The Countdown Begins Again

Here's the low down on Ghana. I like Ghana, but I'm not sure I'll be back anytime soon. It wasn't my favorite port. I spent a lot of time exploring the areas around the ship, and finishing up my bartering interactions for my psych project. I also visited the Slave Dungeons in Elmina and Cape Coast, which is where they stored slaves for weeks before shipping them west. It was such a humbling experience. And finally, I got to explore Accra with my social psych class for our field lab. We spent the first part of the day at Osu Children's Home, playing with kids and doing yard work. And then after a short break for lunch at Afrikiko Tam Tam, we hit Oxford Street for a scavenger hunt for the market. It was one of the better class field labs I got to participate in, because we were able to learn a lot about social psychology in Ghana while still having fun.

Looking back on the voyage, it makes me really sad knowing that I'll be home in two weeks. I can't believe time has flown by so fast. By the time I get off, I'll have been in eight new countries. Today is the last study day of the voyage (which hopefully means good food – tacos?).

We've spent the last four days writing, studying, and working like crazy. It's essentially the equivalent of finals week here. I've turned in most of my work so I really only have one exam and a few group projects left to finish up after our last port, Morocco. So right now, I'm planning on finishing up most of my work before Morocco so I can just enjoy the last few days on the ship. We have a big alumni ball, including a nice dinner, and my friends and I are all trying to make the most of the last few days. We're counting down until we get off the boat in both anxiety to travel more and/or go home and because we don't want to ever leave. It's hard to think that I'm not coming back and that my friends and I will never be together like this again. But it's also nice to know I'm going home – back to normal – in Indiana. I'm excited for the summer and even next semester. Plus I have a lot of classes to catch up on at BU. But I'm not going to worry about that now. I'm just going to take it all in. The ship life is great. Where else can you walk up a flight of stairs and have someone make you oatmeal? Nowhere. I've definitely been spoiled this semester, and I know I'll miss it.

UPDATE: There were no tacos, but we did have a cookies and cream ice cream bar, so that was pretty exciting.

Also, here's a picture of one of my favorite families on the ship – the Mayes. I tutor Tim (the kid in red) every day and I've gotten to know the entire family really well.

This time for Africa

I know that I leave every single country saying that it was my favorite so far, but South Africa is definitely going to be hard to top. The six days I spent here were easily some of the best I've had on the voyage thus far. I spent three days exploring Cape Town and three days on a safari in Kruger National Park. Kruger is one of the best safaris in Africa – and about as far away from a zoo that you can get. I got an awesome picture of a baby elephant with it's momma.

Many people on the ship joked that we were finally back to civilization because Cape Town looks a lot like a city in the States or in Europe would. Plus, everyone speaks English. And it's true in that sense. But there's so much more to Cape Town that I probably didn't get to experience because my friends and I were so excited for some of the comforts of home. Our ship was docked in walking distance from the V & A Waterfront, which was a giant boardwalk with a huge mall and lots of restaurants. We'd walk over to grab lunch and wifi or shop and have dinner. It was so easy. A lot of my time in South Africa was spent at some of the more touristy areas of Cape Town- the Waterfront, Table Mountain, and a horseback riding tour through the winelands. I also knocked out a few interactions in Green Market Square for my social psych project.

The adventure I'll probably always remember is climbing up Table Mountain. It's this huge plateau in Cape Town and you're really not supposed to hike it without a guide because it's super steep and a tad bit dangerous. But being overconfident college students who are very worldly travelers, we decided to go for it. In hindsight, it was definitely an okay climb to not have a guide if you're careful and in shape. But it was difficult to get up the mountain. Once we were up there, it was so worth the struggle. Plus – we didn't have to hike back down because there were cable cars. During my climb, I kept looking down because the view of the city on the water was spectacular – you could see the entirety of Cape Town and even the MV World Odyssey! Here's Table Mountain from just outside of Cape Town.

All in all, I wish I had about two more weeks in South Africa. There was so much I didn't get to see and experience. And there was a lot of local culture that I didn't have time for. I don't regret a minute of my experience there, and I know I'll be returning sometime soon. 

A Typical Day at Sea

My friend Chaz and I

I love my days at sea. There’s been a lot of them, so I have a pretty good routine down. Class days are assigned as either A days or B days – I have two classes each day, so both days are pretty similar. Occasionally we’ll have study days (like yesterday) which is kind of a like a weekend – a day to catch up on homework and not have classes. That’s also when lifeboat drills, taco days, and any events like Sea Olympics or Neptune day happen. But most of the time, if we’re at sea, it’s a class day. Today is an A day, meaning I have class from 9:30 – 10:50 and 2:40-4. Here’s what most of my days look like:

Eleanor and I

I usually wake up sometime between six and seven. Breakfast starts at seven, and I like being there right when it opens because it’s a lot quieter. And all the good food goes fast, like the frosties and blueberry muffins. Usually Eleanor will roll out of bed to go with me, and then get back in bed after we eat. If my friends at Butler were here, they’d think I’m crazy. Getting up before 8, let alone getting to breakfast, is a struggle for me. But I’ve changed. I have a new found appreciation for breakfast.

At eight, I tutor Tim for about half an hour, who is a ninth grader learning Algebra II. His dad is a professor on the ship and I’ve been able to get to know their family pretty well. I think they’re thankful that I’m able to help with the math. I’m thankful that the math isn’t too hard for me to teach him.

After tutoring, I usually do some homework until class at 9:30. After class, I catch up on some more homework while hanging with my friends in Berlin, our favorite dining room. Lunch starts at 11:30, and we’re usually the first in line to get food. Depending on the day, my friends will either head to the pool or the back deck to do homework after lunch Sometimes I go back to my room to do laundry, finish up homework, or nap. Very exciting, I know. But if I get more work done earlier in the afternoon, then I don’t have to worry about anything later that night. Pool days are fun, but most of my friends have more free time on B days, since we have a bigger break between classes.

