It should be Thursday…

September 8, 2006

Hi everyone! We’re crossing the international dateline so today should be Thursday but it doesn’t actually exist and it’s now Friday instead. It’s a little weird but we’ve been gaining an hour almost every other night, which has been really nice to get that extra sleep in. So technically I guess we get that day back somehow. The weather has started getting rainy but it’s still pretty warm and humid outside. We had a barbeque last night up on the top deck around the pool. It was nice to have hamburgers and fries since the dinner food is getting a little repetitive. Classes are going along fine, we all have tests and quizzes coming up soon before we get to Japan. So a lot of the day is spent reading and going to classes instead of laying out by the pool, since the weather has changed. We’ve had a few more “pub nights” and they are a lot of fun especially since nobody really knows what to do with themselves at night on the ship. Besides meals and class there isn’t much to do so we’ve been watching a lot of movies (Stefanie brought a ton of movies, lucky me) and just reading and hanging out. It’s pretty different to be in college without a town and real campus or frats and bars to go to. But it’s a nice change even though sometimes it feels like summer camp. The ship seems smaller and smaller every day and I’m sure we will all be ecstatic to get off in Kobe, Japan on Tuesday. I’ve been planning out my trip there, trying to organize my excursions with friends so that we can all spend some time together in Port.
When we arrive Tuesday I am signed up to go to a baseball game in Kobe, and I’ve talked to a lot of other people who are going. James and Jerry have already mentioned that they wanted Japanese baseball caps, so hopefully I can find some good ones. I want to get some good souvenirs but I’ve heard that Japan is one of the most expensive of our ports and places in the world. I am also going on an overnight trip to Nara and Kyoto from Wednesday to Thursday and when I return on Thursday night Stefanie and I were going to try and take the train to Tokyo, where a lot of the SAS kids are going for the last day and night before we come back to the ship on Saturday. A few people have 21st birthdays to celebrate in Japan so we all want to go to dinner and karaoke. We’ve been getting lectures about Japanese life and culture everyday in Global Studies. We have a test tomorrow and nobody really knows what we are going to be tested on, so that should be interesting.
I’m trying to stay off the internet but it’s hard! Life without a cell phone is interesting, but we can call each other’s rooms directly so that’s how we all get a hold of each other. Also meals are served at very specific times so everyone sees each other then or at pub night. I’ve met so many people from California and the Bay Area and most people from other places in the country have a friend, or a friend of a friend who I know or they know through school and other things. It’s a pretty small world on the ship. But it’s nice being the only person from Vanderbilt, there are a ton of kids from Boulder and the UC schools. I even met a guy who goes to Menlo College and a lot of Stanford kids who surprisingly know nothing about Menlo Park, they say nobody ever leaves campus. It will be nice to have so many friends from all around the country when I get home. And since we are all living in such close quarters and will be traveling together we are becoming close friends very fast. I have a lot of SAS lead trips planned in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Myanmar, and India. After those ports Corrine (from Walnut Creek, goes to UCSD, youngest of 9 kids!) and I are traveling together with a few other guys and girls through Egypt, Turkey, Croatia, and Spain. They encourage doing independent travel which will be a totally new experience but well worth it. A lot of times it’s cheaper to travel in independent groups instead of paying for the SAS trips and then we can go to the places we want to without doing the extensive tours. It’s a little hard to believe that in a few days I’ll be getting off of the ship and besides a few trips planned basically be traveling on my own (with groups of people of course, don’t worry Dad I would NEVER go anywhere alone!). I can’t wait to see all of these countries and I’ll be sure to write down as much as I can and take tons of pictures to send back home. Send me your addresses if you want a postcard from Port!

First Port!

September 3, 2006
Aloha! Yesterday was our first stop in port, and it was absolutely perfect. We docked really early and a lot of people got up at 5:30 to go out and watch the sunset but I slept in until 7:30 so that I wasn’t too tired all day. We all had to go through a customs process because we were coming from mexico so we were called up by our halls and had to bring our ID and get our passports from the faculty lounge (the ship holds on to them while we don’t need them so nobody loses theirs). We just walked through and had our ID and passports checked by a customs official and then we all waited in the hallways for every person to be cleared before we could get off. We finals got off the ship around 9:30am and I headed out with Corrine (from Walnut Creek) and her roommate Natanya to go shopping at the big mall in Honolulu before heading down to Waikiki. We went to Duke’s for lunch after walking about 2 miles down there in the hot sun and we were exhausted. We kept running into semester at sea kids everywhere, and it seems like everyone pretty much knows each other or at least recognized each other after being on the ship together for a week. We laid out on the beach and swam a little bit, a lot of people went snorkeling, hiking, sky diving, and some even went shark cage diving. But I didn’t really want to risk my life in the first port of the trip so I stuck to the beach J And don’t worry dad, I never turned by back to the ocean!
There is a statue of an old surfer on the sidewalk in Waikiki and I guess there is the same statue in Santa Cruz so all the bay area people took a picture in front of it which was fun. I’ll post pictures soon once I figure it all out. We went to dinner in the international marketplace with a few guys who go to Stanford then had to catch cabs on our way back to get to the dock before 8pm because on ship time was 9 and there is always a line to get back in and swipe your card after going through customs. They pat you down pretty seriously and check all of your stuff. A lot of people got in trouble for trying to sneak alcohol on board and the “sheriff” of the ship wasn’t too happy about that. No mom, I didn’t break any rules or try to J I’m not getting myself kicked off of a trip like this! I was trying to think of any other exciting things to tell everyone and I realized I don’t think I mentioned the Spa! It’s amazing. It’s on the 7th deck and it’s like a LaBelle on board. They have manis/pedis, massages, facials, saunas, spray tanning and more. I figure after a tough exam I might treat myself to a pedicure…or relieve some stress with a massage. I just had my two morning classes (abnormal pscyh and global studies) and now I’m going to head to the 7th deck for some sun and reading.
I’ll write again soon, but the next week is pretty much just classes and trying to entertain ourselves before we finally make it to Japan. Thanks for the emails and comments…good to hear from anyone!