Even this long after, it doesn't quite seem real. I know it happened but it often feels like a dream. Semester at Sea was one of the defining moments in my life, I'm sure. I am only one of thousands to have made this journey, but it still felt very personal and life changing for me, especially at the impressionable age of 20. Those 100 days shaped my world view on politics, culture, the environment and the human race.
When I was on the ship, I kept multiple diaries and wrote a blog so folks at home could follow along. I deleted that blog a long time ago, but luckily I had written everything in a Word doc first. I recently found that little piece of my history while prepping to switch computers. So, here's the whole story from start to finish, if you'd like to read it for yourself. Don't judge too much - remember, I was just a wide-eyed college junior who had never left North America. :)
Tracy at sea: Around the world in one hundred days
Nervous excitement
Well, the time has come! This week has been insanely busy with goodbyes, packing (oh wait, no...not quite done with that!), and getting ready to leave Sat. morning. Several Target and Wells Fargo runs, as well as four "last" trips to Starbucks later, I think I'm ready. The next post should be from the Caribbean!
PS: If you want to send me mail, there is a link on the right hand side for port addresses. Click on that, and about halfway down the page will be instructions.
Bahamas: it’s rum-tastic!
The Bahamas treated me very well. My family and I arrived on Saturday evening after a turbulent plane ride in what can only be described as a toy plane…only 18 passengers! Needless to say it was nice to head to the Atlantis resort and get a pina colada! Atlantis is located on Paradise Island, which is a five-minute drive over the bridge from Nassau. I didn’t get to see too much of the city, but we managed to get a little shopping in at the famed “Straw Market,” which was more fake designer bags and knick-knacks than straw!
We spent most of our time looking at the turquoise waters from the white-sand beach. I didn’t do any diving, but my family will tomorrow. One night we went into the casino and I managed to win $80 at the slots! Beginner’s luck, I suppose. The Atlantis is an amazing resort. I would describe it as a mix between Sea World and Vegas, with many pools, slides, a casino, movie theatre, dance clubs, and a 30 million gallon aquarium! We were treated to an impromptu firework show one night! The resort is enormous, and they’re continuing to add on.
The Bahamian people are just lovely; most offered excellent recommendations for places to eat or things to do. They were all very curious as to where we were from and what brought us down here to their island. I was surprised to find out that the median income of the island people is only $15,000 per year. I’ve seen lots of Semester at Sea kids running around the island. I will be getting on the boat in a couple of hours, so I will have another update in a few days!
I'm onboard!
Just a quick note to say that I made it onboard! I will post more later, but the ship is AMAZING, I love my roommate, and life is good! Miss yall, check back in a couple days!
Dramamine is your friend!
Hey everyone – here is my entry I wrote in the Bahamas – I’ll try and write more about ship life, classes, etc, but I’m extremely seasick. The ship is very rocky – we’re in 11 foot waves right now. Wish me luck – trying to read textbooks is an ordeal when you can’t stop swaying. Oh, I forgot to say that if you want to send me mail, you have to put my cabin number on the envelope: 4020. The mailing directions are posted on a link to this page, on the right. Thanks!
Ship life
I have been on the ship now for three full days. After boarding on Thursday afternoon, there was a send-off parade and then all the parents got to come on and see the ship! We had an immediate lifeboat drill, which, when not in an emergency, is actually quite funny. We all have to go to our cabins, put on long pants/sleeves, hat and tennis shoes, grab the lifejacket and proceed to our muster station. After that, we took off from Prince George Wharf and set sail for Puerto Rico.
Thursday night was fun; I met my roommate. Her name is Teresa, and she goes to the University of Pittsburgh. We get along really well. After dinner there were a couple of meetings to go to, which is where I started feeling sick. So I went to bed soon after that. Friday was unbearable – I was so seasick. I barely made it through orientation before dashing out to the bathroom. Lots of passengers were also sick, so they started handing out barf bags, which sounds gross, but it was much needed. I spent much of the day in bed. Luckily Teresa wasn’t sick at all, so she filled me in on what else happened
that day.
Saturday was the first day of class. Again, didn’t get to pay too much attention – I was concentrating on not throwing up! I think I will enjoy all my classes – one of my professors is from CU, and another one is Dutch, so he knew how to say my last name! That was a first. Sunday morning was the first time I got to eat a meal and keep it down, so it seems like I’m getting used to the waves. However, apparently we are getting into some 15 foot swells later tonight.
All day Sunday after class was spent getting ready for Puerto Rico. We have lots of lectures prior to each port regarding safety, cultural expectations, customs, emergency procedures, and different things to do. That is all for tonight, We dock at 8:00 tomorrow morning and leave at 9:00 Wednesday night, so check for an update after that. Love!
“Puerto Rico, lovely island…”
When I first heard SAS was replacing Venezuela with Puerto Rico, I was a little disappointed, but was pleasantly surprised with my experience. We spent most of our time in Old San Juan, which is a charming historic district. All the buildings were painted bright, tropical colors, and the steep, narrow streets were made of azul bricks instead of pavement.
The first day I explored with Megan, Chris, and Greg (people I met on the ship). We took an SAS tour of the capitol building and Fort San Cristobal, then wandered the streets until early evening, talking to locals, and walking in and out of courtyards, churches and café’s. Monday evening a reception was held at the University of Puerto Rico, where we salsa danced and ate dinner with the students there. Tuesday hiked in the El Yunque (“Sacred Land”) Rainforest, which was really beautiful, although a lot quieter than I expected! I didn’t hear any birds. But we ran into a waterfall and got to go swimming in it. That night we went to a tiny salsa club, NuYo Rican, which ended up being invaded by SAS kids, but it was still fun to salsa and meringue with the locals.
