SOUTH AFRICA

DAY # 1

My first day in South Africa was one I had been anticipating for a while and one that I will never forget. I got to spend the entire day in a South African township at an orphanage called Home from Home. Unlike most orphanages that uproot children from their communities and place them in large institutions in the city, Home from Home builds homes within the local communities, hires a house mom, and places only six kids in her care. This allows the children to remain in their same environment where their native language is spoken and lets them feel like they are part of a real family. These networks of “families” all have the help of the day care facility set up by Home from Home and it was here that we spent most of the day playing with the children.

When we walked in all the kids got so excited and were waving and smiling at us. We tried at first to give them high-fives (the American hello) but this confused them. So one little girl came up to me, shaped my hand so it look like I was giving a thumbs up, turned it sideways and then snapped her thumb against mine (apparently the South African hello). The kids thought this was so funny that we had no idea how to snap. We had come right about lunchtime so we sat down with the kids while they ate a bowl of rice and fish (it was pretty gross) but not one kid left their bowl unfinished, something I had never seen American children do. After lunch the kids laid down for a short nap and we took a walk to visit some of their homes. The first home we went into was ran by housemom Nikki, a sweet enthusiastic black woman who had no children of her own and enjoyed being a mom to her six orphans so much. The home was small but it had a living room, kitchen, one bathroom, and two rooms for the children (one for the boys and one for the girls). Like a mom, Nikki had pictures of her kids up on the refrigerator and large calendar hung on the wall of the children’s schedule. There were a few of the older kids there and they introduced themselves as brother and sister, it was so sweet.

Back at the day care center the children were rested and ready to go. We had brought with us lots of toys and school supplies that we had been collecting along the way for them. So we began building and coloring and putting together puzzles. When that got boring we moved outside and had an Easter egg hunt in the yard for them. We played tag, swung on the swings, sang children’s songs, and just ran around. I forgot how exhausting it can be to keep 4-8 years olds entertained for 4 hours. But we had so much fun with the kids. They loved when we took pictures with them. They almost never see images of themselves so they love taking a picture and then getting to see the image on the screen after. It kept them busy for hours. For the most part they knew English, but they also spoke in their African language as well.

Sadly we were informed that over 2/3 of the children we had been playing with had HIV/AIDS and that many of them were placed here because the disease had killed their parents. It made me angry to watch these young innocent children playing and enjoying life but knowing theirs would be all too short because of the ignorance of their parents. HIV/AIDS is 100% preventable but still too much of South Africa is in denial about how to stop spreading this deadly disease. At the end of the day we gave the children some tearful good-byes and watched their sad faces as we drove away. On the drive back our bus driver told us he was going to take us through some of the more underdeveloped townships.

When you arrive in Cape Town you will see this big beautiful colonial city with lavish beach houses built into the coast and high-rises that fill the city, but as we drove only 5 minutes outside of the city all we could see were never ending sprawls of shacks. Square huts made out of tin all compacted together. The roads switched from pavement to dirt and there were no restaurants, stores, or industries anywhere. We had learned a lot about the apartheid that happened in South Africa and while so much has changed since then, seeing these townships made it all seem too recent. The discrimination and isolation that the white South Africans imposed on the blacks has lasting effects well past the new legislation brought in my Mandela. Overall though it was enriching to get to expierence this side of Cape Town to and understand the healing that is still taking place post apartheid.

Day # 2

I didn’t have much planned on this day so when my friends and I saw this big red double decked open toped bus driving around we thought it looked like fun so we boarded it. Basically it made a bunch of stops all around the city and you could get on and off and explore at all the different places. It was kind of touristy but we had so much fun and I got to see almost every inch of Cape Town.

Stop #1: The V&A Waterfront. This is where our ship was docked and it was one of my favorite places in Cape Town. It was a large port filled with boats and line with amazing restaurants and shops. It was colonial looking and had some of the best food ever. We ate almost all of our meals on the waterfront. I’ll have to put up pictures to show you all how pretty it was.

Stop #2: St. George’s Cathedral. This was a big beautiful church that was built by the British who colonized South Africa and brought with them Christianity. It was Easter weekend and the church looked so beautiful. We went inside and said a few Easter prayers and walked through the garden out back.

Stop #3: District Six Museum. It showed the area where 60,000 blacks were forced out of their homes during the apartheid. It was so sad and upsetting to think this kind of cruelty occurred so recent in our world’s history. District Six is the famous example of this isolation but it happened all throughout the city. It was all really interesting to see and hear the stories of the families.

Stop #4 Castle of Good Hope. The oldest building in Cape town and beautiful historic castle set right on the hill of Cape Town Coast. We walked all around it and got to take great pictures from its high walls. Though a little startling we got to see them shoot off a cannon which they do every day at noon.

Stop #5: TABLE MOUTAIN. The most beautiful place in all of Africa! It is a big flat top mountain set in the background of the city and coast. To get to the top we took a gondola that spun in a circle so we could get a 360 view of the whole area. The view at the top was incredible and you could see the ocean for miles. We took pictures and hung out at the top for almost 3 hours. We ate at a little restaurant and I got to just sip champagne while sitting on a bench enjoying the spectacular view.

Stop #6 Sea Point. This is the lavish and expensive beach area that has endless houses built into the coast like Malibu. Also there is a huge beach where tons of people were laying out, playing volleyball, and swimming. There were tons of restaurants and hotels along the beach and we learned that it was the “it” place to be seen or live. If I come back to Cape Town this is definitely the area I would love to stay in.

Stop #7 The World Cup Stadium. Though it was still a month away, buzz about the world cup was everywhere. Endless merchandise being sold, space and area being cleared to accommodate for all the people, ship docked early to keep their prime spot. The stadium its self was very cool. We didn’t get to go inside but outside it was very modern looking and actually slightly isolated out on a huge piece of land left of the city. But it made me so excited to watch the world cup this summer.

Stop #8 The Aquarium. Cape Town is known for its incredible marine life, especially it’s great white sharks. So despite not getting to go shark cage diving like most of my friends I still got to see a lot of what the beautiful ocean has to offer.

ONLY ON SEMESTER AT SEA.....

Just wanted to give all of you an idea of what life is like on the ship. When you live in a small community out in the middle of the ocean, we tend to create our own quirky way of life.

