KateSP

Well, we’re docked! And I can’t believe the end is already here. We woke up briiiight and early this morning (about 6am) to Claudia, Dean Sean’s mom, singing “Good Morning” over the PA system. It was a great final touch to our last wake-up call (although unusually early). My friends and I had our last breakfast outside as we watched the sunrise and pulled into the channel leading into Norfolk. Seeing land for the first time in 9 days was warming, especially it being our home country, which we haven’t seen in 10 weeks. We all went up to the front of the ship on the top deck to see the Explorer pulling in. During this hour long process, an entire school of dolphin came out to greet us! Gosh, what a treat! They were everywhere. ... read more

Blog Entry: Returning Home across the Atlantic Here we go again! On our way back towards the states for our 9 day voyage across the Atlantic. It is Tuesday morning, so we have already seen 5 of those days. The ship docks in Norfolk, VA on Saturday morning, the 22nd. While I was originally supposed to fly back by myself to Chicago, my wonderful mother just couldn't wait to see me. She has somehow worked her magic and is meeting me in Norfolk and then somehow has a seat on my flight that was supposedly booked 2 months ago.... I swear she's part of the CIA or something. Anyway, I am one of the lucky ones. A lot of my friends won't be greeted by anyone... Some will be going straight to school and won't be ... read more

Blog Entry: Last Port Ever!: Morocco Sadly, we had 4 days in our last port, Morocco. Our ship docked in Casablanca the morning of the 9th. Myself and 175 other students (about 20% of the student population) signed up for a Semester at Sea trip that lasted the ENTIRE port, all 4 days. I spent a lot of money on this trip, and unfortunately, I regret it. While we did have a lot of fun, the trip itself was extremely deceiving. I booked it right away because of the cool title/description: “Marrakech & Camel Trek through the Sahara.” I mean, c’mon... Camel trekking? In the Sahara?? Sign me up! While we did ride on camels, the rest of the trip was rough. Details: A couple of my friends, Nicole, Becca, Erika, Anthony, and Scott, were also ... read more

Blog Entry: Days at Sea before our last port! Today we got yelled at. Apparently we’re not supposed to play games with cups at the dinner table.... You know that cup game where you do a bunch of stuff with it like tapping and clapping and turning it to a beat, then you pass it in a circle? We got bored at dinner, so Rachel and I taught everyone... we had it going well... but the “Dining Room Dad” (crew member) didn’t seem to be catching on to the fun.... Tomorrow will unfortunately be our last port :( We’re still excited though! It’s Morocco, and we are definitely ready to get off the ship. We’ve had 5 days at sea, 4 of which were classes. This is our longest stretch at sea since in between our ... read more

Blog Entry: Walk like an Egyptian. Hello Good Friends! Or “Habibi” as the Egyptians say :) I’m finally getting to the chance to blog about our adventures in Egypt. I have been putting it off for more than one reason (the main reason probably being my procrastination tendencies that I thoroughly embrace). So now, Habibi, I would like to share with you 5 of the most intense, memorable, and breathtaking days of my life that happen to take place in Egypt. It’s still hard for me to believe I was actually there... Here goes! We ported on July 30th (Happy Birthday, Burger) in the big city of Alexandria, about 3 hours West of the Nile River. Alexandria is the second biggest city in all of Egypt, the first being Cairo, the city with all of the ... read more

Blog Entry: The doctor said sea sickness is like the chicken pox. Once you have it, you rarely get it again.... Dr. Milt, although quite intelligent, is seriously mistaken. There was a slight rock to the boat as we were sailing back down the Black Sea after Bulgaria. And the slightest bit of rocking means a nauseous morning for me. I had to book it out of my 8am to make it to the bathroom in time. Successful! None of my friends are this sensitive, and I don’t know of anyone else throwing up this much... I’m beginning to wonder what’s wrong with me... Bad inner ear. Who can I blame that one on? Mom? Dad? The easiest answer to this would be to take Meclizine, the heavy motion sickness medicine that the doctors recommend and ... read more

Blog Entry: Turkey Time! “Gobble Gobble” ~ CULTURE SHOCK! It is midnight here on this Thursday night, the night before we can explore Varna, Bulgaria! We only had one day at sea in between Turkey and Bulgaria, which explains why I am not blogging about Turkey until now. Having one day at sea is stressful. In all of 24 hours, we have to write papers, study for tests, take 4 hours of class, plan for the next country, and write blogs! These days go by very quickly... Before the trip, I anticipated these days at sea being days of rest, so to speak, in between the intense traveling at port.... I was seriously mistaken! I originally had 2 papers due today, but luckily, Blake, a girl in my Poly Theory class, persistently emailed our professor complaining ... read more

Blog Entry: Late Ferries from Santorini = Dock Time in Turkey “Welcome to Greece!” That’s what the front of the map they gave me says. They’re so hospitable :) Greece was AMAZING! The ship docked in Piraeus on Monday the 13th, which is about 15 minutes outside of Athens. My first mission: finding an external hard drive! The Greek hospitality at the Purser’s desk on the ship gave me a few spots to look for and the general direction in which to look. It was quite the journey for Rachel and I, but Mission Accomplished! We’ve decided that some of the port cities are not very good examples of the countries themselves. Piraeus is definitely not a good example... I kinda felt unsafe... Going into Athens later that day made me feel much better! I had ... read more

Blog Entry: An unusual day in the neighborhood. We are officially 8 hours ahead of everyone back home! This makes it especially hard to contact everyone, but I am doing my best to count back 8 hours and predict what everyone is up to at home. The good news is that this is our last hour lost on the trip. From here on out, we will be gaining hours of sleep :) The down side to that is that the trip is close to halfway over!! Already??? Time flies when you're on a boat. I learned today that this is the fastest ship in the world.... I've heard from many sources that this is true... I find it hard to believe, but she is small, and she is fast! I should turn that into "Rumor Ranger". ... read more

Blog Entry: I've Lost Count: CROATIA! (I don't want to leave) This morning I lost my breakfast... the ship left at about 8 am from Croatia and right off the bat, it was rocky. There was a storm as we left Croatia so the seas weren't as calm as they usually are. I knew I wasn't going to feel good so I popped 2 Meclizines and headed up for breakfast. Oh and luckily I grabbed a handy dandy barf bag. Anyway I got up from the computer after breakfast and just lost it. I ran over to the corner... I don't think anyone saw me... if they did, oh well. I'm so used to it! I made it to class long enough to tell him I just got sick in the hallway and he sent me ... read more