12.6.12
So this is it...my last few hours here on the MV Explorer...at least for
this voyage. It's been like high school again, running around trying to
get those last few people to sign journals/maps/cards/whatever you
brought for this moment in time. Most people are writing down e-mail
addresses before phone numbers, a reminder that e-mail has been our
primary contact since August, and there is such a thing where we can
dial a number and be able to talk to friends in a few short seconds...do
I even remember how to text? (It took me a minute to remember my phone
number too!) In some ways, the voyage is ending far too soon, but in
others, just the right moment to be back. All the suitcases are tucked
safely away for customs tomorrow, when before they were sprawled out
under beds, collecting dust until this fateful day.
I know that the friendships made on this voyage are everlasting, and
we're all going to still keep in contact, but it won't be as good as
seeing each others smiling faces every day, or hearing everyone groan
when the Bing Bong comes on and it's time for Randy's Bridge Noon
Report. I'll admit, as annoying as that sometimes was, it'll be a
moment missed when back home.
Mine and D's room looks so bare now that we've had to take everything
off the walls and out of the closet. Crazy to think what I have left is
a backpack full of clothes needed in Florida and a bunch of souvenirs
that I couldn't fit in my suitcase. And memories. Lots of memories
that will not soon be forgotten, but reminisced more often than not
while back home. I think I'll finally learn the lesson of 'pack
lightly' because it sucks trying to walk through the halls with
everything in one trip!
Our final pre-port is tonight; shocking that we have one for
Florida...but at the same time, it's going to be needed, because none of
us have seen the United States in over 3 months. In a few ways, we're
actually going to be foreigners to our own land; we have to readjust to
life back in the States. We've all made jokes about, "What's the
currency rate there?" Or going back to campus and not knowing where
everything is, "Quick, let's call DJ! He'll know what to do!" Not to
mention when we go somewhere new and NOT have a green sheet for
once...how strange! It's funny to think about what has become normalcy
and what remains foreign to us. To think, when we first embarked in
Halifax, everyone was strangers, people got lost on the ship... I don't
know what point during the voyage where this turned into everyday,
expected life. Strangers became best friends, the ship became home.
There have been several times in port where I have been overjoyed at
coming back to the ship, my home, after a long day, where climbing back
into my bed in my cabin was the best feeling in the world.
It's definitely not all bad...I am excited to go home, see all my
friends and family, spend the holidays with those I care most about.
But a part of me will always want to come back to this home, here on the
MV Explorer, and I know for a fact it won't be my last voyage with
SAS...I will return, I'm going to make sure of that! So here's to a
fond farewell to the ship I have called my home for the past 3 and a
half months! I'll miss it like crazy, but it will always stay with me
forever!
SH
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Alumni Ball!
12.5.12
I can't wait to share this moment with everyone! It took us a long time
to set up and get ready, but the ball was definitely worth it! I got to
eat at the later dinner, with Dean John, Dean LaVahn and his wife too!
I told DJ that I wanted to sit next to him when I found out I was eating
there (it was won in the auction, and that person got to pick 12 of
their friends! Megan Drew won it), and to my surprise, he remembered!
He called me the "Lady of the Night" since the waiters were serving me
first (Dean John was the center head of the table). I had so much fun
there, and it was a great time! We both had masks painted on as well,
so we got some great pictures! (Thanks Dawn for doing that for us!)
The dance was just as great! The deans got their dances first (again,
someone could win the first dance with x dean in the auction!) and they
were pretty great...Dean LaVahn's wife won the bid to get a first dance
with him, awww...! Kai got to dance with Dean John, and it was
absolutely hysterical! So was Ali's dance with Dean Lisa! Well the
music was great too, thanks to the DJ's of the night: Patrick and
Sean! I don't know why, but this voyage has a slight obsession with
both The Wobble and The Electric Slide! Both great dances haha. The
music was awesome, and all of us were disappointed when we had to call
it a night. However, the decorations went great, the people were just
as amazing, and the food/music was perfect! It was definitely one of
the most fun nights here on the ship, and a great way to conclude our
voyage! I can't believe we're going to be home in just a few days!
I'll write more tomorrow :)
SH
I can't wait to share this moment with everyone! It took us a long time
to set up and get ready, but the ball was definitely worth it! I got to
eat at the later dinner, with Dean John, Dean LaVahn and his wife too!
I told DJ that I wanted to sit next to him when I found out I was eating
there (it was won in the auction, and that person got to pick 12 of
their friends! Megan Drew won it), and to my surprise, he remembered!
He called me the "Lady of the Night" since the waiters were serving me
first (Dean John was the center head of the table). I had so much fun
there, and it was a great time! We both had masks painted on as well,
so we got some great pictures! (Thanks Dawn for doing that for us!)
The dance was just as great! The deans got their dances first (again,
someone could win the first dance with x dean in the auction!) and they
were pretty great...Dean LaVahn's wife won the bid to get a first dance
with him, awww...! Kai got to dance with Dean John, and it was
absolutely hysterical! So was Ali's dance with Dean Lisa! Well the
music was great too, thanks to the DJ's of the night: Patrick and
Sean! I don't know why, but this voyage has a slight obsession with
both The Wobble and The Electric Slide! Both great dances haha. The
music was awesome, and all of us were disappointed when we had to call
it a night. However, the decorations went great, the people were just
as amazing, and the food/music was perfect! It was definitely one of
the most fun nights here on the ship, and a great way to conclude our
voyage! I can't believe we're going to be home in just a few days!
I'll write more tomorrow :)
SH
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Dominica!
12.4.12
Aside from the tragedy that occurred our first day in Dominica, it was
definitely an amazing port. The first day, I couldn't believe it was
December, and here I was, parading around in shorts and a tank top! I
took a picture next to a Christmas tree haha. I walked around a bit
during the morning, but the city is very small. That afternoon I went
on a SAS river tubing trip. It was so much fun! We first went to the
Emerald Pool, which the water looks like emeralds. There was also a
waterfall and we got to swim...It was quite cold! Afterwards we headed
to the river. We got in the tubes and were given paddles and helmets,
and then we were off! It was such a great time-sometimes the rapids
were lazy, sometimes it was quicker. A couple times people fell off,
but because they lost their paddle or were trying to get some unstuck
(there were rocks we got caught on a couple times!) We went with a
group called Wacky Rollers, and they were great! They had us do a
couple chants, and we even had joke time haha. I loved every minute of
it, and I hung out with new people!
Our last day in port ever was also a great day. We left the ship and
first went snorkeling! It was amazing; I saw so many fish and corals
and even an eel! My mask kept fogging up though so I had to keep
adjusting to it, but other than that, I loved seeing everything. We saw
jellyfish too! I can't even begin to name all the types of fish we saw
either. As we were swimming back to the shore, I accidentally hit some
fire coral...and just as the name suggests, my leg felt like it was on
fire for the rest of the day. It's a type of coral, but it is related
closer to jellyfish than it is coral. I still have a mark of where I
hit it, but it doesn't hurt too badly anymore!
We then went to Titou Gorge, swam around for a little bit, climbed a
waterfall and then jumped off it! (It was only about 6 feet). Did I
forget to mention this is partly where they filmed Pirates of the
Caribbean 2?? We also got to jump off a ledge about 20 ft in the air
into the gorge! The picture looks awesome, and it was pretty scary at
first! Then we headed to Trafalgra Falls...sorry if I misspelled that!
It was really pretty, and we got to go in some hot springs-like a hot
tub! It was so nice! We also drove through the botanical gardens
before we went back to the ship!
It was definitely a great port, and a great way to end the semester!
I'm going to miss this so much!
SH
Aside from the tragedy that occurred our first day in Dominica, it was
definitely an amazing port. The first day, I couldn't believe it was
December, and here I was, parading around in shorts and a tank top! I
took a picture next to a Christmas tree haha. I walked around a bit
during the morning, but the city is very small. That afternoon I went
on a SAS river tubing trip. It was so much fun! We first went to the
Emerald Pool, which the water looks like emeralds. There was also a
waterfall and we got to swim...It was quite cold! Afterwards we headed
to the river. We got in the tubes and were given paddles and helmets,
and then we were off! It was such a great time-sometimes the rapids
were lazy, sometimes it was quicker. A couple times people fell off,
but because they lost their paddle or were trying to get some unstuck
(there were rocks we got caught on a couple times!) We went with a
group called Wacky Rollers, and they were great! They had us do a
couple chants, and we even had joke time haha. I loved every minute of
it, and I hung out with new people!
Our last day in port ever was also a great day. We left the ship and
first went snorkeling! It was amazing; I saw so many fish and corals
and even an eel! My mask kept fogging up though so I had to keep
adjusting to it, but other than that, I loved seeing everything. We saw
jellyfish too! I can't even begin to name all the types of fish we saw
either. As we were swimming back to the shore, I accidentally hit some
fire coral...and just as the name suggests, my leg felt like it was on
fire for the rest of the day. It's a type of coral, but it is related
closer to jellyfish than it is coral. I still have a mark of where I
hit it, but it doesn't hurt too badly anymore!
We then went to Titou Gorge, swam around for a little bit, climbed a
waterfall and then jumped off it! (It was only about 6 feet). Did I
forget to mention this is partly where they filmed Pirates of the
Caribbean 2?? We also got to jump off a ledge about 20 ft in the air
into the gorge! The picture looks awesome, and it was pretty scary at
first! Then we headed to Trafalgra Falls...sorry if I misspelled that!
It was really pretty, and we got to go in some hot springs-like a hot
tub! It was so nice! We also drove through the botanical gardens
before we went back to the ship!
It was definitely a great port, and a great way to end the semester!
I'm going to miss this so much!
SH
Monday, December 3, 2012
Here's to Casey
12.3.12
Hey everyone. As some people already know, one of our shipmates, Casey
Schulman passed away a couple days ago. She was killed in a boating
accident while snorkeling the first day we were ported in Dominica, and
it was an independent outing, not one that Semester at Sea organized.
I didn't know her well, but it's still shocking to lose one of us, and I
have friends who grew up in the same neighborhood with her, so I'm
trying to be there for them. I never heard anything bad about her, and
apparently she went to every Global Studies...now that's commitment!
The whole shipboard community came together in a memorial service, and
another one will be held tomorrow while the ship does a full circle as
people drop flowers into the ocean. It seems like a normal maritime
tradition, but I can't be positive. We also are writing notes to her
parents as well to let them know we're all there for them.
It's a sad situation, especially since we were so close to home, but
we'll get through this...together. This voyage has had its share of
misfortunes, but we've always overcome them, and this is no different.
In times of struggle, we band together and support each other. We
should look at the bright side and live the rest of the voyage to its
fullest, just like Casey would have wanted.
SH
Hey everyone. As some people already know, one of our shipmates, Casey
Schulman passed away a couple days ago. She was killed in a boating
accident while snorkeling the first day we were ported in Dominica, and
it was an independent outing, not one that Semester at Sea organized.
I didn't know her well, but it's still shocking to lose one of us, and I
have friends who grew up in the same neighborhood with her, so I'm
trying to be there for them. I never heard anything bad about her, and
apparently she went to every Global Studies...now that's commitment!
The whole shipboard community came together in a memorial service, and
another one will be held tomorrow while the ship does a full circle as
people drop flowers into the ocean. It seems like a normal maritime
tradition, but I can't be positive. We also are writing notes to her
parents as well to let them know we're all there for them.
It's a sad situation, especially since we were so close to home, but
we'll get through this...together. This voyage has had its share of
misfortunes, but we've always overcome them, and this is no different.
In times of struggle, we band together and support each other. We
should look at the bright side and live the rest of the voyage to its
fullest, just like Casey would have wanted.
SH
Friday, November 30, 2012
Astounding Stats here on the MV Explorer!
11.30.12- Also, I just packed up half my clothes and souvenirs! It was a bittersweet moment, to say the least! :( [We have to be packed as early as possible and by Dec. 6th at 13:00! So I figured I'd get some clothes out of the way- I don't need my whole closet for less than 10 days, you know?]
SHIP FACTS- FALL 2012 VOYAGE
The figures are rolling in, and they are astounding. Food, beverage, and hotel supply consumption for the Fall '12 voyage include the following:
Beef 28,067 lbs.
Pork 25,995lbs.
Chicken 33,380 lbs.
Yoghurt 11,795 cups
Eggs 8,799 dozen
Fresh Vegetables 66,330 lbs.
Peanut Butter 2,319 lbs.
Salad Dressing 400 gallons
Tea Bags 10,800 ea.
Cereals (individual) 44,640
Pasta 6,031 lbs.
Sodas 13,200 cans
Water (bottled) 11,658 liters
Toilet Paper 14,832 rolls
SH
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
One of my Favorite Ports-Manaus!
11.27.12
Hey everyone!
It's time to talk about one of my favorite ports-Manaus! I think this
port was another really underestimated port, like Lisbon...funny,
because Portugal was another one of my favorite ports! I think that you
generally have more fun per port if you don't have set plans, but know
somewhat of what you may want to do!
The first day in Manaus I had a field lab...I wasn't too thrilled about
this because it was also Thanksgiving-and my brother's birthday. But I
had so much fun, it was by far the best field lab I've had this voyage!
I expected to be sat down somewhere and lectured...like every other trip
I've had with Dr. Slaughter. Which at some points, we were sitting down
and being lectured...but it was while we were on a riverboat and the
scenery was much nicer! I honestly didn't know what else to expect on
this field lab because it had gotten changed about 4 or 5 times. That
being said, I assumed we were going to a rubber factory. It was no
factory at all! We took our riverboat to the meeting of two rivers, one
was the Rio Negro, and I think the other was Solimões River (according
to Wikipedia). It was really amazing to see the "black tea" waters of
the Rio Negro not mix at all with the muddy waters of the Solimões.
Apparently, fish don't cross the waters either! After that, we headed
to an island in the middle of the Amazon River. Once there, we walked
through a village, and all the houses we saw were on stilts because of
how high the waters are when they flood! Then we came to a little hut,
where one woman was sitting. Our guide, Fabio, showed us the cuts in
the tree, which are made so that milk from the trees can be extracted.
After the milk is collected, it is placed over a fire, which turns it
into rubber! It was extremely interesting, and I can't wait to show
pictures! Fabio said that an average person can make 50-60 kilograms of
rubber per week, and that it was very important during WWII. When we
were walking back to the boat, there was a little girl holding a sloth
(I forgot his name) but we got to pet him and he was so soft! Then she
came back with another one, and I HELD THAT ONE!!! His name was Paulo!
:)) It was only for like 30 seconds because we were walking towards our
boat to leave, but long enough for a picture! :D Afterwards, Fabio made
the mistake of taking 30 hungry college students on a hike before
feeding us. (It was past 1pm [normally lunch on the ship ends at 1:30]
at this point, and we hadn't eaten since 8am.) The hike was pretty
interesting, but it would have been more interesting if we had had
something to eat, most everyone was only talking about how hungry we all
were. Overall, the day was really fun, and I had a great time on this
field lab!
The second day in Manaus, I went with the Freeman family to Iracema
Falls. Me and Mr. Freeman went to the Manaus Opera House to see if we
could get tickets for the show that night, but they weren't open
yet...which ended up being a good thing since we didn't get back in
time. >.< Our guide, Jimmy, took us on the public bus systems. It took
us a couple hours to get there. Then we stopped and had a slight lunch,
but we should have had more. I think we assumed we would grab more
before we got to the falls, but thanks to Jimmy, we didn't. He got a
cab for pretty cheap...but we had to fit 8 people (not including the
driver) into a car that held 4 passengers. It was quite amusing because
everyone either had to have someone on their lap, or be sitting on
someone! Well we finally get there, and the falls are gorgeous! We
actually got to climb up the falls and we walked along the creek for a
little bit before heading back. The water was an amber color, and we
all went swimming. There are some pretty humorous pictures of us
jumping in! We saw some flying fish, and even some lizards! There were
also lots of caves around too. One cave had a cathedral in it, and one
was named "Gruta da Onca" Well we were ready to head back, but Jimmy
said our cab driver wasn't coming back, another tour guide told
him...and this isn't a place where cab drivers just naturally come to
find work. So we're all wondering what to do, and the other tour guide
said that Jimmy could come back with him to find a cab to come pick us
up. Well this wasn't a great idea, but that's what happened...but it
wouldn't be until 4:30, at least. This means that we would have to
catch the 7pm bus, so we wouldn't be back to the ship until 9pm...I felt
awful because I told my friend Ben that I would go out with him and his
buddies, and that I'd be back by 6pm...because that's what Jimmy told
Mrs. Freeman so that we could be back in time to see the show at the
opera house. Well Mrs. Freeman and I go for a little walk because we
don't want to get back into the water (we're pretty much dry at this
point) and we ran into another falls. She takes her shoes off and goes
walking around and convinced me to do the same. Well, everything is
going well until I took a step on the top of the falls where I thought
was a rock. Really, it was just a reflection, and I went down into the
water up to my neck! So much for not getting wet, right? Mrs. Freeman
got the best pictures of this too hahaha. So then we're walking back
and we see another guide and he asked us "You didn't see any jaguars,
did you?" We laugh and shook our heads no, but he responded, "No,
really, you didn't see any did you?" Again we shook our heads no, and
asked why. He responded, "There's a reason why there's a cave named
'the cave of jaguars' and why people aren't allowed out here past
5pm/5:30pm." Awesome. So "Gruta da Onca" really means 'cave of
jaguars.' How wonderful, because it was getting to be about that time.
He also told us that we were with the guide who changes his name every
week...again, awesome. Well we decided to start walking back to where
the taxis enter the park, because we wanted to be as far away from that
cave as possible! Jimmy does come back for us, luckily, and we got 2
cabs back since it was only a couple dollars more, and we expected to be
back around 6:30pm. Not too bad, right? Of course, there was so much
traffic though. We literally did not get back to the ship until after
8pm! I felt so bad, and I was glad that Ben and his friends didn't wait
around, considering I was two hours late haha. It was quite an
interesting day!
