Home Sweet Home

I'm home....it's weird being back but I'm so happy to eat American food, and have a burrito. Santanas definitely tasted great! But right now, I'm kinda in a culture shock coming back to America. It's just weird to be back and see that my brother is married, my sister is having a baby in a few weeks, and just so many other changes occurred. But also, many people are still the same, and haven't changed. It's just a little weird but so great to be home. Right now I'm just in shock about everything I did, how appreciative I am for everything I have, and happy to be back with my family and friends.

Costa Rica/ Panama Canal

So I didn't do too much in Costa Rica. Once finals were over we just hung out and chilled at the beach, ate some good beans and rice. We came into Puntarenas, Costa Rica where there wasn't too much around, haha so I didn't do too much but explore the town, get some last minute gifts, and relax from finals. I think I did well on my finals which is good. But all around, it was a good time, and I had a lot of fun.

After Costa Rica we headed back to Miami, Florida and through the Panama Canal. It was beautiful! And pretty cool to see how it was engineered with all the locks throughout the canal.

Hawaii/ Ambassadors Ball

So we were only in Hawaii for a day, but it was still a lot of fun. I was just on the search for some American food, mainly Chipotle, but didn’t have any luck. That was kinda sad, but I did get some Subway, Starbucks, and some Mexican food (not as great as Santanas in San Diego but it did the job…haha). All day, I pretty much just walked around and hung out at the Beach in Waikiki. Oh and Ryan, Garrett and I also chilled with the homeless all day long. It was a little random but fun to hear all their stories and how they got to where they are today. One lady was talking to me about her ex-husband and how she was on her honeymoon in Hawaii with her husband and he found another woman on the island, and that other woman took her plane ticket with him back to the states. It was a pretty sad story, but she was optimistic about the future and kept saying how God has her here in paradise for a reason, whatever that may be. They all had some stories, and one guy was showing Ryan his nun chucks…haha…that was a little weird. Other than that, it was a fun time to just swim in the crystal blue ocean. Too bad it was such a short pit stop, because I wish we were there longer.

After Hawaii it is now hitting the books on the ship for our finals, but before that we had the Ambassadors Ball. It was fun to dress up, have a nice dinner with everyone on the ship and dance the night away. It was pretty fun, but now we have awhile until Costa Rica, and I have a lot of finals and papers due soon. I’ll write back soon and I hope that you are all doing great!

Japan

Japan was such an adventure filled with beautiful scenery, amazing Japanese architecture (old and new) and such wonderful people.

After a long customs process to get our temperature checked, meet individually with a customs officer and receive our passport, I was finally off the ship in Kobe, Japan. Ryan and I set out to just explore most of Kobe the first day. We pretty much just walked and explored the big metropolitan city. I was on the search for an international atm which I never found. It was actually really really frustrating. After not finding an atm we went out to find some Kobe steak. It was so good especially since we got to watch the Japanese chef’s cook it over coals right in front of us. That night I headed to bed early because I had to get up at 5am the next morning.

The second day I woke up early early to catch a semester at sea trip to Hiroshima. It was such a long long bus ride but more than worth it once we got there. Our first stop was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park where the explosion of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 occurred. We walked over the “T” shaped bridge that the B29 bomber’s target was. The bridge was subjected to an estimated blast pressure of seven tons per square meter-15 times greater than normal. Due to the pressure, the bridge snapped back and forth with the slab floor being up in the air. We saw ground zero of the explosion and the a-dome, which is the one building preserved from the explosion for the memorial today. When the building was hit, everyone in the building died instantly. However, some of the walls were still left standing because the blast came from almost directly above. We then went to the Hiroshima museum where I saw melted roof tiles, black rain dried to a wall, charred children’s clothing, a replica of the bomb itself and more. The a-bomb replica was surprisingly small…much smaller than I had anticipated. It’s just crazy to think that a bomb could do that much damage to an entire city in a matter of seconds. The museum was extremely intense but a good thing to see, and the peace memorial was a beautiful memorial to the 200,000 people killed during the explosion.

After the emotional memorial, we went to a historic Japanese garden known as Shukkei-En Garden. It was just a beautiful Japanese garden filled with Cherry Blossom trees, small wooden bridges, stepping stones across the still water and much more. Then we were off back to Kobe on another 5 hour bus ride, stopping for dinner on the way.

