I Survived the 10 Days!

11/27/09 – 12/3/09

We’ve had a 10 day stretch between Japan and Hawaii. I’ve been so busy these past ten days too. I’ve had seminars, class, studying for the Global Studies final, SAS Auction, SAS play, a celebration for attending a seminar in each category, etc. The seminars I attended dealt with; what to do with your major and an information session on grad school. They were really helpful and definitely put things into perspective for me. It has helped me narrow down my choices for after graduation. Ah, I cannot believe I just sad that word. It’s going to be too weird going back to Scranton for my final semester. Anyway, Class has been good, for the most part. I’m really happy that two of them are finished and sad that the other two ended. International Law and Global Studies are my least favorite courses probably of all my college education. It’s funny how who teaches a course changes your perspective on the subject so quickly. My Deviance and Social Control professor who is my Marriage and Family professor also is awesome. I really enjoyed those two classes and I didn’t feel overwhelmed. I think I learned more from him that I had from the other two combined. I’ve been busy finishing up lots of papers for my classes and then I’ve spent the rest of my time preparing for the impossible Global Studies Exam. I wrote everything on note cards and attended a review session last night. It was helpful and definitely highlighted some key ideas to remember. The Living and Learning Coordinator for Academic Support port together a study guide for us and it came out to 19 pages. So, that kind of gives you an idea of how much information we had to understand and remember for our 50 question multiple choice exam. I took it this afternoon and believe I did relatively well. In the past 10 days we’ve also had an SAS Auction both Silent and Live. Silent Auction started at 10am and lasted until about 10pm. There were items put on tables and you would bid on them. If you had the highest bid at the end of the night or maxed the price written down, you won the prize. There wasn’t anything that I particularly wanted so I didn’t win anything. Some of the items from the Silent Auction were; the deans serve you breakfast in bed, candy baskets, massage, bubble bath, maps, etc. All of which were donated by the members of the community. The proceeds go directly to the SAS Annual Fund which helps future voyagers, research from professors, field programs, etc. The Live Auction was pretty cool too. Some of the items up for bid were to blast the ships horn as pulling into San Diego, steer the ship for 10 minutes, tickets to SNL, Kentucky Derby tickets, and even home stays with members of the community such as Formal Dinner with the Orris’ in Colorado, 9 days in France, 10 days in a Pent house in NYC for Christmas, House in Lake Tahoe, Rental in Outer Banks, NC, etc. Some of these prizes went for outrageous amounts of money. After the night concluded we had made $21,000 or so from the live auction. The SAS play was called Dog Sees God, it’s about the characters from Peanuts all grown up. It was different, not sure if I liked it or not. It showed the struggles with growing up and going through high school. The acting was great though and I congratulate the students on an awesome job. The celebration for attending seminars was part of a program called Passport Program. There are 8 categories and for each seminar you attend, you get a sticker that corresponds to that area. Once you have all 8 stickers then you hand in our passport and you get a special seal on your SAS certificate and you can attend the Pizza Party. Pizza, soda, and cookies for free? How could you not be motivated to do it! So of course I completed it and we had the party last week. The food was good and it was definitely nice to just relax and enjoy it. Sorry that I didn’t break this down by day, but everything has been getting so hectic lately. I’m having a hard time believing that it’s over, well almost. I don’t know what it’s going to be like coming home. I’m really excited to see all of you and be home for Christmas, but I just don’t want this experience to end. It’s not real that I’ll be in San Diego in 11 days seeing my mom and dad. It’s not real that I will be back in NJ in 13 days. I reach Hawaii tomorrow which is exciting because I’ve never been there before. I don’t have any real plans, but to relax. I’ll be seeing Lindsay tomorrow which is exciting to get a piece of home. Other than that I’ll probably just take it easy and relax. We get in at 6am and have a face-to-face inspection by Immigration in the morning which sucks because then I have to get up that early. Oh well, it’s the last time! I have 3 exams next week which I’ll start studying for after Hawaii. By the time that flies by I’ll be packing, at the Alumni Ball, finished Convocation and walking off the ship for the last time in San Diego. It’s coming too quickly and I feel like there is no time to take it all in. I have Logistical Pre-port tonight for the last time. I’m already getting sad just writing that, god only knows what I’ll be like in 10 days or even before that. I’m going to go relax as I haven’t been able to do that in the past week due to Global Studies. I miss you all and I’ll be home so soon!