The third day was pretty similar to the first day. I went with my
friend Megan Drew and the Orris family on the river again. This time,
we took a speed boat to the junction of the two rivers. We got to feel
the difference of the two rivers! The Rio Negro was much warmer than
the Solimões! We stuck our hands in, and the change in temperature was
instantaneous! The Solimões River also is much faster than the Rio
Negro. Then we got to hold another sloth! His name was FooFoo, and I
also held a Camien (like a little crocodile!). We went on another hike,
but this time we saw giant trees and lily pads! One species of tree
people use sticks to hit if they get lost because you can hear it up to
3 miles away! Our guide called it the "AT&Tree" hahahaha! I also held
another sloth, this one was only 6 months old! And I gave it a piggy
back ride! :) After our tour, Megan Drew and I tried to go to a
research center, but it closed earlier on weekends. No worries, I'll
have to come back for that and going to the Opera House, if not for more!
I had such a great time in Manaus, it was definitely one of my favorite
ports, and I will definitely go back there sometime!!! :D
SH
Hey everyone!
It's time to talk about one of my favorite ports-Manaus! I think this
port was another really underestimated port, like Lisbon...funny,
because Portugal was another one of my favorite ports! I think that you
generally have more fun per port if you don't have set plans, but know
somewhat of what you may want to do!
The first day in Manaus I had a field lab...I wasn't too thrilled about
this because it was also Thanksgiving-and my brother's birthday. But I
had so much fun, it was by far the best field lab I've had this voyage!
I expected to be sat down somewhere and lectured...like every other trip
I've had with Dr. Slaughter. Which at some points, we were sitting down
and being lectured...but it was while we were on a riverboat and the
scenery was much nicer! I honestly didn't know what else to expect on
this field lab because it had gotten changed about 4 or 5 times. That
being said, I assumed we were going to a rubber factory. It was no
factory at all! We took our riverboat to the meeting of two rivers, one
was the Rio Negro, and I think the other was Solimões River (according
to Wikipedia). It was really amazing to see the "black tea" waters of
the Rio Negro not mix at all with the muddy waters of the Solimões.
Apparently, fish don't cross the waters either! After that, we headed
to an island in the middle of the Amazon River. Once there, we walked
through a village, and all the houses we saw were on stilts because of
how high the waters are when they flood! Then we came to a little hut,
where one woman was sitting. Our guide, Fabio, showed us the cuts in
the tree, which are made so that milk from the trees can be extracted.
After the milk is collected, it is placed over a fire, which turns it
into rubber! It was extremely interesting, and I can't wait to show
pictures! Fabio said that an average person can make 50-60 kilograms of
rubber per week, and that it was very important during WWII. When we
were walking back to the boat, there was a little girl holding a sloth
(I forgot his name) but we got to pet him and he was so soft! Then she
came back with another one, and I HELD THAT ONE!!! His name was Paulo!
:)) It was only for like 30 seconds because we were walking towards our
boat to leave, but long enough for a picture! :D Afterwards, Fabio made
the mistake of taking 30 hungry college students on a hike before
feeding us. (It was past 1pm [normally lunch on the ship ends at 1:30]
at this point, and we hadn't eaten since 8am.) The hike was pretty
interesting, but it would have been more interesting if we had had
something to eat, most everyone was only talking about how hungry we all
were. Overall, the day was really fun, and I had a great time on this
field lab!
The second day in Manaus, I went with the Freeman family to Iracema
Falls. Me and Mr. Freeman went to the Manaus Opera House to see if we
could get tickets for the show that night, but they weren't open
yet...which ended up being a good thing since we didn't get back in
time. >.< Our guide, Jimmy, took us on the public bus systems. It took
us a couple hours to get there. Then we stopped and had a slight lunch,
but we should have had more. I think we assumed we would grab more
before we got to the falls, but thanks to Jimmy, we didn't. He got a
cab for pretty cheap...but we had to fit 8 people (not including the
driver) into a car that held 4 passengers. It was quite amusing because
everyone either had to have someone on their lap, or be sitting on
someone! Well we finally get there, and the falls are gorgeous! We
actually got to climb up the falls and we walked along the creek for a
little bit before heading back. The water was an amber color, and we
all went swimming. There are some pretty humorous pictures of us
jumping in! We saw some flying fish, and even some lizards! There were
also lots of caves around too. One cave had a cathedral in it, and one
was named "Gruta da Onca" Well we were ready to head back, but Jimmy
said our cab driver wasn't coming back, another tour guide told
him...and this isn't a place where cab drivers just naturally come to
find work. So we're all wondering what to do, and the other tour guide
said that Jimmy could come back with him to find a cab to come pick us
up. Well this wasn't a great idea, but that's what happened...but it
wouldn't be until 4:30, at least. This means that we would have to
catch the 7pm bus, so we wouldn't be back to the ship until 9pm...I felt
awful because I told my friend Ben that I would go out with him and his
buddies, and that I'd be back by 6pm...because that's what Jimmy told
Mrs. Freeman so that we could be back in time to see the show at the
opera house. Well Mrs. Freeman and I go for a little walk because we
don't want to get back into the water (we're pretty much dry at this
point) and we ran into another falls. She takes her shoes off and goes
walking around and convinced me to do the same. Well, everything is
going well until I took a step on the top of the falls where I thought
was a rock. Really, it was just a reflection, and I went down into the
water up to my neck! So much for not getting wet, right? Mrs. Freeman
got the best pictures of this too hahaha. So then we're walking back
and we see another guide and he asked us "You didn't see any jaguars,
did you?" We laugh and shook our heads no, but he responded, "No,
really, you didn't see any did you?" Again we shook our heads no, and
asked why. He responded, "There's a reason why there's a cave named
'the cave of jaguars' and why people aren't allowed out here past
5pm/5:30pm." Awesome. So "Gruta da Onca" really means 'cave of
jaguars.' How wonderful, because it was getting to be about that time.
He also told us that we were with the guide who changes his name every
week...again, awesome. Well we decided to start walking back to where
the taxis enter the park, because we wanted to be as far away from that
cave as possible! Jimmy does come back for us, luckily, and we got 2
cabs back since it was only a couple dollars more, and we expected to be
back around 6:30pm. Not too bad, right? Of course, there was so much
traffic though. We literally did not get back to the ship until after
8pm! I felt so bad, and I was glad that Ben and his friends didn't wait
around, considering I was two hours late haha. It was quite an
interesting day!
The third day was pretty similar to the first day. I went with my
friend Megan Drew and the Orris family on the river again. This time,
we took a speed boat to the junction of the two rivers. We got to feel
the difference of the two rivers! The Rio Negro was much warmer than
the Solimões! We stuck our hands in, and the change in temperature was
instantaneous! The Solimões River also is much faster than the Rio
Negro. Then we got to hold another sloth! His name was FooFoo, and I
also held a Camien (like a little crocodile!). We went on another hike,
but this time we saw giant trees and lily pads! One species of tree
people use sticks to hit if they get lost because you can hear it up to
3 miles away! Our guide called it the "AT&Tree" hahahaha! I also held
another sloth, this one was only 6 months old! And I gave it a piggy
back ride! :) After our tour, Megan Drew and I tried to go to a
research center, but it closed earlier on weekends. No worries, I'll
have to come back for that and going to the Opera House, if not for more!
I had such a great time in Manaus, it was definitely one of my favorite
ports, and I will definitely go back there sometime!!! :D
SH
Monday, November 26, 2012
Cabin Search!
11.26.12
So on the ship they randomly have cabin searches...and mine/D's room got
searched yesterday. Turns out the safety officers/security who was
checking it out thought our room was 'cute.' hahaha. :)
SH
So on the ship they randomly have cabin searches...and mine/D's room got
searched yesterday. Turns out the safety officers/security who was
checking it out thought our room was 'cute.' hahaha. :)
SH
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Forgot to mention
11.25.12
Yeah I did forget to mention- as one last incentive for people to
donate-we are e-mailing those who did donate two new ringtones!
Semester at Sea has had them for 2 years and has never given them out!
One is the Bing Bong (which is totally going to be my text ring!!) And
the other is the honking of the ship's horn! (Which is going to be my
Alarm!) :D People are going to look at me funny, but also be pretty
scared if all of a sudden I'm having a sleep over and they wake up to a
blaring horn! :P
SH
Yeah I did forget to mention- as one last incentive for people to
donate-we are e-mailing those who did donate two new ringtones!
Semester at Sea has had them for 2 years and has never given them out!
One is the Bing Bong (which is totally going to be my text ring!!) And
the other is the honking of the ship's horn! (Which is going to be my
Alarm!) :D People are going to look at me funny, but also be pretty
scared if all of a sudden I'm having a sleep over and they wake up to a
blaring horn! :P
SH
Week of the Shipboard Drive!!! :)
11.24.12
So as everyone knows, I have a work study position on the ship, and my
group worked on the Shipboard Drive, a week long fundraiser. Well, the
week in between Rio de Janeiro and Manaus is when it took place!
We also had a spirit week during this, and we made a Mind The Gap
Thermometer of how much money we raised, those who donated got to color
in a life ring and we glued it to this sign, and we had a participation
percent thermometer as well!
The first day went remarkably well-we had over 50% participation the
first day! (We also may have bribed people with stickers and cookies,
but that's beside the point!) The next days were much slower, but we
made the incentive that if we got 50% participation, we would have
another Taco Day before Manaus! (We kept it a secret for a couple days
because we didn't want people to just reach the incentives and stop
donating, you know?) Taco day happened, and it was nice because the
food on the ship this week hadn't been too great!
The third night we had the Auction...which went fabulous! We raised
over $28,000!!! People waited outside for at least an hour to get good
seats! Also, some of the most expensive items were over double that of
the average of previous voyages! The Captain's Map, the Captain's Hat,
a Semester at Sea Flag, and Shadowing Dean John for a day were all over
$1,000 or $2,000! How crazy is that?! The air was so chaotic, but so
exciting too! I was Kate's right hand man for the night, so I basically
did whatever she needed me to do. :) So at first I was just hanging out
with her, and then she had me go around and write down the second
highest bidder information-that way if something happens with the
winner, we can offer it to them. This was by far one of the most fun
nights on the ship!
After the auction, things really slowed down a little bit, so we started
writing hand notes to people, which actually worked pretty well! We had
a competition between the seas, and we had 2 seas reach 100%! The first
was the Arabian, the second was the biggest sea, Aegean! What an
accomplishment that our biggest sea could come together and have
everyone donate to Semester at Sea! I don't have exact numbers, but I
do know that we have raised the most money out of every SAS voyage! We
even had the most money raised before the Shipboard Auction! I think we
have a total of around or over $67,000!!! What an accomplishment, and
thanks to everyone who donated on our behalf! :) When I have official
numbers, I'll definitely post them! :D
Well there was something every night during the Shipboard Drive too,
after the Auction. The first night after the Auction was the Crew
Talent Show...it was so good! People waited in line for up to 2 hours!!
All the crew members that we have come to know and love were up showing
us their talents! There were native dances, a comedian, and bands too.
It was an amazing night and everyone had a great time! I got everything
on video, so I can't wait to upload a couple acts!
Then two nights later we had the Shipboard Talent Show! Again, people
had lined up for hours to get good seats! A lot of people sang, played
instruments, and me, Ali, and Colleen made a parody to the song "Baby
Got Back" and called it "Baby Got Ship." We started laughing so much
during the song, but everyone liked it! The little girls on the ship
did a dance, and the atmosphere was very supporting and excited! I
loved every minute of it! One guy sang a song by Josh Grobin- You Raise
Me Up, and it reminded me so much of home and STEM because of my friends
Adam and Kim!
Our last night before we got to Manaus, we had our very own Thanksgiving
dinner. Everyone lined up like they did with Taco Day, and the dinner
was pretty good! We all had tons of turkey, they had mac n cheese, some
potatoes, but they had pumpkin pie!! I definitely ate my fair share the
past two days, between Taco Day and Thanksgiving haha. But I had dinner
with my family, and I had a great time! :)
Overall, this week was by far one of the most crazy/hectic, but most fun
weeks I've had on the ship! I love my work study group and life on the
ship! :)
I think that's all that happened, but if I forgot something, I'll add it
later!
SH
So as everyone knows, I have a work study position on the ship, and my
group worked on the Shipboard Drive, a week long fundraiser. Well, the
week in between Rio de Janeiro and Manaus is when it took place!
We also had a spirit week during this, and we made a Mind The Gap
Thermometer of how much money we raised, those who donated got to color
in a life ring and we glued it to this sign, and we had a participation
percent thermometer as well!
The first day went remarkably well-we had over 50% participation the
first day! (We also may have bribed people with stickers and cookies,
but that's beside the point!) The next days were much slower, but we
made the incentive that if we got 50% participation, we would have
another Taco Day before Manaus! (We kept it a secret for a couple days
because we didn't want people to just reach the incentives and stop
donating, you know?) Taco day happened, and it was nice because the
food on the ship this week hadn't been too great!
The third night we had the Auction...which went fabulous! We raised
over $28,000!!! People waited outside for at least an hour to get good
seats! Also, some of the most expensive items were over double that of
the average of previous voyages! The Captain's Map, the Captain's Hat,
a Semester at Sea Flag, and Shadowing Dean John for a day were all over
$1,000 or $2,000! How crazy is that?! The air was so chaotic, but so
exciting too! I was Kate's right hand man for the night, so I basically
did whatever she needed me to do. :) So at first I was just hanging out
with her, and then she had me go around and write down the second
highest bidder information-that way if something happens with the
winner, we can offer it to them. This was by far one of the most fun
nights on the ship!
After the auction, things really slowed down a little bit, so we started
writing hand notes to people, which actually worked pretty well! We had
a competition between the seas, and we had 2 seas reach 100%! The first
was the Arabian, the second was the biggest sea, Aegean! What an
accomplishment that our biggest sea could come together and have
everyone donate to Semester at Sea! I don't have exact numbers, but I
do know that we have raised the most money out of every SAS voyage! We
even had the most money raised before the Shipboard Auction! I think we
have a total of around or over $67,000!!! What an accomplishment, and
thanks to everyone who donated on our behalf! :) When I have official
numbers, I'll definitely post them! :D
Well there was something every night during the Shipboard Drive too,
after the Auction. The first night after the Auction was the Crew
Talent Show...it was so good! People waited in line for up to 2 hours!!
All the crew members that we have come to know and love were up showing
us their talents! There were native dances, a comedian, and bands too.
It was an amazing night and everyone had a great time! I got everything
on video, so I can't wait to upload a couple acts!
Then two nights later we had the Shipboard Talent Show! Again, people
had lined up for hours to get good seats! A lot of people sang, played
instruments, and me, Ali, and Colleen made a parody to the song "Baby
Got Back" and called it "Baby Got Ship." We started laughing so much
during the song, but everyone liked it! The little girls on the ship
did a dance, and the atmosphere was very supporting and excited! I
loved every minute of it! One guy sang a song by Josh Grobin- You Raise
Me Up, and it reminded me so much of home and STEM because of my friends
Adam and Kim!
Our last night before we got to Manaus, we had our very own Thanksgiving
dinner. Everyone lined up like they did with Taco Day, and the dinner
was pretty good! We all had tons of turkey, they had mac n cheese, some
potatoes, but they had pumpkin pie!! I definitely ate my fair share the
past two days, between Taco Day and Thanksgiving haha. But I had dinner
with my family, and I had a great time! :)
Overall, this week was by far one of the most crazy/hectic, but most fun
weeks I've had on the ship! I love my work study group and life on the
ship! :)
I think that's all that happened, but if I forgot something, I'll add it
later!
SH
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!
11.22.12
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL BROTHER NATE!!! :) Also, Happy
Thanksgiving everyone!! We had our Thanksgiving meal last night since a
lot of people don't come back to the ship for meals! I'm going to
discuss it more later when I write about this previous week.
However, I had a field lab today- BEST DAY EVER. I HELD A SLOTH!!!! :D
You all know I'll write more about it, but seriously, best day ever
because I held a sloth!!!
SH
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL BROTHER NATE!!! :) Also, Happy
Thanksgiving everyone!! We had our Thanksgiving meal last night since a
lot of people don't come back to the ship for meals! I'm going to
discuss it more later when I write about this previous week.
However, I had a field lab today- BEST DAY EVER. I HELD A SLOTH!!!! :D
You all know I'll write more about it, but seriously, best day ever
because I held a sloth!!!
SH
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Rest of Uruguay!
11.21.12
Sooo I definitely forget to talk about the rest of Montevideo, I was so
caught up in mine and Amy's rock story! haha.
Well the first day I wasn't feeling that great,but I had an open ship.
I helped lead a tour of the MV Explorer to a really nice couple who live
in Montevideo. They were awesome and wrote down several things that we
should go do while our stay in Uruguay. I'm still in contact with
Sarah-Jane because her one of her sons is looking at the University of
Virginia for college, and she is looking into seeing if he can attend
Semester at Sea!!! After the open ship tour, we basically just walked
around. In one of the main squares, we saw a TV show that was filming!
It was a Uruguayan soap opera apparently lol. Then we saw this street
performer who was a cellist! We stopped to watch, and he even let me
play a little! (but of course, I forgot just about everything when I was
put on the spot!) I tried to go back and find him another day after I
found some of my old music online, but I was not able to see him again. :/
The next day we all went to Punta de Este- one of the prettiest beaches
in the area! It was a couple hours away, but it was worth it. There is
this giant hand that was sticking out of the sand, and Jared, Amy, and I
all took pictures of it...Jared climbed a finger and jumped off-that
picture looks pretty great! Then we met up with Colleen and Danielle,
and more SAS students. We realized that there were tons of jellyfish
there-but don't worry, they didn't sting!! So naturally, we made a game
out of trying to catch them...I succeeded in catching a couple and let
Colleen hold it next...Danielle kept freaking out about it at first, but
finally held it. Then I convinced Amy to touch it, and when she did, I
tossed it on her! ahahahaha. She flipped out, but it was so funny!
Needless to say, she didn't trust me much the rest of the day lol.
The last day was much like the first, just kinda walking around, but it
was fun! I'm not sure I would go back there, but I definitely had a
great time!
I also don't think I'll ever be caught up with my blog! I'll talk about
everything that happened this week after my time in Manaus, but then
I'll have to write about that too! eep! Either way, hope everyone is
ready for the Shipboard Drive Week!!! It has been the most fun/stressful
week of my entire voyage, but I wouldn't trade it for a minute!!
