Cinque Terre

so heres the deal i just got back im really tired.. i have the next two days with sas trips to rome..so ill blog at some point about this trip but for now this is the brief..

day 1:
my first train ride
easy hike between first two towns
exploring two towns
excellent gelato (got it twice!!)it was that good.
the BEST pasta i have ever had!

day 2:
hiked to the 3rd town had breakfast
really long hard hike to 4th town had lunch
really long hard hike number 2 to the 5 town had dinner caught train back.. got on the wrong one at first.. somehow figured it out and make it to our main train in time thank god!

so the hikes were horrible.. so long and up and down hill.. also i have never done so many steps in my life.. probably my whole life combined... a lot of the paths had a ton of steps to go up and down and up and down.. to get into Corniglia (i think thats what it is i could very well be wrong i dont have a paper in front of me right now) but to get up to that town we had to go up 382 stairs.. how absurd is that?! i swear this was the ultimate buns and thighs workout ever and if i didnt lose anything or gain muscle i would be PISSED!  haha =) theres no way i couldnt have though so yay!

so im tired. and sore. need a VERY long full body massage. and lots of sleep and rest. but have to wake up early and do rome all day tomorrow so none of that is really going to happen..

more in depth later perhaps.

i really don't know how i forgot this..

so i am stupid. i had lunch with kristi and julia yes, the plan was for us to meet and talk about cinque terre.. however, this is not what actually happened. as we walked into the 5th floor dining room we were asked if we would like to have lunch with the captain today! i mean really how does one forget to blog about having lunch with the captain, especially seeing as i set literally right next to him!

it was pretty cool, got to talk to him a lot and that was just really neat to hear what he had to say, not to mention he has a really sweet british accent if i havent already said this before.

so yeah i had a really cool lunch today and somehow that went right over my mind =) so there it is.

Italy Day

so today was italy day, but no that does not mean we were in italy. we are at sea on our way there. today we did not have classes like i said yesterday, but we did have meetings about italy.  Kristi and I had lunch with Julia to plan our traveling for the next couple days. i had dinner with my family tonight and we played spain charades after we had finished eating. it was really fun. we are just getting out of preport for italy now which is for all of italy we will be there in the morning tomorrow so june 29- july 5 so lots of time there!

tomorrow Kristi, Julia and myself are going to do an independent travel to Cinque Terre.  So tomorrow there will be no blog post because I will not be taking my computer with me. Cinque Terre is an area of 5 little fishing towns along the coast that you can hike between and so yeah that should be really cool. so next post will be in a few days!

not much to say at all today.. this is my shortest post yet!  

Last day in Barcelona

So today was our last day in Spain.. officially crossing the atlantic 1 time, 1 port and 1 country down.. 7 ports, 6 countries and crossing the atlantic time 2 left..

This morning I started off with my Barcelona Bike Tour. It started at 7:30 AM yuck! I always like to think about what time it is at home when I do things so really it was like I was going on a bike ride at 1:30 in the morning.. so crazy..I had to wake up the earliest yet and it was awful! I’m doing so much better at getting up in the morning but still 6:45 is not a pleasant time.. so I got up got ready real fast with no real effort.  So I remember my ticket, my SAS ID some money in case, my camera everything I needed to do and I even got a nutra grain bar… so I get to the bus the suggested 15 minutes early and I’m sitting there by myself eating my bar because I didn’t know anyone else on the bus.. and it’s really early in the morning, nobody in their right mind wants to make friends at 7:15 in the morning! =)  so then I decided I should go through my memory card and delete some of the videos and stuff so I have room for the tours pictures and stuff (I upload my pics every time I come back to the cabin so I had them all saved already)  well as I go to turn on my camera it wouldn’t turn on… I forgot to put my battery back in after charging it over night!!! CRAP! So I run off the bus ask the trip leaders if I can run to my room and grab it and they were like well if you can do that in 2 minutes.. and I was like yeah I’ll run the whole way.. so I sprint into the shack thing that has spains customs.. they look at me like im nuts as I am rushing through their scanner have to go through sas’s scanner and stuff.. I sprint up the 2 flights of stairs going 2 at a time.. and run past Shane and go into my room grab my battery stick it in.. go into the bathroom where I had a glass of water sitting their from when I took my medicine this morning that had a little bit of water left in it and chug that down in like 2 seconds run back down the hall down the stairs through the tent shack customs place and to the bus.. the trip leaders look at me and go wow.. that was fast.. you really did do that in like 2 minutes.. good job. And I am back on the bus exhausted at 7:30.. what a way to wake up!

So we go to the bike rental tour place and get bikes and then go around Barcelona.  It was really easy only a few hills on some of the side alley streets so not to strenuous.  I would say that about half of the stops that we made were to places I have seen but that’s alright good to have some of the information re said to help me really remember it.. like in the gothic quarters that we went to on the first day’s tour we learned that one of the buildings was the kings castle and these steps that I have a picture of me and Kristi standing in front of are where the king received Christopher Columbus after he returned from America. Also the cathedral there is dedicated to this girl who is a patron saint I believe and I cant remember her name but she died when she was 13 so whoever built it or designed it and somehow had a connection to her dedicated the cathedral to her and  at the front of the church there are 13 I think white ducks or geese or something like that to symbolize how she died when she was 13. And that wall that I had talked about being from the 6th or 7th century and not really remembering it yeah I didn’t remember it and was way off.. its from the 14th and 15th and part of it was a roman wall the other I forget. . but for the amount of information ive heard and learned about from all these places it is pretty good for me to remember all this.

We rode through Las Ramblas a  little bit too and it was really scary because we had to cross the streets which are really busy so the one tour guy just rides out and is literally like less than a foot away from a city bus I’m not kidding I thought it was going to hit him.. and here I am like 5 feet in front of him crossing the street as this happens!! So freaking! Let’s just say that bus wasn’t very happy with us at all! So then we also went down towards the beach its an area called Barceloneta. It was cool and pretty areas.  They gave us a 20 minutes break at the beach so a bunch of people wanted to go over to the water and officially touch the Med. Sea. I DID =) I also happened to forget (even though they said this a few times before we got to Spain) how the beaches are topless.. yeah so I was just a little stunned when I saw that at first but.. hm yeah interesting

Then biked a bit more went through a park and some really pretty streets. Last few stops we went to a little “square” not like the square in Chardon but literally a square of stoned ground surrounded by buildings. This is the most widely used area for films being shot, also one of the buildings although it doenst look like it is the nicest hotel in Barcelona 5 stars.  Then also one other side has a cathedral and the walls have all this stone blocks that have whole and lots of pieces off of them because that is where bombs hit and they left the blocks to remember the war that that happened in, not sure which one though.

Next we went to another cathedral when we got there we were gathering in our circle to hear our guide. Well on the opposite side on the street there was a restaurant with people sitting outside eating and a musician standing there playing music. Well this woman comes out of her apartment onto her balcony above the restaurant and starts totally bitching out the musician.. And I could understand most of what was being said which made it all the better… She was complaining that they were trying to sleep and he was being distracting mind you it’s now after 10 am.. and she is telling him she is going to call the police and he is yelling back at her how he is just trying to play music for these people enjoying their meals and says ok go ahead call the police.. she goes inside slamming the door.. pops out on the other side balcony yelling more at him and I mean everyone is standing there laughing even the people sitting at the restaurant.. so they yell and yell back and forth (I videotaped some because it was just so funny) she goes inside again and as soon as she does he starts playing again just like 30 seconds worth, just as a screw you type of thing! We all clap restaurant people included we are all cracking up he takes a bow, she comes storming out again yelling more we’re all still laughing and clapping ppl at the tables give him some change and he walks away as the woman starts bitching to the people at the restaurant that in English she says “it is forbidden to pay him like that do you know that it it is forbidden” just awesome really… and that was the last stop our trip haha great way to end it.. really though it was just really relaxing and I really enjoyed it a lot I’m glad I did it!  I was kinda glad that I didn’t know anyone because I just like peacefully going along on my own, I mean I talked to people don’t get me wrong but I didn’t have to constantly be talking with someone which was nice.

