Day 29 (09-24-10)

Another day, another SAS trip… how unlike me. We boarded the buses and left for Kakum National Park around 8am. The main attraction at Kakum National Park? The canopy walkway. 130 feet above the rainforest floor, a series of platforms has been constructed across the treetops. A 6-inch wide plank resting on some rickety ropes with makeshift rope handrails were the only things separating our group from the flora and fauna below. Unfortunately, the wild animals of the rainforest typically steer clear of this heavily visited tourist attraction, and can usually only be spotted at night. But the hike was great and it was a unique way to view the rainforest. Apparently it’s the only walkway of its kind in Africa, and one of the only ones in the world. Awesome.

Afterward, some local villagers performed traditional dances and greeted us with some drumming. I grabbed a coconut for a snack and watched the performance with the group. It was interesting to see the Ghanaian culture coming through in the dances and songs.

We ate lunch at the Rainforest Lodge just outside the park, and it was a blend of local and Western foods. Some sort of fish soup that was actually quite vile was paired with some delicious lasagna. Plus, you can’t go wrong with chicken, rice, and homemade ice cream.

My bus buddy for the trip was a lifelong learner named Kim that’s on the voyage with her 3 kids. Through a set of rather fortunate circumstances, a benefactor is paying for her and the family to go around the world for a few months. We ate lunch together and talked during most of the day’s bus rides. It’s always neat to meet the families that are on the ship. Everyone’s so friendly; it’s like you’re being adopted into a family away from your own. And they’re from Boulder, so I have another place to visit whenever I go back to Colorado.

On the way back to Takoradi we stopped in Elmina for a walking tour of the coastal fishing village. Unfortunately, we had spent more time in Kakum and at lunch than we had originally anticipated, so the tour was rather truncated. We glimpsed the Elmina Castle and wandered through the fishing village while learning some history about the area. Since today is a Friday, no one was doing any fishing, but the canoes were all lining the lagoon and fishermen were doing work to prepare for their next outings.

After we got back to the ship and had eaten dinner, a viewing of Toy Story was deemed necessary (by me) before we went out around 9:30. The duty-free store in Takoradi’s port was about 40 feet away from the MV Explorer, and it became a place for SAS students to go and hang out if they didn’t want to leave the port area. It was a small store in the middle of a big empty warehouse, so we ended up buying some snacks and drinks and loitering in a warehouse for a few hours. It sounds rather sketchy… and that’s because it probably is. A couple hundred students basically took over a liquor store and then drank outside of it. But I imagine the SAS students gave that store more business over the past few nights than they’ve seen in the entire month before we got there. It was fun to kick back and unwind with friends after a few draining days in a new place. We headed back across the street and onto the ship around 1am after the store had closed and most of the students had left to go out to the few bars in town. My roommate was still awake when I got back, and a group of us were hanging out in my cabin for another couple hours. We usually run in different crowds, so it was nice to sit down and get to know a new group of people. 3am? Oy. Late night. Sleep time. Exploring Takoradi tomorrow!

Day 28 (09-23-10)

6:30am. I’m first in line for the bus. The Habitat For Humanity trip was sold out, so I’m hoping that partied too hard last night and I can steal their spot. No problem. Apparently several people were in that situation, because 4 or 5 of us were able to get onto the trip. Hooray! Time to drive 3.5 hours to Assin Faso.

Upon our arrival to the village, we were assigned to one of three houses. One of them was already built and roofed, it just needed some detail work leveling the floors and touching up the walls. The other two houses were still at the foundation level, and floors had not even been poured yet. I was working on the least-completed house, and our main job was to haul cinder blocks from a nearby field onto the worksite. Once we had assembled a large enough quantity, we helped the local workers to mix mortar and start placing the cement blocks into their appropriate places in the walls. Unfortunately, our group was rather large (even when split amongst 3 sites), and the local Habitat branch had few tools for us to use. Instead of having a group of 20 people applying layers of mortar to the cinder blocks, we could only have 4 people doing it at a time. But we were still able to do a great deal of work in the short amount of time (3-4 hours) that we had. Some of the locals provided us a great lunch of fried chicken and rice with orange Fanta.

Afterward, we left for the journey back to Takoradi. Our bus had to stop to get air in its tires at some point? It was weird, and I was sleeping, so I’m not entirely sure what happened. But apparently we stopped for 30 or 40 minutes and our driver got out to talk to the people that ran the gas station while the tired were filled. We didn’t really know what was going on, but we continued and made it back to the port in the evening. After some dinner and a shower, I kept it low key again and stayed on the ship for the night. Habitat drained my energy, Takoradi doesn’t have very much in terms of nightlife, and I have another SAS trip tomorrow morning at 8am. All of that = bedtime.

Day 27 (09-22-10)

We’re in Ghana! Originally, the ship was scheduled to dock in Tema, Ghana, which is just outside the capital city of Accra. But the Spring voyage this year docked in Tema, and it took many hours for any of the SAS sponsored trips to get anywhere from the ship. Traffic in Ghana moves at a snail’s pace, and traveling through Accra to get anywhere else takes a substantial amount of time. With that in mind, SAS moved our arrival to Ghana’s other main port: Takoradi. Whereas Tema is the leading port for imports and a secondary port for exports (70%/30%), Takoradi is the main port for exports and a secondary one for imports (70%/30%). As such, we are approximately 4 hours away from Accra on the western portion of the Ghanaian coast.

Customs officials took a few hours to go through passports this morning when we docked in Takoradi, but it didn’t affect me because I was on an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) for my World Religions class. Around 10am, we debarked the ship and made our way to the bus. The Takoradi port is similar to the port in Casablanca in that it is very industrialized and doesn’t seem to see much tourist traffic, but it is much smaller. There were a few merchants selling their goods on the pier because they knew we were coming, and there was one duty-free shop in the building adjacent to our berth. 

For our trip today, we journeyed to Cape Coast, a city in the central region of Ghana that was originally renowned for its position in the slave trade. There are 3 prominent castles in Ghana (we saw 2) that factored into the African slave trade. African people were brought by other Africans from Central and West Africa and sold into slavery to the European traders.

Once in Cape Coast, we made our way to St. Nicholas Seminary. We were received by the dean of the school and attended a lecture about the importance of Christian religion in Ghanaian society. The sermon included a history and description of common African tribal beliefs, and it gave a glimpse into the way that African culture blends with Christian worship. Afterwards, we had a question-and-answer session with the seminary students and their teachers, and we learned a great deal from each other. For instance, Ghanaians do not find polygamy to be a taboo subject. It’s not specifically encouraged, but our hosts were not opposed to a man taking multiple wives. On the other hand, the concept of gay marriage was completely foreign to them, as homosexuality is illegal in Ghana, and they could not understand how such an act could be allowed in American culture. It is still unrecognized in many places in America, but our particular group of students was rather liberal, and we all agreed that we were comfortable with the idea. They were also perplexed at America’s separation of church at state. The idea of civil union versus religious marriage was fascinating to them, as there is no such system in place for them. Overall, it was a great experience and we enjoyed the time we had to learn from one another.