The third day I woke up really early again to head to the bullet train station bound for Tokyo. But first, I had to find an atm. Ryan and I wandered all over the downtown of Kobe at 5:30 in the morning trying to find a 24 hour atm. The whole downtown was deserted, but we eventually found one that accepted my card. After being so delighted and thanking God for that, we hopped on the 7:00am bullet train to Tokyo. It took us about 3 hours to get there. Once we got to Tokyo it was raining and pretty cold but that didn’t stop us from sightseeing. The first thing we did was go to the Tsukiji fish market. It was a Sunday so there weren’t too many fish marketers out, but we did get some great sushi there! After eating an assortment of yummy sushi we then went to the sony building. We just walked through it, and saw all the techy new gadgets, and the new high definition tv’s. I took this picture of this flat screened TV dad that I think you should get…but it was pretty pricey…haha. After the sony building we headed to Harajuku & Aoyama street which is the “trendy” street filled with bleach headed, crazy dressed teens roaming the streets. It’s too bad it was rainy though because we didn’t see too much of that. After grabbing a starbucks and meeting a fellow white guy living in Tokyo to research cave paintings…yea a little weird…we then went to the Imperial Palace, which is where the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled Japan. The palace is closed all but two days of the year so we weren’t there when it was open, but we walked around and took a few pictures. After the palace we headed to the National Tokyo Museum where we saw old historical Japanese art, kimonos, pottery and the best of all which was the Samurai armor, swords and military equipment. That stuff was pretty cool. The rest of the day, whatever was left of it, we explored some more of Tokyo, stopping at an ice restaurant/ bar in Roppongi where Samantha Brown on the travel channel has been! It was crazy…everything was made out of ice, including the glasses! It was so awesome. Before you went in they gave you these massive jackets because when you entered it was minus 5 degrees celsius. The walls, the tables, the seats….everything was ice. We only stayed there for about an hour because it was so so cold. After that we then took a night train to Kyoto.

The next morning we were in Kyoto, which is known as the historical Japan. After grabbing some breakfast from Mc-dees we went to the Kiyomizu-Dera Temple. It was built in 798 and is one of the most famous landmarks in Kyoto today. It isn’t just one temple but a multiple of large shrines all perched on the lush green hillside. It was so incredibly gorgeous! As we were exploring, prayer cards were hanging from the trees, men were ringing the bell, and the Japanese were drinking the holy water coming from the waterfall. After exploring the Temple, we went around the Gion Area. As we were walking down to the Gion Area we saw a few geisha’s on our way and took a couple pics. I think Ryan was a little scared of them. The Gion Area is lined with Japanese restaurants, and teahouses from the 17th century, many of which are exclusively for geisha entertainment. It was a beautiful, old street and a nice change from the high rises in Hiroshima, Kobe and Tokyo. I just liked it because it looked much like old Japan. We grabbed some lunch, which was a little different, then headed back on the train to Kobe. Once we got back to Kobe we got some sushi and headed back to the ship, but had a little trouble getting there. Everything is in Japanese and we asked a few people to help us out but we ended up getting on the wrong monorail train and kept going for about 30 min in the wrong direction. We were freaking out as we only had about 40 minutes to get back to the ship. This really nice Japanese business man went out of his way to help us out. He got on the right train with us, hopped in the taxi with us, paid for the taxi, and ran with us to the ship. We finally got back…on time. We were so happy and I will never forget that man. I still can’t believe that he went out of his way to help us out because he could see how worried we were by our faces. He was probably heading home from a long days’ work but decided to help a couple of lost American college students.

Japan was such a fun, exciting, exhausting country. I loved every minute of it, and now I am so sad that this is our last big port. We only have two ports left, and we are only in Hawaii for a few hours. We have 8 days on the ship until Hawaii and already the waters are a little rough. We also have two days of April 15^th. It’s really strange and I still don’t know why but today is April 15^th and tomorrow is the 15^th. Kinda Crazy. Anyways, I love you all so much, and I’ll be posting again…Love you!

Hong Kong/ China

We arrived in Hong Kong on the 3^rd of April at 0800, and wow what a BIG city. The skyline was massive and it was nice to have a change in cooler weather. Well…once we ported, I was off to see some of the famous pandas in China; Ying Yang and Le Le. Ying Yang and Le Le were the newly born pandas as of 3 years ago. They were adorable and I got some really cute pictures and videos of them eating their bamboo.

The next morning I had to get up super early for my SAS Beijing trip. Our whole group left the ship around 5:45am and headed to the airport for Beijing. Once we arrived in Beijing we headed straight to the Summer Palace. It includes, bridges, walkways, gardens, and elaborate Qing styled buildings all bordering the Kunming Lake, which was constructed in 1749 along with the rest of the palace. This palace is where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty lived during the summer; hence the name, “The Summer Palace”. It was beautiful exploring some of it, since we couldn’t possibly see all of the 717 acres. It also includes the longest hallway in the world, known as the “Hall of Happiness and Longevity”. That night we had Peking Duck at a local restaurant. Beijing is known for their duck and it was pretty good. We also had a few strange dishes before eating the duck which were very interesting. One dish was duck feet….and it tasted pretty rubbery and boney. It was pretty gross.

The second day of the trip was our visit to the Great Wall. I got up, had breakfast at the hotel and headed on an hour long bus ride with the rest of the students to the Wall. Ryan and I hiked up quite a few steps and finally got to the wall sweating. Once we were on the wall, we ate our boxed lunch and stared out to Mongolia on our left and China on our right. We just couldn’t possibly believe that we were on the great wall. It’s was just so crazy to think that. We walked on the wall for a few hours, made a couple phone calls, and took tons of pictures. Wow, I still can’t believe that I was on the great wall! After the great wall we headed back to the hotel, cleaned up and had some free time to do whatever we wished. I just explored the city, did some shopping, and got some tasty hot pot food. We didn’t know what we were ordering at first since everything on the menu was in Chinese, but it ended up being fantastic food!