The bike trip actually ended up lasting an hour longer then they had it planned.. but that’s okay so I came back to the ship got Kristi and we headed out to La Pedrera, the Gaudi house with the wavy sides.  Before we went in though we wanted to find somewhere to eat in the area.. so after we got of the metro and got our bearings of where the building was we wandered a couple blocks to find a café.. we had yet to get churros con chocolate like we had been suggested to get… well with it being Sunday that was harder to come by than we had anticipated.  We could hardly find places that were open.. when we did they didn’t have what we wanted.. and we knew we were in some pretty good places because they couldn’t speak English so that means they weren’t tourist places… it was a real struggle though.. we tried asking the one woman if she new of a café that had that around the area… my verison of spanish to ask this. “tu sabes donde un resturante tienes churros con chocolate y asientos aqui” totally not the correct way to say it all but to me in my Spanish speaking skills that make me sound like a 3 year old I attempted to say do you know where a restaurant is that has churros con chocolate and seats here (because her place didn’t have anywhere to sit) so she tried explaining.. after stopping at another place and being directed somewhere else again we finally found somewhere with it!! SO YUMMY! Churros are like a donut stick with sugar on top and then they give you a cup of this melted chocolate stuff that you dip them in and it was so good! Good thing though because it was a bit pricey-er than we had expected. Totally worth it though because what happens if I cant afford to come back here someday! =)

Finally we made it to La Pedrera. We decided to do the headphones tour for this because we regretted not doing it in La Sagrada Familia.  What it turned out to be was you go in and the main floor that they take up to is a display of all of Gaudi’s work so each stop talked about different buildings he has done and how he designed them and such.. like using chains hanging from the ceiling to somehow make his designs and get dimensions and ideas about it.. by hanging the chains and placing a huge mirror under it you can see what it would look like right side up.. pretty intense thinking. Also Gaudi designed some really cool furnishings like a variety of chairs that are designed to the human body’s curves and correct placement.. and also handles and things that are really weird shapes because he would take clay and pinch it in the way that would me most comfortable to open a door or lock it was really cool.  Then after going through all that we went to up the terrace! So intricate! The steps are really interestingly designed and there are all sorts of chimneys that look like heads and are supposed to be situated to blow the air out in some specific way that goes with winds of the area or something like that.. I have lots of pictures of it once you guys see them it will make more sense I guess.. so then we got on the metro again for our last time and headed back to Las Ramblas and took some side streets to find somewhere good to eat again. We found a little place and got way less food than what we paid for.. Kristi ordered another tortilla (egg & potato omelet) and got a slice like the size of pizza for 6E, rip off. And I got paella con pollo (chicken paella) for the first time and got a skillet plate of it but like one layer of rice grain all around.. so another rip off considering it cost 13.50!!!! gr. We also ordered Sangria and spilt the 1L glass.  Then we headed to the bus stop and got there at about 4.. got to the ship at like 430ish after having to wait for another bus and no dock time for us!!!! =) I took a nap, we had dinner, organized my pictures and I think I got them uploaded to my external hard drive correctly.. and now I wrote this it’s a little before 10 and im going to bed!!!  Tomorrow is Italy day so no classes!! We just have meetings and lectures we can choose to attend.. we only have one mandatory meeting at 11 and that’s the first thing all day! Meaning I get to sleep in for the first time in 2 weeks!!!! NO ALARM CLOCK WOOOHOOO =) 

More tidbits of information I learned that I haven’t posted in past blogs

Colon statue points to the Med. Sea.  He is supposed to be pointing towards America to symbolize how he discovered it by going out to sea and all.. only thing is that he isn’t actually pointing to America.. if he were he would be pointing towards Barcelona and so when they built that statue they decided to have him point to the sea even though they knew that was wrong because when people think of him discovering America he did it by the water.

Metro doors you have to push a button for them to open.. they don’t otherwise.. useful to know! =)

Officially at sea again Italy here we come =)

now after wondering around trying to get my email to connect i can finally post this and actually go to bed for real!

Barcelona Dia Tres! Happy Bday Dad

So this morning I woke up and babysat for a few hours. Kristi was able to buy the paella tour that she didn’t get from someone so I had no plans or people to really travel with today so I told one of my extended families (my little brother Cash’s) that I would babysit for them because they were going on the paella tour as well.  So I watched Cash (2) and  Cal (5) for 6 hours today which really was totally fine with me and we had a good time! We spent an hour and a half at the pool!! =)

So the tour got back at 4 and then Kristi and I headed back out to spain.  We walked to the gothic quarters to see the inside of the cathedral this time and it was kinda a long walk but we are doing just fine with the distance walking surprisingly!  (minus my leg cramp spasm at 730 this morning! Ouch!) on the way we stopped at the tents by the columbus/“colon”” statue again to look through them (we did this the first day too) well there was a artist there (they are everywhere) but I really liked one of his pieces of La Sagrada Familia and that’s one of my favorite parts of Spain so far.. so after like 10 minutes of debating what to do he said he would give it to me for 15 instead of 20E and I accepted and I am very happy with my painting! 

 So then we walked to the cathedral… we got to go in and see that but there was a mass being held so we could only see half of it because they had the front roped off for mass only. We could see the front just not get close to it.. but that was fine.  So then we come outside and there is this massive group of people and music playing and then they were dancing in a big circle holding hands.. well many large circles were formed because of how many people were there.  Well I totally forgot about this but it’s one thing our interport lecturer and I believe my music teacher told us to go see.  Every weekend all lot of people gather outside of the cathedral and perform this song and dance that is old Cataluña tradition.  So we just happened to stumble upon it. For my music class we have to write 2 papers about some really cool musical experiences we’ve encountered so im going to use this!  Im pretty sure he is one that mentioned seeing this because whoever suggested it said we should try to learn the steps and join in… well we watched them for a song which was a good 5 or 10 mins then they take a few mins break in between so I tried to talk with a few of them about the dance and everything.. there were some big language barriers we tried really hard though and then I was trying to ask them if I could video tape their answers and they didn’t really understand that until the end but they were telling me how it was a traditional dance of Cataluña which is the community that Barcelona is in.. from my Spanish class I learned there are 17 communities in spain which are kinda like the states in the US and then Barcelona is the capital city of Cataluña. So then they were trying to describe something else to us… copla was what they kept saying and trying to describe.  I think, but im really not sure at all due to the lang barrier that it is the traditional unique instrument used… so then I wanted them to teach me the steps, although from watching the last song I pretty much knew them but I wasn’t allowed to for some reason and they told me I had to watch them and some women with stickers and a money basket tried to get me to give her money and so what Kristi and I think was going on was that you had to pay and get a sticker in order to dance.. so we watched them for half of the song smiled and said gracias and went up to where the band was.. I was videotaping the band playing and this older guy comes up next to me and we made eye contact and he was smiling and then he stood there behind me for awhile and then as I got up to walk away he started talking to me trying to tell me something about the music and I again think it was something about this one instrument the copla perhaps.. so it was really cool because the people were happy to try to explain it and the guy wanted to tell us stuff even though we didn’t ask it was just a really awesome experience!

So then we started walking to the Gaudi house that we wanted to go up in La Pragrara or Pagrada I don’t really know I’ll have to get back to you guys on that one.. well it turned  to be a bit longer of a walk than we anticipated.  We asked 3-4 people along the way about it and with a mixture of Spanglish we figured it out really fun to get to test out the Spanish speaking skills I only kinda have but enough to make it work which is exciting!  So as we were walking we came across some tents set up outside and so we walked past them and looked at them well there was one with this cool hand blown glass stuff and Kristi was looking at something (I cant say what ;)  ) but she was looking at something for a gift for someone (again not mentioning who just in case!)  but as she’s looking I notice he had glass blown rings and ive been trying to find a really cool ring.. well I was able to bargain with the guy and get my ring for 5E instead of the 9 that it was listed for! So im really excited about that we got to pass through what I think is really the first plaza we have seen here which was la plaza gracia it was pretty with fountains and statues! A few more blocks and at 7:35 we hit our destination! Only to find out though that the last entrance was at 7:30…..DARN IT!!!! But with our cool dancing experience and good buys from the glass guys we surprising took the disappointment really well.. like really not bummed about it at all.. so we went to the nearest metro station and used our great metro riding skills to get back to las ramblas..