Madi's Birthday Dinner

My next class is at 2:40. I’m not a huge fan of class that late, but it could be worse. Plus, class is over at 4, so that means I have another little break to either go swimming, or hang out with my friends before dinner. Dinner is at 5:30. Same place, same time, every day.

Almost every evening has something different going on. We have meetings the two days before port which are mandatory. Our cultural pre-port for South Africa is tonight. Before that, I’ll probably head to watch swing dancing for a little. Then after pre-port, my friend Brit and I are going to Christian Fellowship. Occasionally there are nights without anything going on – that’s when my friends and I watch movies or find some other fun shenanigans to do, like ship-wide hide and seek.

So that’s my normal day! Some days have more work than others. The days before a port are usually most fun, because we have so little work to do and everyone’s excited to get off the ship. I’ll be in South Africa soon!! 

I fell in love with India

I love India. Love the food. Love the people. Love the culture. I'd come back. This is my favorite port of the voyage so far. Right now, I'm writing this post on a bus to Agra (where the Taj Mahal is!). The last three days, I've been on a program through SAS called Princes and Palaces, and visited Jaipur and Bharatpur. It's been amazing. Tonight, we'll spend the night in a hotel overlooking the Taj and then drive to Delhi tomorrow. It's a lot of travel every day, but it's also been nice to have a couple hours of downtime; we see a lot when we're not on the bus and sometimes the amount of sightseeing can be a little overwhelming.

The first day I had in India was spent exploring Fort Kochi with friends. The ship docked early in the morning, but by the time we went through immigration and got ready to leave, it was lunchtime so we ate on the ship and then headed out. It was Brit, Jane, Eleanor and I exploring together and I was the mastermind behind the plans.

I briefly did some research about Cochin, because I had some classwork to work on "in the field," which is really just code for homework when while I'm not on the ship. My History of Modern China class is analyzing how the Chinese culture has spread throughout the world, so we are looking for Chinatowns in all of the port cities we dock in. There wasn't necessarily a Chinatown in Cochin, but they do have these giant Chinese fishing nets that are pretty famous, so my class was strongly encouraged to check those out. My Social Pysch class requires us to get data of bartering in three different ports. I did my first collection in Hong Kong, and was planning on getting more in markets here. It's really not my favorite task, because I have to have someone videotape every interaction I have, and it's hard to walk away from the vender without buying anything, so I usually just purchase the item. After spending more money than I had wanted in Hong Kong on a bunch of stuff I didn't necessarily need, my friends and I figured out that I would just barter for whatever they want and kinda came up with a good system. So I also planned on visiting the markets in Fort Kochi.

As we got off the ship, we asked where the ferry was to take us over there and started heading in that direction. We soon found ourselves surrounded by tuktuk drivers offering to take us around the entire day for only 400, 200, or even 100 rupees (about $1.50).  Tuktuks are best explained as a mix between rickshaw type things on a motorcycle and a rustic golf cart. The drivers were persistent, walking with us or driving alongside us, despite our rejections. Eventually, we made it to the ferry to find out it wasn't going to leave for another hour. There were two tuktuk drivers offering us the same amount to take us around all day – 100 rupees for all four of us. No one in the group wanted to make a decision, and honestly, we had no reason to choose one over the other. It was only when we attracted a crowd of ten drivers surrounding us as we discussed our options did we pick a tuktuk.

Our driver's name was Sham, which means the sun. The sun's hot, but don't worry, because he's cool. He said it. Not me. I promise. I was somewhat hesitant with our choice, but I know we picked the right driver. He was 22, and had been driving tuktuks for 5 years. He talked to us about SAS, slowed down so we could take pictures, and even affectionately referred to Eleanor as Singapore by the end of the day, because she was the only non-American in our group. At this point, I was still convinced he was just taking us to the markets in Fort Kochi so we could wander around on our own, so I was super confused when he pulls up on the side of the street next to a community laundromat. That's when our group realized we found our very own tour guide for the day. We also visited the Santa Cruz Catholic Basilica, an art gallery, a spice market, and many, many shops full of saris, scarves, and jewelry. However, in these shops, it was really hard to barter for my project because everything was so expensive, and I wasn't into spending that much.

We did make it to the Chinese fishing nets, and got to watch them in action. Fishing with the nets is pretty labor intensive, so it's not as commonly used. It was really cool to get up close and watch the fish being caught – I think they were catfish.

The street behind the Chinese fishing nets was lined with market stalls full of clothing, which meant two things: more shopping and my social psych homework. We found one stall and I was able to barter for the clothes that Brit and Jane wanted to purchase. Only issue was, Brit is very indecisive. As I was bartering, she'd see something else she wanted. It worked out okay, but I only got three interactions, so I'll have to make them up in another port.

After the market, Sham let us drive the tuktuk. That's right. We got to drive. I have a great picture of Brit sitting in the front seat with him. She wasn't super confident like Jane was though. Jane really and truly was driving the tuktuk, but Sham didn't teach her really all that well because she didn't know how to slow down. As we neared a tight pass with a bus on one side and a person on the other, Jane had to choose to inch closer to one instead of the other. Thinking that the person would move if she got close enough, she chose the man. The man didn't move and she did what she called a love tap, which ended up in a stare down between the man and his friends and Sham. It was terrifying, yet I was trying so hard not to laugh. And that's one of the reasons why SAS doesn't let students operate motor vehicles. That was also the end of the driving for the day.

After the love tap incident, we wanted food and wifi, so Sham took us to a restaurant near the fishing nets where we ordered curry and a ton of different kinds of bread. The day was reaching its end, and we had plans that night back on the ship, so we had Sham drive us back over and we said our goodbyes.

