And we're off!

I have sea legs. I think. And I figured since I do, I should post to my blog since people might be wondering whether or not I’m alive. I am alive but just barely. Last night we passed through a really bad storm. Everything on my shelves and in my closet ended up on the floor (including me and my roommate). I actually slept pretty well thought it all though. It’s kind of like being rocked to sleep like a baby. ☺

But…onto how I got to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I made my way from Kansas City on Wednesday morning (way too early… before 4am) to Dallas/Fort Worth then to Detroit, finally landing in Halifax, Nova Scotia about ten pm. Fortunately, I found some other Semester at Sea people to ride with to the Hi-Halifax hostel. By the time we arrived at the hostel, it was well past midnight. I was surprised at how clean it was; it was hands down the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at. There were ten girls in my dormitory, all of whom were Semester at Sea work-study students.

I overslept the next morning, rushed through getting ready, skipped breakfast, and caught a $4 cab to the ship terminal with my uber heavy duffel. The check-in process was intense. They ripped open our bag, pulled everything out, smelled every shampoo and conditioner bottle (looking for alcohol), threw out all curling irons/flat irons/hair dryers that didn’t have proof of auto-off attached to them, and then they patted us down. As I was being felt up by this super intense Asian lady, I glanced behind me and there was the Desmond Tutu. THE Desmond Tutu. Just standing there, waiting his turn to be felt up (which they didn’t, by the way). He is so adorable, and he has the most contagious laugh ever. The other night, he told me, “Just call me Arch.”

We picked up our student IDs (which had the picture that we sent into Semster at Sea on them…yeah, my mug shot. great. Just my luck, huh?), unpacked our rooms, and met up in the Student Union at 1pm for a brief meeting. Then, we had the rest of the day to just hang out. I made a new friend, Carren, who is from the Philippines and 32. She is really nice. She took me to the mall so that I could get a better alarm clock since that dinky travel one from Wal-Mart doesn’t have a really loud beeper. Then, I had to help with the parents’ reception, which was so disorganized and chaotic. Fortunately, afterwards, the volunteers got to eat the catered food, which was delicious. 

The next morning, the work-study students had to assist in checking-in the other 650 students. My job was to interview them and their parents as they made their way up the check-in line. It was a lot of fun and really interesting to hear what they all had to say. Lonyae (my work-study buddy) and I headed over to the coffee shop for lunch and to type up our notes. We made a quick dash to the supermarket to grab some snacks before hurrying back to the ship just in time for the on-ship time. If we are late for the on-ship time, then for every fifteen minutes we are late, we receive an hour of dock time at the next port. At four pm, we had a life boat drill, and then finally, at five, we departed.

The moment when the ship actually started moving was very strange for me. I did think for a second, “Oh my gosh, what have I gotten myself into?!” But at the same time I was very excited, anxious, worried, ecstatic…the list goes on. It was indescribable, especially as we got further and further from land. By morning, all I could see was ocean.

The ocean is breathtakingly beautiful. At sunset, all you can see is water shimmering in the light, as a blood-red sun disappears into the horizon. I keep going out on deck just to read, but instead, I end up just sitting and enjoying the fresh ocean air.

I do have bad news, though: the ship’s food is disgusting. It makes TJ food look gourmet. Seriously. I would pay a lot right now just to have a TJ meal rather than this undistinguishable pile of greasy whatnot. Today, the entrée was bananas covered in raisins, almonds, and honey mustard. Yes, I did mean honey mustard. Sometimes they have this mush of what might have once been vegetables. All I can say is, I’m excited for tapas in Spain. ☺

The ship is freeeezing, but that is just fine by me, because with everyone throwing up all around me, it would be a lot worse if it were stuffy. Fortunately, I haven’t gotten seasick yet; I have been taking my medicine religiously. We’re right in between two hurricanes at the moment, so the ship is moving a lot, which is just more uncomfortable and disorienting than anything else. It really does feel like I’m on a roller coaster—just a roller coaster where I have sleep, eat, shower, go to school, go to work, and just function on. Weird.