Then we headed back the internet café where I struggled for an hour to get to video chat with my family but finally figured it out and talked to them for over a half hour I think.. it was really nice to get to see everyone and talk to them.. and today is my dad’s birthday and at 10 pm here (4 at home) I was the first one to wish him a happy birthday!!! And he goes well thanks these other 3 here (because everyone was in the room together) haven’t said it yet youre the first one today! And the rest of them start cracking up in the background! Haha im so proud of myself! =) im such a good daughter =P so anyways Happy Birthday again Dad.

After talking Kristi and I headed back to the ship and now time for sleep and my bike tour in the morning hopefully I survive this!! Hannah I’m nervous! It’s going to be much longer than our one attempt back home!!! AHHH!  Then we will head back to the Gaudi building, using our last 4 trips on the metro ticket we have purchased and head back to the ship early early so that we don’t get dock time! We sail out at 8 pm for ITALY tomorrow!

Okay so wonderful day again! Night night!

BARCELONA SPAIN!!!!!!

Oh my goodness it’s been a VERY long day!


So we started off my waking up at 7 am to watch our ship come into port and get all tied up. That was pretty cool amazing how they can steer this thing into a space like that!  Grabbed a bite to eat and then returned to the room to get ready for the day!
Then as Kristi is like five minutes into her shower the voice makes an announcement saying that in 7 minutes we have a diplomatic briefing in the union. Last night at preport they weren’t so clear that it was something for us to go to.  So we had to go up to the union for about an hour and listen to Mr. Parliament talk. Pretty interesting but nothing too special.

Then at 10 we were able to return to our cabin to finish getting ready.  We didn’t want to try to get off the ship and be back before our SAS trip so we just took our time getting ready.  At 11:30 Kristi and Jackie (one of our neighbors) headed down to step on land for the first time in 9 days!!!! So weird! But we were very early (45 mins) so we just hung around the gangway and ship for awhile until it was time to go! The three of us were on the Barcelona City Tour with Flamenco Dance SAS trip.  It was really cool. They first took us to the Gothic Quarters.  Our tour guide was kinda hard to hear and understand, so that’s a bit unfortunate but I got some things from her.  Some of the walls of the gothic quarter were from the 6th and 7th centuries (I believe if Im remembering correctly..) the walls to the buildings used to be walls to the city.  We walked through the streets of the quarter and heard lots of street musicians playing which was really cool.  This whole thing is so surreal though that it felt not real like you’re looking at a remake of something in a park, the music reminded me of Seaworld almost.. but it realy added to the atmosphere I liked it a lot! My favorite was a guy on the sax and another on something that reminded me of a steel drum. There is a really pretty cathedral located here as well that we got to see the outside of. Kristi and I want to try to return there and go inside it before we leave.

Next we drove past some of the Gaudi houses. Very cool but I don’t remember their exact names.   One that I keep referring to as the egg carton one (because that’s how the outside of it kinda looks) you can go up in it and onto the roof so we are also going to do this before we leave (hopefully tomorrow)

Next we went to La Sagrada Familia!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!! Soooooooo pretty, and huge and just wow.  It’s a church.  The name translates to The Sacred Family.  The outside of this building is crazy detailed, if you have time you should google it! =)  it was started by Gaudi a couple hundred years ago but is still under construction and isn’t scheduled to be finished to maybe around 2026.  There are 12 towers that stand for the 12 apostles and one of the doors has part of the Lord’s Prayer on it in 50 different languages! Again I’m pretty sure that’s what is on it but I might be slightly off due to trying to hear the guide. It is some holy saying though in 50 languages on the door that part I am sure of. On another side there is a nativity scene on the building and on yet another side there are different scenes to the crucifixion of chirist. Including him on a cross and the last supper.  There are scenes from all sorts of bible stories all over the entire building more than I can explain, but it’s super cool. Again we can pay to go inside it and I’ve heard it’s even pretty inside so that is one thing we are for sure doing tomorrow!

After La Sagrada Familia we headed to the Spanish Village on top of Mont Juic. Here we went to a place that performs flamenco dancing.  This was much different than I had expected! We got to sit at tables and had tapas (snacks) chips, olives, and goldfish that weren’t orange.. we also were served water and SANGRIA! While enjoying all this we watched a 40 minute performance! Then they drove us to a place on the top of the hill/mountain (mont juic) for a panoramic view of all of Barcelona! Then back to the ship.

Once on the ship the 3 of us met up with 5 others to just go explore.  We went to Las Ramblas which is the main street with lots of stands and shops and restaurants all along it. So we headed there and this is where they say to watch your stuff for pick pocketing and bag snatching.  So one girl in our group had some other girl on the street try to swipe her purse off her shoulder but she didn’t succeed thankfully.  Then five minutes later I realize that my purse strap is broken!  I still cant figure out if it ripped on its own or if someone tried to cut my strap and take it from me!! And I think the second is the more likely option….  I even had it in front of me like held in my arms which is what really freaks me out the most but now my yellow purse isn’t the best option and im just super paranoid about that happening again..i don’t think im going to carry a bag anymore.. and if I do its not going to have anything important what so ever inside of it!  My money belt will always be on and I think money in my bra is going to be the best option.. that’s where I put it all after I saw my broken strap.. and my camera was in my hand straped to my wrist all day and that was fine.. what makes me most nervous though is they said this isn’t the bad port with this stuff and it happened to two of us within 10 minutes.. it’s crazy also to realize all the distractions they create to form crowds and pick pocketers have real easy access to taking stuff… just a whole different world..

We had more tapas in a little place I had a ham and cheese sandwich, a real small one. And then we went to try to find somewhere for dinner.. it took us quite some time to come up with a place and a few times asking directions. Mine and my other neighbor Christina’s Spanish skills combined worked really well for us thank goodness. Surprisingly though many people here speak English too.. and since we all are clearly American girls they start speaking it to us which is kinda helpful.. but it’s fun to have to try to communicate with the Spanish to some extent too!  This one shop we went into the guys working were real funny. They asked if we could speak Spanish and only a few of us could semi speak it so others wer1 e totally lost. But as we left we were saying gracias and adios and they tried saying bye bye good morning!!  =) =) hahahha so one girl said well its good night now.. and he smiled all sheepishly it was funny and what makes it even better is at least three people said good morning to us as we were leaving.

So we ate dinner at 10 at a place called El Attic. It was a really nice restaurant and had some interesting but good foods. We got coquietas de jamon as an appetizer, which is like ham shopped up with potatoes in this fried crusting thing but really yummy. And then I had 3 cheese risotto with asparagus and tried someones lamb! You should all be proud im trying to step out of my comfort zone the best I can! Others got seafood plates and im not that daring =)

After dinner we walked back down Las Ramblas to the bus pick up spot to  take us to the port and now it’s time for bed!!!
Busy day of lots of cool things tomorrow too!!! 

SPAIN TOMORROW!

So not a whole lot went on today..

I didn't go to Spanish because I went down to the doctors again.. my cough was never ending last night. the doctor is only open from 8-9 am and 4:30-5:30 pm so not too convenient of times.  So still nothing wrong with me.. everything checks out perfect, i just have a really annoying cough.  so they said maybe i was having an allergic reaction to the air on the ship so they gave me a weeks worth of claradin to see if that helps, Saline some nasal spray to keep everything moist or something like that (mom they told me to use this one even when i said i had affrin.. something about whats in it) and lastly cough syrup with codine to help me go to sleep at night since this is when it is the worst.

so then i went back to bed for a half hour and then to global studies and global music.  then after lunch i sat outside on the pool deck for 2 hours! =) with no homework! since we dont have class till after italy again!!!!! =) =)  i got a bit more of a tan today than yesterday.. but i dont think i mentioned i got awful tan lines from yesterday because i was in a  chair chair. not laying out lawn chair (like i had today)

then i felt like it was starting to get burnt so i came inside and worked on a few things took a 20 min nap and then had dinner. 

tonight was our first preport meeting!  we have these the night before every port to give us safety information, travel information, important phone numbers, and just everything they think we should know about.  so that lasted like an hour and a half.  but what this is means is that i get to go on land for the first time in 8 days tomorrow!!!!!!!

So to clarify just so everyone knows i will be in SPAIN for the next 4 DAYS! 

tomorrow kristi and i both have the city orientation with flamenco dance SAS trip. one of our neighbors will also be on this with us. so after that we are meeting with her roommate and we are going to eat and visit one or two of the places that we want to be able to spend a little more time at, probably eat one more time before getting back on the ship for the night. 

mom, dad, matt, heather there is potential for me taking my computer to a internet cafe not totally sure but will be definitely scooping out the possibilities.  so check your emails OFTEN tomorrow and reply to anything i send you immediately.. if it doesnt work out for tomorrow it will be on friday for sure.  okay hope that makes sense. you would want to be checking kinda early too.. like 10ish.. 

