My Semester at Sea: Spring 2010

Beijing

2010-03-28T04:37:00.000-04:00

The first day in Beijing we had a lot of free time. I went to the Pearl Market and bought a gift for Cole and chapstick, which was my favorite find of the day. Later we went to dinner, and after all of the Chinese food, ended up getting Pizza Hut. It was good and actually a break from the meals where we would have no idea what we were getting. I felt kind of guilty being in China and eating American food, but being on an SAS trip, we were eating at really great restaurants the rest of the time... I also saw Jill and Justin that night, which was a surprise because they were on the SAS Beijing trip. It was fun and we just talked and journaled in Jill's room.

The next morning we started out going to Tiananmen Square. It was kind of surreal. I've been studying China since August now and seeing the area that was the most important during the past fifty years was really cool. It's 100 square acres, but it doesn't look like it. Especially since I know MU is 90 acres (thanks to basketball videos). It doesn't look like we could fit our whole campus in, but since the Square is completely open, I'm not surprised my view of it is off. We tried to get our guide to mention the demonstration/ massacre while we were there and he told us he would tell us in the bus. But he didn't and when we brought it up he changed the subject. We went through the Forbidden City next. It reminded me of Mulan and was really pretty, but that was about it. Everything has been destroyed or removed from the rooms so there is a lot of empty space there.

Our next "stop" was a trishaw ride through the Hutong Area. The area used to hold the royal families and since then has held well-off families. The houses themselves are very small and old, but the area is really expensive because of the location to the Forbidden City. We had lunch at a local home, which was really good, and learned how to make dumplings. The best part about the house was that they had a cricket. I never saw it but someone told me that it was in a cage... Mulan again!

ln the afternoon we went to the Bird's Nest. We were able to go inside of it (the only SASers who got to at all because of some connection our tour guide had) which was pretty incredible. It looks a lot bigger on TV when they show the inside. The outside looks a lot bigger in person because of the size of the steel beams that hold it up. The inside though has been converted into a winter park. There was sled-riding on one side, an ice skating rink in the middle and a show going on on the stage. There was a lot of other stuff happening inside but I can't remember it now. Our guide told us that the same type of thing is happening in the Water Cube- it's going to be a giant water park for kids. It seems like a really odd use of space for the Olympic stadiums but I guess there isn't much else you can do with it. A side note- I think that I climbed up more stairs in the Birds Nest than I did on the Great Wall. I will have to look in my journal, but I think the ones at the Nest were like 260 and the ones at the Great Wall ended at like 230. But the Great Wall was a lot of incline up and not steps. Just something I didn't expect. (Most of my time on the Great Wall was spent going down towards the toboggan)

For dinner we had Peking Duck. It was good, I'm glad I tried it, but it wasn't my favorite meal in China.

The last day of my trip we went to the Great Wall! We went to one of the most touristy parts of the wall which included a cable car up and a toboggan down. Even with that it was an interesting trip up to the wall. There was first this huge hill (think Chesnut hill doubled and you get the hight and steepness) that we had to walk up lined with vendors. They were trying to sell us stuff as we were walking up, which was kind of incredible because no one was going to carry that all the way to the end. And then we got on a cable car. My trust in Chinese engineering has increased dramatically since I am still alive after this cable car and all the skywalks in Shanghai.

Walking around the Great Wall was incredible but my mind does not comprehend how it was built. And even with all of the explanations I was given about it, I still don't believe that they could carry those boulders up there. There's only one explanation: aliens.

Kidding... kind of.

Tobogganing down was probably one of the top three experiences of my life. Whoever thought that up is a genius. The track took about 10 minutes, I think, and was amazingly fun. It would have been a tiny bit better if I didn't have to keep on stopping for the people in front of me but overall I couldn't have asked for a better way to get down the wall. We were on these little plastic things that had wheels on the bottom and then we pushed forward on a bar that was by our feet to be able to go. I wish I had been able to get a longer video but it would have been impossible to tape and move at the same time. It reminded me of the place at the Poconos, I think it was the water park, where we took the ski lift up and then took those little sleds down where we had to pedal. But this one was much much better =)

Xi'an

2010-03-17T22:21:00.000-04:00

Day One: I left for my trip about 9:30 in the morning. The flight was really long (I think it was like 4 hours) and I sat there and read The Street Lawyer by John Grisham, which was boring since I've already read it. I am reading Under the Dome by Stephen King but the book is hardcover and like 1,000 pages long, so I didn't have space in my backpack for it. (Oh, and I packed everything I needed for 6 days in my backpack and a small purse. It was an incredible feat!)

The first thing we did was go to an art museum where we had a tour and then had a calligraphy lesson. I'm extremely horrible at calligraphy. I don't have the right hand movements for it or something. But I do know how to write the signs for forever, happiness and I love you. When we were done we got a chance to buy artwork if we wanted and I bought a really pretty painting with a mountain and a small village at the base. It doesn't match my room since it's orange, but I don't plan on hanging up all my artwork until I have a house anyways.

After going to drop all our stuff off at the hotel we went to a dim sum dinner. It was one of the most amazing meals of my life. Because it's Chinese New Year we had a holiday meal which included 19 different types of dumplings. There were duck, pork, chicken, spicy chicken, pork and chicken mix, vegeatable, squid, water, mini chicken... I could go on for a lot more. I took a picture of each and every dumpling. The two coolest were the duck and the walnut, because the dumplings were shaped like what was in it. (Plus they tasted really good)

Day Two: The first thing we did was go to the Xi'an city walls. They were walls and were really cool but also just walls. What made them awesome was that it was Chinese New Year and there were these huge figures of flowers and people and animals all lit up on the walls. It was like Disney World.

