The Indian Experience: Life Changing...

The past 4 days have changed my life forever…India was truly an experience and know I understand why everyone says that when they go there. The past 3 ports we visited were very Americanized and yes it felt like we were in a different country…but the past week seemed like I was in a completely different world…I feel like I have no idea why I deserve the things I have…and coming back to this resort of a boat started an inner struggle of relief and sadness…yes it was nice to be back on the ship because I could shower and drink water…but sadness because these things are such luxuries that I don’t feel like I deserve….and having seen what I saw in India, I will always keep that in mind…

My first morning in Chennai was an immediate awakening to what we were getting ourselves into. The stench that crept onto the boat slowly reached all of our rooms at 7 that morning and we realized this was going to be a much different port than the previous ones. We had our diplomatic briefing with the ambassadors to the U.S. who were both great! I then had an FDP on the ship for my marketing class about some business guy in India...who was old and boring haha…then I have to pack for my Taj Mahal and Varanasi trip. We spent a few glorious hours in Indian traffic (you have to see pics to believe it) and finally got to the airport. The spectacle that occurred when 140 American students entered the airport was definitely a sight to see. After being stared at for hours we got on the plane (which was much nicer than we were expecting! Everyone had their own video screens and everything) So I watched a Bollywood movie based on The Notebook… haha…We finally got to Delhi and our hotel…They had a lovely dinner prepared for us along with really cheesy 80’s American music, which was a little disappointing considering was dying for some Indian music….the food was great and we all devoured the naan (Indian fried bread) till we had to go to bed.

The next morning we woke up at a splendid 4 in the morning to board our train for Agra…it was about a 2 hour trains ride and along with the dirty sunset (which I vote are actually some of the prettiest) we enjoyed some tea…we got to Agra and immediately got on a bus (I swear this was a tour of how many forms of transportation can one use in India haha) We stopped at Fatehpur Sikri (one of the fort monument deals the king made for his different wives haha) and then on to various other monuments and forts throughout Agra….We actually ran into a woman who was an SAS alum…that was pretty cool…but we were all awaiting to infamous Taj Mahal…Well…I had to get into the Taj first, which was an ordeal in of itself…this is a long story but in trying to keep it short if you don’t know the three boys I babysit while I am at school gave me pictures of themselves a year ago to take with me all over the world (they have been to around 15 countries with me and I try to take pictures with them at all the main monuments) well the security guard lady said they were “toys” and told me they weren’t allowed…well this was not going to fly with me because no one was going to take me boys away from me…so I proceeded to the back of the line and hid them…well the other security guard saw me do this and told the other one once I got to the front of the line…after a large amount of pat downs in many areas I did not want to be patted down she gave up and let me through, with the other security guard outraged…So…after that whole ordeal I got to see the Taj Mahal and take the famous picture with my boys…at the same time worrying that Indian police were going to put me in jail lol….the Taj Mahal was just gorgeous and we were there during sunset which made it even more breathtaking…we got in line and met the most adorable old Sikhs….who smiled every time we talked…we walked through the Taj which was pitch black and pretty much just the tombs of the guy and his wife (who he built the Taj for)…we then had a long rest of the evening because we had to drive back to the train station (which was also an interesting experience with poor and sick children begging for food and rats crawling everywhere) and then drove back to our hotel in New Delhi.

The next morning we got to finally sleep in! Till 6 haha….we drove around New Delhi and saw the nicer parts where all the government buildings and embassies are…then we had to go to the airport and fly to Varanasi. Once we got there we saw some Buddhists temples and forts and then we had a really nice traditional lunch at our hotel. We then took a bus to meet our rickshaw drivers….this was definitely a sight to see as 70 students had to pile in two by two into these tiny rickshaws…of course, I had the tiniest driver in all of India, it was pretty funny…The rickshaw rise was crazy! You aren’t protected by anything and you are just going to have to see pictures to believe the insanity that is driving in a rickshaw in the middle of Varanasi. That was about an hour and then we came to the river Ganges where we had seats awaiting our arrival to watch the Hindu ceremony. This was absolutely beautiful…it was during sunset and they had candles and music all around the river…The moon came out and was a deep orange due to the pollution…after experiencing the exquisiteness of the ceremony we went back to the hotel for dinner and dancing which they had set up for us…