We were lucky to be able to converse with lots of locals; most speak perfect English. We were asking for a restaurant recommendation from an elderly man, who said, “oh yes, for Puerto Rican food you must go to this really good place, it’s called Subway!” I ended up talking to a taxi driver about how he felt about the commonwealth status of Puerto Rico. He seemed to think that it was the best situation for his people, as they receive most benefits of being an American citizen and get to identify with a distinct
culture (not to mention they don’t pay taxes)! Puerto Ricans are also very well dressed. When walking around the campus at UPR, I didn’t see a single person in sweats, unlike Boulder!
The last day in port was spent again in Old San Juan, where we had some delicious Cuban sandwiches (Scott, I thought of you!) and then went to Condado beach, which ended up being not too nice, so instead we snuck into the Wyndham Resort pool to read ( yes, I did study in PR!) and swim.
Puerto Rico was a great transitional port, as it wasn’t radically different from America, which made it easier to get used to foreign travel. We departed last night around 10 p.m. and are on our way to Brazil, so no more land for six days. In between, I’ll be going to class. Also, most of the clubs and activities begin today, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep busy with those. Thanks for reading!
Neptune Day! 1-30-06
Greetings from the southern hemisphere! Monday was Neptune Day, a holiday celebrated by ships upon crossing the equator; we even had the day off from classes. We crossed the Equator at approximately 3:30 a.m. and were woken up bright and early by a parade of crew members running up and down the hall with whistles and drums. King Neptune (Dean Kathleen) presided over the day, which consisted of pollywogs (those who have never crossed the equator) either shaving their heads or getting dumped on with fish guts! I chose the fish guts…gross! Then we had to kiss a fish and Neptune’s ring to complete our initiation as shellbacks!
Today was our first global studies exam, which went well. Then, it was my turn for a “bridge tour,” which is a tour of where the captain controls the ship! I even got to wear his hat and sit in his chair J. I think the captain is just fantastic – his name is Roman Kristanovic, a Russian who studied in Dubrovnik, Croatia. This is his third trip around the world with SAS. Also, this has nothing to do with the tour, but I thought it was funny. I was eating dinner on ship and the captain was sitting at the next table, eating a hot dog! I thought this was so silly – if you could see this man, this large, stern, Russian man, you would agree that it seemed out of place for him to be eating a hot dog!
I’m now 4 hours ahead of Colorado time. We will dock in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil at 8 a.m. Wednesday, and depart on Sunday evening, so check back after then.
Love!
Obligada Brasilia! (Thanks Brazil!)
“Thank you” was pretty much the only Portuguese I learned, plus I didn’t get robbed, or get dengue fever, so thanks to Brazil for that! Okay, here we go, sorry this is long:
Besides not knowing any Portuguese and being scared by the deans about even getting off the ship, Brazil was amazing. I’m happy I stayed in Salvador instead of going to Rio or the Amazon. My travels there were worthwhile. Salvador is the capital of Bahia, the largest state in the country. It is separated into two levels, called the upper city and lower city. To get to the upper city, we took the Lacerda Elevator, which costs 5 centavos, about 2.5 cents. When the upper city was built, it was done in a hurry, as they were trying to protect their new capital from Indian attacks. Rational planning was not a high priority, so buildings were built anywhere and everywhere – they are stacked on top of each other right up the mountain. The upper city is very interesting (aka dirty and smelly), with most buildings dating back to the 17th century. It’s where most of the shopping, restaurants, and churches are.
Salvador is relatively impoverished. There are favelas (slums) everywhere, which were dirty and smelly and horrible. We went to a favela, which I had mixed emotions about. While it was great to interact with the children, it was very sad to see firsthand the conditions they live in. Most of the people were not even wearing shoes. The children loved having us take their pictures and then showing them on our digital cameras. We also put stickers all over them. It felt awkward to me that 40 SAS kids went into these people’s neighborhood and were taking pictures, but our guide said the people were used to it. It was depressing but an important reality check for us.
We missed Carnaval by two weeks, so some locals/the tour company recreated it at a welcome party most SAS people attended. We had delicious Brazilian food and drinks. They also did some capoiera, a martial arts dance form. The locals there were very good at English; this was not so in the rest of my time in Brazil! We danced for hours to Afro-Brazilian drummers and later on popular “club” music.
Candomble is the predominant religion in Brazil. February 2 is their holiday to worship Yemanja, the goddess of the sea. There were over 200,000 people there, all dressed in white and throwing flowers and gifts to the sea.
Friday evening we went out for dessert and drinks at Mama Bahia. As we were heading back the ship, a street parade with drummers and dancers came by and grabbed us into it! So off we went, 8 American girls and about 200 Brazilians, dancing and running down the streets of Salvador! Words are inadequate as to how hilarious this was. I had no idea what the point of the parade was or why they wanted us to join. I didn’t take pictures but I know I will remember that evening for the rest of my life.
Saturday Liz, Lisa, Megan, and I went to Itaparica Island. Yes, we got off the ship and onto another boat. But Itaparica was like stepping into a postcard. We ate the best meal I had the whole time in Brazil: lots of different meats, rice and beans, coconut, and acai, which is pomegranate sherbet with bananas and granola.
On Sunday half the ship ventured to a futbol (soccer) game between Bahia and Vitoria. The fans were so intense. There were 36,000 people in attendance, not including the National Guard, who was there to keep the peace. Not quite the “futbol” I would normally be watching on Super Bowl Sunday!
In one word I would sum up Brazil as…SWEATY! It was sooooo hot, but a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see what Cape Town, South Africa has in store for me next! Nine days on the ship oh man!! Love and miss everyone!