We then drove to the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum area, but first stopped for lunch because the drive had been about two hours long. Lunch was in this really cold restaurant. Cold as in I could see my breath. The meal was fine, just random Chinese food. But they did give us lots and lots of hot tea, which I don't normally drink, but made the room seem a bit warmer.

The Warriors were incredible. They are all between 5'10" and 6'2" which is way taller than the average man was when they were made, but they were supposed to look terrifying to guard the tomb. And there are hundreds of them all in perfectly straight lines. There are lots of them without heads or arms or legs but we were told that they are trying to restore them. I think its cooler to see how they are hundreds of years later, but I understand wanting to restore everything.

I also got a guide book signed by the man who found the warriors. He's really old now (the warriors were found in the mid-70s) and it's funny because they could have pulled any random man off the street and set him up at that table and none of us would have been the wiser. Trust in the government I guess. I find his story a little sad though because even though they were on his land, he doesn't own the land that he uses, he had a type of loan for it from the government. So when he found them he just had to move off of his land and didn't get any of the benefits, monetary or otherwise, of finding them; the government got everything. (That's communism for you)

There was also a museum next to it which we only got a couple minutes in but when I get home remind me to show you all the picture of the puppets. Scariest puppets ever.

When we left the warriors we went to an orphanage. I felt very uncomfortable there just because we weren't told that we were going and didn't have anything planned for them. I felt like a tourist there because they put on a short program for us and we sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in return. We were there for about 45 minutes and did absolutely nothing with the children, we were just there watching them and looking around their homes. I wish we had been able to play with them like we did at my other visit [in Cambodia].

Shanghai

2010-03-05T01:19:00.000-05:00

We got into Shanghai pretty early in the morning but I wasn't cleared to leave the ship until about 11:30. The first thing we did was decide to go and walk around the Bund. It's an area that is really influenced by the French and has tons of pretty buildings and such. Walking around Shanghai was very different than walking into Yokohama. It's dirty and crowded and loud. I know that's what they tell you about, but I honestly didn't expect it to be so extreme.

After walking around we went tothe Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. It was the only way we knew to get across the river (we were sadly misinformed by some people) and was totally weird. I'm guessing that it would be comparable to an acid trip and everyone who went with me feels that same way. I have the whole thing on video (about 4 minutes) so if you want to see it find me when I get home. But the line sthat sticks in my head the most are "Paradise is Hell" and "Heaven is Hell". It was surreal, but it did get us across the river :) And it made me think of Disney!

We then went to the Oriental Pearl Tower, which if you've googled Shanghai is the building that will stick out to you. It's crazy looking. We got in line for this building and we were disappointed because the line went completely around the building. It took about half an hour and we were so annoyed because it was kind of cold outside. When we got in the doors we thought it would be a short line righ to the elevators. Wrong. There were at least 1,000 people in front of us in line. Complete insanity in there. And the Chinese are loud and pushy. Not in a bad way exactly, but in an annoying way, just because of the difference between there and the US. I don't know if anyone from Green Valley remembers this but when we were little, like kindergarten or first grade, in gym Mrs. Waltz had us take a hula hoop and put it over our head and rest it at our feet. She told us something about how it was our personal space bubble and we weren't supposed to violate it. Well, things are different in China and its completely common to push and cut in line to get ahead of someone else. The line overall took about two hours. The view from there was pretty good and everything was lit up so it was really pretty. The funniest part of the whole trip was when I went out onto one of those glass floors. Christine is terrified of heights and when I was out there she goes, "are you really trusting something that China made?" It was probably the funniest moment of the entire day. And it made me think twice about it =)

But next we went to the World Financial Center which has an observatory on the 100th and 104th floor and the view was so much cooler. There was also a glass floor there but it was really different because it was like every other square was a glass one and it looked down onto the building. It may be a little different during the day but at night all we could see were lights. I also liked the WFC better because you could see the Oriental Pearl Tower. It is a lot prettier to look at than look out from. If you go to Shanghai I would reccomend going to the WFC instead of the Oriental Pearl Tower. The WFC is cheaper even and its not as crowded. The line was about ten minutes and that was only because we had to walk through a couple of areas to get to it.

For dinner we had American food. It's funny because I said I wouldn't be one of those people but honestly, when you're in the country, the food is completely different anyways. And we had a horrible lunch anyways because we went into a place with no English menu and couldn't order correctly. As Justin said: "the hardest thing to find in Asia is rice". Completely true if you don't have the word in the vernacular for it. But that's okay because our lunch was one of those experiences that make this trip totally worth it. As much as we liked it though, we were hungry. There was only one restaurant that looked good in the area we were in and it's called The Blue Frog. There is one in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong. If you ever see one- go there. It was so much fun and we were literally the only customers in the restaurant. We decided we didn't need a full meal so we shared chili cheese fries, onion rings, and nachos. It was really funny. And they had a nightly deal that was for Coronas for 25 yuan. Seven yuan is equal to a dollar, so we paid a little more than $3 for it, but if you think about how that's imported it wasn't that expensive. Plus, we were able to eat raw vegetables, which I would not do anywhere else in China. And the group that I went with also went back the next night and got burgers and said they were really good. (I was in Xi'an already)

On the way home we took a taxi. It was only 19 yuan so we got home for less than $3 and it was over a ten minute ride. Plus we got ripped off because he went the long way. We know this because we had to split up into two taxis and the other group only paid 13. That's okay... one group from the same place paid 40 yuan so I feel okay with the driver taking two or three extra minutes.

The Rest of Japan

2010-02-27T10:39:00.000-05:00

Tokyo:

The second day in Japan I had an FDP, Cultural Tokyo. The trip itself was pretty interesting, but I was freezing all day. Because the day in Yokohama was so warm, I thought that Tokyo would be warm too. So I went from sweating one day to having goose bumps the next. It was still a good day though.

