oceanarium and there it a lot to see there. We spent 4 hours walking around it and we could have spent a lot more time, but it was our last day and we still needed to go buy our souvenirs!

After the oceanarium we had a late lunch together. Half of our group decided to go do more shopping and the other half decided to return to the ship. I was part of the second group. I came back to the ship took a nice long shower hung out with other people on the ship and had dinner. We then watched the sunset as we waited to pull away from Portugal and move onto Spain

And then, we heard the bing bong. The bing bong comes on whenever someone has an announcement. Typically on the last day we here the bing bong about 20 times before we leave the port, but we hadn't left the port yet and we were way behind our departure time. Dean John Tymitz made an announcement asking the entire shipboard community to go to the union in 10 minutes. We all headed to the union.

We then got the news that we were not going to Morocco because of the increasing violence and political unrest in the middle east and Muslim countries. I almost cried, some people did. Morocco was going to be our first port that was truly different from anything the majority of us had known. Many of us were anxious about it, but we were also very excited to have experience Moroccan culture.

It's sad that people can get so angry at each other that they are drove to riot and kill them. I have been very angry with people before, but I always felt like I was in physical pain when I was angry with anyone. It makes me want to say to people who can be that angry for that long, "Aren't you tired?" of fighting, hating, and killing. It doesn't help anything to get that angry and react in that way. I hope that one day the response to events that anger people so extremely will be much more calm and civil.

So our itinerary changed. We ended up staying in Portugal that night, but we weren't allowed off the ship. We ended up staying in Spain for 2 more days and then we went to Santa Cruz de Tenerife which I had never heard of! It was really fun to suddenly be in a place that I didn't know existed, but that's a story for my next blog!

Sorry this one took so long to write, but obviously a lot happened!!!!!! My next blog post will be about Spain and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which is technically more Spain just some islands that they own =D

Let Ghana Change You

I'm writing about Ghana before Belgium, Portugal and Spain because I need to reflect on Ghana now rather than while I am at sea or in Buenos Aires.

I've decided Ghana is a difficult place to explain to those who have never been there.

The best way to describe Ghana is lively. The people and the country are full of life. They are happy people, but they are also willing to duke it out over a car accident, I'll explain that later. While writing this a couple of girls walked by and said "Oh God it smells awful out here they're trying to kill us"...yeah people like that didn't do Ghana right.
    Before coming to Ghana I didn't think much of it, but now that I have been here it will hold a special place in my heart.

    At our logistical pre-port a student on the ship named Abba from Sierra Leone gave us a bit of advice about Ghana. She asked those of us who were doing lots of volunteer work while we are here if we would do the same for the poor and needy in our own country. I felt like I was able to say yes because back at Gonzaga I consistently volunteer and give back to my community. However she made a good point and I understand it now. The next thing she said, and this stuck out to me a lot more was, let Ghana change you! We witnessed poverty like I have never seen before, and her point of letting Ghana change me, rather than me trying to change Ghana stuck with me. Americans see the poverty and think they HAVE to change that! The Americans come here and they work for organizations trying to change Ghana.        
Ghana will change and progress on it's own just fine.

That brings me to my first day in Ghana. I had my first field lab on that day with my science of love class. I wasn't too excited about it because I hadn't done any preparation for the field lab. We went to the Ghanaian department of Social Welfare. They talked to our class about the issues and challenges facing them as they try to establish proper orphanages and homes for orphaned, vulnerable and street children. Just from our "quick" drive to the department I realized that their problems and challenges are on a massive scale!
    Ghana has only been a democratic society for the past 10 years, and only gained full independence in the 1960s. When Ghana became a democracy, they adopted the US constitution and modified it slightly so that it would work better for Ghana. They have not had all these departments assisting in programs that we have had around for much longer. But it's not our job to show them how to run these programs. Their challenges are different than ours.
    After the department of social welfare we headed to lunch and then went onto Kinder Paradise, a home for orphaned, vulnerable and street children. While we were there we were looking at what they are doing to aid attachment and what they could be doing better. There is a lot of room for improvement in terms of attachment, and I feel they are heading in the wrong direction for creating healthy attachment. I would explain my reasoning to you, but I have to write an essay about it anyways. Maybe Ill share the essay with you =D
The day at Kinder Paradise was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed watching the kids beat on the drums while the young girls sing and dance.