Afterwards, we drove into town and got a better look at Cape Coast Castle. A group of us wanted to stop at an ATM, so our tour guide found a Barclays bank for us to use. At that point, I realized that I had to use the facilities, as they say. I walked into the bank looking for a washroom, but there wasn’t a public one for customers. A partially-out-of-uniform bank guard (who didn’t actually work at this bank) approached me with his automatic weapon in hand and waved for me to follow. And when a stern-faced guard in a uniform waves an automatic weapon in your face and tells you to follow him… you do. He walked me up the street to another bank (presumably the place where he was employed) and took me behind the counter. Other guards stood and tried to stop me from coming into a restricted area, but my leader waved and them and said something in the local language (Twi), and they allowed me to pass. He led me down a flight of stairs to a storage basement and pointed under the stairs at a dark doorway. He said, “There you go, hurry up,” and continued nonchalantly pointing the gun towards the doorway. I walked inside and realized there was no light switch, and the room was almost pitch black. I had to let my eyes adjust to the light long enough for me to even find the toilet, then I quickly played a guessing game called “aim in the dark” and I made it out as soon as I could. The guard led me back up the stairs, I thanked him, and he smiled and said, “You’re welcome… Enjoy Ghana.” And that’s why I love traveling to some of these places. This situation would be completely unimaginable in the USA, but it’s probably rather commonplace in an area like Ghana. Plus, after all of the traveling I’ve done in the past, I knew that this guy was only trying to help me out. Adding some tension into the story just makes it more interesting.

We made our way back to the ship in the early evening and I grabbed dinner on the ship. I’m trying to get onto a service visit in the morning, so I’m staying in and getting some sleep tonight. Hopefully there will be a spot available for me so I can build a house tomorrow!

Day 20 (09-15-10)

And now we’re back to life on the ship. Constant discussion about Morocco and Spain keeps occurring, as many of us haven’t seen each other in 10 or 11 days. I made it to global studies this morning with pop tarts in hand and suffered through most of a lecture about African import/export practices. As usual, online solitaire was the crutch that got me through the class. Our environmental science professor took our pictures in class today to better remember our names. It makes sense, it was just random and weird at the time. Especially considering it’s day 4. Why didn’t he do it on the first day? Are we that unmemorable? Bizarre.

I started my malaria medication tonight. I didn’t bring anything with me because my home travel doctor would only prescribe Malarone (the $10/pill medicine that basically gave me the flu), so I held out and decided to get some Larium on the ship (only for prevention in Ghana, not the rest of the trip). It’s a once-weekly pill that has some interesting potential side effects (vivid dreams, hallucinations, depression, permanent central nervous system damage), but it seemed like the best option for me at the time. We’ll see how that works out for me.

Day 21 (09-16-10)

Weird dreams? Check. I was stuck in an episode of Criminal Minds and we caught the killer at the end. Naturally, Ellen Page was the killer. And as soon as we were hauling her off into the police car, I realized that she had set a booby trap in the tree outside and I was a part of her master plan for murder. But I survived the explosion and everything ended happily. Then I woke up drenched in sweat and felt like I had been asleep for about 20 hours, when really it was 7:30 and I had been asleep for about 5. It could just be coincidental, but I’m definitely blaming the meds for that one.

Settlers. For the first time all voyage, I played Settlers of Catan. It was fantastic. Whereas last time I was the new kid that didn’t know about the game, now I’m the guru trying to spread the word. It was so much fun playing again (and I won, by the way), so I’m definitely glad I brought it along. Tip of my hat to Jonathan Katz for that one.

The ship did its fuel bunkering in the Canary Islands this morning. During lunch and class, we checked out Las Palmas from the windows. It’s always cool to see land in the distance, even if we aren’t able to debark and check it out.

I found a girl who gives massages. Wonderful, deep tissue, painful, amazing massages. And now I’m relaxed. We had our first Extended Family Dinner tonight, and my on-ship grandparents are 10-time SAS repeaters. They first sailed in 1983, and they’re now on voyage number 10. Each of their (actual) grandchildren has done the SAS program, and these two just tag along for the ride whenever that happens. Their last one is onboard now, so they’re enjoying a final hurrah around the world with her. What a life. Us (and my 5 siblings) chatted for awhile about travel and school and made plans to meet up again after Ghana. The “grandchild” who takes the best photo in Ghana will win a prize! It’s exciting. I hope I’m that cool/well-traveled when I’m their age.

We watched Monsters Inc tonight (thanks again, Mandy, for buying me a copy in Vietnam), and it was as great as ever. Billy Crystal and John Goodman at their best. In the Piano Bar, a couple friends started playing random songs and a mini-singalong started amongst all those present. Giggles banged out the only song she knows on piano (the opening hook of Don’t Stop Believin’) and Howard played some recognizable movie tunes (A Whole New World, My Heart Will Go On), and it eased some of the stress in the room for those people that were studying. Fun night.

Giggles’ birthday was on the 12th in Morocco, so she wasn’t able to get her cake until afterwards (aka tonight). Vanilla ice cream cake. Massive. Delicious. Awesome.

Bedtime… sweet dreams?

Day 22 (09-17-10)

Not even going to mention the dreams anymore. Suffice it to say, they’re bizarre. But my 12:15 class was cancelled today, so I got to relax and hang out in the piano bar all afternoon. Nice. I have a couple midterms coming up, so I feel like I should be studying for them. Maybe. We’ll see.

Some of us have been on a movie kick recently, so we kept it up tonight with Seven. Kevin Spacey being all creepy. Battle of the Sexes board game afterwards. Not even a competition. The men dominated. Insert macho, sexist joke here. I realize these at-sea posts are pretty thin sometimes, but some days are truly just mundane. Not in a bad way. I don’t know.

Day 23 (09-18-10)

Best news of the day? Mac n Cheese/Fries for lunch… so exciting. Oh, and there was apple pie with dinner? Unbelievable. Ship food has gotten rather monotonous already, but this was a nice change of pace. The movie streak continued with Blood Diamond this evening, but we didn’t finish it. I’m not sure whose idea it was to watch a graphically violent movie about family struggle and the illegal diamond trade as preparation for West Africa, but it certainly didn’t put the rest of the group at ease. Granted, the film is (loosely) based upon events occurring in Sierra Leone in the ‘90s and does not concern Ghana at all, but it still wasn’t the best movie to watch before entering the region. Whoops.

There was a thunderstorm brewing somewhere off in the distance tonight, so a few of us went to the back deck to look out and watch the lightning. Introspective moment. Surrounded by water and everything and nothing all at once. I love this ship.

Environmental studies midterm tomorrow. Time to (pretend that I’m going to) study!

