Day 13 (01-31-09)

Wow, failure on my part. The picture uploading was, in my mind, supposed to go a lot more smoothly. I apologize for the small amount of photos. The uploading took forever and the ones that I was able to put on the website were completely at random because I wasn’t able to see which ones I was uploading at the time. So I think I’m only actually in one of them that’s up there. Oops. I’ll get it figured out eventually. We get to Morocco on Monday and all 4 of my days there are occupied with a Semester At Sea related trip, so I don’t think I’ll have time to get to another café whilst in port. This appears to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. But I’m not too worried about it. You’ll get some visuals eventually.

After some more wandering in Cadiz today, I got back on the ship to siesta and get ready for departure. It was nice having everyone back on the ship together to talk about what we saw in port. I personally love that there are so many of us here that I could take a 2 hour train ride from the port city to another and still see fellow SASers (pronounced ‘sassers’) wandering aimlessly around just like me. And yet we all have different stories to tell because our meanderings took us in different directions around town. Random: I just discovered today that the Cathedral in Sevilla is the resting place of Christopher Columbus. I saw his tomb, I photographed it, and I was still ignorant enough to miss its significance while I was there. I remember being in a church somewhere else in Europe (Italy I think?) a few years back and it had the remains of several renowned historical figures, Galileo and Michelangelo among them. And the tour guide mentioned something about Columbus being significant in the church, but not actually entombed there. He chose to be placed in a cathedral in Spain. Well, I TOTALLY found him. Columbus can’t hide from me.

Back to today… actually, nothing else really happened. We left Cadiz behind and now we’re on our way to Gibraltar to refuel. There was a guy in the piano lounge that was playing guitar so I sat down next to him and started singing. We got a sing-along jam session going with everyone else in the room. It was acceptable. And apparently the water is pretty rough tonight and everything in our bookstore is taped down to the shelves. All of the books in the library are bungee corded in place. Dishes in the dining hall are shifting around. It’s different.

Alright, midnight means bed time. Orientation about Morocco starts early tomorrow, so it’s time for some sleep.

Paz y amor.

Snafu

My photo uploading ability hit a little bit of a snag. I forgot that all the pictures I`ve taken thus far are high resolution, and thus, very large files. This means that uploading them to the internet in a cafe with a slow-ish computer and a slow-ish internet connection take awhile. I`uploading as fast as I can and I`ll add as many as possible before my time runs out. Here`s the link for the pictures:

Photos

Day 11 (01-29-09)

Today: Sevilla. The 11:05 train from Cadiz pulled out of the station on time and got us to Sevilla by 12:50. Regarding the journey, here’s Cliff notes version: Rain, tree, beach, lamb, tractor, windmill farm, more lambs, vineyards, solar panel field, grass, more lambs, jagged rocks, business park, SERIOUSLY what’s with all these freaking lambs? Anyway.

Upon arrival, mis amigos y yo needed to find a place to stay for the night. We found the main street that cuts through the heart of Sevilla and started walking. Then… there it was. It was beautiful. While walking down the street I saw a small sign attached to a storefront that read “Hostal” with an arrow pointing towards a side street. When we got to the side street, I was elated. It wasn’t a side street; it was a sketchy alley, approximately 100 feet long. At the end of this alley were two doors. There was a garage door on the right and a people door on the left. The kicker: Hanging above the door was a tall neon sign that also just read “HOSTAL.” I knew this had to be the place where we’d stay. This is the stereotypical place that people specifically tell you to avoid when you go out in unfamiliar places. Nestled in a narrow alley with its name in neon like a seedy strip joint, this was to be our home for the evening. In all actuality, it was a safe place. The receptionist had to buzz everyone in through the front door and she kept the room key at the desk whenever we left. Someone was on duty 24 hours a day. It was a solid find. So we piled 5 people into 3 beds and got comfy. Sort of. Whatever, it only cost us 17 Euros apiece; Caesar’s Palace, eat your heart out. 

A brief walk around the city led us to the Plaza de España, a huge building that was probably once used for something historical in some previous era of Spanish history, I’m sure. Don’t judge me, it wasn’t a guided tour and I’m clueless. Face value is all I got. Pictures will be uploaded shortly.

After the Plaza, we went to the Gardens right across the street and my day got even better. Why? Cyclobus. Chris, what are you talking about? What’s a cyclobus? Patience is a virtue, I’ll tell you momentarily. A cyclobus is like a surrey that you’d rent on the Boardwalk. But it’s cooler. Because it’s Spanish. We crammed 5 people into this bicycle-powered monstrosity that carried us around the gardens at our leisure. It’s one of those things that your mom would never let you do because it’s so ridiculous and you’d completely stand out as *that* tourist that everyone hates. WELL GUESS WHAT. I’m that tourist. Deal with it. Seriously though, it was the best idea we had all day. 