Only on Semester at Sea………

1. ONLY ON SAS COULD YOU BE ASKED TO TEACH CLASS – I was sitting outside my sociology class one day when the teacher came over and sat down across from me. She informed me she had been asked last minute to speak at Global Studies, which met during our class time, and asked if I wouldn’t mind teaching class that day. She handed me her lesson plan and took off to the lecture hall. Though a little stunned, I ended up getting to give a pop quiz, lead a class assignment, collect papers that were due, and oversee a guest speaker invited to class that day. I had so much fun being in charge, but I have to say teaching is harder than it looks. It’s like advanced babysitting.
2. ONLY ON SAS IS YOUR ROOM CLEANED FOR YOU EVERYDAY – my roommate and I have a little morning routine. We wake up at 7:30; get ready, then go to the dinning hall for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. When we arrive back at the room at about 8:30, our floors are vacuumed, our beds made, our clothes folded, our tables tidy up, our bathroom cleaned, and a set of fresh towels laid out for us. Our cabin steward is named Ray and he takes very good care of us. Ray is from the Philippines and is away from his family for months at a time : ( But he says he loves working on the ship and knows every kid on the hall by name.
3. ONLY ON SAS COULD BALDNESS BE AN ACCEPTABLE TREND - There is an age-old tradition that when you cross the equator for the first time on a ship you must go through the Neptune ceremony. This is typically a big tradition for new marines, but basically you have to do things like get fish guts dumped on you, get crowned by the king Neptune (Dean White), and kiss a fish. However, one of the traditions of the ceremony is to get your head shaved. While the majority of us skipped this part, many of the students on the ship chose to participate. Of course a ton of boys did it, but the more surprisingly about a dozen girls ended up shaving off all their hair. I considered it for a second because I pictured how funny it would be to see all your faces when I arrived back home, but then quickly remembered I was the girl who got hair extensions when I accidently cut my hair to my chin. Still it was so weird the next day walking around; we looked slightly like a cancer ward. As usual, only on semester at sea could this all be so normal.
4. ONLY ON SAS CAN YOU ASK YOUR TEACHER FOR HELP THE NIGHT BEFORE AN EXAM – I had an anthropology mid-term between India and Mauritius. The night before, I was studying in the lounge with a friend from my class. We were stuck on a chapter that just didn’t make sense. So we grabbed our textbooks and went to knock on our teacher’s door. It was 10 o’clock at night, but she welcomed us in and spent an hour basically reviewing the whole lesson with us. As we left, we laughed as we wondered what our CU professors would do if we just dropped by their houses at 10 p.m. the night before a test and asked to review some of the material.
5. ONLY ON SAS COULD COLLEGE STUDENTS LEARN TO FUNCTION WITHOUT THE INTERNET - Up until this voyage I didn’t really think this was possible but now I know for sure, life still does go on without Facebook. Some people on the ship might still disagree, but it has been kind of nice not to be constantly “logged in” to the world. In fact, it is amazing how much more time I have when I am not parked in front of my computer chatting or writing on people’s walls or stalking my crush. Without the internet no one sits in their rooms, we all get out and do stuff, spend time with each other. Crazy concept huh? Information travels the old fashion way through word of mouth and when we want to know something we have to go directly to the source. For I think the first time in my life, I wrote an entire research paper using only BOOKS!!
6. ONLY ON SAS COULD COLLEGE STUDENTS LIVE IN A CELL PHONE FREE WORLD– Another blast to the past has been learning how our parents existed without cell phones. And for you young people, if you have ever lost your cell phone for a day you know what I am talking about. On the ship when you want to get a hold of someone you just go knock on his or her door. Or if you are too lazy to walk the 50 feet to their cabin, you can call them from the cord telephone in your room. Which has its own issues like no caller ID so no screening calls and no answering machine so you have no idea if someone called while you were out. In our room, Katy and I have put a little message pad by our phone so if someone calls for one us while we are gone the other person has to write down the message and leave it by the phone. We also keep a little phone book, which basically consists of all of our friends’ room numbers and all the service desks on the ship. However, the biggest adjustment has been no text messaging. This means no passive aggressive messaging because you are too scared to call the person and no making plans to meet by sending mass texts out. You learn quickly without cell phones that when you say you will be somewhere, you better be there and if the person isn’t there you sit and wait. There is no changing plans last minute and no calling to say you are on your way. Some people on the ship have gotten creative though. On most of the doors people put up signs that have various places on the ship – library, dining hall, pool – and a magnet that they put over the place they are. So the top usually reads: Alex is….. and the magnet would be placed in the little square next to the words “dining hall”. It is actually quite helpful so you don’t have to circle the boat a hundred times looking for someone.
7. ONLY ON SAS ARE YOU TREATED LIKE A TERRORIST – for any of you that hate going through airport security imagine doing that almost everyday for 10 trips straight. Typically the drill is this, when you come back to the boat after having been out in the port you first have to go through the country’s security to even get into the docks then you continue on to where your ID is checked at the entrance to the SAS jetty. Next you walked up the rickety narrow stairs to the fifth deck where there is a medal detector machine and about five security crewmembers. Once you make it through the medal detector you have to place your bags on the table where they are ripped through and searched for alcohol, drugs, and any other items we can’t bring on board. Usually while this is happening you are being frisked by another security person and thanks to some students who decided to put alcohol and drugs in some interesting places, these pat downs are a little less than gentle. Lastly you have to swipe your card that lets the machine know you are accounted for and on the ship. This process can sometimes take up to 15 minutes and you sometimes do it 4-5 times in one day. I guess it is nice to feel safe on the boat, but I can’t say I will miss having to be searched every time I walk in the door.
8. ONLY ON SAS IS TIME A FLEXIBLE CONCEPT – Ever wish there was 25 hours in a day? Well on semester at sea there is. We cross into a new time zone every few days and because of the direction we are moving, we gain an hour each time. For those of you who have trouble changing your clocks on just day light savings then imagine doing it almost every other day. For the most part it is pretty great getting an extra hour of sleep most nights but it definitely throws you off a little. Also, because we go to school when the ship is sailing and enjoy travel time when the ship is docked, we follow a unique schedule. For classes we alternate between A days and B days so we have no idea if it is a Monday or a Saturday. Also we sometimes have classes for 10 days straight and other times we only have two days of classes in between ports. Time is also pretty precious on Semester at Sea because we have such limited amounts of it in port. Typically in port I only get 8 hours of sleep for the entire week because there is so much to see and do. In fact, I have pulled more all nighters here than any other time in my life.
9. ONLY ON SAS ARE THERE NO EXCUSES– I am happy to say, for the first time in my entire student life, I have perfect attendance. It is funny how easy it is to make it to all your classes when it only take 2 minutes to walk there, when the weather is never an issue, when you are never hung over from the night before, and when there is really nothing else better to do than go to class. Also teachers have been known to come and knock on your doors if you don’t show up for class and if they don’t then there is a good chance you will have to pass by them in the halls or at lunch anyways. So you can’t use excuses like a family emergency or a doctor’s appointment or a vacation. Things like work and family never get in the way of school and there is never really anything really great to do that would make skipping your homework or class worthwhile. Worst of all there is no excuse for why you are late on a 400-foot ship.
10. ONLY ON SAS COULD YOU WAKE UP TO AN OCEAN VIEW EVERYDAY – Besides the people, I think the one thing I will miss most about the boat is the beautiful view. Everyday I get to raise my shades and see the incredible ocean out my window. I get to curl up on a lounge chair out on the deck and enjoy the nice sea breeze. When no one is looking I can sneak out to the front of the boat and lean out over the bow like Kate Winslet on Titanic and sing. Ok not really but you get the picture it is so incredible. We gather and watch the sunset every night and on ports we get to watch the boat sail into the various cities. Once you are over the whole seasickness thing, living on a boat is an experience everyone should have.