The third day was a full day of sight-seeing. Our first stop was Tiananmen Square where Mao Zedong is pictured in front; the man who killed more than a million of his opponents in only his first 3 years of rule. Tiananmen Square was built in the 1950’s, and is where the large prodemocracy demonstration in 1989 occurred which resulted in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It is interesting to note that the Chinese won’t speak about the massacre. When a student in my group asked our tour leader about the massacre and what she thought about it, she said “I can’t talk about that.” It’s interesting because you are not allowed to speak about politics or religion because of the communist rules and restrictions. When you are in China you definitely know that you are in a communist country. There are soldiers around every corner watching your every step, no one seems to smile or say hello, and Mao Zedong is all over everything; watches, t-shirts, playing cards, their currency, posters of him in restaurants….he’s everywhere. Once we saw Tiananmen square and the changing of the guard we walked into the forbidden city. The forbidden city is basically Beijing’s Versailles or Buckingham Palace where mere civilians were denied access. Emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties lived here with their hundreds of concubines and servants. The Chinese architecture was so ornate, detailed and beautiful. It was so grand and impressive. After our sight-seeing we headed to dinner and had more Chinese food…not that good. At that point I was really sick of Chinese food, I’m not gonna lie. Anyways, once dinner was over, we went to the flying acrobatic show, and wow, it was so cool! They did some crazy stuff.

The last day we had some more sightseeing around the city. Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven built around 1420, and rebuilt in 1889 after the original burned to the ground. It is a circular, wooden hall with blue tiled roofs and was constructed without a single nail. Many presidents, emperors and rulers have visited the site, including Nixon. It was beautiful and situated in a huge park where the retired elderly Chinese are playing cards, chess, hackysack, and singing karaoke. It was pretty funny to see. After seeing the famous Temple of Heaven we had a tour of the first original neighborhoods in Beijing called the hutong lanes by a trishaw which are similar to the rickshaws in India. Once we were in the neighborhoods we went to a local home which I don’t think was a real home but was kinda cool besides the part where a bird pooped on my head. Yes…it was very embarrassing but funny because in Chinese culture if a bird poops on your head, it means it’s good luck, which doesn’t make sense. But anyways, the Chinese ladies kept telling me… “oh…..you are blessed, very very blessed and very lucky. You should apply for the lottery.” It was really funny, that I really couldn’t stop laughing. After visiting the Chinese home, we went and saw a bell tower and then drove by the Olympic stadiums for this August. The Olympic stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies are amazing! After taking some quick pics and driving by, we then were off to the airport for Shanghai.

The next day I slept in and explored Shanghai, but oh my goodness, it was raining all day long and insanely cold. Other than that, Ryan and I were on the search for American food because we were so sick of Chinese food. First we found a Pizza Hut, and then I got some Starbucks. Wow, that Starbucks tasted great! You all know how much I love coffee so tasting some real American coffee was fantastic, because the coffee on the ship is not so great. So really all day we just took taxis from main street to main street in Shanghai. We went to a few fish markets, I did some shopping and we ended with one good last Chinese beef dish which wasn’t drenched in sauce, which was a nice change. Haha.

So that was China…it was definitely culturally different and I enjoyed it very much.

And now we get into Kobe, Japan in two days! I have no idea what I’m doing yet but I’ll figure something out fun to do. I love you all! And I’m so glad Mom and Dad that you answered the phone when I was at the great wall…It was great to hear from you! And thanks for the mail again…I love the picture, the note and Dad, I loved the Hemet postcard (haha…so funny!) and your sweet note. Love you!

Vietnam

So….Vietnam was incredible. I know that I have constantly been saying that the locals are so nice in each country…but really, the Vietnamese beats them all. They are seriously the nicest people I have met which is mind boggling to me, since the American/ Vietnam War only ended about 35 years ago.

Our ship sailed through the Saigon river early in the morning of the 27th of March in order to get to our port. It was just cool to stand outside and watch us sail down the same exact river that our American soldiers sailed through in 1965. As we were porting, there was still quite a bit of our own American naval equipment in the junk yards of the port. That must have been some of the equipment that we left once we finally pulled out. Once our ship finally ported, I was off to the Cu Chi Tunnels. After a two hour bus ride and a fantastic Vietnamese lunch we arrived to see the 200-kilometer network of the underground tunnels, used by the Viet Cong forces during wars with both the French and the Americans. Our tour guide first spoke to us about the war and the Viet Cong’s clever booby traps that an American/ French soldier would accidentally step upon. They showed us about 10 different deadly traps filled with large sharp spikes that would pierce the flesh of an American and/or French soldier’s feet and body. It was pretty intense.
Once we saw the traps and heard a little more about the war and more clever tactics, we went into the tunnels. Most of the tunnels were only about two feet wide and five feet high. We crawled through one tunnel which stretched as long as a football field underground. It was pitch black and there were also random drop offs in certain places. It was so cool to crawl through the tunnels that the Viet Cong used in the wars. I don’t know how anyone could live down there for all the time though…I think I would go crazy because it’s so dark and small. Oh and one of the best parts of the trip was shooting an MC60 and AK47. Yea I know Scott and Steve….you are jealous. Haha…but seriously it was so awesome, especially the MC60. I felt like Rambo…the girl version I guess?