SH
Sooo I definitely forget to talk about the rest of Montevideo, I was so
caught up in mine and Amy's rock story! haha.
Well the first day I wasn't feeling that great,but I had an open ship.
I helped lead a tour of the MV Explorer to a really nice couple who live
in Montevideo. They were awesome and wrote down several things that we
should go do while our stay in Uruguay. I'm still in contact with
Sarah-Jane because her one of her sons is looking at the University of
Virginia for college, and she is looking into seeing if he can attend
Semester at Sea!!! After the open ship tour, we basically just walked
around. In one of the main squares, we saw a TV show that was filming!
It was a Uruguayan soap opera apparently lol. Then we saw this street
performer who was a cellist! We stopped to watch, and he even let me
play a little! (but of course, I forgot just about everything when I was
put on the spot!) I tried to go back and find him another day after I
found some of my old music online, but I was not able to see him again. :/
The next day we all went to Punta de Este- one of the prettiest beaches
in the area! It was a couple hours away, but it was worth it. There is
this giant hand that was sticking out of the sand, and Jared, Amy, and I
all took pictures of it...Jared climbed a finger and jumped off-that
picture looks pretty great! Then we met up with Colleen and Danielle,
and more SAS students. We realized that there were tons of jellyfish
there-but don't worry, they didn't sting!! So naturally, we made a game
out of trying to catch them...I succeeded in catching a couple and let
Colleen hold it next...Danielle kept freaking out about it at first, but
finally held it. Then I convinced Amy to touch it, and when she did, I
tossed it on her! ahahahaha. She flipped out, but it was so funny!
Needless to say, she didn't trust me much the rest of the day lol.
The last day was much like the first, just kinda walking around, but it
was fun! I'm not sure I would go back there, but I definitely had a
great time!
I also don't think I'll ever be caught up with my blog! I'll talk about
everything that happened this week after my time in Manaus, but then
I'll have to write about that too! eep! Either way, hope everyone is
ready for the Shipboard Drive Week!!! It has been the most fun/stressful
week of my entire voyage, but I wouldn't trade it for a minute!!
SH
Let me take you to Rio, Rio!
11.21.12
Hey everyone! I'm so glad I'm almost caught up with my blog! (After
this, I'll just have to write about this week-it's been pretty busy on
the MV Explorer!)
But first, let's talk about my times in Rio de Janeiro! I had a pretty
great time in Rio, I wish we would have had a couple more days there,
even though I still haven't been feeling 100% better.
Day One: I went to a Hippie Market and Impanema Beach! The Hippie
Market was really neat! There were so many different items, like masks,
jewelry, headbands, purses, etc. Most everything was hand-made as
well! I'm glad I didn't have much money on me, because I probably would
have spent it all there! The group afterwards went to Impanema
Beach...it was extremely crowded, not what I would have expected since
the beaches in Uruguay had hardly anyone there. Our group (Chris, Jen,
the twins and Ellie, Colleen, Danielle, Ali, and me) met up with the
Freeman family there too. Elena and I tried to walk to Copacabana but
it turns out it was a little bit of a walk and we didn't have shoes on
(we thought it connected to Impanema beach-which it does, but there are
rocks in the way, so we have to walk down a different road to get
there) So we just hung out on these giant rocks, and it was a gorgeous
sight!
Day Two: I went with the Freeman family to the Botanical Gardens! It
was definitely interesting, and we saw so many plants and animals! We
saw these adorable monkeys, they were so little too! I don't know what
kind they were. Elena, Willa and I also saw a Toucan!! It was a rare
sight in the gardens, so we were pretty lucky! :) My favorite part was
probably the sensory garden though! We got to touch and smell a lot of
different plants, like an aloe plant, lots of spices, etc. The
Botanical Gardens was a huge area too, and I know we didn't get to see
it all, but I'm glad I got to go see some of it!
Day Three: This was the day of my "field lab" for Coastal Cities and
Climate Change. We went with SAS to the Babilonia favela, and got a
tour of it. (The entire day it was pouring down rain!) A favela is an
area which is lower in economic status, built on hills, and can be seen
as the "slums." There isn't necessarily good sanitation, nor the best
police enforcement, but Babilonia is a good favela in terms of trying to
be eco-friendly! They're taking steps to incorporate green practices
into their everyday lives. There are a couple examples of these
practices. The first is having basins on the top of their roofs so that
when it rains, they can catch the rain water and rely less on city
water. Another green practice is that for everything a family/person
recycles, they get part of their electric bill reduced! Babilonia also
relocates people in areas of high risk at no cost to them, so that they
can remove the houses in high risk areas (areas that are more
susceptible to climate change/mudslides/flooding, etc.) and start
planting trees...Reforesting the top of the hills. We got to take part
in helping reforest! My group (Jenna, Tori, and one other person, I
can't remember his name right now) had a caja fruit tree that we
planted, and we named it JaJa! While up there, the people who were
helping us let us take some sort of fruit off a tree to eat...They were
like little berries. I have no idea what they were, but they were a
little bit spicy! We then had a traditional Brazilian lunch afterwards
for all our hard work. I had a lot of fun this day!
I didn't get to do everything in Rio that I wanted to do-I did not get
to hike Sugarloaf, nor did I get up to the Christ the Redeemer statue,
but this is one city I know I will come back to in the future, and will
have the opportunity to do these eventually!
SH
Hey everyone! I'm so glad I'm almost caught up with my blog! (After
this, I'll just have to write about this week-it's been pretty busy on
the MV Explorer!)
But first, let's talk about my times in Rio de Janeiro! I had a pretty
great time in Rio, I wish we would have had a couple more days there,
even though I still haven't been feeling 100% better.
Day One: I went to a Hippie Market and Impanema Beach! The Hippie
Market was really neat! There were so many different items, like masks,
jewelry, headbands, purses, etc. Most everything was hand-made as
well! I'm glad I didn't have much money on me, because I probably would
have spent it all there! The group afterwards went to Impanema
Beach...it was extremely crowded, not what I would have expected since
the beaches in Uruguay had hardly anyone there. Our group (Chris, Jen,
the twins and Ellie, Colleen, Danielle, Ali, and me) met up with the
Freeman family there too. Elena and I tried to walk to Copacabana but
it turns out it was a little bit of a walk and we didn't have shoes on
(we thought it connected to Impanema beach-which it does, but there are
rocks in the way, so we have to walk down a different road to get
there) So we just hung out on these giant rocks, and it was a gorgeous
sight!
Day Two: I went with the Freeman family to the Botanical Gardens! It
was definitely interesting, and we saw so many plants and animals! We
saw these adorable monkeys, they were so little too! I don't know what
kind they were. Elena, Willa and I also saw a Toucan!! It was a rare
sight in the gardens, so we were pretty lucky! :) My favorite part was
probably the sensory garden though! We got to touch and smell a lot of
different plants, like an aloe plant, lots of spices, etc. The
Botanical Gardens was a huge area too, and I know we didn't get to see
it all, but I'm glad I got to go see some of it!
Day Three: This was the day of my "field lab" for Coastal Cities and
Climate Change. We went with SAS to the Babilonia favela, and got a
tour of it. (The entire day it was pouring down rain!) A favela is an
area which is lower in economic status, built on hills, and can be seen
as the "slums." There isn't necessarily good sanitation, nor the best
police enforcement, but Babilonia is a good favela in terms of trying to
be eco-friendly! They're taking steps to incorporate green practices
into their everyday lives. There are a couple examples of these
practices. The first is having basins on the top of their roofs so that
when it rains, they can catch the rain water and rely less on city
water. Another green practice is that for everything a family/person
recycles, they get part of their electric bill reduced! Babilonia also
relocates people in areas of high risk at no cost to them, so that they
can remove the houses in high risk areas (areas that are more
susceptible to climate change/mudslides/flooding, etc.) and start
planting trees...Reforesting the top of the hills. We got to take part
in helping reforest! My group (Jenna, Tori, and one other person, I
can't remember his name right now) had a caja fruit tree that we
planted, and we named it JaJa! While up there, the people who were
helping us let us take some sort of fruit off a tree to eat...They were
like little berries. I have no idea what they were, but they were a
little bit spicy! We then had a traditional Brazilian lunch afterwards
for all our hard work. I had a lot of fun this day!
I didn't get to do everything in Rio that I wanted to do-I did not get
to hike Sugarloaf, nor did I get up to the Christ the Redeemer statue,
but this is one city I know I will come back to in the future, and will
have the opportunity to do these eventually!
SH
Sunday, November 18, 2012
The Rock!
11.18.12
So I have more to talk about with Uruguay, but the best story is with me
and my friend Amy. We went out at night to get free wi-fi by
ourselves. Well we were pretty nervous because people we know had
gotten mugged at this point in Montevideo. Before we left, Amy comes
into mine and D's room. D told us to be safe, and Amy goes, "I've got
my umbrella!"
Me: What are you going to do? Shoot it at someone?
Amy: Exactly!
So as we're walking, I decided to pick up one of the bricks nearby
(there was a lot of construction).
Amy: What is that for?
Me: In case someone jumps out at us.
We keep walking, and I put the brick in my back pack...but then I pick
up a pretty hefty jagged slab of concrete that is small enough to fit in
my hand.
Amy: I want one!
So we grabbed another one for her. Well we get to the wi-fi place just
fine and after a couple hours we decided to head out. I was talking to
my parents and I asked my mom if it was okay for me to let her go since
I didn't want to go out walking back to the ship too late.
Mom: Okay, but be careful!
Me: Don't worry mom, we've got rocks!
Mom: Now I'm worried.
Amy and I start walking back, and we're talking. I suppose we were
talking a little louder, or maybe it was because there was hardly anyone
on the street, but this older gentleman kept looking back at us, and
started to slow down. Amy and I both had thoughts of "oh man-he's going
to mug us!" because he kept fiddling with this bag he had too, and kept
looking back at us. He finally turns around and says to us, "It's not
safe for you here." Well gee, thanks, now Amy and I were even more
freaked out. He goes on to say, "Don't speak in English...you're from
the ship right? Even if you walk back to the port silently, do it-just
don't talk in English until you get there." So he was actually a really
nice person, we had a good conversation with him-but at first he was
being so majorly sketchy.
So Amy and I part ways with him and we kept walking...I don't know how
we managed to get so far away from where we were, because we were at the
right streets until the main street, which we somehow managed to make it
on the other side of the port! We see the ship, and go through another
construction area-this time we have to go under some stuff...and all of
a sudden, it makes this creaking noise...so Amy and I bolted to the ship!
Once we're back in the port, we decided we were going to see if they'd
let us keep our rocks...we didn't think they would, but hey, there was
no harm in trying. And to top it off, the strictest safety officer was
there to check bags. Well I told Amy I'd go up first and he could check
my bag. So I'm running up the stairs and he's joking with me, "Do that
10x and you'll have a work out for the day!" No kidding, but we were
laughing.
So he opens my bag, and finally finds the brick. He pulls it out and
mentions, "This is a brick..."
Me and Amy (at the same time): Yeah...
Safety Officer (S.O.): What do you have this for..? (He's laughing at
this point)
Me: In case we got mugged!
Amy: We needed some protection!
S.O.: And you thought this would help..?
Me and Amy: Yeah...
S.O.: And a rock?!
Amy: I have one too!
He shakes his head and just keeps laughing. He then asks, "So...do you
want to keep these?"
Me and Amy look at each other and then say, "Yeah, kinda!"
S.O.: Alright, but don't take them out of your cabin!
It was amazing that we managed to get him to let us get them on the
ship!! This night was pretty funny :) I'll finish Uruguay tomorrow,
but this was the second night we were in Montevideo! Definitely deserved
it's own blog post :P
SH
So I have more to talk about with Uruguay, but the best story is with me
and my friend Amy. We went out at night to get free wi-fi by
ourselves. Well we were pretty nervous because people we know had
gotten mugged at this point in Montevideo. Before we left, Amy comes
into mine and D's room. D told us to be safe, and Amy goes, "I've got
my umbrella!"
Me: What are you going to do? Shoot it at someone?
Amy: Exactly!
So as we're walking, I decided to pick up one of the bricks nearby
(there was a lot of construction).
Amy: What is that for?
Me: In case someone jumps out at us.
We keep walking, and I put the brick in my back pack...but then I pick
up a pretty hefty jagged slab of concrete that is small enough to fit in
my hand.
Amy: I want one!
So we grabbed another one for her. Well we get to the wi-fi place just
fine and after a couple hours we decided to head out. I was talking to
my parents and I asked my mom if it was okay for me to let her go since
I didn't want to go out walking back to the ship too late.
Mom: Okay, but be careful!
Me: Don't worry mom, we've got rocks!
Mom: Now I'm worried.
Amy and I start walking back, and we're talking. I suppose we were
talking a little louder, or maybe it was because there was hardly anyone
on the street, but this older gentleman kept looking back at us, and
started to slow down. Amy and I both had thoughts of "oh man-he's going
to mug us!" because he kept fiddling with this bag he had too, and kept
looking back at us. He finally turns around and says to us, "It's not
safe for you here." Well gee, thanks, now Amy and I were even more
freaked out. He goes on to say, "Don't speak in English...you're from
the ship right? Even if you walk back to the port silently, do it-just
don't talk in English until you get there." So he was actually a really
nice person, we had a good conversation with him-but at first he was
being so majorly sketchy.
So Amy and I part ways with him and we kept walking...I don't know how
we managed to get so far away from where we were, because we were at the
right streets until the main street, which we somehow managed to make it
on the other side of the port! We see the ship, and go through another
construction area-this time we have to go under some stuff...and all of
a sudden, it makes this creaking noise...so Amy and I bolted to the ship!
Once we're back in the port, we decided we were going to see if they'd
let us keep our rocks...we didn't think they would, but hey, there was
no harm in trying. And to top it off, the strictest safety officer was
there to check bags. Well I told Amy I'd go up first and he could check
my bag. So I'm running up the stairs and he's joking with me, "Do that
10x and you'll have a work out for the day!" No kidding, but we were
laughing.
So he opens my bag, and finally finds the brick. He pulls it out and
mentions, "This is a brick..."
Me and Amy (at the same time): Yeah...
Safety Officer (S.O.): What do you have this for..? (He's laughing at
this point)
Me: In case we got mugged!
Amy: We needed some protection!
S.O.: And you thought this would help..?
Me and Amy: Yeah...
S.O.: And a rock?!
Amy: I have one too!
He shakes his head and just keeps laughing. He then asks, "So...do you
want to keep these?"
Me and Amy look at each other and then say, "Yeah, kinda!"
S.O.: Alright, but don't take them out of your cabin!
It was amazing that we managed to get him to let us get them on the
ship!! This night was pretty funny :) I'll finish Uruguay tomorrow,
but this was the second night we were in Montevideo! Definitely deserved
it's own blog post :P
SH
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Shipboard Drive
11.17.12
Just to let everyone know, Jared's birthday is today! :) He's one of the boys I work with, and we're all working hard for the Shipboard Drive!
Also, for anyone who is interested, YOU can donate on our behalf! We ask for increments of $12 in honor of the Fall 2012-whether that be $12, $20.12, whatever is meaningful to you! Here's how below:
The students of the F12 voyage are working hard to raise money to help others have this once in a lifetime experience. Will you consider giving this group a boost and donating today in honor of this voyage? Go to: https://www.ise.virginia.edu/asp/GiftForm.asp to donate and in the "General Comments" section at the bottom indicate it's in honor of the F12 voyage or someone sailing (me) on F12!
Thanks everyone for listening/helping us out! :)
SH
P.S. I'll write about Uruguay tomorrow!
Just to let everyone know, Jared's birthday is today! :) He's one of the boys I work with, and we're all working hard for the Shipboard Drive!
Also, for anyone who is interested, YOU can donate on our behalf! We ask for increments of $12 in honor of the Fall 2012-whether that be $12, $20.12, whatever is meaningful to you! Here's how below:
The students of the F12 voyage are working hard to raise money to help others have this once in a lifetime experience. Will you consider giving this group a boost and donating today in honor of this voyage? Go to: https://www.ise.virginia.edu/asp/GiftForm.asp to donate and in the "General Comments" section at the bottom indicate it's in honor of the F12 voyage or someone sailing (me) on F12!
Thanks everyone for listening/helping us out! :)
SH
P.S. I'll write about Uruguay tomorrow!
Friday, November 16, 2012
Facebook Stars!
11.16.12
Everyone should go 'like' the Semester at Sea Facebook Page! The video
of "Donate Maybe" is going to be up today! ISE loved it and so it'll be
up sometime in the near future! :)
SH
Everyone should go 'like' the Semester at Sea Facebook Page! The video
of "Donate Maybe" is going to be up today! ISE loved it and so it'll be
up sometime in the near future! :)
SH
Adventures in Buenos Aires!
11.16.12
Good morning everyone!
My time in Buenos Aires was loads of fun, and it was one port that I basically did not have anything planned! So the first day all I did was walk around and hit the main areas of the parts of the city that were closest to port. The group I traveled with found a Starbucks, and were super thrilled. (I hate coffee, so the only things there I would want are the pastries!)
That night I went with Ben, his brother Jake, and their friends. We went to a place called The Roof...which was really cool, mainly because it was on top of a roof haha. While I was there, I met this really cool girl named Anna from Switzerland! She had been in Buenos Aires for 3 months studying abroad, and she wrote on my map some of the highlights that she wouldn't want people to miss while they were in Argentina!
So the next couple days I followed her advice! I traveled with a few people each day, but it always varied! With Colleen, Amy, and Megan Drew, I went to this interesting cemetery. It isn't like the ones we have back in the States. It basically is monuments for those who have passed, and their coffins may be in there, or it could be ashes. Some monuments are for families and have multiple people there. You could look into them, some had stained glass, but all were taller and larger than me! It was also concrete, there was no grass in this cemetery. I have some pictures that I would love to put up when I get home! We also went to this metal flower that was nearby, called Floralis Genérica. What was really amazing about this giant flower is that it closes at night, and in the morning it opens up again! Like some flowers actually do!