Day 24 (09-19-10)

Taco Day Number 2?!? No way! Seriously, that’s such good news. A full, mounded plate of taco-y goodness. Perfection. But the environmental science midterm in rough waters… not the best combination with taco day. Our World Religion study session went well, so I’m basically a master of Judaism now. Mazel Tov. And I learned some new game called Monopoly Deal. It’s based on Monopoly, but it’s a card game with no board. I like it.

And I’m blogging late again without taking adequate notes, so I don’t remember any other details from the day. Oh well.

Day 25 (09-20-10)

World Religion midterm… one of the easiest tests I’ve ever taken. At dinner tonight, there was a beautiful sunset. It was the first one that really captivated everyone’s attention (other than the first night, simply because it was the first night). People just congregated on the back decks and stared out at the sky. One of those skies that could never be translated to canvas no matter who was trying to paint it. Another introspective moment that ended up lasting much longer than I had initially intended. It’s easy to get wrapped up.

Ghana is almost here!

Day 26 (09-21-10)

Definitely got an A on the Environmental Science exam. Cake. After an uneventful day of 2 classes and 3 meals, it was finally time for Logistical Pre-port at 8pm, because we’re arriving in Ghana tomorrow. The medical team dressed up like hippies and sang a little song to the tune of The Age of Aquarius (We’re in Ghana but we ain’t got malaria). It was kitschy, but hilarious. One of the professors even gave an in-depth description of the proper way to use a squat toilet. As someone with prior experience in that department, it was especially funny.

Afterwards, we spent the evening playing cards and talking about plans for Ghana. We’re expected to be clear by 10am tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens. I’ll write again next time I’m at sea!

Day 18 (09-13-10)

I don’t have any plans today… hmmm. Grabbed some breakfast and started writing out some postcards afterwards. A few of us wandered around Casablanca through the marketplace for a couple hours before coming back to the ship. Something about the heat here is just draining all of my energy. It makes me rather glad that I didn’t have to endure that awful Philadelphia heat this past summer. After a nap and some blogging, I decided to be a bit more productive, and a group of us went out into town to find some dinner and to go through the marketplace again. I’m not much of a shopper, but there are a few specific things in Morocco that I can’t leave without. Well, I can. I’d just prefer not to. I’ll let you know afterwards whether or not I actually find them all in the next two days.

Dinner wasn’t anything noteworthy, and the shopping didn’t even pan out. Too exhausted to even care at this point, and starting to feel a little bit under the weather. But we watched Aladdin tonight, and that was a highlight for the day. People kept singing Street Rat and Arabian Nights while we made our way through the souks in Fes and Casablanca, and it just made me want to watch Aladdin. It’s been years since I had last seen that movie in its entirety, and it’s much better than I remember. Kudos to Disney.

I’ve told myself that I’m waking up for breakfast tomorrow and then going out into Casablanca again afterwards, but we’ll see how it happens.

Day 19 (09-14-10)

Made it up for breakfast. But then went right back to sleep until noon. I’m still not feeling that great, but the nap afterwards definitely helped. For my last day in Morocco, I took my mandatory alone time (I try to spend at least an hour by myself in each country to clear my head and take things in) wandering deeper into the marketplace trying to get myself lost. Afterwards, I headed to the Hassan II Mosque, the world’s 3rd largest, and it was incredible. I chose not to take the tour because mosques typically don’t allow non-Muslims inside, and I never feel quite right walking through places of worhip when I’m not of a particular faith, especially one that focuses on religion so fervently. But the scale of the building was incredible, with the Minaret (tower) of the building standing 689 feet, taller than any other mosque in the world. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it to the mosque while in Casablanca, but now I’m definitely glad I made the trip.

I found a friend at the mosque and we walked back to the ship comparing notes and stories on our experiences in the country. It’s always fairly repetitive in the days following a port to come back and hear people glance over their stories again and again, so it’s nice to have some one-on-one time to get into more detail about personal aspects of the trips. We chatted it up during the 40-minute walk back to the gate, and were back on the ship by 3pm. The cement factory in this industrialized port was busy churning out dust that has covered basically everything on the ship’s outside decks, so I’m assuming my sickly feelings have stemmed from the concrete that’s been hardening in my lungs for the past 48 hours. Awesome. Shower two of the day is absolutely necessary after another day in the African sun (but at least I’m not as pale as I had been before), and then dinnertime ensued.

As the ship left the port, I was hoping to slide around on the tile floor like the last time we left Morocco, but the ship didn’t need to make the same maneuver. So I had a group of 15 people sitting around on the floor in socks like goofballs waiting for an event that didn’t happen. Oh well. My buddy Howard taught us a random concentration-type chanting game called Toki Toki or something. We had about 20 people (including Dean Daivd Gies) sitting on the floor in Tymitz Square (the ship’s lobby) playing this ridiculous game and chanting while dozens of people watched from the balcony above. It was highly entertaining.

All of the students on the ship are in discussion groups that were given to us upon initial debarkation in Canada, and we meet after each port to have small post-port reflection sessions. I slept through the first 2 meetings that these groups have had (naturally), so tonight was the first time I had ever gone, and I definitely did not join my assigned group. Oh well. The stories I’ve become so accustomed to hearing were shared amongst the group. Camel treks. Berber village overnight stays. Fes. Marrakech. Meeting local families and going home with them. Random anti-American sentiments. The usual. I love how these things seem normal for me. They’re still amazing to hear about, and I don’t mean to diminish their importance by making them seem commonplace because they are anything but. It’s just cool to know where people are coming from because of firsthand experience, and to know just how rewarding and eye-opening their time has been.

Oh and I watched Wedding Crashers tonight. I hadn’t seen it for quite some time, and it was mentioned in conversation today so I had to watch it. Hilarious. Class again tomorrow? We’ve just had 11 days off from schoolwork, and now I have to go back? I am not enthused. But I can’t complain. After 6 days in Morocco and 5 in Spain, I suppose I can handle day number 7 of class during a semester that started 19 days ago. Rough life. A week at sea begins tonight! Farewell Morocco, here’s looking at you.

Day 15 (09-10-10)

Change of plans. Not staying in Casablanca today. I found a couple of guys that were going to the Moroccan capital of Rabat and decided to join them for the trip. Rabat is only an hour away from Casablanca by train, so it’s an easy destination for a day trip.

Nick, Ben, Dani, Mariah and I bought our $4 tickets for the 10am train, and headed north to the city. Ben is actually from West Chester, PA and goes to school at Michigan. Go Blue.

Today’s adventures were rather subdued, if only because Rabat appeared to be completely deserted. Ramadan came to an end yesterday, so today began the celebration. Families tend to congregate in their original homes back in semi-remote villages outside the cities, so Rabat was practically a ghost town. The royal palace/Casbah was off-limits because of the holiday, so we were unable to tour the grounds. In fact, armed guards were standing outside the entrance as diplomatic armored left the premises. We weren’t allowed anywhere near the place. Moving further through the city, we made our way to the Hassan Tower and mosque. Everyone that was in the city of Rabat was congregating at this mosque, and traffic around it was very highly regulated. Tourists and non-Muslims were still allowed inside the area near the mosque and Tower, and we ventured in at the perfect time.

