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.

Updates : Please see the note about USD Study Abroad and Alumni Chapter Participation

So I just wanted to get some new updates up about everything and i am working on the last of my stuff for everyone.

Videos from each country: Well that is not going over so well so i will have to work on it at the end of the year sorry!

Favorite Pics section - changed my mind and it will be put up with the videos at the end of the year

Vietnam War Piece: is officially up as a link (you must have google docs to view)

ON BOARD THE MV EXPLORER PICS: Will be posted at the end of the year

Reflection on the experience fresh off the mind is offically up now

End of 2012 Reflection Piece : Realities hit hard and Returning back to life at the University (This will be done after finals along with the Final poem for the 2012 year)

A Final Poem to tie this all up

Also while the SAS experience has ended for me. I have lots of other trips that i will be going like San Jose in the fall and other places as i go. I will continue to record my traveling experiences so i hope to see the continued interest in my blog. I have grown a lot as a student and i wish to get back into the school life in my home university and just be. I wish everyone a great year and please don't hesitate to email me with questions!!

I am also currently participating Study Abroad Peer Advisory Program at the University of San Diego representing the SAS Program and  in the SAS Alumni Chapter in San Diego. If you are a student there, incoming freshman, a high school student that is interested in applying to the University of San Diego, or an SAS Alumni yourself living in the area then please don't hesitate to email me with any questions you might have. 

miranda.denny.s12@semesteratsea.org

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)

Hong Kong and Macau

So my first day in Hong Kong, I thought it was a pretty hilarious idea to go get lost around the city and actually it ended up being the best thing that I ever did as I hit all the museums in a single day J (GO ME!!) I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Culture Center, the Science & Tech Museum and history museum. I liked the Science and Tech Museum the best but it was fascinating to wander around, get food and enjoy the sights of Hong Kong for the single day that I was able to spend there so I found myself feeling pretty successful in what I did. I had a lot of food well I tried lots of soups (I honestly don't know why I did but I wanted to try a bunch of soups and it was really good except I forgot to ask the names of the soups but oh well China is in the back of my mind to note that I will be coming back next year or a little later J Still working on the logistics. Lights show in Hong Kong. So spectacular that I forgot to take pictures or video tape it lol. I loved the experience oh and FYI, there is a Disney resort on Lantau island near the airport for those who want a Disney entertainment in another country. J (I wanted to go so badly.)

My second day, I spent a total of two hours in Macau exploring on my FDP before I had to head back so I could catch my flight to Shanghai. It was so much fun and YES IT IS THE CHINESE VERSION OF LAS VEGAS! For example, MGM Grand and the Wynn both have hotels there. Shock! I wish I had actually stayed there and then left to the mainland but there is so much to do there. I wish I could have so spent more time at Macau. It would have been amazing but I went to the Maritime museum and had a good time there learning about the spice trade and Europeans colonizing the entire areas.