The next day was probably the most life changing of all…we woke up at sunrise and got in boats to go down the Ganges river…we got these little candles in beds of flowers and had to make a wish and float them down the river…there was music playing and hundreds of people come to the banks every morning to bathe in this river…but then you learn that this is one of the dirtiest and most polluted rivers in the world…a dead body floated by and that is when we realized the truth in that statement…the smells were poignant and sickening but the twisted beauty of it all was prevalent. We continued floating down the river and found where they burn the dead bodies…this was also an remarkable sight to see… we got out of the boats and continued to walk through disgusting alley ways filled with poverty like you couldn’t even imagine…it was absolutely filthy and describing all the details would just ruin your day…so I won’t…haha…we then went back to the hotel for breakfast and then got the chance to go to a silk factory and a bead shop…after that, we had hours of traveling back to Chennai…involving two buses, two planes, and a 4 hour layover in New Delhi…but we finally made it back to the ship in one peace…
My last day in Chennai we didn’t get to do much because there was some famous Bollywood actor coming to lead a protest downtown so EVERYTHING was blocked…we drove around with our taxi driver and accomplished nothing…coming back we argued with the price and that was definitely interesting…yelling definitely occurred on both ends haha…finally we got to the port and they wouldn’t let us in because of the rally…so our taxi driver pointed to this underground tunnel that we were supposed to take that would supposedly lead us to the port…yeah sketchy I know but we had no choice…we uneasily headed down the dirty tunnel and came up to the entrance to the port which was such an amazing occurrence haha…I had one last FDP on the ship about the environment in India and then we sailed away…

I had a presentation today which went really well…and now I must begin my marketing project about introducing Absolut Vodka into Malaysia (my teacher picked it mind you haha) so that will be fun…The water is calm which is nice and its warm and humid so everyone is out here on the pool deck laying out…I hope all is well back home with everyone and hope to hear from people soon! We will be in Penang, Malaysia on Wednesday for my next adventure! Wish everyone a great week from the Strait of Malacca... :)

Olympics, Midterms, and Harry Potter…all in the Indian Ocean?!

Ever wonder what happens when you are on a ship for more than a week without seeing any land? You go CRAZY! We have officially established that…haha…these days we seem to be very amused by anything and it is pretty hysterical….the first few days were quite hard because we had just spent an incredible week in South Africa and no one wanted to go to class…but alas, we kind of had to…the lovely half way point came on Thursday with the Sea Olympics (and no classes)….Wednesday night was the opening ceremonies and each sea (hall) had to make a flag and a chant and wear their sea colors…I am in the Red Sea so we got all decked out in red and got ready for the opening ceremonies. We decided on a team name (The Electric Squid Warriors….don’t even ask haha) and we had this amazing artist in our hall so our flag was absolutely amazing! I was a judge at the opening ceremonies for the best flag and best team chant…it was a fun and very spirited evening

The next day we had the Olympics with about 20 different events…I was on the Red Sea’s volleyball team and we didn’t do that great, but it was a lot of fun haha…my team placed gold in dodgeball, gold in the workout relay, silver in jeopardy, and silver in tug-o-war….some of the other events that were held were: hot dog eating contest, spelling bee, Sudoku, synchronized swimming (which had to be in the union cause it was too choppy haha and it was hysterical), pizza making contest, Pictionary, hula hoop, twister, human knot, flip cup, limbo, and an m&m pie eating contest…it was a great day…we didn’t place in the final but we did win the flag competition! (and no…I couldn’t vote for my own flag haha) That night was the gods and goddesses dance out on the 7th deck which was a lot of fun…trying to put together a costume with very little resources is quite hard but with a little hair and makeup you can do anything haha (I was some sort of Egyptian goddess lol)…it ended kind of early so we decided to continue the party and got our iPods together and danced and sang the night away in my neighbors room and then went back outside again…it was pretty much hysterical…