The day after this Colleen and I went to the Pink House! It's like the White House, but a) it's pink and b) the President does not live there, it's only a place of work. We didn't get to go in, but it was neat to look at it! We joined with our friend Jonathan later that day and attempted to go to the area of La Boca. In this area, there are special houses that are painted all different colors! We finally made it there, but it took about 5 hours because the tour guide, the tour guide! told us the right bus to catch, but the wrong stop, which led us in the wrong direction. It was quite the adventure, but like I mentioned before, we finally made it, and the houses were really special. I got a lot of pictures, and the scene looks like something out of a story book! Everyone should look it up until I have the opportunity to put pictures up here!
Our last day in Buenos Aires I managed to get a free service trip to a program called L.I.F.E. Playtime program. It was a lot of fun, and I bought the kids a soccer ball to play with too. We made masks, played soccer, some children just made/decorated shapes like flowers or hearts! I'm glad I was able to go, and I wish we would have had more time with them! Not only that, but I thought maybe it's time to learn another language as well, because it wasn't just me who had a very difficult time communicating, it was everyone. Maybe if I have time I'll look into that once I'm home!
It took a night to reach Montevideo, which I'll write about next!
SH
Good morning everyone!
My time in Buenos Aires was loads of fun, and it was one port that I basically did not have anything planned! So the first day all I did was walk around and hit the main areas of the parts of the city that were closest to port. The group I traveled with found a Starbucks, and were super thrilled. (I hate coffee, so the only things there I would want are the pastries!)
That night I went with Ben, his brother Jake, and their friends. We went to a place called The Roof...which was really cool, mainly because it was on top of a roof haha. While I was there, I met this really cool girl named Anna from Switzerland! She had been in Buenos Aires for 3 months studying abroad, and she wrote on my map some of the highlights that she wouldn't want people to miss while they were in Argentina!
So the next couple days I followed her advice! I traveled with a few people each day, but it always varied! With Colleen, Amy, and Megan Drew, I went to this interesting cemetery. It isn't like the ones we have back in the States. It basically is monuments for those who have passed, and their coffins may be in there, or it could be ashes. Some monuments are for families and have multiple people there. You could look into them, some had stained glass, but all were taller and larger than me! It was also concrete, there was no grass in this cemetery. I have some pictures that I would love to put up when I get home! We also went to this metal flower that was nearby, called Floralis Genérica. What was really amazing about this giant flower is that it closes at night, and in the morning it opens up again! Like some flowers actually do!
The day after this Colleen and I went to the Pink House! It's like the White House, but a) it's pink and b) the President does not live there, it's only a place of work. We didn't get to go in, but it was neat to look at it! We joined with our friend Jonathan later that day and attempted to go to the area of La Boca. In this area, there are special houses that are painted all different colors! We finally made it there, but it took about 5 hours because the tour guide, the tour guide! told us the right bus to catch, but the wrong stop, which led us in the wrong direction. It was quite the adventure, but like I mentioned before, we finally made it, and the houses were really special. I got a lot of pictures, and the scene looks like something out of a story book! Everyone should look it up until I have the opportunity to put pictures up here!
Our last day in Buenos Aires I managed to get a free service trip to a program called L.I.F.E. Playtime program. It was a lot of fun, and I bought the kids a soccer ball to play with too. We made masks, played soccer, some children just made/decorated shapes like flowers or hearts! I'm glad I was able to go, and I wish we would have had more time with them! Not only that, but I thought maybe it's time to learn another language as well, because it wasn't just me who had a very difficult time communicating, it was everyone. Maybe if I have time I'll look into that once I'm home!
It took a night to reach Montevideo, which I'll write about next!
SH
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Re-Reading blog posts
11.15.12-
wowww...I need to learn to re-read some of these! There was an awful
grammatical error in the last one, that I can't wait to have internet so
I can fix it!
I meant to say:
Nov. 20th-Where in the World are you? (***Wear what you bought in port!)
MB! More later tonight! :)
SH
wowww...I need to learn to re-read some of these! There was an awful
grammatical error in the last one, that I can't wait to have internet so
I can fix it!
I meant to say:
Nov. 20th-Where in the World are you? (***Wear what you bought in port!)
MB! More later tonight! :)
SH
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
A Successful Day Here on the MV Explorer!
11.14.12
First I'd like to say CONGRATS to Kim! I knew you would make it into
Med School! :) Great job girly!! Love youuu!
Secondly, I've had a long, but pretty great day! It didn't start that
amazing since I haven't been feeling well, but it definitely got better
throughout the day!
First, at work, we got a lot done for the Shipboard Drive-which starts
tomorrow! We have Spirit Week lined up too!
Nov. 15th- Show your SAS Pride!
Nov. 16th-Mismatched Day
Nov. 17th- Dress to Impress! (Day of the Auction)
Nov. 18th-Game Day Attire
Nov. 19th- Rep your Home University
Nov. 20th- Where in the World are you? (Where what you bought in port!)
Nov. 21st- Sea Spirit!
Overall, it's going to be a great week! And I also got to be on the
"Bing Bong!" It's the P.A. system of the ship! I've been wanting to
say something on it all semester, and finally I had the opportunity to
today! :)
Not to mention that, but I FINALLY SAW A WHALE! Actually, just the tail
of one slapping the water a bunch of times, but I count it!! Guess
they're not so fictional after all! :)
Well I have a lot to do before tomorrow! I've got to be at work at 6:30am!
SH
First I'd like to say CONGRATS to Kim! I knew you would make it into
Med School! :) Great job girly!! Love youuu!
Secondly, I've had a long, but pretty great day! It didn't start that
amazing since I haven't been feeling well, but it definitely got better
throughout the day!
First, at work, we got a lot done for the Shipboard Drive-which starts
tomorrow! We have Spirit Week lined up too!
Nov. 15th- Show your SAS Pride!
Nov. 16th-Mismatched Day
Nov. 17th- Dress to Impress! (Day of the Auction)
Nov. 18th-Game Day Attire
Nov. 19th- Rep your Home University
Nov. 20th- Where in the World are you? (Where what you bought in port!)
Nov. 21st- Sea Spirit!
Overall, it's going to be a great week! And I also got to be on the
"Bing Bong!" It's the P.A. system of the ship! I've been wanting to
say something on it all semester, and finally I had the opportunity to
today! :)
Not to mention that, but I FINALLY SAW A WHALE! Actually, just the tail
of one slapping the water a bunch of times, but I count it!! Guess
they're not so fictional after all! :)
Well I have a lot to do before tomorrow! I've got to be at work at 6:30am!
SH
Sea Olympics and Halloween!
11.14.12
Hey everyone! I know I've been lagging on the blogging, but hopefully
this week won't be as hectic as I think it might be and I'll have some
time to write! (The shipboard drive starts this week!!)
Anyway, on to more fun times here on the MV Explorer! Every semester
(except summer) there is a competition between the seas called the Sea
Olympics! The seas are determined by where you live on the ship. I'm
part of the Red Sea, and we're one of the smallest seas!
Well the events started with our opening ceremony to which each sea had
the opportunity to do a lip sync. Our sea used songs from around the
continents that we went to, including The Lion King's "Circle of Life"
and the movie Rio's "Let me take you to Rio." I have all of the lip
sync's on video! So in order to rally our sea, everyone wore bright red
and we painted our faces with tribal symbols! Jacques, the Sea Olympics
Coordinator, got up to say a few words before the competition began, to
which our sea started chanting, "Moses, Moses!" He told us later that
it took everything in him not to start bursting out laughing!
There were over 30 events for people to participate in, including dodge
ball, a few relay races, Jeopardy, a scavenger hunt, and even more!
There were two secret events, and I was a part of one of them...it turns
out that the two comedians on the ship were going to try to make us
laugh and we couldn't even smile! Can you believe I was one of those
who tied for first?! Crazy isn't it haha. Actually, Jacques was
surprised at how many people didn't get out-I think about 6 per round
(there were two rounds) all tied for first!
Overall, the day was pretty fun, but our sea came in 7th place. This is
partially attributed to the fact that we are smaller than over half the
seas! (The biggest seas have over 70 people!) But, it just means we
get to sleep in a little bit longer I suppose, and have more time with
the ship! The prize for coming in first in the Sea Olympics is getting
off the ship first in Florida when we come back to the states!
Then there's Halloween on the ship too! It was also a great day! I
dressed up as a pirate, how ironic haha. A lot of people actually
dressed up though! Grace and Owen, the twin 2 year olds were Mickey and
Minnie, while their older sister was Ariel! Some other people were
zombies, dolls, nerds, etc. Danielle was Katniss. Amy didn't have a
costume, but she lives in the Caribbean Sea on the ship, so we wrote
that on her Sea shirt and we became Pirates of the Caribbean!
Dean John wore this really bright orange shirt. I told him the last
time he wore it that he looked like a giant pumpkin and he should wear
it again for Halloween...so what does he do? He wears it again, and
lets me make him a face out of construction paper! :) I can't wait to
show everyone the pictures! It was definitely an awesome costume, if I
do say so myself! :P
Later that night, we had a dance party in the Union, and the music was
basically all the hits of the 1990s...it was a throwback for sure! But
it was a good night too! During snack time, I gave my pirate hat to one
of the crew members so he could have a costume for the crew party that
was going on at the same time! I'm glad he was able to use it! :)
When the waves aren't so treacherously huge, life on the ship is pretty
normal and a lot of fun! I know for a fact I'm going to miss this when
I get home!
SH
Hey everyone! I know I've been lagging on the blogging, but hopefully
this week won't be as hectic as I think it might be and I'll have some
time to write! (The shipboard drive starts this week!!)
Anyway, on to more fun times here on the MV Explorer! Every semester
(except summer) there is a competition between the seas called the Sea
Olympics! The seas are determined by where you live on the ship. I'm
part of the Red Sea, and we're one of the smallest seas!
Well the events started with our opening ceremony to which each sea had
the opportunity to do a lip sync. Our sea used songs from around the
continents that we went to, including The Lion King's "Circle of Life"
and the movie Rio's "Let me take you to Rio." I have all of the lip
sync's on video! So in order to rally our sea, everyone wore bright red
and we painted our faces with tribal symbols! Jacques, the Sea Olympics
Coordinator, got up to say a few words before the competition began, to
which our sea started chanting, "Moses, Moses!" He told us later that
it took everything in him not to start bursting out laughing!
There were over 30 events for people to participate in, including dodge
ball, a few relay races, Jeopardy, a scavenger hunt, and even more!
There were two secret events, and I was a part of one of them...it turns
out that the two comedians on the ship were going to try to make us
laugh and we couldn't even smile! Can you believe I was one of those
who tied for first?! Crazy isn't it haha. Actually, Jacques was
surprised at how many people didn't get out-I think about 6 per round
(there were two rounds) all tied for first!
Overall, the day was pretty fun, but our sea came in 7th place. This is
partially attributed to the fact that we are smaller than over half the
seas! (The biggest seas have over 70 people!) But, it just means we
get to sleep in a little bit longer I suppose, and have more time with
the ship! The prize for coming in first in the Sea Olympics is getting
off the ship first in Florida when we come back to the states!
Then there's Halloween on the ship too! It was also a great day! I
dressed up as a pirate, how ironic haha. A lot of people actually
dressed up though! Grace and Owen, the twin 2 year olds were Mickey and
Minnie, while their older sister was Ariel! Some other people were
zombies, dolls, nerds, etc. Danielle was Katniss. Amy didn't have a
costume, but she lives in the Caribbean Sea on the ship, so we wrote
that on her Sea shirt and we became Pirates of the Caribbean!
Dean John wore this really bright orange shirt. I told him the last
time he wore it that he looked like a giant pumpkin and he should wear
it again for Halloween...so what does he do? He wears it again, and
lets me make him a face out of construction paper! :) I can't wait to
show everyone the pictures! It was definitely an awesome costume, if I
do say so myself! :P
Later that night, we had a dance party in the Union, and the music was
basically all the hits of the 1990s...it was a throwback for sure! But
it was a good night too! During snack time, I gave my pirate hat to one
of the crew members so he could have a costume for the crew party that
was going on at the same time! I'm glad he was able to use it! :)
When the waves aren't so treacherously huge, life on the ship is pretty
normal and a lot of fun! I know for a fact I'm going to miss this when
I get home!
SH
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Thanks!
11.11.12
So...I have a lot to write about, but I just wanted to give two shout
out thanks!
The first is to Jessica! I loved the Thanksgiving turkey hand!! I
really liked how you had the new itinerary, and how the middle of the
hand is like the Atlantic Ocean and the areas of the world connecting
it!! It's proudly hanging on my ceiling right now, and I was going to
make some after Rio! :)
The second is to Kim! You're the best friend ever! Thanks so much for
getting all my brothers from PSP and then some to sign some cards! I
miss you all very much, and it was the sweetest gesture!! All the
messages were so nice (even Rossy's haha) and I miss all my brothers! I
won't lie, it made me tear up a little bit! I can't wait to be home and
see everyone again! :)
Love you all and miss you just as much!
SH
So...I have a lot to write about, but I just wanted to give two shout
out thanks!
The first is to Jessica! I loved the Thanksgiving turkey hand!! I
really liked how you had the new itinerary, and how the middle of the
hand is like the Atlantic Ocean and the areas of the world connecting
it!! It's proudly hanging on my ceiling right now, and I was going to
make some after Rio! :)
The second is to Kim! You're the best friend ever! Thanks so much for
getting all my brothers from PSP and then some to sign some cards! I
miss you all very much, and it was the sweetest gesture!! All the
messages were so nice (even Rossy's haha) and I miss all my brothers! I
won't lie, it made me tear up a little bit! I can't wait to be home and
see everyone again! :)
Love you all and miss you just as much!
SH
Thursday, November 1, 2012
South Africa!
11.1.12
First I would like to say, I'm only an hour ahead of Kentucky! How
crazy is that?!
Secondly, what you've all been waiting for! My times in South Africa!
:) I won't lie, I definitely watched The Lion King the night before we
got into port too haha.
Well the first day in South Africa, my friends and I just walked around
the mall area for a little bit. The port of South Africa reminded me a
lot of the port in Halifax, but the mall area reminded me a lot of
home. We walked around because we had an appointment at 3pm to visit
SANCCOB. SANCCOB is a penguin rehabilitation center for South African
penguins. I found out about it by volunteering at the Newport Aquarium
this past summer, and when realized I would be able to visit, I made an
appointment so my friends and I could!
SANCCOB was really awesome! We saw how they prepare the medication, the
different pens the penguins (and other seabirds) are enclosed in when
they are being rehabilitated, and even got a chance to see some penguins
being fed! We had a chance to see some birds in the ICU, which just
limited their flying capability so that they can be treated easier. The
people we saw feeding penguins were actually volunteers! One girl was
from San Diego, California. It was definitely an amazing experience.
SANCCOB also has some penguins that permanently live there. This is
because they have injuries that are detrimental to survival in the
wild. A couple penguins were missing eyes, one was missing a foot, and
another was missing a flipper! Then there was Rocky, the Rockhopper
penguin who lives there. She washed up on the shores there, and they
don't know which flock she belonged to, so she stays at SANCCOB. We
were allowed to pet Rocky, and I have some great pictures to show everyone!
The second day was much the first, we basically just explored Cape Town
and the area around the mall. There was a little craft market that we
also went checked out. But the third day, a big group of us went on a
safari!! It was at the Aquila Game Reserve. It was absolutely
freezing, however, and it was so cold that the company provided us with
blankets! I have some really funny pictures of my friends and I
huddling together in our bright green blankets. But we saw a ton of
animals! Right off the bat, we saw an elephant! (Did you know an
elephant grows into its skin? Its wrinkly when it's younger, and then
gets less wrinkled the older/bigger it gets!) We also saw ostriches,
zebras, rhinos, hippos, lions, springbok, wildebeests, cheetahs,
crocodiles, and even a leopard, plus more animals! Some of the animals
were put in pens because they couldn't live with other animals, or they
needed special attention. That's the only time when the reserve felt
more like a zoo, but overall, I enjoyed the safari a lot!
The fourth day was probably my favorite overall though. Originally, the
group I was going to go hike Table Mountain with was about 15, and
growing. Due to clouds over Table Mountain, it dropped to 6 other
people, and 4 of them were because I had mentioned it to my friend
Ashlynn, who got a group to go. So basically, it was me and Brett from
the original group. We took a taxi to Table Mountain and began our
hike. It was much different than Mt. Teide, because it was more
stair-like, than a gradual slope. I was definitely feeling it a couple
days after the hike. Well we start climbing, and we get about a third
of the way up, and it starts to rain a little bit. Not a problem,
because it was cooling us off. But the higher we hiked, the more rain
we got, the more it began to storm. We ran into some hikers and two
National Park rangers. The rangers advised us to turn around and head
back down. So what do we do? Naturally, we kept hiking up the mountain
haha. I wouldn't advise it to anyone to do what we did, but we didn't
have time to try again the next day, so that's why we kept going. A few
times, a couple of the people in the group (who don't ever hike) thought
about turning around, be we coaxed them to keep going. The weather was
absolutely horrendous by this point. I literally almost got blown off
the side, but thankfully Brett caught my arm before I got much further!
(Don't worry Mom and Dad, I wouldn't be writing to you right now if I
wasn't alright!) We finally made it to the top, where the winds were so
strong, and the rain was pouring. It literally felt like we were in the
middle of a hurricane, but the point is, we made it to the top!! It was
an awesome bonding experience, and we can say we made it to the top of
Table Mountain, one of the 7 World Wonders!
The last day in port I baby sat for a family that I'm pretty good
friends with here on the ship. They're going to come to Northern
Kentucky over winter break to visit their extended family, and then
we're going to get together one night! I'm really excited.
Overall, I had a great time in South Africa, and I definitely want to
come back because I was unable to shark cage dive and go to Robben Island!
Tomorrow we make it to Argentina! It's been a long 10 day trek across
the Atlantic, and I'm definitely ready to be on land again!
SH
First I would like to say, I'm only an hour ahead of Kentucky! How
crazy is that?!
Secondly, what you've all been waiting for! My times in South Africa!
:) I won't lie, I definitely watched The Lion King the night before we
got into port too haha.
Well the first day in South Africa, my friends and I just walked around
the mall area for a little bit. The port of South Africa reminded me a
lot of the port in Halifax, but the mall area reminded me a lot of
home. We walked around because we had an appointment at 3pm to visit
SANCCOB. SANCCOB is a penguin rehabilitation center for South African
penguins. I found out about it by volunteering at the Newport Aquarium
this past summer, and when realized I would be able to visit, I made an
appointment so my friends and I could!