HAPPPPY THANKSGIVINGGGG!

11/20/09

Today we arrived in Yokohama, Japan! I woke up and had breakfast with my friends as usual. We had a little time so I got ready to go out for the day and then went to the diplomatic briefing. We usually clear the ship in about an hour, but Japan’s regulations were a little different. We were called by our Seas (which were used for Sea Olympics) and were directed off the ship. We entered the Port Terminal and collected our passports from the LLC’s. We were to stand in silence and follow the LLC’s directions. We formed a line and then were put into different lines for immigration. We had our passports scanned, photo taken, and fingerprints taken too. Then, we went and had our bags checked through security and then were to wait in the terminal for the rest of the ship to clear. You would not be allowed back on the ship until everyone was cleared and off. Fortunately, we brought all of our stuff and were free to go once we cleared. We decided to just wander around all day with no real plan. The city was really cool with tall buildings everywhere. The one thing we learned quickly is that they keep to the left so when you are walking on the sidewalk you had to walk on the left. It was so confusing especially once you got into crowds. We wandered around down by the water and then decided to move toward the center of the city. We had lunch at a pizzeria because we were craving American food. Well sort of haha. We had pizza and gnocchi. I had a beer too, it was delicious. We walked down the street and then found McDonald’s we stopped for some French fries because the pizza didn’t really fill us up. We then stumbled into some shops and looked around.  Then, I found STARBUCKS! So of course we went in and sat down. I had an iced coffee it was amazing. After we finished that we wandered back the other direction. We found a pet store and of course we went in. They had the smallest little puppies and two of them reminded me of Lola, I was sad. We walked around some more and by this time it was late afternoon so we found MOS burger which we were told to definitely try in Japan. So the three of us had a burger and it was delicious, I would describe it as a mix between McDonald’s and White Castle. Also, in Japan they have tons of different convenience stores such as 7-11, Family Mart, Lawson’s, etc. We decided to check out each one of them. They were actually really cool they had everything you could imagine. From corn dogs, to beer and liquor, dumplings and noodles, and candy. After we finished walking around we were trying to find our way back to the ship with the map. We were told if you stand there with a confused look on your face someone will come up to you and gladly help you find your way. Well sure enough some man came up and pointed us in the direction of where to go. We came back to the ship and relaxed for a little. I packed for Tokyo as I leave tomorrow after I get back from my SAS trip around 6:30pm. Then, we went out for the night. We decided to go a different direction and found ourselves in Chinatown. We couldn’t really find any bars so we decided to head back to where we saw a bar earlier in the day. We first started at a bar called Kiki’s where we each ordered a drink. I got a beer of course. We also were served peanuts and chocolate kisses? So random! Then, we went to a bar called The Full Monty. It was owned by a British guy. We went in an asked for non-smoking and were directed to a section that had a couch, an area rug, and a coffee table. I honestly felt like I was sitting in my living room it was awesome. I had a few pints and my friends ordered food too. We had a good night and then headed back to the ship.