Rockin the boat
It has been a week with no sight of land, and we still have three days to go until Africa! PB&J, my ipod, e-mails from home, and reading by the pool are doing a good job of entertaining me. Tonight was the first themed pub night, an 80’s party complete with wine coolers, side pony-tails and many Miami Vice outfits! It was actually quite hilarious. Picture 300-ish college students who have been trapped on a ship for seven days rockin out to Michael Jackson and Cindy Lauper. It was awesome to see how creative people got with their outfits! The best part was hearing the Eurythmics song Sweet Dreams. “Sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree. I TRAVELED THE WORLD AND THE SEVEN SEAS…” I’ve never heard any group of people scream louder!
Classes are going well. We actually have the day off tomorrow, one of five days off throughout the semester. A much needed weekend day! I plan on sleeping in and laying out by the pool! I’ve been surprised at how much work I have…the days are getting very busy, especially since we have been losing an hour each night. By Africa we'll be 9 hours ahead of Colorado.
It’s hard to believe that I’m already a quarter of the way done! It’s going by so fast. I’m making some really great friends and am starting to enjoy being rocked to sleep by the ship! I’m also finally getting some sort of a routine. It’s still weird not to know what’s going on in the US – we’re out of the loop as far as the Super Bowl, Olympics, Grammy’s, Oscar’s world events, etc. I’m sure you all will update me as necessary!
Thanks again for reading, I miss everyone!
AFRICA!
Where do I begin!? South Africa was spectacular. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to yet. I woke up early as we sailed in so I could see the sunrise over Table Mountain, but it was too foggy. So foggy that Africa was closed. Yep, they closed the port so we had to anchor and wait a few hours for it to open.
We docked right in the middle of the V&A Waterfront, an enormous shopping, dining, and entertainment district. This was fantastic, as in the last two ports, we had to take a taxi or walk 20 minutes to get anywhere good. I got to shop a lot, and get some good coffee too! I didn’t really see too much wildlife while in Africa – just penguins, ostrich, zebra, porcupine, and snakes. Oh well! It made me realize that I wouldn’t be patient enough for a safari.
Two of the days I participated in volunteer projects in townships. During the apartheid rule, the government forced the blacks into these outskirts, which go on for miles. The “houses” in the townships are makeshift, sometimes just wood and tarps, and usually had four to six people living in them. Most adults do not work, but the older children seemed to be in school. Again, it was really sad to see the children without any shoes or water – basics that I definitely take for granted. A few of them had AIDS, and it was really clear that they had zero medical care.
I had the opportunity to work in the Spandau and Khyelitsha townships with Operation Hunger, weighing and measuring children aged five and under. It was astonishing to see the malnourishment rates. Out of fifty children we saw, only four were average for their age. We started five gardens and taught the families how to grow food so their children might get healthier. I would like to believe that we helped leave something for the future, but it’s hard to tell – they hardly have enough water for themselves, much less a garden. It’s really difficult because in most of the ports we are able to see and help the “poor people” but then we go back to our luxury ship. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them until I saw a book called “Shack Chic,” which portrayed the homes and the people in a completely different light – they were proud of their homes and families. I’m finding so many extremes with my experiences, and I wish there was more that we could do while we’re here.
Friday was my only “free day” where I didn’t have anything planned. So I walked to downtown Cape Town with Steve, Megan, and Katie to wander around. Also did some shopping at Greenmarket square and near the waterfront. Did some bargaining and got some great souvenirs. The city is very much like any American/European downtown area. We met up with some people later to go to a club, which was fun.
Megan, Lisa, Meredith and I went to the wine country for a night, along with six others. We stayed in Stellenbosch, a picturesque town that I absolutely fell in love with. It’s a college town and the center of the winelands area. It’s pretty small, with a cute little town square with shops and cafes. Almost everything was in Afrikaans, the most common language in South Africa besides English. We spent a lot of time at Spier, a wine estate. We did some wine tasting and walked around the property and then ate at their restaurant, Moyo. Our table was in a treehouse! The food was so good – it was a buffet, so we were able to try lots of game meat like ostrich, springbok, and alligator.
We stayed at the Stumble Inn Backpackers Lodge (hostel), which was entertaining and only a little bit sketchy. The first thing we saw when we opened our room was an old guy wearing a man thong asleep on one of the bunks. This Belgian girl just looked at us and said, “don’t mind Baxter!” So bizarre. Not as strange as our cab ride to Stellenbosch from Cape Town. Our original cab driver passed us off to his friend, who after 20 minutes pulled off the highway next to a township, where some other guy got in to drive us the rest of the way. This guy not only didn’t seem to know how to drive a stick, but also got lost and had to stop and ask for directions three times! Needless to say I was freaking out, but everything turned out well and my first real foray into independent travel was a successful adventure.
Monday I went to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for being a political activist. We saw his cell and learned more about the injustices caused by the apartheid. Our tour guide was an ex-prisoner himself, and showed us his cell too. It was very interesting because we had just spent a week on the boat learning about it and reading about it in our textbooks, and now we get to see it up close. There is still a lot of racial tension in South Africa, I think it’s because their civil rights are relatively new compared to ours. The apartheid ruled until 1984. Today, the ANC and the DA are the two biggest parties. In fact, there is a national election on March 1, so I got to do a lot of research for my foreign policy class on that. Something funny I thought I’d mention was that the South Africans are very proud of their national anthem – I probably heard it at least four times a day!
I actually had a lot of research to do in SA for my classes, which gave me the motivation to talk to a lot of locals – a great experience! But I have two papers and two tests during this next crossing, so I better get to work! We’ve got about six days on the ship until Mauritius (don’t worry, I had never heard of it either! It’s east of Madagascar right above the equator!) I’ll update in a few days…thanks again for reading!
