Advertisement
Published: April 23rd 2011
Place: San Diego, CA
This is it, my last two days abroad the MV Explorer. I can’t believe how fast these last 3 and half months have gone by. I remember the first day of the voyage when we all clumped together on the 7th deck, looked out on the ledge at the port and waved goodbye to everyone while hearing the horn in the background. I think pulling into San Diego will have the same feeling…like we’ve come full circle! I’m also am in disbelief that I have traveled this much in such a short amount of time. I have literally circled the entire globe and went to 3 other continents besides the US. I have also crossed every major ocean and was the first voyage to travel 900 miles up the Amazon River. I don’t think I’ll be able to stop looking at my passport!!! Almost every page is stamped and there are 7 visas in it. I still can’t believe I got to see so much of the world by 20 years old. This has been the most incredible experience. I have learned soooo much about the world and myself!
It’s going to be weird to
go home….not just to my house, but to the US. Everything is going to be different. Sleeping on the rocky ship, in mud huts, camping on the beach and in hammocks has been really fun, but I think I’m ready to go sleep in my nice bed at home and eat American food….not to mention drinking water that doesn’t have any chemicals in it!
I keep going through all my pictures and thinking about all the amazing things I got to do on this trip. In Ghana, I slept on a beach, met tribal villages and practiced rituals with them, hiked and slept in the Amazon Rainforest (not to mention sailing down the Amazon River), walked on the Great Wall of China, saw the Taj Mahal, took a canoe ride on the Ganges River, prayed inside a Buddhist temple, danced in the streets with people in Brazil, walked inside the caves of Ha Long Bay, went on a safari in Africa, went to the top of Table Mountain, went to a beach full of penguins and ate, shopped and bargained my way through China. I have seen some of the poorest and richest places in the world, the weirdest
religious rituals, some of the 7 wonders of the world, tried some of the weirdest food (literally), and have even cried multiple times on this voyage as a reaction to some of the stuff I saw and after saying goodbye to some of the people I have met. I have met so many incredible people in some of these countries and I really hope one day to meet them again. I still talk to my friends from Brazil through email. It’s also weird to have friends on Facebook from all over the world.
Ghana and India were definitely the two places on the trip that I had the most culture shock with. I had never felt so out of my comfort zone until then. Some of the stuff I saw there was disturbing and really made me appreciate my life. India is so hard to explain that even my long blog doesn’t do it any justice. I have not seen that much poverty in my entire life! I have also never experienced discrimination or saw the real effects of apartheid until I saw some areas in South Africa. When you learn about apartheid in a classroom, you think of
it as this piece of history that we have moved on from, but in reality, the people in the squatter homes in South Africa are still living it. I had this same feeling when I saw the slave castles and dungeons in Ghana. When you see all the dirty cells that people lived in and families crying next to you, you realize how things like discrimination and hatred are really real around the world.
After we left Taiwan I was sitting with a group of my friends at the pool deck and we were talking about the trip. I asked everyone what their favorite port was. Surprisingly, everyone said Ghana. I was shocked at first, because that definitely wasn’t one of my favorite ports originally. Later that night I was thinking about it and actually I think Ghana was one of my favorite ports. I forgot about all the cool things I did there. Also, I realized how cool their history and culture was. I mean how many people actually get to visit Ghana in their lifetimes and learn about their history with the slave trade or meet with villages. I think the reason I originally had negative opinions
about Ghana, was because I kept thinking of all the bad things I experienced while I was there (seeing the slave castles/dungeons and the constant harassment and nagging I got from vendors). I think that kind of stuff bothered me because I wasn’t used to the constant craziness of being grabbed at or yelled out by vendors and taxi drivers. Now that it’s the end of the trip, I really think of that kind of stuff as normal (especially because I experienced it in almost every port). Once I got past all that, I realized how cool Ghana was and how much I loved being there. I also loved India because it was such a crazy country and it was definitely an “experience”. Actually, I loved all of the countries for different reasons.
One of the coolest things I experienced was exploring the Amazon Rainforest. It was cool to see stuff I had only read about in anthropology class, national geographic or saw on discovery channel. I remember the morning after we slept in the jungle lodge, we went on a hike at 6 am, and we were the only ones out there. You have this kind of lonesome
feeling, like “no one knows I’m here…all there is, is this giant rainforest and me”. And at night when we were out on the river in canoes and I couldn’t see anything but darkness and the stars….not to mention hearing all the animal noises around you….it was really unreal! I was also really proud of myself for sleeping in the wilderness with nothing but huge bugs. You feel so far from home and that you’re literally in a different world. Although, that is how I felt the entire trip. That’s why I think going back to the US is going to be so weird.
I urge everyone to travel or study abroad….but not just to Europe, Australia and Asia, but to remote places. Those have been the best experiences for me. Once you see a place like Ghana or India, you really realize how sheltered you are about life. There is so much going on that you don’t even know about. You meet the most amazing people and you get to experience stuff that very few have experienced before. For example, I was one of the first white people some Ghanaians ever met.