11/21/09

Today, I woke up at 6am to be at breakfast by 630am. I was exhausted as I didn’t get much sleep. My trip was to Mt. Fuji and Hakone. We boarded the bus and it was literally full to capacity. Not to mention that these seats were made for midgets. You felt like a stuffed sausage, no leg room, and you couldn’t move an inch. The heat was on too high and you couldn’t breathe! So we dealt with that for the 2 hr ride to Mt. Fuji. It was fine though because I slept most of the way. There was a car accident that put us behind a little, but we made it there before 10am. We stopped at the welcome center to shop and take pictures. I had a few pictures that are awesome. We also watched a movie on Mt. Fuji that was about 10 minutes long and it told us the history of the mountain. After that we boarded the buses and headed up the mountain. Mt. Fuji is broken down into 10 stages and recently the weather hasn’t been that good so usually you cannot go passes stage 1. Thankfully, the weather was clear and we were allowed to go to level 5. Therefore, it took us about another 30 minutes to get up there. Finally we arrived and the sight was just beautiful. We were overlooking all of the mountains that were in front of it and the rivers too. They had little shops, and restaurants all over. They had observation decks for photos which gave you a much better look at the mountain. We spent about an hour up there. Then, we left and headed to Hakone which was about another 2 hrs away. So of course I took a nap again. We got there and had to take a tram up to the top in order to be able to see the entire valley below. Well, by the time we got up there a nice big cloud decided to come and cover the top of the mountain. So unfortunately we couldn’t see anything. However, on the way up you could see the golf course and driving range that were built into the mountain it was really neat. I did think about all my uncles and cousins at home! I have a few pictures too. Then we came back down and had a little time to do some shopping before our boat ride. I looked around for a bit and then we made our way to the boat. Some of us happened to look up and noticed that the nice big cloud that was there 20 minutes earlier was now gone. We thought eh it happens so we boarded the bus and headed back to the ship. There was two more car accidents on the way home so it delayed up about 45 minutes. The traffic was crazy I felt like I was on the NJ Parkway. It was a holiday weekend, labor day. So eventually we got back I got all of my stuff ready and left the ship with my friend Brianne. The two of us are traveling independently from Yokohama to Kobe with a few stops in between. We will meet the ship in Kobe in two days. We were a little nervous but we found our way to the train station. We got on the train and arrived in Tokyo in about 30 minutes. We were at the Shibuyu Station and we had to transfer to the subway lines to get to Jimbocho where our hotel was located. We were able to make it and walked out of the train station and finally saw Tokyo. We had great directions and made it to our hotel safely. We checked in and headed out for dinner as I hadn’t had any yet. We wandered around and didn’t know where to eat because all of menus were in Japanese. A man approached us and gave us a recommendation so we decided to try it. We sat down in this small restaurant on the 2^nd floor of a building and realized quickly that we had just walked into a place where you cook the meat yourself. Neither of us were confident enough in doing it ourselves so we ordered food that didn’t require that. I had some Ramen noodles and white rice. It took us about 30 minutes to get the check because it wasn’t busy and our waiter never came by. It was really awkward actually. Then, we went to McDonald’s my friend had a meal and I got a French fry and diet coke to go. We headed back to the hotel and were in search of booking our overnight bus. Well we soon found out that all overnight buses were booked and our only option was the Bullet Train from Tokyo to Kobe. We went to bed around 130am and decided we would sleep in.

11/22/09

Today, we were in a hostel which we shared the room with 4 other girls, whom had 4 different alarms set. So we were woken up periodically throughout the morning. We finally got up around 9am packed our stuff and were on our way. We had breakfast at bagel and bagel which was a New York style bagel shop. I had a B.E.L.T. which is a bacon, egg, lettuce, and tomato on a toasted Sesame bagel. I think I was in heaven. I hadn’t had a real bagel in 3 months. After that we found Starbucks and grabbed a coffee. After we finished there we took the subway to Tokyo station where we would buy our Shinkansen (Bullet Train) tickets as our hotel staff told us to do. We ended up buying the tickets for tonight at 730 pm. So we had the day to wander around. So we headed all over Tokyo. The first district we stopped in was Ginza. It was pretty cool we walked around there for about an hour and hopped on another train to Roppongi. This is where the nightlife is and lots of shopping. We found an internet café and tried to find a place to stay in Kobe. We couldn’t find anywhere, so we figured we would worry about it when we got there. We decided to go to Friday’s for lunch. They spoke great English and the food was fantastic! Then, we got back on the subway and ended up in Shibuya and Harajuku. We did a little shopping and just walked around. Because of the holiday weekend it was EXTREMELY crowded it was ridiculous trying to walk, and then having to walk on the left. Then, we got back on the subway and made our way back to Tokyo station. We arrived there and couldn’t find the bathroom for the life of us. Finally we found it and then decided we would head for our train. Well we couldn’t figure out what track we were on so we went back to the ticket office and got directions. We made it through the gate and then couldn’t figure out how to find the track and man and his wife came up to us and helped us find our way. We got some snacks for the ride and got on our train for our 3 hrs ride to Kobe. I took a nap for awhile but was in an out of sleeping. We arrived in Kobe at 10:20pm and we were in hopes of asking the information desk where to stay. Well the information desk was closed so we just stood there wondering what to do. A man came up to us and asked us if we needed help. We said yeah we need somewhere to stay so he told us that he would show us where to go. He literally walked us all the way downtown and tried two different hotels in order to find us a place to stay all were booked because of the holiday. We ran into some other SAS students who were also looking for a place. He took us even further into the downtown area to a hotel that has capsules. That is where he left us and we all thanked him for his help. Capsule Hotels are literally the smallest things in the world. Honestly you need to just Google it to understand it. I couldn’t do it so we decided to wander around. Mom and Dad tried to help me find somewhere. Eventually we found an internet café and we had heard that you can stay in them overnight. So that’s what we did. We arrived at 12:40am and stayed until 6:00am. No sleep. I’ve never been on facebook that long in my life. I got to talk to a few of my friends and my family. I was so happpppy!

