Sea Olympics & India

First things first, yes its been a while since i updated but well things have been hectic the last few weeks...

So just before India, the ship took part in its tradition of Sea Olympics, and event where each sea, made up of different decks and areas of students, faculty, life long learners, and dependent family members participate in shipboard events that vary from dodge ball, jeopardy, lip singing, and banner making to name a few. My sea, the Aegean Sea, made up of all deck two, was considered the "forgotten sea" by our rivals, ended up taking second place overall placing in the competition.

My Roommate Tom, Me, Archbishop Tutu, Aubrey, Lindsey, and Sulli reppin' the Aegean Sea at Sea Olympics

 The competition was a lot of fun and it brought our sea together where days before members of our sea could not even name names of those who were neighbors to them. The best part though was the lip singing competition and the skits competition. We did a "Anchorman" parody, which I took part in and took in some big laughs and the Lip singing we took first in with a mix of different songs and some pretty good resembles of the real people including Justin Bieber....

After the fun, it was time for India, which for me was an abbreviated trip that consisted of a day in Chennai with my good friend Ashley, where we along with a few of our other friends braved a day of riding in a rigshaw and looking for stickers and shotglasses something we all seemed to be collecting... That night we made our way to a mall that blew the doors off of the malls in Massachusetts, and had a movie theater that was incredible. We wanted to see a Bollywood film, but all that was playing was "Despicable Me" in 3D so we did the American thing and went and saw it after pigging out at the malls Americanized food court, however I chose Indian Chicken Kabobs which were amazing..

Me at the Taj Mahal at Sunset

The next day day i was up at 4 AM to catch my plane to the Taj Mahal, which has been my favorite attraction i have visited to date. It really was an amazing place to see especially at 6 AM for sunrise, granted i was not happy to be up that early once I got there. India itself I am not a fan of, don't get me wrong i saw a lot of amazing places such as the house where Ghandi was assassinated, his burial space, and some great temples and historical landmarks. But the Taj takes the cake as the most beautiful places in the world, during the day it changes colors and the people there were in the masses. By sunset when we got back, there was barely any room to move at the Taj as it was swarming with people anywhere you could stand... Now the country itself, mighty dirty, and just people everywhere. That was a culture shock, people sleeping on the streets, making bathrooms out of the road, poverty in the masses, and the driving, it was completely overwhelming for someone who was not used to it, I have been to Manhattan countless numbers of times and that is quite a hustling bustling city, but this was more chaotic and stressful than anytime I have been to New York or Boston or any other city we have been to so far.

Me at the Taj Mahal at 6 AM

The worst part of the trip though had to be the travel, my god how I wanted to kill myself, first it was early morning flights from Chennai to Delhi, then a five hour train ride to Agra for the Taj on the slowest train in the world, then a train ride back to Delhi, where we stayed in the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in Five Star Hotels, multiple restaurants, and rooms to die for. It was a great retreat from the long days of traveling around India to relax in luxury.

So finally I took a detour back to the states, to see the family, for those who don't know my mom passed away after battling lung cancer. She was a fighter and went peacefully and it was good to see my family and friends (who basically are family) at this time, and after 28 hours of flying and enduring American Airlines longest nonstop flight from Delhi to Chicago (15.5 hours) I made it to Boston. Now I am preparing to return friday to the MV Explorer in Vietnam and finish what I started not just for me, but for my mom too. Now after getting a Visa in less than 48 hours I am ready to go back, im hoping for some bungee jumping in Hong Kong, what can I say I'm an adrenaline junkie, but Vietnam I want to get me some Nike's for the day I am in the country...

Until China,

-Ed

Spring Break in Mauritius

A very wise professor said; treat Mauritius as if it is your Spring Break… Immediately following that statement 600 college students cheer loudly to the notion that this tropical island in fact was our Spring Break, as Mauritius just entered spring and we all had a night to enjoy some R & R… Immediately after that SAS staff shook their heads for they could foresee how the next 32 hours would pan out.

