Semester at Sea! Spring 2011

Day 15
Today was a very emotional day. When I originally signed up for this field program, I was supposed to be going to the zoo with children that have leukemia and don’t have enough money to seek treatment. But this morning when we got on the bus we heard that we weren’t going to be going with these kids. Their doctor didn’t clear them to leave. There was a virus going around and he didn’t want them out in the public. Luckily there was a backup plan in case this happened. We ended up going to the zoo with children with special needs. Not all of them had a handicap disability; some of them were mentally abused. Before we went to the zoo we went to go see where they live. The children weren’t there; they were already on their way to the zoo. When we got to their house they told us that it wasn’t called an orphanage, they called it an assistant home. These kids were abandoned and this nonprofit home takes in the kids. The workers work at a very low rate and they do it to help others. Some children were still there, the ones that weren’t able to go to the zoo and of course the small babies. We saw the nursery, which brought tears to my eyes. We met a baby named Gabriel, his mom tried aborting him many times with drugs, but he was a fighter and is still living. Other small children were hooked up to breathing masks because they were unable to breathe on their own. This home was very well kept and homed about 35 kids ranging from the age of 2 months to 35 years old. When we got to the zoo the children arrived shortly after us, when they got off the bus you could just see the excitement in their eyes, they had never been to the zoo before and they were just so excited to see us. Of course none of them understood what we were saying but the eye contact and hand gestures allowed us to communicate. First we were able to give them hotdogs and FF, an American tradition and then we walked around the zoo for about an hour and a half, and did whatever the kids wanted to do. At the end we got a few pictures together and the translator said that they were so happy and we have made an impact on their life. Hearing this brought tears to my eyes, knowing that those 2 hours together has changed this young person’s life for the better, especially after knowing everything that they have been through. It’s sad, but it feels good to know that I can put a smile on some ones face by doing something so small.
After returning to the ship and eating a quick lunch a bunch of girls got together and went out shopping. We shopped around town for a while and then found a local pizza place, we went inside looking for a refreshing beer and ended up having a ‘Skarloff’ which is a Smirnoff in the US. After sitting around for a little we decided to try a dessert pizza. It was so good, it was pizza dough with cheese and then chocolate sauce, sprinkles and strawberries, as gross as that sounds it was delicious. Coming back to the ship for dinner and a 3 hour girl session of how we all miss our family, it was getting late. Of course we had an ice cream cone on the ship, SO GOOD then called it an early night.

Day 16
Today wasn’t anything special, it is the last day in Brazil and we didn’t have anything planned besides going back to that pizza place for some lunch. We all met up at 11 o clock and walked to the pizza place looking at a few stores along the way. Everyone at Semester at Sea seemed to be at this pizza place, there were so many of us, but luckily our table was waited on first. We all got a slice of pizza and a few drinks. I had a veggie slice, it was weird, none of the slices came with sauce, but it was delicious. I ended the meal with a nice cappuccino; it felt good to have a good dose of caffeine. Walking back to the ship for an on ship time of 1500, aka 3 o clock, we stopped at a touristy shop and got a couple last souvenirs. Now its time to start the work load for the week and prepare for a long ride to Ghana, 9 days on the ship is going to be the death of me! Let it begin!

Day 13
This morning 730 came quit fast! I had a semester at sea trip planned to go swimming with Dolphins. I was so excited because I had never been before! The group met at 9 o clock to get ready to leave. When our tour guide got there he took us to a boat that we were taking to the dolphins. We saw a lot of neat things along the way. Villages with homes that were built on Stilts, that won’t be there anymore pretty soon, a bridge that has been being built for over two years to bring more wealthy people into Manaus, and factories lining the water.  An interesting fact about Manaus is that the world cup is coming here in 2014 and the Olympics will be held here a few years later! After about an hour on the boat we were all getting antsy to get off, two hours into the ride we were all going nuts, we asked the tour guide how much longer and he said 45 minutes! So that boat ride wasn’t too fun, these dolphins better be worth it. When we got there we were told that we were going to be swimming in the Black River, and when you were in the water you can’t see what’s in the water because it is so dark. At this point I was freaked out. What we ended up doing was swimming in the river and they would get the dolphins over by feeding them fish and all we got to do was pet them because they were wild dolphins. I thought that we were actually going to be able to hang on to them and swim with them, so that was a bit of a disappointment, but they were the pink dolphins and I have never seen them before, that was cool. We got a souvenir at the end of a necklace made from the fins of a fish that we had ate. After swimming we piled back into the boat and went to a little village. At this village our tour guide told us that Extreme Home Makeover had been there before and re did some of the homes in the village. When we toured the home I don’t know if I really believe that it was the United States Extreme Home Makeover, because their houses don’t look like that. They cooked a Brazilian lunch for us; it was good and nice to try different cultures food. While we were eating a little girl came over and played with us and her toy snake that could keep her entertained for hours. After lunch we walked around the village some more and got a tour of a hut that was available for rent for vacationers. We met a guy that used a certain tree to make a rubber ball, these rubber balls can get up to 100 lbs! This trip wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be but I had a good time. At night is where the story begins. Alicia’s mom so kindly booked us a hotel for the night so that we were able to get off the ship for a night and so that we were able to have wifi. When we got ready, three other girls and I went outside to catch a cab. When we told the cab driver where to go (even though none of them spoke English) and he didn’t know where we were talking about, that should have been our first hint. After they asked around they knew where abouts to go. So we pull up to this really creepy place and our cab driver tells us that it’s the right spot. So we go in and the guy at the door points upstairs. So we go upstairs to the 7th floor where it says our room is. And as soon as we got off the elevator there was a sign on the ‘office’ door that said “I am in room 719” We found this pretty odd but we ventured off to find room 719, when we found it, we knocked and this guy opened the door (it was his room). We told him we had a room for the night and he asked us to follow him to his ‘office’. He brought us down to the 5th floor and showed us our room. We walk in, it was sooo hot in there, the sheets were gross, the hallways of this place were dark and we knew that we could NOT stay there. This ended up being a hostile not a hotel. We said thank you and as soon as he left, we left immediately. As we were closing this hostile door, the handle fell off and we ran, leaving the key in the room. We ended up finding a hotel, where someone spoke English and gave us a deal on the room. We had free wifi and finally felt safe. It ended up being a good night! Even though the bed was as hard as a rock and three of us had to sleep in a bed.