11/23/09

Well we left the internet café and made our way to the train station. We found a few LLC’s who were headed back to the ship and we bought tickets and got on the next train to the port terminal.  We waited a little while and saw the MV Explorer pulling in. it was the first time I had ever seen it from the other side, being on land rather than on the ship. It was also even more important that this was the last time the MV Explorer would be pulling into an International Port for our voyage. I took tons of pictures and the sun was rising, it was beautiful. We waited in line for a really long time about an hour before we could get on. Then, we finally boarded we dropped our stuff and went straight to breakfast. I was so exhausted so I ate and went right to bed. I woke up about 2:30pm and showered. I met up with my friend Katie and we decided to go out for the afternoon/night. We went to McDonald’s first because I didn’t eat lunch yet, well because I slept through it. So after that we wandered around shopping and my friend wanted to try Saki so she bought some at the store and said it wasn’t too good. We walked around some more and then stopped for coffee. It was really good. We pretty much just walked around for the rest of the night until we wanted to go back to the ship around 8pm. I unfortunately still had some change to spend so I had to walk around FOREVER trying to find something to spend it on. I eventually stopped and bought some snacks for the ship. Oh I almost forgot in the terminal I got a chocolate covered waffle. It was amazing! Then we got back on the train and headed back to the ship. We had some dinner on the 7^th deck and then watched part of a movie. Bed time now I’m still so tired.

11/24/09

Today, I woke up and went to breakfast at 830am. I met my group for my trip in the terminal. There were only 7 of us going so it was a real small group. The trip I was on was a YMCA visit to a kindergarten and a nursery school. We got into a small white van and traveled about a half an hour to the YMCA. On the way though there was a woman from a tourist agency who pointed out some of the things in Kobe that would be great to see if we had time. She also had photos of the ship from the day before printed for us to have, a map of Kobe, and a present that was wrapped up I ended up getting a magnet. It was extremely nice of her. We arrived at the YMCA and there were tons of kids running around playing. It was difficult to communicate with them but mostly it was high fives and handshakes. We also were shown the rooms in which children play inside; a group of girls were playing house, and tons of kids mixed ages playing games in the game room. We then were escorted back outside and all of the children were lined up. They did their morning exercise while we watched. It was really cool. We took pictures of them too. Then we all lined up in the front and told them where we were from and they repeated it. Then they asked us some questions; my favorite was why is our hair color all different. Many of us thought it was hysterical. After that we headed back to the van and they took us to another YMCA where we would see the younger children. We got there and had to walk a few blocks to the center. Then, we walked in took off our shoes and put on slippers provided by them. That is a big deal in Japan, taking off your shoes. There were small children having lunch, toddlers I’d say. They were adorable and some of them even waved to us. We went into the baby room and saw all the babies lying down for a nap. They all looked up at us smiled and waved. Then we headed upstairs where the 3, 4, and 5 year olds were. We sat in a room with them and asked a few questions then it was lunch time. Each one of us sat at a small table and had three or four Japanese children sitting with us. I had two 4 year olds and a 3 year old. As guests we were served our food first. The children would bring the food over to you and place in front of you. We were given chopsticks and a fork. I took my chances with the chopsticks. For lunch we had a piece of breaded salmon, apples, soup, and white rice. To drink we had some cold tea. For dessert there was Clementine and we all know how much I like fruit… not. So I didn’t want it, but apparently one of the teachers told a child at my table to bring me one so she did. I had to do eat it…. I actually liked it. Mom, maybe buy some of them when I get home? Haha I took a few pictures with them and then we had to leave to head back to the boat. We made a stop at the top of this hill in order to get a beautiful view of the city. It was amazing. I took tons of pictures. Also at the top of this hill as this structure that had tons and tons of locks on it. The tour guide told us that it’s actually done by two people who are in a relationship and every year at the end of the year they boil them down and make a star. They put into the ground surrounding the structure and put the year. The whole process starts again. After that we headed back to the ship. I was exhausted so I napped for the afternoon. I had dinner with my friends and then watched the rest of the movie from the night before. At about 845pm I heard some noise coming from outside. I realized that there was a band in the terminal playing music. I went outside and realized they were playing the music was we were leaving. It was really awesome and the music was fantastic. It was really sad to see my final international port go. Also, it became reality that it would be 10 days before I see land again. I cannot believe what I’ve seen these past three months. I can’t wait to look at my pictures and realize what’ve done.

