Saturday, February 9, 2013
Japan reflections
My reflection from my time in Japan made it onto the SAS blog! Just thought I'd share it here. I've been reading this blog for YEARS now and it's absolutely astounding to see my name attached to a quote about my time in a country.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Pictures Tell a Story...
Friday, February 1, 2013
Arigato, Japan
4 days in Japan, 4 different cities, and a whole lot of stories. I don't even know where to begin, so I'll probably split this up by different cities.
The travel exhaustion is really start to get to everybody, which is funny considering we have about 10 more places to go. We all look like we're extras on The Walking Dead. I think it would be abnormal if someone DIDN'T look exhausted right now.
Day 1/2-Yokohama/Tokyo:
Japan really knows how to welcome people. There was a crowd waving to us as the ship pulled into port, and they had a band playing as well! It was an amazing moment, and we're all joking that Japan has set the standards too high for the rest of the countries. There was an old man who was at the terminal, and he would wave his hat in the air and then bow to us.
After standing in the longest line I have ever encountered, we finally got off the ship around 12, and then had to go stand in line for immigration. This was the scariest immigration moment of my life. There were booths set up in this empty terminal and it was dead silent. Honestly, it looked like a scene from the Hunger Games or something. Luckily the lady I got actually smiled so I didn't feel like I was being incarcerated or anything. She took a picture, my fingerprints, stamped my passport, and then I was good to go.
There was a group of us that wanted to explore around Yokohama the first day, so we set off for a train station. We wanted to go to the Ramen Museum first, and when we were in the ticket line for the subway, I ran into my Women Writers professor and her husband. They had met a young couple who spoke English and were helping them purchase their ticket, and so they started to help us as well. When we told them were we wanted to go, they said "You want to go there? But there's nothing there!" Apparently all there is to see in that area is the Ramen Museum, so we decided to take the subway to the heart of Yokohama.
I could tell you every little thing that we did, but then I would be writing this blog until we got to China, which is actually in 2 days. We walked around a lot, ate good food, found that we really needed to know more Japanese than we did, went to the Cup of Noodles museum, and stopped at every single vending machine we saw. They really were that awesome. After dinner, Cali and I split from the rest of the group and went to the ferris wheel that was near the port. It was amazing! At the top we could see the ship all lit up on the harbor and everything.
We walked back to the ship, got our overnight stuff ready, and met the gals we were traveling with to Shibuya, Tokyo. Luckily the station near us was a one way to Shibuya, so we didn't have to trade trains or anything. A couple of girls were already in Shibuya, and we said we would meet them at the dog statue Hachi when we got there, which is apparently a statue that is very famous around Japan. I'm pretty sure I even watched a Hallmark movie about this dog with my mom a while back. We were about 30 minutes late meeting Tori and Laura, and we knew that Tori would be worried out of her mind, probably on the verge of calling Tom or Jim and telling them that we were missing.
We got off the train, and when we entered into the heart of Shibuya, we realized just how difficult it would be to find the dog statue. There were people everywhere, billboards flashing lights, and just about every type of sight and sound that we hadn't encountered since being on the relatively peaceful M.V Explorer (aside from the last 2 days before Japan where we were all sure the Captains voice was going to come on telling us to abandon ship). We ended up asking everyone we saw here Hachi the dog was, and just as promised, EVERYONE knew what we were talking about.
The funny thing is, it wasn't even the dog I saw first, it was Tori's blonde hair. By the time we got to them it looked like they were about to freeze, so they said they wanted to go check into the place they had found for us to stay before going out again. I knew things were about to get interesting when they said "Don't scream until you actually see it." They took us down a road in Shibuya, and then turned the corner where there was advertisements for Manboo, some sort of internet cafe. Sketchy. The elevator was too small to carry all of us, so only about 3 or 4 of us could go at a time, and then Tori told us not to press the button for floor number 8, because it was an adult shop. Whoops. So we successfully got off on the ninth floor…and then all I saw were lights and comic books and everything screamed that this was going to be a very interesting night.
The process of checking in was quite the feat. Nobody really spoke any English and plus there were about 8 of us all together. I now have a card declaring me to be a lifelong member of Manboo. Although I don't really think I'll be going back. We went upstairs, and we all kind of looked at each other. There were little cubicles with nothing but a semi reclinable chair, a desk attached to the wall, and a computer screen on top of the desk. I felt like I was at my first job or something. I should also mention that the smoke was so strong that I'm pretty sure I smoked the equivalent to 10 packs just by being there for a couple hours. I have pictures to describe just how…intense this place was, so I'll just to upload some in the future. Trust me, words will not prepare you for this.
Everybody sent out a couple emails saying that this might turn into a Criminal Minds episode, and then we left again in search of a karaoke club. We found one relatively quick, rented a room for an hour and a half, and got our karaoke on. Taylor Swift, Spice Girls, P!nk, Journey, Mika, Backstreet Boys, and many more were sung, and it was probably one of the most fun experiences of Japan. By the time we finally headed back to our cubicles, it was about 3:30am. I left my passport belt on, put on pj pants, got a drink out of the free vending machines (which made the whole experience worth it), and tried to sleep for the next 3 hours.