Afterwards, we were completely drained from the Fred Flintstone mobile, so we went back to the hostel for una siesta. Two hours and two episodes of Spanish-language “Password” later, we found dinner at a restaurant called Baco. It’s a Spanish tavern and it was fantastic. We essentially just bought a bunch of appetizers, or tapas, and split them between us. Queso Manchego = bread and unbelievably good cheese. Croquettas de Jamon = Similar to croquettes that you can get in America, but these were just prepared very well and were of the ham variety. Best part? Do you really need to ask? Dessert. It was called Perfeit de Chocolate… two chunks of chocolate cake/fudge with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. There was also a second dessert with warm roasted pears and vanilla ice cream. I’m not kidding guys- fly to Spain for a week, see some sights if you really feel like it, but just eat a small meal every other hour. It really is the way to go. 

What do you get when you add a full day of walking/cyclobus-ing and several delicious meals? Sleepy Turistas. Bed time.

Day 12 (01-30-09)

And we pick up in medias res as I awake from my slumber in the seedy hostel bed to find that everything in the room is mildly damp. There was no heat or ventilation, and I suppose the cold air in the room condensed or something. Don’t ask me, I’m an English Major. I stopped taking chemistry classes for a reason.

More sightseeing today: The Cathedral of Sevilla and the Alcazar Palace. Both were incredible. Both took a lot of time to explore. Typical European tourist draws: churches and palaces. Go figure. Anyway, not much detail is needed for explanations, as the pictures should speak for themselves. You got it kiddos, that day has finally arrived... tomorrow. After breakfast I’ll be snagging some Wi-Fi in Cadiz and uploading photos to the internet. Exciting, I know. Well, it’s 3:30am and I have to be awake at 9:30 for breakfast. Plus I still have to sort through my pictures to figure out which of the 714 photos I’ve taken since the Bahamas should go online. And no, that’s not just a random figure put out there for dramatic effect (I would do that, so I thought I should clarify). I have actually taken 714 photos in the last 2 weeks. Yeah…

Anyway, today’s post was fairly brief, but I have a tendency to ramble on about nothing, so it’s probably better that way. Pictures tomorrow!

Fact: an old man working at the Alcazar palace today called me a hippie because of my pink bandana. This man seemed to know about 12 words of English. And one of them was hippie.

Day 10 (01-28-09)

España. We made it. It doesn’t really matter to me where we are at this point. After 9 days at sea, I’m just happy to have my feet on solid ground. As my friends and I departed the ship around 10am, we went to do what every person in the world should do immediately when they get to Spain… EAT. The food is so good here, and the only thing Spaniards do all day? Eat. It’s tremendous. Restaurants typically have a set eating schedule, and we were made aware of this before getting to port. Breakfast lasts from about 6:30-10. Snack time from 11-1. Lunch, the biggest meal of the day, runs from 2-4. Another two rounds of snacks take place between 5 and 9, and then dinner runs from about 9:30-11:30 (I had Octopus and it was really good. Not squid or calamari… octopus. It was purple and everything). As our guest lecturer (A man named Sir David Geis, author of 14 books on Spanish culture, knighted by King Juan Carlos, several-time University of Virginia Professor of the Year, etc) told us, if you come into Spain trying to eat like an American, you’ll starve to death. It’s true; looking for a more substantial meal at snack times is a very hard thing to do, as most kitchens are closed and employees are taking part in the best activity in which a person can indulge: SIESTA! Nap time. I love it.  We can learn something from Spain. 4 hours on, 2 hours off, 4 hours on… yeah, I could get used to it.

While I could give you a detailed play-by-play of the day’s meals (pot roast with potatoes and Sangria at 1pm… beautiful), I wouldn’t want to make you TOO jealous, so I’ll stick with the highlight. Churros con Chocolate. Remember the churros you can get in Mexican restaurants or school cafeterias? These aren’t those churros. These are more like funnel cake in stick form, covered with granulated sugar, deep fried 12 times, covered in butter, thrown in a vat of some other unhealthy grease-like material, covered in sugar again, and then served to you with a thick, warm beverage that is essentially the best hot chocolate you’ve ever had, only four times as thick.

I’ll give you a few moments to reflect.

Can you taste it yet? No. You can’t. But I did. Because my life is awesome.