DO'S & DON'TS OF TRAVELING IN INDIA

1. DON’T BREATHE. If I could put the stench that is India in a jar and bring it back for all of you to smell I would. It was not uncommon for all of us to be walking around plugging our noses because the smell was so foul. There was constant smog too because the air was so polluted. And everything was covered in a layer of dirt. Everywhere you looked there was trash littered about. But the main contributor to the rank smell was the common practice of public urination in India. A toilet is a rare gem so it is perfectly acceptable to just start peeing right on the side of the wall, in front of everyone! It was truly gross. Needless to say I threw away my shoes at the end of the trip.
2. DO LEARN ABOUT THE HINDU RELIGION. Over 80% of India’s population is Hindu and their religious beliefs permeate almost every aspect of their daily lives. Varanasi is considered the religious capital of India and while we were there we got to witness one of the most sacred Hindu religious ceremonies. The river Ganges is considered holy water and Hindus from around the world travel to Varanasi to bathe in the water. It is believed that the water will release them from the cycle of rebirth. So at sunrise we piled into a boat and floated along the riverbank to observe the ceremony. As the mecca for Hindus, many elderly come to Varanasi to die so that their bodies can be cremated on the banks of the river and their ashes spread in the water. From the boat we could see three public cremations. It was surreal. We also saw people bathing, swimming and even drinking the water, which was slightly gross because the water was a murky green color and clearly polluted.
3. DON’T EAT THE FOOD, DRINK THE WATER, OR EVEN BREATHE! If you don’t like spicy food, then India is not the place for you. Foods I never thought could be spicy were spicy in India. Our theory was that because their food is so gross they cover it up with intense spices that make it impossible to taste anything. Luckily, a majority of our meals were at nice hotels as I think it would have looked poorly on semester at sea to bring home a bus full of sick kids. The grossest part of it was their lack of sanitation. We would pass by markets with people selling fruits and vegetables and they would be covered with flies and other bugs. And because India seriously lacks clean water, nothing is washed or boiled beforehand. We had to carry bottled water everywhere with us and even that tasted funny. I think I lost any extra weight I gained in India from starvation.
4. DO SEE THE TAJ MAHAL. An obvious highlight of the trip and an absolute must for visiting India. And while it is as beautiful in person as it is in pictures, it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Nonetheless, it was so incredible to see and I could have spent all day sitting on the garden just staring at it. Inside was beautiful too; we got to see the tomb of both the Queen Mumtaz Mahal and her husband/builder Shan Jahan. It was such a beautiful love story. I hope one day someone builds me a great monument of love.
5. DON’T GIVE TO THE BEGGERS. It will break your heart to do, but its necessary. Sadly too much of India is corrupt. Our tour guide informed us that many of the children and people with disabilities begging are all part of organized crime rings and that very little of the money will actually go to them. Much like on Slumdog Millionaire. It’s heart breaking to pass by but there are literally hundreds of homeless people on every street corner. We took the train to get from New Delhi to Agra and I would almost break down crying every time. Endless children would pull at you and motion to their mouths for food. A few students decided to buy the children some food at the vendor instead of giving them money, but as soon as they gave the three kids muffins, 50 more kids all begging for muffins swarmed them. We learned in class that over 40% of India’s population lives on only a dollar a day. This was absolutely visible everywhere you looked.
6. DO TAKE A RICKSHAW RIDE. Because the streets were too crowded, our bus wasn’t able to drop us off right at the riverbanks, so we had to go in pairs on almost 30 rickshaws down the main street. A rickshaw is a little carriage like cart that is pulled behind a bicycle. Our 15-minute ride though, was one of the best experiences of the entire trip. We were sure that we were going to crash or tip over, but it was incredible to see the bustling city center. There was just so much going on. It was the first time I was absolutely sure that India had 1.1 billion people living in it. There were cattle being herded right down the middle of the street. Endless kids playing along the shops. So many beautiful saris. My pictures will do this experience more justice than my words can.
7. DON’T SAY YES TO TAKING PICTURES WITH THE LOCALS. One of our stops before the Taj Mahal was to Agra Fort, where the king lived. It had been a long day so our tour guide just let us go off by ourselves to get pictures and then we were to meet up at the front at a particular time. Wondering around, Alisa and I found a great spot to get a far away shot of the Taj, but as I stood for the picture this group of Indian women asked to take a picture with us. Being polite we said yes. Then another group saw us and asked to take pictures with us as well. At first it was kind of funny and a little flattering. People were handing me their babies to hold and pushing their children in pictures with us. Finally freeing ourselves, Alisa and I decided to venture off to another part of the fort. Within in minutes we were approached again for pictures by a large group of men. Not really knowing how to say no, we just went along with it. We took a group photo, and then each guy wanted his own individual photo with us. It was 100 degrees out and these sweaty, B.O. guys were putting their arms around us and making weird faces for the photo. Kind of fed up, I tried to tell them that we had to go meet our group. But as we tried to leave, the guy waiting for the next photo held on to us. Sensing our discomfort, the security guard near by came over and asked if we were ok, I asked if he could just tell them that we had to go meet our group. So the security guard angrily scolded the guy holding on to us in Hindi, but instead of letting go the man talked rudely back to the security guard. I don’t know what was said, but the security guard looked pissed, then got right in the guy’s face and slapped him as hard as he could across the face. The blow was enough to make the Indian drop his grip around us, so I grabbed Alisa and we took off running out of the fort. It was probably the scariest experience I have had so far and needless to say we said no to every other person after that asked to take a picture with us.
8. DO TRY ON A SARI. Anyone in my group will tell you that I got a little obsessed with these things. In India all Hindu women wear a sari which is a long piece of fabric, usually silk, that is wrapped intricately around in kind of a toga like fashion. Every woman I encountered was wearing one; I didn’t see a single woman dressed in western clothing. And while I still think they promote sexists values and must be miserable to wear in the heat, they are the most beautiful dresses I have ever seen. They tend to be bright colors and some have beautiful designs. I snapped a ton of pictures of women wearing them. I got so intrigued that I even bought one. We were at a silk factory and I was just looking at all the beautiful fabric when a man asked if I wanted to try a sari on. It sounded like too much fun so I said yes. But let me tell you, Indian women have my complete respect now because putting on a sari is no simple task. You have to fold it, tie it, and weave it in so many different ways. But when he was done, it looked beautiful! Aware that I really had no idea what I was doing, the man also gave me a step-by-step guide for how to put it on again. So when I get back, be ready girls, I am going to want people to practice on : )
9. DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE SELLERS. From the minute we stepped off the ship sellers constantly swarmed us. The Indian salesman is a persuasive one and pretty persistent too. They would never take no for an answer and sometimes would follow us for 15 minutes just saying “nice jewelry, nice jewelry, I give you good price.” We would also walk through markets where there would be hundreds of shacks all lined up with people selling various crafts and clothing. Many children work along side their parents and they learn at such a young age to be relentless. The funny part is that a majority of them are all selling the same kind of things. There were a few times when I would have considered buying something but they were so aggressive and so insistent that I always ended up getting frustrated and leaving. A few of my friends however, did buy the trinkety, touristy stuff they were selling. One guy friend bought a Taj Mahal t-shirt that was folded and in a plastic covering. The tag said size large but when he got back on the bus and held up the t-shirt it wouldn’t have fit a fifth grader it was so small.
10. DO BE AWARE YOU ARE A GIRL. Never have I been in a place where I was so aware of my gender. Though we tried to cover up as much as possible, it was obvious that we were the only females in tight clothing and showing any skin. Men would endlessly yell catcalls and stare at us. Also in India, men and women are kept very separate. There is no PDA and no dating done before marriage. I would get dirty looks for just standing close to a guy friend. Women are very submissive in India and thought to be the property of men. Though no man said anything directly, I could tell they were offended or taken aback when I, a woman, would speak directly to them. On one occasion I was supposed to meet a guy friend, he was late and when he arrived I scolded him for making me wait. An employee of the hotel standing nearby let out a huff, he seemed to be disgusted that a woman was reprimanding a man. There were endless things like I hardly encountered a woman who was fully literate, while most of the men were or when I would ask a question the person would speak back to the male with me instead. It was demoralizing and super frustrating but made me more proud than ever that I am an American woman.
11. DON’T FORGET YOUR BUGSPRAY. A nice hot and humid climate always brings one thing, BUGS. I came home with about 15 mosquito bits. We went to see a prayer ceremony near the Ganges river at sunset and I thought I was wearing honey near a beehive. We sprayed our bug spray and deet like it was our job but it didn’t do much good. All the locals would laugh at us as we danced around trying to swat them away. There is also hundreds of flies in India, and we would see people just covered in them it was really gross. They would swarm all the food in the markets and since the streets were covered in trash, they attracted them even more. Luckily none of us got Malaria so I guess my daily pills are paying off.
12. DO GO TO A HOOKA BAR. Don’t worry mom, I didn’t actually smoke any hooka. A group of us decided to venture out one night and we came across a cool looking hooka bar. It was also a coffee shop, so us girls just ordered desserts and coffee while the boys smoked the hooka. We quickly learned though, that hooka bars are the cool places to hang out. There are tons of coffee tables only a foot off the ground and you sit on pillows around it. It was such a cool atmosphere. We got to meet some locals and finally see how the younger generation of India hangs out.
13. DO WEAR A RED DOT. Even after having spent almost a week in India, I still have yet to understand what the red dot means. I heard everything from it symbolizes the God Shiva’s third eye to it’s a female accessory to it indicates your married. Either way every woman I encountered had one on. When we would enter the hotels they would “dot” us and when we went to all the religious places we got “dotted.” One student was even handing out stickers to the kids at the train station. She was putting them on the tops of all of the kids’ hands but within seconds all of them moved the sticker to the center of their forehead. It was quite comical.