Just wanted to add this in that in Japan when you use the toilet in public places they are actually heated, they play music that sounds like the flushing noise, and they will “clean” you if you push the one button. Japan is entirely too high-tech for me! Haha

11/25/09

Today, I woke up and realized its back to classes for 10 days! How exciting, nope. So I went to lunch with my friends and I have got to mention this new cook is fantastic. The food just keeps getting better and better. Then I had two classes in the afternoon; international law and sociology of marriage and the family. After my classes I relaxed until another life boat drill that occurred at 545pm. Dinner was delayed awhile so we went and stood in line. One of our dean’s had a birthday so we sang happy birthday and actually got birthday cake. There was spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. It was amazing!!! After dinner I watched the Holiday with my friends and started my note cards for Global Studies final. BEDTIME!

11/26/09

Today, I woke up and went to Global Studies. We had a panel discussion on Asian countries in the process of Globalization. There were 4 guest speakers that spoke about their beliefs of Asian countries and the role they play or will play in globalization. It was pretty interesting. I had lunch with my friends and then had 3 hours before my next class. I relaxed for a little and then did some work on Global Studies. After that I had Deviance and Social Control class which we talked about Alcoholism and whether it was a disease or not. It was an interesting class to say the least. After that I worked on Global Studies for awhile and then headed to dinner. As I mentioned in the beginning of my voyage we were able to sign up to have an extended family on board. Well unfortunately my “grandpa” became ill in India and was flown to Hong Kong and hospitalized for two days. After speaking with the ship Doctor he was told it was best if he flew home and not continue the voyage, so he departed the ship in Kobe, Japan. Therefore, I was unable to have thanksgiving dinner with my family. I did have dinner with one of my friends though and I did enjoy it. Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream. It wasn’t exactly like our usual Thanksgiving Feast, but it was definitely better than I had expected! I’m going to relax for the rest of the night and maybe work on some papers that are due soon.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! I love and miss all of you and cannot wait to see you. I’ll be home soon. Don’t miss me too much at dinner! Eat some chocolate crème pie for me, oh and those after eight mints!

I'll be in Hawaii in 10 days and then I'm headed to our final destination; SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA! I'm excited yet sad at the same time. I cannot believe it's been 3 months already.

PS. I cross the International Date Line on the 28th so I technically get two Nov. 28th's how exciting haha

I SLEPT ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!