At one moment I woke up and I felt like I was rocking a shaking. For a second I forgot where I was and I thought that I was back on the ship. I went back to sleep, and when I woke up around 7, I decided that that was probably the most amount of sleep I was going to get and decided to just stay awake. We all agreed to be ready to leave around 8:30, so I just relaxed and went to get more drinks out of the free vending machine. Turns out we were all awake and couldn't sleep, and we started talking and it turns out that everyone felt the rocking and shaking! So someone said that it might have been an earthquake. I'm not sure if that's the case, but it would make sense that we all felt it.
We got up, left, and went in search of a breakfast place. Turns out everything wasn't open yet, so we ended up at a McDonald's. Usually I wouldn't go for that, but the fact is that I was starving, super tired, and we all just needed some sort of energy. I don't need to spend more time talking about our McDonald's adventures.
Turns out Dahanah's boyfriend had told her about a store that seemed pretty cool, so we went in search of it. I'm pretty sure that we walked halfway across Tokyo in search of it. The entire time I was looking for places that might have flags, but alas, I was unsuccessful. We stopped a couple of places along the way, including a crepe place, and I'm pretty sure my tastebuds have never been so happy. In fact, I have decided that I'm going to eat on the 7th deck today because all the food I have eaten the last couple of days has spoiled my tastebuds. But that's not part of the story.
We ended up finding the seemingly nonexistent store (which was in a totally different district I'm pretty sure) and it was cool, but a bit touristy and expensive. We had managed to evade super touristy places so far, and as soon a we went to the store almost everybody there was a tourist of some sort doing some shopping. I thought that that might be the place where I could find a flag, but alas…I still did not find one. A couple of girls did some major shopping, and then we set out for a place to eat.
We ended up going down some random streets and alleys until we came across a legit looking place. Some of the people were looking for sushi, so when we asked if they had it, the guy said no, but that it was a gyoza place. We all decided to stay there and it was awesome! It was pretty small, but the food was amazing! We could see them making the gyoza behind the counter, and I swear my tastebuds are watering just remembering it. After we ate, we walked to a subway station, and we split into 2 groups: one who was going back to the ship for in transit, and the others who were traveling overland. I was part of the group who was traveling with the ship during our in transit time from Yokohama to Kobe.
After getting semi lost, taking the wrong train, and someone leaving a bag on the train and losing some purchases, we finally made it back to the terminal. When we were in the terminal, a lady walked up to us and said "Thank you, thank you", and then went on to say how she was one of the tour guides for the SAS trips. Emily ended up telling her about losing her bag and the lady brought us to a group of men she was with, and they spent about 20 minutes on the phone calling different stations trying to find the bag. And guess what? It was found! They described to her how to get to the station and back, and Laura and I were worried for time so we stayed behind, and Emily didn't want to go by herself. One of the men and the lady ended up offering to take her to the station where her bag was AND back to the terminal. Their kindness was just astounding, and that's just one example. When Emily got back, she told me that they bought both of her train tickets and gave her gifts and snacks along the way. It really was quite amazing.
Well, that's my time in Yokohama and Tokyo. I still have to blog about the in transit day (yes, that deserves to be talked about), as well as my days in Hiroshima and Kobe. I think I'll save those for the next post.
As always, thanks for reading!
The travel exhaustion is really start to get to everybody, which is funny considering we have about 10 more places to go. We all look like we're extras on The Walking Dead. I think it would be abnormal if someone DIDN'T look exhausted right now.
Day 1/2-Yokohama/Tokyo:
Japan really knows how to welcome people. There was a crowd waving to us as the ship pulled into port, and they had a band playing as well! It was an amazing moment, and we're all joking that Japan has set the standards too high for the rest of the countries. There was an old man who was at the terminal, and he would wave his hat in the air and then bow to us.
After standing in the longest line I have ever encountered, we finally got off the ship around 12, and then had to go stand in line for immigration. This was the scariest immigration moment of my life. There were booths set up in this empty terminal and it was dead silent. Honestly, it looked like a scene from the Hunger Games or something. Luckily the lady I got actually smiled so I didn't feel like I was being incarcerated or anything. She took a picture, my fingerprints, stamped my passport, and then I was good to go.
There was a group of us that wanted to explore around Yokohama the first day, so we set off for a train station. We wanted to go to the Ramen Museum first, and when we were in the ticket line for the subway, I ran into my Women Writers professor and her husband. They had met a young couple who spoke English and were helping them purchase their ticket, and so they started to help us as well. When we told them were we wanted to go, they said "You want to go there? But there's nothing there!" Apparently all there is to see in that area is the Ramen Museum, so we decided to take the subway to the heart of Yokohama.