At around noon, a prayer began to take place at the mosque, and it was broadcast over a public address system. At the time, we all just assumed that it was the typical Call to Prayer that can be heard coming from mosques 5 times a day. But today is the Id (eed), the celebration of Ramadan, the holiest time of year (or so we’ve been told) for Muslims. The prayer went on for almost 40 minutes, and it was amazing to listen to. Readings from the Quran are always done very melodically, and it sounds almost like singing. It’s completely foreign and I have no idea what the man was saying, but it was very peaceful and relaxing to hear. Afterwards, he transitioned seamlessly into the Call to Prayer, and we left the area in search of food.

Since most people were out of town or praying, finding food was a difficult task. We stopped at a café for mint tea, but were unable to order a meal. As we sipped the deliciously sweet tea, the international news program on television flashed a story about the Florida minister who had ignorantly planned to burn Qurans on September 11th (tomorrow). Everyone in the café immediately turned at looked at the five of us. Not only was it painfully awkward, it also just made us feel so much like outsiders. Obviously, there are only going to be a few news stories from the U.S. that make their way over to Morocco, and this one was relevant to their culture, but it was rather disheartening to feel the animosity in the room. Putting myself in their position, I’d probably feel the same way. Even though this minister is just one man in the world’s 3rd most populous nation, he’s an American and so are we. Instant association. We quietly paid the bill, smiled at and thanked the waiter, and left the café hoping that we might make a better impression on these people than some other man 3000 miles away.

After another unsuccessful attempt at finding food, we decided to get lost. But before I get into that, I just want to reiterate the fact that we were walking around a major city in Morocco. The capital city. And we couldn’t find a single restaurant open. All of the shops were closed. There were no vendors selling their goods in the souks. Imagine going to D.C. and being unable to eat. It was surreal.

We wandered onto some side street that turned into a side alley that branched into a sketchier alley and took us into the heart of the old town. Here, a few more people could be seen, as they were remaining close to their homes. Throughout the entire 90 minute journey in the old town, we found one street vendor serving food. And the stand looked like the example for which SAS would use to say, “Don’t eat the street food.” But I love street food and I was hungry, so we stopped. Luckily, everything was cooked, so it certainly could’ve been much worse. There were entire fish sitting out, heads and tails included, along with some other unidentifiable meats and vegetables. I had what I think was a bread pocket stuffed with fish, potatoes, rice, onions, and some kind of thin red sauce. 3 others in the group followed suit, and it was actually pretty tasty. The fish still had some bones in it, but they were small and brittle enough that you could just chew and swallow them. Great meal for less than a dollar.

Back at the train station, we realized that there were two restaurants inside that had been open all day. Oops. We grabbed some ice cream and headed back to Casablanca on the 5pm train. Dinner on the ship. Time to catch up on email. Staying in tonight because my SAS trip has to meet at 7am tomorrow morning. Don’t quite know what to expect, but I’m looking forward to it.

Day 16 (09-11-10)

Can’t make it to breakfast today… it’s too early. Thanks for the Pop Tarts in Canada, dad!

Our group of 35 set off for our trip to Fes around 8am. On the bus, I sat next to a girl I’d never met before and we ended up talking for the entirety of the trip. No boredom, no headphone/sleep time. Hooray for new and interesting people! Her name is Kelly from Orange County, and she goes to the University of San Diego (USD). A.K.A. the University of Spoiled Daughters, apparently? I thought it was funny. And USC is the University of Spoiled Children, UCSD is the University of the Culturally and Socially Dead, etc. Apparently these California schools really have it out for each other with these nicknames.

We stopped in Meknes for lunch and some free time to walk around the souks near the medina. The tajine (style of cooking, also the name of the dish in which the food is cooked/served) was amazing. Beef with potatoes and carrots, slow cooked like a pot roast. Also, there was an appetizer that looked like a pastry. Flaky crust. Powdered sugar on top. But on the inside was something unexpected: chicken. It was shredded and mixed with something to make it really sweet, but I still wasn’t expecting there to be chicken inside. But it was awesome.

After leaving Meknes, we traveled another hour to Volubilis. Don’t worry, I had never heard of it either. It’s an ancient Roman settlement that sits between Fes and Rabat, and was a necessary stop along the trade route between them. Today, it’s a set of Roman ruins sitting in the absolute middle of nowhere. Farms and dry grassland lay on all sides, with a few random agave cacti here and there. It looks rather out of place, but it was fascinating. Unfortunately, the lack of trees also meant a lack of shade, and it was pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Apparently, if we had been there just 10 days sooner, it would’ve been 51 degrees outside. That’s in Celsius, by the way. 51 degrees Celsius. I’ll just let you figure out the conversion on your own… but it’s atrocious.

Another couple hours on the bus got us to Fes around 6:30pm, where we were free for the remainder of the evening. We grabbed the complimentary dinner at the hotel and wandered around the new city for a couple hours or so. I got some postcards, but nothing too exciting happened. Just a walk around town. The 10 of us that had been walking went back to the hotel afterwards and had a poolside chat until about 1am. Whenever people are curious as to why I know certain things about a place we’re visiting, they always find out that I’ve done SAS before, and the conversation turns to questions about what to expect from the future. I’m actually really glad that people are curious about it and want to ask questions; I still don’t bring it up much in conversation because I’m never sure how people will react. But at the same time, I still keep my answers brief when they do ask, simply because anything that I say won’t really be an adequate response. Cultures and places affect people differently, and we all just have to take things as they come. Plus, I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. Whatever. Bedtime. Old town Fes tomorrow.

Ps – Today was September 11th, and nothing happened over here (as far as we know). No one reacted badly to our presence. In fact, I forgot it was the 11th until someone mentioned it right before bed. I guess the State Department’s travel advisory was simply precautionary and not all that important. Nice.

Day 17 (09-12-10)

Flooded my bathroom while taking a shower. Whoops. Seriously, if 2 sides of the tub are going to be exposed and lacking walls, then the shower curtain shouldn’t only cover one side. There was nothing I could do. Breakfast in the hotel was rather standard. Some pastries, some croissants, and a latke-type thing.

Today was a long day. We started with a visit to the entrance of the Royal Palace. There are several palaces in Morocco, but the one in Fes is the country’s largest, and the king still uses it when he comes to town. It’s not open for visitors, so we got off the bus for a group photo in front of the doors and then we left again. Saw a panoramic view of the city from a hill, and it was incredible. The entire medina, or old city, of Fes is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s the “largest contiguous car-free urban area in the world by population,” per Wikipedia. Over 15,000 streets wind their way through the medina, and over 700,000 people live inside. Madness.