That night, we all attended the welcome reception with university students (all male, all MBA students) – Brit, Jane, Chris, and I. Maddie even showed up on her field lab. It was cool and all, but my favorite part was the food. I thought there would only be snacks, but there was a full on buffet line and everything was delicious. It was all vegetarian, and I have no idea what I ate, because they piled it on as I walked down the line. It all mixed together, and I hate when my food touches each other. But it was delicious. And that's where I fell in love with Indian food. 

Also, here's a picture of me at the Taj! 

Myanmar

Myanmar. Wow. It's my first morning back on the ship after five days in Myanmar, and I'm honestly still processing it all. I really don't know how to explain what I saw, or even what to say. Going into this country, I knew so little about the history and culture. We were warned that the government that was heavily focused on military was very oppressive on the population. We weren't to talk about politics, student rights, religion, or anything that could land us, or the person we were talking to in jail. Honestly, I was a little afraid of what I was going to see. It was really hard to see the country and not judge or evaluate it in a way that might not be accurate. I didn't want to be wrong and create negative stereotypes of Myanmar.

For the last four days, I was on a SAS trip to Ngwe Saung, which is essentially a resort town. It was advertised as a 5 hour ride from the ship, but those 5 hours turned into 8 on the way there and 10 on the way back. So I really only had two days to explore. But throughout those bus rides, I was able to see a lot of the country. And our rest stops included a parasol making factory and a bamboo furniture factory. The first full day at the resort, I woke up early to go ride elephants. It was something that I vaguely remember doing when I was little, but definitely really cool now. The next day was spent almost entirely at a local school. We took a pickup to get there, because all of the roads were so curvy and bumpy that our bus wouldn't have been able to handle it. Sitting in the bed of the truck with twelve other college kids is now officially checked off my bucket list. Anyway, the kids there were so cool. They put on a show for us, and we ate lunch with them. The majority of the group left the school around noon, but I stayed until almost 2. At that point, we were able to hang out with them and the experience was a little more personal. We taught them the cupid shuffle and a few games. And despite the language barrier, they taught us some games, too. That night was the eventful night - there was a frog in my room. It was scary. I dealt with it like an adult, and made one of the resort employees get rid of it for me. No way am I touching that thing. Yesterday was spent almost entirely on a bus. It took ten hours to get back to the ship, which was entirely too long, but I got a lot of time to process all that I saw.


Here's a picture of a group of SASers at the school we visited! 

Honestly, I'm still processing it all, and probably will continue to until I get back to the US. That's kind of due to the design of SAS. In four days, I'll be exploring the streets of India, so I have to move on pretty fast to be ready for an entirely new culture. So the rest of this post is a weird combination of all of my thoughts and insights from the country.

In a sense, I was wonderfully surprised with what I saw. It was mentioned to me that this was the land of smiles. And that's definitely true. The Burmese were extremely happy, which surprised me, especially after fifty years of intense military control. Although people were initially apprehensive to the hoard of students walking up and down the dirt roads of the village we were visiting, we soon learned that once we smiled, we were immediately welcome. It was almost as if the smile broke the barrier that's often apparent between locals and travelers. There was a very positive attitude towards Americans and the US. One of the students on my trip said that we was talking to a local man who could only dream of visiting the US, but could never afford it. However, some of the school kids were afraid of talking to us because of the negative stereotype they had of white people from the British colonization. I don't think they had a bad experience, I think it was a warning handed down from older generations. But I could be wrong. Those are just my thoughts.

Myanmar is also a very safe country, which surprised me. Coming from Vietnam, where petty crime was pretty common, I was excited to hear that it rarely happened. Apparently, crime is not common because it's heavily punishable. Pickpockets could spent years in prison. In all of the areas that I visited, I felt extremely safe. Fun fact: It is illegal for women to drink in public.

Along with the instances that I didn't expect, there was a lot that didn't surprise me. It was a place where a lot of the basic comforts of safety (of the US) were neglected. On a SAS sponsored trip, we stuffed twelve students in the back of a pickup to take us to the school we were visiting. That would never happen in the US, but unreliable transportation is pretty common in poorer countries in Asia. Also, there were a lot of food that I couldn't eat, for a couple of reasons. First of all, any drinking water had to be bottled, and we had to be really careful of what we ate. Any salads, ice cream, drinks with ice cubes, and fruit that we didn't peel ourselves were a no go. Second, many of the dishes were way too spicy for me to consume. I'm sure my parents would have loved them, but my mouth was on fire.

I learned that a lot of the resources of the country were only in the hands of the military, which led the government. Very few of the people had any wealth. None of the farmers owned the land, only the government. And the resort that my group stayed in was owned by the son of the head of the military.

Overall, it was an incredible experience. The country is changing a lot, and in some small way, I got to experience it. It was such a paradox of ancient customs in a modern setting. As we were nearing our arrival to Myanmar, the shipboard community discussed the ethics of the country. On a voyage in 2006, a lot of the students boycotted SAS's decision to visit Myanmar, and refused to leave the ship. I think a lot has changed in the last decade, but there were some times that I considered the ethics of my actions – for example, riding the elephants. It turns out, the elephants were very much well cared for and healthy, which made me feel better about my experience. But as I go into the rest of the ports on my voyage, and travel later in life, I'll definitely consider the ethical perspective of traveling in a country.

 

 

 

Fish Galore in Vietnam and the Olympics of the Sea

The food I ate in Vietnam was by far the best food that I've had on the trip so far. However, I ate almost only seafood for three days straight. I went on a field program with SAS to Ha Long Bay that involved waking up at 3 am to fly to Hanoi and then take a three hour bus ride to Ha Long Bay. It was so worth the pretty sights of all the rocks and islands and the friends that I made while I was there. My roommate for the trip, Sydney, and I got along so well and it turns out that we're in the same class and live in the same hallway on the ship! 

