October 2011
1 post
this is going to be a really random post. i don’t get on here much because it’s not really my thing, but i need to write this down because it’s important.
the changes that semester at sea caused in me were palpable. i could articulate them, i had a sense of them, i could feel them as new, raw parts of me that had yet to be explored.. as the time goes by, i can feel them...
May 2011
2 posts
April 2011
16 posts
Apr 13, 2011 So weve been stuck on the ship for what feels like years. Ive been busy though- in the past 3 days Ive written 12 journal entries, 2 four-page papers, 2 two-page papers, 1 ten-page paper, and completed one interview assignment. That leaves me with 6 two-page papers, 7 journal entries, and 2 finals before the semester ends. Sounds great, right? We have had time to be silly, though,...
Apr 4, 2011 Taiwan felt like a vacation. I know what youre all thinking
Ive been on vacation for 4 months. But it hasnt felt like it. When we get to ports its almost like were crazy people. Since we only have a few days to explore an entire country we try to cram everything in, which equals very few combined hours to sleep. As you know we were originally scheduled to go to Japan, and many...
Apr 9, 2011 So weve been just stuck on the ship for the past 3 days since we left Taiwan. Weve had this long on the ship before but this time it feels different because there is so little to look forward to. We have 8 days left until we reach Hawaii, and I know Im going to go stir crazy with cabin fever before we get there. Classes are plugging along, and work is just heaped on right now but I...
Apr 5-6, 2011 This morning was a slow one. Everyone slept in pretty late and we got up leisurely. The morning and night time is the best for us to talk to people back home because were 12 hours ahead, so lots of people were Skyping or facebook chatting with friends, so we didnt get out of the hostel until about noon. Molly went on a blog about Taipei and found the address of this adorable diner...
Apr 1, 2011 This morning we slept in until about 10 then got ready to head out for our last day in Shanghai. First we went to a market, of course, because several people had a few last minute things they wanted to buy. We ended up spending all the last of our cash and a couple hours there, then headed out to eat lunch before we got back on the ship. I think I was about to have a panic attack
I was...
Mar 31, 2011 We arrived in Shanghai really early and since Meredith and I were practically the last ones off the train we were also the last ones to arrive at the ship. That meant massive amounts of people with massive amounts of baggage trying to get through security so Meredith and I, with two other girls, decided to go get breakfast and then come back to the ship. We went to McDs (my mom is...
Mar 30, 2011 We woke up with the sun at about 6:25 am. Some people sprung out of their sleeping bags, which I dont understand. Meredith and I stayed in our warm little bag as long as we could, then reluctantly climbed out and started to pack up. We were supposed to be going on a 4-mile hike on the wall that morning, but with my state of being I knew it wasnt going to be possible. Molly and Jenna...
Mar 27-28, 2011 Today we woke up early and went to visit the big Buddha (Im not actually sure of the name
), this huge Buddha statue that is situated on a hill a couple of hours outside Hong Kong. Its one of the biggest in the world. We got ready and set out about 9 in the morning. It was a rainy morning but all of us were in such a good mood- the entire subway ride there we were all just...
Mar 29, 2011 This morning we woke up pretty early to a breakfast of toast and jam and then got ready to head out to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is the biggest complex of palaces in the world and was built by one of the ancient Chinese dynastic families. It was really cool, but super crowded and we couldnt hear many of the explanations of our guide because our group was so big. As a...
Mar 26, 2011 Today was our first day in Hong Kong. It is such an amazing city! After being in Vietnam and Cambodia it was definitely a culture shock. We set out from the ship about 11 am, a huge group of 10 of us. Kellys dad used to be a pilot, so he has flown to Hong Kong a lot and gave us some tips, including some delicious restaurants. That was our first stop. We went to a cute little pub...
Mar 24, 2011 So Im really sorry to say that I havent been able to blog about Vietnam and my trip to Cambodia. I was so exhausted when we got back to the ship that I couldnt bring myself to write about a long trip that had so many ups and downs. Now that Ive spent 6 days in China, I cant sit down and write out all the details of what seems like years ago. Here are a few highlights: 1. Vietnam...
