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

      Facial Tissue                                 2,950 boxes

SH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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