This is a picture of me from the top of a cave in Ha Long. We spent the first night on a mini cruise/junk boat. It was really fancy, and my room there was bigger than my room on the ship. It was perfect weather for shorts, but too cold to swim. Also, I'm not sure I would have swam in the water there anyway because it was kinda gross.There was a ton of trash in the water, as well as diesel from the boats. I don't even want to think about all the harm that's doing to the environment. Despite the trash, we still had a ton of fresh fish. 

When I got back on the ship, I had to write a vignette for my travel writing class. The focus of the class is food, and we're learning how to write about food throughout our voyage. We spend a lot of time watching Anthony Bourdain and watching his episodes, because my professor loves him. The only guidelines we got from my professor was to write about food and write in first person, present tense. Here's my vignette about Vietnam:

I remember saying, "I'm never eating another fish again." I was seven, at the dinner table with my parents and my brother, eating yet another fish. And I was done with it. Flash forward thirteen years, I find myself in yet another fish predicament. Sitting on the Golden Cruise in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, I'm staring at the set menu. Fish, shrimp, squid, prawns, octopus, clams, crab. Even mystery seafood spring rolls. If it lives in the ocean, I was probably getting served it. There is no chicken or pork to be found on the menu. No comforts of landlocked Indiana. The dread builds up as the tables fill around me and the countdown to lunch continues. There are two ways to deal with this situation: to eat or not to eat.

Honestly, I'm a nonconventional picky eater. I will (probably unfairly) decide not to eat things just by the name or description. However, if something looks good, despite my opinion on whether or not I've liked it in the past, I will eat it. For example, almost any fried food; more specifically, fried mushrooms from Cruiser's Grill in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. I'm not a mushroom fan. I can say I've probably unknowingly had them before, because I'm sure my mom's snuck them into chicken casseroles or between the layers of meat and pasta in lasagnas. But my first positive experience with mushrooms happened when they were battered and fried, and of course, covered in ranch dressing. So as I consider this, I decide to be open-minded. This seafood is steps away from the frozen fish sticks I've eaten in my childhood.

We're spending the night on the boat, so it's got to be fresh, right? I'd just take it one dish at a time.

The first plate is set down before us. Shrimp. With eyes. Pass. The next is a stuffed crab. The sharp-edged shell on the bottom of the crab freaks me out a little, but I'll try it. The table filled with other Semester at Sea students seems to be entertained by my reservations to try the food. I lift the fork with a tiny bit of crab to my mouth. Not bad. Although I'm squeamish at the thought of eating a crab, the taste isn't awful. I get up to go to the bathroom and return to a giant bowl of clams. I'm not sure how to eat them, and figuring that out seemed like a lot of effort. The lunch progressively gets better as more and more plates are placed in front of me, the highlights being mystery seafood spring rolls, fried rice, and finally pineapple.

Overall, the seafood isn't that bad. I realize that maybe I should be a little less judge-y and a little more open-minded about what I eat. Not every country I visit throughout my semester at sea will have chicken tenders and ranch, but every country will have food that is just as good. Moral of the story: when in Vietnam, eat the fish.

I haven't gotten a grade back from my professor, but I'm not that worried. We peer edited our first drafts, and Clarissa told me it was funny. So if it's not, blame her. 

After almost 24 hours spent in Ha Long Bay, we took the three hour bus ride in Hanoi to spend some time there. By the time we had gotten off the mini-cruise and eaten lunch, it was past noon, so we didn't get to Hanoi until after 4. We were there just in time for a underwater puppet show. That was an experience, but mostly because of all of the other tourists that surrounded us. One thing I've learned on the trip, that I kinda already knew going in, was that not many Americans travel around Asia, particularly a large group of college students. I lost count of how many pictures were taken with us or of us. 

My last day in Vietnam was spent in Hanoi and on a plane back to Ho Chi Minh. We visited the Confucian temple of literature, where we got to explore. It was a really exciting to be in Vietnam because it was Tet, or the lunar new year. Growing up in Hong Kong, we had celebrated Chinese New Year, and it's very similar in a lot of aspects to Tet. But it was interesting to experience it in another country. So all of the temples and pagodas were bustling, and all of the stores and markets were closed. It wasn't so good for shopping, but I enjoyed witnessing the celebrations. 

Now, I'm back on the boat. We passed Singapore yesterday, and could see it from the boat. We also had a study day, which means no classes. I promise you that very little studying happened. It was Sea Olympics. Basically, every hallway on the ship is assigned a sea. Mine is Arabian, so we all wore orange and nominated our mascot to be a tiger. Throughout the day, the entire shipboard community competed in events such as lip sync, tug of war, synchronized swimming, speed chess, relay race, rap battle etc. We were awarded points as a sea the entire day, and my sea came in third (out of seven!). Honestly, I didn't expect us to do as well as we did, because our preparation was a little shabby. We did lose to all of the children and old people on the ship, which is a little embarrassing, but our lip sync at the end of the night killed. It got a standing ovation from the crowd, and I was definitely proud to be an Arabian Tiger. Most of my friends are in the Yellow Sea, and they lost. So sucks for them. But it was all friendly competition, and we got to spend a day with no worries. I wish more days were like that on the ship, because we get stuck in such a routine that sometimes we forget to take a break and have fun while we're at sea. This voyage is flying by, and I can't believe that exactly two months from now, I'll be getting off the ship in Southampton. 

In two more days, I'll be in Myanmar. I'm signed up for another field program with SAS, but I have a lot of friends going on it and we get to see elephants, so I'm excited. Hopefully it'll be a good experience. I know virtually nothing about Myanmar, so I'm excited to be there and experience a new culture. 

Feel free to email me if you're bored! lauren.wiley.sp16@semesteratsea.org

 

Driving in Vietnam

So this next entry is one that I submitted as a blog post for my Intercultural Communications class. After every port, we write about something that made us stop and think. It's a way of incorporating what we do in port with what we learn in our classes. 

