Week Leading to San Jose

MIDTERMS!!! OH MY GOD!!
Yeah so i have midterms next week  which is the week of my flight to San Jose and then the drive to Santa Cruz, California. So the reason i am out here is because my grandmother passed away in January 2012 and and her ash spreading is October 5th 2012. RIP Dorothy Merrill.
Anyways on a more positive note the family is getting together to talk and really be together. My mother and uncle rented a place in Santa Cruz that has a lot of rooms and is fairly close to the beach. I think my mother said it was a half a mile walk. I was really happy to have a break.
I will tell you about what i did while there and hopefully it wont be all just homework. Accounting is a challenge to keep under control. While this wont be like my SAS experience, i am traveling and always learning something so i will document what i do. I love the amount of views on my blog. Over 2000 now and growing and from places across the world! That makes me super excited and motivated to write more. I will take lots pictures so that if you are thinking of going to Santa Cruz, Califonia, please keep tabs on this blog.
I do fly into San Jose and my mother will pick me up to take me back to the house. I will try to keep things updated and please if you have questions, email me or leave a comment up here. I enjoy responding to comments too.

Also Las Vegas is soon to be another trip next year but continue to keep a look out for events and reccommend this blog to others to read!!

Initial Thoughts and feelings when i returned to my home University

Hi Everyone,
I had wanted to do some initial thoughts on how it was to return to my home university and start some classes as well as other things. My thoughts are going to seem possibly jumbled but you know when you get back from SAS, things are just different.

For those of you that might or might not know, my home University is the Univeristy of San Diego located in San Diego, California in the Linda Vista Area (for those San Diegians, its not UCSD or SDSU and its the "castle" on the hill)

Coming back to my home university and taking classes again has been a bit strange to me as i am discovering what has really changed across the campus and with people and i have noticed that a lot of things have changed not just with campus but also the people that i know. Some of them that i knew before the trip have either graduated or left. Some have matured over the time and are doing well. It was sad to say but a few apparently forgot that i was going abroad which kind of made me sad but i shrugged it off.

I am currently taking 18 units, have a job and am doing two organizations, Accounting Society and Study Abroad Peer Advising. I love what i am doing. I don't regret what I have done. SAS is life changing before you, during the trip and after you have returned home. I love being able to inspire other college students to do Semester at Sea  or even just to travel abroad. I can't wait to continue doing more events and sessions to help those who are in the process of getting ready to travel abroad. It's something that has really helped me get used to being at home after being away for three months. I am behind most of my friends who are slated to graduate next year but i have met some new contacts within the classes that i am taking that will help me as well.

I am also living in a dorm again as i have since freshman year and i am still getting used to the fact that i am not on a ship rocking away in my sleep. Every now and then when i go to sleep on my bed, i seem to feel it but i don't mind the feeling. It's definitely strange to now have to over half a campus to get to the library and my classes. Things have really changed at my university and well the look of it for the most part has not changed. The commuter lounge where i hang out at with some of my friends who commute has gotten quieter so i get weird looks when i start talking in there but hey, i have been there since my freshman year and all the new people can get over it. Moving on...

I think overall i am getting used to the new routine and finding myself at a new point in my life where i can do something more than i was before. I look forward to doing things everyday even when i was tired and exhausted where as before, i didnt have that outlook on life. I have some hope i guess.

Reflection

Some of you might have noticed the first reflection that went up before i decided to take it down for sometime to really reflect on that. I was told that it seemed a bit negative and so upon rereading it i pulled it completely and spent time contemplating how i was going to rewrite this piece. I realized a few things.

1. there really is no perfect way to really reflect on something that takes a lifetime to reflect on
2. This piece that i am going to write will never be the tip of the iceberg for me.
3. I lived this trip for me and no one else

There are a few things that i have noticed since i have been home. First off is all the lessons that I already or will learn over the course of my lifetime will be put to use when the time comes to be. I have had friends and family ask me about what i learned and to be honest, i am still even now soaking in the whole trip. This trip is not something that can be fully taken in an instant. It goes over the course of your lifetime from work to things you do at home. You begin to adopt new behaviors that you liked while abroad. A chunk of my lessons will probably not take place until I start classes in the Fall. I don’t even think that my end of the year reflection will really put this whole trip into perspective. There are far too many ends to it. To write this reflection now well being home and away from my home university at USD (U. of San Diego) still to me seems a little well....I can't even come up with exact words for it or even something close so I will let you fill in the blank with the word you think best fits. This reflection might seem a bit brief but honestly it’s what I feel is best and I won’t let anyone tell me otherwise.