Day 14
Nothing was planned for today. I am currently sitting in a lounge, waiting for dinner to be ready, I am so hungry, but I am sure that dinner will consist of pasta and potatoes because that’s all it ever is. So my new favorite meal is peanut butter and jelly. Today I went shopping down town. Downtown I saw the Opera house, which is the ‘thing to do’ in Manaus, it was really nice, but it took about 10 minutes to see, so that didn’t last long. I went into a few shops but none of them were anything special. There aren’t really any touristy stores around here which I am looking for. There were a lot of nice shopping places for clothes, but I want souvenirs. I bought a few postcards and a magnet and that was it. Brian really wants a flag from Brazil, Ghana, and South Africa, so I spent the majority of the day looking EVERYWHERE for a flag, absolutely no where had them. So I checked one last shop right on the port, and of course there was a flag! I was so happy. Even though I walked around all day looking for one, there was one right off the ship. The rest of the night I plan on relaxing, maybe catching up on some work and of course, writing post cards. I am running out of things to do in Manaus. Luckily we are here for less than 2 days!

Day 12
Today is the first day in Brazil, finally after being on the Amazon River for 4 days! Waking up early to grab a quick breakfast, we then ventured out into Manaus. Since Alicia had broken BOTH of her cameras in Dominica, we were set to find a camera. Brazil being the top technology place with 4 different malls we knew that we were bound to find one. So after hearing two different times that the mall opened 10am and 2pm we decided to believe that it opened at 10am. After taking a taxi to the mall and it being a 20 minute ride, we get there to realize that it didn’t open until 2pm, of course our luck. There were some other SAS’ers who did the same thing so we decided to walk around with them for a little bit. After about 10 minutes we realized we weren’t going anywhere and took a cab back near the port. There was a festival going on so we hit up downtown and looked at all the different stores and markets that were out. A lot of the stuff was the same and it was nothing to rave over. It was weird though, they were selling some weird things at these markets. Some of them had remote controls, others had kid’s toys, and some things were homemade, but not many. We saw a few dancers putting on a show in the middle of the street, but after walking around in the hot humid air and not buying anything we went back to the ship for some lunch. After lunch we went to the mall, and since there are 4 malls, they all range from very very expensive to pretty cheap. Of course the first one we pick is the most expensive. Not wanting to stay there we decided to walk to the other ones, while doing this we had to cross a REALLY busy road that was kind of like a highway that was really interesting as Brazilians are driving by honking their horn. We finally found a camera and did some other shopping all while being stared at like we had 4 heads. I guess we look really touristy. Except one girl came up to us and asked where we were from and she told us that she was learning English, she was pretty good. That night downtown there was a Samba dance taking place. They do this every Sunday during the festival to practice for the real performance. A lot of Semester at Sea people went, including the deans and the professors.  We all got to dance as they were playing their instruments. At the end they made a speech about how we American’s were here and that they were really happy to have us. It was a great way to end the first night in Brazil.

Last day on the Amazon River!! Brazil tomorrow!