7 days on the ship and it's the best day yet!!!!

this is too cool to wait till tonight to blog about!!

today is beautiful out! and it's been a perfect day!

for lunch kristi and i met up with julia. this is the girl that we are traveling to cinque terre with. she is so well traveled and knows a lot about everything.

after lunch i went out on the deck to read my global music stuff and was out there for like an hour and a half.. i might start getting some color hopefully!  you would never know i've been on a ship for a week by looking at me right now..

so this afternoon kristi and i signed up to take a bridge tour! it was so intense! all sorts of buttons and levers and lights and monitors and all sorts of cool things and the Captain was there!  So we got to sit and talk with him for a bit and ask him all sorts of questions. Then i asked if i could take a picture with him. he said "of course, do you want to sit in the chair" as in THE CHAIR, the captains chair! how cool is that! so i have a picture of me in the captains chair with the captain!

so i learned from the tour that the ship is only 25 feet underwater.  it is usually driven on auto pilot (except when entering port)

now we got to go on the coolest bridge tour possible! and it was totally by coincidence. we signed up for this a few days ago because it was the next open one that neither of us had classes during.  well it just so happens that we entered the straight of Gibraltar right before it started.  for those of you who didnt have a super sweet map quiz sunday night to teach you what the straight of gibraltar it is the body of water that is between the closest points of Spain and Morocco.  So as you go through it like we just did/are you can see Africa (Morocco) to the right and Europe (Spain) to the left at the same time they are only about 20 miles or so apart! How cool is that! So we are in the bridge going through the Straight and able to see two countries at the same time!

on a hill in Morocco there were rocks that spelled out "God, country and king" in Arabic. I know this because some kid on the tour with us could speak Arabic and not only pointed it out to us but also translated it to us.  So cool.  So we stayed on the bridge as long as they would let us, when they finally booted us kristi and i climbed up to the seventh deck to look out at it some more. there were so many people out! so then as we are spanding there just looking out at Spain, my dream comes true!  WE SAW A WHALE!!! there were like three of them at least that we saw surfacing but one of them actually pulled its tail out of the water!! it's like it was waving at us!! =) im so happy and totally satisfied! =)

So it's not even dinner yet but i have homework and maybe going to some explorer seminars to finish off the night.

ONE MORE DAY OF CLASSES TILL BARCELONA!!!!!

LAST time change! woohoo. official time difference after tonight will be 6 hours ahead of ohio and 7 ahead of sean.
 

just another day in paradise

Everything is in a definite routine by now.  Class, class, class, lunch, homework, nap, dinner, homework, blog/email, sleep
Food is getting really old really fast.. I can’t eat a noodle meal twice a day everyday.. and the meat always looks like mystery meat even though they have labels for everything.  I’m getting large doses of carbs on this trip.. All I ate for lunch today was potatoes and rolls. And dinner was potatoes and rolls and rice.

Thank goodness we only have two more class days and then we are in SPAIN! I need other food options fast! I’ve finished one box of cheese-its and a couple nutra grain bars and a chewy bar.. not too bad.  Still have lots more snacks left! =)  I realized the other day I forgot to bring my box of goldfish though! Oh well.

I forgot to mention yesterday after global studies when I have like a ten minute break before going to global music I came back to the room and shane was in here cleaning and guess what he had with him!!!! MY SLIPPERS!!!! =) =) he’s awesome!  He also commented about how weird they are since they aren’t really slippers, but not really socks either. Then he mentioned how some girl has a snuggie and he thought that it was really strange to have a blanket with arms too.

After lunch I went outside to work on homework again I tried out the 7th floor pool deck this time.. it was colder out today, really windy so not as nice as yesterday, I lasted about an hour there though.  Then as I was going to head inside I saw two little boys playing in the pool.  One is Parker, the voices son, the other I hadn’t seen before.  Which means I found my Little Brother, Cash!  His mom said he’s been crabby these past couple days because the times changes are really messing with his schedule but that’s alright he was still pretty cute. So I sat by the pool side with them for about another half hour before heading inside and taking an hour nap right before dinner.

This morning when I woke up the water was like glass. No waves no movement, nothing. It didn’t even seem to be moving from the ship either, it was really weird.  That was short lived though because is been rough all afternoon and it still is.  Everyone has lost their sea legs today.. we look like we are drunk walking down the halls again no one can keep their balance.  We were standing reading a bulletin board and Kristi was right behind me she literally caught me from falling backwards.. just from standing there.. I almost ran into the corner of a wall today too when trying to turn a corner!

We are getting super close to the Mediterranean though! Kristi over heard someone say we are supposed to go through the Straight of Gibraltar tomorrow! For all of you who don’t know where that is because of a lovely map quiz it’s the passage way that enters into the Mediterranean Sea the little bit of water between Spain and Morocco.  So this is really exciting!

It’s not even nine yet but I am so tired. I’ll be asleep in the next hour hopefully! Which is weird since the sun is going to have set by then…

hmm unfortunately i just locked myself out of the room and without shoes had to travel to the piano lounge to find kristi.. bemmer

happy fathers day!

So I realized last night as I tried to fall asleep that it was in fact Saturday yesterday and not Friday like I had thought.. crazy. Meaning today is Sunday! Even crazier! I mean there is like no way at all to tell what day it is on this boat.. I mean for goodness sakes I had class today! It’s Sunday and I had class!!! So I’m sitting in Global Studies this morning and someone goes “oh it’s father’s day today” I totally forgot that, I never would have remembered that, and then they made an announcement before class started to tell us the same thing so that everyone remembered to email home =)

So I emailed.  But in any case happy fathers day dad. =)

More classes today, Yippee.  We had lunch on the deck today! It’s been a beautiful day out for like the first time! It was only 68 degrees today..  we got royally rejected by some girls when we tried to sit down at a table.. it was rude, I told you groups have formed..  it’s alright we got our own little table and then two people came and joined us. 

After we ate we and grabbed some homework and went out on the deck! EVERYONE was out there today all the chairs were taken but we were lucky enough to find one so we just shared until Kristi had class.  I sat out there for another 45 minutes after she left, it was so nice out!  I wore my sunscreen though so im not burnt thank god! I do wish however I had a bit more color than I do.. oh well that will come. 

Oh other big factor of the day, how could I possibly forget??! I woke up this morning and saw LAND!!!  Im dead serious too!  Yesterday during our 5:30 announcement they told us that at 6 am we would be 6 miles off a coast of an island (I don’t know what the name of it was though) but I didn’t wake up till 730 so when I woke up and just happened to glance out the window I was very surprised when I saw the island! Anyways then this afternoon at the noon report they told us we were going to pass another island.  So as we were sitting out on our lawn chair I saw it! It was much farther away though and like behind fog it was harder to see but it was still there! It is kinda weird not seeing anything but water when you look out so seeing land is a big deal! And a bit reassuring too.  There have been 3 boats spotted today as well that I am aware of (I’ve seen 2/3)

Eventually I ran out of homework to do outside and I had spent time sitting outside I wanted to come in and take a nap and do some more work.. so I was studying my map quiz for awhile and decided it was nap time.. as im turning to fix my pillows I again just go a glimpse of the water.. and I see a jumping fish and then another.. and by this time Kristi was back from class so I of course exclaim Oh my god there are jumping fish!  So we both are looking out the window now her from her bed and me awkwardly leaning over her in mine and there are not jumping fish I saw but MORE DOLPHINS!!! And all of a sudden wait there is another and another and another!! No joke we saw at least 50 dolphins jumping outside of our cabin window!! IT WAS SOOOO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!  And because the water is starting to turn colors and become bluer and clearer we could even see them swimming right under the surface!  It was just really cool!

I took a nap after all the dolphins were gone until it was time for dinner.  Tonight for dinner I met with my extended family for the first time!  I cant remember if I posted about how they gave us rubber duckies to bring along to so that we were in the family.  So rubber duckie in hand I headed out to dinner. My extended family moms are Amy and Debbie and I believe I have 5 sisters.  No brothers.  Matt you are still my one and only lol =) don’t you feel so special!