Mauritius
What do you get when you unload 700 college students on a tropical island for three days? Spring Break! Haha, not really, but I felt like that’s how a lot of people treated this port. Mauritius went by in a blur, it was a quick three days! It’s a tiny dot of an island, but very densely populated. The main languages are French and English, but there is a very palpable Indian influence everywhere on the island – from the food to the people. It was not what I had expected. All the cab drivers drove way too fast, so I decided to ask them to slow down otherwise I’d have to throw up. They slowed down.
The outer rim of the island was very beautiful – lush green mountains and turquoise water.; but the cities weren’t very impressive.
Monday we walked around the waterfront area (this time we had to take a water taxi to get to it). We also went to the fruit and vegetable market, and brought some back to our cabins for the next crossing! I got oranges, mangoes, plums, and kiwi. Each piece was pretty cheap (about 3 rupees, which is about 10 cents). A group of us went out to dinner, and at the restaurant, they had money hanging up from all over the world, but they didn’t have any from the US. So, I gave them a dollar and they put it up! I was probably a little too overly excited about that, taking pictures of it and whatnot. Ha ha.
I got a group to go scuba diving with me at Bel Ombre, which was far away from Port Louis, but we got to see the island more. We dove with Dive Mauritius at The Voile d’Or Resort. The resort was beautiful, the diving was not. The visibility was horrible because of the weather at that moment, but the overall experience was fine. We did see a couple barracuda and some schools of fish.
On our last day we went to le Jardin Pamplemousses, a botanic garden. There was a pond with enormous lily pads covering it, which was beautiful. We also went to the beach, Grand Baie. Finished up the day by having dinner at a café near the ship. I had a delicious mozzarella and grilled marlin panini and then got back on the ship early to avoid lines. Probably the funniest part about getting back on the ship is watching all the people who choose to wait until the last minute wait in line. Usually they’re intoxicated, so that’s even more funny for us, but not for them. If you aren’t on ship by a certain time, you get “dock time” and have to stay on the ship for a few hours in the next port.
I can’t believe another port is over! Oh, and I just realized it’s MARCH! Where is the time going? Now I’m sailing northeast across the Indian Ocean headed for Chennai, India in seven days. The ship is rocking a lot this morning, but no seasickness for me yet.
Cross your fingers! Here we go…
Day 48
Random fact: the MV Explorer is the fastest passenger ship in the world. The captain decided to test all the engines at once, so we were going full speed, 32 knots, for a full seven minutes, woo! Another random fact: we are advancing our clocks (again, ugh)half an hour tonight, which makes us 12 and a half hours ahead of Colorado. No idea why we only went a half hour – if anyone gets bored and wants to look that up for me, go for it! I’m not wasting 40 cents a minute to Google “time zones in the Indian ocean.”
Haha. I’ve already used too many minutes keeping up with CNN! Word has gotten around that I check the headlines at least every other day, so people keep asking me what’s going on in the states! So thanks to my mom for the Oscar results, everyone was very curious.
We had a day off for Sea Olympics a couple days ago, and my sea won! I am in the Bering Sea, which consists of all the people in the cabins on Deck 4 forward. The goal was to accumulate as many points as possible in events like relays, synchronized swimming, chubby bunny, big hair contest, board games, lip synch, etc. I’m not gonna lie, we practiced a lot! Nikkii, our RD, is nuts! She had us doing our cheers at every meeting since Day 1! She even gave us all wake up calls at 0730 the morning of competition. Since we’re the winners, we get to disembark first in San Diego!
Alas, we had to get back into classes. I had a midterm for my foreign policy class and a paper for my travel writing class. I’ve been doing so much reading too! Luckily the content of my anthropology of India class and global studies have been overlapping this crossing. I am so anxious and excited for India even though I feel completely unprepared for it. Professor Sheldon keeps saying that we have no idea what we are about to experience.
In other news…in a few days, I will not only be officially halfway around the world, but halfway done with the voyage. Day 50 is the day we get to India. It’s hard to believe. Everyone who has done this before says the second half goes by in a heartbeat. I guess that’s all for now, check back after India (March 14) Love from me!!
The Intensity of India
The smell hits you first. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever smelled before. It smells of urine and trash and fire and heat and cows and people. People. One billion people in a country 1/3 the size of the United States. India, in a word, was intense. India was the first place where I truly felt like a foreigner. No tourists, no waterfront shopping area, no comfort. I honestly felt claustrophobic for the first time ever.
Two days before our arrival, there was a terrorist attack in the holy city of Varanasi that killed 20 and injured 89. Understandably, there was a veil of uncertainty covering our stay. That, coupled with the anti-Bush sentiments still lingering from his visit last week made me feel extremely nervous. I felt like the moment we docked in Chennai I took a deep breath in and never let it out until we sailed away.
Instead of Varanasi, the SAS trip I was with stayed in New Delhi an extra day. We caught an early flight on Friday to Delhi. The airport oddities were so interesting. Men and women were separated into different security lines, with women being the ones patted down. We also had to remove our batteries from cameras, alarm clocks, etc. But, they never checked our ID’s and then gave us real knives during the in-flight meal! Which, by the way, was the best meal I had in India. Spicy!
Nonstop sightseeing. Luckily the weather in Northern India was unseasonably cool, as we were constantly moving, walking, or being crammed into tour busses. We saw a Bah’ai house of worship that was shaped like a giant lotus flower, a Sikh mosque, a Hindu temple, three different forts, Parliament, the President’s residence, and Gandhi’s memorial. I also got to see the Prime Minister at one of the places we went. We drove through Old Delhi and became trapped in a throng of people, rickshaws, and cows. Students on the bus thought it was “cool.” I thought it looked lurid.