March 2011
17 posts
Mar 17, 2011 So today we found out from Dean Dan where we would be going instead of Japan. Were going to Taiwan!! Im excited, because Dana has been there so she can tell me what to do. I am kind of disappointed that were not going to the Phillippines, but thats okay because I dont really know that much about either place. We dock in Vietnam tomorrow morning, and then Molly and I are flying to...
Mar 16, 2011 Today we were in Singapore and it was AMAZING! The city is beautiful and so built up, the buildings are all so different from each other and going from India to there it was definitely a shocker. We only had one day in Singapore so I wanted to get in as much as I could. I did an SAS trip in the morning called Historical Temples Churches and Mosques, which was really interesting....
We just received a very eloquent email from our dean, Dan Garvey, that I thought was worth sharing, regarding the change in itinerary. “My personal approach is to nod in recognition that things have changed and then lift my eye toward the horizon of possibility.- Dean Dan”
So today when we woke up we discovered that we wouldnt be going to Japan. The devastation aside, the nuclear problems were just too dangerous. We are currently waiting to see whether we will be going to the Philippines, South Korea, or Taiwan. Less likely possibilities are staying longer in China or Hawaii, but I think it would be best (and SAS agrees, I think) to add a new port. I dont know...
Mar 11, 2011 This morning I was awoken by a phone call from Lisa demanding I get my ass out of bed. She came over and literally sat at the end of my bed until I got up. We had no plans for the day- just shopping and maybe an internet café. We ended up getting off the ship and into an auto-rickshaw, which is the scariest most entertaining ride youll ever have. These tiny things weave through...
Mar 10, 2011 We were allowed to sleep in this morning, until 8 am. We had breakfast and then headed out for a city tour of Dehli. What this actually meant was a bus tour with a couple of stops at some temples, but still it was interesting. First we went to the Lotus Temple. It is a temple shaped like a huge lotus that is dedicated to the Bahia faith. Inside the temple there is nothing to distract...
Mar 9, 2011 One of the first things to be noticed about India is the traffic. On every street there is a mash up of pedestrians, bicycles, bicycle rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, cars, buses, trucks, and the most interesting- cows. Cows are sacred to the Hindu religion, so no one would dare to hit them or heard them off the road. Traffic just flows around them, or if it has to it stops. You would be...
Mar 8, 2011 After a 5:00 am wakeup call (yuck!) we got up and ready for breakfast. Breakfast was a mixture of traditional Indian food and some cereal, which was delicious. Ive never drunk so much milk so fast- it tasted so amazing after a couple months of little access to milk. After breakfast we made our way to the Dehli train station to catch the Taj Express train to Agra, to see the famous Taj...
Mar 7, 2011 Were almost getting to the real India. Almost, I promise. Im tempted to start my blog with the negatives of India, because there surely are many negatives. Instead, Ill go chronologically as things happened. This morning I packed up my backpack and got ready to leave with a SAS group in which I knew no one. For those of you at home who know how shy I am, youll know how much I was...
Mar 6, 2011 My first day in India was definitely a non-cultural and not very interesting one. Cassie, Marge, Haley, Meredith, Kelly and I were just planning on exploring and shopping all day. When we got off the boat, we were met with about three security checks to get out of the port. The port in Chennai is an industrial one, so we werent allowed to walk to the street. We had to take a shuttle,...
So it has been six days since we left Mauritius. Time has been completely blending together on the ship, even though we have had some pretty intense events. The days immediately after Mauritius were pretty stressful. We found out that evening (through the insane gossip mill on the ship) that we had to leave someone at a hospital there. He had drunk way too much and wasnt functioning, and had to...
February 2011
9 posts
Yesterday we were in Mauritius for the briefest amount of time possible. For some reason, weve arrived at lots of ports on Sundays, which causes some issues because most things are closed on Sundays in many countries. So of course, even though we were only there for one day, we were in Mauritius on a Sunday. A lot, and I mean a ton, of people rented catamarans for the day and did a basic booze...