I could tell you every little thing that we did, but then I would be writing this blog until we got to China, which is actually in 2 days. We walked around a lot, ate good food, found that we really needed to know more Japanese than we did, went to the Cup of Noodles museum, and stopped at every single vending machine we saw. They really were that awesome. After dinner, Cali and I split from the rest of the group and went to the ferris wheel that was near the port. It was amazing! At the top we could see the ship all lit up on the harbor and everything.
We walked back to the ship, got our overnight stuff ready, and met the gals we were traveling with to Shibuya, Tokyo. Luckily the station near us was a one way to Shibuya, so we didn't have to trade trains or anything. A couple of girls were already in Shibuya, and we said we would meet them at the dog statue Hachi when we got there, which is apparently a statue that is very famous around Japan. I'm pretty sure I even watched a Hallmark movie about this dog with my mom a while back. We were about 30 minutes late meeting Tori and Laura, and we knew that Tori would be worried out of her mind, probably on the verge of calling Tom or Jim and telling them that we were missing.
We got off the train, and when we entered into the heart of Shibuya, we realized just how difficult it would be to find the dog statue. There were people everywhere, billboards flashing lights, and just about every type of sight and sound that we hadn't encountered since being on the relatively peaceful M.V Explorer (aside from the last 2 days before Japan where we were all sure the Captains voice was going to come on telling us to abandon ship). We ended up asking everyone we saw here Hachi the dog was, and just as promised, EVERYONE knew what we were talking about.
The funny thing is, it wasn't even the dog I saw first, it was Tori's blonde hair. By the time we got to them it looked like they were about to freeze, so they said they wanted to go check into the place they had found for us to stay before going out again. I knew things were about to get interesting when they said "Don't scream until you actually see it." They took us down a road in Shibuya, and then turned the corner where there was advertisements for Manboo, some sort of internet cafe. Sketchy. The elevator was too small to carry all of us, so only about 3 or 4 of us could go at a time, and then Tori told us not to press the button for floor number 8, because it was an adult shop. Whoops. So we successfully got off on the ninth floor…and then all I saw were lights and comic books and everything screamed that this was going to be a very interesting night.
The process of checking in was quite the feat. Nobody really spoke any English and plus there were about 8 of us all together. I now have a card declaring me to be a lifelong member of Manboo. Although I don't really think I'll be going back. We went upstairs, and we all kind of looked at each other. There were little cubicles with nothing but a semi reclinable chair, a desk attached to the wall, and a computer screen on top of the desk. I felt like I was at my first job or something. I should also mention that the smoke was so strong that I'm pretty sure I smoked the equivalent to 10 packs just by being there for a couple hours. I have pictures to describe just how…intense this place was, so I'll just to upload some in the future. Trust me, words will not prepare you for this.
Everybody sent out a couple emails saying that this might turn into a Criminal Minds episode, and then we left again in search of a karaoke club. We found one relatively quick, rented a room for an hour and a half, and got our karaoke on. Taylor Swift, Spice Girls, P!nk, Journey, Mika, Backstreet Boys, and many more were sung, and it was probably one of the most fun experiences of Japan. By the time we finally headed back to our cubicles, it was about 3:30am. I left my passport belt on, put on pj pants, got a drink out of the free vending machines (which made the whole experience worth it), and tried to sleep for the next 3 hours.
At one moment I woke up and I felt like I was rocking a shaking. For a second I forgot where I was and I thought that I was back on the ship. I went back to sleep, and when I woke up around 7, I decided that that was probably the most amount of sleep I was going to get and decided to just stay awake. We all agreed to be ready to leave around 8:30, so I just relaxed and went to get more drinks out of the free vending machine. Turns out we were all awake and couldn't sleep, and we started talking and it turns out that everyone felt the rocking and shaking! So someone said that it might have been an earthquake. I'm not sure if that's the case, but it would make sense that we all felt it.
We got up, left, and went in search of a breakfast place. Turns out everything wasn't open yet, so we ended up at a McDonald's. Usually I wouldn't go for that, but the fact is that I was starving, super tired, and we all just needed some sort of energy. I don't need to spend more time talking about our McDonald's adventures.
Turns out Dahanah's boyfriend had told her about a store that seemed pretty cool, so we went in search of it. I'm pretty sure that we walked halfway across Tokyo in search of it. The entire time I was looking for places that might have flags, but alas, I was unsuccessful. We stopped a couple of places along the way, including a crepe place, and I'm pretty sure my tastebuds have never been so happy. In fact, I have decided that I'm going to eat on the 7th deck today because all the food I have eaten the last couple of days has spoiled my tastebuds. But that's not part of the story.
We ended up finding the seemingly nonexistent store (which was in a totally different district I'm pretty sure) and it was cool, but a bit touristy and expensive. We had managed to evade super touristy places so far, and as soon a we went to the store almost everybody there was a tourist of some sort doing some shopping. I thought that that might be the place where I could find a flag, but alas…I still did not find one. A couple of girls did some major shopping, and then we set out for a place to eat.