Funny sidenote - every time our tour guide Hasif wanted to get our attention, he would shriek at the top of his lungs, “SEMESTERRRRRR!” It was funny for about five seconds. Then it was just obnoxious. He also repeated himself. A lot. For example, “You people like? You like the ____(insert important Indian monument)? I hope you like it semester. SEMESTERRRRRRRRR! Wake up semester! Sleepy semester! You like to sleep!”
Due to the nature of the trip, I didn’t get too much interaction with local people, but the ones I did get to talk to were very polite. At one point we were commenting about how everyone was staring at us, and one man said, “well you are staring at us, too!” Our curiosities matched, as Indians and SAS’ers wanted to take pictures of/with each other.
Obviously the highlight for me was going to the Taj Mahal. To get there we had to take a two-hour train ride to Agra. I thought Agra would be more developed than it was. We parked the bus and started walking towards security and were immediately surrounded by hawkers, mostly children selling souvenirs or begging. It was really hard not to look them in the eye or to have to say “no” repeatedly. After waiting in line for about 10 minutes, our guide whisked us away and we were on a crazy run through a back way to get to a so-called VIP entrance. The second I saw the Taj I literally gasped. It was breathtaking; the pictures don’t do it any justice! We got to spend a couple hours there taking pictures and wandering around the grounds. The Taj was built in the 1600’s by Emperor Shah Jahan for his queen, Mumtaz Mahal. Their tombs are the only things in the building. The detail and inlay in the marble is so intricate and the building is so symmetric and beautiful.
It was a whirlwind few days filled with a lot of information and different emotions. I asked someone how he liked India, he said it was “cool.” Really? Was it “cool” to see a starving mother pleading with you to feed her equally starving child? Or was it “cool” when we witnessed police brutality against a homeless leper in the train station at midnight?
The poverty I witnessed there was much different than previous ports. Small children were running in between traffic, barefoot, trying to sell morning papers or beg for food. People without limbs scooted around the sidewalks. It was all so overwhelming, maybe because I only slept about 10 hours the entire trip, or maybe because it was so foreign that I was just unprepared. It was almost hard to believe everything I was seeing.
There were such contrasts. On the train I was reading an Indian fashion magazine, looking at the latest sarees and jewelry, and the next I was looking at a man going to the bathroom on the side of the road, next to his “home,” a potato sack. Or, a beautiful estate garden would be across from a fire burning piles of cow dung.
I know I’m lucky to have experienced this country. One of my professors said, “feeling uncomfortable is part of the process of learning about the world.” I felt like I really haven’t had time to process everything I saw, but I wanted to crank this one out before too long, because we only have three days on the ship before Burma. Saint Patrick’s Day in Myanmar - should be interesting! Stay tuned…
Yangon, Myanmar (or Rangoon, Burma)
Myanmar was the country I had the least expectations for. I didn’t know anything about the country prior to Global Studies last week.
Myanmar (or Burma) has had a troubled decade or so. In 1994 Aung San Suu Kyi won the national election with an overwhelming majority, but the military refused to let her party take power. She was imprisoned, yet still won a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to free her people. She remains under house arrest. What followed was a military regime leadership that has controlled the country ever since. They immediately removed 80% of the currency, and killed anyone in opposition, including thousands of university students during a 1988 protest. They also renamed the country from Burma to Myanmar
and the capital from Rangoon to Yangon.
Currently, the people are relatively limited with education, business/housing ownership, and contact with the outside world. They have banned many internet sites, including Yahoo, Google, AOL and others. They have no freedom of the press, cars are taxed at 300%, and women are prohibited from leaving the country. It was a huge culture shock. We had heated debates on the ship prior to our arrival as to whether we should even be going. By going we would inevitably be supporting this regime and sending a message that American citizens’ approved of it. On the other hand, by not going we would be defeating the whole purpose of this semester – learning about other countries and in turn maybe showing the Burmese people that we support THEM by showing an interest in their situation. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to discuss politics with the Burmese, if so they would likely be killed, so we never really heard from them about how they felt about their situation.
All that being said, I went in with an open mind and ready to learn a lot about the country. It is really beautiful and has a lot of history. The large Budda population there has built thousands of massive gold-encrusted pagodas all over. We went to some of the most spectacular ones, Shwegadon, which is nearly 2500 years old. There are altars in a clockwise pattern corresponding with the days of the week. The day you were born on has a lot of significance. It determines your name, whom you are compatible with (Wednesdays and Saturdays are the best match), and your personality traits.
Through SAS I was able to participate in a donation ceremony at a monastery. About 50 of us went, feeding 1200 monks their final meal of the day (at noon). Apparently Burmese people save up their whole lives to be able to donate and feed the monks, usually in honor of a special occasion like a birthday or wedding. They also invited us to practice English with the younger monks aged 8-15, which was really neat. They were so interested in us, probably because they rarely get western visitors. That was the feeling I got elsewhere in the city too, everyone was staring! I felt like we were on parade, but everyone was so happy and incredibly nice.
I didn’t care too much for the food…rice and fish everything! Fish soup, rice fish cakes, fermented fish paste (over rice, of course). You get the idea. But the restaurants we ate at were really cute and had great service. Luckily the hotel we stayed at catered towards international businessmen, so we did have some options there! Speaking of, we met 2 Americans, who were absolutely shocked and excited to see us! We pretty much doubled the foreign population while we were there, and American travelers are scarce.