11/11/09

This morning we arrived in HONG KONG! Which actually isn’t part of mainland China, I didn’t know this. I got up early as I do every port in order to see us pull into the harbor. It was beautiful and everywhere you turned were skyscrapers and odd shaped buildings. The weather was warm and a little humid. After I took my pictures of the port area and I got ready for my city orientation by the tour company doing our entire Great Wall trip. The end of gangway was connected to a GIANT mall, I’m talking like 7 floors and never ending sets stores and restaurants. It was ridiculous. We met the group and broke up into groups to board 3 buses to tour Hong Kong. The first place we stopped was at a monument of the Chinese national flower. It was really cool and skyline was in the background so we had great pictures. After that we headed lunch. About 10 of us fit a table and in front of us is a glass table that rotates in the middle. We were having Dim Sum for lunch which really means appetizers. There was a little bit of everything from assorted meats, dumplings, fruit, to jellyfish and white rice. It was delicious and there was just so much food. If there was anything we wanted more of they would bring it right to us. To drink I had a coca cola, but we were also served Chinese tea. There are varieties of different flavors, but this one was Jasmine. I didn’t try it. After lunch we headed to a temple which was filled with incense. I did have a little difficulty breathing, but I sucked it up and looked around inside. After that we boarded the buses and headed to Victoria’s Peak. This is the place at the top of a mountain where you can see the skyline of Hong Kong beautifully. We took the Tram up which gave us awesome views of the city too. At the top we were met by a 7 story mall and restaurants and bars as far as I could see. I was in unbelievable shock the amount of stuff at the top of this mountain. We only had a little time there and then we had to head to our next destination. I took some great pictures though. The next place we went was Hong Kong’s most popular beach. There beaches are different than ours, there is no sand it was like gravel. We spent a little bit there and then walked down to see the different sculptures and monuments. Apparently, a few of them were good luck if you rubbed them from head to toe or threw money in the mouth of one of the monuments. I liked it because it showed us some of the Chinese culture. After that we got back on the bus and went to the market. It was much like the markets that we had in Vietnam, Morocco, and Ghana. We got some gloves as the Great Wall was supposed to be cold. Then, we went back to the bus and headed back to the ship. It was really a packed day, but I’m so happy that we were able to get an orientation of the city as we leave tomorrow for Beijing. Upon returning I went back to my room to relax before the light show and my friends wandered to find dinner. I met them on deck 7 to watch the light show from the ship rather than going out into to the port area. The light show is the biggest in the world and all it is, is the buildings in the port area light up with spot lights, different colors and patterns, etc. it was really cool and it’s only a 14 minute show. After that I was hungry so I grabbed some food quick and then my friends wanted to use their laptops so I went with another one of my friends to find a bar. We found a restaurant and got a Chinese local beer called Tsingtao. It was really good. After that we decided to wander in the port area and found two more bars. One was called Amoeba on the 18^th floor of a huge building. We had a drink there and then went down to the 8^th floor and it was ladies night, ladies drink free. So we had a few cocktails and then headed to McDonald’s then bed. We had to meet at 9:30am to go to the airport. Hong Kong was a lot of fun, I just wish I had more time here!

11/12/09

Today, I woke up and got my stuff together for the airport. I met my group at 930am and we boarded our two buses to the airport. We were there so early so we had time to eat. I found Starbucks so I had an iced coffee and croissant I was in heaven. We talked for awhile then we made our way  to the plane. We took a train to a different section of the airport and took the escalator to the gate. We boarded about 30 minutes early and then had to wait to take off. With the amount of stuff the 70 of us brought it was difficult to find places to put things, all of the overhead compartments were filled. Eventually we took off although it was a little late. The flight wasn’t bad at all, about 3 hours and I watched some weird movie on the TV. We had to fill out paperwork for immigration as Beijing is a part of China and Hong Kong isn’t. On the paperwork it also stated that we would have our temperatures taken again. It was actually really cool because it was an infrared system that took our temperature.  As we were landing you could see the snow covering the ground and you could feel the cold creeping up on us. To be honest I was excited because I was getting sick of the heat. We got off the plan and thankfully none of us turned out to have a fever so we met our guides in the terminal and got on the buses to transfer to the hotel. That whole process took about an hour and a half.  Once we stepped outside I was so happy the cold was amazing. It reminded me of home quickly and how much I missed it. It also got me into the Thanksgiving and Christmas mood. We didn’t reach the hotel until late and were starving at this point. There wasn’t much of food around, so we ended up eating at some coffee shop. I had a burger and fries that was definitely different than anything I’ve had before. We went back to the hotel and I went to bed I was exhausted.