INDIA

Incredible India! That is what all the advertisements read. But after traveling there all I could think was that India was incredibly poor, incredibly dirty, and incredibly traditional. Still being pushed outside my comfort zone and seeing things so incredibly different was what made India so interesting to me.

My SAS trip didn’t leave until the second day in port so when we arrived I decided to venture out into Chennai with some friends. We only made it two blocks before we turned around and headed back to the boat. I got caught in a dirt storm that turned my entire face brown, Katy got splattered with black oil when a giant truck hit a pot hole near us, and Max got pick pocketed by one of the little kids that swarmed us as we were walking. Needless to say we were not ready for India. Back on the boat we showered and then decided to play it safe and each lunch in the dining hall. However, my poor packing left me no choice but to go back out in search of conservative clothes. The boat was requiring girls to cover their shoulders and knees at all times and because my mother insisted that I would never use a long peasant skirt, I had nothing to wear. So back out in the hot and humid weather that would make Georgia in the summer feel cool, we headed for the shopping mall. Outside the sign read, a shopper’s dream come true, inside my friends and I tried to wake ourselves up form this awful nightmare. We searched forever before we finally found a women’s clothing store. Because all the women wear the traditional saris here, there were only two women’s stores that sold fabric for the saris. Otherwise all the stores we saw were for men. I was pretty desperate and ended up purchasing gaucho pants for $2.50 (yes Michelle I wore gaucho pants, the incredibly unflattering high-waisted to mid-calf pants that look like a skirt but are really pants, similar to skorts, the other bad fad of the nineties).

Depressed by the shopping we all decided to do some sightseeing, so we piled in two little autos (Indian taxis) and asked them to take us to a famous temple. An auto is a lot like if you were to take a tit-a-world cart, put it on wheels, add a lawn mower like engine, and a seat for a driver. They weave in and out of traffic like Mario cart and we quickly came to learn they are all quite corrupt (which most of India is). We had asked to go to the temple but sure enough the drove us straight to this little art shop. We became quite familiar with this little scam, we named it “my cousin’s shop”. Because the typical auto ride cost about 3 dollars, we learned that the cabbies make their money by bringing tourists to their friend’s shops who in turn give them a commission for bringing people in. It was so irritating! I don’t think I got in a single cab that would take me exactly where I asked to go.

We eventually made it to the temple that looked pretty much like the other 100 temples I have seen on this voyage so we called it a day. But I learned one thing on that first day, never would I be in a country where I was so aware of my race and gender.

To be continued…………..