Starting this trip was a lot for me. A lot of stress, a lot of trouble and certainly some things that were best to have not happened but they did. I did have good times going up to the trip as well despite the troubling bad times. Packing and getting to the airport was only the beginning for me. I met army people at the airport heading to Miami. I even met a old man while i was in Dallas who asked me if i was just going to go get drunk. While i found that appalling i knew there was negative connotations that came with Semester at Sea   Moving on from that, I was wearing my SAS sweatshirt that my parents gave to me for christmas in addition to things that i would need for the trip. I was content though with finally being able to say i could travel by myself and manage what i wanted to do. I was not able to do that before and I was excited to be able to do this myself now.

Getting to the Bahamas was tiring and exhausting and i was glad that the first night just went well. I had an amazing room (courtesy of my mother helping me get the room since THANK YOU MOM!!). For me i did want a vacation before i went on this trip to do whatever i wanted when i wanted to. While i love the beach, i was happy to not be there. I wanted to explore the Bahamas for what it was and i did with extra. I got to be there during the elections and listen to people talk about voting like it was the normal thing to do. I even got a lot of questions on if i voted and i felt slightly embarassed to tell them that i haven't however i felt inspired enough to vote in every election when i got home and that stayed with me for the entire trip. I even wrote a paper on voting for Global Studies later on in the semester but i am getting ahead of myself here. For me the Bahamas was an amazing place to be and i wish i could have stayed longer to get more of a feel for it.

Getting on the ship was exciting because it was finally happening for me. I was finally on the ship (not boat. There is a difference and onboard, it was common to get teased if you said boat instead of ship) that would take me across the world. I remember that day that a Disney ship was parked next to us and we were busy laughing about how we should’ve been on that ship for all the Disney characters but we knew that wasn’t the point of the trip but we had to have a little joke about it. We left a day late but it was nice to see the 24 people who had to visa issues make it to the ship in time. Everyone on board seemed so excited.

Since we were running a little late, the ship hauled like crazy to get to Dominica. I have to say that Dominica was naturally beautiful but it also felt like a vacation to me. The seriousness of the trip hadn’t really set in for me yet. I didn’t know what would happen after the fact. It was just the beginning for me but I had a good time for the brief time I was there but I wish I could have learned more about the culture and food there. Things just are though.

Brazil initially I liked and I had a good time.  The only negative thing I really had to say about the place that I was in was that to get tourists to pay they torture animals in the amazon. I am not saying that all of them do it. Just some of them (not anyone that is a professional tour guide of any sort) and it depressed me a bit to see that happening. I unfortunately got sick on the last day though so I didn’t get to do as much as I liked but I still liked what I did and I admired the architecture so much in the city.

Ghana, well…I had a lot of mixed feelings about Ghana and I still do. I felt for the first 3 days of being in the country that I hated the place like no other. I was being treated like commodity and always being pulled to buy something to the point I really just wanted to stay on board the remainder of the trip. It wasn’t until I visited the non-profits that I actually had a better view of Ghana and I think it just depends I guess on how you take it. I knew people on board like Courtney who just fell in love with the country and then there were others who just absolutely despised the country. I fell in the middle. It was a love hate thing for me with Ghana.

South Africa was amazing because I got to see the best and worst of two worlds however I am disappointed that there has not been more incorporation of color but I should expect that with the whole deal with the apartheid. I went to a play the first night that really gave me a glimpse into the horrors of the apartheid. I also have been touched immensely by the story of Amy Biehl and the creation of the Amy Biehl Foundation that works at all the schools in the townships outside of Capetown. To me that was the most powerful story that I ever heard and much was learned from it. It was one that I would never forget which was the power of forgiveness. I remember a quote that my mom and I talked about at my grandpa’s house one morning it was the following:

Forgiving is love's toughest work, and love's biggest risk.  If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator.  Forgiving seems almost unnatural.  Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do.  But forgiving is love's power to break nature's rule.  ~Lewis B. Smedes

I was really grateful when I went wine tasting for the first time that my teacher was able to show me how to properly drink wine. I had never done it before (well I was under 21 at that point but in Cape Town the drinking age is 18) and I had was with the class on a trip to study how certain concepts in Operations management applied. I did learn I dislike red wines and I don’t mind the white wines as much but I had a good experience

Mauritius, we only stayed there for like 4 hours and still there was an incident but moving on from that, I would have loved to stay longer to try the food. But we were in a rush to get to India so I felt like we missed out a bit.