The second day was a girl’s day…and was so much fun! My friends Lauren, Kendal and I got on the motorcycle taxis to the Ben Thang market. Let’s just say that those motorcycle taxis are crazy! I was scared for my life…but don’t worry mom I’m safe, wounded free and fine. Once we got to the market we stopped by a dress shop to get a dress made for me. The owner of the shop was so nice and brought me to the fabric sections of the market. I picked out my own fabric and told her exactly what I wanted. We got back to the shop, she measured me and told me to pick it up on Sunday. After that we were off to the spa. I ended up getting a 75 minute hot oil stone massage with Kendal for only 7 dollars! It was amazing! I have never had a massage before but loved it. It was a little awkward though because the masseuses’ kept smiling and laughing at us. They also kept pointing to my eyes, probably because they are green and not brown…but still they kept smiling and laughing. Once I got my massage, I then paid for a pedicure and manicure for only 4 dollars total, and they did a fantastic job! After the spa it was getting later and we got some pho. Pho is an authentic, classic Vietnamese dish. It is a beef stew filled with noodles, beef, and herbs. Oh my goodness…sooo good!

The third day Ryan and I hung out and went to a really good lunch. I got pho again and Ryan got a really good meat and macaroni dish. We took the motorcycles again to the War Remnants Museum. This was the most intense museum I’ve ever been to. It actually made me sick to my stomach being an American in that museum. Outside the museum was US military equipment but once you stepped inside the museum, there were 100’s of pictures of naked children running from Napalm, deformed men and women suffering from Agent Orange, Americans dragging Vietnamese men, women and children from the back of tanks and more. It was really really sad to see. We also saw the tiger cages where they kept stubborn prisoners and beat them for no apparent reason. Most likely John McCain, being a prisoner of war, was in a cell similar to the one we saw. There was also a part of the museum about the protests in America towards the war, such as the Kent University incident. It was a really intense museum…much more than any museum that I have been in. After that we just explored more of the city and grabbed something to eat.

On Sunday I was off to the Mekong Delta. This trip was one of the best SAS day trips I’ve been on so far. Before we got to the Mekong Delta we went to a Buddhist Temple. We saw a massive statue of Buddha and a service happening within the Temple. Oh and I went to the bathroom in the squatter toilet. I haven’t mentioned anything about the squatters yet but they are interesting, because there are no toilets anywhere…only holes in the ground. It’s always an experience going to the bathroom…haha. Anyways, we finally got to the Mekong Delta. The Mekong Delta is a canal network where inhabitants make a living from cultivating rice, fish, soybeans, maize, peanuts, tobacco and melons. It’s really hard to describe but I felt as if I was on the jungle ride at Disneyland. It was sooo beautiful. It was nice to get out of the city life of Saigon and see how the real Vietnamese inhabitants live. On the trip, we took boat rides from place to place. Our first stop was a small hut where we tried some coconut candy and watched them make it. We then took a carriage ride to our second stop. At the second stop we had about 5 different types of fruit; and were serenaded by some locals playing music and singing. We then headed on our small boat ride which held only 4 students through the narrow rivers. We were surrounded by green forest marshland. It was so peaceful, quiet and just plain beautiful. I can’t really describe how cool it was. We then ended with an authentic meal which was quite interesting but so good!

The final day was a relaxing day. I went with a few semester at sea kids to explore the town. We went back to the market, bought a few things and ate some more pho. I also got my hair cut that day in Vietnam because my hair was getting so long. It was the best hair cut I’ve ever gotten. They massage your head and basically give you a facial when they wash your hair…it was amazing. The haircut was only about 4 dollars and it looks super cute. Just a little trim but it looks great! After the haircut I picked up my dress. It turned out perfect and fits great! I really can’t believe how cute it is. I’m going to wear it to Stephen’s graduation…mom you’ll love how cute it is.
So that was Vietnam. I think it is my favorite port so far…and also thank you Mom and Dad for the letter…I love hearing from you! I love you and now I’m going to be in Hong Kong in the morning and get to see some panda’s tomorrow! I can’t wait! Love you all..

Malaysia

We arrived in Penang, Malaysia at 0800, on Wednesday, the 19^th of March. I had a semester at sea temples and mosques trip that I signed up for. I was with a group of about 40 students and we were all tendered onto the land by the lifeboats. As we got to land, we hopped on the tourist buses and started our adventure. Our first stop was an old Chinese Temple, called the “Goddess of Mercy Temple.” It was beautiful and looked very…uh I don’t know Chinese? As we entered we were surrounded by a cloud of incense. The tiled walls depicted different types of colorful Buddha’s all representing a different aspect, such as wealth, success, health etc (much like Hinduism). It was just really neat to hear the prayers to Buddha and see how dedicated the Malaysians are to their religion. After the Goddess of Mercy Temple, we were off to the Chor-su Kong Temple, better known as the snake temple, because of it’s dedication to the snakes. It was another Chinese shrine, similar to the Goddess of Mercy Temple, except with snakes. And I got a picture with me holding two snakes!