SANCCOB was really awesome! We saw how they prepare the medication, the
different pens the penguins (and other seabirds) are enclosed in when
they are being rehabilitated, and even got a chance to see some penguins
being fed! We had a chance to see some birds in the ICU, which just
limited their flying capability so that they can be treated easier. The
people we saw feeding penguins were actually volunteers! One girl was
from San Diego, California. It was definitely an amazing experience.
SANCCOB also has some penguins that permanently live there. This is
because they have injuries that are detrimental to survival in the
wild. A couple penguins were missing eyes, one was missing a foot, and
another was missing a flipper! Then there was Rocky, the Rockhopper
penguin who lives there. She washed up on the shores there, and they
don't know which flock she belonged to, so she stays at SANCCOB. We
were allowed to pet Rocky, and I have some great pictures to show everyone!
The second day was much the first, we basically just explored Cape Town
and the area around the mall. There was a little craft market that we
also went checked out. But the third day, a big group of us went on a
safari!! It was at the Aquila Game Reserve. It was absolutely
freezing, however, and it was so cold that the company provided us with
blankets! I have some really funny pictures of my friends and I
huddling together in our bright green blankets. But we saw a ton of
animals! Right off the bat, we saw an elephant! (Did you know an
elephant grows into its skin? Its wrinkly when it's younger, and then
gets less wrinkled the older/bigger it gets!) We also saw ostriches,
zebras, rhinos, hippos, lions, springbok, wildebeests, cheetahs,
crocodiles, and even a leopard, plus more animals! Some of the animals
were put in pens because they couldn't live with other animals, or they
needed special attention. That's the only time when the reserve felt
more like a zoo, but overall, I enjoyed the safari a lot!
The fourth day was probably my favorite overall though. Originally, the
group I was going to go hike Table Mountain with was about 15, and
growing. Due to clouds over Table Mountain, it dropped to 6 other
people, and 4 of them were because I had mentioned it to my friend
Ashlynn, who got a group to go. So basically, it was me and Brett from
the original group. We took a taxi to Table Mountain and began our
hike. It was much different than Mt. Teide, because it was more
stair-like, than a gradual slope. I was definitely feeling it a couple
days after the hike. Well we start climbing, and we get about a third
of the way up, and it starts to rain a little bit. Not a problem,
because it was cooling us off. But the higher we hiked, the more rain
we got, the more it began to storm. We ran into some hikers and two
National Park rangers. The rangers advised us to turn around and head
back down. So what do we do? Naturally, we kept hiking up the mountain
haha. I wouldn't advise it to anyone to do what we did, but we didn't
have time to try again the next day, so that's why we kept going. A few
times, a couple of the people in the group (who don't ever hike) thought
about turning around, be we coaxed them to keep going. The weather was
absolutely horrendous by this point. I literally almost got blown off
the side, but thankfully Brett caught my arm before I got much further!
(Don't worry Mom and Dad, I wouldn't be writing to you right now if I
wasn't alright!) We finally made it to the top, where the winds were so
strong, and the rain was pouring. It literally felt like we were in the
middle of a hurricane, but the point is, we made it to the top!! It was
an awesome bonding experience, and we can say we made it to the top of
Table Mountain, one of the 7 World Wonders!
The last day in port I baby sat for a family that I'm pretty good
friends with here on the ship. They're going to come to Northern
Kentucky over winter break to visit their extended family, and then
we're going to get together one night! I'm really excited.
Overall, I had a great time in South Africa, and I definitely want to
come back because I was unable to shark cage dive and go to Robben Island!
Tomorrow we make it to Argentina! It's been a long 10 day trek across
the Atlantic, and I'm definitely ready to be on land again!
SH
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Greetings Pollywogs!
10.28.12
Let's go back to 10.12.12! It is on this day that the Fall 2012
Semester at Sea shipboard community became Emerald Shellbacks!
To start off, everyone is a "Pollywog," ie: someone who has not crossed
the equator via ship! Those who have already crossed are called
Shellbacks! On our voyage, we had some shellbacks (some who had been on
a previous SAS trip!), and it was really cool because a lot of the crew
got to participate with us! They were the Shellback Army, and we, as
pollywogs had to rise early for the festivities. Dean John and Dean Lisa
were King Neptune and Queen Minerva! It was really funny because they
both were dressed up, and DJ had green body paint allllllll over. I got
a picture and I can't wait to upload them! I e-mailed a few to Dr. M,
who also had DJ as her dean when she sailed, and she said that he hadn't
changed much in 12 years!! Though she said he didn't look as green on
her voyage! :P
We, the Fall 2012 shipboard community, awaited our fates on the 7th deck
by the pool. It was there where we saw 4 trashcans full of "fish
guts." They weren't really fish guts, it some green slime that to this
day, I still don't know what it was made from! (Though I'm hoping I
figure it out before the end of this voyage!
Well, once you get the fish guts dumped on you, you then jump into the
pool and swim across! After that, we had to kiss a fish (a real one!!)
as well as King Neptune's ring! Then we got salt spread over our head
and shoulders, to which we had then become shellbacks ourselves! I
hopped in with Danielle, since we're roomies! :) But it was awesome to
see everyone go as well, and even some of the new crew members got the
same treatment! The Staff Captain was the one who dumped the guts on
them. Afterwards, if people wanted, they could shave their heads from
the "Royal Barber"...I didn't though, I still have all my hair! There
were maybe 3 or 4 girls who shaved their heads completely, a lot of guys
did it (though most of their hair has already grown out) and then some
girls shaved part of their head too. Owen, the little 2 year old got
his head shave into a Mohawk first, and then all the way off...so cute!
Now, I mentioned earlier that we became "Emerald Shellbacks." Now what
does this mean exactly? It means that we crossed the equator at the
Prime Meridian! So we were at the exact center of the world for a few
minutes!! We had a latitude and longitude of 0,0 degrees! It's also
out of the way by a couple degrees, so most ships don't go through
there, and it's an extremely rare title! :)
I can't wait to upload pictures, you'll all love them!
Love your Emerald Shellback,
SH
Let's go back to 10.12.12! It is on this day that the Fall 2012
Semester at Sea shipboard community became Emerald Shellbacks!
To start off, everyone is a "Pollywog," ie: someone who has not crossed
the equator via ship! Those who have already crossed are called
Shellbacks! On our voyage, we had some shellbacks (some who had been on
a previous SAS trip!), and it was really cool because a lot of the crew
got to participate with us! They were the Shellback Army, and we, as
pollywogs had to rise early for the festivities. Dean John and Dean Lisa
were King Neptune and Queen Minerva! It was really funny because they
both were dressed up, and DJ had green body paint allllllll over. I got
a picture and I can't wait to upload them! I e-mailed a few to Dr. M,
who also had DJ as her dean when she sailed, and she said that he hadn't
changed much in 12 years!! Though she said he didn't look as green on
her voyage! :P
We, the Fall 2012 shipboard community, awaited our fates on the 7th deck
by the pool. It was there where we saw 4 trashcans full of "fish
guts." They weren't really fish guts, it some green slime that to this
day, I still don't know what it was made from! (Though I'm hoping I
figure it out before the end of this voyage!
Well, once you get the fish guts dumped on you, you then jump into the
pool and swim across! After that, we had to kiss a fish (a real one!!)
as well as King Neptune's ring! Then we got salt spread over our head
and shoulders, to which we had then become shellbacks ourselves! I
hopped in with Danielle, since we're roomies! :) But it was awesome to
see everyone go as well, and even some of the new crew members got the
same treatment! The Staff Captain was the one who dumped the guts on
them. Afterwards, if people wanted, they could shave their heads from
the "Royal Barber"...I didn't though, I still have all my hair! There
were maybe 3 or 4 girls who shaved their heads completely, a lot of guys
did it (though most of their hair has already grown out) and then some
girls shaved part of their head too. Owen, the little 2 year old got
his head shave into a Mohawk first, and then all the way off...so cute!
Now, I mentioned earlier that we became "Emerald Shellbacks." Now what
does this mean exactly? It means that we crossed the equator at the
Prime Meridian! So we were at the exact center of the world for a few
minutes!! We had a latitude and longitude of 0,0 degrees! It's also
out of the way by a couple degrees, so most ships don't go through
there, and it's an extremely rare title! :)
I can't wait to upload pictures, you'll all love them!
Love your Emerald Shellback,
SH
Friday, October 26, 2012
Taco Day Stats!
10.26.12
Keep forgetting to put this up, but these are so ridiculous I have to!
Below are the figures for the food consumed during Taco Day [10.4.12] (which also happened to be National Taco Day in the U.S.)
Number of taco shells - 1,600 shells
Pounds of ground beef - 130 lbs
Pounds of grated cheese - 50 lbs
Pounds of guacamole - 105 lbs
Pounds of sour cream - 50 lbs
Heads of lettuce - 68 heads
How crazy are these stats?! You can tell we were ready for a change haha. I'm also going to be upset if we don't get Taco Day again during this long trek to Argentina...
Keep forgetting to put this up, but these are so ridiculous I have to!
Below are the figures for the food consumed during Taco Day [10.4.12] (which also happened to be National Taco Day in the U.S.)
Number of taco shells - 1,600 shells
Pounds of ground beef - 130 lbs
Pounds of grated cheese - 50 lbs
Pounds of guacamole - 105 lbs
Pounds of sour cream - 50 lbs
Heads of lettuce - 68 heads
How crazy are these stats?! You can tell we were ready for a change haha. I'm also going to be upset if we don't get Taco Day again during this long trek to Argentina...
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Here Today, Ghana Tomorrow!
10.25.12
Alright, I know I've been slacking lately, so I'll be starting up a lot
with everything! I have lots to talk about! But tonight is just for
Ghana! :)
So I met this family on the ship. I first met Elena (she's 15 and a
dependent child) when she was sporting an NKU shirt! I immediately went
up to talk to her because I know I'm the only one from my campus here,
and it turns out she has a cousin who goes there! Well then we didn't
really talk because we didn't see each other. I randomly met up with
her family on the train in Portugal, and that's how I became involved
with the Freeman family! Harry is a psych professor here, and Grace is
his wife. Aside from Elena, they have two other children: Harrison, who
is 11, and Willa who is 8. Ever since Portugal, the Freeman's have
basically adopted me into their family. Since I had no plans for Ghana
aside from my field lab, I decided to hang out with Grace and the kids
the first day since Harry was busy.
I can't tell you the amount of times that Elena and I got proposed to
that day. I think it was over 5 each! It got to the point where Grace
would call me her daughter and that I was too young. That usually
worked! So basically the first day we just walked around Tema, and it
was pretty fun. We looked at the market, and Grace wanted to go down a
neighborhood, so I helped her convince the kids to go down as well. You
could tell they were uncomfortable, but they went along with it, and I'm
glad I got to visit! That night, much to my surprise, Grace invited me
on the ship to ice cream. She said that I had really helped her
children today and that it was nice that a college student wanted to
hang out with them. That surprised me because a) I felt like I pushed
them to do something they didn't want to do and b) they're a really cool
family-I'm surprised that not a lot of other people hang out with them
in port!
The next day I went to Accra with the girls. We went to the Accra
market on the beach. It was fun, but very overwhelming! Basically if
you said you would look at someone's "store" then you were practically
forced to buy something. I got a lot of cheap souvenirs that way...But
one really cool thing I got was a Ghanaian drum! I wasn't planning on
buying one at all, but we sat down in the shop and got a lesson on how
to play! It was definitely really interesting, and then they let us
pick the symbols we wanted carved on our drum! I picked a sun, meaning
Child of God, and what is considered "a snake climbing a palm tree," (it
doesn't actually look like that, it looks somewhat like a ladder) but
that means to do the unusual or the impossible. I thought they fit
well! I was getting irritated at the end because we hadn't eaten lunch,
and all we really wanted to do was get back to the ship to cool off and
eat (it was so hot!) so finally we were able to get away from all the
shop keepers in order to leave. That night we stayed near the ship, and
talked to one of the sellers who set up a market right outside our
ship! His name is B.A. and he taught us how to play a game called
"Umpay." It reminds me of rock, paper, scissors!
The third day was also pretty awesome. I hung out with Harry and
Harrison, and first we walked around again. We managed to go find the
Church of the Prime Meridian! There's a plaque there that shows where
exactly the Prime Meridian is, so we stood in both the West and East
hemispheres of the world at the same time! Then later that day, we went
to a soccer game. It was completely different from the one in
Portugal. First off, the tickets were only 5 Cedi ($2.50!). After we
got into the stadium, it was not what you would expect a soccer stadium
to look like. *Nate, Dad, and the rest of my family are probably the
only ones to get this reference.* The stadium looked like St. Monica's
field...only surrounded by a fence. So basically imagine a regular
soccer field, surrounded by a fence. That was the stadium. There were
only two areas to sit, and both were V.I.P. sections. These sections
were only 5 more Cedi, so we decided it would be fun to say we sat
V.I.P. and also we really just wanted the shade, because again, it was
so hot! Well the teams playing were Tema Youth vs. Accra Heart of Oak.
The game ended in a tie of 1-1. As we were walking back to the ship, a
local came up to us. He was yelling excitedly the entire time, "You
guys were on TV!" We had no idea what he was talking about until he
mentioned, "You guys were at the game right, at the park?" To which we
nodded, because he was definitely talking about soccer! The local then
repeated, "You were on TV! I remember seeing you and the little boy!"
(meaning Harrison!) So who knew?! Pretty neat that I'm able to say I
was on TV in Tema, Ghana!
The last day I had a field lab. It was not really what I was
expecting. We went to visit Friends of the Earth and then a fishing
village. Field labs are required for class, just to let everyone know!
Well, while we were at Friends of the Earth, we were lectured at...for 2
hours. I was expecting to learn about them, not what I had been
learning in class, so it was a little bit of a disappointment. The
fishing village wasn't much better. Basically we got off the bus and
walked around for a half hour...but the smell was so bad due to all the
dead fish. I felt so bad because most of us were having trouble keeping
lunch down, and I could only imagine how we looked to the locals. Rude,
ignorant, etc. It was definitely interesting to see how they dried the
fish and prepared it! They lay it out in the sun to dry, and there are
hundreds of boats in the lake! There were thousands of dead fish laying
out, and it was next to all their garbage and waste as well. Overall, I
was not happy with the field lab, but the fishing village was definitely
more educational than FOTE.
Well tomorrow I'll update more! Sorry everyone that I've been busy and
haven't had much time, but that should change now that we have 10 days
at sea! More updates tomorrow!
SH
Alright, I know I've been slacking lately, so I'll be starting up a lot
with everything! I have lots to talk about! But tonight is just for
Ghana! :)
So I met this family on the ship. I first met Elena (she's 15 and a
dependent child) when she was sporting an NKU shirt! I immediately went
up to talk to her because I know I'm the only one from my campus here,
and it turns out she has a cousin who goes there! Well then we didn't
really talk because we didn't see each other. I randomly met up with
her family on the train in Portugal, and that's how I became involved
with the Freeman family! Harry is a psych professor here, and Grace is
his wife. Aside from Elena, they have two other children: Harrison, who
is 11, and Willa who is 8. Ever since Portugal, the Freeman's have
basically adopted me into their family. Since I had no plans for Ghana
aside from my field lab, I decided to hang out with Grace and the kids
the first day since Harry was busy.
I can't tell you the amount of times that Elena and I got proposed to
that day. I think it was over 5 each! It got to the point where Grace
would call me her daughter and that I was too young. That usually
worked! So basically the first day we just walked around Tema, and it
was pretty fun. We looked at the market, and Grace wanted to go down a
neighborhood, so I helped her convince the kids to go down as well. You
could tell they were uncomfortable, but they went along with it, and I'm
glad I got to visit! That night, much to my surprise, Grace invited me
on the ship to ice cream. She said that I had really helped her
children today and that it was nice that a college student wanted to
hang out with them. That surprised me because a) I felt like I pushed
them to do something they didn't want to do and b) they're a really cool
family-I'm surprised that not a lot of other people hang out with them
in port!
The next day I went to Accra with the girls. We went to the Accra
market on the beach. It was fun, but very overwhelming! Basically if
you said you would look at someone's "store" then you were practically
forced to buy something. I got a lot of cheap souvenirs that way...But
one really cool thing I got was a Ghanaian drum! I wasn't planning on
buying one at all, but we sat down in the shop and got a lesson on how
to play! It was definitely really interesting, and then they let us
pick the symbols we wanted carved on our drum! I picked a sun, meaning
Child of God, and what is considered "a snake climbing a palm tree," (it
doesn't actually look like that, it looks somewhat like a ladder) but
that means to do the unusual or the impossible. I thought they fit
well! I was getting irritated at the end because we hadn't eaten lunch,
and all we really wanted to do was get back to the ship to cool off and
eat (it was so hot!) so finally we were able to get away from all the
shop keepers in order to leave. That night we stayed near the ship, and
talked to one of the sellers who set up a market right outside our
ship! His name is B.A. and he taught us how to play a game called
"Umpay." It reminds me of rock, paper, scissors!
The third day was also pretty awesome. I hung out with Harry and
Harrison, and first we walked around again. We managed to go find the
Church of the Prime Meridian! There's a plaque there that shows where
exactly the Prime Meridian is, so we stood in both the West and East
hemispheres of the world at the same time! Then later that day, we went
to a soccer game. It was completely different from the one in
Portugal. First off, the tickets were only 5 Cedi ($2.50!). After we
got into the stadium, it was not what you would expect a soccer stadium
to look like. *Nate, Dad, and the rest of my family are probably the
only ones to get this reference.* The stadium looked like St. Monica's
field...only surrounded by a fence. So basically imagine a regular
soccer field, surrounded by a fence. That was the stadium. There were
only two areas to sit, and both were V.I.P. sections. These sections
were only 5 more Cedi, so we decided it would be fun to say we sat
V.I.P. and also we really just wanted the shade, because again, it was
so hot! Well the teams playing were Tema Youth vs. Accra Heart of Oak.