I initially was not interested in India and I had hopes that going there would change my mind about India. India well was hot like Ghana was. I remember just being constantly hot all the time but to see the sights in Kochi was quite nice. I did try some food there and it was pretty good but it just wasn’t anything that I necessarily liked to begin with. I heard all the horror stories of some of our ship board community getting taken in a taxi out to these homes in the middle of nowhere and just being bombarded by people to sell things. It felt like that when we would get off the ship and try to head to the buses. The taxi people kept trying to drag us elsewhere and we would have to like change our routes to get to the buses. The culture and traditions of India are truly unique especially when visiting the Jewish Synagogue for the first time. India was not my favorite place but I see it a little bit better than I used to see it.

Before I go on, I did a lot more independent traveling after India as I wanted to play it a bit safe in the beginning but a fitting quote would basically sum up my experiences into a single sentence for Singapore, Vietnam & China:

Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness.  ~Ray Bradbury

Singapore! Oh the many things I could say but it was so much fun just to wander around with my friend Josh and purposely just get lost for part of the morning before the trip in the afternoon and even then I left the trip early to go get lost for a bit longer before I had to go back on the ship. I had so much fun. Singapore is so amazing that I pretty much had a good time. The subway system is so easy to navigate too!

Vietnam, well I spoke a lot about Vietnam and the whole experience being sober to me. I really don’t need to go too further into it but I do have to say that being able to learn about the Vietnam war from the perspective of the Vietnamese was definitely something to remember for the rest of my life and even from Senator Rob and Linda Rob’s point of view of how the war really affected them. I was thrilled to have learned so much in Vietnam and get lost in the streets let alone cross them. It’s a real trick to crossing the streets but a good word of advice: continue going forward and do not go back. You are likely to get hit if you go back then you are to go forward. So many people on motorcycles but it was fun crossing all of them!

Wow at China already, my original plans to go to Beijing then shanghai went to the wayside as my friend had a family emergency and had to go home so I traveled China pretty much on my own and I was pretty happy to be able to do that. Hong Kong was fun to be in and I wish I had stayed there longer and I wished I could have stayed longer in Macau but I had to catch a flight and that was fun. Staying 5 days in Shanghai and getting lost was the best thing I ever did. I got to see so much in a given time on my own. My mother did tell me that the entire time that I was in Shanghai on my own, she was pretty nervous but I kept assuring her that I was going to be alright. I still think it is funny to this day on how I stayed in a Japanese hotel in Shanghai. The toilet in my bathroom that I put pictures up on the blog about has been a hit with everyone I showed it to because it does more than American toilets do. I do have to say that traveling on the east coast of China is fairly easy and not too bad to do.

Japan had a little bit of its down points but I overall enjoyed my time there. I could have easily stayed another day at Fuji-san and at least 2 more days in Kyoto in the pouring rain. I loved learning about the temples and the history behind them. I also loved learning about the gods and how the gods are similar to some of the Hindu Gods. I have such a better understanding of how religions can be interconnected and I would wish that some people would see that. Even if the beliefs are slightly different, I think all religions are connected some how and therefore one will not always be right. Moving on from that, the train system in Japan is a bit confusing to me which made things a bit difficult to me but other than that. I could have easily lived in Kyoto. It made me feel so much at peace to be there and especially at the peak of the Sakura (“cherry blossom” for those who don’t know the translation) trees.

            Heading home was definitely a surprise and I couldn’t realize how fast everything went but it did and it was time to get serious with work. It was also getting to the point where people on board didn’t necessarily get a long as well as they used to in the beginning but things change as I have always been told and I only did my best to do my work and enjoy my time as I was hitting the tail end of things. There were some negative aspects of my last days but I don’t really like to remember them as such because it changes the experience to be something negative when it wasn’t. We all learn lessons and that is really what made my last days at sea that much greater. I remember when we got to Honolulu we were so frustrated that we were there for the entire day but we couldn’t get off the ship but I do remember one thing. It was so relieving to be able to call home and say hi to my mother for the first time since the Bahamas. I really didn’t do much in Hilo so I never really did a post on it since I didn’t do much. It was just a break right before finals and I still had a lot of work to do. I got off to go get food but that was it.