One of the best experiences happened when my friends and I went to a Burmese karaoke bar. We “sang” some odd songs (“Tearin Up My Heart” and “Summer of 69”) but the highlight was watching two women belting out “Take Me Home Country Road!” Awesome. And so surreal at the same time.
Having spent only four days there means that the country still remains very much a mystery to me. I have a feeling the next few years will bring a lot of attention towards the regime and hopefully a resolution to the oppression of the people.
The next few days I will be gearing up for a big Global Studies test before docking in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Sunday! The next few days should be busy, but I’ll try and post an update prior to docking. I will also try to post more pictures, but
the internet is so slow! Thanks for reading!
Home Sweet Ship
Well, we just left Singapore, where we stopped to refuel since we couldn’t in Burma or India. Unfortunately we couldn’t get off the ship, but the view was nice anyway. Ship life is awesome. It has really become my home away from home. A couple people back home have asked what exactly I do everyday, a perfectly legitimate question.
I have class every day, on A days from 8 a.m.-10:35 a.m. and on B days from 9:15 a.m.-12 p.m. and 12:55p.m.-2:10 p.m. Before breakfast, I check e-mail and read the news on IHT.com since we don’t have to use minutes for that site. I usually eat breakfast on deck six at 7:30 a.m., lunch at 12 p.m. outside and dinner at 6 p.m on either deck. The food isn’t great, but we did have taco day once this crossing - quite a big deal around here!
Every day at noon and 5 p.m. the Voice comes on the speaker for announcements. It’s really the Assistant Dean, Tom, but everyone just calls him Voice. He is hysterical. At 3 p.m. the Dean’s memo is handed out, which has a lot of important information regarding immigration, clubs, activities, etc. I am in two clubs, Ambassadors and Extended Family, so sometimes I have meetings for those.
We have to sign up to use the gym a day in advance, so when I remember to do that, I usually do the elliptical or the stairmaster, because they have handles! The treadmill is dangerous when the ship is moving! The rest of the afternoon I either nap by the pool (rough life, I know) or read for class. The past couple days have been spent studying for my global test and doing research for an article I’m writing.
After dinner there is always something to do. There are “community colleges” or cultural and logistical pre-port lectures. I went to the crew talent show a few nights ago, and tonight the professor’s children are performing a play. I only go to pub nights if there is a theme. Since we don’t have weekends, it’s not really worth going if I have to get up early, and the drinks are expensive.
A couple nights ago was a Sex and the City marathon, so Megan and I got in our PJ’s and took our pillows and snacks up to watch on the big screen in the Union. There are also documentaries and movies shown in the cabins. If I’m really desperate, I watch he map channel, which is just a map with a red line showing our course and bad music playing in the background.
Other than that, people just hang out or study in the lounges, the pool deck, or in cabins. On Tuesday, my friends and just I sat on the seventh deck talking forever. Ryan, Derek, and Greg tried to teach me, Megan, and Kathryn how to play poker. Of course we had no patience whatsoever and decided to play spoons instead. Our current amusement is prefacing everything we say with the phrase, “this one time, in Myanmar…” Or, randomly blurting out “spring break in NAM!” Hehe. There is an interesting dynamic between SAS’ers. Since we’re with each other 24/7, I feel like I’ve known some people here my whole life.
I hope that gives you a better idea of my life at sea. Life is good, I hope yours is as well!! Ok, I think that is all from this update. Saigon tomorrow!
Goooooood Morning, Vietnam!
Vietnam was everything I had expected - it is a beautiful country and I had a lot of fun! It went by so quick, but I think I got a good feel for the history and fell in love with Saigon. For us students, Vietnam has always been just a country on a map, an event in our history books. I feel like my parent’s generation has an (understandably) different emotional reaction to the country.
We had several professors and adult passengers on the ship that served in the war, so the days preceding our arrival were filled with their combat stories. Once we arrived in the country, we ended up seeing a very different side of the Vietnam War (which they call the American War). I took a couple day trips, one to the Mekong Delta, where Viet Cong forces operated. We went through the canals on little wooden boats, and they even gave us those straw rice-paddy hats to wear. The other trip was to the Cu Chi tunnels, a 60 mile underground cobweb of secret tunnels and living quarters used by the Viet Cong forces in the war. They have since widened the entrances so tourists could fit! It was really hot and I was a little claustrophobic. It was scary to see the traps and weapons used against American troops. We also saw a propaganda film that was shown 30 years ago.
Everyone in my group had wide eyes and dropped jaws; it was pretty shocking.The most emotional part was going to the War Remnants Museum, which had hundreds of combat photos, American tanks, and worst of all photos and remnants from Agent Orange and napalm incidents. Having seen the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. when I was younger and now coming here and seeing their memorial made me realize that war really does have two sides. Regardless of the situation in the Gulf now, I hope that Semester at Sea students can go to Iraq in 30 years and hopefully have as educational and meaningful of an experience that I did here, because the hospitality the Vietnamese people showed us was remarkable. (Except for one isolated incident I have to mention: At the museum, I was looking at a photo of an American tank dragging the bodies of two Viet Cong, when a Vietnamese man came up, pointed at the picture, glared at me, and shook his head. I really didn’t know how to react to that. I was really distressed and felt guilty for even being there.)
I decided to channel my inner “1972 war correspondent” and have a drink on the roof of The Rex Hotel. I read in the book “1000 Places to See Before You Die” that during the war, foreign journalists would convene on the roof to trade scoops and escape the war zone below. I can’t imagine the view they had 30 years ago in contrast to ours.