After the Snake Temple, we then went to visit a mosque used by the Malay Muslim majority. It was really cool to go inside a mosque. You had to cover up from head to toe in order to get in, and I did. Women were draped in black, white, yellow, and pink fabric, where you could only see their eyes. There was also a large piece of rock inside the mosque, which is directed towards Mecca. Each Muslim was praying on their personal carpet, on their knees towards the rock. The mosque was circular and very simplistic inside, and yes, extremely silent; much different from the Chinese temples. We then went to a Hindu temple, which was quite similar to the Hindu temples in India, where you walk around and have shrines to each god which represent a different aspect of life. The door was my favorite, as it was covered in bells, which is to keep away the evil spirits. Then finally, after the Hindu temple, we ended up at a large Buddhist temple which was awesome! The architecture was so authentic, colorful, and detailed, and home of the reclining Buddha. I saw the Buddha and he was MASSIVE! It was pretty cool…and the rest of the temple, seemed much like a small town with hidden shrines for the Buddhists to pray too.

The second day me and a few other semester at sea students were off to Kuala Lumpur, after a morning at the chocolate factory, where you sample ALL of the chocolate that they sell. I’m not kidding, I was definitely in heaven, and a little sick to my stomach…haha. Anyways, Kuala Lumpur is a large busy, robust city in Malaysia. We took a 5 hour bus ride, a total of 8 dollars with really really nice seats to the city. It was the nicest bus I have ever been on. However, it was a long bus ride there, especially since we were sitting next to a guy from India who kept pouring out his feelings about his ex-girlfriend and how he was so depressed. He wouldn’t stop talking. I guess that’s what you get for an 8 dollar bus ride…haha. After that, one girl in our group had the luck of him pouring his feelings out to her…it was really funny haha.

Once we got to Kuala Lumpur, we didn’t do too much except explore the busy city, eat AMERICAN food (because the Indian food killed our stomach in India) and go up the KL Tower. It looks much like the space needle and is the 4^th highest tower in the world. It was nice to finally see a real, busy city. I felt like I was kind of in America. It was a nice feeling, especially eating at Outback Steakhouse and Hard Rock Café…haha.

We got back to Penang on Saturday after a day of travel. Once we got back I went to the botanical gardens with Paige and our friend Caroline. The gardens were pretty, but it did downpour on us there. Paige was soaking wet, to the point where a Malaysian man gave Paige his umbrella because she needed it so bad. Luckily I had a scarf that I wrapped draped on my head to protect me from the rain. Once the downpour stopped, the monkeys appeared. We pretty much just hung out with the monkeys all that day, went into a couple of other temples, and got a really really good, healthy, Malaysian meal. That night, Caroline, Paige and I were off to the night market, where I got a whole season of one of my favorite television shows, Greys Anatomy for only 6 dollars! The episodes work too! Although, they aren’t too great of quality. I then got some Ralf Lauren Perfume for only about 5 dollars, but once I opened it, it smelt like watered down perfume, filled with dirty water. I’m still a little unhappy about that. Besides that, the night market was awesome, and everything was so so cheap!

The final day, Ryan and I went out for Easter. We couldn’t find an Easter Service though which was a bummer. So we went to this fish market restaurant where we had lobster and prawns and got to choose our lobster! It was so much fun and so good! We then didn’t have any plans so we headed to the ship early that day. They had a service on the ship that night though which was nice. It was a different Easter, especially not being able to celebrate it with my family, but it was fun. I hope that all of you had a fantastic Easter, and I’m just letting you all know that I miss you so much! I hope that everyone is doing well, and thank you Mom, Dad, Scott, Stephen, Erin and Corey for your sweet emails/ letters on my birthday. Thanks for thinking about me and I love you all! J

Now I’ll be in Vietnam in a couple of days!

India

Wow, I really don’t know how to describe India. It was so impoverished and was seriously the worst poverty I have seen, and I don’t think that I can possibly ever see any worse.

We arrived on the 11^th of March, in Chennai which as the tour book states is described as a “smelly bowl of chili”, and I can see why. Once I awoke from bed to get up I definitely knew I was in India based upon the burning smell.

Once the diplomatic briefing was over in the morning, I was off to Delhi for my taj/delhi/agra pre-paid trip through semester at sea. We left around 12pm for our flight to Delhi at 1:40pm. All 60 of us hopped on the plane and were so excited for our adventures to come. The flight took about 2 ½ hours. Once we landed, we headed for the hotel in Delhi, which was extremely nice! As we arrived, we all received lea’s and a red dot on our forehead. The hotel also had “Welcome Semester at Sea” imprinted with colorful rice on a piece of glass. It was so cool that they did that for us. After settling in, we then had an authentic Indian dinner with non, lentil, rice and more. It was great and I couldn’t wait for more to come! After dinner I just headed to bed, since we had a 4am wake up call the next morning to head to Agra.