Well Mauritius was a great 32 hour break from the school work and mid terms I had just endured from my time leaving South Africa to my time reaching the “Paradise Island” Knowing that time was of the essence I made sure to utilize all my time starting off with the first day as Marcus and I got off the ship around 10 AM and headed to Black River Gorge for a hike on the highest point on the island. The hike was suppose to be easy, ha funny story two buses and a three mile hike to the entrance of the National Park later, we ended up on the wrong trail which was legitimately a steep incline that I thought was going to end my life. Thankfully the views from the top were unbelievable and well worth as you could see the entire island from the top, the hike down I felt like I was going to just drop to my death, but we made it out of there around 3 PM, yeah long hike then headed for some outstanding lunch at a little café on our journey back to Port Louis. FUN FACT: transportation is very unhelpful on Mauritius, you can never go direct from point A to B, there’s always a stop somewhere.

So now its around 6:00 and we stop at the ship to pack for the hotel and then we are off to the InterContinental Resort, as soon as we get there we get a nice surprise from our friends a room upgrade to THE PRESIDENTS SUITE, which consists of two floors, three decks, two being roof top decks, one with a private hot tub on it, and then a giant great room where we all hung out. Probably the nicest place I ever stayed and for a minimal $300 American, gotta love new hotels that need business. So that night we enjoyed Spring Break the best way we know how and headed down to the beach/pool area/bar area where we met up with about 400 other SAS kids.

The next day we got up around 8 and headed to the beach where I did nothing but sit on a lounge chair order some drinks and enjoy the views and the ocean. You know the typical paradise postcards and computer backgrounds, I am convinced that is Mauritius because it was unreal how amazing it looked. Then we headed back to the ship around 5:30 and were on our way by 8 after a BBQ dinner.

Currently we are on track for India, which I am surprisingly really pumped to visit, Mauritius was a great break, but the only culture there is the beaches and the rum (not that I am complaining), but come India I am going to the Taj Mahal and that is going to be unbelievable especially since it is a “Wonder of the World”. Ship life is back to being redundant as usual, but its great relaxation time where I can just focus on schoolwork and now I am a tutor for a preschool kid, god help both of us, but hey gotta keep the resume building.

Until India Later,

Ed

South Africa, I Will Be Back!

It’s been two hours since we pulled away from Cape Town and I already miss the amazing time I had in South Africa. We arrived last week and immediately the first day my friends and I took the challenge of Hiking Table Mountain, which hugs the coast of Cape Town. This was my first hike in my life, and it was 3,000 ft to the top for us. We take the “easier” route since with the exception of Marcus, who is an avid hiker (he made it up Table Mountain in approximately 40 minutes)the rest of us were needing to go at a slower pace. The hike was brutal from the mid point up where we all started to separate based on how fast or slow each person was going. Towards the middle the hike just went straight up rather than having patches that went across that would allow you to have a breather. FUN FACT: BRING EXTRA WATER, my water bottle was gone twenty minutes into the hike, from my exhaustion from the hike. It was hot the entire hike up too, but then as I started to reach the summit the temperature swiftly changed, which I was not complaining about, as it cooled me off from the strenuous hike up. Towards the top I had caught up to Tom, my roommate, who was the next to completing the hike. The two of us finished strong right around an hour, with some encouragement from locals who were drinking and celebrating a birthday on the rocks toward the top, and Marcus who was trying to get us to move faster to meet him. Finally we made it, what an accomplishment that was and the payoff was the unbelievable view of the city of Cape Town and the shoreline. Up at the top we met the rest of our group and ate some lunch while admiring the view. After lunch, some of us opted to take the cable car down as we were too exhausted to hike down, the ride down took a whopping four minutes, saving us loads of time and allowed more scenic pictures to be taken. I actually really liked hiking up the mountain and want to do more of it when I return home.