Feb 21, 2011 This morning was rough. Cassie and I had planned on waking up at like 9 to go shopping, wander around the Waterfront, and use an Internet café. On ship time was 6 pm, which meant we really only had until about 4. Well we woke up at about 11, and none of our friends were around. We really couldn’t find anyone, so we decided to go have lunch on our own and shop around. When...
Feb 20, 2011 Today I slept in a bit because my activities didn’t begin until 12:15. I got invited to go to Rhoda Kadalie’s office with a group from Student’s of Service. Rhoda Kadalie was appointed the Minister of Social Justice by Nelson Mandela at the end of apartheid, and is still very active in government and social services. For the past 11 years, she has been the editor in...
Feb 19, 2011 After going to sleep last night at like 3:30, we woke up at 5:30 to eat breakfast really quick and make the bus for our safari adventure. Haley, her roommate Kerri, Molly, Patrick and I got on the same bus and were promptly asleep. Patrick and I were sitting together, and we were talking one minute and then he was literally asleep in 5 seconds. I have never seen anything like it. Of...
Feb 18, 2011 So today I was supposed to go on an all day tour of a township and out to Robben Island, the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. I thought, as an African Studies major and a lover of all things history, there is no way I can miss this when I come to Cape Town. But I wasn’t thinking about that amidst all the shots last night, and I wasn’t thinking about that when I...
Feb 17, 2011 So today was the day that we were supposed to get off the ship in Cape Town. A bunch of my friends (I was too lazy) got out of bed super early to watch the sunrise as we pulled into South Africa, but were quickly disappointed to find out that we couldn’t pull in because of the high winds. The port authorities were worried that if we tried to pull in we would smash up against the...
P.S. Apparently I haven’t been getting some emails or they’ve been bouncing back to y’all. I deleted a bunch of older emails so maybe that will help. Keep trying to send emails I want them!!! fdsalisbury@semesteratsea.net
ALERT- REALLY LONG POST COMING UP- ANYONE WHO ISNT THAT INTERESTED WILL GET SUPER BORED- READ THE BEGINNING AND END FOR SYNOPSIS Ghana. How do I even begin to describe my time there? The first thing I remember thinking was that I recognized the scent. Its amazing to me how fast a smell can take you back in time, and this was definitely one of those times. When I woke up in my cabin the morning...
Since getting back on the ship from Brazil it has been all about getting into the routine of school. When were at sea, we have classes every day except for the occasional reading day. When we got back, it was so hard to constantly try to answer the question How was your time in Brazil? I cant articulate how I felt when I was in Brazil, and what I end up spitting out does not do my experience...
January 2011
11 posts
This is going to be a long one. About 3 hours ago the ship left port in Brazil, and I have had the most amazing 4 days of my life. Ill start with Sunday, our first day in Manaus. Basically, it was Sunday and everything was closed so we walked around, went into a few stores, had some street food, and then did some sight seeing. There is an old opera house in downtown Manaus, left over from the...
So last night we had our first official SAS talent show, super exciting. There were actually some amazing people who sang, and one guy who played a mean fiddle, who was from
guess where Dana
.APPALACHIA. Hahaha I know, but actually he was amazing. There was also an amazing (insert heavy sarcastic intonation here) performance of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, complete with one-piece swimsuit and half...
We left Dominica around 8 pm on Tuesday and Molly and I promptly fell asleep. Being in port is exhausting, and theres not rest for the weary until we get back on the ship. The next day classes resumed and nothing that exciting happened. I love my South Asia music class. Despite the title, its actually about mostly about religions of India and how chanting and music are related to them. So...
Dominica is beautiful. I was expecting a beachy tourist destination, but what I discovered when I woke up yesterday morning was huge mountains covered in rain forest and shrouded by misty clouds. Think Lost/Jurassic Park style. Turns out all of the mountains are volcanoes, and one of them is active, so there are tons of sulfur springs all over the island and black sand beaches. I have had the most...
So second day of classes is almost over. Everyone has been complaining about global studies but I kind of like it. Today we talked about maps and how they influence us a lot of times without us thinking about them, but how most of them are tailored to serve the creators specific wishes. I was interested the whole time but I noticed lots of yawns going on around me. So that was at 9:20 this morning...