            My biggest change to happen was the last days from Hilo to San Diego. Events, hanging out and everything that you could imagine and it happened in the last 5 days. I was ready to go home and I felt it was time to really put a lot of what I learned to work. A lot of my lessons were school related but there is a good chunk that will be life lessons that I might not understand initially but I know later in life, those lessons will be a reality to me. The day we got in, I literally cried when I saw my home city of San Diego but I cried even more when I had to tell my best friend and lifelong SAS friend Kadian good bye and to tell her that I hope to see her again soon It was crazy getting off and to see my parents again was shocking. A lot of things happened on this trip. Some things that I didn’t mention like deaths in the family and other members getting sick not to mention my friends who got injured in life changing accidents. All of that has changed me in one way or another. I know in time though, a lesson will come from that.

           

Being home during the summer time gave me time to create a photo book with my experiences put together the way I wanted to remember what I did. I story I tell will be something I will tell over the course of my lifetime and I decided to get more involved with Semester at Sea as an Alumni because I felt a sense of belonging to that group. The think the biggest feeling though that has really kept me going for a while is the feeling of restlessness. I really want to get back to my university and be able to put what I learned to work. I keep getting asked questions like, “what did you learn?” or “Did you learn anything?”. To answer those questions, it’s yes I did learn in my classes. I learned a lot but a lot of it I can’t put into words. It can only be put into action. I see some of it coming out especially in my love for working for Non-profits like San Diego Foundation because I find myself becoming more efficient when I like to communicate with others and see success come out of non-profits. There is more for me to show and for me to even try to explain what I learned is completely pointless. Writing the reflection made me think about the trip but at the same time. I have already thought about it and what is not only done for me but what it has made me. 

This is my reflection on the trip. questions and comments please place them on the site or email them to me.  aqmirenstories@gmail.com

Vietnam War Post

For my Vietnam War Post please look at the link below to view the document. Thank you!

Vietnam War Preparation

Vietnam

All posts in Doc forms

Hi Everyone!
So the link below is to all the postings i made on here plus a possible few extras. The only document that was not put in with group is the poem as that is mine!! :)
Enjoy!

Traveling Child- SAS

Vicarious Voyage Blogs :)

SAS Deans memos and Green Sheets

So everyone gets an idea how life was on board the ship. :)

SAS Deans Memos

Sea Olympics Events :)

SAS Auction on board :)

SAS Green Sheets for Each Port

publication

So here are the publication of the SAS Spring 2012 people being present any where. Enjoy! Let me know if there are link issues!

SAS Publication on return

Deccan publication on SAS

Times of India Article 1

Times of India Article 2

I am willing to take questions

If you have already read my blogs and have additional questions that you are willing to post as a comment on here then please do so. Suggestions for blogs relating to this trip are also welcome.
If you would prefer to actually privately ask me the questions then here is the private email that you can use

miranda.denny.s12@semesteratsea.org

I will be willing to answer any questions that i did not other wise post on my pages.

Quick side note: Sorry i am slow about the posts but i am going to make all the pictures public for everyone and post the links up for photobucket. The videos are taking longer than planned but should be up around the end of July with the other posts that i havent finished. I know sad isnt it? BUT IT'S BIRTHDAY MONTH SO THAT TAKES PRECEDENCE! Ok its all good! Laters!

What is officially in the works of being published

Hello everyone!
I am home safely in San Diego and re united with my family now. Things have been a little crazy and i wanted to make a few announcements about pieces that are in the works.

• Favorite Pics section
• Vietnam War Piece 
• ON BOARD THE MV EXPLORER PICS (sneak peak into life on board)
• Reflection on the experience fresh off the mind
• End of 2012 Reflection Piece : Realities hit hard and Returning back to life at the University (After Finals
• A Final Poem to tie this all up

I know this is a lot to do plus i am doing other side projects a job and so much more but i intend to get a lot of this done before fall with the exception of the end of 2012 one and the poem which will be completed after christmas this year assuming 2012 doesnt come to an end but whatever! Please continue to read my blogs and hopefully you will encourage others or go yourself to SAS.