The game ended in a tie of 1-1. As we were walking back to the ship, a
local came up to us. He was yelling excitedly the entire time, "You
guys were on TV!" We had no idea what he was talking about until he
mentioned, "You guys were at the game right, at the park?" To which we
nodded, because he was definitely talking about soccer! The local then
repeated, "You were on TV! I remember seeing you and the little boy!"
(meaning Harrison!) So who knew?! Pretty neat that I'm able to say I
was on TV in Tema, Ghana!
The last day I had a field lab. It was not really what I was
expecting. We went to visit Friends of the Earth and then a fishing
village. Field labs are required for class, just to let everyone know!
Well, while we were at Friends of the Earth, we were lectured at...for 2
hours. I was expecting to learn about them, not what I had been
learning in class, so it was a little bit of a disappointment. The
fishing village wasn't much better. Basically we got off the bus and
walked around for a half hour...but the smell was so bad due to all the
dead fish. I felt so bad because most of us were having trouble keeping
lunch down, and I could only imagine how we looked to the locals. Rude,
ignorant, etc. It was definitely interesting to see how they dried the
fish and prepared it! They lay it out in the sun to dry, and there are
hundreds of boats in the lake! There were thousands of dead fish laying
out, and it was next to all their garbage and waste as well. Overall, I
was not happy with the field lab, but the fishing village was definitely
more educational than FOTE.
Well tomorrow I'll update more! Sorry everyone that I've been busy and
haven't had much time, but that should change now that we have 10 days
at sea! More updates tomorrow!
SH
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Donate Maybe?
10.16.12
Hey! Today I'm going to discuss a little bit about my job on the ship.
Can I just say that I love it? I work with 8 other students and our
boss. We're split into 3 groups, one working on the Auction, one
working on the Ball, and then there's Tucker, Jared, and I who are
working on the Shipboard Drive.
The Shipboard Drive is the week-long fundraiser that occurs between Rio
de Janeiro and Manaus. This is slightly ironic. Did you know that our
tuition does not cover the cost of the entire voyage? Guess where we
would end our voyage if we just sailed to where our tuition
stopped...that's right: somewhere in Brazil!
How do we get from Brazil back home? Donations from Alumni and
families! Basically, Jared, Tucker, and I are working to raise
awareness of how important it is to pay it forward and donate back to
Semester at Sea. We have a couple themes:
1. Mind the Gap- In London, on the underground tube station, it
always tells people to "Mind the Gap." The Gap is a little space
between the walkway and the tube. Well, we have a gap ourselves, and
that's to get from Brazil back home. So people have minded that Gap for
us, it's our turn to help another voyage.
2. $12 for the F '12 voyage! We're asking family and friends
to donate $12 or increments of $12 for our Fall 2012 voyage! We
calculated that if everyone on the FB page gives a minimum of $12, it
would be well over $200,000!
One way the 3 of us raised some awareness for the Shipboard Drive is
getting up in front of the entire shipboard community the night before
we got to Ghana. We did a couple trivia questions before, but this time
we decided to do a parody. We got up there and talked a little bit
about our themes, and at the end we all said at the same time, "Donate
maybe?"
Yes. We did do a complete parody to the song "Call me Maybe." There's
about 8 videos going around, so don't worry, everyone will have the
opportunity to see it! It's absolutely hysterical, and it went really
well with everyone! Our boss had it video-taped too. I'll post the
lyrics later so everyone can sing to it! (We're going to try to auction
them off, autographed of course, and I don't want people to have easy
access to them before we do!)
I was actually in a market in Accra when that song came on again...it
took me an entire verse to realize I was singing our version and not the
real version haha!
I hope everyone will donate for us as well, and I'll try to post one of
the videos I have next time I get free wifi! Miss everyone!
SH
Hey! Today I'm going to discuss a little bit about my job on the ship.
Can I just say that I love it? I work with 8 other students and our
boss. We're split into 3 groups, one working on the Auction, one
working on the Ball, and then there's Tucker, Jared, and I who are
working on the Shipboard Drive.
The Shipboard Drive is the week-long fundraiser that occurs between Rio
de Janeiro and Manaus. This is slightly ironic. Did you know that our
tuition does not cover the cost of the entire voyage? Guess where we
would end our voyage if we just sailed to where our tuition
stopped...that's right: somewhere in Brazil!
How do we get from Brazil back home? Donations from Alumni and
families! Basically, Jared, Tucker, and I are working to raise
awareness of how important it is to pay it forward and donate back to
Semester at Sea. We have a couple themes:
1. Mind the Gap- In London, on the underground tube station, it
always tells people to "Mind the Gap." The Gap is a little space
between the walkway and the tube. Well, we have a gap ourselves, and
that's to get from Brazil back home. So people have minded that Gap for
us, it's our turn to help another voyage.
2. $12 for the F '12 voyage! We're asking family and friends
to donate $12 or increments of $12 for our Fall 2012 voyage! We
calculated that if everyone on the FB page gives a minimum of $12, it
would be well over $200,000!
One way the 3 of us raised some awareness for the Shipboard Drive is
getting up in front of the entire shipboard community the night before
we got to Ghana. We did a couple trivia questions before, but this time
we decided to do a parody. We got up there and talked a little bit
about our themes, and at the end we all said at the same time, "Donate
maybe?"
Yes. We did do a complete parody to the song "Call me Maybe." There's
about 8 videos going around, so don't worry, everyone will have the
opportunity to see it! It's absolutely hysterical, and it went really
well with everyone! Our boss had it video-taped too. I'll post the
lyrics later so everyone can sing to it! (We're going to try to auction
them off, autographed of course, and I don't want people to have easy
access to them before we do!)
I was actually in a market in Accra when that song came on again...it
took me an entire verse to realize I was singing our version and not the
real version haha!
I hope everyone will donate for us as well, and I'll try to post one of
the videos I have next time I get free wifi! Miss everyone!
SH
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Mt. Teide!
10.14.12
Hey everyone! So, I'm pretty disappointed that we didn't end up going
to Morocco, but I made the best of the Canary Islands! We knew before
Spain that we were unable to make it to Casablanca, due to the tensions
in Northern Africa, but Danielle's dad sent her some pretty cool things
to do in the Canary Islands. We decided to go hike up Mt. Teide, the
world's 3rd tallest active volcano! Danielle and I went with Colleen,
Amy, and part of my "extended" family on the ship: Ann, Dale, Pete, and
Mike! Dale and Ann are my "parents" and Pete and Mike are their
biological sons, so my "brothers." We couldn't get a permit to hike to
the very summit unless we stayed the night at the Hostel that was
located about 500 m from the top. So we stayed the night :)
The hike up the first day was pretty intense. It was pretty much dead
silent except for us talking, which was weird because when we saved our
breath for hiking, the only noises were the crunching of our boots.
However, the hike itself was great...every view was breath-taking, and
you wouldn't think that a bunch of rocks would be amazing, but the
sights were absolutely gorgeous!
We saw dried lava flow from the last time Mt. Teide erupted, which was
in 1909! It took us a good 4 or 5 hours to hike to the hostel, and we
stopped for lunch on the way up! Once we reached the hostel, we had to
wait because they didn't actually opened until 5pm, and we got there
about 3:30pm! So to pass the time, we ate some snacks, we played
Frisbee, and honestly, Danielle, Colleen, Amy, and I found a pretty
comfortable rock in the sun and took a nap too haha. So yes, I have
literally slept on a volcano before!
While at the hostel, we talked to some pretty cool people! Tom and Adi
were two guys from London we met. Adi decided to sleep outside, in the
cold, in his sleeping bag, because he "didn't drag that thing all the
way from London for nothing!" That night, the moon was ridiculously
bright, but it was so amazing! There were a ton of stars to see as
well. I wish my camera could pick them up, but alas, it doesn't. :(
The beds were pretty comfortable, and there were 3 rooms that had 16
beds each. One bathroom for guys, one for girls. No shower, and zero
trash cans! We had to carry everything with us! Even though the beds
were comfortable, I couldn't sleep well because of either altitude
sickness (headache) or because I was too excited!
We woke up late, but it was still really early, at about 5:15am! Then we
made the trek up to the summit. It was pretty cold, but if you kept
moving, it was pretty hot. Amy and I ended up getting ahead of the
group, which Mike and Pete caught up with us later. It was also
somewhat difficult seeing the trail with only the moonlight, even though
it was so bright. I was thankful for my headlamp I bought before the
voyage!
Pete, Mike, Amy, and I got up to the cable car line, which lead to the
summit, and surprisingly, there was a pretty nice trail up to the top!
It took us a little bit to hike up there, because it became really steep
and so it was a bit more difficult to climb up. When we got there, it
was still well before sunrise, something we didn't expect to happen. I
guess I shouldn't underestimate myself so much! haha. Anyway, it was
absolutely freezing up at the summit...it was dark, we weren't moving,
and it was just cold! Who knew the top of an active volcano would be so
cold? And our only sources of heat were sulfur vents...we smelled
amazing, let me tell you haha.
I had on two pairs of sweatpants, a pair of shorts, a long sleeve
tshirt, a short sleeved tshirt, and a hoodie, and gloves, and I was
still absolutely freezing! Then it took the sun what seemed like much
longer to rise than normal. This might have been because we were above
the clouds! However, even though I thought I would freeze, the sights
were definitely worth it! The shadow on the other side was stunning,
and we saw both the sun and the moon up in the sky together! I'm glad I
was able to make it to the summit, since it was my first time hiking
anything that high before!
We took the cable car back down to make sure we made it back to the ship
in time, and that took about 10 minutes. Made our accomplishment seem
like nothing...awesome hah. But all in all, the experiences were the
best, and I had a great time! All for now!
SH
Hey everyone! So, I'm pretty disappointed that we didn't end up going
to Morocco, but I made the best of the Canary Islands! We knew before
Spain that we were unable to make it to Casablanca, due to the tensions
in Northern Africa, but Danielle's dad sent her some pretty cool things
to do in the Canary Islands. We decided to go hike up Mt. Teide, the
world's 3rd tallest active volcano! Danielle and I went with Colleen,
Amy, and part of my "extended" family on the ship: Ann, Dale, Pete, and
Mike! Dale and Ann are my "parents" and Pete and Mike are their
biological sons, so my "brothers." We couldn't get a permit to hike to
the very summit unless we stayed the night at the Hostel that was
located about 500 m from the top. So we stayed the night :)
The hike up the first day was pretty intense. It was pretty much dead
silent except for us talking, which was weird because when we saved our
breath for hiking, the only noises were the crunching of our boots.
However, the hike itself was great...every view was breath-taking, and
you wouldn't think that a bunch of rocks would be amazing, but the
sights were absolutely gorgeous!
We saw dried lava flow from the last time Mt. Teide erupted, which was
in 1909! It took us a good 4 or 5 hours to hike to the hostel, and we
stopped for lunch on the way up! Once we reached the hostel, we had to
wait because they didn't actually opened until 5pm, and we got there
about 3:30pm! So to pass the time, we ate some snacks, we played
Frisbee, and honestly, Danielle, Colleen, Amy, and I found a pretty
comfortable rock in the sun and took a nap too haha. So yes, I have
literally slept on a volcano before!
While at the hostel, we talked to some pretty cool people! Tom and Adi
were two guys from London we met. Adi decided to sleep outside, in the
cold, in his sleeping bag, because he "didn't drag that thing all the
way from London for nothing!" That night, the moon was ridiculously
bright, but it was so amazing! There were a ton of stars to see as
well. I wish my camera could pick them up, but alas, it doesn't. :(
The beds were pretty comfortable, and there were 3 rooms that had 16
beds each. One bathroom for guys, one for girls. No shower, and zero
trash cans! We had to carry everything with us! Even though the beds
were comfortable, I couldn't sleep well because of either altitude
sickness (headache) or because I was too excited!
We woke up late, but it was still really early, at about 5:15am! Then we
made the trek up to the summit. It was pretty cold, but if you kept
moving, it was pretty hot. Amy and I ended up getting ahead of the
group, which Mike and Pete caught up with us later. It was also
somewhat difficult seeing the trail with only the moonlight, even though
it was so bright. I was thankful for my headlamp I bought before the
voyage!
Pete, Mike, Amy, and I got up to the cable car line, which lead to the
summit, and surprisingly, there was a pretty nice trail up to the top!
It took us a little bit to hike up there, because it became really steep
and so it was a bit more difficult to climb up. When we got there, it
was still well before sunrise, something we didn't expect to happen. I
guess I shouldn't underestimate myself so much! haha. Anyway, it was
absolutely freezing up at the summit...it was dark, we weren't moving,
and it was just cold! Who knew the top of an active volcano would be so
cold? And our only sources of heat were sulfur vents...we smelled
amazing, let me tell you haha.
I had on two pairs of sweatpants, a pair of shorts, a long sleeve
tshirt, a short sleeved tshirt, and a hoodie, and gloves, and I was
still absolutely freezing! Then it took the sun what seemed like much
longer to rise than normal. This might have been because we were above
the clouds! However, even though I thought I would freeze, the sights
were definitely worth it! The shadow on the other side was stunning,
and we saw both the sun and the moon up in the sky together! I'm glad I
was able to make it to the summit, since it was my first time hiking
anything that high before!
We took the cable car back down to make sure we made it back to the ship
in time, and that took about 10 minutes. Made our accomplishment seem
like nothing...awesome hah. But all in all, the experiences were the
best, and I had a great time! All for now!
SH
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Hoping for another Red October!
10.13.12
I finally have enough time to talk to everyone for a little bit, and I
don't know what I want to say! There are too many things, and I want to
space it out so that I don't post more than once or twice a day! (That
way everyone doesn't get too overwhelmed!) :)
Honestly, the thing that's most on my mind right now? Baseball. My dad
has been keeping me updated recently (thanks dad!) and it's a big deal
aboard the ship. I can't tell you how many people have either a) been
coming up to me asking if I've heard what happened (like with
yesterday's game!!!), or b) that they now want the Cards to take the
title again, either due to hatred of the Giants (love the Dogers fans on
the ship haha) or because of how crazy this entire post season has been!
There's one person on the ship, Ben (a Yankees fan), and today we ran
into each other...the first words? Congratulations and did you hear
what happened?!
I'm going to be getting a lot of use out of my two Cards shirts, along
with my only Cards hoodie haha. I'm crossing my fingers for another Red
October! Maybe the Rally Squirrel will make a comeback as well lol. I
also kinda want it to be the Cards and the Tigers in the WS...round 2,
six years later!
Anyway, tonight I'm eating dinner with my extended family, so I'm pretty
excited about that! Tomorrow I'll post about Mt. Teide! If I space it
right, I'll only have to do one blog a day between now and South Africa :)
Anyway, off to eat dinner!
SH
I finally have enough time to talk to everyone for a little bit, and I
don't know what I want to say! There are too many things, and I want to
space it out so that I don't post more than once or twice a day! (That
way everyone doesn't get too overwhelmed!) :)
Honestly, the thing that's most on my mind right now? Baseball. My dad
has been keeping me updated recently (thanks dad!) and it's a big deal
aboard the ship. I can't tell you how many people have either a) been
coming up to me asking if I've heard what happened (like with
yesterday's game!!!), or b) that they now want the Cards to take the
title again, either due to hatred of the Giants (love the Dogers fans on
the ship haha) or because of how crazy this entire post season has been!
There's one person on the ship, Ben (a Yankees fan), and today we ran
into each other...the first words? Congratulations and did you hear
what happened?!
I'm going to be getting a lot of use out of my two Cards shirts, along
with my only Cards hoodie haha. I'm crossing my fingers for another Red
October! Maybe the Rally Squirrel will make a comeback as well lol. I
also kinda want it to be the Cards and the Tigers in the WS...round 2,
six years later!
Anyway, tonight I'm eating dinner with my extended family, so I'm pretty
excited about that! Tomorrow I'll post about Mt. Teide! If I space it
right, I'll only have to do one blog a day between now and South Africa :)
Anyway, off to eat dinner!
SH
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Mind the Gap and Donate Maybe!
10.7.12
Soooo I'll write about the Canary Islands soon, but I just wanted to
give everyone a quick update on ship life!
I've been pretty seasick this stretch, and am actually combating a
severe migraine at the moment, but other than the occasional
seasickness, ship life has been pretty fantastic. I've had a couple
tests, I got a B+ on my Global Studies exam, which isn't bad, and idk
how I did on the other.
The weather has been pretty awesome, aside from a few rain storms, and I
think that, along with the seasickness is what's making me get
headaches/migraines occur recently. I'm excited to be getting into
Ghana tomorrow!!
When I'm not seasick, I've been out tanning or playing in the pool with
the little kids, it's been a ton of fun! I'm actually starting to get a
tan! Wahoo! :)
The main reason I'm writing this blog though, now that the performance
is over, is because of my work study. Me, my friends Tucker and Jared
are all part of the Alumni Development and Assistant work study team!
Well, us 3 are working mainly on the Shipboard Drive.
The Shipboard Drive is a week long fundraiser that occurs during the
stretch at sea from Rio to Manaus. We have a couple themes this year,
and one of them is "Mind the Gap." (As in, the take from London's
Tube!) Did anyone know that the tuition we pay doesn't actually cover
the cost of the entire voyage? We would, ironically, have to end our
voyage somewhere near Brazil if we stopped when our tuition did.
This is where Alumni and others come in- donations from everyone
(particularly Alumni) help "Mind the Gap" from Brazil to get us back
home to the United States! So basically, Jared, Tucker's and my job is
to get people pumped about the Shipboard Drive, and to help raise
awareness so that we can all become those Alumni that help other SASers
during their future voyages.
One way we did this is by a little performance at what we call
"Logistical Pre-Port." This is where attendance is mandatory and
everyone has to be in the Union in order to hear about the field labs,
important health concerns, as well as attire and any general information.
Our performance happened to be a parody to the song "Call me Maybe."
Only our title was "Donate Maybe." We had a phenomenal turn out, even
though we dropped a couple lyrics in the moment. Either way, it was a
fabulous hit, and I can't wait to show everyone the video that Colleen
recorded!!! We're hoping to possibly do more of these, because of how
well it turned out!
That's about all I have to talk about! I can't wait to show everyone,
but I have to hit the hay because my migraine is really bad...I'll be
honest when I say I'm surprised I was able to go up on stage and sing
with the boys because of how poor I feel. :/ Either way, Ghana
tomorrow, and I'm super excited!