Never will I ever operate a motor vehicle in Vietnam. Although I'm relatively confident with my driving through the suburbs of Indianapolis, I can only imagine the anxiety of weaving around all the motorcycles and the possibility of getting run over by tour buses with their very aggressive honks and intimidating size. Nobody stays in one lane. In fact, driving in two lanes at once seems like the cool thing to do. Bonus points if you weave back and forth between the two on the wrong side of the road. 
Obviously, driving here is very different from what I'm used to in the US. I'm afraid of what I'm going to see in the countries later on my voyage. Can you say culture shock? On a more serious note, I noticed that they have a lot of the same issues that we have, including drunk driving. However, there are some differences as well. Many more people ride on scooters or motorcycles. I've lost count of how many families of four I've seen loaded on one cycle. I even saw a family of five, and felt pretty proud of that accomplishment. On the flip side, almost everyone has a helmet, which is not the case in the US. 
There's also a lot of honking. Not in the aggressive pissed off at dumb people driving (or not driving) honking in the states. This honking is more consistent. It's a reminder that your vehicle is behind another, slower vehicle. And that they should probably get out of the way. Cue the image of my anxiety attack while driving a motorcycle. It reminds me of learning to drive on the highway. But worse. I'd probably just stop and let them drive around me. 
In my Intercultural Communications class, we look for critical incidents where something we notice makes us stop and think. Here, that's the honking for me. It's just so hard not to notice it and for me, it's almost omnipresent. Over the four days spent in Vietnam, I was on multiple buses, taking many taxi rides, and even just walking around the city. After observing it, I've noticed that it's a necessary part of daily life. The two taps on the horn of a bus coming up behind you is like a polite excuse me as you walk by someone in the grocery store. 
This is sort of a cultural difference that is highlighted in Martin and Nakayama's Intercultural Communications text, where they introduce the notion of high-context communication. That is, "a style of communication in which much of the information is contained in the contexts and nonverbal cues rather than expressed explicitly in words" (p. 233). I believe the honking is a form of nonverbal communication, and without the context of the culture, it can mean different things to different people. The only time I use my horn in the US is generally if I get cut off on the highway. But here, I think I would have to get used to using it much more. 

The Only English They Knew Was "Eat More"

My first day in Shanghai was full of the culture of the city. I participated in an Impact program through SAS called "Daily Life of a Shanghai Citizen," where we visited a neighborhood to dance and play ping pong with the retirees at the community center, visit a farmers market, and enjoy a home-cooked Chinese meal. My favorite part of the day was the home cooked meal. The family we were visiting had prepared so many dishes for us. I think there were about 17 different plates on the table at one point. It was awesome to be able to try the different foods family style. I sat at a table with seven other girls from SAS, all of us equally excited about the food. I made a list in one of my journals of all the different plates of food but it got a little extensive. The entire time, they encouraged us to eat more. Our tour guide would hand out the last item on a plate to random people in order to make more space on the table. I will say my favorite were the spring rolls. They were more of a dessert, because they had banana in them.

The next day was spent almost entirely in the Shanghai Pudong Airport. My flight to Hong Kong was pretty well delayed. I wandered around the terminal twice, bought some snacks, and then out of desperation and boredom sat down to do homework. I eventually made it to Hong Kong with very little excitement, which was probably a good thing.

Yesterday, I hung out at HKIS, the school that I had gone to when I lived here. I was able to observe some classes in the high school to compare the international school setting from the Indianapolis public school setting. It was awesome. I went to two classes: math and humanities. Throughout the day, I chatted with some of the teachers and even promoted SAS to the students. (They can thank me later).

The rest of the day was spent showing my friend Chris around the city. We walked around downtown for a little, then took a double decker bus to Stanley market. I think he was shocked to see the quieter side of the island, but loved it. It was really cool to see how much Stanley has changed and how much has stayed the same. A lot of the stalls in the market were exactly the same as ten years ago. Most of the restaurants are still there. But they did revamp the plaza area and put a ton of shopping in the Murrey building, which took away a little bit of the charm.

Here's a picture from the waterfront of Stanley

Today, Maddie joins me and I turn into a real tour guide. We've got a jam-packed day of all my favorite touristy things, plus my social pysch homework. 

Thanks for keeping up with my blog! 

Mt. Fuji, Hiroshima, and Kyoto

The last few day have been pretty hectic with my travels in Japan and then hopping back on the ship. After my day in Tokyo, I spent the next three days on field programs that are run through Semester at Sea. They are open for faculty, staff, students, and lifelong learners, so there was a good mix of everyone on the trips and I got to meet a lot of new people. 

The first trip took me to Mt. Fuji and Hakone. The mountain is closed in the winter, but we went to the national park surrounding it. We were so lucky that it was such a clear day with pretty views of the mountain. We also visited the Hakone Open Air Museum, where there were hot springs to soak my toes in and a very large Pablo Picasso collection. The day was rushed, but it was nice to have a good amount of time to explore the museum. 
The third day in Japan, I started another trip that was overnight to Hiroshima and Kyoto. First, we went to Hiroshima to see the memorial park and the museum, which was very humbling. I also was able to see the floating shrine in Miyajima Island. Fun fact: Miyajima is inhabited by a ton of deer, and they're very friendly with people. They just wandered around. But if you had food, they would track you down. The last day in Japan, I visited Kyoto, the old capital that was full of temples and other touristy sights to see. We visited the golden pavilion, Nijo castle, and another temple on the eastern side of the city (I don't remember the name because I was really hungry so my thoughts were elsewhere). Kyoto was cool, but touristy. Check that off my list! I enjoyed my day in Hiroshima much more and would love to go back and explore a little more. 