11/13/09

Today, we woke up and had breakfast downstairs at 8:00am. We had a lot to do today as tonight we would travel to the Great Wall. The original itinerary had different plans for us, but the tour company decided to switch it around because the weather was suppose to get really really cold. So we had about an hour and a half at the market to find what we needed. This market had EVERYTHING from north faces, to UGGS, to Nike and Adidas, to silk ties, to souvenirs, to jewelry, to shoes and sandals. It had at least 6 floors of different departments. It was intense. I tried to buy UGGS, but they didn’t have my size so I had to suffer with sneakers for the Great Wall. We were told we would come back on a different day so that we could do the rest of our shopping. After we did our shopping we had a tour of some places in Beijing. The first place had a crazy amount of steep stairs to climb, but it was worth it. There was a line of 25 drums and they weren’t small. They were gigantic! We took some pictures and trekked back down the stairs. I felt like I was going to fall on my face. After that we headed to a home stay lunch which is lunch with a local family. Our group was 25 and we somehow fit into this woman’s dining and living room. We were given free beer, soda, and water. She cooked an amazing meal for us. It consisted of white rice, soup, vegetable dishes, chicken, pork, etc. Again it was a never ending feast. After that we had a rickshaw ride around the town again. Our tour guide Tom explained to us the meaning of the different number of large jewel like objects that are on the front entrance of houses. He said the higher the number the higher the family is in social class. I found that really interesting. After that we took the rickshaw ride back to the bus and headed to the Great Wall. It was about a 2 hour ride so many of us took a long nap. We arrived just as the sun was setting so many of us ran up the icy mountain and stairs in order to see it. I had trouble breathing because of the cold, but I was able to watch the sunset. After that we had about a 20 minute walk in the cold back to the restaurant. We were frozen and many of us were contemplating whether sleeping on the Great Wall was a good idea or not. Dinner was amazing just as my previous meals have been. I filled up on white rice and lots of meats and vegetables. After that we had to change into our warm clothes and thank god my bus was all girls except for one boy. So we changed and took the bus to our last point which dropped us at the foot of a mountain. We grabbed our stuff and started hiking. It was literally a 40 minute incline, freezing temperatures, snow covered steps, ice everywhere in order to get to the top. We finally reached it and then we were told our watch tower was over there. Well it was about 8pm and then sun had gone down already so we were using flashlights that you had to power up yourself. We walked slowly and easily down the ice and snow covered stairs up and down up and down until we finally found our watch tower. It took us over 40 minutes to get there and finally we had made it. We were given two sleeping bags and two mats to sleep on. We also had unlimited water, beer, soda, food such as nuts, crackers, cookies, breakfast food, and Nescafe for the morning. My friend Kate and I sat outside under the stars drinking a beer and watching the sky for shooting stars. I saw about 5 and it was amazing, the whole idea of being up there was unreal. It started getting colder so I decided to climb into my sleeping bag and attempt to sleep.

11/14/09

Well, there was a draft all night coming from the window and I was on the end so therefore I had a little amount of sleep and froze practically all night. Our guide woke us up about 6:15 in order to see the sunrise. I didn’t want to move I was so cold. I was able to get myself out of my sleeping bag and motivate myself to go outside. The sunrise was beautiful and the view was amazing, there was snow covered mountains as far as I could see and the great wall extended beyond the horizon. It was amazing and I couldn’t believe I was actually there. Then we all happened to look over to where we had come from last night. I can honestly say I have no idea how we made it down that stretch of the wall last night, it was a complete straight drop. And then we come to find out we have to walk that way in order to get back to our bus. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, it was suppose a 6k hike back to the bus. Our guide told us it would take 3 and a half hours to complete. We were all frozen and wanted to get it done with so we started moving quickly. We were the first group of about 10 to start going. We were going up and down, big steps, small steps, no steps, ice, snow, water, slush, you name it we  experienced it. We took tons of pictures along the way and then we could see the bridge and the final watch tower. We realized we had just hiked it under 1 and a half hours. It was crazy! We made our way around to the bridge we had to cross and finally one last set of intense steps and we were there. It was an amazing night/morning and as we took those final steps we knew it was over. We had just done something that majority of the people in the United States never get to do. We had a bit of time to sit down and relax to let the rest of the group catch up. I really just couldn’t believe that I just accomplished Sleeping and Climbing on the Great Wall of China. We had a choice of either hiking down or taking the zipline for like $6 USD so of course I chose zipline. It was soooo much fun because my friend and I went together. It took you over the river and down to a little bridge. There was a boat that comes and takes you to the other side. It was awesome. We walked around for a little then got warm and had lunch. Same style as the rest of the meals we were eating and it was delicious. We boarded the buses and we were headed back to Beijing to the hotel. We had the option of the bus taking us to the market again so we got ready in about 10 minutes and were back out the door to get on the bus. We went to the market and I got a lot of things that I needed. I also had dinner at O’Brien’s Irish Restaurant. I had some kind of ham and cheese melt that was delicious and my friend Kelsey had a triple decker bacon cheese sandwich. As for dessert we split tiramisu and a muffin. We were stuffed so we took the bus back to the hotel and relaxed. We watched TV and just hung out for the rest of the night. We did have the option of going to an Acrobat show which I would have liked, but I had shopping I needed to do so I skipped out. I passed out at about 11pm.