You'll hear more updates soon!
SH
Soooo I'll write about the Canary Islands soon, but I just wanted to
give everyone a quick update on ship life!
I've been pretty seasick this stretch, and am actually combating a
severe migraine at the moment, but other than the occasional
seasickness, ship life has been pretty fantastic. I've had a couple
tests, I got a B+ on my Global Studies exam, which isn't bad, and idk
how I did on the other.
The weather has been pretty awesome, aside from a few rain storms, and I
think that, along with the seasickness is what's making me get
headaches/migraines occur recently. I'm excited to be getting into
Ghana tomorrow!!
When I'm not seasick, I've been out tanning or playing in the pool with
the little kids, it's been a ton of fun! I'm actually starting to get a
tan! Wahoo! :)
The main reason I'm writing this blog though, now that the performance
is over, is because of my work study. Me, my friends Tucker and Jared
are all part of the Alumni Development and Assistant work study team!
Well, us 3 are working mainly on the Shipboard Drive.
The Shipboard Drive is a week long fundraiser that occurs during the
stretch at sea from Rio to Manaus. We have a couple themes this year,
and one of them is "Mind the Gap." (As in, the take from London's
Tube!) Did anyone know that the tuition we pay doesn't actually cover
the cost of the entire voyage? We would, ironically, have to end our
voyage somewhere near Brazil if we stopped when our tuition did.
This is where Alumni and others come in- donations from everyone
(particularly Alumni) help "Mind the Gap" from Brazil to get us back
home to the United States! So basically, Jared, Tucker's and my job is
to get people pumped about the Shipboard Drive, and to help raise
awareness so that we can all become those Alumni that help other SASers
during their future voyages.
One way we did this is by a little performance at what we call
"Logistical Pre-Port." This is where attendance is mandatory and
everyone has to be in the Union in order to hear about the field labs,
important health concerns, as well as attire and any general information.
Our performance happened to be a parody to the song "Call me Maybe."
Only our title was "Donate Maybe." We had a phenomenal turn out, even
though we dropped a couple lyrics in the moment. Either way, it was a
fabulous hit, and I can't wait to show everyone the video that Colleen
recorded!!! We're hoping to possibly do more of these, because of how
well it turned out!
That's about all I have to talk about! I can't wait to show everyone,
but I have to hit the hay because my migraine is really bad...I'll be
honest when I say I'm surprised I was able to go up on stage and sing
with the boys because of how poor I feel. :/ Either way, Ghana
tomorrow, and I'm super excited!
You'll hear more updates soon!
SH
Thursday, October 4, 2012
TACO DAY!!!
10.4.12
Sooo basically best. day. ever.
We had Taco Day for lunch!!! There were NO potatoes, and there was
tortilla soup as well!!!
Basically all you need to know about my day :)
SH
Sooo basically best. day. ever.
We had Taco Day for lunch!!! There were NO potatoes, and there was
tortilla soup as well!!!
Basically all you need to know about my day :)
SH
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Spain/Madrid!
10.3.12
I'm getting good at this, now that I have more than one day in between
sea and ports! :) haha. Still have to wait on pictures of all the blogs
though, sorry everyone!
Anyway, the point of this post was to let everyone know about my times
in Spain! The first day I honestly just walked around Cadiz, and
Danielle, Amy, Colleen, and I all stumbled upon a parade that apparently
only happens once a year! It seemed like it was a religious parade, but
we didn't get the name.
The second day was the day all of us went to Madrid! Dr. M has a friend
who lives there, his name is Michel. Well, Dr. M met him on HER voyage
back in the day when they sailed to Cuba. Michel then moved to Madrid
and has been there ever since!
So Michel and I had been e-mailing back and forth about making a visit,
who all I was traveling with, etc. But when we actually got to Madrid
around 6:00pm...I realized that I had absolutely no idea what he looked
like, and he didn't know what we looked like. I was wearing my SAS
hoodie, but other than that, I had hoped we would look enough like lost
Americans that he would realize who we were.
So we wait...and wait. I thought to myself how much it was a leap of
faith to not only be traveling to visit someone I had never met, but
also the girls for trusting me and Dr. M enough to go with me. I prayed
that we wouldn't be let down!
Well we waited about a half hour and we were going to just get a taxi to
his house (he said it was about 5 minutes away) but something told me to
wait a few more minutes. Which actually happened to pay off! The four
of us were standing by the taxis, and I happened to look down into the
train station through the window. That was when I saw someone walking
around with head phones, and as they turned around they pointed at me!
Bewildered, I pointed to myself, and the guy held his hand up. I didn't
understand, so I shook my head no, and put up 4 fingers, because there
were only 4 of us waiting haha. Well then he moved his arms and I was
the only one of us who made the connection that he was imitating the
rocking of a boat, so I burst out laughing and put my thumbs up!
The story gets even better, because we were supposed to be staying with
him, but he quickly tells us we are going to a hotel tonight instead.
You have to understand all of us were thinking that this was strange,
but sure. After we get to the hotel and put our stuff down, we went
back to the lobby where Michel was waiting for us. He then explained
his shower was broken and it was getting fixed in the morning. When we
had some free time later that night, we were saying that this was
ridiculous because we've been a night without a shower before, but it
was still a really nice gesture.
That night we went out to dinner with Michel, and a friend Raul (works
with Michel). I can't remember what Raul's friend's name was, but it
was a fun night. I didn't know if I would like Spanish food, so I was
pleasantly surprised when I liked everything I tasted. (Except for the
wine, I'm not a big fan of red wine). We had Spanish ham, cheese,
tortillas, and some sort of steak. It was an excellent meal!
Michel gave us his house key so that we could get into his apartment the
next morning, since he had to work. Well, we get there, and Michel
practically has a feast waiting for us! It was delicious! We had
chocolate cereal, Nutella, this really great cornish bread that I ended
up actually buying to take back to the ship, and all sorts of fruits!
Much better than any breakfast I've had on the ship!
Then that day we all decided to roam around Madrid. The only thing we
really did was we went up in this tower (I can't remember the name) and
the view was great! It was similar to the view in Portugal, except for
everything was closer. Aside from going up in the tower, we basically
just walked around, did a little shopping, visited a couple squares. It
was a nice day out, and it was nice to have a relaxing day in port.
For dinner, after Michel got off work, we went to a wine tasting place.
I liked the white wines better than the red, but I tried a little bit
of wine from a bottle that costs 300 Euros! We all then went to a Cuban
restaurant, so that we get both the taste of Spain and the taste of
Cuba. Again, I liked almost everything I tried, but there was vinegar
on my carrots or something and I couldn't eat them haha.
Michel had to go back to work that night, so me, Amy, Danielle, and
Colleen all went out to a Salsa Club with Raul and his friend Roberto.
Colleen was the only one out of us who knew how to salsa haha. She
attempted to teach me, Danielle, and Amy but I doubt I retained it lol.
Raul and Roberto weren't bad dancers either. The best part of the
night I think was when a song came on that the only way I can describe
it is by saying it's the Spanish Cha-Cha slide. It was fantastic, except
for we had no idea what we were doing!
Our last day in Madrid was short, and I felt so bad because Michel, who
had just worked all night, stayed up to show us a few of his favorite
spots in this really pretty park. We were relaxing on one of the park
benches, and he started to fall asleep! I felt really bad because he
totally should have just gone to sleep and kicked us out, but didn't.
We said our goodbyes early so that he could finally get some rest.
Madrid was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to meet one
of Dr. M's friends from her SAS voyage! Thanks again Michel, if you're
reading this, for letting us crash at your place and for everything you
showed us! I can speak for all of us when I say we had a great time!
Keep in touch!
SH
I'm getting good at this, now that I have more than one day in between
sea and ports! :) haha. Still have to wait on pictures of all the blogs
though, sorry everyone!
Anyway, the point of this post was to let everyone know about my times
in Spain! The first day I honestly just walked around Cadiz, and
Danielle, Amy, Colleen, and I all stumbled upon a parade that apparently
only happens once a year! It seemed like it was a religious parade, but
we didn't get the name.
The second day was the day all of us went to Madrid! Dr. M has a friend
who lives there, his name is Michel. Well, Dr. M met him on HER voyage
back in the day when they sailed to Cuba. Michel then moved to Madrid
and has been there ever since!
So Michel and I had been e-mailing back and forth about making a visit,
who all I was traveling with, etc. But when we actually got to Madrid
around 6:00pm...I realized that I had absolutely no idea what he looked
like, and he didn't know what we looked like. I was wearing my SAS
hoodie, but other than that, I had hoped we would look enough like lost
Americans that he would realize who we were.
So we wait...and wait. I thought to myself how much it was a leap of
faith to not only be traveling to visit someone I had never met, but
also the girls for trusting me and Dr. M enough to go with me. I prayed
that we wouldn't be let down!
Well we waited about a half hour and we were going to just get a taxi to
his house (he said it was about 5 minutes away) but something told me to
wait a few more minutes. Which actually happened to pay off! The four
of us were standing by the taxis, and I happened to look down into the
train station through the window. That was when I saw someone walking
around with head phones, and as they turned around they pointed at me!
Bewildered, I pointed to myself, and the guy held his hand up. I didn't
understand, so I shook my head no, and put up 4 fingers, because there
were only 4 of us waiting haha. Well then he moved his arms and I was
the only one of us who made the connection that he was imitating the
rocking of a boat, so I burst out laughing and put my thumbs up!
The story gets even better, because we were supposed to be staying with
him, but he quickly tells us we are going to a hotel tonight instead.
You have to understand all of us were thinking that this was strange,
but sure. After we get to the hotel and put our stuff down, we went
back to the lobby where Michel was waiting for us. He then explained
his shower was broken and it was getting fixed in the morning. When we
had some free time later that night, we were saying that this was
ridiculous because we've been a night without a shower before, but it
was still a really nice gesture.
That night we went out to dinner with Michel, and a friend Raul (works
with Michel). I can't remember what Raul's friend's name was, but it
was a fun night. I didn't know if I would like Spanish food, so I was
pleasantly surprised when I liked everything I tasted. (Except for the
wine, I'm not a big fan of red wine). We had Spanish ham, cheese,
tortillas, and some sort of steak. It was an excellent meal!
Michel gave us his house key so that we could get into his apartment the
next morning, since he had to work. Well, we get there, and Michel
practically has a feast waiting for us! It was delicious! We had
chocolate cereal, Nutella, this really great cornish bread that I ended
up actually buying to take back to the ship, and all sorts of fruits!
Much better than any breakfast I've had on the ship!
Then that day we all decided to roam around Madrid. The only thing we
really did was we went up in this tower (I can't remember the name) and
the view was great! It was similar to the view in Portugal, except for
everything was closer. Aside from going up in the tower, we basically
just walked around, did a little shopping, visited a couple squares. It
was a nice day out, and it was nice to have a relaxing day in port.
For dinner, after Michel got off work, we went to a wine tasting place.
I liked the white wines better than the red, but I tried a little bit
of wine from a bottle that costs 300 Euros! We all then went to a Cuban
restaurant, so that we get both the taste of Spain and the taste of
Cuba. Again, I liked almost everything I tried, but there was vinegar
on my carrots or something and I couldn't eat them haha.
Michel had to go back to work that night, so me, Amy, Danielle, and
Colleen all went out to a Salsa Club with Raul and his friend Roberto.
Colleen was the only one out of us who knew how to salsa haha. She
attempted to teach me, Danielle, and Amy but I doubt I retained it lol.
Raul and Roberto weren't bad dancers either. The best part of the
night I think was when a song came on that the only way I can describe
it is by saying it's the Spanish Cha-Cha slide. It was fantastic, except
for we had no idea what we were doing!
Our last day in Madrid was short, and I felt so bad because Michel, who
had just worked all night, stayed up to show us a few of his favorite
spots in this really pretty park. We were relaxing on one of the park
benches, and he started to fall asleep! I felt really bad because he
totally should have just gone to sleep and kicked us out, but didn't.
We said our goodbyes early so that he could finally get some rest.
Madrid was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to meet one
of Dr. M's friends from her SAS voyage! Thanks again Michel, if you're
reading this, for letting us crash at your place and for everything you
showed us! I can speak for all of us when I say we had a great time!
Keep in touch!
SH
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
More fun times in Portugal!
10.2.12-
Hey everyone! I just wanted to begin by saying Happy birthday to both
my little cousin, Evan, and my guinea pig Irene! :) Evan is going to be
perpetually 13, because I feel way too old when his birthday comes
around! Irene is one today :)
Anyway, on to discussing more about Portugal!!
The whole time I was in Portugal, I never traveled with the usuals: Amy,
Danielle, or Colleen. It's not like we got into an argument or
anything, but we just had different things to do on different days, and
honestly I had just as much fun hanging out with other people, and I'm
probably going to do that more often!
Well I made a promise to one of the Lifelong Learners, Barbara, that I
would go to the Oceanarium with her and another student, Tanya, the
second morning...I was exhausted because I had been out the night before
with Adan, Eugene and Brian, but I went with them instead of going to
the beach with the girls.
I expected more out of the Oceanarium...It's claim was it was the
biggest Oceanarium in Europe (maybe even the world). So I definitely
had high expectations for this place. However, when I was walking
through, I wasn't too impressed. The most they had going for them was
the giant tank, which could be seen from anywhere in the Oceanarium.
But it didn't seem like they put much effort into any other exhibits
really. The penguin exhibit was the second best, but only because if I
wanted to, I could've reached out and petted them. All the exhibits
aside from the giant tank were pretty small...I thought that the Newport
Aquarium was much better, because they put more into all of their
exhibits and have penguin shows, and play areas, etc. So while I know
people who loved the Oceanarium, I wasn't too impressed.
That night though, definitely made up for it! A spur of the moment
decision, I got a couple guys to go with me to the Lisbon soccer game!
It was Sporting vs. a team from Switzerland. Zach and Matt were the two
I went to the game with, and we actually ran into a few other SASers
there as well.
The game was SO much fun! We saw a couple yellow cards, and even a red
card! The final score was tied at 0-0, but the fans during the game
were so crazy. There were fans for Sporting on opposite ends of the
stadium, who were literally chanting back and forth to each other, in
perfect unison. The rival fans were just as loud, if not louder than
the Sporting fans! The game was definitely intense!
Zach and I got into the game by buying a cheap jersey for Sporting! I
have some good pictures of us in our jerseys :)
The last day of Portugal was pretty relaxed, I honestly just found some
free wifi and talked to my parents for a bit!
Overall, Portugal was definitely a great port, and probably one of my
favorites! I'll update about Spain soon! :)
SH
Hey everyone! I just wanted to begin by saying Happy birthday to both
my little cousin, Evan, and my guinea pig Irene! :) Evan is going to be
perpetually 13, because I feel way too old when his birthday comes
around! Irene is one today :)
Anyway, on to discussing more about Portugal!!
The whole time I was in Portugal, I never traveled with the usuals: Amy,
Danielle, or Colleen. It's not like we got into an argument or
anything, but we just had different things to do on different days, and
honestly I had just as much fun hanging out with other people, and I'm
probably going to do that more often!
Well I made a promise to one of the Lifelong Learners, Barbara, that I
would go to the Oceanarium with her and another student, Tanya, the
second morning...I was exhausted because I had been out the night before
with Adan, Eugene and Brian, but I went with them instead of going to
the beach with the girls.
I expected more out of the Oceanarium...It's claim was it was the
biggest Oceanarium in Europe (maybe even the world). So I definitely
had high expectations for this place. However, when I was walking
through, I wasn't too impressed. The most they had going for them was
the giant tank, which could be seen from anywhere in the Oceanarium.
But it didn't seem like they put much effort into any other exhibits
really. The penguin exhibit was the second best, but only because if I
wanted to, I could've reached out and petted them. All the exhibits
aside from the giant tank were pretty small...I thought that the Newport
Aquarium was much better, because they put more into all of their
exhibits and have penguin shows, and play areas, etc. So while I know
people who loved the Oceanarium, I wasn't too impressed.
That night though, definitely made up for it! A spur of the moment
decision, I got a couple guys to go with me to the Lisbon soccer game!
It was Sporting vs. a team from Switzerland. Zach and Matt were the two
I went to the game with, and we actually ran into a few other SASers
there as well.
The game was SO much fun! We saw a couple yellow cards, and even a red
card! The final score was tied at 0-0, but the fans during the game
were so crazy. There were fans for Sporting on opposite ends of the
stadium, who were literally chanting back and forth to each other, in
perfect unison. The rival fans were just as loud, if not louder than
the Sporting fans! The game was definitely intense!
Zach and I got into the game by buying a cheap jersey for Sporting! I
have some good pictures of us in our jerseys :)
The last day of Portugal was pretty relaxed, I honestly just found some
free wifi and talked to my parents for a bit!
Overall, Portugal was definitely a great port, and probably one of my
favorites! I'll update about Spain soon! :)
SH
Monday, October 1, 2012
Everything is ALWAYS up a hill in Portugal!
10.1.12-Happy October!!
So thanks to whoever gave me suggestions for the palace name-it didn't
tell me who wrote it haha. But I'm pretty sure it is the Pena National
Palace, I definitely remembered the Pena part, but I couldn't remember
the name (probably because it was in Portuguese!)
Anyway, now that I'm positive it was the Pena National Palace, I can
tell you all about my time there, as well as getting there! :)
I honestly didn't know what to do in Lisbon. I'll be real here, I
didn't even know what there was to do, aside from hearing beaches and
the Oceanarium. So I thought I'd beach it one day, Oceanarium the next,
and walk around the town on another day...I think I got one of those 3
things done haha.
Danielle, Amy, and Colleen were all doing this scavenger hunt through
Lisbon that SAS was hosting (it cost a lot of money and I just wasn't
too interested in it), so I didn't have anything to do the first day.
That morning, I ran into my friend Adan and he told me he wanted to go
see the Palace in Sintra. So I went with him, Eugene, and Brian for the
day. We all decided we wanted to hike up, I had been dying to hike for
a while now! But naturally, I forget just about everything I need to
hike. Hiking boots, water, snacks...I ended up buying snacks and water
and luckily I had my tennis shoes.
Little did we know that the Pena National Palace was on a mountain. So
we ran into some other SASers, who decided to take the bus up, but no,
we decided we were going to hike up to the Palace, and then hike to the
very top of the mountain to see the cross! (The name of the cross was
Santa something..)