Throughout the course of the day, we stopped to see a tile factory, a carpet factory, a bronze maker, a leather tannery, and a silk weaver. They went through the processes involved in making such things, and then showed up to their overpriced gift shops afterwards. I’m not saying that our tourguide earned a commission from the shop-owners from bringing us there… but yes, actually, I am. Hearing the artisans talk about their crafts was very informative and interesting, but the obvious sales pitches weren’t. And we didn’t particularly enjoy being stuck in the giftshops for 20 minutes after each presentation to browse. Not that these craftsmen were particularly pushy, it was just the type of ploy that SAS always tells us not to fall for… and we’re on a SAS trip. It just seemed a bit counterintuitive.

Another fantastic lunch followed, with a tajine of couscous, chicken, and vegetables, and more of those chicken pastries. Some bananas and oranges with cinnamon for dessert, and we were ready to go. The trip didn’t include any free time for exploring the medina in Fes, which was regrettable, but I can understand why they structured it that way. One wrong turn within that place, and you would be wandering around lost for hours. Next time I’m in Fes without an agenda or a bus/ship to catch, I’ll make sure to come back and do exactly that. But for now I’ll just have to appreciate its labyrinthine qualities while being guided on a particular path.

Around 3:30pm, we got back onto the buses and headed back to Casablanca. The celebration of Ramadan was just ending tonight, so everyone and their mothers were going back to Casablanca in order to set up shop on Monday again. So the 4 hour bus ride turned into a 5.5 hour bus ride. But again, it could always be worse. Today is Giggles’ birthday, so a group of us were going to go out and celebrate and they were all going to wait for me to come back from the trip. I was bummed when we got back an hour late, because I figured they’d have gotten tired or waiting and gone out already. As it turns out, most of the group was on the Camel Trek in Marrakech trip that had gotten back a few hours earlier, and they were all too tired to function. So they were all just lounging around in their pjs when I got there. Not the most eventful evening, but we crashed early and slept off the effects of the heat outside. Brutal.

Day 14 (09-09-10)

Two weeks. Really? Wow… in typical SAS fashion, it doesn’t feel like that much time has passed.  One port down, plenty more to go, but it still feels weird knowing that we’ve been gone for this long already.

As I mentioned before, the turnaround time between Spain and Morocco has essentially been eliminated. It’s actually the first time in SAS history that a ship has made the journey between these two ports in such little time. We’re all feeling like we could’ve used that day off in between for recovery time, but extra time in port is always appreciated.

After breakfast, we had our cultural and logistical pre-ports back-to-back. Be conservative. Long sleeves and pants. Muslim country. Don’t mock the King; it’s illegal. Don’t get hit by cars. Drink mint tea. Same old.

Also, it’s still Ramadan, so restaurants won’t be open until after sunset today. And many shops will be closed, too. The celebration of the holy month should be taking place tomorrow and the following day, so things may be closed then as well. I’m not entirely sure how this will affect us, but we’ll figure it out.

Two hours after pre-port, American diplomats came aboard and talked to us about the state of US relations with Morocco, and some things to watch out for. There’s no good way for us to keep up with current events on the ship (other than some glitchy online versions of bbc.com and the New York Times), but apparently there’s a priest in Florida that is planning on burning Qurans on September 11th because the celebration following Ramadan coincidentally happens to fall on that date. The diplomats are unsure whether or not this news has reached the general Moroccan population yet, but we’re supposed to remain cautious anyway.

Around 3pm, the ship was cleared for debarkation and we took the shuttle bus to the port entrance. It’s a 30-minute walk from the ship without the shuttle, so we’re pretty happy that SAS made it available to us. Oh, and it’s still 90+ degrees outside, so wearing jeans was pretty awesome.

Today was a rather easy day. We walked around Casablanca for a few hours and checked out the marketplace. People grabbed and pulled at us, trying to get us to buy their crafts and knockoff merchandise. The market here was less chaotic than I remember Marrakech’s being, and I was actually kind of bored with it. Perhaps disinterested is a better word, but I just wasn’t in the mood to shop. Unfortunately, it seemed to be one of the only short-term options for us given the time of day and future plans. I’m planning on staying in Casablanca today and tomorrow, and I have a SAS trip for the following two days. Others in the group (Giggles and Krystal included) are leaving for SAS trips tomorrow. Basically, no one wanted to venture outside of Casablanca today, and we had planned on visiting the Hassan Mosque (world’s 2nd largest, smaller only than Mecca) on our last day in town. Collectively, we were still drained from Spain and frying in the sun. Plus, everything in town was closed because of Ramadan. So, after an hour of searching unsuccessfully for a local restaurant to eat in, we caved and went to McDonalds. Let the judgment begin. Don’t worry, I was the first one to do the judging, but I was terribly hungry and nothing else was open. You do what you have to do. Ps- McChicken and Fries in Morocco tastes the same as it does in America.

After the food, we wandered the city for a little while longer and caught the bus back to the ship just in time for dinner. I swear all we ever do is eat on these trips. I like it. Relaxation ensued, and I just spent the evening talking with friends about their various Moroccan experiences. A random guy punched my roommate in the back, apparently because he wasn’t walking fast enough? Bizarre things happen in foreign countries; we just have to take them as they come.

More adventures in Casablanca tomorrow. Goodnight!

Day 9 (09-04-10)

We’re back on dry land again in España! The process for debarkation was so much less organized than I remember. There isn’t a diplomatic briefing today, which makes getting off the ship an easier process. But there aren’t any concrete directions for doing anything. The Assistant Executive Dean called half of us to grab our passports from the Lounge, but the speakers outside barely work anymore, so none of us heard it. We picked up the passports when the “Free-for-all” announcement was made and everyone could take them. But at that point, the gangway was already open, and people were walking off the ship. No one made an announcement saying that the ship was clear for debarkation. I didn’t know we were allowed to leave until I saw a handful of random people walking out the door. No line, no organization, no anything. It was bizarre, and irritating, because I probably could’ve left a solid 20 minutes earlier if I had been aware of these things. Oh well.

The train station was swamped and the direct trains to Sevilla were booked for the next couple hours, so we took a local train to Jerez de la Frontera in hopes of transferring to Sevilla from there. Of course, the train we were trying to pick up was coming from Cádiz, and completely booked with all the SASers we had just left in the other train station. So we wandered around Jerez for a few hours and basically ate our way across town. Tapas here. Pastries there. Maybe a mojito somewhere in the mix. It was an easy, relaxing start to the trip.

I have a tendency to describe places and foods rather than people I’m with (because I figure anyone reading this would be interested in the travel aspect), but I think I might delve a little more into the people now and then, if only for my own sake. I’m traveling with two girls, Giggles and Krystal. Giggles (Kathleen) is a sophomore at UCSD from Austin, TX. Krystal is a junior at Trinity College in San Antonio and she’s also from TX. After a few rousing games of Bananagrams and Mafia (awesome card game I just learned), they decided to join me in my rambling across the country. Basically, I’ve planned some basic things that I want to do in each country, and now I’m seeing if I can con people into coming with me. First port: success.