CAMBODIA

Me in front of the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat - the Cambodian Kingdom was a great one

Here's the whole SAS group at the Royal Palace - the teacher in front is my Anthropology teacher, needless to say I got an A on my assignment on Cambodia

Tim and I climbing on the old ruins, It was like a big rock jungle gym

My Cambodia roommate Chelsea!! at our lavish resort and spa hotel : )

The Killing Fields - these are the pits where they would pile the bodies, so sad

This is the school they turned into torture center for the victims - the center is filled with these white graves

This was the most adorable little girl from the orphanage we visited - I wanted to take her home with me!

This is the rickety old boat we took our sunset cruise on the Mekong River, so beautiful!

If I had to pick one place from my entire itinerary that I think everyone should go to, I would choose Cambodia. I absolutely fell in love with this country - the people, the food, the landscape. It was the first port where I finally felt like I was on the other side of the world, seeing and experiencing things so vastly different from my own home. This trip was a SAS field program, so the itinerary for the 3-day trip was packed. We went from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day, not wasting a second in between. When we docked in Vietnam our 30-person group met and headed straight for the airport where we flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. When I walked outside I was sure we had been dropped off in a tropical jungle. It was 90 degrees with about 80% humidity, I felt like I was wearing jeans and a hoodie inside a sauna. We didn’t stop sweating the entire trip.

As we drove to our first stop I was glued to the window. If I thought China traffic was horrendous, Cambodia was a whole level past that. The streets were packed with thousands of little motorbikes, sometimes with as many as four people on them. There were no stoplights or lanes, you just had to aggressively push your way into the flow of traffic. The little motorbikes would dart in and around our bus, I thought for sure we were going to hit one of them. They go down the wrong way of traffic, they cross over into oncoming traffic to pass slower cars, they go up on sidewalks, and there is no stopping to let pedestrians walk, they just move around you. Crossing the street is like that scene with Eddie Murphy in Bowfinger running across the highway. Also as we walked the streets of Cambodia I noticed how young their population was, kids are everywhere, sadly many of them without parents in sight. I saw one boy who couldn’t have been older than 10 carrying his baby sister around alone, feeding her, walking across the crazy street with her. It was heartbreaking.

Our first stop was the Cambodian National Museum. It was a small building with no air conditioning and sadly almost every statue or painting the guide pointed to had been somewhat destroyed during the war. Still the Cambodians seemed to be so proud of their culture and long history. It was at the museum that I noticed how conservative the women dressed. Despite it being almost 100 degrees, none of the women were in shorts or tank tops, they all mostly wore long skirts and long sleeve blouses. Also Cambodians I learned are such shy people. While the Chinese would bombard us with questions and cameras, the Cambodians would politely smile at us or avert their eyes if we caught them staring. They seemed like such kind and simple people, it was hard to fathom that a brutal war destroyed their country not that many years ago.

After the museum we headed towards the water where we took a sunset cruise along the Mekong River. We walked along a narrow wooden plank to board the rickety old boat and sailed all along the shoreline. It was so beautiful, everything was so green and tropical, and there were tons of colorful flowers and fruit trees. It was so incredible to finally see a place untouched by industrialization and concrete skyscrapers. But it wasn’t without its sadness, almost every corner was touched by poverty. We sailed past a water village (literally houses floating on the water anchored down and tied to one another) and when I asked the guide who lived there he said refugees. Apparently the government does not allow immigrants to live on Cambodian land, so these refugees build these intricate water villages to live on.

Our last stop was by far my favorite of the entire trip, the Palm Tree Orphanage. When we arrived all the children were so excited. They swarmed us laughing and skipping around. Their teacher told us the kids get few visitors so they get pretty excited when new people come around. Also Americans founded the orphanage so all the children learn English in addition to their regular studies; they loved getting to practice with us. You could tell though that all of them were so starved for individual attention. One little boy that I met when I walked in didn’t leave my side the entire time. The little kids showed us all around the orphanage. There were 3 classrooms with no air-conditioning, a big concrete area with an old swing set and a bunch of deflated soccer balls, and a small lunchroom with tiny tables and chairs. As we were walking around I asked one little girl to show me where her room was. She led me upstairs to a large open room lined with little cubbies. She told me each kid got their own cubbie where they kept all their things and then when it was time for bed, each kid had a mat that they laid out on the hard floor to sleep on. As I looked in the cubbies, each kid didn’t have more than two or three shirts to their name, and only some had worn out little stuffed animals or blankets. It was so heartbreaking, but after our tour was some much needed playtime. We gathered in a circle and played simon says, patty cake, and freeze tag. The children seemed to be having so much fun and were so happy. As it became time to leave, the children clung to our legs and arms begging us to stay or come back tomorrow. The little girl I had been playing with even began to cry. It was all I could do not to take all of them with me back home. I can now see how Angelina Jolie has adopted all those kids.

After our long day, it was finally time for dinner. We ate at a small, outdoor local restaurant near our hotel. When we walked in there were two long rows of tables for us. I was among the first few people to walk into the restaurant and as I made my way to our tables I over heard the waiter say women on the right, men on the left. I figured it was a unique Cambodian culture thing, so as everyone walked in I told them we all had to sit with women on the right and men on the left. Everyone was so confused; we looked like a long table of speed dating. Pleased with myself for organizing everyone accordingly, I finally sat down to eat. It was then that my friend Phoebe, who I had walked in with, leaned over and said, “Um, Nicole, I think that man was just referring to the bathrooms.” Sure enough when I looked over to the far right wall where the bathrooms were, the women’s was on the right and men’s on the left. I about died of embarrassment. When the group finally found out they teased me about it for the rest of the trip. The only redeeming part of the evening was that the food was delicious.

The next day in Cambodia was something I could never have prepared myself for. Until now I had no idea how isolated I was in the U.S., ignorant to the horrific things taking place around the world. I was tired and groggy when I arrived early that morning to the concentration camp turned museum, but it didn’t take long for me to wake me up. Before the war the building we arrived at was a primary school for children. However, once the Pol Pot regime moved in, schools were among the first places they targeted. The building was a long rectangle with a large courtyard in front. Around the perimeter was a concrete fence with curled barbed wire along the top. In the courtyard was row after row of white grave stones. When our guide took us inside, we saw the tiny cells in which the victims were detained for days at a time. We saw the rooms where they were tortured through unthinkable measures. Some of the walls were still bloodstained and the entire place was eerily quiet. Covering most of the walls were thousands of pictures of the victims - men, woman, and children. Most of the prisoners were executed solely for being educated intellectuals. It all was unthinkably sad, but I remember how much my heart sank when our guide told us this place was only 1 of 300 all over Cambodia.

