Smashers

Hawaii… no more international ports, we are back in America. Everyone knew this port would be different. We had cell phone service, the drinking age was no longer 18 and we were finally realizing our trip was coming to an end. When I woke up in the morning I went up and got breakfast. Of course, before I knew it I had a call from my mother. We talked for a little bit, and then I said ok I’ll talk to you later. Before I knew it she called right back just because she could. After going through immigration we were off the boat. We walked around to an ATM and were finally able to get AMERICAN money out. We were all so thrilled. By 11:30 we were picked up by a bus and taken up ... read more

Japan. The last intercontinental port before we get back to the United States. While super excited to go to Japan, I was almost more excited just to get to Hawaii, and then home. Japan was the first port where I wasn’t able to call my parents. Friday The first day in Japan we were in Kobe. We docked at around 8 o’clock then had to go through immigration. We weren’t able to get through till about 11 o’clock. They had to make sure we weren’t sick when we came into the port. After getting out, Ed and I walked around Kobe. We went to find an ATM to take cash out but we weren’t able too. None of the machines took outside companies. After walking around the town Ed and I were back at the ship ... read more

When going into Hong Kong and China I really had no idea what to do. I knew that I had a trip planned that would take up most my time, but as for the first and last day they were totally free. So when first arriving to china it took a while to get off the boat. Immigration was a terrible and took way to long. So once we finally were able to get off the ship at 11 Amy and I decided to go out. Everyone was going bungee jumping. Amy and I were going to go watch but that was a waste of a day. So we came to the conclusion hop on one of those topless busses and travel the city. Thursday There were three different paths we could get on and we ... read more

Vietnam Vietnam was one of my favorite ports. It was super interesting because parents came out to visit a lot of their kids. It was fun to see everyone interact with their parents and funny to see parents try to adapt to the culture. We students already had an idea of how to be around locals from the previous ports. Wednesday The first day in Vietnam was amazing. It started with some students waking up at 6 in the morning to see us travel up the Mekong River. We went from open ocean to trees surrounding us on both sides. We would see little boats and people working on the river. We saw sunrise and it was beautiful. After That I went back to bed till 8 for breakfast. After breakfast I had a trip at ... read more

Singapore The night before Singapore we had a logistical pre-port like we always do. However this one explained a lot about the laws and how people could get caned or hung. It made a lot of people rethink their plans on going out for Halloween. Sunday The first day we got here Halloween! It was so much fun. I woke up to have breakfast and we were just getting pulled into the harbor. I saw us go from open oceans to trees and skyscrapers. It was so interesting. After breakfast we all got our passports and I attended the diplomatic meeting. 3 girls and I didn’t end up getting off the ship till about 10:30. After we went through immigration and customs it was about 11. We took a taxi and headed off to the botanical ... read more

India… Wow, so many words to describe it. It’s a lot like people say. You hate it while here, and then probably love it when you are gone. Hopefully it will get that way. India for me was way overwhelming, stressful and sad. It was worse than I expected, but I still have a lot of fun. I am so thankful I did a organized semester at sea trip because if I did something independently I would have been lost. Friday The first day when we could get off the boat was very interesting. But before we could get off we had to go through customs (passports being stamped) and a diplomatic meeting. I then went back to bed till 11. I then hung out with Ed, Amy, Kayla and Carly. I thought a small group ... read more

Saturday The five days between Mauritius and India were very crazy. Not only was I trying to catch up on sleep but I was also studying for midterms. On top of that I volunteered to be a sea captain for sea Olympics. I thought it would be super fun and give me a great opportunity to get involved with my sea. Little did I know it was the craziest and most hectic part of my trip so far. Some captains and sea’s were way more into it that ours. We were the Mediterranean Sea. The second day we were on the Ship we had a sea Olympic meeting. My co-captain Madi and I had to sign in. I told her to write us down because I had no idea how to spell Mediterranean. Neither did she, ... read more

Mauritius! We were only there for a short period of time, but while we were there it was a nice. It was a great opportunity to wind down from a crazy time in South Africa and from taking our midterms. The first day we got there was hectic because we weren’t really sure how to do things. We had to go to an ATM and every semester at sea student was there it seemed like. It took forever but then we finally got cash and had a game plan on what we were doing. We were going to hike up to a waterfall then jump off. SO FUN. It was about a 30 minute car ride through the town and before we knew it we were there. We took about a 10 minute hike in, then ... read more

Oh South Africa! Definitely the coolest and craziest port we have been at. It was the most industrialized and Cape Town was a big city feeling. The craziest part of Cape Town was seeing table mountain right in the middle of it. When we arrived on Sunday I woke up at 5 am to see the ship dock. I woke up and everything was still super dark. All I could see across the horizon was lights to big building and a Ferris wheel. After that I went back to bed till six for the sunrise. Sunrise was beautiful. I couldn’t believe seeing it. I was trying to take pictures of it and found out my camera was broken. So I was very irritated about that the whole day. Before we could get off the ship we ... read more

Shiplife 2 Sunday TODAY! September 26th I am no longer a polliwog of the ocean. I am officially a shellback. I crossed the equator. Not just the equator but the prime meridian… Even better…. AT THE SAME TIME! Yeah, we hit 0,0. It was so cool. The captain then straddled the prime meridian so we could be in both hemispheres at once. I was pretty stoked. To make it even better, the one class I had for the day, my teacher canceled so we could partake in this special event. The rest of the day, I spent finishing up my paper and sleeping. A head cold came on. Monday I slept most of the day because of my head cold. I went to my 3 classes, but spend the days sneezing. Everyone was laughing and was ... read more