So I had to eat real fast with them because at 6 was the meet up for Big Brothers Big Sisters so that we could get assigned to our little siblings!!!! Man my family just keeps growing and growing today.  Well one of my “sisters” Danielle also was doing BBBS so we were talking as we headed over the classroom, turns out shes in my global music class. Also turns out we sat like right next to each other today, pretty funny.  Well anyways I now have a little brother! A little brother who is TWO!!! =) =)  he actually just turned 2 the 16th, we sang him happy birthday during global music =) his name is Cash.  The thing is though that I haven’t ever actually seen Cash before.. but I’m still really excited to get to spend some time with him!
Last event of the day map quiz at 8. Went very well, I’d be very surprised if I miss one.

There are storm clouds outside (yay to my weather and climate skills) .. and thunder hopefully it doesn’t get to rough out tonight, the waters have been really really calm the past couple of days!  I just looked out the window and there are already bigger waves out there. Oh boy.. might have interesting stories about the night if this keeps up.

Time change AGAIN tonight!  So new total 5 hours ahead of Ohio and 6 ahead of Sean.  I believe there is only one more of these this trip, I hope so because they are exhausting! 

sea legs, dolphins and clowns!!

I no longer am seasick!! I have not taken seasick pills for two days now! I finally have my sea legs im so proud =)
So day 3 of classes getting a bit more in the routine.. Kristi forgot to set the alarm for me this morning but somehow I managed to wake up on my own at 7:15 crazy! So by 8 in class yet again.. I was think about it today and how absurd that is.. really im in class at 4 AM ohio time.. I’m on Mindy’s schedule now!!!!!! Yuck! Ha min I don’t know how you do it!

My music class was cool today we got to go get a bunch of instruments from around the world and classify them using that new system we learned yesterday.. there were some pretty interesting ones.. one that he didn’t have but described brings me shivers and laughs when I think of what sean’s reaction to it would be… this is how I explained it to sean in an email

“So im going to try to explain it but when I tried in the first email it didn’t go so well.. so basically its this wooden box and there is a thin piece of metal approximately 1/ 4 of an inch wide.  Its attached to the box kinda like strings on a guitar.. like stretching across the thing but not sitting on it ya know… and then at the one end it bends upwards.. well that part you place against your teeth. Then you pluck or strike the metal down by the box and it send vibrations off your teeth to produce the sounds!!!!”

Yeah yikes!!!!

After classes I had more noodles and rice and rolls for lunch, did my Spanish homework, and took a lovely 2 ½ hour nap… mhmmm much needed and felt wonderful!

Tragic moment of the day.. my slipper sock things I wear all the time.. well I brought a pair with me.. I slept in them last night and they fell off in the middle of the night but with the lovely all tucked in blankets we have they stayed at the bottom of the bed.. problem is though Shane, our steward, changed the sheets today… so they are in some bag somewhere in the laundry room.. I told him about it so he said he would tell the laundry people.. hopefully some day they reappear on my bed.. if not that’s unfortunate but I still have two pairs back home..

I got my extended family today! Basically they have these extended families and lifelong learners and faculty and staff can “adopt” kids for the voyage and you have a family! People to eat with meet up with play games do any activity really and maybe even do something at port together. Well I was out in the hall checking my email.. because for some reason on our floor it doesn’t work in our rooms but it works in the hall.. so I was sitting out there when my “mom” came by to drop off a note to me. Introducing that I was in her family and we’re all going to have dinner together tomorrow! She bought SAS postcards and wrote a happy little note to us all and got us rubber ducky keychains that have ducks wearing shirts that say semester at sea on them. We are supposed to bring our ducks with us to dinner to help know where to go =) so cute and im excited for that!  Her name is Amy by the way for any further reference made about my family.

Two more really exciting things about today
1-      At dinner we saw a DOLPHIN!!! It’s seriously the first one ive seen so far! It looked really small.. don’t know if it was a baby, a small dolphin type, or if we were just really far up from it.. Kristi and I have come to the conclusion that it’s a bit of both… we also saw a ton of jumping fish.. also kinda cool.. now I just reallllllllly reallyyyyyy REALLY want to see a whale.. that would just be the coolest
2-       We got to watch Grandma the Clown today. Seriously I got to watch a professional clown put on a performance.  And grandma is really a man.  It was really funny. I have some pictures and videos from it.  =)

Okay so its really late and I need sleep. NO TIME CHANGE TONIGHT!!!!!!! Yay! Although im not getting to bed any sooner than the past few nights when there was but oh well It cancels out =)

day 4

So nothing too exciting going on today.. just another day of class.

Decided to have just a granola bar for breakfast instead of attempting the one they serve today.  My throat is still really hurting me and I’ve gained a pretty good cough from it.  Heather this better not be from you..  I officially finished all the halls I had brought with me today =(  so I had some tea with my granola bar and that has been feeling pretty good too. I think I’m on my 4th bottle of tea today now..

Anyways, Spanish was much better today. Not as intimidating as it was yesterday.  My teacher still talks extremely fast though and its quite annoying.. I felt like the whole time was rushed. He gave a cultural lesson and had a powerpoint and told us to take notes on it.. I couldn’t even write down each slide before he was moving on let alone try to understand what he was saying because of course it was all in Spanish and yeah I just didn’t understand it at all. I participated though, had done the homework correctly and there for there is some of my points to my grade to me! All I have to do is pass right?! =)
After Spanish was over I raced over to the union to get in line to go in the doors and managed to get a seat in the second row! Woohoo I could totally see the screen and he had “all the texts a healthy dose of steroids” as he put it so that we could all see it! So my notes look a bunch better for today than they did yesterday.  We have a map quiz on Sunday so that’s the biggest deal right now is studying that up, I’ve got about half of it pretty much memorized so far.

Keeping right on going with the classes next was global music again we talked about how to classify different instruments from around the world.  we talked about how china has a classification system for instruments but it only really works for those made in their country and we talked about the western orchestral classification system but how that still doenst work for classifying the instruments from all around the world.  so ethnomusicologists came up with a new system to be able to classify any instrument that could be found and tomorrow in class we get to test it out and im super excited because we get to start looking at the 100+ instruments he says are on the ship!

Yay done with classes for the day I really like this whole being done by noon thing.. too bad it like never works out like this for me in BG!  So lunch and then I started doing my Spanish homework. I attempted to do it out on the deck again but there is too much wind to read in the book look at the practica sections and then do the problems in my notebook so I resorted to sitting in the piano lounge to finish it. Then I went back to my room to start reading global studies and lacey (my 3rd roommate) was here too doing some reading.  After a little while we both thought a nap sounded like a wonderful idea so I took yet another nap.  Losing an hour every night really sucks!  I feel so behind on sleep so naps feel amazing!
After I woke up I attempted to finish the reading and then it was time for dinner.  Now back to the room to finish reading and study the map. 

Every night they have Explorer Seminars where people but on a presentation about different topics and this is where pre-port lecturers talk to us too.  We have a guy on board as a pre-port lecturer for Spain. Meaning he rides with us till spain and then he gets off. But he gives lots of presentations about it while he is onboard.  So tonight he did a presentation on Spanish food!!! It sounds so yummy I can’t wait. He gave lots of food suggestions and descriptions and so it should be really exciting.  Food on the ship is better than expected but just not fantastic by any means. Every lunch and dinner without fail so far has been salad, a pasta with a new sauce, some type of meat (that isn’t really appetizing), really yummy rolls (I eat at least 2 every meal, they’re small), a new soup, peanut butter and jelly if you aren’t feeling adventurous and a desert.  Much better than the food at BG so far but the trend has formed that it is going to vary much at all.. I thought they said we would get sick of potatoes and eat all sort of potatoes, that was a lie.  We’ve had them like twice and they were cooked the same way.. if anything I really see myself getting sick of noodles..  I didn’t think that could happen!  Needless to say Sean you would starve on this ship =) haha

So its shower time, more map studying and SLEEP!! Yet another hour lost tonight.. =( =(  putting us now 4 hours ahead of ohio and 5 ahead of texas (sean)

PHEW!