I thank everyone for all the support and leaving comments and keep looking forward to my newest releases! My traveling doesn't end. I will continue to document my travels like my trip to Northern California in October and others. I will continue to post things up about it. Also i have my stories that i still continue to write. Please read those too! :)

Coming to San Diego

On my last night on board, I was in the company of friends until midnight with the determination of getting up at 5 am the next morning. As I was hanging out with Kadian and having a blast, I had a realization at that moment that it was really my last night and especially when I saw the emails from my mom saying see you tomorrow. I knew it would be time to say good bye. Even this morning is still heart wrenching as I see the outlines of San Diego come ever closer to the ship. It’s rather bittersweet to be home and I had a feeling it would be just because after reading my signed book last night. It was something that I could always be happy with yet at the same time, I knew it was time for me to go home.

As we were coming into port, my mother was able to get a hold of me and the call was bittersweet and just plain hard because I realized that I was home and it was now time to take what I learned in life and apply it over the course of my lifetime as new challenges would get posed to me. It was disturbing to find out about things that. I also knew that I would be leaving some important friends behind and it made it that much harder for me to do and figure out because…well the one subject that bothered me as the ship pulled in was, how was I going to be able to acclimate to my home institution again? I had more of a heart. I came to a changed home and it was almost like I was in another foreign country. Even as I write, my head wonders these things so late at night. I am getting ahead of myself here. As the groups were starting to get off, we cried immensely and many tears were shed as we were forced to go our separate ways. So be it. I did have a life to get back to right? Yes and no. I wanted to do so much more actively. I felt that I had always been so passive but what do you do at this point. When my sea was called, I was with my good friend soon to become a life long friend Kadian. We cried and held each other before we parted ways and I collected my bags to go see my parents up close for the first time.

Seeing my father for the first time since I heard he was sick was hard on my heart because I knew things were going to change a lot around the house. My body was fully disoriented so I figured that it might be a good thing to start over and make something of myself. I can try to develop other habits again. There was a lot of words that I wanted to say at this moment. Many words that I wanted to start to say and I thought about it and all I said to myself You know? There will be some things you can’t change. Speak the words of wisdom….let it be. 
I told a lot of stories to my parents and began to be reacquainted with needed every day items to find friends like the internet (not that it worked the first night I was home), my cellphone, my other computer that I haven’t used, the time, no rocking of the ship, and so much more. I walked into my home and had a random culture shock but I should have expected it. The one thing though with this trip that some people don’t tell you is the melancholy feeling when you return. It’s troubling and disturbing more than anything. To go to familiar places again and see those I see every day will disturb me greatly. I will have no sense of myself for a while and even when I lay here in bed typing exactly is running through my mind, I only seem to be able to conjure these thoughts because I know it. Things happened and I seemed to be completely out of the loop. I came home and I realized one thing. Detachment. It’s now a new journey for me to try find my way out of this. It’s not easy. You rush through everything and next thing you know, you are sleeping and you mind wanders. I will figure it out though and this will not be so bad once I put my head into it.

SAS Poem

So to end this trip i decided to write a poem for the voyage that turned out to be around 5 pages anyways so yeah its a REALLY LONG POEM! (Gee what a concept)

Anyways Enjoy!

SAS Poem

I am sure any SAS student could tell you

To get to this point was a journey in itself

Fighting Financial Aid at their school

Getting scholarships from SAS

Fighting with Pinnacle to the bitter end over Visas

And still not all get them and continue to fight on the ship for them

No one said it would be easy getting to…

This EPIC 108^th Voyage of SAS

Spring 2012

However, the challenges would not end there

The Bahamas is where we embark

San Diego is where we disembark

All the countries in between

Are nothing more than a dream

The ship set sail officially on January 20^th in hopes of making it to Dominica

The Captain there to make sure that we get there safely and on time

Though there was enough rocking on the ship

To get some people sick

Dominica

Beautiful, incredible

Our first country and port

FDP's, Trips, traveling

All done in a span of two days

The most popular being snorkeling

Go figure.