The trip started at Meiji Shrine, which is for the Shinto religion. We walked along a gravel path that at one point was lined with bottles of sake. I’m not exactly sure why, the tour guide didn’t give us an answer, but they made the pathway more interesting. At the main part of the shrine there were small wooden signs that people could buy and then write on. You would hang them on the tree and then the wind would carry your wishes away and grant them. I didn’t buy one, but I loved seeing all of them lining the tree. We also saw a wedding there. The service was really short and there were very few people there in the wedding party and in attendance. After the service the bride and groom also posed for pictures from the tourists at the shrine.

After the shrine we went to the gatehouse for the imperial palace. We weren’t allowed to go any closer than about 500 feet from the gate house. All I know about the place was that if the gatehouse is that pretty, then the palace must be beautiful.

We then went to an area that had a Shinto shrine, a Buddhist temple, a pagoda, and a shopping area. Inside the Buddhist temple there was a spot for people to pick their fortunes. I received my fortune and it was a regular fortune, filled with happiness and sadness. Jill had a really good fortune, but then Justin had a horrible one. It said that the boat would sink. If we go down, it’s all his fault 

The last stop of the day was to a tower, where we saw the view from the 53rd floor. Since we saw a better view the day before it wasn’t as cool for us, but still a fun place to be anyways. That is also where the picture of the dress is from.

Hiroshima:

Even though I traveled on the boat between Yokohama and Kobe, I didn’t wake up to see us pull in. I figured it was enough that I saw Yokohama.

My trip to Hiroshima started at 8, the earliest that anyone was let off the boat anyways. I sat in my own seat on the way there but Justin and Jill sat across from me and we managed to find things to talk about or do for the five hour bus ride. It was actually a lot quicker than I thought it would be and I wasn’t bored until the last hour.

The first view I had of the dome was from our bus. It was crazy seeing it there in the middle of all the other buildings. Our tour guide said that until it was put on the list of historical places there were drives to tear it down because it was just a horrible reminder of what happened that day. It was really sad to see and it seemed to me that very few improvements had been made to the building starting the day the atomic bomb hit. All of the bricks and trash that were there the day of the bomb were still there. And around it people just walked back and forth to work or school and didn’t think anything of it. I guess if you walk back and forth everyday and weren’t alive at the time of the bomb, it wouldn’t be emotional after a while. Maybe I’m just simplifying things though; they could think of it every time they walked past. I don’t know.

We walked to the Children’s Peace Memorial next to put up the 3,000 paper cranes that people on the ship had made. The thousands and thousands of paper cranes already in the boxes were incredible. One of them spelled out “Peace”, one was a picture of a rainbow, and one was a picture of a crane. The amount of effort people put into the one memorial is mind-boggling. There are cranes from all over the world there.

The museum was the last stop on the tour of Hiroshima. The most amazing thing about the museum to me was that it doesn’t seem to blame the United States. There wasn’t too much about the “why” of the bomb in general. A brief history of WWII was at the beginning but it didn’t get into the politics behind the bomb. It was really sad to see most of the displays because they were items such as clothing worn on the day of the bomb.

Nara:

I had never even heard of Nara until the transit day on the ship. Christina told me that she was going and told me a couple of things to do there. The only reason that I wanted to go was to pet the imperial deer. And I got to. I absolutely loved Nara, which was surprising since I was convinced I needed to see Kyoto while in Japan and didn’t see it because of Nara.

The day started with a very long hunt for an ATM for Justin and Christine. A word for anyone planning on visiting Japan: if you’re not using your credit card the entire time, take enough cash to last the entire time you’re there. The small amount of ATMs that accept foreign credit cards it very annoying. Another hint: 7-11s all have international ATMs, but they make you take out 1,000 yen at a minimum, which could be bad.

We then had a two hour train ride and a thirty minute walk from the train station to the park. And then we saw the DEER! I know what everyone’s thinking… there are deer in Cleveland. Why did you travel 8,000 or whatever miles to see a deer. The answer is that these “tame” deer will eat out of your hand and BOW TO YOU! Yes, they bow to get fed. It is hilarious. But they also push you if you don’t feed them. Which is kind of mean, but they are deer used to eating crackers. Kind of hilarious. They’re kind of scary too. You’ll have to see my video of them to see what I mean.

We mostly just walked around Nara after we managed to escape the deer. I did have chicken curry for lunch. It was really good- much better than I thought it would be. And I saw a few Shinto shrines and spent some money. Spending money is basically my thing on this trip and most of it is for pop, but the rest is for really fun souvenirs.

Japan Pictures

2010-02-22T11:27:00.003-05:00

Yokohama!

2010-02-22T05:25:00.003-05:00

We actually ended up arriving in Yokohama only about 2 hours late. Then they allow people off the ship by seas. (Each deck is divided into seas with somewhere between 40 and 80 people, kind of like wings on a floor) My sea was called fifth or sixth I think. It actually worked out good because the group I was hanging out with that day were called right around when I was too and it gave us a chance to eat lunch on the ship. 

Going through immigration here will probably be the longest one we go through. They staple something to your passport, you get another sticker put in (at least this one didn't cost over $100 like the visas did for everywhere else), and they fingerprint you and take your temperature. I was afraid that I would have a fever and be denied access to Japan, so took two tylenol this morning to lower any fever I may have. I actually didn't realize they took my fever until I walked away because they say they're taking your picture and it does it then. (I'm not actually sure if a picture is taken though...)

Being on land was so nice! It was a LONG 10 days at sea previously. I felt like we were still on the boat though for the first day there. I could feel my legs compensating for the movement of the ship for absolutely no reason. Kind of weird but also really funny. 