So im pretty sure that last post got put up twice but thats better then what i thought just happened! i clicked send and it went to a login page for my email again and i thought i totally lost it all and i was about to be sooo pissed.. but it looks like it sent twice in all my freaking out trying to find so sorry its there twice but its much better than not being there!!!

the boat is rolling and classes officially are too

i had a very pleasant alarm clock this morning.  massive rolling of the boat!  i mean like big, the drawers were opening and closing and thuds were coming from the bathroom (all our bottles falling over in the shower).  I sat up in bed and saw the tv spinning in circles, literally.  it's on a swivel base and so it was going around and around. it was crazy..

but it was just in time because we had the alarm clock set for 7 am and this went on at like 645...

so i got up and got ready for classes! thank goodness i showered last night because this morning could've been really difficult!

the shower is much bigger than we anticipated! when you set such low expectations you get very pleasant surprises! =) like more space to shower! and the water gets really hot and the water pressure is wonderful too!!

so anyways woke up and got ready while kristi and lacey slept in some more. lucky them their first class is global studies at 9.  i however had spanish 2020 at 8 am....

so i went and tried to have breakfast.. i really feel sea sick in the morning and im thinking i might not attempt breakfast anymore it just makes me feel sick smelling it and i can hardly get down a few bites.. but as i was sitting there attempting to eat my bland UNfrosted mini wheats =( i saw a sail boat!!!!!!!!! at first i thought nothing of it.. then after like 30 seconds of sitting on the thought i looked out the window at it again and was highly confused seeing as we are in the middle of the ATLANTIC OCEAN!!  some crazy people out there i guess, very adventurous, good for them.  so then i had to head to my first class at sea! mind you the boat is still rolling pretty good...

spanish is going to be difficult! im really nervous! good thing the classes are pass/fail that might just really save my butt on this one...  there is a no english at all rule during class time! yikes. even better though is the fact that i cannot understand a word my instructor is saying because he speaks with a very heavy accent and very very quickly.. i maybe catch one word in every sentence.. he told us he was going to go through the roster and that he wanted us to introduce ourselves and say somethings about ourselves... yeah to bad i didnt get any of that at all.. and i only know that now because he started calling names and people starting saying their names, state they are from, school they attend and what they like to do.. so i followed that model when i went but still.. then to continue the greatness of this class if we don't pronounce things in the accent that he has he corrects us.. hard to know what he is talking about when you cant understand him.. in spanish he changes a "c" sound to the "th" and i just dont get it.. hopefully i will adapt to it soon enough!!! we have to write a journal in spanish for that class everyday and a log of a topic everyday.. along with reading the new grammar points and doing practice with them for the next days class... great.

next was global studies, the class everyone takes.. yeah.. so he goes i would like to start out by telling you a story and starts talking and has a powerpoint up in the back.. people are writing but i wasnt i mean it was a story.. well apparently on the slide behind the beam that apparently was covering the left screen like 1/4 of the way for me were terms that he wanted us to have and were in his story so that we could get a meaning or connection to them from.. and the lecture continued like this.. i started taking notes but having missed that first screen of words i felt a bit lost.  come the end he explains that all these terms (pulls up another slide) were important and we should have in our notes.. again great.   not to mention that un top of having the beam blocking some of the screen his slides were in like 12 point font.. and i was in the back i couldnt read it.. i just was hoping that kristi got them and was in better shape than myself and could help me out.. when we got back to the room though and met back up that was not the case. she had to sit in a satellite room because the union was full. the union isn't big enough to hold everyone so they stream a video of it over to a few classrooms where people who didnt get to the union in time sit and listen to the lecture.. well she coudlnt read the slides either because it was on the tv and therefore much smaller there... we heard they are going to fix this for the following days hopefully that is the case!

last class of the day now! global music! im super pumped about this class!! it's going to be so much fun and this professor is my kind of professor he was talking about some stuff and wrote things on the board he wanted us to write in our notes and repeated definitions multiple times so that we got them. very much unlike global studies were if a term was mentioned he would sometimes spell them really fast and continue. so he had already said the point he thought we should write down and now was spelling it and then moving on to the next thing.. so global music is much much better.  we are going to get to play all sorts of instruments and sing and dance and it sounds so cool its a great way to end my class day..  and that class ends at 12!

so i met kristi for lunch and then we parted bc she had class.  i grabbed the global studies book and headed outside to the deck to start reading.. mhmmm picture that reading my textbook on a lawn chair on the back of the ship while we are a sailing away! =) so cool!!!!!! =) =) =) =)  only problem was i was super tired so like 10 pages in i fell asleep! mhm now im napping on the deck! haha its great but once i woke up i went back to the cabin and slept a bit more... i woke up in time to take care of a few things and then go to dinner kristi and i sat down at an empty table this time and 4 adults came and sat with us 3 professors (2 who were married) and one of their wives.  it was nice. 

then i grabbed my books and headed to the deck again to read some more got through global studies and went to find kristi on a lower deck we watched the sun set tonight and then it was email time so now its a quarter after ten and i have to go finish spanish and global music homework and then go to bed because we jump another hour yet again tonight!

tomorrow we will be 3 hours ahead of ohio and 4 hours ahead of you sean. 

today is hannah casamento's 20th birthday!!!! happy birthday!! can you believe how many birthdays we have celebrated over the years now!!! crazy!

okay i have to do homework!!!!  

the boat is rolling and classes officially are too

i had a very pleasant alarm clock this morning.  massive rolling of the boat!  i mean like big, the drawers were opening and closing and thuds were coming from the bathroom (all our bottles falling over in the shower).  I sat up in bed and saw the tv spinning in circles, literally.  it's on a swivel base and so it was going around and around. it was crazy..

but it was just in time because we had the alarm clock set for 7 am and this went on at like 645...

so i got up and got ready for classes! thank goodness i showered last night because this morning could've been really difficult!

the shower is much bigger than we anticipated! when you set such low expectations you get very pleasant surprises! =) like more space to shower! and the water gets really hot and the water pressure is wonderful too!!

so anyways woke up and got ready while kristi and lacey slept in some more. lucky them their first class is global studies at 9.  i however had spanish 2020 at 8 am....

so i went and tried to have breakfast.. i really feel sea sick in the morning and im thinking i might not attempt breakfast anymore it just makes me feel sick smelling it and i can hardly get down a few bites.. but as i was sitting there attempting to eat my bland UNfrosted mini wheats =( i saw a sail boat!!!!!!!!! at first i thought nothing of it.. then after like 30 seconds of sitting on the thought i looked out the window at it again and was highly confused seeing as we are in the middle of the ATLANTIC OCEAN!!  some crazy people out there i guess, very adventurous, good for them.  so then i had to head to my first class at sea! mind you the boat is still rolling pretty good...

spanish is going to be difficult! im really nervous! good thing the classes are pass/fail that might just really save my butt on this one...  there is a no english at all rule during class time! yikes. even better though is the fact that i cannot understand a word my instructor is saying because he speaks with a very heavy accent and very very quickly.. i maybe catch one word in every sentence.. he told us he was going to go through the roster and that he wanted us to introduce ourselves and say somethings about ourselves... yeah to bad i didnt get any of that at all.. and i only know that now because he started calling names and people starting saying their names, state they are from, school they attend and what they like to do.. so i followed that model when i went but still.. then to continue the greatness of this class if we don't pronounce things in the accent that he has he corrects us.. hard to know what he is talking about when you cant understand him.. in spanish he changes a "c" sound to the "th" and i just dont get it.. hopefully i will adapt to it soon enough!!! we have to write a journal in spanish for that class everyday and a log of a topic everyday.. along with reading the new grammar points and doing practice with them for the next days class... great.

next was global studies, the class everyone takes.. yeah.. so he goes i would like to start out by telling you a story and starts talking and has a powerpoint up in the back.. people are writing but i wasnt i mean it was a story.. well apparently on the slide behind the beam that apparently was covering the left screen like 1/4 of the way for me were terms that he wanted us to have and were in his story so that we could get a meaning or connection to them from.. and the lecture continued like this.. i started taking notes but having missed that first screen of words i felt a bit lost.  come the end he explains that all these terms (pulls up another slide) were important and we should have in our notes.. again great.   not to mention that un top of having the beam blocking some of the screen his slides were in like 12 point font.. and i was in the back i couldnt read it.. i just was hoping that kristi got them and was in better shape than myself and could help me out.. when we got back to the room though and met back up that was not the case. she had to sit in a satellite room because the union was full. the union isn't big enough to hold everyone so they stream a video of it over to a few classrooms where people who didnt get to the union in time sit and listen to the lecture.. well she coudlnt read the slides either because it was on the tv and therefore much smaller there... we heard they are going to fix this for the following days hopefully that is the case!