Brazil

We sail up the Amazon to the port of Manaus

There we find both an amazing and still developing city

Still holding on to various European developed buildings from the past

Some fly out to Rio de Janiero to spend time there

The rest mostly stay in Manaus

Trailing the Amazon

Trying food

Experiencing something that is not like what they are used to

Days on the Atlantic

King Neptune arrives

Grants SAS passage across the equator

Classes everyday

Preparation for the next port

Ghana

Tema the industrial port

Accra the capital city in the region

Some students still trying to get their visas for India

Successful a short time in the port

It was constant bargaining

Long time spent on trips

A cultural shock for many unused to the new surroundings

Some however found it as their new home

A safe haven among the people

Others found their dream job

Many though had learning experiences

In more ways than one could count

South Africa

Disembarked in Cape Town

So expensive, so European

Until you leave that

Townships, often viewed as shantytowns

Surround the outer edges of Cape Town

Divided into colored and black

From the years of Apartheid

Never went back, I suppose but

Yet these areas so rich

Because the culture is so alive

Yet so little education

Many service projects help these places

If only for a day it makes life just a little bit better

The winelands

An incredible sight

A place to drink and snooze

However, we can't bring it on board with us.

Table Mountain

Lion Head mountain

Boulder Beach

Cape Point

So many places to see in Cape Town

So much to learn until you leave during the night

Turn off all the lights and look up

You see Andromeda tonight

Storms on the seas

The MV Explorer and its passengers holding on

As the Captain continues to do his best

Constant rocking while we take midterms

Write papers and do anything school related

Many more seasick and others living on medicine

Mauritius for us appeared to be cancelled

There was some disgruntling

In the end, we got a little time

Mauritius

Beautiful Island

So much to do, so little time

Many people there from India and Africa

Only 4 hours to grab a taste

or shop

or drink

or time at the beach

It was time off the ship

It made many feel just a bit happier

Even with the disappointments

We board quickly and head back out to sea

A new port awaits

India

A very crowded nation and hot a lot of the time

The experience is one of a kind

The food and spices to be amazing

The clothing so uniquely beautiful

The culture and society to shock us

At the same time, the most amazing people that you ever meet

The architecture and art to be eye boggling

The Taj Mahal

Six days of being amazed with a country in the most interesting ways

Soon we must move on to a new nation to learn about

Singapore

One of the cleanest nations in the world

Amazing diversity and acceptance of religions

Little India

Chinatown

What more can I say?

This place had a place in my heart

Vietnam

A sobering experience

The Vietnam War has wrecked the lives of many

Yet this country is beautiful especially the Mekong Delta

So many markets

So little time

Many sights to see and to become enthralled with

Yet you can still feel some of the echos of the war within

China

Feels like the epicenter of the world

Especially looking at Shanghai and Hong Kong

Hong Kong & Macau: A Special Administrative Regions

A little more freedom than the rest of china

Spectacular in view especially at nights

Macau looks like Las Vegas

Shanghai

Amazing place to be

Spectacular lights

Jinao Tower (Oriental Pearl Tower)

Amazing by day, spectacular by night

Museums Galore

Amazing Architecture that puts all western nations to shame

This is creativity

Makes me wonder

What happened to the US?

The answer sometimes is that some of it went to China

Japan

Sakura at its peak, something we can never see again

Kyoto the peak of its beauty

Baseball games to die for

Tokyo the big epicenter

Hiroshima, the memorial of the ever famous atomic bomb

Kobe Beef

Mount Fuiji especially when it snows

The ever so polite Japanese.

They can only direct you so far

Onigiri is by far the best you can ever have.

Nothing beats a good time in Japan

Long 11 Days to Hawaii

Papers, Papers, Papers

A pub night

Auction time

Help future SASers get on board

33,000

Games, late nights, rocking of the ship

Long time friendships begin to truly take off

And the drama begins

Long time at sea

Monotonous and/or Disgusting food

Sarcasm takes root

SASers poke some fun

Last days of classes

Pictures get taken of the class by Brian

Response: "What the #$%* is this?"

Priceless

What love do we have left?

Last Stretch to the finish line

Hawaii has ended as fast as it came

Honolulu spent on board and Hilo spent on land

Finals become brutal

Love was harsh indeed

Finishing now and packing

Its time to soon go home

Say your last goodbyes

Though remember the good times when you say them

Good food coming out in the end

Ending

San Diego

Home sweet Home American mainland!

Getting off and through customs

Is long and arduous

SAS Spring 2012 has come to an end

We all say our good byes and go our separate ways

The friendships were everlasting

It's bittersweet

As our loved ones welcome us home

Tears will be shed

Happiness will be felt by all

Some will face reality

When they say what is Semester at Sea?