We ended up going down some random streets and alleys until we came across a legit looking place. Some of the people were looking for sushi, so when we asked if they had it, the guy said no, but that it was a gyoza place. We all decided to stay there and it was awesome! It was pretty small, but the food was amazing! We could see them making the gyoza behind the counter, and I swear my tastebuds are watering just remembering it. After we ate, we walked to a subway station, and we split into 2 groups: one who was going back to the ship for in transit, and the others who were traveling overland. I was part of the group who was traveling with the ship during our in transit time from Yokohama to Kobe.
After getting semi lost, taking the wrong train, and someone leaving a bag on the train and losing some purchases, we finally made it back to the terminal. When we were in the terminal, a lady walked up to us and said "Thank you, thank you", and then went on to say how she was one of the tour guides for the SAS trips. Emily ended up telling her about losing her bag and the lady brought us to a group of men she was with, and they spent about 20 minutes on the phone calling different stations trying to find the bag. And guess what? It was found! They described to her how to get to the station and back, and Laura and I were worried for time so we stayed behind, and Emily didn't want to go by herself. One of the men and the lady ended up offering to take her to the station where her bag was AND back to the terminal. Their kindness was just astounding, and that's just one example. When Emily got back, she told me that they bought both of her train tickets and gave her gifts and snacks along the way. It really was quite amazing.
Well, that's my time in Yokohama and Tokyo. I still have to blog about the in transit day (yes, that deserves to be talked about), as well as my days in Hiroshima and Kobe. I think I'll save those for the next post.
As always, thanks for reading!
Friday, January 25, 2013
Taco Night
Also, the night before last was Taco Night.
That deserved its own blog post.
There was even guacamole.
It was a good day.
That deserved its own blog post.
There was even guacamole.
It was a good day.
Desmond and Daniel
My two favorite people right now: Desmond Tutu and Daniel Epstein.
So, picture this. I'm on ship, the air is super salty, and I'm working out outside. I go inside to get water, and all of a sudden Daniel is behind me talking about how awful the sensor on the water dispenser is. A girl named Kaitlyn, who was also at Zumba, whispered in my ear "It's now or never.", so I was like "So….are you from Blaine?" He had a mini freakout when he realized that I, too, was from Blaine (more or less). I even ended up getting a hug (saltiness and sweat and all). It was fabulous. I am such a fan of all the entrepreneurs on here and of Unreasonable in general, and it's crazy that this guy is from small-town Blaine, and is somehow on the same voyage as I am. Trying to solve the worlds greatest issues, no less.
Just so you can see how big of a deal he is, check out this screen shot from yesterdays Dean's Memo:
Of course I went to the Fireside Chat last night, and it was great! He honestly seems like a down to earth, humble, and honest person, and he talked a bit about his time on Semester at Sea. He said that his life wasn't changed like it was for a lot of his friends, but rather reinforced his values and beliefs. I think that I'll get something similar out of Semester at Sea. I don't think my perspective will be turned upside down or I'll have a revelation that I've been chasing the wrong dreams, but I think that I'll change in more subtle ways. I guess we'll see!
The main reason he created Unreasonable is because he wanted to find a community where he would fit in. He said that neither the profit or nonprofit sector seemed to fit him 100%, so he had to create the community. That's a pretty unreasonable (in the best way possible) thing to do, and also incredibly inspiring.
Shout out to my mom: next time you go to Barnes and Noble, check out the book The Power of Unreasonable People.
But honestly, we're a little over two weeks in and I'm obsessed with everything Unreasonable. Last night at the Fireside Chat I ended up sitting next to Coleman, who is one of the guys who is on here representing the Nike Foundation. The Nike Foundations main goal is basically something called the Girl Effect, which is the belief that girls across the world are the one's who know best how to end poverty, because they're the ones who know what they (and their families) need. And when I say poverty, I don't just mean poverty, I mean the roots of poverty: inadequate access to water and sanitation, inadequate access to education and health care, etc. First of all, he's an amazing dude. The night before last Daniel interviewed the guys from the Nike Foundation and he ended up asking them what their most embarrassing moment was. They both didn't want to answer, but I guess as a rule of the Fireside Chats, nothing is off limits. So I was in the front row, sitting next to Coleman, and at the end when the audience is allowed to ask questions, he asked me to ask Daniel what his most embarrassing moment was. I guess this was his form of payback. So of course I did. A girl doesn't deny someone from the Nike Foundation. No matter what.
I ended up talking to Coleman a little bit after the chat and it came up that Daniel was from Blaine as well! I also told him about running into someone from high school in Hilo, and he said: "It sounds like someone is trying to tell you something", which I guess in a way is what this whole journey is about. I'm hoping to be able to talk to the entrepreneurs a lot during this voyage, and even more so to be able to work with them.
I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more about Daniel from me throughout this voyage, so I'll move on to my other favorite person: Desmond Tutu.
Just the fact that I can call him one of my favorite people and have reasons to do so is mind boggling. I've said hi to him, I've heard his laugh, and I've heard him speak multiple times. Yesterday he came into my Globalization and Social Responsibility class (and he's coming again tomorrow to take a picture), and it was by far one of the most amazing experiences that I've ever had, especially inside of the classroom.