I'll be the first to say that I'm a little out of shape. I haven't used
the exercise room on the ship because I'm afraid when a wave hits the
wrong way, I'll go flying...that would happen to me too! So it was a
pretty tough hike. It was also a good 2 hours up to the Palace. We get
there about 5 minutes after the bus who had taken our friends up did.
Which meant we had to have been at a racing speed, since we saw it drive
by us once!
The Pena National Palace was absolutely stunning. I will definitely
post pictures when I have the opportunity! It was so colorful as well!
There are bright yellows, oranges, grays, reds, everything! The
architecture was so unique, and when we went inside, it seemed like
everything was made for people who were much smaller than me! Not to
mention the decorations, but the view was breath-taking as well. We
looked upon all of Sintre, and we still had more to hike!
So we basically considered walking around the Pena National Palace
grounds our "break." Which wasn't a break because we were still going
up and down stairs, hills, everything! We quickly learned for our next
few days that everything we always want to do in Portugal and Lisbon in
general is "up a hill."
But we kept pressing onward to summit the mountain! Well, Adan is
apparently not too keen with a map, because we first ended up close to
the bottom again before we made our way back up to the Palace. We were
not happy with him haha. It's funny now that the day is over!
However, we finally made it up to the top of the mountain after another
grueling couple hours of hiking! We felt so accomplished because we had
reached the summit, and finally could rest. I have a picture of the
boys laying down on the rocks taking a nap! This was a well-deserved
nap to say the least!
After taking pictures, taking the view, and resting, the four of us then
made our descent to the bottom. But Adan, who knew he had so much
energy, because he really wanted to go to the Moorish castle. (I think
that's what it was called-it's on the same mountain as the Pena National
Palace). We humored him and went along, even though we were dead tired,
and of course, it was up another hill.
It wasn't as impressing to us, probably because we had just come from
not only the summit of the mountain, but the Pena National Palace as
well, but the view was still great! (The castle is lower than the Palace).
All in all, it was an amazing day, and I loved hanging out and hiking
with the guys! That night to celebrate we all went out to where the
locals go, and of course, it was also up a hill, but overall, it was a
great experience and I'm glad I got a chance to see it! :)
More Portugal in a little bit!
SH
So thanks to whoever gave me suggestions for the palace name-it didn't
tell me who wrote it haha. But I'm pretty sure it is the Pena National
Palace, I definitely remembered the Pena part, but I couldn't remember
the name (probably because it was in Portuguese!)
Anyway, now that I'm positive it was the Pena National Palace, I can
tell you all about my time there, as well as getting there! :)
I honestly didn't know what to do in Lisbon. I'll be real here, I
didn't even know what there was to do, aside from hearing beaches and
the Oceanarium. So I thought I'd beach it one day, Oceanarium the next,
and walk around the town on another day...I think I got one of those 3
things done haha.
Danielle, Amy, and Colleen were all doing this scavenger hunt through
Lisbon that SAS was hosting (it cost a lot of money and I just wasn't
too interested in it), so I didn't have anything to do the first day.
That morning, I ran into my friend Adan and he told me he wanted to go
see the Palace in Sintra. So I went with him, Eugene, and Brian for the
day. We all decided we wanted to hike up, I had been dying to hike for
a while now! But naturally, I forget just about everything I need to
hike. Hiking boots, water, snacks...I ended up buying snacks and water
and luckily I had my tennis shoes.
Little did we know that the Pena National Palace was on a mountain. So
we ran into some other SASers, who decided to take the bus up, but no,
we decided we were going to hike up to the Palace, and then hike to the
very top of the mountain to see the cross! (The name of the cross was
Santa something..)
I'll be the first to say that I'm a little out of shape. I haven't used
the exercise room on the ship because I'm afraid when a wave hits the
wrong way, I'll go flying...that would happen to me too! So it was a
pretty tough hike. It was also a good 2 hours up to the Palace. We get
there about 5 minutes after the bus who had taken our friends up did.
Which meant we had to have been at a racing speed, since we saw it drive
by us once!
The Pena National Palace was absolutely stunning. I will definitely
post pictures when I have the opportunity! It was so colorful as well!
There are bright yellows, oranges, grays, reds, everything! The
architecture was so unique, and when we went inside, it seemed like
everything was made for people who were much smaller than me! Not to
mention the decorations, but the view was breath-taking as well. We
looked upon all of Sintre, and we still had more to hike!
So we basically considered walking around the Pena National Palace
grounds our "break." Which wasn't a break because we were still going
up and down stairs, hills, everything! We quickly learned for our next
few days that everything we always want to do in Portugal and Lisbon in
general is "up a hill."
But we kept pressing onward to summit the mountain! Well, Adan is
apparently not too keen with a map, because we first ended up close to
the bottom again before we made our way back up to the Palace. We were
not happy with him haha. It's funny now that the day is over!
However, we finally made it up to the top of the mountain after another
grueling couple hours of hiking! We felt so accomplished because we had
reached the summit, and finally could rest. I have a picture of the
boys laying down on the rocks taking a nap! This was a well-deserved
nap to say the least!
After taking pictures, taking the view, and resting, the four of us then
made our descent to the bottom. But Adan, who knew he had so much
energy, because he really wanted to go to the Moorish castle. (I think
that's what it was called-it's on the same mountain as the Pena National
Palace). We humored him and went along, even though we were dead tired,
and of course, it was up another hill.
It wasn't as impressing to us, probably because we had just come from
not only the summit of the mountain, but the Pena National Palace as
well, but the view was still great! (The castle is lower than the Palace).
All in all, it was an amazing day, and I loved hanging out and hiking
with the guys! That night to celebrate we all went out to where the
locals go, and of course, it was also up a hill, but overall, it was a
great experience and I'm glad I got a chance to see it! :)
More Portugal in a little bit!
SH
Saturday, September 29, 2012
A Wall, The Power of One, The Power of You
9.29.12
Alright so I know I haven't written about Portugal or Spain yet, but I
will very soon! (I'm honestly waiting because I'm trying to remember
the name of the Palace in Sintre, Portugal that I hiked to, along with
the name of the cross at the very top of the mountain, so if anyone
wants to look it up and e-mail it to me in order to help me out, that'd
be wonderful! [Since I have hardly any internet minutes here!] )
But while I'm still pondering about that, we had Open Mic Night tonight
in the Piano Lounge. Now I didn't go up and talk/sing/play an
instrument, honestly, I wouldn't know what to do had I been up there,
but there was one person who knew exactly what to say. Her name is
Renee and she is one of the RD's here on the ship.
Renee claimed that she went up there not knowing what to talk about, and
while some part of me believes that, her story was so well spoken that
she had to have known what she wanted students to get from her speech;
it was so well thought out!
She talked about the time when she was called a Hero. So at first she
asked us what we thought of when we heard the term "Hero." My mind
wandered to my Grandpa, who fought in WWII, who touched the lives of
several hundreds of people by teaching Drivers Ed. in school along with
coaching football and baseball. I also thought about the soldiers who
daily lay down their lives in order to protect ours. But the more Renee
talked, the more I realized how cliche I thought I was being. Now don't
get me wrong, I still believe that soldiers are heroes, I still believe
that my Grandpa is a hero, and I'm not saying that these people aren't
heroes. I'm simply saying that heroes are much more than just those we
automatically tend to think about.
Renee told her story of when she was a camp counselor one year during
the summer. I'm going to tell Renee's story as if I were her, but a
shortened version. There were 3 main characters aside from herself in
this story. Bobbi, Andrea, and Ryan. Bobbi was the girl who was a
little bit bigger than everyone else (these are all middle-school
children, by the way) and Andrea, a little bit on the tomboy side, was
her best friend. Ryan was the boy who always picked on Bobbi. The camp
was 5 days long, and they were doing everything outdoorsy and
science-like. Everyday Renee would talk about the big rock wall that
they would all climb on the last day. Everyone (especially Andrea) was
excited to climb...everyone but Bobbi.
Well Bobbi had spoken to Renee about how scared she was to climb the
wall, and even thought about not showing up to camp the last day,
despite the fact that meant she wouldn't complete the program and get
her certificate. Renee calmly told Bobbi that everyone would be there
for her, but it was her decision whether or not to show up.
The next day rolled around, and as the time starts passing by, Bobbi
hadn't shown up. Renee explained to her captivated audience how
disappointed she was, but kept going for the rest of the students.
Finally, Bobbi made her appearance. As everyone climbed the rock wall,
Bobbi hung back.
It was Ryan who called her out and shouted that she was the only one who
hadn't gone up. Who knew if he knew that he was actually doing her a
favor, but either way, he put all the attention on her and Bobbi agreed
to climb the wall.
Renee tried to calm Bobbi down as she took one step off the ground, and
then another. Both feet were about a foot off the ground, and Bobbi was
terrified, even shaking. Andrea stepped up to her side and told her
that she was right there for her, and slowly but surely, Bobbi made it
up halfway. Then she looked down. (Note: if you're scared of heights
and are climbing up, don't look down!!) Well that did it, and Bobbi was
frozen in place. tears literally streaming down her face and called out
that she couldn't go any further; Andrea's presence wasn't helping at
all anymore. Who decides to step up? Out of the crowd, you hear Ryan,
who had been bugging her all summer, start chanting, "Bobbi. Bobbi.
Bobbi." And everyone joined in! Up Bobbi went and finally made it to
the top, and was able to ring the little bell!
The next day, after summer camp was over, Renee still had other
students, but Bobbi's time was over. However, Renee found a little
handwritten note on her car the next day from Bobbi, telling her how
thankful she was for Renee, called her her hero, and how she wouldn't
have been able to conquer her fears if Renee hadn't been there.
This story got me thinking about what it really means to be a hero. It's
not just the obvious, the ones who go out of their way to make sure you
can live a free life. It could be the parent who kills the spider for
their child, or gives a kiss when they get a scrape. It may be the best
friend who helps you through a tough heartbreak, or the kid at school
who shares their lunch when you forgot yours. This all comes back to the
title: A Wall, The Power of One, The Power of You.
Renee then challenged all of us to rethink. A wall. This could be
anything physical, emotional, or psychological. Anything that could be
blocking your potential. The power of one. One person can make
someone's life infinitely better. Renee helped Bobbi conquer her fear
of heights. The parent who kills the bug that may be terrifying the
child. It doesn't have to be anything huge, it's honestly the little
things that make the most difference, that are the most noticeable.
Then there's the power of you. You have the power to be someone's
hero. Whether you know it or not, whether they recognize you for what
you've done for them, YOU have the potential to be someone's everyday
hero. How can you make the difference? You could be the one who gives
a daily compliment to someone, and make their day, everyday. You can be
the one who stands up for someone who may be being picked on. You can
brighten someone's day just by smiling at them. Everyone can be a hero.
I've then thought about my everyday heroes. My parents for helping me
through all of my life. Dr. Hopfensperger as she has helped me with not
only my education, but with research experience needed for Graduate
School, and how she plans on helping me with my decision of where to
attend. Dr. McIntyre-Miller with helping me reach my goal to go on
Semester at Sea, and had it not been for her, I may not have been here
to hear Renee's story. My friends through the college years as we all
battled through exams, bad professors, and drama. You may not realize
it, but everyone can and will be a hero to someone else throughout their
lifetime. It doesn't have to be just laying down the line for someone,
it's anything that can make them be a better person, feel more important.
I've taken Renee's 3-steps to heart, and can apply them in everyday
life. I know that as I hike up Mt. Teide tomorrow, I will face a
physical challenge, as well as psychological because my body will feel
the burn as I hike, as well as I need to believe that I can make it up.
I know that as I travel with Danielle, Amy, Colleen, Dale, Ann, Michael,
and Peter we will all be encouraging each other as we face the hardship
that lays ahead. I have the power to help them achieve reaching the summit.
Renee made a great point about how every little thing you do can have a
huge impact on someone else. Enough to be considered that person's
hero. So basically, don't ever underestimate the power of what you can
do to help someone overcome a difficult situation. You never know, for
that moment, you too will be a hero!
SH
Alright so I know I haven't written about Portugal or Spain yet, but I
will very soon! (I'm honestly waiting because I'm trying to remember
the name of the Palace in Sintre, Portugal that I hiked to, along with
the name of the cross at the very top of the mountain, so if anyone
wants to look it up and e-mail it to me in order to help me out, that'd
be wonderful! [Since I have hardly any internet minutes here!] )
But while I'm still pondering about that, we had Open Mic Night tonight
in the Piano Lounge. Now I didn't go up and talk/sing/play an
instrument, honestly, I wouldn't know what to do had I been up there,
but there was one person who knew exactly what to say. Her name is
Renee and she is one of the RD's here on the ship.
Renee claimed that she went up there not knowing what to talk about, and
while some part of me believes that, her story was so well spoken that
she had to have known what she wanted students to get from her speech;
it was so well thought out!
She talked about the time when she was called a Hero. So at first she
asked us what we thought of when we heard the term "Hero." My mind
wandered to my Grandpa, who fought in WWII, who touched the lives of
several hundreds of people by teaching Drivers Ed. in school along with
coaching football and baseball. I also thought about the soldiers who
daily lay down their lives in order to protect ours. But the more Renee
talked, the more I realized how cliche I thought I was being. Now don't
get me wrong, I still believe that soldiers are heroes, I still believe
that my Grandpa is a hero, and I'm not saying that these people aren't
heroes. I'm simply saying that heroes are much more than just those we
automatically tend to think about.
Renee told her story of when she was a camp counselor one year during
the summer. I'm going to tell Renee's story as if I were her, but a
shortened version. There were 3 main characters aside from herself in
this story. Bobbi, Andrea, and Ryan. Bobbi was the girl who was a
little bit bigger than everyone else (these are all middle-school
children, by the way) and Andrea, a little bit on the tomboy side, was
her best friend. Ryan was the boy who always picked on Bobbi. The camp
was 5 days long, and they were doing everything outdoorsy and
science-like. Everyday Renee would talk about the big rock wall that
they would all climb on the last day. Everyone (especially Andrea) was
excited to climb...everyone but Bobbi.
Well Bobbi had spoken to Renee about how scared she was to climb the
wall, and even thought about not showing up to camp the last day,
despite the fact that meant she wouldn't complete the program and get
her certificate. Renee calmly told Bobbi that everyone would be there
for her, but it was her decision whether or not to show up.
The next day rolled around, and as the time starts passing by, Bobbi
hadn't shown up. Renee explained to her captivated audience how
disappointed she was, but kept going for the rest of the students.
Finally, Bobbi made her appearance. As everyone climbed the rock wall,
Bobbi hung back.
It was Ryan who called her out and shouted that she was the only one who
hadn't gone up. Who knew if he knew that he was actually doing her a
favor, but either way, he put all the attention on her and Bobbi agreed
to climb the wall.
Renee tried to calm Bobbi down as she took one step off the ground, and
then another. Both feet were about a foot off the ground, and Bobbi was
terrified, even shaking. Andrea stepped up to her side and told her
that she was right there for her, and slowly but surely, Bobbi made it
up halfway. Then she looked down. (Note: if you're scared of heights
and are climbing up, don't look down!!) Well that did it, and Bobbi was
frozen in place. tears literally streaming down her face and called out
that she couldn't go any further; Andrea's presence wasn't helping at
all anymore. Who decides to step up? Out of the crowd, you hear Ryan,
who had been bugging her all summer, start chanting, "Bobbi. Bobbi.
Bobbi." And everyone joined in! Up Bobbi went and finally made it to
the top, and was able to ring the little bell!
The next day, after summer camp was over, Renee still had other
students, but Bobbi's time was over. However, Renee found a little
handwritten note on her car the next day from Bobbi, telling her how
thankful she was for Renee, called her her hero, and how she wouldn't
have been able to conquer her fears if Renee hadn't been there.
This story got me thinking about what it really means to be a hero. It's
not just the obvious, the ones who go out of their way to make sure you
can live a free life. It could be the parent who kills the spider for
their child, or gives a kiss when they get a scrape. It may be the best
friend who helps you through a tough heartbreak, or the kid at school
who shares their lunch when you forgot yours. This all comes back to the
title: A Wall, The Power of One, The Power of You.
Renee then challenged all of us to rethink. A wall. This could be
anything physical, emotional, or psychological. Anything that could be
blocking your potential. The power of one. One person can make
someone's life infinitely better. Renee helped Bobbi conquer her fear
of heights. The parent who kills the bug that may be terrifying the
child. It doesn't have to be anything huge, it's honestly the little
things that make the most difference, that are the most noticeable.
Then there's the power of you. You have the power to be someone's
hero. Whether you know it or not, whether they recognize you for what
you've done for them, YOU have the potential to be someone's everyday
hero. How can you make the difference? You could be the one who gives
a daily compliment to someone, and make their day, everyday. You can be
the one who stands up for someone who may be being picked on. You can
brighten someone's day just by smiling at them. Everyone can be a hero.
I've then thought about my everyday heroes. My parents for helping me
through all of my life. Dr. Hopfensperger as she has helped me with not
only my education, but with research experience needed for Graduate
School, and how she plans on helping me with my decision of where to
attend. Dr. McIntyre-Miller with helping me reach my goal to go on
Semester at Sea, and had it not been for her, I may not have been here
to hear Renee's story. My friends through the college years as we all
battled through exams, bad professors, and drama. You may not realize
it, but everyone can and will be a hero to someone else throughout their
lifetime. It doesn't have to be just laying down the line for someone,
it's anything that can make them be a better person, feel more important.
I've taken Renee's 3-steps to heart, and can apply them in everyday
life. I know that as I hike up Mt. Teide tomorrow, I will face a
physical challenge, as well as psychological because my body will feel
the burn as I hike, as well as I need to believe that I can make it up.
I know that as I travel with Danielle, Amy, Colleen, Dale, Ann, Michael,
and Peter we will all be encouraging each other as we face the hardship
that lays ahead. I have the power to help them achieve reaching the summit.
Renee made a great point about how every little thing you do can have a
huge impact on someone else. Enough to be considered that person's
hero. So basically, don't ever underestimate the power of what you can
do to help someone overcome a difficult situation. You never know, for
that moment, you too will be a hero!
SH
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