The crew is amazing. Everyday they clean your room and make your bed! I feel like I’m living Timothy and Samuel’s dream—a world where you don’t have to make your bed. . . Most of the crew is from the Philippines, and since my friend, Carren, is also from there, we get special treatment.

 Today, we started classes. I’m not actually sure what day of the week it is here. All I know is that it was A1 and that there are no days of the week at sea. I’ve learned that at sea, you just live and let live. No one has cell phones, no one is on the internet much because it is so expensive, and so people just talk or sit outside and enjoy the silence. It’s lovely.
       
On ‘A Days,’ I have World Regional Geography from 12:15-13:30 and then World Short Story from 14:55-16:10. On ‘B Days’, I have Global Studies from 09:20-10:35, Environmental Studies from 12:15-13:30, and then Servant Leadership from 13:35-14:50.

Right now, my friends Carren, Leah, Amy, and Lonyae and I are planning what to do in Spain. We are thinking that from Cadiz we’ll head to Sevilla for a couple of days, then onto Coroba and then back to Cadiz. But we aren’t entirely sure yet. We might just go with the flow in Spain, since it will be the easiest country to get around in.

I’ll post more later because the ship is starting to rock me to sleep so I need to get up and get moving on homework.
Love you!



“Don’t anyone take away your dreams. You’re young and full of promises and dreams. You inspire me.”
                                                        Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Testing

I am testing how to email my posts to my blog.
Unfortunately, internet on the ship is extremely
expensive, so I won't be using it much. However, email is
free...so, I can keep updating my blog! :-)

Eight Days and Counting. . .

Eight days from right now I’ll be attempting to sleep in the Hi-Hostel Halifax, which is directly across from the harbor where the MV Explorer will be docked; eight days from right now I’ll be eight hours away from boarding the MV Explorer; and eight days from right now, I’ll be excited. But right now? I’m just scared. After all, it is a pretty big deal to sail around the entire world. I realize that I’m going to see, touch, taste, and experience more than I ever have before and that’s scary and kind of exhausting to think about. But that is, after all, what I wanted. I want my comfort bubble to be popped and to experience everything that the world has to offer. Hopefully you won’t recognize me when I come back . . . I just want my heart to be broken for the world, to find a direction for my life, and to make so many friends in so many countries. It’s just a little unnerving when I start to think about everything that could possibly go wrong. For example, have you thought of pirates? What if they hi-jack our ship? What if the ship capsizes? What if I don’t ever get over my seasickness? What if I run out of money? So many worries…good thing I have a pretty powerful God watching over the whole situation for me. ☺

However, in spite of my roller coaster of emotions, exciting things have been happening at my house. . .

I got my passport back with my visas in it! The red ink fiasco ended just fine! I’m going to post pictures of them. I got one for Ghana, one for China, and one for India. They are so pretty and wonderful. My China visa was even featured in the local newspaper—The Louisburg Journal. I feel like they should have featured the India visa since I went through a lot more to obtain it. You can read the article here.

Semester at Sea announced which trips we were assigned to. A few weeks ago I had to choose all overnight trips and all day-trips for the first three ports. If too many people sign up for a certain trip, then there is a lottery to decide who gets to go. I fortunately, managed to get into all of my trips but one. So, here it goes:

CAD04 Cadiz City Orientation
CAS02 Marrakech & Nomad Camp with Camel Trek
TAK03 Sekondi and Takoradi: Twin City Orientation
TAK14 Castles and Slave Dungeons on the coast of Ghana
CAS18 Service Visit: SOS Children's Village
CAP21 Township Homestay
CAP42 Inverdoorn Game Reserve
CHE24 Taj Mahal & Varanasi
HKG13 Beijing & The Great Wall (4 Days/3 Nights)

I bought all of my toiletries! New toiletries are one of my most favorite things. I will have to ration them carefully though or else I’ll run out before China. I have bought as much non-aerosol bug spray with as much deet as possible as I could possibly buy (well, that’s not true, but I do have six little bottles), a travel alarm clock, a bunch of batteries, and snacks. Apparently, the ship food is disgusting after the first week because they can’t necessarily get a lot of nice, fresh food in every port. So, we eat fifty kinds of potatoes during the trip. I like potatoes though. ☺