I’m sorry, that was mean and inappropriate. I’m just really excited and I’m still a little hopped up from all the sugar and caffeine. Anyway, back to Cadiz. I was surprised this morning when I got off the ship and saw palm trees. Palm trees in Spain? It makes sense with the Mediterranean climate, but I never really thought about it. Today, it was about 70 degrees outside as we wandered the narrow, cobblestone streets. Cadiz reminds me a little bit of Lucerne, Switzerland. It’s a smaller European town, very outdoorsy, and it’s surrounded by water. I was surprised how few people speak English here, which sounds like an ethnocentric and typically arrogant American statement, but compared with other European countries I’ve visited in the past, English is far less widely used. It’s more of a challenge; I can put my 3 years of high school Spanish to the test. Yes!

Side note: Even after making two separate appointments with my bank to tell them about my trip abroad just to make sure nothing would go wrong… lo and behold, the first time I stopped at an ATM machine, both my check card and credit card were denied. And, being 8 hours ahead of the Mountain Time Zone in Boulder, I had to go 8 hours without cash. Most of the food I was buying was inexpensive and many places have minimum spending amounts for credit cards. But I pressed through. I spend $20 on 13 minutes of phone time for a call back to Boulder, settled the matter, and now I can use my card again. Let’s hope the same thing doesn’t happen in Morocco. Yikes.

I’m spending the night tonight on the ship and heading off to Sevilla tomorrow.  Some more general exploring will ensue and then a group of us are going to try to find a hostel where we can spend the night. But apparently several of them are already booked with the other 500 SAS kids that are spending tomorrow night in Sevilla. Oh well, we’ll figure something out; we’re resourceful.

¡Hasta luego!

Day 6 (01-24-09)

Cabin fever hasn’t quite set in yet… but it’s getting close.  We had a Swing Dancing workshop last night and it was pretty awesome. There were far too many people in the room though, so I’m hoping the crowd dwindles from week-to-week. But I’m in it for the long haul. You heard it here first.

Day 7 (01-25-09)

Are we there yet?

Day 8 (01-26-09)

As of today, I have, in my possession, knowledge so valuable it is only ever bestowed upon two Semester at Sea students per term. I was not one of these students. But. I was cunning and charming enough to befriend these students. And, as such, they passed the information along to me. What, you may ask, is kept such a secret that those out of the loop remain envious for the entire voyage? Well, it follows along the lines of what appears to be a growing trend in this blog: Food. More specifically: A recipe. It is a recipe for a simple, yet delicious treat that keeps us going when the dining hall food does not. Ladies and gentleman… Crack Toast. If you are fortunate enough to have had this rare delicacy in years past, you know its value. If you aren’t… you’re missing out. But I will never divulge the ingredient list that has been bestowed upon me. No one could ever get it out of me. Except Jack Bauer. But seriously, that just wouldn’t be fair. That guy comes chasing after you with a ballpoint pen and you’re done. Anyway. I hope this occupied you for a few minutes. I really just couldn’t think of anything else worthwhile to write.

Day 9 (01-27-09)

I’ll be in Spain tomorrow. Finally. Stories will ensue. Also, just to get them out of the way, I’ve been getting some e-mail questioning me about trivial things like classes and such. As a means of answering all of these questions, I will just post the responses to your questions here, in the order that I received them.
1. Classes are fine; I haven’t dropped or switched any of them.
2. My roommate and I get along. He’s a junior in high school and I think they paired me with him since I’m young? He has two older siblings on the ship and they’re pretty close. He typically hangs out with some of the other 16-17 year old dependent kids on the ship, or with his siblings, but he’s not having any trouble making friends. I’m glad everyone’s so worried about my roommate. I’m fine too, by the way.
3. I haven’t made a single friend. I sit in my room alone with the lights off all day long wishing I were back in the States. Hahaha do you people know me? Seriously? I’m having a great time. Me + new people = fun time. And since 80 of the 730 students are from CU-Boulder, I’m not even the biggest hippie here. It’s close though. I do wear a pink bandana every day. (Also, a big thank you goes out to all of my previous English teachers for telling me to proofread my work, because otherwise, the previous sentence would have read “I do wear a pink banana every day”). People just see the bandana and recognize me. I’m helping people to feel confident in their name-remembering ability. Okay, enough with the tangents, next question.
4. Yes, there is a day on the ship called Neptune Day where we have our Sea Olympics and various tasks are performed. Yes, I will be shaving my head as a part of these festivities. And yes, there will be pictures.
5. Supposedly, there are 3 other North Penn graduates on this voyage. One of them got me to join the trip, so I already know her. Another is in my Media course, and the 3rd is M.I.A. Apparently she exists, but I have no evidence to support this notion. Time will tell.
6. Global Studies, the mandatory course for all students, is held in the Union, the large gathering room in the front of the ship, but all students don’t fit inside. So the lectures for that class are broadcast throughout the ship on all public televisions in the other 9 classrooms and the piano lounge. They chose not to simulcast the class into all of our cabins because, well let’s face it, who would actually go to class? Not me. My other 3 classes have 18-35 people in them, so they’re held in regular classrooms.
7. No
8. The ratio of female students to male students on the ship is almost 3 to 1. In our population, 73% of students are female and 27% are male. In short… I like my odds. And the scenery is just lovely.
9. Only on the weekends.
10. No, you cannot have the recipe for Crack Toast.

