Back to the ship

To finish off what I did in Puerto Rico, I went to the restaurant where the pina colada was created. Delicious! I also did some more kayaking to a beautiful beach. After a three-day stay in Puerto Rico, I am back on the ship until next Tuesday when we arrive to Brazil. I am slightly scared to go there, especially because we are arriving the last night of Carnaval. I am taking an early morning flight to the Amazon and I think I have 3 layovers. It should be quite an adventure just getting there.

 

So, now that I am back on the ship, I am taking classes. They are: History as a Memoir, Human Rights and Ethics, World Cities, and Global Studies. Each of these classes specifically relate to the countries that we will be visiting. Since I am not taking these classes for credit, I am trying to tell myself that I don't need to get an "A" and to take in all the other activities and relaxation. At night there are a variety of movies showing and events going on. Last night, our photographer had a presentation about travel photography and his pictures were awesome. I strive to have pictures like that!

 

The food on the ship is pretty good. I think it will be rough when we get to the end of our time on water and they haven't restocked with fresh food. There is definitely repitition, but there are a variety of options. Lots of fish, pasta, salad, and pb&j.

Pictures!

Here are the pictures of the ship and Puerto Rico!

More pictures at the following website: http://mit.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046376&l=0c14a&id=704151

In Puerto Rico!

Hola amigos!

I am in Puerto Rico right now. We had been on the ship for two days and arrived to Puerto Rico on Saturday morning. The sunrise was beautiful as we came into port. (I will add a picture once I download my pictures - I forgot to bring my cord to this Starbucks...grr).

The "ship" is great. We have been instructed to use the correct vocabulary for our "voyage" around the world. Since I have never been on a ship before, I didn't know whether or not I would get seasickness. It rocks much more than I expected, and I had a headache for the first couple days but I think I got used to it. Now, when I am on land, I feel like I am rocking back and forth like there is an earthquake in Puerto Rico or something.

We lost an hour on the first night of the trip and we will continuing losing time as we travel around the world. The funny thing is that we re-live April 15th. We gain a whole extra day. I think I would rather gain hours every night, rather than having another day of class.

So, what have I been doing in Puerto Rico? I went on a walking tour around Old San Juan yesterday and then had lunch - plantain cups with chicken and a mango fruit drink. Delicious! Much better than the food in the Bahamas. Last night I went kayaking to a bioluminescent bay, where the waters light up when you put your hands through it. Tomorrow I am going on a rainforest hike to the only rainforest in the U.S. park system.

I also figured I should enlighten you about how the commonwealth of Puerto Rico is different from a state?

• They can't vote for president because the electoral college votes are only distributed to states.
• They don't pay federal taxes although they do have higher local taxes.
• They are separate in international competitions (such as the Olympics, beauty pageants, etc.)

Pictures to come soon.

Last night in Bahamas!

Things I learned today in the Bahamas:

• the sun actually does come out
  
• gas is $4.70 per gallon
• the number one income for the economy is tourism, second is offshore banking (no sales tax and low property tax, etc.)

Things Mom and Auntie Jane learned at the SAS reception for parents:

• the cruise is going to be absolutely awesome!
• 733 students and about 300 staff, crew, and lifelong learners
• 70% women, 30% men
• students from 8 countries

I was at Atlantis while they were being wined at dined, as shown by the pics above.

For more Bahamas pics, go to this website: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046103&l=7e61a&id=704151

Liquid sunshine

Rumor has it we are getting liquid sunshine here in the Bahamas - rain and wind. The picture of the palm tree says it all! On the bright side, we did some shopping today.

Something interesting we learned in our taxi today - it is illegal for Bahamians to gamble. However, there is a casino right next door to our hotel (which we went to yesterday and lost some money on the Packer game). Mom said to the taxi driver, "how can they tell if you are Bahamian?" and the guy was like, "they look at you." Haha.

Also saw my ship today - it is massive. I suppose it makes sense because there are 700 students plus "lifelong learners" (old people who want to travel, such as Dad, but wasn't allowed to go), professors, and the crew.

So we made it to the Bahamas...finally

Like I said in my previous blog entry, O'Hare is known for their delays. In fact, we were sitting in the airplane for 2 hours waiting. No bad weather. We even went out to the runway and they soon after decided that something needed to be fixed. We returned to the gate for a "short" hour and bonded with our fellow passengers. Eventually we took off and made it to the Bahamas after dark.

Last night we had dinner at a typical Bahamian restaurant. The meal consisted of cracked conch (type of shellfish similar to calamari), special Bahamian mac and cheese (seemed similar to lasagna), peas 'n rice, and more. Overall it was pretty disappointing. Note to self and future travelers to the Bahamas: always get the fresh catch of the day - don't bother getting any of the other fish on the menu.

We got about 30 minutes, maybe an hour, of sun this morning, but then a storm and winds came in quickly. The Bahamas essentially shuts down on Sundays and not many stores or restaurants are open. So, we pretty much bummed around the hotel and area and cheered on the losing Packers.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring better weather - hoping to go to the Atlantis hotel and downtown one of these days.

Welcome to my blog!

It is late Friday night (or early Saturday morning) and I am pretty much packed for my cruise around the world. My two suitcases and my backpacking backpack are stuffed as much as possible and probably over the weight limit, but oh well. I am most definitely forgetting things, but that will make the trip all the more exciting! I have packed such a variety of things for the many places and climates: warm and cold clothes, stickers for kids in the countries, lots of medications for malaria, sea sickness, etc., a hard drive for all my pictures, and so much more!

In 7 hours, I will be driving down to Chicago with Auntie Jane and Mom. Our flight departs at 12:35 PM from O'Hare (in theory, but we all know that O'Hare is known for their delays) and we arrive in Nassau at 4:45 PM. We will be relaxing and enjoying the warmth of the Bahamas (as compared to the frigid negative temperatures in WI) until Wednesday, when I depart on my ship. The itinerary is as follows:

• Puerto Rico: 1/26 - 1/28
• Brazil: 2/5 - 2/9
• South Africa: 2/19 - 2/24
• Mauritius: 3/1 - 3/4
• India: 3/11 - 3/15
• Malaysia: 3/19 - 3/23
• Vietnam: 3/27 - 4/1
• Hong Kong: 4/3 - 4/4
• China: 4/7 - 4/8
• Japan: 4/11 - 4/14
• Hawaii: 4/22
• Costa Rica: 5/3 - 5/4
• Miami, Florida: 5/9!

Between each port, I will be taking classes and then when I arrive to the countries, I can travel independently or with the Semester at Sea (SAS) program. I plan on taking lots of pictures and update my blog at least once a week, if not more. I look forward to hearing from all of you. Thanks for all your support and I can't wait to share my stories (probably good and bad, happy and sad) with all of you. Until next time...

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this."
~Henry David Thoreau