I don't even know where to start, so I guess I'll just spit stuff out as I remember it. He talked a lot about how it's easy to be idealistic when we're younger, but the challenge is to hold onto that for our entire lives. I ended up writing down a lot of quotes (whoa, I'm directly quoting Archbishop Desmond Tutu), so I'll share those now:
When talking about our generation and our strengths, he said that we are always "dreaming of a world of greater equality."
"There are no ordinary people."
"One of the things I remember is just how much we owe to others."
When talking about where he gets his strength to keep going, he told the story of one woman who prayed for him constantly. He said "Here I am, being prayed for at 2am in the woods of California." Archbishop's can, apparently, be very very funny.
"We are all upheld by the love and prayers of so, so many."
When talking about his involvement with the Truth and Reconciliation Council, he said that the council had to be dishwashers, not vacuums. His theory is that vacuums suck up all the dirt, but they hold everything in. On the other hand, dishwashers clean the dishes, but all the dirt goes down the drain. He said that in order to survive the council with any hope in humanity left, the people listening to these stories had to be dishwashers, not vacuums. He followed this by saying "Human beings are remarkable. When you see the things that people have suffered."
One of the funniest quotes, ever: "I'm not name dropping, but I just got an email from Jimmy Carter. He said to say hi…so everybody…President Jimmy Carter says hi!"
When asked when we should take action to change things we care about: "Anytime is the right time. The mouse will not thank you for being considerate of the elephant that is sitting on him." He also said that "Many things should have happened yesterday."
Someone in our class has spent a significant amount of time in South Africa, and she noticed that a lot of the youth don't even know what Apartheid is. His response, which was also one of the most powerful quotes: "Apartheid was also in prison. White prisoners got long pants and beds. Now when people go the Robben Island, Nelson Mandela's cell has a bed. It has been romanticized. Young kids don't know what it took to get to where we are."
When asked how he handles dark days: "I laugh easily…but I also cry easily."
Just a little background on my personal favorite quote of the day. A guy in our class asked him what he thought of this idea from the Dalai Lama, and his quote regarding how sometimes it seems as though religion is pulling people apart instead of bringing people together. The Archbishop said: "If I place a knife on the table, it's morally neutral. If I take it and use it to cut bread, I am using it for good. But I could just as easily stick it in your gut. Religion is the same. Religion has produced a Mother Theresa, a Martin Luther King Jr, and the Dalai Lama. We have the capacity to turn anything into evil, but we also have the capacity to turn anything into good."
And one of the funniest quotes regarding his time spent with the Dalai Lama: "The cameras are on us, try to behave like a holy man."
Life is good. That is all.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Aloha from Hawai'i, and a couple other random ramblings
We left Hawai'i (to be said like a local) a couple of days ago, and we are now four days away from stepping foot in Japan (and therefore yummy snacks and food).
Sorry that it's been awhile since I've updated, but I swear I've never been so busy in my entire life. There always seems to be something to do. Hence why my Hawai'i update is coming a bit late. But let's start from the beginning…
The ship was in Hawai'i for a couple hours before we even got the chance to get off the ship. We had to go through immigration, which individually didn't last that long, but for 1,000 passengers took quite a while. Emily and I met up with a girl named Dehana right when we were going to get off the ship, and we both had the same itinerary, which included trying to find a luau, as well as a trip to Target/Walmart to get some last minute items before we leave the U.S for 3 months.
We ended up grabbing a taxi and sharing it with some other SAS students, and the driver somehow convinced us to go to Rainbow Falls, although we all originally wanted to be dropped off downtown. He said that downtown was downhill from Rainbow Falls, and it would therefore be easier to walk downhill to downtown than it would be to walk uphill from town to the falls.
Rainbow Falls was pretty awesome! Although I think that my time in Iceland made it hard for me, because honestly, I've seen cooler waterfalls. But still, being in Hilo was awesome. I think SAS chose Hilo because a) it's more cultural than the more touristy islands, and b) I'm pretty sure Honolulu hates SAS from the students who decided to leave a bad reputation in their wake.
We took a couple pictures at the falls and talked to some locals who were making hats, bowls, and other items out of coconut leaves. They were pretty amazing! But we didn't know if we could take them back on the ship with all the custom rules. All three of us ended up walking downtown, but Hilo doesn't have any sidewalks, so we were pretty much walking in the road. It was great for awhile, there were no cars and we were just kind of leisurely walking around and enjoying the fact that we were on land and in Hilo.
As a sidenote: land sickness is a real thing. After being used to constantly moving, being on still ground was just as much of an adjustment was it was first getting on the ship.
While we were in the middle of walking down to town, a lady in a truck pulled up and asked where we were going. This was one of the locals who was making stuff out of coconut leaves back at the falls. Turns out she was heading to the same place as we were, and she told us to get in the back of the truck. We all kind of stared at each other for a couple seconds, and then all of a sudden we were in the back of her truck. I guess in the couple of seconds we were looking at each other we figured that this lady seemed sane enough, and we were in Hawai'i, so we just went with it.