We grabbed the train from Jerez to Sevilla and hopped a taxi to Krystal’s hostel. She booked a night in a hostel as a part of some other group trip beforehand, but decided to travel with us instead. The hostel didn’t have 2 extra beds available that night for Giggles and I, so we walked across town (in 100 degree weather with our hitchhiker’s bags) and found another. We got bunk beds in a 6-bed room shared with 2 Aussies, a French girl, and someone else that we never ended up meeting. Not bad for $20.

The two girls had never been to Sevilla before, so I showed them around. Considering I spent about 30 hours in that town 20 months ago… I actually knew my way around really well. The Cathedral and the Alcazar were closed when we went by, so that knocked off a few of our tour options, but we went to the Plaza de España and checked out the surrounding gardens. Nostalgia kicked in pretty hard at this point, as Sevilla was my first stop during the Spring ’09 Voyage, but it was great. We spent the rest of the night eating tapas and then hung out at Krystal’s hostel before Giggles and I walked back to ours. We talked to the Aussies for a while and, before we knew it… it was 3am. And we needed to be at the bus station at 9am. Goodnight, Sevilla… again.

Day 10 (09-05-10)

8am. Groan. Croissant. Taxi. Bus station.
We met Krystal at the bus station and bought our tickets for the 10am bus to Madrid. Apparently, traveling roundtrip from Sevilla to Madrid by train costs over 165 Euros. Soooo we took a bus. 33 Euros is a much nicer price. Sure, each leg of the trip takes 4 hours more, but that just gave us time to enjoy the countryside and try to get some more sleep. And hey, after that pair of 12-hour bus rides in Thailand last year, I can’t complain too much about a 6.5 hour trip.

We got to Madrid around 4:30 and went out in search of a hostel for that night and the next. I told the taxi driver to take us to the Royal Palace, figuring that it would be in a touristy area, and thus, within range of several hostels. As it turns out, I was pretty much right. A half-mile walk from the palace took us to Puerta del Sol, which sort of seemed like the Times Square of Madrid. It’s much smaller (and actually really resembled Picadilly Circus in London) but surrounded by mass amounts of tourism and several hostels. We found two great ones right next to each other, and had to split our nights between them. But they each gave us a private room with 3 beds, and a bathroom. No more dormitory-style setup. And it was the same price as the hostel in Sevilla. Nice.

As usual, we ate our way across town that evening and got some amazing dishes. Our favorite? Croquetas de jamón. Ham croquettes. They were fantastic and we got them at every meal we could. Actually, we chose to avoid a few restaurants because they’re menus didn’t have croquetas on them. We NEEDED croquetas. Breaded, creamy goodness. Just amazing. We also ordered a plate of Ham with Melon, and it was a mixture I wasn’t expecting. The melon was very sweet while the ham was salty, and they balanced each other well. After dinner, we walked to the Hard Rock Café Madrid for some drinks and souvenirs, and then aimless strolled the streets as the sun set. There was a protest on the main Avenue through town and traffic was shut down in both directions as workers flooded the streets. Something about taxes and government and typical protest-related material. I don’t know what it was about… I don’t speak Spanish. But I took a flyer, so I’ll have someone translate it for me later.

We were all rather tired after the semi-early morning, the long bus ride, and the walk around Madrid, so we decided to call it an early evening and fell asleep with no real agenda for the next day in mind.

Day 11 (09-06-10)

Monday morning. Wake up. Free day in Madrid! Yeah, we slept in. Until 10:30ish. We were hoping to wake up earlier, but it just didn’t happen. First stop? Chocolate con churros, of course. Rich, thick, chocolate-y goodness with fried, greasy, doughy deliciousness. Perfect.

So we decided to talk over to the Prado Museum to check it out. I’m really interested in art recently, and the Prado has masterpieces from El Greco, Goya, and Velázquez, with some Rembrandt mixed in, AND a special temporary exhibit featuring J.M.W. Turner. Awesome. So we make the 20 minute walk to the museum and find out, oh no! The Prado is closed on Mondays. Well that’s unfortunate. I guess we’ll have to do that tomorrow morning before we head out of the city. Sounds like a plan. Okay, now what? We were expecting on killing a few hours there. But there was a tourist bus that pulled up nearby and had a package that allowed us to ride the bus all day today/tomorrow and included admission into all of Madrid’s museums, the Royal Palace, the Botanical Gardens, stadiums, etc. 49 Euros? Great deal! Let’s go! Next stop: Museum of Natural History. We get off the bus and walk up the hill to the museum only to find a group of Australian standing outside wondering why they couldn’t get into the building. This place is closed, too. What? We look at our guidebook and find out that EVERY major museum in the city is closed on Mondays. Great… that 49 Euro price-tag was definitely worth it, considering everything is closed on our only full day in the city. Oh wait… no. Oh well. The Royal Palace and the Botanical Gardens are still open, so we made our way across town to check them out. The Palace was incredible… kind of like a small Versailles. Similar architecture, lavishness all around, awe-inspiring details. The usual. Random souvenir shopping ensued, and I even managed to run into a lamppost while looking at a map of Madrid. With my camera strapped around my body. It was the penultimate tourist moment of my life.

Afterwards, you guessed it, we were hungry, so we went to the Museo del Jamón (The Ham Museum), and got the best croquetas we’d ever had. Perfect texture. Fantastico. We officially checked into the next hostel and moved all of our stuff over to our new bedroom. Even better than the previous night’s. But of course, we were still hungry, and Spaniards eat about 16 meals a day. So we wandered the Puerta del Sol area for some more tapas and were very pleasantly surprised. Some little hole-in-the-wall place was having a 10% off special, and their mini-sandwiches (bocadillos) were incredible. One of them had cream cheese and a strawberry (among other things that I can’t remember) on top of crunchy bread, and the other had a spring roll incorporated into it. Add to that the scrambled egg/ham mix and the 5 cheese platter (bleu, goat, brie, gouda, manchego) and we were set. Almost. On the way back to the hostel, we found a quaint, local ice cream place called Ben and Jerry’s, and Krystal/Giggles indulged in some Phish Food. Naturally.

Krystal went out that night and had a crazy time wandering around Madrid with some friends, but I’m not much for insane nightlife so I stayed back at the hostel with Giggles. Easy night tonight, museum and bus tomorrow.