There is no simple answer to define it other than

It's worth the money

It's worth the time

It's an epic voyage

What did Semester at Sea mean to us?

There is no simple answer to that either.

For some it was all about drinks and parties

For others it was life changing

And for some of us at times was devastating

It's not an easy trip to take

You have to set all of your ways aside

Leave your family behind

While knowing the chances that something might happen

The risks you take everyday

Some work and some do not

SAS Spring 2012

One of those voyages you can't forget

Who can say they went on an epic voyage around the world?

Not very many

How many accountants can claim that they did it during their college years?

Few and I became one of them.

I leave this on a note and for you to think about

What does Semester at Sea mean?

2 weeks at sea...what do you do? Well....

How I spent my last couple of week of SAS? ….well I did the following:

-          spent 3 days in finals

-          Had a Hot stone massage

-          Had a seven seas massage

-          Hung out with my friends and had, soup, tea, dango and Mochi

-          Write papers (Both research and FDP)

-          Had girl scout cookies while playing Apples to Apples

-          Crew Talent show

-          Ice cream Cake, Ice Cream Cookies and tons of Ice Cream

-          Adriatic Sea meeting with lots more cookies, pizza, mini burgers and spring rolls

-          Study for finals

-          Honolulu – called everyone that existed on my cellphone (that's a lot of people)

-          Hilo- hung out in the town and got drenched then called home and texted Bryce to make fun of him.  

-          Map and Book signing!

-          Alumni Ball! Decorate and participate

-          Auctions!, Donations! Anything to help future SASers come on board. 33 thousand dollars people!

-          Sleeping (wait I got to sleep? This isn't right.)

-          Deck 6 and 7 are where its at!

-          Got several of the crew to sing for meJ

-          Night time desserts at 10pm!

-          Stay up until 2am every night if not later (Now that's a bit better)

-          Get a cold somewhere in between (huh?)

-          Can I say PRETZELS AND JOLLY RANCHERS!! J

-          Count the days down to SAN DIEGO!

-          Email my mother, Bryce and Carmen through out the rest of the time.

-          Did I mention packing? Like 4 bags and 2 extra carry onsJ (Yeah, my roommate realized that our walls were white at this point)

-          Convocation on the last day!

-          MORE EVENTS!

Yeah so that's what I have done. (I think that's all of it….hmmmm  -_- ) Like Bryce says…meh….whatever it all works. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE EVERYONE!

Less than a month left! (Well like only a few weeks)

From January to now I have been across over half the world and I just wanted to put a visual to make that a reality.

I made my journey from San Diego, California and Look how far I have been with one more country to go and best of all it is Japan. I apologize for the fact that I did not put up any more maps but classes and country hopping is a bit crazy so I can't so I figured that this will suffice well let me see I will put up the ones I didn't include which was China (Shame on me.)

So in all reality I have less than a month until I will return to San Diego. I miss everyone but I will be home soon and don't expect any updates after Japan and I will not be writing anything on Hawaii because I will be resting on board in preparation for finals madness on the last few days going home to San Diego. The last piece I will write will probably be the Vietnam War Piece which I know I promised I would get done but the school work is enormous and time consuming so it will not get done until Hawaii or when I get home along with my reflection on this entire trip. I wanted to make the Vietnam War piece a little more special since it was still a sobering experience that I had when talking to the people in the war remnants museum and listening to the experiences of others that found themselves in more hostile situations or just in uncomfortable positions. I am still compiling stuff together for that. For those who want to know, I return to San Diego on the May 2^nd around 8am at the port so if anyone wants to come see me I invite my USD friends, professors and family to come welcome the MV Explorer to San Diego. I probably will not get off until later in the day so for those who want to wait and have the time then be my guest. The more the merrier and happier I will be. I wish everyone well!

Shanghai!