It was hands down the best thing about Hawai'i. It wasn't anything that we planned or prepared for, but it was an adventure in itself. Sorry parentals, I know you're probably a little freaked out, but look! I'm on the ship on my way to Japan in one piece! :)
After that we just ended up walking around downtown and getting the best shaved ice I've ever had in my entire life. I have a lot of pictures of that shaved ice. It had ice-cream in the middle, I'm pretty sure there were some beans in there somewhere, and cream on top. FAB-U-LOUS. YUM YUM YUM.
Dehana split from us and Emily and I caught the local bus to head to Target. Turns out all the R.D's and the Dean of Students were all on that bus headed to target. Emily and I were looking at a map, making sure that we knew how to get back when I looked up and…get ready for this…saw someone that I went to high school with! Alannah Hunsely! I'm not even kidding right now. I'm in Hilo, aka one of the smallest Hawai'ian cities, and I see someone from small-town Blaine! It was the craziest thing. All the R.D's started to freak out.
We spent a good couple hours at Target and then ended up calling cab to bring all our stuff to the ship. I am now stocked up on granola bars, ginger ale (for rougher seas), and snacks. Although once we get to Japan our entire cabin is going to be full with Japanese snacks. I already told my roommate, and I think we came to an agreement that that was ok.
While we were in Target, I was looking at something (I don't even remember what it was), but I wasn't sure if I would be able to bring it back on to the ship. I was just kind of kidding when I said "Semester at Sea people, where are you?" when all of a sudden I hear Craig (the Dean of Student's voice) say "What do you need?". Now, I wish that I could attach a clip of his voice, but it was legit one of the funniest things that will probably happen on this voyage. Classy.
I don't want to give an entire play by play, but I should also mention that for dinner I had the best coconut shrimp I've ever had in my entire life. I'm thinking that I might start to attach some pictures, but I know that that takes data storage, so maybe I'll just save them all for when I get home. I don't want you guys to know/see everything before I get home!
The second day wasn't as eventful. We tried to find a beach, but that was an epic fail. We ended up at a construction site. So I don't need to say anything more about that. We ended up back downtown and went to the farmers market.
That pretty much sums out Hilo. I guess I should also mention that about 200 SAS students decided that they should party in Hilo. We can all guess how that ended. One of the hotel managers said that they've never seen anything like it in the 30 years they've been in the hotel business. I'm pretty sure some people are going to be kicked out of the program when we get to Japan. Unfortunate, but hopefully people will start to get serious about this voyage.
The last couple of days have consisted of enjoying the sun and saying hi to Desmond Tutu when we walks by me.
No big deal.
I also had my first dinner with my extended family on the ship last night. It was quite the big deal. I signed up for this program at the involvement symposium, where I get grouped with some students and either faculty or lifelong learners, and they become our family while on board. The list of participants came out the other day, and my name wasn't on the list! They said that there were too many people so they just had to randomly select students. I just ended up emailing everybody under the sun until I finally got placed with a family.
My "parents" names are Tom and Linda Cunningham, and there are also about 7 other students who are in my "family". I believe that two of their kids have done SAS in the past, and if I heard correctly, their son is involved in some sort of water treatment thing in Nicaragua.
Today was the first "study day" of the voyage. I did plan on doing some work, but it was a joke because we had to fill out immigration forms for all the countries we're going to. That lasted about 2 hours or more. So our "study day" aka relaxation day wasn't either of those things because professors decided to assign some extra work and the Deans decided that this would be a great time to pile on immigration forms. I know that they need to be done, but whoaaa. For a nano second I wished that we were going to less countries. Just kidding. I would never wish that.
I also went to the worship service that was being held last night. We're going to have them every Sunday at sea. A guy named Wade that I've met is the one running it all, and it seems like it's going to be a great environment. I'm so happy to be building this community on board the ship. I can already tell that I'm going to miss is terribly when I'm gone, but now is not the time to think about that.
Anyway, sorry if this post is a little random, but honestly making it into multiple blog posts just didn't seem like a great idea. I'll try to keep up on my blog, but days at sea are busy and sometimes not interesting enough to blog about. I'll definitely try to do a post after each country though.
Thanks for reading, and if there's anything in particular that anyone wants to know or hear more about, let me know!
P.S. my roommate had lunch with Desmond Tutu and the Captain today. And Desmond Tutu made the staff get them ice-cream. To say I'm jealous is an understatement.
P.S.S. Ronald, Emily, and I (and probably a couple of other people) are going to have a Hunger Games movie night tonight! We can't show it on a projector in a classroom, because that would violate copy right laws, so crowding around computer is going to be fun. We'll see how this goes. Apparently there is a girl who brought her own projector and is sort of running an underground movie viewing thing on the ship. Maybe we'll try to track her down. There's also an underground snack exchange going on on the ship. It's kind of hilarious the stuff that is going down on here.