The next day I had an SAS field trip called Castles and Slave dungeons. Going to the castles and slave dungeons of Ghana is equivalent to going to the concentration camps in Germany. It was a very emotional and moving experience. I enjoyed allowing myself to experience and see a small glimpse of the struggles that the men, women and children who were forced into slavery faced.
There is truly not enough that can be said about how much that experience changed. I will never look at slavery the same way again.

About that car accident I mentioned, we were on our way back to the ship during rush hour and 2 cars hit each other. Instead of acting the way Americans would, they both got out of the car, threw a few punches then got back in their cars and drove away! Another accident happened and a police officer responded. Instead of doing any policemen like actions, the officer pulled the guy out of the car punched him in the face a few times then threw him back in the car. That's Ghanaian justice for you!

    The next day I took time to reflect and make peace with what I had seen and experienced in the last 2 days.
During my reflection I decided that there's nothing I personally need to do. The past is in the past and can't be changed, but we can learn from it, that's what the people of Ghana decided to do and that's what I have decided to do. I also decided that Abba was right. I do not need to work to help change Ghana. They are progressing and developing at their own pace, and I believe in the future Ghana will be much more well known.
    If I was to give Ghana one thing it would be better education, and help them develop a system where they can know who is from where and who they're related to such as who a child's parents are. Many of the children in orphanages are not orphans. They just got lost and the government has no way of determining where their parents might be without extensive research. I know it sounds cliche, but Ghana needs a system so that no child will get left behind.

That evening I decided to go with some friends to reggae night. It was an adventure just to get there and I could write one blog on my experience last night. Instead let me tell you this.
If you come to Ghana go to reggae night on Wednesday nights at la pleasure beach. Lots of fun and cool, chill people listening to live reggae music and just having a great time. You will feel like a minority if you are white, and you will have A LOT of people asking you to buy something or to give them money. Be firm but kind if you don't want what they have. If you do want it sit down and have a conversation with the person selling the stuff. They're really cool interesting fun people and you should get to know at least one of them!

Today I completed my shopping at my friend Muhammad's shop. He took us to the reggae show on the beach and made sure we all came back to the ship safe and happy. Last night when we came back to the ship he wasn't able to get into the dock area because he left his ID at his shop! So this afternoon I went to his shop to see him and buy something from him as a way of saying thank you. Unfortunately he wasn't there because he was helping another group navigate Tema. I ended up buying some really great gifts and I didn't haggle too much since he had helped me and my friends out last night.

Tonight we leave Ghana at 8:00pm. Then we have NEPTUNE DAY! we'll be at the center of the world! It's supposed to be a really cool day and I'm excited, but I am definitely more excited about going to SOUTH AFRICA!!!! SAFARI TIME! Love you Mom and Dad and I am sooooo excited!!!!!!!!

=D

Ireland and England

Well since I’m in Spain now I figured I should let you know about at least Ireland and England.

Are you excited?

You shouldn’t be

Ireland:

So at this point Ireland was like a century ago! As you know we sailed for 7 days on rough seas till we made it to land. IRELAND!

Our first port of call was Galway, a very quant, small, tourist town. We had to tender into the harbor and onto land. It’s like Seward! We got in our lifeboats and went to shore. Once on shore it was a 5 minute walk to the center of Galway. Lots of shopping and WALKING! I WALKED MY FEET OFF. They jumped off, looked at me, said F you, and left me.

After that the group I was with went to Dublin for the Notre Dame vs. Navy game. They already had their hostel and everything so my roommate and I decided to enjoy Galway night life together. We went to a lot of different bars but ended at the King’s head. There was a local band playing there and we spent the rest of the night dancing. There were a lot of SAS students and locals there which made for a very interesting mix. The band would play some American songs then some Irish pop songs. We ended the night with Galway girl and Sweet Home Alabama =D

The next morning we got on a bus to go to Cork. I don’t have much to say about Cork because we basically just slept there. We wanted to get up early for the first bus to Dublin so we had a few drinks with the other SAS people at our hostel and headed to bed. Only we didn’t get to go to sleep till about 1am. We were sharing a room with a young Irish guy who was travelling around Ireland, and a young retired us soldier who was staying there while he studied at the university. We had very interesting conversations about politics.

We headed to Dublin early in the morning and when we made it to Dublin we walked about an hour to the ship. My feet still hated me. We made it to the ship, dropped our stuff off and headed right back out into Dublin. Then I spent the night drinking at Temple Bar with some friends. I lost my voice and got sick haha a sure sign of a good time right?

The next day I went to Trinity College by myself. I’m a little bit of an introvert so at this point I really wanted a chance to do my own thing and get a little me time.