Day 2
Well today was filled with LOTS of orientations. We had two, 3 hour orientations. UGH! The only thing I can really remember from those orientations is that for every 15 minutes that you are late after ‘on ship time’ you are penalized with three hours worth of dock time. YIKES! On the ship we are also broken up into seas by the decks we are on. My deck is the Baltic sea. In the beginning of February we have the Olympics and all the seas compete against one another, I think there are 8 of them. The sea that ends up winning the Olympics gets to get off the ship first when we disembark in San Diego, I hope I don’t win because by the experience so far, I don’t think that I am going to want to be getting off the ship. Our captain is very intimidating. I am not too sure why. His name is Jeremy and he is British, he is a nice guy but has a lot of power, I guess it’s because he is the one whose hands I am in. There are a lot of Lifelong learners on the ship. These are older people who didn’t have the opportunity to travel when they were younger. They can take classes if they want to but it isn’t mandatory. So I guess its pretty awesome for them, they are taking a three and a half month vacation! There are also a lot of the professors families on the ship, so there are always children running around and swimming in the pool.

Day 4
Today is the first day that we arrived in Dominica. It took a while for everyone to be able to get off the ship because we have to go in an orderly fashion and there is a whole procedure that has to take place. To begin our day we went on a tour that was called ‘Bumpiing Tour’. Levi was our tour guides name, he was the best. It began with taking a half hour bus ride to the Ti Tou Gorge. At the gorge we got to swim down this cave like canal area to a waterfall. Before reaching the waterfall it was a little hard to swim because there was a pretty strong current and there were so many of us, luckily we had life jackets on. When we got to the waterfall, we were able to jump from it if we wanted. Of course I wanted to, who wouldn’t, it wasn’t bad, you just had to jump out in front of you and everything was okay! After the gorge we all packed back into the bus and took a 15 minute ride to the Trafalgar Falls. At the falls we hiked to the hot springs, which was amazing! The hike wasn’t so fun, I was wearing flip flops and the rocks that we had to hike had moss all over them, but it was well worth it. At these springs we were able  to go swimming, it was like swimming in a hot tub, I didn’t want to get out. We then traveled to the two  waterfalls, but we weren’t able to go under them since our tour guide wasn’t really supposed to take us there. As we were all so hungry and coming back from the hike, Levi took us to where we were going to be snorkeling and we all got to eat some sandwiches. After waiting for a half hour for our food to digest we walked about a quarter of a mile to go snorkeling. It was so amazing; we swam over the Champagne reef and saw so many fish. On our way back home, Levi took us on a little detour; he brought us to a spot where we were able to see a bird’s eye view of Roseau. It looked like it was a picture hanging on the wall, it was so beautiful. Before leaving the spot we saw some local children playing soccer, we went over to try to talk/play with them but they weren’t interested in us Americans. Levi was our first goodbye of the voyage. That night we went out to a few bars around town, they were nothing like the ones back at home. One of them didn’t have a roof on it and the other was all lit up with neon lights and was huge. At the bar without the roof on it, I ordered a rum and coke, they must’ve only heard me say rum because it didn’t taste like there was any coke in those drinks. But I guess Dominica is known for their rum.

Day 5
Well, we just left Dominica, and boy does it seem like it’s going to be a bumpy ride for a little. I think we are in the middle of a storm. Dominica was a pretty interesting experience; I guess that it was good that it was our ‘practice port’. This morning we woke up early and got some breakfast at the cafeteria. We then ventured off the boat to begin our shopping at the markets just as they were opening. Not much bargaining went on; I think I am saving that for future ports, I did a little bit, but I guess it takes getting used to. There were some pretty interesting things. Walking around I noticed a lot of different things. It’s funny because when the people drive they one, drive on the opposite side of the road and the opposite side of the car and everywhere they go they are honking their horn. For lunch we walked around to a few different places but we couldn’t find anything that we were interested in. We then decided to just go into a local Chinese place, why we went to a Chinese restaurant in Dominica was beyond me. But it was horrible; I ordered sweet and sour chicken with some pork fried rice. The only thing good about my meal was the red bull that I ordered to drink. After buying lots of souvenirs and arguing with a lady over a camera that wanted to be returned because Alicia had a few problems with BOTH of her cameras and neither of them worked anymore, we found a little internet café that we got to go to before on ship time. Here we went on facebook, wrote some post cards and enjoyed a chat or two with other Semester at sea’ers.  I had a great time but I am ready to begin the travels to our next port. As we learned at our pre departure meeting to Dominica the quote of the voyage while off the ship is “Don’t get bit, don’t get hit, don’t do it, don’t get lit, and don’t eat shit”!

I can't believe I have already been on the boat for 3 days! Time is flying by already. My room is a decent size and our bathroom is bigger than we thought. The food is good but the water is horrible. Classes started today and so far so good, lets keep our fingers crossed. We will be arriving in Dominica on Sunday and leaving there on Monday. The boat has been really rocky and a lot of people have gotten sick, luckily I have my patches and sea sick bands. I have met a lot of new people. Everyone is so nice and welcoming. Nothing else is really going on just getting things together and meeting new people. Hope everyone is doing well.

It is official, three days from now I will just be arriving in the Bahamas, preparing to soak up some sun! I am so excited, I can not wait to have the experience of a life time!