After that, the past two days have been packed with studying (pretty much because no one had done any since we had been on the ship) so the sales at the coffee bar drastically went up for the hundreds of all nighters that were being pulled…I had my 1st midterm this morning for global studies and then I have my marketing midterm on Monday (my half birthday, which we are totally celebrating because it’s something fun to do and get dressed up for hahaha) and then Tuesday we get to Chennai, India! Well…I am off to dinner….and then Harry Potter 3! (I totally forgot to mention that since we are creative and bored out of our minds lol… about 10 of us are having a Harry Potter marathon and tonight we are on number 3 haha….fun stuff…)

Miss everyone lots and hope all is well back home! Keep me posted and send me an email (cause I have nothing else to do and I don’t want to study J)

South Africa: Heaven on Earth...

Ok…so first of all I have to start by saying that if I can’t live there one day…I am definitely going back to Cape Town like 10 more times in my life…I absolutely loved it! From the first moment we saw Table Mountain from the ship it was just an absolutely beautiful spectacle for an entire week. My first day started out completely freezing (it was in the 40’s) and windy..but if you know me well enough that made it even better haha...we went up to the wine lands for an FDP for my marketing class and had two wine tastings…I have never done one before so I was quite excited. Of course we had to pay attention and ask questions related to marketing but it was a great day and I enjoyed learning about the “right way” to drink wine…both places were absolutely stunning and seeing both sides of the product was really neat, from the vineyards, the stock rooms, the marketing end, and then tasting the final product. It was a very successful first day in Cape Town. That night we went out to Long Street which is where it is pretty much happening at night in Cape Town. Mitchell’s brewery was a two story bar and sports bar that was right off the ship at the port so almost every night it was full of all of us haha. We then went to Long Street and found an Irish pub (which you are right dad, you can find one in any city in the world…there was even one in Namibia!) where they had a local band which was a lot of fun. Of course they knew we were all American students and proceeded to play Sweet Home Alabama and similar songs…it was a lovely evening to say the least….

The next day I had another FDP for my history class and we hit pretty much all of the important historical and cultural aspects of Cape Town. We went to a Muslim dominated part of the city which was really cool because it was the last day of Ramadan…the houses were all painted different bright colors (which we learned later was because the government won’t let them change anything to the façades of the homes except the color, so to differentiate one home to another everyone has painted them crazy colors…it was really neat) We then went to the District 6 Museum which was all about apartheid and obviously very interesting. You hear about things like apartheid and stuff in class at home but there is nothing like talking to the people who were actually affected and reading their stories. Even though there was a lot of the same notions in the south in the U.S., South Africa took that times 10…it was very sad. After that, we went to the Khayelitsha township which was by far the best part of the day. The second we got off the bus, 50 children or so swarmed us with beaming faces ready to play with us…one little girl grabbed my hand as I was walking and started practicing her English. Her and her friends starting singing Rihanna and it was the cutest thing ever. So I joined in with them and they were showing me their expertise in the current American pop culture. I was shocked when they knew all of the Rihanna and Jordan Sparks songs! These are some poor little kids living in these little tin boxes and there English was perfect, and they knew more words than I did to songs playing on our radio. I ended my morning feeling like I was in the Sound of Music…I had 20 kids surrounding me and we were singing Amazing Grace…yes I cried, and it was a wonderful feeling and an experience I will never forget. We then went to a restaurant (in a woman’s home) in the township and had the local cuisine which was devoured by all of us…That afternoon we then got on the ferry for Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela and others were imprisoned for speaking out against apartheid. There was an eerie feeling on the island (being a prison and all) but it was very interesting to learn more about this horrible time. Ironically it was a very beautiful island with a great view of Table Mountain and Cape Town. Also, completely filled with the cutest little African penguins haha.. We also took the same exact ferry Nelson Mandela did…and being a very sentimental person, me and two other people decided to sit exactly where they sat on the ship. (This would have been pretty cool on any other day, however, they stood at the very front tip of the ferry the entire time and it wasn’t 40 degrees and raining when they did it….needless to say we were stubborn and soaking wet by the time we went back to the boat). I didn’t go out that night after that extremely long and emotionally draining day.