After our hike, we headed down to Camps Bay for a couple drinks and to see the beach, the beaches are either hit or miss with the ocean temperatures and the amount of people who go to them. Camps Bay is the party area, but mostly cold water beaches with temperatures similar to Gloucester and Maine. The more warm water beaches are the family area and away from the party scene. Needless to say we did not spend time there, but also South Africa is now in their spring so it was not that warm here that I would want to spend time at the beach. Most nights we hung around the port (Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Port) which to me looked similar to staying in Disney World at a themed resort filled with restaurants and gift shops. Most nights we were found at Mitchells, which to you people at NC would be the equivalent of going to Sinnis, as the entire ship seemed to have migrated to there as well. However, it was in walking distance of the ship and filled with some of the friendliest locals you could meet. We even tagged ourselves in that bar forever by signing their American Flag, their famous “fish bowls” (same concept of a scorpion bowl) were favorites of many SAS students. But overall it was a fun place with the best pizza in the entire world.
The second day my friends and I went to Robben Island, the former political prison located off the coast of Cape Town, with their most famous prisoner being Nelson Mandela, the first president of South Africa following the end of Apartheid. The tour was interesting from a historical aspect and seeing the place where democracy began in South Africa, but also it gave you a raw look into what great people such as Mandela had to endure for the good of their country. On our boat ride to and from the island it was also cool to see penguins in the water as that is something you don’t see everyday. After our tour we continued to explore the waterfront and some of the shopping that it had to offer. It was weird, the port had a mall with stores similar to those of the malls in America and then the touristy African things mixed in with them, so you could get anything from an African Drum, to an iPod, to groceries all in one place.

The next day was by far the best day in South Africa, I crossed another thing off my bucket list and went skydiving. That was the most adrenaline boosting thing I have ever done in my life. Tom and I went early in the morning around 9 to an inland airfield where we went up in separate planes with our jumper and the camera man who took both a video and photos for us. It’s funny I hate heights and was sure I would have some sort of a freak out, but I remained calm the entire time. The entire thing now just seems like a giant blur from the time I put on the harness, to getting into the plane, to them opening the hatch, the next thing I knew I was on the edge of the plane feet out and on the count of two we were out of the plane for 35 seconds of free fall and then it was a nice coast down to the ground. The entire time I was in free fall I just loved every second of it. The DVD slows down free fall and you can see how much I am enjoying myself. By far worth every penny and I will go again at some point in my life. That night we met up with our friends, and went on a Jolly Pirate Cruise, where we were able to climb the ropes and act like savages for an hour, while catching the sunset and even a “Free Willy” sighting. By far the best day of my life, just a carefree relaxing day with no worries at all.

The next big thing I did was my Day Safari at the Inverdorn Game Reserve. I provided the morning entertainment as I had to race to the bus as I woke up a little late and just made the bus by a minute. Three hour ride later we arrived and saw some incredible animals up close on our personal convoy tours. We started off by seeing the Cheetahs, which were all grouped together, then moved into the main reserve where we saw Springboks, Zebras, Giraffes, Buffalo, Rhinos, Ostriches, Wildebeests, and Lions to name a few. The end of our tour of the reserve included us being able to get out of the convoy and get even closer to a heard of giraffes, which was wicked cool.

Today I ended my week in Cape Town by touring two up and coming wine vineyards. We were able to sample some great wines and learned a lot about the wine production industry and the role that South Africa plays in global wine sale and development. It actually was interesting to see how these two different companies planned to attack the very competitive wine market and who they planned to target as their customers.

Well that’s mostly it, as for what’s going on the ship, Archbishop Tutu just celebrated his birthday on the ship with a dinner in his honor in port. Apparently, Gerard Butler is shooting a movie in Cape Town, and some girls on the ship met him and took photos with him. We actually met a former SAS student at Mitchells, who is here working on the movie and told us about how this trip has helped open doors for him. There was a restaurant in port that was named “BAIA” so small world there. This was the last port on the Atlantic so we will be soon moving into the Indian Ocean and farther and farther away from good old Boston. Now we are off to Mauritius for one night and I cannot wait to relax and head to the beach.
Enjoy yourselves,
-Ed