The first thing we did was actually the number one thing to do on my list. We went to Landmark Tower and rode the fastest elevator in Japan. It goes up 69 floors in approximately 40 seconds and reaches a speed of 720 meters/ second. Your ears pop on the way up. It was a 360º view: from there we could see all of Yokohama and parts of Tokyo. And we could see the ship! From up there it looked really big, but we all know better :) There was a dinner boat next to it so I think that made the change. I also got a caricature done at a small stand there. The artist's name was Mario and he spoke some English (obviously much better than I spoke Japanese) and there was a great disconnect between what he said and what he meant. I felt bad that I couldn't help at all in Japanese, but we managed to make it work. The funniest part was that I was wearing my Semester at Sea hoodie and they draw your clothes on the caricature. So he had no idea what he was writing but basically labeled the picture for me! 

After the Landmark Tower we went to an art museum. I was amazed because I had never heard of this museum and there was a Picasso, a few Dalis, and an Andy Warhol. Nice for not expecting anything out of my 500 yen. We then walked around the city for awhile before dinner. Japan is CLEAN! I think this has to do with the fact that there are no garbage cans anywhere. I can't figure out how this connects, but I'm sure it does. 

We spent the rest of the night by walking around the city, going to dinner and then riding a Ferris wheel! It definitely made my day :) I want to find at least one other Ferris wheel on this trip. After the Ferris wheel we went to karaoke! It was hilarious and the best part was passing all the rooms of locals because it was groups of about ten to fifteen middle aged men. And they were singing songs with tambourines. Very different than home.

Sorry for the long (and boring) post about Japan. I've already been in China for 6 days so the rest of the Japan blog will be in one post.

Shanghai!

2010-02-18T09:43:00.000-05:00

Hi! I know I haven't written about Japan yet, but figured I'd post a picture of China. Posts will be coming soon, but I'm in China without a keyboard for four more days, so it will be after that!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

A picture!

2010-02-12T06:27:00.000-05:00

This dress is from a Tokyo art exhibit about medicine. It is a wedding dress and the embroidery is actually birth control pills- 25 years worth! It was not even the craziest thing at the museum!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Asia Day!

2010-02-12T06:15:00.001-05:00

Asia Day!

I'm on my way home from Hiroshima, but the post about Japan will have to wait for another day when I have a real keyboard instead of the one on my blackberry.
Instead, I decided I'd write a little post about Asia Day. Asia Day is a day for anyone on ship to give small talks or demonstrations if she feels she has something relevant to the day.
The first part of my day was a talk given by professor Zimmerman. She has been to the majority of the ports because her family traveled on SAS in spring 2007. I found out a lot of good information such as how far the ports are from the city centers.
After her talk I went to an Ikebana workshop. Ikebana is Japanese flower arranging. The workshop was given by Shelley Galloway, a life long learner. (Mom & Dad: she's the one who was so nice at the Sheraton and was answering everyone's questions about the trip) Apparently she is a member of one of the schools and was going into Tokyo for some of the classes. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are specific angles the flowers have to be at and they have to be separated and stuff. But I did get two compliments on it as I was carrying it down to my room :)
Then there was an amazing talk put on by the Chinese students. They each had a talent and showed us traditional dancing, opera, painting, Kong Fu, and fashion. They put it all together themselves and it was great! But it also made me feel grossly inadequate. All those talents plus they speak fluent English and mandarin (and some speak cantonese!) I can barely speak spanish. And don't really have a talent :(
I had a long break after that and then went to dinner. It was a Japanese meal and was horrible. I tried a little of it all and the only thing I ate was the chicken. Even the fried rice was bad.
I also went to spiritual dance, which Jill, Christine, and Justin convinced me to try. If you'd like details for what that is, email me, because I'm not going to write them here because don't know who's reading this =)
We also had preport, which just tells us about the culture and useful info to know for port like where the closest post office and ATM are.
I'll write about Japan later. All I can say is that for it being a place I couldn't have cared less about I absolutely LOVE it here.
Love,
Courtney
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

From Hawaii to Japan

2010-02-08T08:03:00.000-05:00

From Hawaii to Japan!

Hi! We were only 36 hours from walking on solid ground again... and then... STORM! We diverted 190 miles to go around from it, so that it won't be as bad. Here, the swells are an average of 14 feet (with many of the waves higher), but in the middle of the storm they were 30. Thank goodness we got out of there. However, because of the storm, we are going much slower than normal and we are going to be late getting into Japan. Yes, LATE! Not a fan of the storm anymore. It's actually really crazy out here. We're not allowed out certain decks and every couple of minutes the boat jumps and you honestly think it is cracking in half a' la Titanic.

Otherwise, the time on the boat has been good. The beginning had very calm seas and classes were normal (pretty boring to be honest) and there was a lot of random stuff coming up every night that made me not do homework. (Basically the usual problems I always run into) Plus its really easy to start falling alseep anywhere on board because the motion of the ocean is like being in a giant cradle. Also not good for studying.

We crossed the International Dateline on February 2nd, which means we skipped February 3rd. I will never have a February 3rd, 2010. (Never have I ever comment, you think? haha) It's odd to be ahead of EST again. It hasn't happened since the summer since I am always an hour behind home when I'm at school. I don't think I like it. But moving in a westward direction has its positives: we gained an hour last night and we gain another again! So exciting... but also causing me to sleep more often than is necessary. Oh well... I'm going to need all that extra sleep once I get through Asia. Its going to be a quick jaunt through Japan (if we ever get there), China and Viet Nam. Then we have a break of 8 days before getting to India. (I'll actually need that time to get mentally prepared for it... I'm kinda scared)

My plans for Japan are... (Day 1) Wander around Yokohama. I want to go up the elevator that goes up 60something floors in 45 seconds, visit the Ramen Museum and look at the waterline. I love coasts. (Day 2) My Cultural Tokyo trip. Its an FDP for my religion and politics class and we're going to see a lot of church type buildings. I'm travelling on the ship between Kobe and Yokohama so Day 3 will be me on the boat randomly hanging out with the people also on the boat. (Day 4) Hiroshima. (Day 5) Wandering around Kobe or possibly going to Kyoto. Probably not Kyoto though unless we get a really early start.