The next day we just kind of hung out around the port…there was a lot to do and see so I took it as a relaxing day to take everything in. That night one of my friends had made reservations at a restaurant 30 minutes outside of Cape Town at some famed place…I didn’t really know at the time that it was going to be such a perfect evening! The second I got out of the taxi they were playing “Motuno Noreno” by Jomed (only my dad may get this) and I freaked out! I was stoked that I knew the music they were playing and began to realize that they were playing the North African Groove Putumayo CD and I was stoked! Everyone looked at me extremely confused as to how in the world I knew the song and have the CD! The atmosphere of this place had to make it one of the top 5 restaurants I have ever been to. We had dinner in a tree house! Need I say more? Haha…oh I was so happy…the music was all my music from my iPod that no one else knew and the food was amazing! They had performances of traditional music and dancing and it was the best night I had in Cape Town. (Dad: it was like an outside Buddha Bar, but African themed with tables in tree houses) Afterwards we went to a bar on the beach, but it was too crowded so we went back to Mitchell’s haha.

The next day I left for my safari for three days. We flew to Johannesburg and then on to Kruger National Park. The first night we went on a short game drive and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen… They had a lovely dinner prepared for us at the lodge with some local music and then we went to bed because we had to wake up 4:30 the next morning. So…we woke up haha…and went on a sunrise drive and pretty much drove around the park till dinner haha. We saw 3 out of the Big 5 (elephants, buffalo, and rhinos…no lions or leopards L ) But we saw a lot of other cool animals! That night we went on a night game drive, which was sadly disappointing because we didn’t see as much as we wanted but almost got charged by angry elephants because we go too close…so that was fun haha) The next day was in an airplane the entire time, so not much happened…except that both are flights were delayed and we got back late haha.

Yesterday was our last day in Cape Town and my roommate Rebecca, Kelly, and I went to the top of Table Mountain which was absolutely breathtaking. We had lunch at the top and then came back down and did some last minute souvenir and Christmas shopping before we had to embark the ship. As we were sadly sailing away, we were told to report to our rooms immediately and secure all items because it was going be a choppy night…well…let’s just say choppy was an understatement haha. Everyone is dead after Cape Town and definitely does not want to go to class for the next 11 days straight. This is about midterm time, which sounds kind of funny but this is pretty much our last long stretch of classes until after Japan so this is the only time to have them…We are stopping in Mauritius in a few days to get fuel but we can’t get off which is such a tease! The Sea Olympics are happening the one day we have off before India and we are getting our team stuff ready (There are 20 events to choose from, I am on the Red Sea volleyball team!)…and we have a dance before India too…so that will be fun! I had dinner with the two interport students from Chennai, India…they were very nice and eager to tell us about their city. They are also showing the Vice Presidential debates tomorrow in the union which will be nice…I am sure I will post before India but everyone have a great next few days and keep in touch through my email! :)

"Why are you in Namibia?"

Wow! Namibia was absolutely incredible! It was such a pleasant surprise to everyone. This was historic first visit for Semester at sea…(and for Walvis Bay, Namibia!) haha the locals were shocked…it was a large fishing port, but no cruise ship has ever sailed in and it was hysterical….One of the biggest questions we got asked was “ You are from America? why in the world are you here in Namibia?” The first day was pretty cold and foggy but it cleared up as the days went on. The first day I went on a 4x4 jeep tour of the Namib Desert and it was really fun! Our tour guide was hysterical…he was barefoot the whole time and reaching into the dunes pulling out snakes and lizards…I held a chameleon! That was pretty cool! Haha….The desert was so beautiful and then we went to the beach nearby and saw a shipwreck that washed up just a few months ago (not really a lighthearted thing to see while you are traveling the world on a ship, but it was cool anyway)…That night we went to this popular spot (actually the only popular spot) called the raft, and it was PACKED with SAS students and staff….the locals usually keep it open till midnight…and the last SAS person probably left around 3….they made bank while we were there haha….it was awesome, great food and right on the water.