Rumor Ranger: Yes I Take Pictures On This Trip

Camel Trek, Marrakesh, Morocco

Marcus, Amy, Me, Carly, and Tom in Sevilla, Spain

Bull Fight, Sevilla, Spain

Casablanca Marketplace Enjoying Local Food

Marcus, Tom, and Me: Top of Table Mountain in South Africa

so people have been asking about pictures, unfortunately the ship only gives two free hours of internet and its based on megabytes too so there's no way to update pictures unless I get some free internet elsewhere, luckily I found some today so here are some pictures from the voyage so far... I will have a new post on South Africa come the end of the week - Ed

Skydiving Cape Town, South Africa 10/05/2010

Top of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Habitat for Humanity, Ghana, Yes I am actually working back left making the Wall of a House

Crossing the Equator (Actual Neptune Day, Celebration was days after) September 26, 2010

Rick's Cafe, Casablanca, Morocco

Neptune Day!!!

Alright so after much discussion on the ship, we were awoken at 7:30 AM this morning to a parade on our deck complete with drums and symbols and loud knocks on our door for the occasion of Neptune Day, a Semester at Sea ritual, for crossing the equator for the first time (yes see what i mean by rumors from my last post, you should hear the funny things people come up with, Side Note: we get a daily memo and there is something called the "Rumor Ranger" which is basically "Stupid Things Said and Overheard on the Ship then Published or Announced to Make You Feel Dumb" [see bottom of post for examples]).

Now you can only imagine how delighted I was to be awoken before 10 AM, seeing that today is a reading day and we have no classes so why not take the morning to sleep in. Apparently Semester at Sea felt otherwise, so there we were all groggy and tired being sent to breakfast with the rest of the ship. Just a Fun Fact for you, this is my second time going to breakfast on the ship because it ends at 8:30 AM, a time that usually I'm not up at or if I am it is to catch a bus for a tour and I am probably cutting it very close on my time. Anyways a majority of the ship appears to be morning people as there are people in bathing suits or dressed to start their day with smiles, my table looks like death compared to these people...

So after eating french toast and potatoes, we all head up to Deck Seven for the beginning of the festivities (note: it is now 8:30 AM). Outside the music is blasting like my alarm clock every time I hit snooze, but the place is packed to capacity which meant nobody could move, we find a spot on the tanning deck around the pool to stand, which happens to be next to four trash barrels full of Sea Water and what smelt to be like fish guts. Finally the ceremony starts with our faculty, staff, and ship crew all marching in with the same drums and symbols that awoke me just and hour prior. Last enters King Neptune (our Academic Dean in costume) and his Queen (our Executive Dean and my friend Marcus' Mom). As the ceremony proceeds we are told as "polywogs" that we need to cross the ocean (the pool filled with sea water, and mind you have the mixture in the buckets poured over your head) to ask King Neptune and the Queen's permission to pass to the other side. However you must also kiss a fish (a real fish from the ocean that's now dead) and then kiss the King and Queen's rings and bow to them and then you will be Knighted and be transformed into "shellbacks".

So it would only make sense that my friends and I would be the first 20 people to partake, me being the third person to jump in. The slime mixture smelt like low tide and then jumping into the pool made it smell worse, but it was a liberating experience all in all. It was as if you were being baptized by the ocean and for that moment you just went with whatever was around you. I did kiss the fish, luckily i know the two girls who were ahead of me, and i was glad that I was not person 230 who got to kiss that fish, as it had been around the block as few times by then. Then i kissed the rings also before the germs started to really get passed around and bowed, then was knighted and became a shellback! Oh and right as you were knight this all happened in front of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, (if you don't know who he is, He is famous enough to be found on Wikipedia) the honorary voyager of this voyage and his wife, Mrs. Leah Tutu.

Then on the other side of the deck by the bar was the optional head shaving ritual, meant mostly for people with long hair to well shave their head. A lot of the girls on the ship took part in this including my friend, Amy who looked ecstatic, liberated, and proud of herself for daring to do it even if people outside SAS will give looks. I think it was really cool to see all the girls who just decided to take a chance and do it, and whats even better is that all the hair is going to be donated to make hair pieces, so all that extra hair will not go to waste.