Day 12 (09-07-10)

We got up fairly early this morning. 7:30am. Enough time to shower, grab breakfast (chocolate con churros, of course), and get in line for the Prado museum at 9am when it opens. The museum is beautiful, and has some of Spain’s most famous works, including Las Meninas (The Ladies in Waiting) by Velázquez. Unfortunately, there didn’t appear to be any Picasso or Dalí works, but it was very impressive nonetheless. Giggles wanted Starbucks (I know, we’re in Spain and she chooses to go to Starbucks… blasphemy) and postcards, so we stopped for a few minutes before returning to the hostel to check out and grab the taxi to the bus station for a 1pm departure. 6.5 hours later, we were in Sevilla again, transferring from the bus to the train station, trying to grab tickets for the next train back to Cádiz. We Amazing Race-d (yes I just turned a proper noun into a verb… keep up) our way through the station to the ticket window and got 3 of the last tickets on one of the last 2 trains to Cádiz that night. Another 2 hours on the train got us back to our port city, and this is where my previous SAS experience really came in handy. Right before we got off the train, I made sure that Giggles and Krystal had their SAS ID cards at the ready and their bags in hand. We were already sitting near a door, so we got off as quickly as possible and power-walked our way out of the station. Also worth noting, there were about 60-75 other SASers on this train, all of whom had been gone from 1-3 nights, and were carrying their gear from those trips. I knew the importance of time in this situation, so I made sure we passed everyone else along the way, and we got back to the ship before anyone else from the train. As we walked up the gangway and had our bags searched, the line of people waiting to check-in on the ship was already stretching several hundred feet along the path. We dumped our stuff in our cabins, talked on the ship for a few minutes, and then decided to go out for food in Cádiz, and when we walked down the gangway, most of the people from our train were still waiting in line to get back on the ship. They weren’t expecting the long line for baggage checks. I could’ve clued them in, but what’s the fun in that? It was fun.

A round of food and drinks later, it was past midnight and we were drained again from another travel day. Sleep in our own beds? Alone in my cabin without 2 friends (and possibly some strangers) sharing the room with me? Weird.

Day 13 (09-08-10)

Free day in Cádiz today. More nostalgia. Chocolate con churros for breakfast. Brief walk around the city until about 11am. Some more eating/wandering after that. Grabbed some free wi-fi in a public area of the city and checked in online. Buffs beat the Rams 24-3 on Saturday. I like it. It’s so weird missing football season. Like… that’s never happened before for ANY reason. Also, I found out that the Phillies have recently retaken a half-game lead over the Braves in the NL East? Very nice.

The rest of the afternoon was spent bumping into friends in random areas of the city and sharing our experiences in Spain with each other. Food, friends, fun. All I need.

Back on the ship, food isn’t nearly as good as it has been for the past week. Expected, but disappointing. The on-ship photographer took the official SAS group photo tonight (with about 10 minutes of notice given beforehand), so that was pretty cool. Seriously though, the lack of organization amongst this staff is really baffling right now. Some kind of notice should be given when something affecting the shipboard community is involved. Whatever.

The remainder of the evening was spent typing up this blog (from Day 7 through now) and relaxing. We gain 2 hours on the clock tonight, so sleep tonight shouldn’t be an issue. But we’re in Morocco tomorrow. No time to rest in between ports. Pre-port tomorrow at 9:20am, and off we go. Casablanca, here we come! (Forgive the cliché, I’m just really tired of writing this right now, and couldn’t come up with any better way to end the damn post).

SAS Blog #2

Disclaimer: This is an informal blog. I tend to be fairly scatterbrained, and my writing sometimes reflects that. As such, I may not write in complete sentences. I may switch tense without from past to present and back again. I don’t typically recheck my work for anything other than basic grammatical/spelling errors (aside from the tense thing), and English sticklers may cringe if I type something incorrectly. All I can say is this: Again, it’s an informal blog. I’m not looking for a Pulitzer here or something. Take it or leave it.


Day 1 (08-27-10)

I’m back. After a 5-day road trip from Boulder to Pennsylvania, 5 days at home, and a 4-day road trip from Hatfield to Halifax, I’m back on the MV Explorer and ready for another semester at sea. The boarding process went pretty quickly and I was able to de-board the ship after putting my luggage in my cabin. This time around, I’m in Cabin 3004 (Portside, forward). My parents and I wandered around Halifax for a little while and checked out the Citadel (a Canadian National Historic Site) before I headed back onboard. My roommate is a guy named Paul from Massachusetts and he goes to Babson College. Today was a pretty typical “first day.” Everyone is wandering around trying to get a feel for the new environment and trying to meet as many people as possible. That’s the easy part… the hard part is remembering their names, even minutes later.

At 5pm, the horns were sounded and we departed Halifax. Being on the ship again just feels right in a way. Watching the land disappear out of sight and seeing our wake churning out behind us really made me feel like I was back where I belong. But at the same time, something was missing: Everyone else. I went into this voyage knowing how difficult it would be to separate memories of the last trip from experiences this time around. And, painful as it is to say, I’ve already caught myself saying “Last time,” or “On my last voyage,” to start some of my sentences. I know it’s impossible to be here with a completely unbiased view of the voyage, but I guess I didn’t realize how easy it is to project things from last year onto my current circumstances. It’s a work in progress. I suppose it will be easier to separate things once I actually get to know everyone individually and take some classes. But for tonight it’s “That dude looks like Doug” and “Let’s eat on the 6th deck, I always eat there… or, well, ate there.”

But it wasn’t all self-reflection. I met some great people and I know we’re going to have a great time once we all get settled in. I’m not looking forward to a whole day of orientation tomorrow, though. Perhaps I’ll just skip one or two of the sessions since I’ve done them before. The comparison thing might just work in my favor sometimes…

Day 2 (08-28-10)

8am wake up? No thanks. Morning orientation is really a rehash of everything that was said yesterday and things I remember from before. Back to bed.

Grabbed lunch, went to orientation part 2. Watched the Haze/Gordie video for the 48th time, and listened to Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak for a few minutes. That’s right. For those of you that don’t know, Nobel Peace Prize winner and all-around goofy/incredible guy Desmond Tutu is sailing with us for the entire voyage. Yeah.

Typical SAS night of snack time and card playing in the 6th-deck dining hall tonight. Nothing too fancy though, we lose an hour of sleep tonight as we sail eastward towards España. Class starts tomorrow. Hooray for Global Studies…

Day 3 (08-29-10)

Day one of class today, and you know what that means… Global studies! It’s back and just as useless as ever! Alright, I’ll cut the professor some slack. It’s the first day, and he has to introduce the student body to a massive amount of topics with which many students are unfamiliar. Naturally, he started with George Bush and how he screwed up the world. Solid start. Anyway, it will probably pick up as the semester wears on. Also, rather than having Global Studies every day, it’s been changed to an every-other-day system. Which means I only have to suffer through it on ‘A’ days. Nice. Sea sickness has been rather prevalent throughout the ship thus far. Many students weren’t even able to make it to their first day of class because of it. There’s a hurricane brewing in the Atlantic so we’re moving at 20+ knots to avoid it. It’s actually more consistently rocky right now than I ever remember it being before. I haven’t been sick yet, so I’m hoping it stays that way.

