TSS!

We were just given our internet passwords so I’m getting on quickly and posting. As you’ll read, internet is EXPENSIVE so I won’t be on very often. If you want to contact me the best way is through email…but I won’t be able to respond for a few days because I won’t be checking it every day & when I do, I’ll just be downloading the emails and signing offline to read them.

Hope everyone is well! Xo Meg


January 2, 2008
23:19

It’s been a while since I’ve written. These last few days have been hectic to say the least. New Years Eve day we strolled around Hong Kong…we visited the Yue Hwa Chinese Products Emporium which is a 7 floor Chinese shopping mall. My guide book calls it a ‘cavernous place that is everything a visiting souvenir-hunter could ask for’ and the description was no let down. I ended up just buying two Chinese prints and some of my friends got things like a Chinese mask and fan…it was good to get out of the shopping mall atmosphere that seems overwhelming in Hong Kong and into something more traditional. We then strolled down Nathan Road in search of some lunch and we ended up at a Chinese restaurant called 3:3. The problem with speaking English at a place like this is that they have one English menu and all of the food is American or English…sandwiches, eggs, salads. We wanted Chinese food, but the only menu for such was, of course, in Chinese. I was not about to eat another ham sandwich, so I took a chance and pointed to what I thought looked like the prettiest set of symbols on the menu. I ended up with a beef dish that had a spicy sweet and sour sauce and it was delicious! To me that’s what traveling is about…it’s about experiencing new things and sometimes not having a clue what you’re eating. Those are the experiences worth having and those are the moments that are remembered the most.

We wandered back to our hotel so we could rest and get ready for our New Years extravaganza. We didn’t have any definite plans for New Years but all of the girls put on dresses and the boys put on jackets and we headed out on the town. We just ended up on the water and watched the fireworks and got occasionally lost in the crowd of thousands of people. On the first we had a scheduled tour that left at 7:45…not exactly a favorite time for new years day. I opted out of the tour and instead spent the day napping, eating and catching up on Megan time. I was glad to stay behind because I was getting overwhelmed with all of the people and activities and I knew that it was my last opportunity to have some alone time before boarding the ship. The evening of the first I went to a TSS welcome dinner where I was able to meet some of my new ‘family’. I sat next to a school teacher from Canada (she made me think of you, Jen!) that will be in my classes and we seemed to get along great. I met lots of other people…none of which I remember the names of…and had a great time trying to work chopsticks and get to know new people.

Today was boarding the ship day. Our bus left at 9am so we were up early packing our bags and checking out of the hotel. We got to the dock and had to check in our luggage and receive our room assignments and make our way to the boat. Once on board we had to wait for several hours to get all of our passports checked and immunization and visa records double checked. We then got our room keys, got picture ID’s and were finally able to make our way to our cabins. I’m in B124…B stands for Baja…and my room is probably the smallest on the ship. It honestly can’t be any bigger than 12x12 and it’s for two people. We have our own bathroom which is comparably as tiny and two very small closets. My roommate hadn’t checked in yet so I chose my bed and ventured back up for a ship tour…I did find out though that my roommate’s name is Joya and she is also from the US. The ship was scheduled to leave at 6pm so we all made our way to the deck and took pictures of the skyline as we were leaving Hong Kong harbor. We then all headed downstairs for a BBQ dinner and then proceeded on to an opening ceremony of sorts where some people gave speeches and then all of the countries represented were named. We have over 50 countries between all of the students, staff and crew. Unfortunately, 47% of us are from America...when you come from a school like Juniata with such a huge international population it doesn’t really feel any different than it does at home.

After the ceremony I wandered back to B deck to meet my roommate and I discovered that in fact, I don’t have a roommate. I have no idea what happened to her, but she is not on the boat. I’ve asked several people and nobody can tell me if she just missed the ship or if she cancelled or if I’ll be getting another roommate or if I’ll be moved into someone else’s room. I’m not really disappointed that I don’t have a roommate because I’ve gotten used to living by myself for the last few years, but I am disappointed to not know what’s going to happen. I don’t want to move because I like my IRC (like an RA) and the people in my hall…and I also don’t really want someone else moved in here later on because I’ll have already gotten used to being by myself. There’s nothing I can do about the decision that is made though, so I guess I’ll just have to grin and bear it until I know what’s going to be my fate!

Life on the ship seems pretty good. The rocking is definitely going to take some getting used to as I’ve been running into the walls all night long and I’ve heard that some people have already been sea sick. I haven’t felt ill yet, but I definitely can feel the movement.

That’s about it from here today. There is probably so much more I could write about but I need to get some sleep and honestly this day has been so overwhelming I don’t even know how to put it all into words yet.

January 3, 2008
17:30

Well my first night on the boat was a success! I slept like a baby and didn’t stir until my alarm went off this morning. I turned on the shower and noticed the water was disgustingly brownish yellow. I know this is normal if the pipes haven’t been used in a while so I just ignored it. I then noticed that the water was not hot. In fact, it was freezing. I let it run for 15 minutes and when there was still no sign of heat, I jumped in and earned myself the world record for fastest shower ever. We are given hair dryers on the boat, so I plugged mine in and was surprised to find that it also did not work. I’m beginning to think that my room is the ghetto of the ship. My friend Camila has a huge room with a seating area, full length mirrors, 4 roomy closets and even a mini fridge. And then there’s me in a closet of a room with no hot water and no working appliances. Fantastic. I know if anyone can take it, it’s me…backpacking taught me to accept any conditions that even have running water…but it’s still frustrating when your friends are living in luxury on the floor above you.

Today was just a bunch of orientation…nothing fun to talk about really. We did get to meet with our professors and I have two for four classes. One is a lawyer and one an elected politician so it’s interesting to not have any professors in academia…I honestly wasn’t even that thrilled with the class descriptions and I already have a lot of homework (note we haven’t even had a class…this was just a 15 minute meeting…and we haven’t even received our books yet). I kind of felt down about the whole situation. Especially when I was told I’ll need to use the internet to find 5 news articles from 3 sites for class on Saturday (yes we have class every day, even on the weekends) and I only have 250 free minutes of internet and then it is 50 cents/minute after that. I really don’t feel like using my internet time to find news articles for class…that is the time to post blogs and email my family. I also found out I’ll need 3 more books for my classes…on top of the $700 worth of books I already purchased. I paid A LOT of money to be on this thing and they just keep throwing more expenses at us…bottom line is I’m frustrated about my lack of money and the fact that I will be spending the only free thing I’m given (internet time) on classwork. Hopefully my first impression about classes was wrong and they will turn out to be fantastic, but if not I’m just going to blame Juniata for spoiling me so much. The up side is the people in my learning circle (and therefore my classes) seem really great and so I know that together we can make this a positive, fun and interesting learning experience.

I’ve met the girls across the hall from me. Sara Jane is from Australia and is an undergrad student but is older than me and Alice is from Hong Kong and is in my learning circle! Both of them seem like real sweethearts and I’m glad to have them close by. We are at the very end of the ship in our own little corner, so I imagine I’ll be getting close to them in the next four months!

In other exciting news, the boat just announced that they are offering a trip to Beijing when we arrive in Shanghai next week and I signed up for it! It includes seeing Tiannamen Square, the Great Wall and more things that I’m not too familiar with…I’m super excited and can’t wait to get to China!

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