The next day the whole group woke up at 4am to catch the train. The train station was my first culture shock. Men, women and orphaned children were all curled up, sleeping on the ground in dirt and urine. It was so sad to see. Our group was then bombarded with aggressive beggars as we crossed the chaotic dirt road filled with auto rickshaws, cars, buses, bikes, and pedestrians going which ever way possible. You have to experience it for yourself but really there are no rules on the road.

Once we arrived in Agra after the two hours on the train, we were off to the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri. It is a huge red-sandstone city, which includes palaces that have been preserved for years. It was beautiful and contained a lot of history. We then headed back to the hotel, had lunch, then off to the market. The bus pretty much dropped us off to roam around the streets and shop, although there wasn’t much to shop for. Really, you were just bombarded by beggars, and men selling cheap trinkets. One man actually grabbed my arm and pulled me down wanting money. They are so aggressive it is ridiculous. But the worst is the little children, especially this one child. He was crawling on his hands and feet, dirty, naked and starving. I gave quite a bit of money to the children the first day, but once you give into one, all the children surround you, wanting more. Also, there are cows everywhere! They are on the side of the street, in the middle of the road, on the median, even stores! Yea…I saw a cow in a clothing store.

The third day we woke up and drove to the Agra Fort and viewed where the first emperors of the Mughal Empire lived, including Akbar who rebuilt it to sandstone and made Agra the capital. It was a huge fort, and our tour guide pointed out where the palaces stood, where the servants lived etc. Most of the history of India happened within Agra, specifically with this fort, as many battles occurred and happened there. After seeing the historical fort, we headed to the Taj Mahal. As I entered to see the Taj, I was in awe. It was so Massive, I couldn’t believe it. Once I got closer to the Taj to go in, we put on our shoe covers. You have to either take off your shoes or cover your shoes with a foot covering as the site is a holy site and is to be respected. As I entered in, it was a dark, empty room with a casket in the middle. The men within the Taj were chanting and howling as we entered into the tomb. It was majestic, and yes, a wonder of the world, and I totally understand why. After the Taj, we headed to Mother Teresa’s orphanage. The orphanage was the biggest culture shock of the whole trip. I was expecting all little, healthy children, but it was mostly filled with men and women age 18-80 years old, and they all either had a mental disability, or illness. As I entered in and saw the people, I almost started crying. I can’t possibly describe how bad it was, but men age 30 years old were curled up in a ball on the ground shaking and foaming from the mouth. Most of then were lepers too. One teenager who couldn’t control himself kept touching my face and wouldn’t let go of my arm as a friend of mine had to pry him off of me. One lady, about 50 kept uttering words, and hitting the desk, and grabbed me. I tried calming her down, but couldn’t do it. The children within the orphanage were also just as bad. Most of the children had either measles or mumps. One child, looked as if he was 2-3 years old was sitting up in his crib, legs crossed, and rocking his body. As I touched him, he just tightened up, and brought his arms in. He must have been abused as a newborn baby. This orphanage was such a shock, I really have no idea how to describe it, as I myself really didn’t know how to react, but just to pray for that orphanage and those ill people. That’s really all I can do.

After the orphanage, we then headed back to Delhi on the train at night.

The final day of the semester at sea trip was a cool day. We mainly did a sightseeing tour of Delhi. Our first stop was Ghandi’s grave. Yep, I saw Ghandi. So that was pretty cool. After seeing Ghandi, we drove by the red fort, the War Memorial, the Parliament House, and the Secretatiat Building. We then visited a Sikh Temple. It was so awesome to see this temple. The Sikh’s believe in one God, and have rules pertaining to meditation within the temple daily, not allowed to cut or trim their hair (that’s why the guys wear the turbans), have to carry a dagger wherever they go as a symbol of their religion, and a few other rules that I cannot quite remember. I believe it’s a branch off of Islam. As we entered we washed our feet in the water, walked barefoot on the holy grounds and covered our heads. We entered into the meditation service. It was really cool. There was complete silence inside the temple besides the chanting which were echoed by the temple’s walls. We sat down on the ground, legs crossed, and sat through some of the service. At the Sikh temple, they have a large pool of water where men and women both wash their hands, face, body etc. It was such an experience to see this temple. After the Sikh temple we then headed to the Baha’i House of Worship, a Hindu Temple. We took off our shoes then headed in. It is crazy how completely different this Hindu temple was from the Sikh. Hindu’s were coming in loud, and laughing while the Sikh temple was completely opposite. The House of Worship was extremely colorful, especially the colorful god’s, including Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. After that temple we were then off to the final Temple, the Lotus Temple. This is a modern temple, built in 1986, and completely empty inside. It is a Hindu temple but it is acceptable for all other religions to meditate and pray in. After the Lotus temple we then were off to the airport and got to back to the ship in Chennai late that night.

The last day I slept in and met up with Ryan. We exchanged stories from our trips, then were off in an auto rickshaw (which are small motored open carts which weave in and out of traffic [it was pretty scary]) to see St. Thomas’ Cathedral. Thomas, the apostle, preached, was martyred and buried in Chennai. So we saw the site where he was initially buried, in Chennai, as now his remains has been taken to Rome. Once we saw the cathedral we were off to an open Hindu Temple which was actually pretty sketch. After that we saw a snake charmer and got a few pictures. Then we just headed back to the ship, but of course we were haggled for money once again on our way back to pay the rickshaw drivers. We got them down from 1,000 each to only 350 rupees (6-7 dollars) so we were happy.