Day 4 (01-22-09)

Note to self:
1. The Mini Wheats they have at breakfast are NOT frosted. Disappointing.
2. The milk tastes funny. But it’s powdered, so I’ll let it go.
3. The food here will get old fast. Like… really fast.
4. I'll probably get salmonella from the peanut butter but it's SO worth it.
5. Catch Phrase, Spoons, Apples to Apples, and Spit will get me through the day.
6. Hahahaha I live on a cruise ship. Nice.

Day 5 (01-23-09)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Also, last night was the 3rd consecutive night that we’ve had to move our clocks forward an hour, and we’ll have to do it again 3 more times before we get to Spain. This whole 23 hour day thing is more exhausting than I expected. Luckily, that’s what naps are for.

These posts are actually really easy to do from the ship; I just have to e-mail them to the website and they appear as-is on the page. But photos are going to require a little more effort, and I won’t be able to add them until I’m in port somewhere. I realize that the pictures are the main draw for travel blogs like this, so bear with me. I’ll post them as soon as I can. Maybe I’ll find a Starbucks in Spain and snag some Wi-Fi. We’ll see.

Day 1 (01-19-09)

Today we set sail from Nassau in the Bahamas. And so the semester begins. First impression? Favorable. After boarding the ship I found my room and later realized that my room appears to be the only one on the 5th floor with students in it. All of the other rooms on 5 are for faculty and staff members. Weird. And my roommate is a junior in high school. His parents work on the ship and he’s just coming along for the ride. This is his 3rd voyage with SAS. Rough childhood, I know.

Anyway, the boat is definitely rocking. A lot of people have already gotten sick, but I’m sure the uneasiness will wear off for them eventually. Personally, I think it’s kind of nice. Every time I sit down on my bed the ship rocks me to sleep. Oh well.

Day 2 (01-20-09)

We had orientation all day today and, as expected, it was terribly boring. But we did get a break in the middle of the day to watch live coverage of Obama’s inauguration, and later on there was an Obama-rama party. And there was cake. Needless to say, I was pleased.

I have a feeling this is going to happen to me several times over the semester, but I had a conversation with this incredible professor at the party. I didn’t catch his last name at the time, but he went by Terry. For starters, he was wearing an anti-Bush t-shirt, which was amusing in its own right, but this guy had stories for everything. He was born in Ireland, lived in Libya until college when he went to the University of Minnesota, and now he’s been in South Africa since then. Once in South Africa, he became a banker and met his wife, who just happened to be the personal assistant to the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and she has now held that title for 22 years. Under the Apartheid government, his son was being forced to join the military at the age of 15, and Terry was not about to let that happen. So after some dealings had gone south in his banking industry, he became an activist for South African rights and he’s been doing that ever since. Oh, and he’s currently involved in some little lawsuit… he’s suing the South African President. Wait, what? Who does that? How does one even go about suing the leader of a nation? Ridiculous.

Also, update: we’re in the middle of nowhere in the Atlantic Ocean right now. Land is currently not visible in any direction and won’t be for another week. Our current ocean depth is 5,500 meters, which is something like 19,000 feet. Gulp. But I have two classes for the first time tomorrow and I’ll have another two the following day, so we’ll see how that goes.

Day 3 (01-21-09)

For the first time since first semester freshman year, I got out of bed and ready in time for breakfast. At 8am. On purpose. There’s no way that’ll last. The required course for everyone onboard, Global Studies, met for the first time today. Although the class itself may be intolerably monotonous, the hippie professor should be interesting. He was definitely a flower child. The dude’s got long gray hair in a ponytail, purple t-shirts with tye-dye, Freddy Mercury references, and anecdotes about his pickup truck and its many bumper stickers (Have you thanked a green plant today?). Yeah.

Well I have 5 hours until my next class so I think it might be naptime. I just wanted to post some highlights and let everyone know that all is well. Oh, weather notice: it is currently 77 degrees and sunny. Not to gloat or anything, I’m just saying.

Things To Look Forward To

Just to get a head start on this blog, I figured I'd post some pictures (excuse my copyright infringement) of some of the places I'll be visiting this semester. I have no idea if my travels will include any of these things, but I definitely hope they do. Posting individual pictures on a Blogspot site is irritating and time consuming when you have to do it one at a time, so I'll be using one or two external sites and linking them to this one. 

Photos