I also learned how scary the world really is….when I’m home; I live in a happy little bubble! Just the idea that the rape rate in South Africa was 1 in 4 is enough to freak you out. I knew before this trip that my life was safer in the US, but I never realized how different it was compared to people living in these other countries. Just the taxi drivers and vendors alone are enough to make your head spin or make you cry (I was followed down streets multiple times, grabbed at, yelled out, spit at, and even 360 degree surrounded by them). The question I got asked the most by foreigners, was if they could marry me, so they could come to the US and get a working visa---it’s sad that they would give their lives for my passport to help save their families. We literally referred to our passports as golden tickets while in port. I never realized how amazing I had it in the US. My life is literally a fairytale! I’m so lucky!!!
The thing that struck me about the poorest places in the world is how happy and positive everyone is. I learned that money isn’t what you give to some of these kids; it is compassion, love and the ability to be their friend. They are happy when you hold their hand, braid their hair, or take a picture with them. Also, a smile is universal! I can’t wait to go back to some of these places or one day give back to some of the villages I visited. Now I know why people join the Peace Core. It made me sad to see how many of the children I met were eager to learn and dreamed of going to school. Unlike the children from the US, who complain about going to school every day and beg their parents for the best backpacks and school supplies. The saddest part is when you hear how inexpensive it would be to put on child through the schooling system (I think it was less than $80 US for a whole year in some of the countries we visited)!
In all, I will miss Semester at Sea and traveling on the MV Explorer. Most of the people I met on this voyage feel like my family. But in the end, it feels good to go home and see my family and friends….it’s kind of bittersweet! I have been very disconnected from everyone at home and I can’t wait to use things like my cell phone, the internet, TV and radio. I already have a list of all the foods I have missed and can’t wait to go home and eat everything in sight. I am also ready to not be sea sick for once. Luckily, we have had no rockiness since Hilo!
This is definitely not the end of traveling for me, but just the beginning. If there’s one thing I learned from this voyage, it is to just go for it. Do things that make you uncomfortable and scared because they will be your best memories. Also, don’t just do touristy-things when you’re visiting a country…meet a local or go to a place not in a travel book. Those were my favorite experiences!
Some people have asked me what is next travel wise. Haha!!! For me, I think it will be awhile before I travel to all these weird places…..I think I would need more time and money. I’m going to be in a lot of debt, but it was totally worth it!!! But I know that I definitely need to get to Japan at some point. I also want to see more of Asia, such as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. I would love to visit Madagascar or another place in Africa. I definitely want to go back to Brazil some day to visit my friends there. I would love to go to Carnival or the next World Cup. The coolest part is that I have friends in all of these countries now, so I have people I can visit and stay with. It wasn’t just the kids I met while in port, I also have met people from all over the world that were students on the ship. It was really cool to talk with them and learn about people my age from other countries. The oldest person on the ship around 85 so I guess it really is never too late to travel.
I would love to do more service related trips or help start an organization. I’m still thinking of AmeriCorps. If possible, I want to learn more languages. That is one thing that annoyed me the whole voyage, was how many people knew English and could communicate with me, but I couldn’t communicate back. I would love to write a book one day on another place I visit…we’ll see? Maybe I’ll put my anthropology degree to some good use? There are so many more countries that I didn’t even know existed until this trip that I would love to visit now and learn more about. So now that I have seen some of the world, what is next….the rest of it I guess hahah!
I want to thank everyone who has kept up with my blog. I have really enjoyed writing it and sharing all my adventures with everyone! It’s been really great to have the support of family and friends from home and from school. I had never written a blog or journal before and honestly, I didn’t think I would complete it. I had tried to write journals in the past and always gave up mid-way. After talking to my dad on the phone in Hawaii, I found out how many people were actually subscribed….I had no idea! I really thought the only people reading this were my immediate family and some friends from home and UNH. The whole time I had just been copy and pasting it in emails in order for it to be posted online (so I never knew).
The feedback I got was really good! I really tried to hold nothing back as to how I felt about certain countries or people. There were times in Asia that I had a lot of trouble writing about all the details because I was non-stop traveling for multiple days and then I had only 1 day before I got to another country.....so I had very little down time to write. My intention from the beginning was to put pictures up with the writing like I did in the Bahamas, but that didn’t work out as I planned. Hopefully I can show pictures and videos to everyone who has read it….to put a visual to the writing. Make sure to check my Facebook (friend me!!!) in the next month to see all the pictures and videos that I post. I know some are already there, but I’m going to go through and make a separate album for each country. Bare with me….it’s going to take a longggg time!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.096s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0492s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
gordon
non-member comment
great final blog
Emmie - This final blog was AMAZING! it is worthy of framing on the wall. The experience and what you have gained from the trip is truely life changing. The leason learned and the experiences, as expressed. Fabulous. I am ready to sign up for the next trip.