I also have another God story. I have been freaking out over this supposed $401 I need to pay in order to get on the ship. I woke up this morning to an email saying that they were giving me a $500 credit to my account, so I still have a $99 credit that I can use to purchase Semester at Sea trips, things in the campus store, do laundry, buy snacks, etc. Whenever I start to worry about something, God just makes it all fit into place. I’m always reminded of Romans 8:28, “All things work together for the good of those who love Him.”

I have had a busy, busy weekend. Saturday from eleven to two, my amazing family and friends all came together to help me with a huge fundraiser at Louisburg Sonic. Thanks to all of them, I raised about $600 for the service portion of my trip. I am eternally grateful to all them—my family, Ashley, Anna, Kylie, Charity, Ashton, Emily, Katee Jo, Bailey, Christine, Pat, David, Kyler, andJay. Between my dad doing balloons and Sophia face painting, we made $140. The rest of my friends (a lot of them are Sophia’s friends—so, thank you, Sister. ☺) acted as volunteer carhops. And the actual carhops that day—Ashley, Anna, and Kylie—donated all of their tips from the entire day, not just from eleven to two—a gesture that made me tear up. Bill and Gina Shaw, from Specialty Sportswear, designed T-shirts for us. They were perfect! Thanks Bill and Gina!



I love these girls! :-)

On Sunday, I spoke briefly at both church services about my upcoming trip. One of the sweetest deacons at our church pressed a one hundred dollar bill and a thin cross into my hand and told me that the money was only to go towards doing something fun and just for me on the trip. That night we had a church-wide backyard barbeque, where I spoke for about twenty-five minutes about my trip, and then a love offering was taken. They even had a cake for me. I love my church family!


My cake!



Then, today, my family celebrated my birthday since I will be in St. Louis this Saturday. I got the cutest luggage tags, a coin purse, a new wallet, annnnd an envelope filled with about $30 for each of the countries I am going to. ☺ Sophia made me the best present though. She took all of the old magnets off of our fridge, covered them in cardstock, and then decorated them. The walls of my room on the ship are metal and tape is prohibited, so we have to hang pictures up with magnets. She wrote me little notes, drew pictures of our family, and wrote out inspirational quotes. I love them so much. Timothy even drew on one for me—it’s a crying flower that says “Il’e miss you!” It made me cry.

Remember when I started practice packing? Yeah, well tonight we started packing. For real. I’m pretty sure that my bags are already overweight, so I’m finding ways to cut down. For example, taking bars of soap rather than big things of body wash. Lame, I know, but you do what you have to in order to make it around the world.

That’s all for now, folks. I will be updating again soon!




“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain

Practice Makes Perfect: THE PRACTICE PACK

Almost twelve months ago, my parents gave me the perfect gift for someone who loves to travel: a four-piece Diane von Furstenburg pink luggage set. Besides domestic air travel and my trip around Europe this past winter, I haven’t used it much. So, the main reason I applied to Semester at Sea was so that I could use my luggage. Just kidding. I actually wanted to see the world . . . however, using my pink bags came in at a close second. But, it turns out that we need soft-sided luggage for Semester at Sea, so I had to go to Wal-Mart and buy at 30 inch rolling duffel bag. It’s black and nowhere near as cute. However, I still love it because together we will traverse across the universe!