I also had Environmental Science class today. Nothing too exciting. Sustainability. Saving the environment. The usual. And to keep the tradition of awkward meetings alive, I’ve really just been wandering around the ship for the past few days. If I see a group of people I don’t know sitting around playing cards or trying to keep up a conversation, I sit down and join them. Of course, there are some pretty amazing people onboard, and I had forgotten how weird it is to go through the process of meeting them all. But I love it.

We studied in 5th deck dining hall for an hour or so tonight just to kill some time. Yeah, I studied. On purpose. It’s weird, I know. And then I introduced some more people to the magic of snack time. Snack time has become so popular in the last 2 days that they’ve opened BOTH serving lines in the Garden Lounge and they replenish the food for a solid hour. AND we get plates/silverware instead of just napkins. We’re moving up in the world. No pun intended? Was that a pun? I’m going to sleep.

Day 4 (08-30-10)

Day two of class. Marketing and World Religion. Nothing too exciting there, and I think ti’s safe to say I’ll never break through in the marketing/advertisement world. If it’s anything like the class anyway. Sheesh. We watched the sunset out on the back deck and it was cloudless and beautiful and everything that I remember. Water in all directions. No land (land). Fantastic.

The first of several Spain seminars was tonight, and that’s uber-exciting because our Academic Dean for the voyage is David Gies. He’s written over a dozen books on Spanish culture, won the Thomas Jefferson Award for outstanding service to the University of Virginia, been named Professor of the Year at that same institution, and been Knighted by King Juan Carlos of Spain. And, he’s just an all-around good guy. Tonight, he spoke to us about some ideas for things to do when we’re in España (other than consuming mass amounts of alcohol, of course), and gave some suggestions for places to go. It was interesting, as always, and made me even more excited for my plans. As soon as I get off the ship, I’ll be going to the train or bus station and making my way to Sevilla for the night. The following day, I’m heading up to Madrid and staying there for 3 days before returning to Cadiz. And it looks like I’ve conned one or two people into coming with me, so it should be a great trip.

Someone re-introduced me to Bananagrams today, and it’s one of the coolest games ever. It’s like speed-Scrabble. But better. I also found a few people who know about Settlers. And I can’t WAIT to bust it out.

Ps – I’m already sick of the ship food. Potatoes. Pasta. Salad. Meat. Fish. PB&J. Repeat. Taco Day soon? Please?

Day 5 (08-31-10)

Dolphin sighting. Already? Yep. There was a pod of probably 15-20 off the stern of the ship this afternoon while I was eating. A few of them would jump out of the water right in our wake, and then more could be seen jumping a few thousand feet away, and everywhere in between. It was pretty fantastic. I should also mention that I slept in a little too long today. Missed breakfast… and global studies. Class-wise, this could be a long semester. Whoops.

More card games and get-to-know-you things this evening. I apologize for the lack of variety, but life kind of seems to be in cruising mode right now (Again with the puns? Who is this kid?).

But I did have my first meeting for the Programming Committee. Like last year, I’m in the group of students that organizes on-ship events like Karaoke Night and the Talent Show. Our first event is tomorrow, and it’s a ship-wide photo scavenger hunt. Groups will be awarded point based on creativity for their photos, and the winning group will have their best photo set as the desktop background for every computer on the ship. Should be interesting. I’m also helping with the Sea Olympics committee, so we’ll be planning some of the events for the Sea Olympics in November. I’m rather excited.

Tonight’s meeting on Spanish culture was called “Dining Out in Spain,” and Dean David gave suggestions for places to try different food/drink in España. Chocolate con churros is first on the list, as always. Also: tapas. I don’t care what they are, just every kind of tapa I can find. Muy delicioso. ¡Que aproveche!

Day 6 (09-01-10)

Short post today. Class and conversation. Games and giggles. Emphasis on the giggles. There’s a girl on the ship that laughs more than anyone I’ve ever met and it’s unbelievably adorable. And so I nicknamed her Giggles. And it stuck. Yes. People don’t even know her real name anymore. It’s really not all that exciting, but I was happy about it.

The scavenger hunt was a long process, but it went pretty well. Two of our Lifelong Learners and our Security Officer (formerly of the Secret Service) were the judges for the competition and it ended in a tie. Both teams’ pictures are up on the computers now, and we’re all enjoying their ridiculousness.

Interesting news today: We’re getting to Morocco a half-day earlier than expected. Which means that we’re leaving Spain on Wednesday night, and getting to Morocco on Thursday at about noon. So we get 5.5 days there instead of only 5. And more days in port is always good news.

Tonight’s Spanish seminar talked about famous artists in Spanish history, including El Greco, Goya, Velázquez, Picasso, and Dalí. And now I’m really excited to see the Prado Museum in Madrid. And the other two famous museums that are right there whose names I cannot remember. Hooray for culture!

In preparation for Morocco, the Intercultural Communication class has been recommended to watch the film, Babel. It was placed on one of the ship-wide TV channels, and I decided to watch it with some friends because I had never seen it before. Wow. Gripping. Depressing. Powerful. Disturbing. I can’t say I fully endorse a viewing, but it’s certainly not something to watch if you can’t devote all of your attention to it.

And now it’s 2:45am. Silly time changes. I suppose I should try to sleep… So much for the short post.

Day 7 (09-02-10)

So apparently basic Environmental Science is like… all chemistry. And biology. And other science-related things that I haven’t seen since high school. But I wasn’t completely lost, and I even answered some questions in class (Who knows what an ion is? This guy). Mr. King and Miss McCormick (or whatever your name is now?), I thank you.

Tonight was cultural pre-port for Spain, and it basically rehashed many of the things we learned in the previous 3 seminars. But I’m excited to get going.

Day 8 (09-03-10)

Money issues dominated my life today. My financial aid still hasn’t come through for the semester yet, and so my tuition is officially overdue as of yesterday. The lady I had been working with in Boulder’s financial aid office hasn’t returned my calls or emails in 2 weeks. So I went to the Executive Dean to talk about my situation, and she offered up some of her free internet minutes to help me out. Unfortunately, I really needed some phone time. I used the rest of my phone time calling the financial aid officer one last time, and I actually got a hold of her. She figured out my situation, and apparently the loans have just been delayed in the electronic world. Whatever that means. But I guess I’m set.

Logistical Pre-port tonight. Travel in groups. Try not to get raped. Don’t be a dumb American tourist. The usual. I think I might be a bit of a tourist in this port, but I’ve accepted it. I like museums. My tshirts have American brand logos on them. I’ll stick out. Oh well. Packing up the hitchhiker bag only took a few minutes, and I spent the rest of the night playing Bananagrams and sitting in my hallway meeting people I hadn’t seen before. We talked about plans for Spain and bonded and such. But it’s 2am on the night before we get to a country, so I suppose that means it’s time to sleep. Goodnight all… Spain awaits!