The second day we went to the town about 25 minutes north called Swakopmund, which was where it was happening in Namibia…it was the cutest little town and you felt like you were in Germany because of the previous colonies. All of the architecture and food was completely German, pretty random but fun place! We had dinner right on the pier and watched the gorgeous sunset. We went back to the raft that night and hung out with the locals haha, they were so interested in talking with us…they didn’t understand what we did on the ship at all, we confused them greatly.

On Sunday 3 of us wanted to go to church so we got all dressed up (and bundled up!) and walked half an hour into town only to find that we were an hour late and church was done…so after that disheartening adventure we decided to go to the store and get a newspaper and essential items we needed for th ship, the biggest hit were the flame grilled steak with caramelized onion flavor Pringles (which are horrible and when they come to America DO NOT by them) But it was hysterical to try them…that afternoon we went ATVing with some of the guys. One of the BEST and things I have ever done in my life! It was breathtaking in more ways than one! The dunes were beautiful and it was the coolest thing driving the ATV up and down the dunes….insane….we then went back to Swakopmund and went out to dinner and drinks…we stayed at the cutest little bungalow and had great night….

The 3rd day we needed to recuperate from staying up all night from the night before so didn’t do much haha…we all went out to dinner and dancing that night which was extremely interesting and full of many long lasting memories that I will never forget but probably can’t write here, being one of the only sober people has its benefits (I actually can remember everything haha)…ask me when I come home hahaha….

The last day was probably the most eye opening…we visited a couple of the townships outside of Walvis Bay and it was amazing. We visited a kindergarten and I think we were all crying by the end….we visited a little market where they were playing games, music, and food…they were playing mancala with stones in the ground and it was funny to hear everyone say, “hey! They know how to play mancala here!” lol umm….I guess a lot of people didn’t know that this is where it came from! The tour guide laughed a lot about that one….we went to a women’s home where she taught us the click language (super hard) and the local food. Yes I tried caterpillar....oh! and I had zebra the other night at the raft too! The zebra was great….but I don’t think I will have caterpillar again….outside the women wore beautiful dresses and were playing music and dancing in the street…Michelle and I were the only ones brave enough to dance with them so we did and it was so much fun (I took lots of video this day, I wish I could put them on here!)

We now only have two days of classes before we are in Cape Town, South Africa for a week! Everyone is really excited for that…unfortunately the seas around south Africa are some of the choppiest in the world and we are expecting 12-15 footers tomorrow, so that will be fun…I have a great appreciation now for my desk in class….its great to hold on to when we are moving back and forth….its funny to see the teachers attempt to stand up and walk around the class room…the dining halls are the worst when you have to keep holding your glass otherwise it will spill…but its all part of the adventure and so amazing up till this point! I believe I am 9 hours ahead of home right now and will be for awhile, my phone works while I am in port so feel free to text me then….or email me at ayallen@semesteratsea.net because while on the ship, that’s pretty much all everyone does :) love and miss everyone! Talk to you soon! :)

Her name was Lola...

So…I have to put everything I did in the past 5 days in Brazil into one blog entry? I apologize already for the length…but oh well… We arrived into Salvador, Brazil on Sunday and a big group of us pretty much just walked around and hung out all day. It was so weird having been there two years ago so I kept remembering places I had been with my family and where we had taken pictures and stuff. We hung out at a café and listened to some great samba music, where I proceeded to dance with one of the guys in the band (there is video)…so that was fun…we enjoyed a caiparinha (the Brazilian version of a mojito) and the guys had the local beer. We saw some sights and had a great day of exploring Salvador by ourselves. That night, there was a welcome reception with local university students and a showing of capoiera and music. The beer was unlimited and free so I’m sure you can imagine the spectacle that night, plus, after the show it pretty much turned into a huge nightclub with some dj from Europe…it will definitely go down as one of the most fun nights in my life.