Shanghai was such an amazing place. It's so large and there were so many places to go to. It was pretty easy to get lost in too if you didn't know where you were going. I need to back up and tell a pretty entertaining story about my passport and visas while I was heading into Shanghai so I need to start this at the Hong Kong (HK) airport. So I am checking in at the HK airport and I went to the desk for HK airlines so I could check in and get my tickets for my flight. The guy behind the counter looks at my visas for a moment and then looked at my passport. My hair was up at the time with a loose curl in front of my face. I realized after a few moments he was staring at my hair and I asked him if there was a problem. He finally tells me that apparently I don't look like my picture. Ok, I must've had a stupid look on my face or something because he seemed to fidget nervously or something. I was still trying to figure out how I don't look like my picture in the passport. Did I need to give the same mug shot look? I finally out of pure annoyance went to adjust my hair and as I let my hair loose, he suddenly approves me and thanks me. I tied my hair up right then and looked at him. "Wait, you just told me that…" He interrupted my sentence with this answer. "Your hair made you look like the picture when you let it down." I didn't even know how to answer this. It was irritating at the time because it happened 3 more times after that, one in security, one at immigration in Shanghai and the last at the Okura Hotel which I will tell that funny story next. Anyways, I have to say that Hong Kong Airlines was such a nice airline. We got meals and free drinks if we wanted them. On the seats were these touch screen computers where we could watch movies, play games, listen to music, and many other things. It pretty much kept me entertained for the 1.5 hour flight to Pudong airport in Shanghai.

                Ok after getting into shanghai at 1am and going through everything and getting a taxi to the Okura Garden Hotel, I arrive at the hotel safely. Now here comes the odd but funny story of me checking in. I walked into the hotel with my stuff and the guy sitting behind the information desk stares at me like he had never seen a foreigner in his life. I am wondering how that is possible when several Caucasian individuals were just in front of me. I looked over at the empty check in desk and I asked the guy. "I need to check in." He looks at me and simply says that they didn't do check ins this late. I wondered how that could be since my mother had told them that I would be very late. Another woman came out and greeted me by name and checked me in right then. She said to not mind him so I didn't bother. My room at the Okura hotel was incredible and can I say something? THEY GIVE YOU JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING! This hotel puts all American hotels to shame. The room was just amazing and had such an amazing view of Shanghai. I loved my stay there.

My first day in Shanghai was spent museum hopping, going to the people's square, and going to the site of the 2010 Expo. I had such a good time doing all of these in such a short time so I didn't get to stay long enough to write complete detailed things on them or take all the pictures I wanted but I definitely would go back to these places to learn about them when I come back to China someday. I didn't do much else thanks to me spraining my ankle when I got back to the hotel (due to my own clumsiness as always) but it was amazing plus the food was so good!

(Left: Shanghai Museum, Middle: Building at the Expo, Right: Shanghai Urban Planning Museum)

My 2^nd day in Shanghai was spent at the Oriental Pearl Tower which I could rave about for hours. I loved this place. It was so amazing. The view of Shanghai from the top at around 360 meters above the ground was absolutely stunning and I could have so gone back for the rotating restaurant that was at 259 meters or so. The view of Shanghai was just amazing and loved it so much. There are three levels. The top is the space cabin. The middle has the restaurant and sightseeing area and the bottom is its own arcade with a roller coaster inside. The main floor has cafes and a mini mall inside. I love this place and could have at least spent another day. My only note to those who are clausterphobics, you get crowded in an elevator going up but it's a quick elevator ride so don't freak out about it and go visit this place. It's so worth it!

My 3^rd day in Shanghai was spent in bed on board thanks to the ship not telling us that they were moved to a new berth and so I had to walk 2 miles to heavy luggage and bags to the ship after being turned around 6 times which was ridiculous. It was a bit crazy and shame on SAS for not contacting us and telling us where they got moved to and it was stupid for a while. We weren't near any metro stations either so I couldn't really travel that much without always taking a taxi so I didn't bother for the day plus I was pretty sore across my back and legs. Oh but I do have something to say about where our ship is located. We have a spectacular view of this!

Yes the night lights were something to see from our ship and I couldn't say too much more because it was the most amazing thing ever! You had to be there to see the absolute amazing view of what our ship had here in Shanghai and I think Japan will not top this one for sure.

Moving on to the fourth day. I spent it on an FDP going here:

Yes the coca cola factory and I had a good time learning about their bottling process which was very intriguing and fascinating to watch as mainly machines do the work here with about 4000 employees watching and working to insure that everything is taken care of.

My 5^th day in Shanghai I went to the Longhua Temple and the Jade Buddha Temple. We observed people burning incents and praying to the Buddha for good fortune of any sort. It was interesting to see all the artwork in these two temples but I think the picture says more than what I can ever convey so plenty to show.

Longhua Temple

 

Jade Buddha Temple (The reclining Buddha on left is marble. We could not take pictures of the actual Jade Buddhas)