My beautiful pink bags:





I also need an overnight backpack for all the trips I’ll do in the countries. At first, I thought that I could just use my school backpack. I was wrong. Apparently for that trip which involves camels, the Sahara, and nomads, I will need to bring four days worth of bottled water plus everything else I need to live. So, the next step on my Semester at Sea to-do list was to buy a medium-sized frame pack. Last week, I walked into The Travel Store on a whim, and I do mean THE Travel Store. They have everything. Did you know that there is a science to backpack fitting? Did you know that there are professional backpack fitters? Who go through a three-month program to become a professional backpack fitter? Well, there is, there are, and they do. I walked into the store and was immediately drawn to a cute, pink backpack on the lowest part of the wall. I flipped over the tag and it was $49. Score! The ones that I had been looking at online were well over $100. Then, this nice, older man comes up and asks if I need a child’s backpack for a niece or someone. Then comes our awkward exchange, “uh . . . um . . . no, it’s for me.” “Ah, I see, well that’s part of our Fancy Nancy collection. The adult backpacks are over here, on the east wall.” He then proceeds to take my measurements, put a plastic cut out of a backpack on me, pick out a pack, fill it with sandbags, go and get a special backboard that was cut exactly to the shape of my back, put it in, and then he said I was ready to go. To go? I was just window-shopping. But, I felt bad because he just spent so much time on me. . . not to mention the fact that he just custom fit that backpack to my back. So, I took it, all $150 of it. This backpack better be worth it. It had also better last until I have children. They will take this backpack with them to school, because I will not be able to afford anything else after this trip.

The not-as-cute black duffel:



I now have the two main pieces of luggage I will take with me. I’m still deciding what bag I’ll take for the day trips and hanging around in the port cities.



So, the practice pack. . .I did one. I’ll have to do it again, for sure. I did this a few nights ago, and I wasn’t very thorough; I just wanted to do it to get some of my energy about the trip out. Seriously, I haven’t been sleeping I’m so excited. Semester at Sea recommends that you lay everything out that you want to take, put half back, and then pack. Hopefully I can take their advice. I need to go to Wal-Mart and get a bunch of socks (I love new socks!) and underwear. Laundry services on the ship are few and far between, so I want to be prepared. I also need to buy some Woolite hand washing packages. I think I’ll just do most of my laundry in my bathroom in order to save money and not get my clothes lost (apparently the laundry service loses and shrinks clothes frequently). I’m also going to go to Salvation Army to buy a pair of scrub bottoms for, hopefully, less than a couple bucks. I want to be able to wear them while I’m on the service trips like the Habitat for Humanity International build . . . that way, if I ruin them, I’m not out of a pair of pants that I actually like and paid good money for.




There is so. much. stuff. I still need to buy. For example, all my toiletries, the Woolite, batteries, a battery-operated alarm clock, souvenirs from Kansas for the different families that I meet in the ports, magnets (the ship walls are magnetic and tape is forbidden), pictures of family and friends, and um. . . well, that’s it. It seems like a lot more when you think about how much shampoo, toothpaste, body wash, etc. you use in four months. I guess I have already bought a lot of the stuff that I need. Last week, I bought my school supplies for the trip: one five subject notebook, one folder that has eight pockets for all the papers I’ll get, pencils, pens, a stapler, and a nice little pencil case. I’m horrible with my pencils. I always lose them. I can’t do that this semester though because I won’ have another chance to buy them. I have all my textbooks. I have all my medicine for the trip (over the counter and prescription), I have all my contact lenses, my contact solution, and a new pair of walking shoes and comfy sandals. So, I’d say I’m about fifty percent prepared so far! Not too shabby.



Maybe I’ll go practice packing again now. . . practice makes perfect and I have to get this right. I wouldn’t want to forget something important on the trip of a lifetime, would I?

I must have been born to travel.

I figured since my bill is (finally) paid, I have my textbooks and plane tickets in hand, AND there are only thirty (eek!) days left until I board the MV Explorer, I should probably start posting to my blog. Good idea? I think so. So, the plan is that I will update my blog frequently while I’m gone on Semester at Sea in order to let everyone know all the adventures I’ve had, let my parents know I’m alive, and give middle school students homework. I know, I’m a horrible person; but seriously, students will be reading my blog and discussing places I’ve been, things I’ve seen, the history of major monuments, etc. in class. So, shout out to the Louisburg Middle School Geography class: I’ll try not to make it too boring! To all my other “followers”: I hope you’ll stick with me throughout the trip. I can’t wait to bring back pictures and stories (you know me and my stories) of all of the exciting things I’ve seen and experienced! I’ll miss all of you!