About 2 hours after I got back from the “welcome reception” (rave lol) my group going to Rio de Janeiro was meeting in the union at a lovely 3:45 in the morning…so you can imagine the fun of the 10 hours that followed. We finally get to Rio after not going to sleep after a night of craziness, and of course it is raining. So they switched up our schedule for the 3 days we were there and gave us free time, which really? Free time in a city we have never been to before at the same time that it is raining was a little frustrating but we got over it. Our hotel was right on Copacabana beach (which was completely deserted the first two days because of the rain lol) but I met some nice new people and we hung out. The next day we went to a YMCA type place for the kids that live in favelas which are the Brazilian slums. It was so amazing to see that action is being taken to get these kids off the streets and they were so excited to have us there and play with them. Then we drove around Rio and went to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain on a cable car. That night we went out and met some nice Brazilians to teach us samba…I didn’t want to go with all the other drunk girls to the American bars so I made friends with the 2 other girls who wanted a more local feel. It was so much fun and we samba’d the night away. The next day it FINALLY stopped raining and we got to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. We had some free time before we had to leave for the airport so we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beaches of Copacabana which was lots of fun.

I then had one last day in Salvador and had an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) which we all have to do for our classes in every country. We went to an Afro-Brazilian museum which was really cool. We learned a lot about Condomble which is one of the main original religions in Brazil. We then went to a sort of Condomble village and saw the houses where they practice. It was really interesting to see how differently people live in these little villages. The kids were so excited to see us, but we had a national guard escort considering “tourists” don’t come through those parts often, so that was a little sketch haha. I met a friend on that tour and he was going on an architecture tour of Salvador later that day and I had nothing to do the rest of the so I signed up. It was beautiful, we walked around Salvador and the professor was so passionate about all the little details it was adorable. We saw some absolutely gorgeous churches which was what I was dying to see! We then had to be back on the ship and had a BBQ out by the pool for all the students once we all got back on.

So for the past few days since being back on the ship we have had classes and they have been pretty much normal school days with the occasional card playing and hang out time, and my nightly ”iPod watching of the sunset party.” Today we have no class which is amazing…but it’s cold and rainy outside so everyone is here in the piano lounge studying. Everyone is really eager for Namibia because no one has a clue what to expect about it. Last night was open mic night and it was packed. Apparently they are going to do it once a week; it’s amazing how much talent is on this ship. We attempted to sleep out on the deck last night and watch the stars but that dream ended quickly when it started to rain haha. Next stop, Walvis Bay, Namibia! Miss everyone greatly and would love to hear what’s going on back home and stuff! (ayallen@semesteratsea.net) :)

Lots of love from the middle of the Atlantic!

Neptune Day along the Brazilian Coast!

Ok…so first off, I did not shave my head! Even though a lot of girls did it and it looks pretty good! Haha…so yes, yesterday was Neptune Day. The crew of the ship woke us up at 7:30 by coming up and down the hallways with pots, pans, whistles, and anything else they could find on the ship that made loud noises. They were all dressed up in costumes and told us all to put on our bathing suits and go up to the 7th deck (the one with the pool). The night before we had crossed the equator and this is a huge deal, so we didn’t have classes or anything. We got up to the deck and some of our teachers were dressed as kings and queens of the sea. The tradition was that we all had to have fish guts poured on us, jump into the pool, kiss a dead fish when we got out, kiss the ring of the Queen of the sea, and then we were knighted. It was so fun and I have it all on video lol. Once that was done I had to watch Gandhi for a class and then last night was “pub night” so everyone was out on the decks. It was a lot of fun and we saw the lights of Brazil for the first time! Everyone is so excited to get off the ship tomorrow! Cant wait to post about Salvador! It is so weird because many times when I have been places with my family I don’t think I am going to get the chance to be back there ever again, but I remember everything about Salvador so Im so excited to see it all again, and things I didn’t get to see! Talk to everyone soon! And I have been checking my email lots during the day so please send me emails through that! (ayallen@semesteratsea.net

Adrienne :)

And so my adventure begins!!