last class of the day now! global music! im super pumped about this class!! it's going to be so much fun and this professor is my kind of professor he was talking about some stuff and wrote things on the board he wanted us to write in our notes and repeated definitions multiple times so that we got them. very much unlike global studies were if a term was mentioned he would sometimes spell them really fast and continue. so he had already said the point he thought we should write down and now was spelling it and then moving on to the next thing.. so global music is much much better.  we are going to get to play all sorts of instruments and sing and dance and it sounds so cool its a great way to end my class day..  and that class ends at 12!

so i met kristi for lunch and then we parted bc she had class.  i grabbed the global studies book and headed outside to the deck to start reading.. mhmmm picture that reading my textbook on a lawn chair on the back of the ship while we are a sailing away! =) so cool!!!!!! =) =) =) =)  only problem was i was super tired so like 10 pages in i fell asleep! mhm now im napping on the deck! haha its great but once i woke up i went back to the cabin and slept a bit more... i woke up in time to take care of a few things and then go to dinner kristi and i sat down at an empty table this time and 4 adults came and sat with us 3 professors (2 who were married) and one of their wives.  it was nice. 

then i grabbed my books and headed to the deck again to read some more got through global studies and went to find kristi on a lower deck we watched the sun set tonight and then it was email time so now its a quarter after ten and i have to go finish spanish and global music homework and then go to bed because we jump another hour yet again tonight!

tomorrow we will be 3 hours ahead of ohio and 4 hours ahead of you sean. 

today is hannah casamento's 20th birthday!!!! happy birthday!! can you believe how many birthdays we have celebrated over the years now!!! crazy!

okay i have to do homework!!!!  

Day 2- orientation

Another long day…

So woke up today and still feeling the boat a rocking =/   I took another motion sickness pill and tried to get ready although I was really feeling all the movements.. then Kristi and I went to get lunch at like 8:10 and we had to kind of hurry because it  is over by 8:30.
I was hardly able to eat my fruit loops because I was feeling so sick.. I decided I best go talk to the medical center to see about getting that behind the ear patch to help ease it all.  I told her that despite my taking one of my pills everyday and wearing the wrist bans that are like cutting off my circulation I still feel awful.  She asked me to get my pills to show her what they are and see if I should maybe instead take the ones that they provide that they say to take 2 every 6 hours.  The patch not really being an option at $20 a piece and needing replaced every 3 days.   After returning to the clinic with the box the nurse told me that the pills I have and am taking one a day are really the same exact thing that the are giving out to everyone and saying to take 2 of every 6 hours… so with that being said I’m trying to up my dosages and see if that works better.    I went back to my room took a second pill for the day and headed to the union for our meetings…

The meetings were very, very long they talked about the honor code, plagiarism, our global studies course, and field trips that sas does for 3 HOURS! Straight!!!!  All the while my motion sickness pills are kicking in.  I feel the gentle sway of the boat which is now much better, but I am now extremely tired at this point because the pills make you drowsy.  I closed my eyes a few times and came really really close to actually falling asleep. 
Once the meetings ended we went back to our room to the room for like 10 minutes and then went off to lunch.  I had pasta salad, pork chop, rice, vegetable soup and rolls.  Surprisingly I really don’t think ship food is that bad at this point, it is much better than BG’s!!! hopefully it stays this way! Then after lunch Kristi and I spent a few minutes outside but it was really windy and kinda cold =(  so we took the time to do some emailing/ I started writing this to this point.

Next up is a few more hours of meetings!!

Before meetings started up again Kristi and I took a quick 15 minute “nap” sooooooooooo tired!!!!

Then 2 ½ more hours of sitting and listening to people talk and talk and talk… I guess they have to get this all out there but still…  after the second sets of meetings we got to sign up for activities on the ship.  I signed up to get a “family” and Big Brothers Big Sisters and Babysitting.  On the ship the life long learners and faculty/staff “adopt” students to become a family for the voyage.  We do different things with them throughout the voyage such as eating with them playing games or doing anything really that we decide we want to all do together.  Faculty and staff are allowed to bring along their spouses and their kids.  I believe I heard there are about 19 kids on the ship this summer.  So I signed up to do big brother big sisters with them along with babysit them periodically throughout the summer! I’m really actually super excited about this, go figure right =)
During that whole process it was complete chaos and I officially lost Kristi for the first time haha but that is totally fine I walked past a group of people playing PHASE 10 and there was an empty seat soooo of course I asked to play too! That only lasted for like 20 minutes though because then it was time for round two of sea meetings.. and that one was surely very interesting..  we came up with a sea chant.. it’s great… gives a great chuckle but I see it as not fitting to post here.

One thing we learned yesterday  is that on top of the 3 scheduled meals we have each day we also have a half hour snack time from 10-10:30 at night!  Kristi and I scooped it out tonight but weren’t too thrilled by anything so then we went outside to see if we could see the stars but it was cloudy so we just hardly saw the moon… I tried taking a picture with Kristi and it and it looks like a star…  now finishing emails and then taking my first risky shower on the boat.

Oh last interesting fact of my day… I got yelled at today =(  okay not totally yelled at but still.  When we were on our computers earlier I was sitting cross legged on a chair and the “voice” guy asked me to put my feet down because the captain doesn’t like that ….  I totally respect the captain and all but you guys all know me well enough that I am totally incapable of sitting properly in a chair for more than a minute at a time.. it’ll work out though

THINGS I FORGOT TO MENTION YESTERDAY:

The ship is 75% female and 25% male

The stairway I couldn’t think of the correct name for is the Gangway

There was more that I remember trying to tell myself not to forget so that I could post them. Guess what. I forgot them…

First day of classes is tomorrow!!!!!! Scary stuff! But im excited to see what they will be like. 

Day 1!!! I'm on a SHIP!!!! (not a boat)

Today has been a very very long day!

We woke up pretty early in order to give us enough time to pack up all our stuff and load it into the car and head over to the ship in Halifax!  Our loading time was scheduled to be at 10:20.  We made it to the pier at 10:30.  Unfortunately, we were about a half mile down the road from the door. Now that is our opinion, but I really don't think we are that far off in our estimations.  I have pictures but you guys won't be able to see those for an extremely long time.. 

So after an hour and a half of standing in line and slowly moving forward we were told that from 12-1 the customs people get a one hour lunch break... not okay.  so me Kristi and two girls that were in line next to us went to get lunch while the Pierson's guarded our luggage.  Thank goodness they were with us!!! If you are reading this is was much appreciated! THANK YOU!
Seeing as I was unable to eat breakfast this morning due to nerves and I think my typhoid pills, that I finished today, that was my first meal of the day.  So we get back in line and by about 1:30ish we were starting to enter the customs deals.

Overall that went really smoothly.  They checked our passports, took them to hang on to for us in between the countries, and gave us our SAS ID cards which also act as our room keys.  Then we got in line to go have our carry ons checked and ourselves while our bags were scanned as well.  When I walked through the scanner thing I beeped!!!!  What the heck!  I felt like dad every time we go to the airport.. I had to go over to the side and the guy had to scan my body with the hand held thing.. It beeped.  Right under my belly button and by both my armpits.. gr.  His thoughts, my shorts zipper and my bra.  Oops :) 

After that ordeal I got my carry on stuff and it was time to walk up the steps that take us on the ship!!! (if they have a specific name I don't know it yet, sorry)  The steps were crazy though.  I was carrying my purse, laptop bag, chips, and big bag of all other snacks, and the steps were teeny tiny and like two inches height difference and a lot of them! I was sure i was going to tumble backwards onto Kristi and Becca and Stephanie (the girls we stood in line with) So three hours later we are on the boat!!! Now only about 10 tables of stops we had to make to verify information and get tid bits of stuff just craziness.  Not really sure I remember what all was said at those tables anymore! One thing I know is that I signed a form verifying that I am responsible for that big amount of money I am waiting to come to me (Mom this is info for you!) 