Sorry that it's been awhile since I've updated, but I swear I've never been so busy in my entire life. There always seems to be something to do. Hence why my Hawai'i update is coming a bit late. But let's start from the beginning…
The ship was in Hawai'i for a couple hours before we even got the chance to get off the ship. We had to go through immigration, which individually didn't last that long, but for 1,000 passengers took quite a while. Emily and I met up with a girl named Dehana right when we were going to get off the ship, and we both had the same itinerary, which included trying to find a luau, as well as a trip to Target/Walmart to get some last minute items before we leave the U.S for 3 months.
We ended up grabbing a taxi and sharing it with some other SAS students, and the driver somehow convinced us to go to Rainbow Falls, although we all originally wanted to be dropped off downtown. He said that downtown was downhill from Rainbow Falls, and it would therefore be easier to walk downhill to downtown than it would be to walk uphill from town to the falls.
Rainbow Falls was pretty awesome! Although I think that my time in Iceland made it hard for me, because honestly, I've seen cooler waterfalls. But still, being in Hilo was awesome. I think SAS chose Hilo because a) it's more cultural than the more touristy islands, and b) I'm pretty sure Honolulu hates SAS from the students who decided to leave a bad reputation in their wake.
We took a couple pictures at the falls and talked to some locals who were making hats, bowls, and other items out of coconut leaves. They were pretty amazing! But we didn't know if we could take them back on the ship with all the custom rules. All three of us ended up walking downtown, but Hilo doesn't have any sidewalks, so we were pretty much walking in the road. It was great for awhile, there were no cars and we were just kind of leisurely walking around and enjoying the fact that we were on land and in Hilo.
As a sidenote: land sickness is a real thing. After being used to constantly moving, being on still ground was just as much of an adjustment was it was first getting on the ship.
While we were in the middle of walking down to town, a lady in a truck pulled up and asked where we were going. This was one of the locals who was making stuff out of coconut leaves back at the falls. Turns out she was heading to the same place as we were, and she told us to get in the back of the truck. We all kind of stared at each other for a couple seconds, and then all of a sudden we were in the back of her truck. I guess in the couple of seconds we were looking at each other we figured that this lady seemed sane enough, and we were in Hawai'i, so we just went with it.
It was hands down the best thing about Hawai'i. It wasn't anything that we planned or prepared for, but it was an adventure in itself. Sorry parentals, I know you're probably a little freaked out, but look! I'm on the ship on my way to Japan in one piece! :)
After that we just ended up walking around downtown and getting the best shaved ice I've ever had in my entire life. I have a lot of pictures of that shaved ice. It had ice-cream in the middle, I'm pretty sure there were some beans in there somewhere, and cream on top. FAB-U-LOUS. YUM YUM YUM.
Dehana split from us and Emily and I caught the local bus to head to Target. Turns out all the R.D's and the Dean of Students were all on that bus headed to target. Emily and I were looking at a map, making sure that we knew how to get back when I looked up and…get ready for this…saw someone that I went to high school with! Alannah Hunsely! I'm not even kidding right now. I'm in Hilo, aka one of the smallest Hawai'ian cities, and I see someone from small-town Blaine! It was the craziest thing. All the R.D's started to freak out.
We spent a good couple hours at Target and then ended up calling cab to bring all our stuff to the ship. I am now stocked up on granola bars, ginger ale (for rougher seas), and snacks. Although once we get to Japan our entire cabin is going to be full with Japanese snacks. I already told my roommate, and I think we came to an agreement that that was ok.
While we were in Target, I was looking at something (I don't even remember what it was), but I wasn't sure if I would be able to bring it back on to the ship. I was just kind of kidding when I said "Semester at Sea people, where are you?" when all of a sudden I hear Craig (the Dean of Student's voice) say "What do you need?". Now, I wish that I could attach a clip of his voice, but it was legit one of the funniest things that will probably happen on this voyage. Classy.
I don't want to give an entire play by play, but I should also mention that for dinner I had the best coconut shrimp I've ever had in my entire life. I'm thinking that I might start to attach some pictures, but I know that that takes data storage, so maybe I'll just save them all for when I get home. I don't want you guys to know/see everything before I get home!
The second day wasn't as eventful. We tried to find a beach, but that was an epic fail. We ended up at a construction site. So I don't need to say anything more about that. We ended up back downtown and went to the farmers market.
That pretty much sums out Hilo. I guess I should also mention that about 200 SAS students decided that they should party in Hilo. We can all guess how that ended. One of the hotel managers said that they've never seen anything like it in the 30 years they've been in the hotel business. I'm pretty sure some people are going to be kicked out of the program when we get to Japan. Unfortunate, but hopefully people will start to get serious about this voyage.
The last couple of days have consisted of enjoying the sun and saying hi to Desmond Tutu when we walks by me.
No big deal.
I also had my first dinner with my extended family on the ship last night. It was quite the big deal. I signed up for this program at the involvement symposium, where I get grouped with some students and either faculty or lifelong learners, and they become our family while on board. The list of participants came out the other day, and my name wasn't on the list! They said that there were too many people so they just had to randomly select students. I just ended up emailing everybody under the sun until I finally got placed with a family.