So all these festivities ended around 10 AM, the time I usually get up at so power nap until noon sounds like a plan until then I leave you with "Serious Comments made by SAS Members"

"I'm tired from walking up the stairs is the ship at a higher elevation now"

"Does everyone who goes to the Doctor's automatically get Drug Tested"

(My Personal Favorite) "Does the crew sleep on the boat?"

Later All,

Ed

Experience Ghana, Experience the World

Ghana where do I begin with this experience… Ghana had to be the most eye opening unbelievable experience I have witnessed in my life. Fun Fact: Ghana is known as the “Heartbeat of the world” since it is the closest country to the center of the Earth, a fact that Ghanaians pride their country on. The first day I got here I went on a tour of the Castles and Slave Dungeons that were used by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British to bring houses slaves until they were sent as slaves to different areas of the world, mostly the Americas. It was interesting to see Ghana’s view of the Triangular trade and how each castle has a door known as “the Point of No Return” where the slaves went through a narrow doorway to the ship that took them to their new life as a slave. I have learned more about slavery being here and seeing first hand what one race has done to another than any textbook or lecture in my fourteen years of education can truly touch upon. That night my friends and I went to a local bar and met some of the locals who sat and asked us about our experiences so far in Ghana and when I brought up the Slave Dungeons the locals explained their feelings on the infamous part of their history. I personally thought they were going to be in distaste that I would spend money to go there, it ended being the opposite which I was surprised by. The explained how important it is for people to understand this important aspect of their past and how they hope it can serve as a model to the world of why slavery cannot prevail.

Day two brought showers all day to the country, but knowing we had only a limited amount of time in Ghana, my friends and I took a taxi to a local beach town where we walked the beach for the afternoon and went hiking. To me the miniature hike was a first and what a way to try hiking on the beaches of Ghana where the views are picturesque and from something out of a postcard. Granted it would have been that much better if the rain was not there it was hot out and the rain was refreshing and not overbearing. We finished our adventure off with the worst lunch I have ever eaten. I asked for a hamburger with cheese and forty-five minutes later a white patty arrived on my plate. After examining the food for a good fifteen minutes and my roommate taking a bite of his same burger it came to our conclusion that it was a lamb burger that we were eating, I ate half and gave up mowing on the fries that came with the meal instead. This would be the only bad food that I have eaten in any country especially Ghana, where the food was above par and almost even to that of Morocco and as good as Spain. Ghana took the cake with sauces and the fried plantains, which I opted for seconds and thirds at our first day’s lunch.

The experience though that truly changed my life was my time participating for the “Habitat for Humanity” program on the third day. We drove three hours out of Takoradi, the port we were stationed out of, to a small village in the northern region of Ghana. The site was then a ten minute walk from where the bus was able to drop us off and into an area no person would dream to live in and yet we were building a development of houses for families to live in. The leader Naomi then broke us up into groups of eight and assigned a house and a task for us to complete that day. The house my group was assigned to was still in the development stage where we were building the walls and exterior. What shocked me was that I was going to be building a house that people were going to live in and made of materials that would no be suitable in the United States to build a shed out of. My specific job was to place the cement like material between the bricks to keep the blocks sturdy and together. Meanwhile other people were placing dirt around the foundation to make the floors of each prospective room. Another thing that shocked me people were going live in a room with dirt and roots as their ground, no wood, cement, or any other floor like material keeping them from the bare earth. We worked for half a day, while local children and people watched us work and you could see how grateful they were for the work we were doing and all I could think of is how I take for granted that I have a floor to go home to and there are times that I want more and these people were perfectly content with the little to nothing we were providing them. Finally our time was up and I was not satisfied with the work we did, being there made me want to do more and work more and more on this house, which Naomi told me it would take a little over a week to complete. As we were leaving after the wonderful home cooked meal the group made for us (sidenote: thanks to Malaria meds and travel meds I have not gotten sick from the food) we headed back to the bus where the children took pictures with us and thanked us for the work we had done for them and as the bus pulled away groups ran along side the bus waving us off. It was an experience I am glad I had the opportunity to be apart of and after talking to many SASers on the trip something I hope to do again when I get home.