In fact I’m using my “me time” to write this for you guys, I’m so nice ;)

If you don’t know anything about Trinity College all you need to know is that you should go visit it if you get a chance. It is a functioning university and the long room library is also a functioning library, not just a tourist attraction. The university also has possession of the Book of Kells. Go check it out. I don’t have any pictures because you’re not allowed to take pictures, but my jaw dropped when I saw the book of kells display. Then my jaw hit the floor when I walked into the long room.

Finally I ended my trip in Ireland the way I have in every country. I got some Wi-Fi checked Facebook and all that jazz then hopped on the shuttle back to the ship, had dinner with friends, and watched the sunset on Dublin as we left. It’s my favorite way to say goodbye to a country I have decided.

England

Well as some of you know I have been to England before so I wasn’t in a hurry to see everything I could in England. I had already seen most of it. The first night Connor, Ainsley and I went into London from Southampton and walked around. We took a lot of pictures of the town and made a big loop through the major tourist attractions.

The Paralympics were in London while we were there. In Trafalgar square there was a huge screen set up for live viewing of the Paralympic events. We watched the US beat the UK in murder ball. That was awkward when we won because our initial reaction was to cheer for the US then we had a wait that’s not the greatest idea since NO ONE ELSE IS CHEERING haha.

After that it took us 3 hours to walk back to the train station. We weren’t that far away from the train station we were just very A.D.D. on our walk back. Every 15 minutes we stopped at a shop or a monument or looked at a map to figure out where we were.

We made it back to the ship then went out into Southampton for some drinks. Our friend Brooke had a rough day and after 2 beers she was stumbling drunk lol. BUT in her defense she didn’t eat that day and she spent the day lost after her field lab was a colossal fail. Speaking of fails, on our walk back to the ship I tripped off the side walk and scrapped up my knee. I can still see where I did it!

The next day Connor, Brooke and I went to HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you can’t tell by the 13 exclamation points, I LOVED harry potter world. So far it is the highlight of my trip. SO FAR! Everything in Harry Potter world was actually used in the movies. Well everything except the number 4 on the house. Ya know Number 4 Privet Drive. Turns out Rupert Grint stole it and has the original. I think he has a right to keep/take at least one thing! We entered the exhibit through The Great Hall. The actual great hall! The floor that was there was the same floor that had been used in ALL of the movies! As soon as the guide said that I took a picture of the floor and nearly fainted. Later on in the exhibit I was reading a placard that had information about whatever I was looking at. Suddenly I realized I was leaning against something. I looked up and I was leaning against the gate to the Hogwarts grounds! Yeah my mind went KABOOOM at that point. All I could think is HOLY CRAP WHAT IF DANIEL RADCLIFFE/ EMMA WATSON/ RUPERT GRINT/ANY BODY FROM THE FILMS HAS PLACED THEIR HAND THERE! Kabooom, Rachel has no more brains. I took about 250 photos there and 4 videos because there was just sooo much to see!

I don’t remember what happened that night. I was on a Harry Potter World high.

The next day Connor and I had another tour. I had high hopes for this one since harry potter had been so great, but it was honestly the WORST tour I have ever been on. I was on a tour titled “London and the Olympics” Now I’m assuming that any normal tourist would think that I was going to go into the Olympic park, get a guided tour and learn more in depth knowledge about the Olympic games impact on England. Not So. We rode around in a bus for 4 hours and looked at walls, and got terrible glimpses of the Olympic stadium. Our tour guide would say “look look look you see the triangle shaped structures just behind this wall? If the driver slows down and you stand up you might get to see it…that is the top of the Olympic stadium yeah? We won’t get to go there.” I honestly don’t think I can describe how awful it was. Everyone on the trip was pissed off that we paid $100 to ride around in a bus!

After the terrible bus ride, we went on a riverboat cruise down the Thames which I believe was free hahaha. We got off the boat at the Tower of London. Connor and I had planned to meet up with friends in London but they had an equally bad day and went back to the ship so we headed back to the ship as well. That night we got together with a few more people and went to a Jamaican bar in Southampton lol.

The next day was our last one in England so we did what we always do. We got Wi-Fi, had dinner on the ship and watched the sunset on Southampton as we left =)

The end!

Next up is a blog post on my experience in Belgium and Portugal. Right now I am in Spain. Of course I’m behind on my blog, but its Semester at Sea I get a pass on keeping up with a blog!