My "parents" names are Tom and Linda Cunningham, and there are also about 7 other students who are in my "family". I believe that two of their kids have done SAS in the past, and if I heard correctly, their son is involved in some sort of water treatment thing in Nicaragua.
Today was the first "study day" of the voyage. I did plan on doing some work, but it was a joke because we had to fill out immigration forms for all the countries we're going to. That lasted about 2 hours or more. So our "study day" aka relaxation day wasn't either of those things because professors decided to assign some extra work and the Deans decided that this would be a great time to pile on immigration forms. I know that they need to be done, but whoaaa. For a nano second I wished that we were going to less countries. Just kidding. I would never wish that.
I also went to the worship service that was being held last night. We're going to have them every Sunday at sea. A guy named Wade that I've met is the one running it all, and it seems like it's going to be a great environment. I'm so happy to be building this community on board the ship. I can already tell that I'm going to miss is terribly when I'm gone, but now is not the time to think about that.
Anyway, sorry if this post is a little random, but honestly making it into multiple blog posts just didn't seem like a great idea. I'll try to keep up on my blog, but days at sea are busy and sometimes not interesting enough to blog about. I'll definitely try to do a post after each country though.
Thanks for reading, and if there's anything in particular that anyone wants to know or hear more about, let me know!
P.S. my roommate had lunch with Desmond Tutu and the Captain today. And Desmond Tutu made the staff get them ice-cream. To say I'm jealous is an understatement.
P.S.S. Ronald, Emily, and I (and probably a couple of other people) are going to have a Hunger Games movie night tonight! We can't show it on a projector in a classroom, because that would violate copy right laws, so crowding around computer is going to be fun. We'll see how this goes. Apparently there is a girl who brought her own projector and is sort of running an underground movie viewing thing on the ship. Maybe we'll try to track her down. There's also an underground snack exchange going on on the ship. It's kind of hilarious the stuff that is going down on here.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Be Unreasonable
Last night really sealed the deal. This is by far the coolest thing that will ever, ever happen to me.
The Unreasonable Institute hosted their first Fireside Chat last night (at 2115, go military time!), which is basically when Daniel Epstein (founder of the Unreasonable Institute) interviews one of the members of the team, which can either be an entrepreneur or mentor.
First off, I should probably explain The Unreasonable Institute. Daniel Epstein calls himself an impatient optimist, which is basically what Unreasonable is based off of. A bunch of entrepreneurs from all over the world got together in Boulder, Colorado, with the intent on trying to solve the worlds most pressing problems. And now they're all sailing with us! I know there is a guy who is doing something in the water field, so I'm trying to find them. There are also a group of cousins on here who have developed noninvasive technology to help blind people see, someone has invented hearing aids that are solar powered, and there is also someone who is developing a robot that can successfully soak up oil spills.
It's legit.
Last night Daniel interviewed Hunter Luvins (sorry for the possible misspelling of the last name, I don't have access to google), who is Times Hero of the Planet. Um, yeah. That just happened. She is one of the mentors for the Unreasonable Institute, and she's fabulous! She grew up with Martin Luther King Jr. and Caesar Chavez sitting around her table. When Caesar Chavez boycotted grapes, so did her family. She talked a lot about how the progress that will be made in this world will come from the unreasonable people. The people who are willing to travel around the world by ship. The people who are willing to think outside of the box, and maybe even face failure a million and one times before they succeed. The people of the arts. The science people. The creative people. The statistic people. The expressionists. The one's who are passionate about something and fighting for it.
I should also mention that the Prince of Saudi Arabia is one of the Unreasonable mentors.
I should also mention that this lovely screenshot is from yesterday's Deans memo.
What's that they say about denying and truth? Archbishop Desmond Tutu is already walking around this ship. I don't know how much more insane this experience could possibly get.
As if last night wasn't fabulous, this morning I woke up, got dressed, went outside, and realized that I was severely overdressed in my pair of jeans. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it was warm. And then it sprinkled, the sky was still blue, and then a legit rainbow sprouted out of the water and everybody oohed and awwwed.
This is just the bare minimum of what has been going on. Hawaii tomorrow! The first day I think a bunch of us are just going to chill and possibly go to a store and get some things that we either forgot, or realized that we will desperately need sometime throughout the 3.5 months. For me, that's more snacks. We haven't even hit the hard part of the voyage where everything is unfamiliar and I'm already eating my Nutella and granola bars. I also broke down and got a smoothie this morning--I was going to at least try not to buy anything from Deck 7 until AFTER Hawaii, but I slept through breakfast this morning and decided that a smoothie was in order. The second day in Hawaii will revolve around more chilling, but a girl named Leana who knows Hilo really well is going to take me to get some local shaved ice (which is supposed to be heaven to the tastebuds) and the farmers market (which is supposed to be heaven in general). I'm excited! Mostly I'm just excited for land.
Funny side note: today at the end of classes, professors said "See ya next time. Have fun in Hawaii!"
I could get used to this.
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