It was really awesome to see India and experience it, but it was so overwhelming and such a culture shock because honestly, I really couldn’t handle it. They are living in such poverty that it was unbearable, especially since I have no idea what to do, or how to fix it. So India was an experience, I definitely saw a lot, much more than I had anticipated, and probably much more than I wanted to see, but it definitely opened my eyes, and showed me how the real world lives.

So I’ll write again when I’m in Malaysia! I hope you are all doing well…love you guys!

Mauritius

We arrived on Saturday, March 1^st on a small island off the coast of Madagascar, called Mauritius. Basically it is the summer vacation destination for the British and French. Much like Hawaii is for us in SoCal, but, much better.

It was beautiful! The clearest water I have ever seen and the whitest beaches that I have ever laid my eyes upon. The picturesque beaches reminded me much of Fanning Island in the Kiribati, and the lush green mountains overlooking the city resembled Kauai, Hawaii.

So what did I do while I was on the island?

March 1: I paid for a submarine trip through semester at sea with a group of students on the ship. It was a lot of fun, although the submarine seemed quite old, and tarnished. What happened was that we boarded a small boat to get to another boat then hopped in the submarine. I was in the small sub, with only 4 other students and our guide. We traveled 114 feet under the sea. It was fantastic! I saw all sorts of different colored coral and fish, including, my favorite, the puffer fish. We were also able to see a sunken ship called the “Star Hope” which was hit by a cyclone 10 years ago which was awesome.

I felt like I was in the Finding Nemo ride at Disneyland, but again, the real thing.

We also ended up stopping by a cashmere factory. Supposedly Mauritius is one of the largest exporters of Burberry, Lacoste, Ralf Lauren, Hilfiger and Cashmere to Europe and the United States. I bought this really light, detail printed, Indian type of skirt from the Factory for a cheap price which was great!

The next day some of us went to the beach to hang out. That’s pretty much all we did that day, but it was relaxing to get away from the midterms on the ship and instead sunbathe on the white sandy beach and swim in the 85 degree clear blue Indian Ocean.

The third day was our strenuous day to hike up 2,661 feet to Le Puce (thumb mountain)…I’m still sore from it, but the view was more than worth it! Skylar, Ryan and I hiked this trail which I really don’t think was a trail, but we ended up making it to the top in less than 2 hours. Despite my 26 bug bites I received while climbing the mountain, the view definitely made up for it. It was breathtaking. On our way back down the mountain, we ended up walking through a local Hindu neighborhood. It is amazing how Hindu’s are so active and religious with their faith. In Mauritius there are posters of Vishnu on each corner, and graffiti on the walls that say “Hindu community” or “I love Vishnu”. It’s astonishing to see. The Hindu’s are extremely friendly to us Americans too, but not so much towards the Islamic community. There is still a lot of segregation between the Muslims and Hindus within Mauritius. Anyways, as we were walking through the community, we over heard children’s singing voices and stumbled upon a temple where the voices were coming from. It looked as if the children were singing in a small Hindu “youth group” within the ornate temple. It was just neat to hear the children’s voices. There are also colorful meditation areas in the most discrete, random places, for the Hindu’s to pray. They are all filled with offerings, such as food, incense and small gifts.

Then finally, the last day was filled with leisure time and shopping. The streets were jampacked with people haggling you to buy there product…it’s insane. I didn’t buy anything but it was fun to watch Ryan barder for a couple cheap cheap lacoste shirts. They can cost from 100-300 dollars in the states, but take a flight to Mauritius and you can get them for a little over 10 dollars.

Cape Town, South Africa

South Africa was fantastic! It was seriously beautiful and I think it’s one of the prettiest, cleanest cities that I have been too yet.

So anyways, we pulled up into Cape Town around sunrise on the 19^th. Once I walked outside to see the town, I was in awe of the view, as the busy town weaves around Table and Lionshead Mountain. The city is literally shadowed by the ridged mountains. It was Gorgeous! That day I had a required field trip for my documentary theater class on ship. What it consisted of; was that a couple of actors from South Africa who perform a famous African documentary play came upon the ship. They spoke about their play, called “Truth in Translation” which is made up of several personal apartheid interviews conducted by them. It is a really intense play since it is filled with true accounts about the apartheid time (similar to the United States Jim Crowe Laws but much worse in South Africa) from colored men and women. They did speak much about their play, but really through the conversations with the two actors I learned much more about South Africa’s history, specifically within the apartheid era. It is interesting though, since really segregation in South Africa is still happening. South Africa is actually one of the most segregated countries in the world. You can definitely see it too as the blacks all work under the white europeans; in the vineyards, restaurants, you name it.