Finally we are able to head to our rooms to set down all our stuff!!!   By this time my snack bag was ripping so we really had to hurry!  we get to the door and.... neither of our keys worked!!!!!!!!!!  NOOOOO!  Oh and we found our room because our luggage beat us to it and was waiting for us in the hallway. So we drop the food there and had to go the Pursars desk to get  them reactivated. Funny how they don't tell you it costs a dollar to do that everytime and that your phone, credit cards, and camera can all deactivate it. Great.

So we get in drop our stuff, see our 3 roommate has been here already, but she wasn't in the room.  Now we get to explore the ship and see where we will be staying for the next two and a half months!  We walked everywhere we thought we could find, we missed a few things but we will figure it our.. It's very confusing! =) we headed back to our room to start to try to unpack all our stuff. We got a little start into that but just broke the surface before an announcement came on about do a drill to learn our muster stations and the procedures that go with it.  So we had to put on our long pants, long sleeves, closed toed shoes, hat and our lovely orange life jackets!  We looked good =) again pictures at some point in the far future.

After that whole thing it was time to go to set sail! We took our life jackets back to the room and headed to the back decks.  we waved to people on shore and then away we went. well after doing a 180 one way and 360 the other (to test the compasses or orient them or something to that nature).   And off to the ocean we went! Scary!

It started feeling pretty bumpy right from the start so along with the motion sickness pill I took this morning I added the rest bands.  I'm not alone though because everyone feels light headed and can't walk straight.  One adult on the boat I believe a wife to one of the professors, passed us wobbling and said, "We used to pay good money for this!" haha quit funny. Really you feel like you're drunk and just bouncing back and forth a bit or loosing your balance. 

After waving goodbye we headed back to the room to finish unpacking. We have a lot more room than we anticipated but that is much thanks to my closet organizer thing that I brought along! much needed for three girls in this tiny room!! As far as the room goes I took one for the team right now and took top bunk, Kristi and I said we would rotate though!

As soon as we were done unpacking we went to have dinner.  We did good and sat with a girl named Sarah who was sitting alone and in the end Sarah was able to help us set up our emailing accounts so that was good! So after dinner and setting up email it was time for our welcome meeting. We met all the important people on the ship and i learned that the front of the boat is forward the back is aft to the left (facing the front) is port and right is starboard.  I'm learning sooo much already! You should all be so proud! =)  Also this is not a boat but a ship. We are on a ship and our ship has boats on it haha=) the people that are like the main guys are really funny i enjoyed it!  And the one is our "voice" for the summer
he gives us all sorts of announcements all day long and jokes in it all it's great! during the meeting it was really rocky... we were in the union which is forward on the ship and lots of people were feeling it.  When the captain came down to say a few words everyone stood to clap. then everyone fell forward and yelled wooooooohhhhhh  yeah it was funny.. After this meeting we had a meeting with our "sea" which we are the Bering Sea.  It's based off of the cabin you are in.  So we got some more information and finally able to call it a night!

So now i am laying in bed and the ship is a rocking and i have yet another headache.. i think i might learn to ignore headaches after this voyage.  Oh yeah we are on a voyage not a trip or cruise.  Another thing mentioned =)  so anyways im really tired and my head hurts and so its time for bed. 

Someone told Kristi and I to think of it as rocking in a rocking chair, hopefully that helps..

Oh so by the way this is always going to be the main way to find out whats going on any emails are added information that i need to add separate from this... basically i don't want to spend all my time typing the same thing over and over again.. this has already taken me forever to write!! so love you all blog again tomorrow! hopefully i start to get some sea legs by then, but im kinda doubtful of that happening... night!

 

The Day in Halifax

in halifax we walked through many streets and stores.. tried on a weird hat just for you mom for all the hats you made me try on before leaving! I enjoy Kristi creeping in the the background

one of the roads in Halifax

me and my boat!


so first off today we drove down to the port to see if the ship was there yet and sure enough it was! it was huge, it towered over the buildings! so after taking lots of pictures we started exploring Halifax. It was cool little city lots of bar and grills and shops we walked alll over. Then we headed back to the hotel to change and freshen up. The Piersons went to the parents welcome reception, they got to go on the ship and get a tour and were given a lot of information. While they were at that Kristi and I went to Subway for dinner and then went to a "meet and great" of sas students.. first we were at a restaurant but it was really weird because everyone was at tables and couldnt really mingle with more than the people at your table. So we moved to a bar and that helped the talking and mingling but we didn't stay there more than a half hour. So nnow we are once again back at our hotel for our last hotel night! and trying to pack and organize everything for in the morning! I can't believe we get on the boat tomorrow! I'm so nervous!! I both Kristi and I board at 10:20 due to both having last names that start with P soo we will see how tomorrow goes!!!

We made it to Halifax!

this is the port where our boat will be!
woo hoo
the bridge to cross into Halifax



So this morning when I woke up I felt awful... and got sick... not a good start to the day. After settling down we loaded up and got back on the road for another 8 hour or so drive. I slept through the majority of it since I had a dull headache the whole time.

I went to another country for the first time ever today!!! CANADA! woohoo! It was weird crossing the border but not to bad only took a couple of minutes. The women didn't stamp our passports or anything though! We stopped at a Walmart in Canada.. their bathroom signs say washroom not restroom.. which was interesting.

Our hotel isn't in Halifax but just on the other side of the bridge. So we decided to go check out Halifax and see where the port is that we will board our ship from! Unfortunately our ship wasn't there yet. It was still kinda coo to see where it will be though, it made everything a bit more real, yet it all still felt really surreal. After driving around Halifax a little bit to scope out some things to do tomorrow we went and checked into the hotel. Then grabbed dinner at Taco Bell and called it a night.

Tomorrow is exploring Halifax and meeting up with other SASers for the first time at night!!!!!!!!!!!

traveling to halifax day 2 plus pics!

Today we left the hotel in New York at 11 and drove for 17 mins in NY till we entered Connecticut, then we crossed into Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and ended up in Maine at about 7. We were unloading the van today and I was taking pictures of all the luggage we have, and right after I dropped my camera!! It was broke! part of the side came loose and the slider to change from picture to video to review modes wouldn't move! Luckily i was able to fix it but it really got me nervous for the trip!! I was ready to go buy a new one! Anyways, we are staying in Bangor and we went to eat dinner at a restaurant that sat on the water of some river and Kristi had lobster! I am still not ready to test out the seafood options so I stuck to what I know and went for a steak =) Now we are back to the hotel. Sleep then making the last leg of the drive to Halifax tomorrow!! Oh goodness it's getting close and I'm getting all the more nervous the closer we get!

Making Our Way to Halifax- Day 1

Yesterday the Pierson's got to my house at 8:30 am. We packed up the car took some last pictures with my family before I left and then we were on the road by 9. We made our way through four states yesterday. We left Ohio, crossed all the way through PA, went through New Jersey and into New York to the our hotel in Tarrytown. It was my first time in New Jersey and New York! Exciting! So we stopped in Tarrytown because Kristi's cousin had a basketball tournament this weekend and this is where they were staying as well. So we met up with her aunt, uncle and other cousin and heading to the tournament to watch one of her cousin's games. The tournament was being held at Fordham University which is in the Bronx. It was a really pretty campus, at least the little part of it we saw. It had lots of tall trees and all the buildings were older and made of stone, just really pretty. On the way we passed the Bronx Zoo! Didn't look like a very good area for a zoo to be though! There were buildings not to far away from it and the highway we were driving on. Although, I must say it had the prettiest entrance gates!! After the tournament we went back to Kristi's family's hotel and had pizza with the team and their parents and then came back to our hotel for the night. So now its time to shower, get ready, and get back on the road. I have a full day of driving through new states! woohoo! =) and today will be our last full day in the U.S.!

last night home!

It is 1:30 in the morning and the Pierson's are planning to leave Toledo at 6am... meaning they will be here between 8 and 9. I only just finished packing! I feel like i might forget some stuff and after the craziness of shopping for it all it'd be pretty bummed if I didn't have something I needed.

The boat leaves in 4 more days but we are driving up to Halifax so we're giving it a few days. It's so crazy that this is actually happening and I really am going. You know that feeling right before a big vacation and the night before you can't sleep because you are soo excited and all ready to go?? Yeah, well I don't have that feeling yet. Maybe after we start driving it will set in but I'm soo nervous and scared and excited.. but getting really nervous about it all. Once I get there and things get going I'm sure my excitement will get to where it needs to be!

Sooooo let the road trip begin!!!!!!!
Halifax here we come!