Hopefully we get to Japan almost on time. I don't want to lose hours of my first port! (Hawaii so doesn't count0

Tomorrow is Asia Day so we have random stuff we get to do. I think it'll be cool.

Byes!

Courtney

Honolulu: Day Two!

2010-01-30T23:17:00.000-05:00

Honolulu: Day Two!

The second day in Honolulu was the best day of the trip so far. (Although it has been less than two weeks) I was going on an FDP for a class I'm not in, so I thought it would be his entire class and then me, randomly in that group. I was completely wrong. There were no students from his class in our group. There ended up being only 6 students and 2 teachers on the trip. And we had a full size bus. It was pretty cool, but also totally threw off our sustainability theme. So the eight of us could have taken up six seats each and there still would be seats left over. It was really nice travelling in such a small group though. We didn't have to wait for tons of people who don't know how to time out 30 minutes and we didn't have to wait all the time for people who "got lost and couldn't find the bus" (that was an excuse on my trip the other day... yep, it is hard to find the 56 passenger bus that has bright pink flowers completely covering the sides... whatever)

The first thing we did was drive to Pearl Harbor. It was only about 15 minutes away from Honolulu Harbor and the drive was really pretty because there were high rises on one side of the road and mountains on the other. When we got there our bus driver went in to pick up our tickets. From friends who went the day before, I thought we were giong to have to wait an hour or more because they only allow 150 people on each shuttle. We ended up getting a time for the next showing which was in less than 20 minutes. (Another perk of having only 8 people in our group!) But the ticket itself was really cool because it had a little fact sheet of one of the pilots on the island that day that is credited with downing 2 Japanese planes.

The video that we started the tour with was crazy. Like, in a "I can't believe there are videos of this type of stuff and that this is what it looked like almost 69 years ago." It was a joint video made by both Japan and the US, so there were videos of Japanese pilots taking off of their aircraft carriers before the attack and then videos and pictures of the harbor on the day it happened. Interesting fact: the Arizona's band played a concert on the evening of December 6th. There was a picture from that too and it was sad knowing what happened to a lot of the men playing that day.

Once the video was over we walked to a boat that took us over to the viewing area, that rests over the Arizona. The view from the boat was really pretty: there were mountains to the right and then the harbor opening to the left. The boat docks on the side of the viewing platform and then you walk up stairs onto the main area. Before you get off they tell you not to take pictures and to walk staight into the main area so that the people who had already spent the 10ish minutes there could get off. The second some people got off though, they started taking pictures. It was really annoying that people can't even listen to a simple instruction like that. The exact same picture could have been taken from the boat on the way in. I wonder what it's like for the guard (I don't remember if he was in the Navy or Marines) to stand there day after day telling people to stop taking pictures, and then not having them listen. It's like the simplest request ever.

When I got in I went straight to the back of the platform where there is a list of names from the men who died on the Arizona. They completely cover the wall and its really creepy and sad knowing that the people listed are entombed in the sunken hull of the ship. In the video they also told us that many of the men on the Arizona who survived asked to also be buried in the water with the rest of their shipmates. I think they said 34 men have done it and they have a diver take the urn and place it near all the other men. Which makes being there even sadder.

So I also have another major issue with pictures here. Why do people feel the need to take a picture of themself on the viewing platform all smiley and happy? I know I take a ton of pictures, probably not in all the correct places, but taking pictures there just seems so disrespectful. Esepecially with the high amount of Japanese visitors there who were taking tons of pictures and some of them like funny pictures.I don't know. I can't imagine taking a picture like that there and I especially can't imagine taking a picture like that at Hiroshima when I go next week. Maybe I'm just ultra-sensitive to that? It's kind of like the fact that I don't take pictures of individual graves in a cemetary. Same concept, right? So I took probably fifty some pictures at the Pearl Harbor memorial, but not a single one has a person in the image.

After the Arizona I went into the gift shop where they was the author of an illustrated book on the history of Pearl Harbor. He was signing them and then there were three Veterans stationed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 who had signed the book yesterday. I bought the book, and then was able to get it signed by another Veteran. It's probably the coolest souvenier I'll get from this entire trip, just because I met the man there. I also bought a ton of postcards and a drawing of the Arizona. (I'm trying to stick with the theme of making sure I buy a peice of artwork from each country {I bought a photograph of the lava [that I didn't get to see] from volcanoes national park} I think I'll be able to find something I like from everywhere)

We also got a chance to go to the USS Missouri. Some quick facts:

~It was the last battleship ever used in combat in the entire world. (Desert Storm)

~Truman travelled on this ship with his wife and daughter for 15 days on the way back from South America and ate most of his meals in the dining hall.

~The Japanese surrendered outside of Tokyo on this ship. The coolest thing about the surrender was that after all the allies signed, approximately 1400 planes took off from carriers also in the harbor preparing to level the city if they didn't sign. Obviously they did, but it must have been quite a site to look up and see all the doors open with the bombs pointed at the city.

Walking around the ship was fun (Dad would love it... especially because there are lots of places that are restricted access but people got into to look around for a second without any complications, although they didn't hold any top secret stuff or anything =) There was a guided tour that took about 30 minutes and then we were free to look around it on our own. During the tour we saw the spot where a kamikaze hit the ship during the war and they gave him a funeral with military honors (a six fun salute), the place where the Japanese signed the surrender, and the spot where there will now be a women's restroom. (Very important because if you walk from where the bathroom is now and then through every spot on the ship you are allowed to go by the trip is over 1.5 miles) The first thing I did was go to the highest deck we were able to. It was interesting because we were able to look straight down the length of the guns and they were pointed straight at the Arizona Memorial. It was an interesting picture to take. I also went down to see the rooms where everyone stayed. I should honestly never complain about my room being small again, since they didn't even have seperate rooms and were on the ship for many more months then I will be. I took a picture in there in one of the bunk beds and my head is literally four inches away from the top of the next bed. And there was the dining hall, which was funny because some of the pop machines were really old school and then there was one that looked brand new. I guess it was used less than 20 years ago but it was still odd. (Britt: all the rooms reminded me of the cabinet war rooms... and this time I didn't have the swine while walking around them! YAY!)