It's been really busy in the last few days since we got back into the swing of classes yesterday, and tomorrow we're in China! We really only had a two-day turnaround between countries, and that'll happen again from Hong Kong to Vietnam. After that, the gaps at sea will hopefully be a little bit bigger. 

I'm getting ready to spend the day in Shanghai tomorrow. I signed up for an Impact trip, which is more of an experience and less of a touristy trip. After the trip to Hiroshima and Kyoto, I’m excited to really get more out of the culture than just seeing the popular temples and castles. We're going to a local market to see where people buy food every day, then going on a home visit to learn how to cook a meal. I'm really excited to see what we make, since I know it'll be fresh. Hopefully it's yummy. Towards the end of the day, we’re going to the equivalent of a retirement home to spend some time with the elderly. I’m really looking forward to meeting them. Supposedly they’re going to dance and sing for us! 

The day after, I'm flying to HK to spend four days there. My friend Maddie is meeting me there the day after, as she's heading to the Great Wall first. I know the next week is going to fly by! 

Waka Waka Takes on Japan

The first day, my friends and I weren't signed up for any field programs, so we spent it exploring by ourselves. We were ported in Yokohama, Japan, but woke up early to take the train to Tokyo. The machines at the JR train station had an English option, but that didn't prove to be very helpful. We ended up having to ask a lady in a bookstore who pointed us to the ticket office where another lady helped us out in very broken English. About an hour later, we found ourselves walking the mile to the imperial palace in the center of the city.

After walking around the gardens of the palace, we found a metro station. There are three different types of trains in Japan - the JR system is a normal train that takes you city to city, the bullet train does the same as the JR but is faster, and the metro which is the subway within the city. The metro is the cheapest and easiest option for getting around Tokyo. We bought a day pass so that we could get on and off as much as we pleased.

Our second stop in the city was Tokyo Tower, which is essentially a replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was awesome to go to the top and be able to see the city from above. We could even see Mt. Fuji and Tokyo Disney.

By this point, it was about noon, and my friends and I were all hungry. We wandered down the street until we found ourselves surrounded by police officers in riot gear. I'm still not sure what had happened, but we ran fast. A few streets over, we stumbled into a tiny little restaurant playing Shakira's Waka Waka. Nothing was in English, but there were a bunch of pictures so we just pointed to a picture and hoped for the best. I ended up with beef curry and rice, which I loved. Indian curry is one of my favorite foods, but this wasn't as spicy as I liked it. We also had rice tea to drink, which looks like water, but had a bitter aftertaste and wasn't my favorite.

After lunch, we made our way on the metro to Harijuku, a shopping district of the city. It's aimed towards a younger audience and the teen culture, so there was a lot of bright colors, strange clothing, and yummy treats. I ended up with a cotton candy larger than my head. Don't worry. We shared.

It was really crowed, so it was difficult for my group of friends to stick together as we dodged in and out of shops. I didn't end up buying anything in Harijuku because it was a little pricey, but it was interesting to see all of the clothes. A lot of places looked like thrift stores in the states, but were expensive. One store we ventured in had a lot of old tshirts and sweatshirts, and we picked through to find some from colleges around the US including Clemson, Northwestern, and Texas A&M to name a few. They were all more expensive than it would be to just buy a new shirt, but I guess that came with the character of it.

Our final sightseeing stop of the day was the Senso Ji Temple complex on the other side of the city. It took a few interchanges on the metro and about 45 minutes to get out there, but it was worth it. In the temples, you could make a 100 yen donation (about 80 cents in the US) then grab a prayer/fortune and tie it to the racks set up around the temple. This was my favorite stop of the day because we ended up seeing the temples, then walking through the markets that surrounded it. The market stalls sold pretty much everything.

My last event of the night was dinner. My family has friends who live in Tokyo, so my friend Maddie and my roommate Eleanor and I met up with them for a traditional Japanese dinner. We had sukiyaki, which is a hot pot of food cooked in soy sauce. We each had our own hot pot full of beef, noodles, vegetables, and tofu. I loved it. Our tray also had miso soup, a small salad of Japanese radish and cabbage, raw crab as an appetizer, and a large bowl of rice. At that point, dessert wasn't necessary. (Plus the cotton candy was probably enough sugar for days)

After we stuffed ourselves at dinner, Maddie, Eleanor, and I navigated back to the ship in Yokohama for the night. I was awake for almost 20 hours straight, because we had gotten up so early, but it was definitely worth it.

Today We Got TACOS

That's right. Today was Taco Day. Trust me, after weeks of pasta and potatoes at every meal, it deserves the capitalization. They were delicious, but I'm not sure if it's because I've been taco-deprived for weeks or if it really was delicious. La Piedad will be my first stop when I get back to Indy. 

In other news, it was also a study day today. We don't get exactly weekends on the ship, and honestly, I have no idea what day of the week it is. All I know is that today was basically our equivalent of a weekend. Occasionally we'll get days off of class on the longer stretches at sea, but when we're in port for an extended time, that's our weekend. I spent my day outside on the back deck watching a movie about sushi for my Travel Writing class and watching people play chess on the life-size chess board. 
We have midterms this week, but in a few days I'll finally be in Japan! Only four more days at sea! We also crossed the international date line the other day, so we're officially 17 hours ahead of eastern standard time. BUT we get another hour of sleep tonight. This trip is like fall back daylight savings every other day because we're going west. So we'll be 16 hours ahead of the east coast starting tomorrow. 

Another exciting update - I started tutoring two boys whose dad is a faculty member on the ship. Every other morning, my friend Maddie and I meet up with the boys and help them out with the material they're learning since they're homeschooling this semester. She's a nursing major, so she does all of the science and I do all of the math. Tim is in 9th grade and working on Algebra II, which is perfect for my major. Ben is in 6th grade, but he doesn't need as much help with math and usually Maddie's able to help him since he's just multiplying fractions. We've gotten to know their family over the past week and their mom Jen even invited us to go to dinner with them one night! It's really cool to be in an environment where the faculty and staff and lifelong learners really get to interact and get to know each other. 