But enough about war, because that is in the past and the present is so incredibly amazing! Saigon’s official name is Ho Chi Minh City, but nobody calls it that. The traffic is crazy – everyone zips around on little motorbikes. Walking in the city is like being in a video game. Basically our strategy was “just keep walking.” If you stop, or hesitate, you will get hit. But if you keep going, they’ll move around you. It’s very surreal, like swimming through a school of fish. Another transportation-related story involves trucks. When backing up, instead of a monotone beeping noise, the sound is a song, like Happy Birthday or Jingle Bells. I almost died laughing. We kept trying to figure out where the music was coming from!
The climate is hot, but there’s lots of shade and a great city park. Saigon is pretty clean, and very accommodating to tourists. There are lots of large international hotels, a few malls and the best part: an American grocery store! We were pretty excited to buy Dr. Pepper and other American products I had almost forgot about! We must have been homesick because we also got in touch with our American roots on our last night, when we got cheeseburgers and went bowling. I was not about to eat another springroll, and apparently Vietnamese people love bowling, because it was packed with people our age!
Somewhere in between all the aforementioned activities, we went power shopping! I bought more than any other port so far, because everything was so cheap! I have become an expert bargainer. Maybe too good…I don’t know how I am going to get everything home! The biggest sellers: Tiger Beer shirts, North Face backpacks, rice paddy hats, bowls, chopsticks, and DVD’s. Most everyone had custom dresses and suits made, since it was very inexpensive. Megan, Katherine, and I paid $25 for our dresses. I think the guys each got two suits for less than $250. I can’t wait to see everyone all dressed up in their outfits at the Ambassador’s Ball in a few weeks!
Five days was definitely not enough! I would love to return to this unique region of the world. My friends who went on trips to Hanoi and Cambodia said it was awesome. My parents have previously visited Singapore and loved it, and I have always thought Thailand would be amazing. Soooooo, it looks like I will have to come back someday!
I’m back on the ship now, but not for long: Hong Kong/Beijing/Qindao on Monday! Loving it…
P.S. I PUT UP MORE PICTURES, FINALLY! Check it out, the link is on the right side of this page.
CHINA!
China for me was life in fast-forward, like a movie. We ported in Hong Kong on Monday morning, I left for Beijing 24 hours later, spent three days there, flew to Qindao and had one day there before sailing off Saturday night.
Hong Kong was just like Manhattan. We docked in Kowloon, then hopped on the Star Ferry over to the main island. Megan and I went up to Victoria Peak on this crazy tram! Never mind going to Hong Kong Disneyland – the tram was a rollercoaster itself!
It went up at a 45 degree angle, but the ride was worth it – the view from the top is incredible. We walked around up there for a while before going back down and straight into an upscale mall. It was cool to see, but too expensive! I did get to walk through the
Manolo Blahnik store, so I was happy. Then Greg and I grabbed Chinese food (wait, just food I guess). I met back up with Megan, whose sorority sisters are studying abroad in Hong Kong, so they told us all about everything that we could have done if we had more time. I definitely want to go back.
I spent three days in Beijing, which was great - I got to go to Starbucks! It was the first (and second, third, and fourth) time since January! Very exciting, and also really necessary, I swear! China is COLD! It snowed! I did a lot of sightseeing, including the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Tian’anmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall of China, of course! The wall is amazing. It stretches for 2,000 miles; we only climbed about two miles! It was super cold and the stairs were very steep. It was really hard to get out of bed the next day! In Beijing, we were able to stay near Renmin University, so we got to hang out with students and tour the campus. The students were really funny; they all wanted to know if we watched Desperate Housewives, since that is their favorite show!
After a four-hour flight delay in the Beijing airport (let me tell you how fun that was) we flew to Qindao to meet the ship. I didn’t have much time there, but that didn’t really matter – there wasn’t much to do and it was too cold to just wander! Megan and I went on a crazy taxi adventure to McDonalds - trust me, if you ate Chinese food for three meals a day for three days, you would want McDonalds too. We were unsuccessful at finding a market, but the driver did take us to Woormoor, better known as Wal Mart. How crazy is that? Nothing is in English, nobody speaks English, but there’s a Wal Mart
in Qindao, China. Globalization at its best.
Random hilarious stories from China: A) While most everything at the tourist sites is translated into English, it isn’t exactly correct! For example: welcome to our park was “the green grass is longing for your cherishing.” Or, no graffiti was “cherish the cultural relics, please don’t scribble.” B) Advertisements for the Beijing 2008 Olympics are everywhere, complete with ugly little mascots that look like pandas dressed up like Power Rangers at Mardi Gras. C) I asked the hotel if there was an internet café nearby, and she replied, “no, go home.” Turns out there was a business center in the hotel with internet! D) A guy in our group apparently looks like Chris Tucker, who’s in a lot of movies with Jackie Chan, who the Chinese people idolize. People kept coming up to him yelling “ChrisTucker Rush Hour Jackie Chan ChrisTucker!” They all wanted his autograph and picture. It was hysterical.
Okay I think that’s enough! I have to get some work done since we only have two days until JAPAN, also known as our last port! How sad. Also, rough seas tonight so cross your fingers that I don’t get sick! Love yall.
Turning Japanese
Our last stop! Kobe is a great city, apparently a lot like Tokyo but on a smaller scale. The first day, Megan and I spent half the morning doing errands…phones, post office, money exchange, etc. Then we had the rest of the day to explore. The weather was not so great, pretty rainy and cloudy. I guess we’ve been spoiled the past three months with warm weather! Japan has an extensive train system, so we rode the Portliner, which is like a monorail, in between the ship and downtown. We shopped for a while, but didn’t buy very much because Japan is way more expensive than our last few ports!