I’m going to back track a bit and let everyone know all about what I’m actually doing this fall. I will be sailing as one of the Seamans-Kruse scholars on the MV Explorer through a program called Semester at Sea. There will be about six hundred other students onboard, and we will circumnavigate the globe in a little under four months, stopping in twelve countries. And if that weren’t awesome enough, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah will be sailing with us the entire time too! Have I mentioned I’m excited? Well, I am.

Here’s the itinerary:

August 27^th: Halifax, Canada

September 4^th-8^th: Cadiz, Spain

September 10^th-14^th: Casablanca, Morocco

September 22^nd-25^th: Takoradi, Ghana

October 3^rd-8^th: Cape Town, South Africa

October 14^th-15^th: Port Louis, Mauritius

October 22^nd-27^th: Chennai, India

October 31^st-November 1^st: Singapore

November 3^rd-8^th: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

November 11^th-16^th: Hong Kong/Shanghai, China

November 19^th-23^rd: Kobe/Yokohama, Japan

December 3^rd-6^th: Honolulu/Hilo, Hawaii, USA

December 13^th: San Diego, CA, USA

I’m so excited!

While I’m on the ship, life will be just like I’m at Dartmouth . . . only not, because I’ll be on a cruise ship, relaxing on the 7^th deck in my new swimming suit, rather than in the frigid Baker Stacks. . . so, the only thing similar is that I’ll have to go to class. But, don’t feel too bad for me, the classrooms have huge floor-to-ceiling windows where you can see dolphins! I will also have to work two hours per day (only while we’re at sea though), since I did get a work-study position onboard to alleviate some of the (ridiculous) tuition costs. I will be the “communications assistant.” It sounds kind of neat; I’ll get to write/edit press releases, the daily blog, and be the helper to visiting media and special guests (like, HRH the Prince of Morocco). While we’re in port, we don’t go to class (yes, it will be like spring break every other week). We will be basically free to do whatever we want as long as we stay in the country where we ported. I will have to do some required trips for my classes, but I won’t choose those until I am on the ship.

Since I got accepted in December, I have been preparing for Semester at Sea. I had to get ten (ouch!) vaccinations, including the Yellow Fever shot, which is so incredibly painful. My arm was black and blue for at least two weeks. I also had to get Malaria pills, oral Typhoid treatment, and anti-seasickness patches.

I applied for visas to Ghana, India, and China way back in March. I should get my passport back this week! Just trying to get my visa for India was a huge ordeal. Apparently when I sent the India application in, I signed it in red ink (I know, bad idea). The next day (I had to pay $30 to overnight the forms and my passport), some lady calls me and tells me to redo it and overnight the forms to her again. So, I did. Three months go by, and I assume that since I redid my application, everything should be going smoothly at the embassies in D.C. However, two weeks ago, I got an angry voicemail telling me that I signed the form in red ink (like I didn’t know that. . .). They lost the form that I paid thirty dollars a second time to send to them! I was freaking out. Thankfully, they gave me their corporate account number, so they paid the $30 the third time that I sent it to them. Hopefully, India will let me in still. Even if they don’t, I still learned a lesson: don’t sign forms in red ink.

Last week was an exciting week for Semester at Sea students—we had to book all overnight trips for the entire semester and all day trips for the first three ports. I’m doing three big overnight trips. The first will be in Morocco. It involves camels, the Sahara, and nomads. You’ll have to wait until September 14^th for the rest of the details. I also chose to go to the Taj Mahal and Varanasi in India and The Great Wall in China. I figured that if I’m going around the world, I should probably see those two, even if the tours are rather, well, touristy. Besides those trips though, I hope that I make a bunch of new friends and that we’ll do the rest indie style. . . for cheap.

I’ll post again as soon as I have more exciting news. It’ll probably be about how I have to fit four months worth of toiletries, clothes (for all climates!), textbooks and school supplies into one 30 inch rolling duffel bag. It should be interesting. Thank goodness that my mom is an expert packer.

Emma