The second day Ryan, Skylar and I hiked up Table Mountain early in the morning, and oh man, it was tough. We actually went the wrong way up the MASSIVE Mountain and ended up near the ridged cliffs which was the dangerous route. Instead of going up the whole route we turned around since we didn’t drink much water and had no food in our stomachs. We were so close to getting up to the very top too but didn’t make it. Oh well, we had a breathtaking view of the bay, lionshead, and robben island from where we were at, and was an adventure. Once we got back to the boat after a long 2 hour hike, we cleaned up and got some food then headed to the aquarium, because we were really too tired to do too much else. Haha. The aquarium was pretty cool though, and it was really cheap. That’s what is so awesome here…one dollar is about 7.6 rands. So our money goes pretty far. That night about 5 of us semester at sea kids headed to this restaurant called Moyo, where you can eat in a treehouse! We didn’t end up eating in the treehouse…but we had a fantastic all you can eat meal in an authentic African outdoor setting, with free music and a show. I ate antelope, ostrich, and ox tail. They paint your face when you sit down too. It was awesome!

The third day Ryan and I went to the Vineyards through Semester at Sea. We saw quite a bit of the countryside, including three different vineyards and ended at this small dutch town to explore at your leisure. It was beautiful. On the way to the Vineyards, however, shacks made out of tin and scrap metal went for miles and miles on the road. An elderly man on the bus told Ryan and I that the government of South Africa places immigrants into those shacks. They are then put on a waiting list for a newly built home which may take up to 5-10 years. The whole concept is just kinda mind boggling to me and doesn’t seem like it would work. Ryan was able to go on a service visit the day before to see a similar town, and he stated that most of the people living in those towns really don’t want those homes, handouts, or charity, but need land. The problem is that all the white Europeans own the land. Once we crossed into the Vineyard country you could definitely see the difference in the structure of the homes, as instead of shacks, all you see are mansions sitting on their acres and acres of rich farmland. It is extremely segregated, with only the rich and poor. No middle class seems to exist.

Once we saw the vineyards, that night we went to a reggae show. A few local people Ryan met at his service visit were going to play there and asked him to come so we decided to go. It was a fun time and cool to be at a real reggae Rastafarian show in South Africa.

The next day four of us got up at dawn, yes dawn, to head out for our one day safari. It was called the Aquila Private Reserve, about a couple hours away. Once we got there it was amazing! It was a small small resort with a couple huts. As I entered in and paid, I felt like I was treated like royalty. We had a huge tasty breakfast before we headed out for our game drive in the reserve. I haven’t had that good of fresh food in a long while, it was great. Once we finished breakfast we got into our open jeep. It was like I was going on the Indiana Jones ride, but the real thing, well obviously…haha. We were out in the reserve for 3 hours and saw elephants, rhinos, ostriches, giraffes, crocodiles, zebras, springbok, lions and more. It was amazing, especially the lions! They were beautiful and really close. Once we finished with the game drive we had an amazing lunch, then headed out. Mom and Dad, you would have loved this place, it was so wonderful.

On the fifth day, 5 of us semester at sea kids went to Cape point, the southernmost point of Africa. On the way there we stopped at a bunch of different stops, since it was an all day event with our schoeffer taxi driver, who ended up giving us a really cheap price. The first stop was cliffton beach where we took some pictures of the white sandy beach and pretty scenery. The next stop was camps bay where we took a ferry on the rough waters to seal island and saw the seals laying out on the rocks. On the way there we got hit by a huge wave and I was soaking wet because of the stormy weather. The next stop we went to chapmans peak and took some pictures from the beautiful viewpoint…the small town looked almost identical to San Sebastian, Spain. After that we then went to simons town and stopped to see the navy base from a distance and grabbed some souvenirs. Then the next stop was boulders beach which is where the penguins are. Yep, African penguins. It was so so so great! You can just hang out at the beach with the penguins and practically touch them! But if you do touch them, they will probably bite your hand off. Seriously when I was walking through the penguins, I felt like I was walking through a land mine, and hoped they wouldn’t attack, because they are so feisty. Haha. Once we were back on the road there were just random baboons on the side of the road, where Ryan got chased by one. It was pretty scary actually because baboons are dangerous and mean. Oh yea, and in South Africa, you see random baboons, ostriches, zebras and more just hanging out on the side of the road. It’s awesome. Once we encountered the deadly baboons, we finally were off to the cape of good hope and cape point, which is where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. It is the southernmost point of Africa, originally called the Cape of Storms where the old time explorers, such as Magellan, sailed through. It looked similar to Scotland and was breathtaking to see. Then finally we went back to the vineyards to go pet a cheetah. That was pretty cool, even though the cat was probably sedated.

Then finally on the last day we went Great White Shark diving. Yep mom, I did it, and it was so so so so AWESOME! I can’t get over it. I bet it will be one of the best highlights of the entire trip, and was ridiculously cheap. When we were in the cage, we saw about 4-5 different sharks each 10-15 feet. They were huge, but so graceful! They were actually really timid of us once we got in the water, and were more afraid of us than us of them. It was so surprising how I was not scared at all either. One shark’s mouth hit the cage hard and the fin hit my side of the cage right in front of me. It was crazy. I could see the sharks mouth really well as its teeth were inches away from my face. I could touch it if I wanted. It was seriously an experience of a lifetime that I will never forget.