Friday August 29th, 2008
Well, here I am on the first night on the ship! It is pouring rain and lighting because we are going around the hurricanes! Crazy for our first night! But I need to back up and start from Wednesday. Dad and I flew down to Nassau, Bahamas just fine, with the exception of them leaving our luggage in Atlanta. On any other occasion, this would have been a minor mishap in which we would not immediately freak out. However, I was about to embark on a 4 month journey around the world, and Dad was doing his own 3 week world tour for work. So that was oh so fun for 24 hours tirelessly waiting for my clothes to come and Dad to calm down about everything. Dad and I attempted to lay out by the pool all day, which was pretty difficult without bathing suits and the same clothes you traveled in but we managed. Last night I met some of the girls I had met and we went out to dinner and to senor frogs. Seeing the boat for the first time was the weirdest thing! We all realized this was finally becoming a reality.
This morning was the start of the big day. The humidity was unbearable and imagine 700 college kids with 2-3 bags each sweating and crying with their parents, it was a long but exciting morning. Check-in was super easy and I went up to my room. I adore my roommate, she is very nice so far which is great and a huge load off my shoulders. Her name is Rebecca Child and she is from northern California and goes to UC Davis. Today was extremely long….we all unpacked, wondered around aimlessly trying to find everything on the boat, ate lunch, had a life boat drill, and then our parents got to come on the ship to see everything and say our last goodbyes. We finally departed from Nassau and then had an orientation meeting with everyone and our “seas.” There are 9 different sections of cabins on the ship all named after seas, we are the red sea and I adore our RA. He looks, talks, and acts just like Seth Rogen! The humming and rocking of the ship is really calming and is making everyone pretty sleepy, that and the combination of the sea sick pills haha. I can’t believe I am here doing this, and in the middle of the ocean! I also cannot believe that my first day on the ship is over, this is semester is going to be incredible.

Thursday September 4, 2008
Ok…so it took me awhile to get everything situated but here I am in the piano lounge studying haha. Everything is just fabulous! All 4 of my classes are great and I am excited about all of them. I have had a lot of reading…and I am actually doing it which is incredible, I’m fascinated about all the subjects and the lectures aren’t boring at all! Everyone on the boat is getting supper anxious to get off…tomorrow we would have been on the boat for a week straight and Brazil is going to be very interesting with 700 stir crazy college students haha. I got a little sea sick the 2nd night, as did the rest of the ship but since then I have been great. At night everyone goes out on the decks and we are limited 4 drinks within like 4 hours or something but everyone (even our teachers!) are all out there playing board games and stuff, its hysterical! I don’t know what else everyone wants to know! Haha…since internet is so expensive on the ship my FREE email is: ayallen@semesteratsea.net so please use this because I check a lot and it has been so fun actually emailing all of you! Definitely makes my day when I get emails from you guys!
We had a random stop in Puerto Rico because we were trying to get around hurricanes Gustav and Hanna so that was interesting. We couldn’t get off the boat but we pretty much saw Puerto Rico. The seas have been great except the one day we were near Hanna…which is really funny to see everyone try to walk around on the ship when it is rocking back and forth! For the past week it almost feels like we are in a constant little earthquake, but everyone seems to enjoy the slow rocking because it puts them asleep. It is unreal to be sitting there taking notes in class and then look out the window and just see ocean! I can’t even begin to describe it!
Tomorrow is apparently Neptune Day because it is our first time crossing the equator which is a HUGE deal…I guess they wake us up really early and have obstacle challenges for us all day and people shave their heads (which I’m sorry to say I kind of was considering lol, but I guess we will see after tomorrow…I don’t think I will do it but it goes to a great cause! Haha) We don’t have class and I guess there is a huge celebration while we cross it and tomorrow night…so I’m sure that will be fun! Well everyone is outside laying out on the decks and I am about to take my book and go join them after my next class which is “Politics in India and Pakistan.” I will definitely keep everyone posted about what goes down tomorrow…and please email me if you want! I would love to hear from you guys! J
Signing off from somewhere in the ocean along the shores of Guyana…