And there was still a lot of construction going on. It has been opened for visitors for almost a decade (I think) but they recently acquired more funds and are able to now fix places they didn't have the money for before.

After we were done we went to eat and then saw Punchbowl Cemetary and the Iolani Palace and them came back to the ship.

Overview of Hawaii: Really pretty, but probably not the prettiest place I have ever seen (Monaco or maybe Cinque Terre wins there), but also with so many more things to do there. I would go back right away to see the Oklahoma Memorial, walk through Diamond Head, snorkel, go whale-watching, see lava, and see Mauna Loa. Definitely a cool place to go but while walking through the city it was exactly like any other city (or suburb in the case of Hilo). And the weather was hard to handle after not being in any warm climate (SD doesn't really count because we were inside the hotel and car a lot) for over four months. And we didn't see rain, which I guess is really uncommon for Hawaii. A good first port though, because it is just different enough from the mainland to be considered "foreign"

Byes!

Courtney

(PS: sorry for any spelling errors... there is no spell check on the email where I write them and I'm not paying that close of attention to it!)

Honolulu, Hawaii: Day one

2010-01-28T04:51:00.005-05:00

Hi again!

If you haven't read my other post yet, read Hilo first, since I was first on the itinerary!

We docked in Honolulu, Hawaii this morning. I still have tomorrow here but I won't have time to go online so I figured I would write and put pictures up now.

This morning I had an FDP (field directed practica) for my Sino-US Relations class to Chinatown. We walked to the area and then watched a short movie on the area. The theatre we watched the movie in was really cool. The walking tour was cool too. The picture below is me and Sun Yat-sen. (Anyone who emails me who he is without looking it up gets an extra postcard! cekaiser@semesteratsea.net Meghan... you should totally know this by now!) The chocolate was laying on the bottom of the statue... people give him offerings. The Chinese are freaking crazy. They give a statue chocolate... why not eat the chocolate?

This picture is of the oldest apothecary in Chinatown. It smelled HORRIBLE!

After the tour Gen, Kelli, and I skipped out early. They were going to a Dim Sum restaurant that was going to cost $20. Why pay that when we'll be in China in a couple of days? So we went back to get free lunch. (Well not free... I payed for it in my fees already)

There we met up with Jill and decided to go to Waikiki Beach! It was so great to go swimming in the ocean! (Although my throat kind of hurts from the salt water right now) The water was pretty warm. (I think... its hard to tell when you haven't been in it in a really long time) We went from about the middle all the way to one end which was really cool.

After swimming we got the other members of our group who decided to not go swimming and went shopping. I'm actually totally proud of myself because I managed to completely change from my swimsuit to a dress without any difficulties while on the beach in front of tons of people and without anyone near me. It may be my new greatest accomplishment. But I did end up buying a tshirt later and wearing a tshirt and shorts because the dress was annoying me!

In the mall area were my favorite things ever: LIVING STATUES! I took pictures with them and gave them a dollar each.. I was just so excited to see them. I also shopped a bunch too but didn't buy anything except for a hair clip.

Afterward we went to meet a bunch more people on the beach, where I saw the sunset! It was ssssooooooooooooooooooooo pretty! I loved it. We didn't stay for too long after it set, but it got a ton cooler once the sun went down so we got a shuttle/ taxi thing back to the ship. A bunch of the people ate at the ship, but Jill and I went to a brewery where I got a wedge salad and a mushroom/ swiss burger. It was very good and probably the last good meal I'll have until I get to Japan.

I'm going to leave now, with just a couple parting comments:

1) Someone get grandma a copy of this or sit her in front of the wwdot so she can read this.
2) I may not write again until Japan except for about Pearl Harbor tomorrow and there won't be any pictures.
3) Connor: plan on studying abroad when you're in college! It's great and much more fun then random school hang-outs (even though that is fun!)

Love you all,

Courtney

Hilo, Hawaii

2010-01-28T03:37:00.012-05:00

Hi!

Since I heard of 3 people that complained of me not writing in my blog, I decided it was time to write a blog! Plus, since I'm stealing internet from some sort of cafe, I can post some pictures (but I guess not of the boat, because I can't find them! whoops, I hope I didn't delete them... they may be on my external hard drive though)

First of all... the boat. I like it, but it is really small. I can get from my room, which is on the 2nd floor on one end to the dining hall, which is on the seventh deck on the other end in a minute and twenty seconds (without the elevator... I really want to go in it one time, but the only guy I've seen use it is the one on crutches, so I feel as if its off bounds) Oh, and I'm not allowed to be calling it a Boat. It's a ship. Oh well, they'll never read this.

My roommate's name is Gen. She's from MA and goes to Bridgewater State. I'm her first roommate ever, so I hope I don't scare her off forever.

Not too much happens on the boat. There are random activities every night, but nothing too exciting to write out. And classes are good. I ended up dropping photography and taking Religion and Politics instead, so that's the only thing to report.

Then onto port:

Day 1 in Hilo:

I woke up at 5am to watch the final pull into port. I'm glad I did. It was really pretty to watch the sunrise, especially when the light hit Mauna Kea. It was crazy because I couldn't tell that there was even a mountain.