Other than that, things are pretty normal - at least for living on a ship! Feel free to email me at lauren.wiley.sp16@semesteratsea.org. I get lonely! 

Hawaii Field Lab

Yesterday, my Intercultural Communications class spent our only day in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Pa'i Arts and Culture Center. The Pa'i Foundation works to maintain and promote the native culture of Hawaii through hula, music, art, and language. Vicky, the leader of the foundation, is a native culture activist. 

After going through immigration and finally getting off the boat (woohoo!), we boarded the bus that would take us to the Pa'i foundation. We were welcomed by Vicky, who immediately had us out on the mats to start our lesson in hula. For native Hawaiians, hula dancing was the way of passing down their stories and history of the islands, because years ago, they didn't have a written language. 

She taught us the dance and chant, step by step, and believe me, it was harder than it looked. I'm proud of myself for trying my hardest, but I know that the dancers you see at luaus must work so hard. Every single move has a different meaning or way of interpreting it, so it has to be just right. Also, my hands and feet were moving at the same time, and I definitely didn't have the coordination for that. 

After running through the dance one last time, we set up tables for lunch. Vicky prepared her famous Kalua pork on taro buns, sweet potato and taro chips, fruits (strawberries - yum) and a salad. Everything I ate was delicious. The taro is purple, so the buns for our sandwiches was purple. It was strange, but I tried it and it was awesome. Purple bread should be an everyday thing. 

After second and third helpings of lunch, we cleaned up and got ready to listen to Dr. Jon Osorio, who is a professor at U Hawaii, a musician, and like Vicky, a native culture activist. He told us stories of the social and political struggles that native Hawaiians have been facing for the past two centuries. The biggest lesson I got out of it was that the native community is united through a respect for each other and a respect for their land. They're going to do whatever it takes to preserve their community, culture, and islands. 

Shortly after, we made leis. It was quite a process that I initially almost gave up on. But mine turned out pretty good, so I'm glad I didn't. We used tea leaves and flowers and wrapped the flowers onto the leaves. I took some pictures, so here they are! 

On the left, its my friend Emily and I! The middle is a closer picture of the lei. I was pretty proud. And the right is a picture of the class making them. 

All in all, I had a great day. A lot of people in my class were complaining that they didn't get to see Hawaii, but I think they're wrong. They maybe didn't see the beach or go snorkeling, but they did see the passion of the Pa'i foundation, and for a few hours they were immersed in something much more important than sitting out to get a tan or going shopping. 

Photo Update!

I haven't had the internet to upload all my pictures, so here we go! 

This is part of my ship that I took in San Diego while I was visiting the USS Midway. You can really only see part of it. 

Here's part of the USS Midway. It's pretty much the only picture I took the entire two hours we were there. Whoops. 

Here's another picture of my ship at the dock in San Diego.

On a typical morning, I sit out on the Lido deck reading my emails and doing homework. No one seems to be up at 8am. Weird. 

Here's a picture of the Lido deck! You can kinda see the tiny pool behind all the chairs. 

Here's a better picture of the pool! 

Here's my room! And my bear! 

 And then finally, some pictures from Hawaii! We stopped here today, and I went on a class trip with my Intercultural Communications class. I'll give you an update on that trip later!

A picture from the bus ride today. 

The Kings Palace in Honolulu! 

One More Day to Hawaii!!

We stop in Hawaii tomorrow and I have a field trip with one of my classes. It's intercultural communications and so in the class, we're learning how to hula dance and make leis, and they're serving us a traditional luau lunch (thank god cause the food here doesn't suck, but it's basically the same thing every day). Then we're attending a lecture about Hawaiian culture and language. So I'm excited for tomorrow. I'm making friends in that class, but hopefully this'll help. 
After Hawaii, we have a 12 day stretch until Japan. I think people might go a bit stir crazy. We do the same thing every single day basically. It's in the 80s today, so a ton of people are sitting out upstairs by the pool. I might do the same after my class at 2:40. We've been lucky with the weather. No storms or anything so far! 
Also, I've been getting to know the crew in one of the restaurants, the Berlin restaurant. I met Bravo, who loves meeting the students. They all take really good care of us. The other day, Bravo asked if I had a water bottle, then took it and washed it and filled it up with ice water. Let me tell ya, ice is a hot commodity on the boat. Can't find it anywhere. 
Other than that, I'm finishing up homework assignments so I don't have to do anything tomorrow when I'm in Hawaii. Today's a pretty typical day!

Sea Days

Hi Everyone!
Today marks my fourth day at sea and my third day of classes. I've adjusted fairly well and I have a routine now! I usually get up pretty early and grab some breakfast. This morning, I sat down with a Lifelong Learner. Lifelong Learners are adults, usually retired, that go on the voyage. Many of them take classes and sign up for the field programs. From what I've seen, they all have really interesting backgrounds. I shared my breakfast with a lady named Patricia this morning. She used to work for the government, and she told us fascinating stories about all of her travels. When she was a teenager, she attended a boarding school in Northern Italy, so she grew up abroad. She also told us that now she travels about 45% of the year, and when she gets back in the spring, she's planning on selling her house to move abroad for a few more months. 
Patricia previously went on the spring 2009 SAS voyage, so she's a pro at this. We were asking her about the field programs and whether they were worth it. She said that the worst part of a trip is planning the logistics, and with SAS it's all taken care of. Also, she said that the programs were deeper than the touristy excursions that many cruise lines offer. That definitely helped me get excited for my programs that I've signed up for. I was worried that I'd miss out on a lot of independent travel that people were doing, but after talking to Patricia, I'm definitely more excited. 
 

Classes Begin!