From one somber place to another, we arrived at the Killing Field next. The minute you get there you can’t take your eyes off of the huge tower of skulls and bones before you. It becomes hard to wrap your head around the idea that one sick, black-hearted man could carry out such a gruesome and horrific genocide. It makes you angry and sad all at the same time. Our guide gathered us in a corner of the field to talk about what took place here. The killing field was the largest prison camp of the Pol Pot Regime. They killed an estimated million people in this site alone. All across the fields there are large pits where the bodies of those exterminated were piled up. None of the victims were killed by gun because according to the exterminating officers the victims were not worth the bullets. Instead they were tortured for the enjoyment of the officers and brutally mutilated. Up high in all of the trees were speaker boxes, our guide informed us they played loud music to cover the sound of the screaming people so neighbors wouldn’t become suspicious. As we walked I noticed little shreds of fabics and white rock exposed along the ground, when I asked my guide about it he told us it was the remaining clothes and bones from the victims. There were so many bodies, buried all over the land that as the surface becomes eroded away, the remains reach the surface. I felt a pit in my stomach at the thought of walking over so many dead people. The whole experience just made me feel so thankful for my family and my life.

After an intense morning we visited the beautiful Royal Palace and then the Silver Pagoda. Later we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in town and ate Pho, which is like a noodle soup and its soooo good. Then we shopped the markets, which were so hot and sticky, I couldn’t imagine sitting out there for 10 hours a day just hoping to sell vegetables for 35 cents. They are so chaotic and colorful though, I just wanted to take a seat and people watch all day. Back on the buses we drove to the airport where we took an even smaller plane to the city of Siem Reap where the Angkor Wat kingdom is. The best part was our hotel or rather our Resort and Spa. I had heard that SAS puts you up at nice hotels but this place was incredible. They gave us a little towelettes and a glass of champagne when we came in. Also they had a huge outdoor pool and a spa open till 11:00 p.m. All of us girls signed up for massages, which were fantastic. I could have stayed there for the rest of the trip.

The last day we got up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and were on the road by 8:00 to go see the Angkor Wat. For those of you who don’t know, Ankor Wat was the magnificent temple built for the Cambodian king over 1000 years ago. It is an incredible site and has been preserved so well. We spent the day climbing all around it, often up steep steps and along narrow passages. Angkor Wat is built right into the jungle and from the top you can see tons of forest and greenery. Walking in we even ran across a pack of monkeys, they were so fun and were not scared of humans at all. All the Cambodians would walk past and laugh at how excited we all got by the monkeys. Then it was on to the Ta Prohm temple where I had to be covered from my shoulders to my ankles. I was so miserably hot that I hurried through the tour. After we toured Bayon, Baphuon, Elephants terrace, and the Terrace of Leper King. It was all a little overwhelming but I must have taken over a hunded pictures because it was all so beautiful.

After a long day we took a 5:00 p.m. flight back to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I could have stayed in Cambodia though for the remainder of the time. There was just so much to see and do. I absolutely loved my time there and it’s trips like this one that remind me why I wanted to challenge myself to go on Semester at Sea and see places I might never get the chance to visit again. I made so many new friends on my trip which I ended up traveling with for the rest of Vietnam. I’ll add pictures below but they just don’t do it justice to how incredible it all was.

SHANGHAI

7 reasons why this is my first and LAST visit to Shanghai, China.

1. CRAZY CABS: I have been to New York City and ridden in what I thought were some pretty crazy cabs, but those experiences fail in comparison to what it’s like to ride in a Chinese cab. When we got off the boat in Shanghai the first day, we went to hail a cab to lunch. It took us three cabs before we found one that would take us to where we needed to go. The cab drivers spoke almost no English and would get so frustrated with us. Not to mention I got the lovely experience of riding up in the front seat. I would cringe at how close we would get to the other cars and pedestrians. Also there seemed to be no traffic rules, the cabs would weave in and out of lanes and sometimes even drive down the middle of two lanes to keep other cars from passing them. It was like being in one of those virtual reality rides we use to do as kids at the Park Meadows mall.
2. NO NON-SMOKING SECTIONS: I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, but I have inhaled enough second hand smoke on this trip to China to make me feel like a chain smoker. I hadn’t realized how spoiled I was back in the US with all of the laws banning smoking in restaurants. In China everyone smokes everywhere. Every restaurant you go in is foggy with smoke. I would shower three times a day because my hair and clothes would reek of smoke. It was so gross. But at this rate, they won’t have to worry about decreasing their population size with the one-child policy because half of their population will die of lung cancer.
3. LINE-CUTTERS: Our first stop in Shanghai was the Pearl tower where on top there is a revolving restaurant and incredible view of the city. But like everything in China, the booth to buy a ticket was so crowded. So we began to line up in a nice orderly fashion, but we quickly learned that lines are not very big in China. Everyone just pushes and shoves to the front. People elbow and argue with complete strangers, and no one cares who has been there longer. It took us almost a half an hour to get our tickets because we got cut so much. One man even pushed his child into the line and then pretended to have to follow him. It was the most frustrating experience.
4. PAPARAZZI: Once we got our tickets for the tower we proceeded to yet another crowed “line” to actually get into the tower. In addition to being starred at constantly, many of the Chinese began taking our picture. Everywhere we turned someone had their camera in our face snapping away. And it probably didn’t help that I was traveling with three blondes. My roommate (blonde) got asked all day long to take pictures with people’s kids. Brittany Spears has my complete sympathy now.
5. IF IT HAS FOUR LEGS THE CHINESE WILL EAT IT: Until China I had been pretty spoiled in being able to find good food to eat in the ports. But in Shanghai I couldn’t believe the kinds of things that were on the menu – goose liver, pigeon, shark, and all sorts of other bizarre animals that should just not be eaten. The worst though is all the food available in the street markets. Everywhere you look people are holding sticks of food. One lady I was sure was eating an entire crab deep friend and put on a stick. Another child was gnawing on what looked like the dried up pig’s ear we use to feed to Cosmo. EWWW.
6. BARGAINING: It did not take very long in China to learn that bargaining is not a skill I possess. On one of the days we went to what I call the “knockoff” district to shop for fake designer purses, sunglasses, shoes, ect. It turns out these markets are available EVERYWHERE in China. The one we went into in Shanghai was 4 levels of endless little shops crammed with fake Louie Vinton purses, knock-off North Face Jackets, and pirated videos. When you walk around all the shopkeepers yell at you and try and persuade you to come into their store. Some of the merchandise looks so real, I don’t even know if I would have known the difference, others are terrible. Some of my friends were really getting into it; they got designer wallets, purses, and sunglasses for like $15. I ended up buying a North Face backpack, some Ray Ban Sunglasses, and about 20 DVDs. By the next day the zipper broke on my backpack, the paint chipped on my Ray Bans, and 5 of my DVDs turned out to be only English subtitles.
7. DIRTY: I think it may be safe to say China is one of the dirtiest places I have ever been. The streets are littered with trash, the sidewalks are all broken, and there are endless cigarette butts on the ground. However, the dirtiness of the landscape is not the first thing you will notice, it’s the smell. It was not uncommon for us to be walking around covering our noses because the smell was so horrible. I began to wonder if people were wearing surgical masks because they didn’t want to get sick or because they didn’t want to inhale the odor that is China. Also I guess it is socially acceptable for people to spit in public, it’s the grossest thing. I tried so hard to just not look down when I was walking around. I have a feeling I’ll be purging some shoes by the end of this trip.