We also had to go through customs, since officially we were in Mexico. It took all of two seconds. I grabbed my passport from an LLC (living learning coordinator... kind of an RA), showed it to the official, and handed it off to the lady from the purser. It only took a couple of minutes, so then I ate breakfast before meeting a group to walk into port.
I didn't have anything planned so I went with a group to downtown Hilo. We decided to walk, one of the few groups that did and it was a nice, although hot walk. I'm just not used to wearing a tshirt outside and still sweating whatever. It was about two miles away and we made a few stops on the way to take pictures.

The first thing that I did was go to a coffee shop because everyone else wanted to go online and check their facebooks and whatever. I didn't want to carry around my laptop, so I just sat there. When we arrived, there was a group of people having the owner put something on their tongueswith an eyedropper. I just ignored them until the owner asked us if we wanted to try kava. There was a system that started with him serving everyone in our group a coconut shell of this grey looking water. Before we were allowed to drink we threw water on the ground for the earth, water over our shoulder for the gods, and then all clapped together once before basically chugging the drink. When each of us finished we had to clap twice. To describe the taste, I can only say to think of the taste of plain iceberg lettuce and then make it into a drink. Yeah, quite interesting. A little later I decided to try the eyedropper thing, which was concentrated Kava and almost threw up. I would never try it again. What it is used for is a slight pain reliever and to give you a euphoric high. Apparently they used to sell it in Germany and all of these people died. (He said they made it wrong?) But I'm still alive 2 days later so it must be okay!

Jill and I walked around after that and then met up with the group again to go to the arch enemy of Brittany- Walmart. I don't care if it is evil... I'm just happy because I bought a watch and a pillow. So I now know the time and sleep better at night.

Later in the day we had a Lu'au! It was really cool. But the food was completely disgusting. I couldn't eat a single thing. There was poi (google it... it tastes like playdoh), pig, squid, salmon, yucky macaroni and cheese with mayonnaise in it and cold, plain white rice, and chicken with rice noodles. And edamame was the salad. I only tried a bite of each thing. I felt bad but it was just too disgusting, especially the poi.

We also made what they called leis but I call them ropes. They were made from tea leaves and we had to twist them. The picture below is of me and Marissa but my lei making partner's name was Julianne (It made me miss you Junit!)
Me, Jill, and Marissa at the lu'au.
The dancing at the Lu'au was really cool too. There were three different groups that performed, and each one was unique. My favorite one was the one where they perform with bamboo sticks (I feel like I should know the real name of them but I don't) The picture below is of that.

Day 2 in Hilo:

Today I went to Volcanoes National Park. The pictures kind of speak for themselves so I'm not going to write about all of them. It was really cool though. I just wish I could have seen lava. I wasn't able to because you could only see it at night and since it was during the day we didn't even go down to the coast. There was also one of the cool craters where we stood on top and there were people walking at the bottom. They were so far down... it takes 40 minutes to walk down so I couldn't imagine trying to walk up. The two pictures following are of exactly that. The second picture has 24x zoom, so just imagine what it looked like.
After the trip got back I just walked around the port for a little bit to get pop to take back on the boat and then went inside to call Brittany for almost 3 hours. It's crazy we won't be able to really talk again until May! I guess we could call for a couple minutes while I'm in the other countries but its just not the same.

To get to Honolulu, we had to all be on the ship. It was only overnight so I just played cards with some people and tried to write in my journal... it didn't work too well, but I'll catch up soon.

Tomorrow

2010-01-16T15:53:00.002-05:00

We're leaving tomorrow!!

Yesterday Mom and Dad and I went to the San Diego Zoo and I saw the pandas. I can now die happy =) They were really cute... and a lot smaller than I expected. I know they go up to like 300 pounds, but the ones were saw were 130 and 190 so they just seemed small. The zoo keeper said they ate and slept basically all day, which is what they were doing when we got there. They had great facial expressions... kind of like Luna!

Later I met some people from SAS. There were four of us sitting in the lobby when someone's dad came up to us and told us to go and join a group outside. There weren't too many people out there, but I don't really remember anyone's name... oops!

Our hotel is really pretty. We got upgraded to a better room because Mom was really nice to a lady who thought they didn't have our reservations, so we're on the 10th floor and our view is of the entire skyline and the marina pretty close to the hotel. Today we're repacking all my stuff... fun. And I think now we're going to the beach to see the actual Pacific Ocean... not just the marina.

20 Days!

2009-12-26T21:06:00.002-05:00

It's been a really long time since I've updated this, but I don't have too much to say. Yesterday was Christmas; and we got a puppy! Her name is Luna and she is totally adorable. She's laying next to me right now but is upside down; she actually looks completely ridiculous right now. Today Cole, Amanda, and I are watching The Big Bang Theory, again. But it's extremely amusing so I don't mind watching it.

I went to the doctor to get all of the vaccines and prescriptions, went to the eye doctor to find that I have 20/20 vision but have a muscular problem or something that makes me see double too often, so I bought glasses [ whoo hoo =( ], ordered all of my books (MU's books are much less expensive), went shopping for clothes for summer weather, and organized all of my Christmas gifts between items for my trip and items not for my trip (the ones for my trip are in the new room and the ones not are in the living room).

And I pre-ordered all of my trips. Before that, an explanation: Dad doesn't really want me to go on this trip. Mom wanted me to do whatever I wanted. I wanted to go on the trip. We kind of compromised: I am able to go on SAS, but I am not allowed to do any overnight independent traveling. So I have to plan all of my trips through SAS. Positives: I stay in really awesome hotels, I don't have to worry about making any plans, I don't have to worry if I have a big issue because there will be some sort of group leader, and I know I will see everything that I really want to and won't miss anything. Negatives: I can't explore on my own, I don't get to travel with who I want, and it leaves no room for big changes from my mind.