Yeah this is a long one, but I’m telling you visit Ghana if ever given the opportunity it will change your life and you will have enjoyed every aspect of it. The last day yesterday, we visited the market, which unlike Morocco is NOT meant for tourists, but is actually for the locals. It was amazing to see that these people could come here and get anything from food such as pigs feet and a copious amount of fish to clothing such as materials to make it or their children’s school uniforms. The souvenirs were more toward the port such as the bracelets makers who remember your name and face and make Ghana bracelets for you or the souvenirs next to the Duty Free shop which is conveniently located right as you walk off the ship. All in all this Ghana experience was one I will never forget and now its off to South Africa, which everyone has said is more similar to the US than to Ghana or the rest of Africa. Today we passed the equator and the prime meridian a first in SAS history (which is rumored on the ship right now) I should be in South Africa in about seven or eight days we will see what happens on the ship during this time. Until then enjoy yourselves (Happy Belated 21st Devan)(NICHOLS hope Homecoming was a blast, heard there was a fire alarm at 6:45 AM DO NOT MISS THOSE, and ALICIA DELUCA hope you had fun cheering in your last homecoming game)

Ed

The Monotonous Routine of Traveling at Sea

Well all that Moroccan food I was raving about caught up with me, I have been sick with food poisoning for a few days now just about done with it. The inevitable as many told me happened, hopefully this will be my only encounter on the voyage, but after talking to my dad today he told me to be cautious of the food in Ghana as well. That's just part of the trade off I guess, see the world, eat the local food, see your toilet later on.

Ship life is back to it's mundane routine again. A Days are my time consuming days with Three Classes in a row starting at 10:45 and ending around 3:00, while B Days are Global Studies and homework... But still the days consist of Lunch at noon, classes, Lounging by the pool or due to crappy weather someones cabin/the piano lounge to read, then dinner at 5:30, then back to hanging out, maybe separate for an hour, but then hangout some more, watch a movie play cards, and then bed. Fun Fact for you, THE MV EXPLORER refuses to let anyone sleep in, by running their shipboard emergency drills for the crew at Nine O'Clock in the morning. They will apologize for any inconviences, but not move their drills to a more appropriate time like say 2 PM.

I have been reading this book called "The Town" and since we have minimal internet, No cell service, and no TV; I'm reading it at a steady rate and hope to be done with it soon, that to me is a shocker in itself since reading for fun is never high on my list. Not to sound like I am complaining, but being so limited to what you can and cannot do on the ship makes me long for just those times where I could get in my car and just drive or go out to dinner.

Needless to say the food on the ship makes me long for Outback's Cheesy Fries, Cafe Luigis' Antipasto, Pizza Bagels from N&Js, a Buffalo Chicken Wrap from the Snack Bar at NC, Gold Fever Wings from the Nines, Pizza Skins from Unos, and a Margarita's Gringo Burger with Bacon and Chipolte Mayo! And a supermarket where I can get snacks, milk, and stuff to make my own food. I know I'm traveling around the world having real cuisine that I will never have the opportunity to have again and I want comfort food. But when you eat pasta and salad with bananas and rolls for almost a month the next McDonalds in port looks like a great option too.

Ghana is only days away and I am pumped to see this country, I have some great trips planned out including at trip to Africa's Rainforest, a trip to see the slave castles and dungeons which comes highly recommended, and then a Habitat for Humanity trip where I will have the opportunity to give back with a service project which I am excited to be a part of. I'm ready to get off this boat and mix up my routine and do some fun things and meet some cool people. It's fun doing the SAS sponsored trips because it takes you away from the people you are with on a daily basis and mixing yourself with people you may not speak to regularly. My group of friends has made some new friends from our trips to Spain and Morocco: Ryan, from Seattle; Jake and Carly, both from Boston; and Mandi and Gail, from Michigan and California.

Well until Ghana it looks like the routine sticks,

Ed