JAPAN

KON NI CHI WA!

Japan is like no country I have ever seen before. It’s people, food, and culture are so unique and interesting. I don’t even know where to begin telling you all about my amazing trip. So I guess I’ll start from the beginning. We arrived in Yokohama, Japan at 7:00 a.m. on February 9^th and after 4 hours of customs we finally got off the boat. I traveled with 3 other girls from the boat, but there was a big group of us SASers heading up to Tokyo for a few days. Our first big challenge was to tackle the train system. Luckily our confused looks landed us lots of help. One lady we met on the street walked us to the train station and helped translate the machine so we could buy our tickets. Another man on the train helped us figure out how to switch trains and two or three others helped us find our hotel after we got off the train in Tokyo. The Japanese love helping foreigners and practicing their English. We stayed at the Prince Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo and our room for the four of us was half the size of my cabin on the ship. Everything Japan is so compact and small. Later we went to find a late lunch and as we walked around there were a few things I noticed:

1) For an urban city with almost 35 million people in, the streets of Tokyo are spotless. There is almost no trash anywhere; everything was so clean!

2) In Japan they drive on the wrong side of the road, but we quickly learned those rules also apply to the sidewalk. On many of the streets there is literally a line drawn evenly down the sidewalk to separate the flow of people moving in either direction. We were constantly running into people because it was our second nature to walk on the right side instead of the left.

3) The fashion in Tokyo is unbelievable. The women are all so stylish and dress to the tee. I don’t think I saw a single woman in sweats or a ball cap. One of my favorite trends was how all the women wear tights with jean shorts and scrunchy boots. I am for sure bringing that back to the US. Best of all though was the men. I have never seen guys take such an interest in their appearance. Japanese men blow dry/style their hair everyday and they all carry the infamous “man purse” and wear these tight, tailored, designer suits. As we walked along there was equal number of women’s clothing stores as there was men.

4) Silence. In fact, when we got off in Yokohama if I didn’t see people I would have thought no one was there. On the trains it is quite, in restaurants people speak softy, and never do you see someone talking loud on their cell phone like in America. There is even an entire subway cart that is suppose to be totally silent.

5)Masks. As you walk down the street, or ride the subway, you see at least 10 people wearing surgical masks. We learned it is because they are sick and don’t want to spread their virus to anyone else when they are out and about in the crowded streets of Japan. Is that not just collectivism at its finest?

After our exploration we headed back to the hotel to meet Chris for dinner. Chris is a friend of Emily’s from her hometown in Oregon. Chris spent a year abroad in Japan and loved it so much he decided to stay and live there. He loves Tokyo and as a blonde hair, blue eyed American who speaks Japanese, the Japanese love him back. When Chris arrived he apologized for being late, he said there was another suicide jumper on his train. Apparently Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world, there is such a culture of honor here that if you do something to cause dishonor to your family you feel extreme guilt and shame. So from there we took the subway with Chris to a more “local” restaurant, which turned out to be in the mafia district. When we walked in there was a tiny area with only 4-5 tables and they were all full. We all began to turn around and leave to find another place when Chris pulled us back in. Turns out in Japan for space they build up not out. The restaurant was actually on four floors and we had to climb up the stairs to the other levels to find an open table. Also, I noticed Chris writing on a piece of paper tapped to the wall near the hostess stand before we went up. Evidently, in Japan since so many restaurants are built up like this, friends will write down what floor they are on so you don’t have to climb a bunch of stairs looking for them. How nice huh? Once we found an open table on floor four we walked in and sat down and immediately everyone was starring at us. It was kind of weird being on the other side and being the one who feels like a foreigner. Rather than translate the menu to all of us, Chris just spoke to the waitress in Japanese and ordered us a bunch of entrees to share. We had lots of tuna rolls, tempura, and noodle bowls; it was surprisingly good. But while I was eating, I finished my soda and wanted to ask the waitress for another one, but I realized she hadn’t even stopped by our table once to ask if we needed anything. I was slightly annoyed so I asked Chris if he could wave her down, he just laughed and pressed the button on the center of our table and within seconds the waitress came running over and asked what we needed. I came to learn these magic “buttons” were at almost every restaurant. It was kind of nice just ringing for your server when you needed her and if you didn’t then you enjoyed your meal in peace. However, the “buttons” weren’t the only technologically savvy thing at the restaurants. All the waitresses had these electronic pads that looked like a palm pilot and they would tape in your order on them right there so they didn’t have to go to the back and punch your order in on a computer. Cool huh?

After dinner some of Chris’ friends came to meet up with us and we all took cabs to Ripongi where the nightlife and clubs are. In Japan the drinking age is 20, so I was happy to finally be legal! In the clubs they played American music and a little bit of JPop, which sounds identical to our pop music but obviously in Japanese. We had so much fun and actually ran into a lot of other Semester at Sea kids. It must have been those 11 days at sea that had us stir crazy because we ended up staying out until 4:30 a.m. In the cab going home we all decided we weren’t that tired, so we had the cabbie take us straight to the fish market which opened at 5:00 a.m. The fish market was one of the most incredible sights of the entire trip. I can’t even begin to describe the chaotic and packed market. There were hundreds of narrow rows of different fish, some cut up, some still alive, and some without heads and tails. Everyone was moving so fast and there were these tiny little forklifts whipping around to deliver boxes and boxes of more fish to different stations. Also the groud is all wet so every wears rubber boot and warm jackets because the stations are all covered in ice. We learned that Tokyo has one of the largest fish markets in the world and it is on a lot of top 100 things to see before you die lists.