So, after saying all of that, I pre-ordered these SAS trips:

1) China: Beijing/ Xi'an: I see the Terra Cotta Warriors, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Tienanmen Square
2) Vietnam: Cambodia Trip: We go to Phnom Penh to see the memorials for the genocide, and to see the temples of Angkor Wat
3) India: Taj Mahal/ Varanasi: We see the Taj (duh), the cities of Agra and Delhi, and to see the Ganges River
4) South Africa: The Kagga Kamma Safari: it's one that is actually not in the best area for safaris but we don't need to fly and it sounds cool because we stay in these cave-type things
5) Ghana: The Cape Coast Historical Tour: I don't remember what we will do here, but it involves the slave dungeons and a nature reserve
6) Brazil: Iguassu Falls: This is the only trip that I am worried I won't be able to go on because of overcrowding. If I go, we go from Salvador to the border of Argentina and Brazil to see falls that are bigger than Niagara. I'm excited.

That was really long and I haven't said much. I'll have more to say once it gets even closer...

70 Days and Counting

2009-11-05T19:12:00.003-05:00

I leave for California in 70 days! Yay! It's kind of hard to imagine because I don't know how I'm going to get through all my classes until Thanksgiving, let alone having to go through finals and everything. (I wrote out all the papers (in addition to finals) I have to write by December 18 and they add up to the nice little number of 7... one 3-page, three 5-6 page, one 7-page, and one 10-12. Lovely) Oh well, taking one year off of undergrad will definitely be worth it in the end!

Class registration was on the 30th. I planned on taking two history classes and two political sciences to go with the required global studies. Then, while I was taking a shower, I thought "If I don't take Sino-US Relations, I'm going to regret it forever." Well maybe not forever, but long enough. {On a side note, I also decided to go to Marquette while in the shower and then came downstairs and told mom "I think I'll regret not going to Marquette." And that turned out to be one of the best decisions ever, so hopefully this one will be too!) And deciding that meant I needed a whole new schedule. So I'm taking: Global Studies (required but useless transfer credit wise), Sino-US Relations (an upper-division political science credit), Women in Power in Indian History (I really didn't want to take it but it was the only one that fit in my schedule and is an upper-division history elective), and Photography of Landscape and Architecture (which is just going to count for an elective, but it will make me totally happy, so it's worth it). I need to add one more class when I get on the ship, another poli sci elective, and I'm hoping it will be Religion and Politics.

I leave for San Diego with Mom and Dad on the 14th of January. I'm really excited to go there (1) because it will be farther west then I have ever gone before and (2) San Diego zoo has PANDAS!!! I've never been more excited for anything in my life. Yeah, I may sound more excited for pandas than I am for the trip in general, but I swear I'm excited for both of them equally =) And I love how in May I will never be able to say "it's farther west than I've ever gone before" because I will have circumnavigated the GLOBE! =) I'm getting nervous the closer it comes, but I think it's just nervousness from worrying about my gpa more than it is worrying about the trip. My cumulative gpa (MU calls it a qpa (quality point average), isn't that dumb?) after this semester is the gpa that law schools will see because transfer credits don't get added into my MU gpa... yeah, talk about pressure. However, to keep myself from totally freaking, I have taken to filling out "request catalog" forms from basically every law school in the country.

And tonight, Flashforward and Grey's Anatomy is on and I only have a quiz tomorrow, so I'm going to sit here and do nothing until 9. Even though it would be more fun to do nothing if Meghan were here :( and doing nothing too. (She's at the theatre!)

Oh, and I'm sorry for my epic use of parentheses; it's just how I am...

Test

2009-10-04T11:50:00.004-04:00

Just a test to see if the e-mail address of the blog works.

Itinerary and Plans

2009-09-18T21:21:00.005-04:00

So I figured out that Semester at Sea is the only study abroad program I want to travel with, I've convinced Mom and Dad to let me go (no easy feat as I'm sure everyone knows haha) and got Marquette to allow me to transfer the credits. The only things that I have left to do are figure out finances, pick my classes and get ready to go.

I'm kind of sad that I won't be at Marquette for the spring, but since Jay's getting married this summer I can't exactly go then. Plus, I'm already living away from home for 8 months out of the year and don't want to be gone for ten instead. I figured out that by going on this trip I am only missing 15 days that I would have been home (Easter and Spring Break) but that I am also going to be home 10 days earlier from SAS than I would be after finals weekend at MU. I think that five days is an amazing trade to travel around the world, don't you?

It will also be what I call "the last fun" because I'm going to spend the summer afterward working (hopefully) and probably taking a summer class and then my last year at MU is going to be crazy because I have to take 18 credits in order to still graduate in three year along with applying to Law school! And then after that starts three years of hell until I can get a job where my life turns into Dante's 9th circle for a least a few years. So three months is going to make up for the next ten or so years. I think that it is a great plan because my favorite thing in the world to do is travel and I know I would never see some of these places (Vietnam, Mauritius) without going on the ship.

My goal in life is that I am able to visit all seven continents. I have been to two... North American {obviously} and Europe. I thought I had been to South America when we went to Aruba but apparently that is still NA. By the end of this trip I will only have to go to Australia and Antarctica. For not even being twenty yet at the end of the trip, I think that is a great accomplishment :)

This is the itinerary for the trip. I leave from San Diego on January 17th so I am probably going to be leaving from Parma on the 14th because if we're going to fly to San Diego we may as well see some of the city. (I really just want to go to the zoo so that I can see a PANDA!)

San Diego, CA USA *
Hilo / Honolulu, Hawaii USA
Yokohoma / Kobe, Japan
Shanghai / Hong Kong, China
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
Chennai / Cochin, India
Port Louis, Mauritius
Cape Town, South Africa
Salvador, Brazil
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Fort Lauderdale, FL USA

I arrive back in Florida on May 5th. That's 109 days away from the continental United States. And I'm very excited to be gone and see everywhere!

<3 Courtney

*Notice that there are only 4 lifeboats on each side... it's going to be so tiny!