Have a wonderful day everyone! I recommend giving at least one stranger a smile today! It might be just what they need =)

Getting There to the First Atlantic Crossing

I am WAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY behind on this, but you will know everything at one point. Be calm.

There will be no photos added to the blog until I am back in the states!

Today Im in Belgium, YES I KNOW I AM INSANELY BEHIND!  

Anyway, lets start with packing

Packing:
Honestly packing is not that difficult to me. My mom may disagree because I spend a good amount of time “pre-packing”.  I make about 5 different lists and go through and edit them until I am completely satisfied.

So I had a list, which I thought was WAAAYYYY too long, but when I got on the ship I had a little moment of panic where I thought I might not have packed enough clothes.

Since being of the ship for 2 weeks I have paid to have laundry done once, and I have washed my own once.

There were people who brought their entire closet and more, but you really don’t need that much. The ship is casual and you will feel ridiculous getting dressed up daily. Also 98% of the people on the ship are wearing clothes more than once. I have some friends that wore the same pair of pants for 1 week because all their other pants were VERY dirty. As long as you don’t smell you are within acceptable limits.

I have found febreeze, downy wrinkle release and bounce ironing spray all very useful!!! Febreeze is great for the bathroom and letting clothes air out. Downy wrinkly release helps me feel like im not homeless, and I just like the smell of bounce!

Bring the travel size spray bottles. Your roommate will love you and so will the people sitting beside you in class.

Getting to Halifax:

My next escapade was flying to Halifax. Let me remind some of you who don’t know me too well that I am from Alaska. I didn’t think Halifax was too far from Alaska because I’ve never really thought of the East coast as being really far either, BUT LET ME TELL YOU! That was the longest time I have spent travelling in my LIFE!

I had 4 different planes to catch. Anchorage to Vancouver was no big deal and Air Canada is very comfortable.

Vancouver to Edmonton was fine until we got within landing distance of Edmonton. When we got into Edmonton there was a lightning storm going on and we weren’t allowed to get off the plane for an hour and a half! Everyone was sent to their planes because they were safer than being in the terminal. I agree with that statement because I watched the terminal get struck and lose power a lot, it even happened when I finally was allowed to switch planes.  When we initially landed I was really worried I would miss my next flight to I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER WHERE because we sat on the tarmac for 3 more hours! After 3 hours the red alert was lifted and we left Edmonton…WITHOUT MY BAGS!!!!!!!

-.-

Needless to say when we got to wherever the heck I was getting on my next flight I had missed my plane and I was DELAYED ANOTHER 12 HOURS! At this point I was already supposed to be in Halifax about 2 hours ago…I was ready to beg a hotel to let me sleep in a room just for a few hours.

I went to the air Canada customer service representative and probably looked miserable and asked if there was somewhere in the airport I could lay down and get some sleep. The lady shook her head no and gave me the awh you’re a lost puppy look. She got me onto an earlier flight tried to have my bags located and make it to Halifax with me. I was just happy to be on a flight that was 2 hours earlier.

When I got to Halifax I found out my bags were in different cities. I explained to Air Canada that I was getting on a ship the next day at 11:00am and needed my bags well before then. They apologized and put a rush on my bags and I got all of them by 2:00am

Embarkation Day:

There isn’t much to say about embarkation day honestly. I met my roommate Zoe and she is awesome and we’re getting a long great. We spent a couple hours unpacking and then spent the rest of the time meeting people and talking. It was a really great day.

Atlantic crossing:

The first day at sea is essentially orientation and we spent all day in the union going through safety, honor code and rules and regulations. We got a break for lunch and then just kept going till 5:30pm.

Classes started the next day and we were all finding it really hard to concentrate because of all the rocking. I didn’t get throwing up seasickness, but I did get VERY tired, nauseous and a headache. Just about everyone was feeling the same so we just enjoyed each other’s company and tried not to focus on our seasickness.

A few days we had 16ft swells and people were falling out of chairs and draws were banging in rooms. By day 5 all I could think is “I can’t wait for a day Im not constantly moving involuntarily!”

The ship spent 7 days getting from Halifax to Ireland and it was completely unnecessary to spend that much time! The ship went off course and avoiding getting to Ireland. I know we have a certain number of class days we have to get in, but with the rough seas it was just pissing everyone off!

We were all begging to see land!

AND I KNOW YOU’RE BEGGING TO KNOW ABOUT IRELAND, ENGLAND AND BELGIUM, BUT YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO BE PATIENT.

Im kind of busy these days =)