After the fish market we ate breakfast, which consisted of a lot of coffee and energy drinks, then headed back to the hotel to get changed because all of our clothes reeked of fish. We met up with Chris again around 10:00 a.m. for our Tokyo tour. The streets of Tokyo look like an adult Disneyland, every sign is lit up and very colorful and since many places are on upper levels the signs go all the way up the buildings. We didn’t make it long on our walk before we needed lunch so Chris took us to his favorite Raman noodle restaurant. The eight of us (us four girls and four other boys form the ship we were traveling with) filled the entire restaurant and to order you inserted money into a vending machine like thing and pressed the meal you wanted. It was the most amazing Raman noodles I have ever had! Next we headed for the Japanese equivalency of the White House or rather the U.S. Senate. Again in Japanese fashion, the building was extremely tall and had over 150 floors. The elevator to the top literally took us a whole 2 minutes, but the view at the top was incredible! Sadly it happen to be a very cold and cloudy that day so we couldn’t see as far as you normally could but still it was amazing to see just how dense, crowed, and large Tokyo really was. Following that we walked through Tokyo’s version of Central Park which I am sure would have been more beautiful in the Spring with all the Cherry Blossoms but none the less we enjoyed it. Then came my favorite, most anticipated part, Harajuku district. If any of you are Gwen Stafani fans you know this is the place where she got the inspiration for her hugely popular clothing line. It is also the place where you will see some of the wildest Japanese fashion. It is this long narrow alley with endless shops that goes on for 2-3 miles. I wanted to walk in every store but the boys we were with pushed me along. I could have shopped there for days. In total we covered almost 6 miles of Tokyo that day.

That night we got dressed up and decided to head to the Park Hyatt for drinks. The Park Hyatt hotel is one of the top 10 hotels in the world and if you saw the movie Lost in Translation, it is the hotel Bill Murray stays in it. The bar was on the top floor and had an incredible view of city below. Deciding that a drink was about all we could afford there, we headed to Shibuya for dinner. We got to eat with some of Chris’ Japanese friends. We asked them endless questions about growing up in Japan. They told us for fun in Japan everyone goes to Karoke bars or bowling, in fact, both are prime date places. Later, we met up with other friends from the boat and hung out at an Irish pub near our hotel. Finally feeling exhausted we headed back to our hotel for a few hours of sleep.

At 6:15 a.m. the following day we were off to our next city, Kyoto, on the bullet train. It only took us two hours to get there, but my head was glued to the window taking in the unique and incredible Japanese landscape along the way. Kyoto is the religious city of temples and shrines and is so different from the concrete jungle of Tokyo. Our whole trip, Suzie had been talking about how she found us this incredible, traditional Japanese Inn to stay at. Still nothing could have prepared us for the Three Little Sisters Inn. We were greeted by an older Japanese women dressed in a kimono who asked us to take off our shoes outside before entering. As she explained prices and the set-up of the place she informed us there was a strict 10:00 p.m. curfew for guests. Already weary, we accepted the lady’s offered to see one of the rooms. So we followed her down the hall where she opened a curtain and on the ground lay 4 MATS with tiny little pillows and a table only inches off the ground with small seat pillows all around it. When we asked where the bathroom was, she pointed down the hall to a room with an outdoor shower and a drain in the ground that was apparently the toilet. We used every Japanese word we knew to politely say thanks but no thanks and jumped in a cab for the nearest Western hotel. Deciding to splurge for a place with a comfy bed instead, we ended up staying with some other friends at the Westin Hotel.

After our eventful morning we met our guy friends for lunch at a restaurant recommended by the hotel. When we walked in there was a room for us to put our shoes in little cubbies and the hostess walked us back to our table. The restaurant ceilings were so low that our 6’4” football friend hit his head a few time making our way to the table. Turns out the tables were built into the floor and you placed your feet down below onto heated carpet. It’s hard to describe but I’ll post pictures. The food was so good, however we quickly learned we were the loudest people in there. The Japanese are so quite all the time, especially at meals. It is not uncommon to look around and see people just sitting in silence. That afternoon we took in the streets of Kyoto and headed to the shopping district. It is not difficult to see how Japan has the second largest economy in the world. We hit some Japanese department stores where we learned that the greatest part of shopping is no language barrier; it is truly a universal activity. That night our lack of sleep had finally caught up with us, so we had an early dinner in downtown Kyoto, 1 drink at the hotel bar, and then were in bed by 10:00 p.m. The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast at yet another little bakery and then it was off to the Golden Pavilion where we saw the most beautiful temple painted completely with gold. My words wouldn’t do it justice so I’ll just have to post some pictures. We took the tour all around the garden of the Golden Temple and snapped tons of pictures. The sights were just like what you see in movies of old Japanese times. We hit two more shrines/temples that afternoon and spent the whole day taking in Kyoto’s beautiful scenery. It began to rain so we decided it was time to pack up and head for Kobe, our last city.

We all but ran to the boat because we were so excited. When you go on these long trips and sleep somewhere different every night, the boat begins to feel like home. We dropped off our big heavy backpacks (I got teased mercilessly because mine looked like I was traveling for 6 weeks) and got ready to go to dinner in Kobe. Back on the boat we met up with some other SAS friends and headed into town with them. One of our friends, Lucas, is actually half Japanese and has been to Japan 12 times. He was so helpful and he helped find us a great restaurant to eat at. It was so cool to meet someone who has grown up between two very different cultures. Later that night we went out around Kobe and then came back to the ship. The next day we were so exhausted but we decided we couldn’t leave Kobe, Japan without having a Kobe steak. So us girls found an amazing restaurant for lunch in downtown and enjoyed the best piece of steak I have ever had!

Basically Japan was incredible and it gave me a completely new and different outlook on Asia. Our teacher said if you took half of the US population and pushed all of them into the state of California you would have Japan. It is so urban and crowed but so modern and rich in culture and tradition. Not to mention they still have managed to hang on to a lot of the island’s natural beauty. My trip there went by so fast and I was so sad to leave but back on the boat there has been endless buzz as everyone eagerly shares stories about their adventures. Now it is only two days until we dock in China for another 7 day trip. To say I am exhausted would be an understatement but sleep seems so unimportant when there is so much to see and do. Also I apologize for not only the length of this post, but probably for its grammar as well. As you can tell I have been a little sleep deprived and had to write this really quick. But Japan was amazing, I would go there again and again but more than anything it made me so excited to go see all the other countries on our voyage.

All the endless fish being sold at the Tokyo Fish Market

Jimmy and I figuring out the Japanese train system (think I have too much stuff?)

The golden temple in Kyoto where the Buddha preached

Here was the view form the top of the Tokyo capital- gives you an idea of how dense and large Tokyo really is.
At our "local" dinner with Chris and his friends in Tokyo
Tessa and I shopping in Tokyo
Walking around the fish market at 5:30 a.m.

Suzie and Tessa at the red gates shrine in Kyoto

Putting my shoes in a cubbie before going into the restaurant
Having drinks at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo (Lost in Translation)
Our favorite restaurant in Kyoto
Having lunch in Kyoto with some friends
Harajuku shopping district!