Here’s an interesting note about Japanese people: they’re all really fashionable! I don’t think they’ve ever heard of sweatshirts or tennis shoes. Even at 10 p.m. all the guys were still in their suits and ties and all the girls in skirts and heels. We must have looked so scrubby! Also, nobody jaywalks! We would just walk across the street, very la la la, and nobody else would follow! I don’t think it was illegal, because there was definitely a cop nearby, but apparently not something they do!
I did a trip to Hiroshima on the second day. Luckily the five hours (each way) on the bus was worth it. We saw the A-bomb dome, which was one of the only structures that not leveled by the blast. It was hollowed out, but the steel frame remains where a copper dome once was. We also saw the Peace Memorial Park, which holds several monuments – one for the children victims, unknown victims, a bell, reflecting pool, and eternal flame. The children’s memorial holds thousands of origami cranes, which symbolize peace. At the end of the park is the museum, which holds many artifacts, including charred clothing and a slab of granite where the heat imprinted a human shadow on it permanently. There were also eyewitness accounts, and pictures of Hiroshima before and after the bomb. That experience was very intense, a lot like the War Remnants Museum in Vietnam. After we got to go to a traditional Japanese zen garden. It was very beautiful; the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and are gorgeous, and there were koi fish swimming in a little lake.
Mary, Megan, Anthony and I tried to act Japanese, but we just ended up looking really silly: we went to one of those photo booth things and tried to take all these really fabulous photos, but we were about one second off on every one, so we just look stupid! Mary bought this bottle of gum for like, 6000 yuan, which is around 6 bucks. Anyway, she opened it and there were post-its inside, weird!
Since this is our last port, we tried to be adventurous with the food: green tea kit kats (bad idea), mystery meat dumplings (smelled good), and a pancake sandwich with azuki filling, which I know now is not chocolate, but beans. Ew. But I did get to have sushi and sake!
I didn’t get to do too much else, because I got strep, sad day. The problem with the ship is that sickness spreads so quickly, since we’re in such close quarters. But I got going on some antibiotics and was back out in Kobe for the last day. Well that is all for now. We have now begun our sail across the Pacific, which will take 13 days. It’s pretty rocky so far – even morning classes were cancelled today. So cross your fingers that it gets better! I have a lot to do to wrap this semester up! I will post an update in a week or so…possibly from Hawaii! We’re just getting fuel though, not getting off the ship, boo!
Not your typical 21st
Not that the drinking age matters at sea. I had a really great birthday, how many people get to say they were on a trip around the world on their 21st! Got lots of cards and opened some presents, too! Megan gave me a phone card, so I also got to call home and talk to my family! The seas were calm and the sun was shining for the first time since we left China. I got a manicure at the ship’s spa and then had dinner with my friends! The food was bad news, but my friends surprised me with an ice cream cake, yay! There was also a pub night, so I went and had my first legal drinks (a screwdriver and a wine cooler) and then we went to karaoke night in the union.
Right after that was the first of two April 20ths (we crossed the international date line so we gained all those lost hours back in one day)! On the first one we had the Ambassadors Ball. Everyone looked so nice and dressed up! We’re used to sweatpants and glasses everyday so it was great to see everyone all fancy! We had a five-course meal with steak, salmon, and champagne, too! After dinner we danced the night away in the union. Here’s a tip: don’t wear heels on a moving ship!
There was also an auction held to raise money for charities that we have worked with or visited along the voyage. People donated weekends at beach houses, football tickets, etc. Also auctioned off was the chance to be the first person off the ship and steer the ship! We raised $31,000! Who knew that people actually had money left after the past four months!
I guess I should get back to studying for finals, which began yesterday. I should be okay – I lucked out with no cumulative ones. We’re in Hawaii overnight for fuel and food, can’t really see anything though (they’re still not letting us off the ship). Finals end on Tuesday, then we have two days to pack before San Diego on Friday morning! I’ll try to post one last time before we get off the ship.
DAY 100
But such a tide as moving seems asleep
Too full for sound and foam
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home
Crossing the Bar – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Well, the world really is round. Gravity did its job, yay! The ship community is in chaos mode -it’s really sad seeing empty walls and overstuffed suitcases. We’ve spent the last few days packing like crazy and saying goodbyes. It’s very bittersweet. I cannot wait to be back home, but it’s very hard to say goodbye to ship life.
I am nervous and excited to go home, just as I was nervous and excited to begin the voyage. I have so many memories and stories and pictures for this semester. I will remember the people most…black, white, poor, rich, insane, peaceful, eclectic, beautiful, foreigners and shipmates.
So with a full passport and an empty wallet, I will swipe out and walk down the gangway into our last port: San Diego, CA. I will leave the topsy-turvy world of ship life, where time is measured in countries (i.e. “I haven’t read for Global since Vietnam!”), rough sea days replace snow days, field trips involve passports, clocks have a mind of their own, tacos and lemonade are cause for celebration, barbeques are considered holidays, internet minutes are more valuable than cash, professors live upstairs, and
friends live down the hall.
However, I cannot wait to get back to normalcy: sleeping in my own bed, sleeping in general, driving, doing laundry, cell phones, eating whatever/whenever/wherever, trees, free internet, and no more rocking! Most of all, I can’t wait to share all my stories and pictures with all of you!
I am so grateful for those who made this semester so amazing – all my ship friends (you know who you are) and teachers, the crew (Capitan Roman!!), and especially my parents who were brave enough to let me go and pay for most of it too. It’s been the adventure of a lifetime. I’ve changed a little, laughed a lot, and learned more than I probably realize. That’s all for this blog. Thanks for following my journey – all
23,000 miles, 10 countries, and 100 days of it! AMERICA TOMORROW!!!
THE END
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