Classes start today, which is really exciting! I got up around 6:30 this morning and got breakfast around 7:30. I went up there alone because my roommate Eleanor was still asleep, but there's always people to sit with. I've met so many new people, but I don't remember a lot of their names. I think it'll help when I meet people in class who I'll see pretty regularly.
Now I'm sitting on the top deck just hanging out. It's really nice out. A little windy, but not so chilly. Probably in the 70's. Not quite pool weather but we're getting there. There's no one else up here right now so it's super peaceful. I think this might be my new spot, especially in the morning when no one else is around. It's sunny here and all you can see is the ocean around us. In a few more days we'll reach Hawaii! 
Last night I got to sign up for a bunch of clubs, so I signed up for yoga, trivia, dependent children tutors, and the extended family club. The dependent children club is for the kids of the faculty, staff, and lifelong learners that are keeping up with their studies. It would let me tutor and/or mentor some of them. I spoke to the lady in charge and she said they needed math and stats help, both of which I told her I was able to do! So that's hopefully going to workout well. The extended family club pairs 8-10 students up with a member of faculty/staff or a lifelong learner to be a family. We'll eat meals together, get to know them, and hopefully they'll spoil us a little! 
Also, some important guy from Microsoft is on board with his family. Supposedly he's the VP of Marketing and Sales or something, but I don't know and I don't remember his name. He bleached his hair, which looks a little funky and kinda walks around like a nerd, but it's pretty cool. 
I've also been one of the lucky few to not get seasick. I took some of the free medicine they handed out the first day, but one of the side effects is a sore throat, which I got. So I haven't taken anything since. The waves have been decently big, but it's almost comforting. Every once in a while, there's a really big wave that I feel. But other than that, I'm pretty used to it. At least, if I'm sitting down. Walking is another story. It kinda looks like a drunk walk, but when everyone's doing it, it's funny. 

Embarkation Day Has Come

I've spent the last few days in San Diego exploring the city and enjoying the food with my Dad. It's a pretty walkable city. We only really took a taxi twice, one of those times being from the airport. On Sunday, we got to explore the historic Gaslamp District. There were a ton of touristy shops down there and lots of cool restaurants. The entire district is huge - over 16 blocks. And we wandered around a lot of it before finally deciding on a fish shack for lunch. We also found a mall that had a Macys where I purchased a money belt, and the Hard Rock Cafe where I was able to pick out a t-shirt. After wandering back to the hotel, we watched football at the sports bar and that night, we ended up having dinner at the hotel because neither of us were up to exploring much more after a long day of travel. 
Yesterday, we visited the USS Midway Museum on the bay. For those who don't know, the USS Midway is a retired aircraft carrier turned museum, and was also conveniently parked next to my ship. It took us two hours to venture through the museum with the audio tour and we could have spent much longer in there. It was really cool to see how sailors lived in the navy during WWII. I definitely left the museum with an appreciation of the history of the carrier and the sacrifice of those who lived and worked on it. 
Today, I got on my ship. That's right everyone! My ship! I left on the 7:40 bus from San Diego only to pull up to my ship two hours later in Ensenada, Mexico. Parked (docked?) next to a Carnival cruise ship, the MV World Odyssey looked like a baby. But still, it was mine. After going through the line to board the ship and check in, I found my room and eventually met my roommate Eleanor. She's from Seattle but goes to Seton Hall in New Jersey. We spent the day unpacking all of our luggage, organizing our stuff, meeting a ton of new people, and taking naps. Both of us have been running on very little sleep and I think it's finally catching up. I'm still jet-lagged from the three hour time difference, but I'm sure I'll adjust soon. Our room is a decent size and we have space for everything. I pushed both my duffles under my bed and put all of my clothes away in the closet and a few drawers. We also have a decent amount of storage in the bathroom. It's smaller than both Resco and Schwitzer back at Butler, but it's perfect for my trip. 
There's not much going on tonight and tomorrow. Lots of orientation and welcome meetings. I'm sure I'll be busy! I'll be sure to add another post with some pictures of the boat soon!

Getting Ready to Leave

This last week has been awesome and crazy. I celebrated my 20th birthday two days ago. My mom and dad surprised me with a "Bon Voyage" party and invited family and friends from high school over to celebrate. We had some great food and lots of fun hanging in the basement, playing pool, and catching up.

My friends spent that night at my house and we were able to go to downtown Indianapolis to shop and walk around monument circle and then to see a movie. Because it was my birthday, I roped the entire group into going to see Sisters, the new Tina Fey and Amy Poehler movie. The next day, they stayed long enough to see Butler's rival Xavier lose their basketball game (woohoo!) and then loaded in the car for the trip back to Cincinnati.

Casey, Me, and Annalise. Saying goodbye and taking pictures!

Downtown Indy in front of the lights at Monument Circle. It was very cold, but very pretty. We wanted to ask someone to take our picture while we were there, but there weren't many people around and we're all awkward anyway, so we gave in and took a selfie instead. 

My boyfriend, Nick, and I. This was the last time I'd see him before my trip!!

To get ready for the party, I hung up a huge map in our basement and put flags in all the ports that the ship will be stopping in. It was pretty exciting, but there are a bunch of holes in the wall now... whoops. 

The last few days, I've been focused on getting everything ready for my trip. I'm going to load all my favorite music on spotify, back up my computer, and buy some books for my kindle. I went shopping to pick up some last minute things this week, but I'm going to have to finish up the rest of the shopping tomorrow. I've finalized my packing list, but I'm procrastinating packing it all up with this post instead. :)

In two days, I leave for San Diego. Two days later, I'll be in Mexico boarding the ship. I'll be sure to keep you all posted with all the exciting details! Feel free to contact me at lauren.wiley.sp16@semesteratsea.org
I'll have unlimited email access, so that will be the best way to stay in touch!