11/15/09

Today we had to be downstairs the same time we always do 8:15. So, I had breakfast and waited in the lobby to get on the buses. We were all still exhausted and had wind burn that none of us wanted to back out into that cold. However, we sucked it up and started our trek to the bus. About 5 minutes later we found out that we were walking to the Forbidden City. We had a tour of the whole city and it was beautiful. The buildings and designs were really interesting. The artwork on some of the buildings was unbelievable. We spent a good portion of our time following our tour guide through the entire city. After that we walked through Tiananmen Square and met our buses. We headed to lunch at another local restaurant. Same idea as the last, but this meal was the best. There was a sweet and sour chicken, rice paper to make your own spring roll, we had peking duck, white rice, vegetables, etc. In the afternoon we went to the Summer Palace and did another walking tour through there. The view looking over the frozen lake was awesome. I have tons of pictures. After that we went to see the Olympic Venues. Unfortunately we were constricted with time so we ran as fast as we could from the bus stop to the venues. I got pictures of the Bird’s Nest, the Cube, etc. I was so excited to be there and I wish we had more time. Then, we left there and went to a tea ceremony. They taught us how to make the tea, drink the tea, and we taste tested at least 4 different kinds. It was a lot of fun. After that some people wanted to go to a Kung Fu show and I had originally signed up but we were running too late that I didn’t want to waste my money. We ran to get dinner at Pizza Hut instead and then we transferred to the train station for our overnight train. We did have time to relax for awhile there and then boarded the train at 8:45pm. This was immaculate compared to the train in India. There were four beds,  a table, a door that locks, heat, 2 pillows and a down comforter for each of us, a personal  TV built into the wall, lights, headphones, etc. Oh and the best of it all, there was a WESTERN style toilet!!!!! There were a few of us that did the India train and this one so tears of joy were practically running down our faces. We left at 930 and arrived in Shanghai at 7:45am the next morning!

11/16/09

HAPPY BIRTHDAYYY MOMMMYYYYY!!!!! I MISSS YOUUUU!!!!!

Today, we woke up a little before 7am and got our stuff together because we weren’t exactly sure when we had to get off. The train got to Shanghai about 7:45am then we headed to the bus to transfer back to the ship. My friends and I decided if the line is toooo long than we would just go find something to eat. Well unfortunately it looked like nothing was in the port area and we all were going to have to run to get in line. The rain was still pouring and we were already freezing. Somehow we made it to the front of the line and only had to stand in the rain maybe about 10 minutes. We handed in our passports and made our way back inside the ship after security checked us. We were told we would have to wait an hour and a half for paperwork to go through so that we could get back off the ship. I ran to my room dropped my bags, got changed, read my cards from my family, and then met with my friends. It was a little before 11am that we were able to leave the ship. We took a taxi to Najing Road which was supposed to be big for shopping. We were starving so we found a restaurant in one of the shopping malls and got a bunch of appetizers.  Then, I spotted DUNKIN DONUTS!!!!!!!! I was in absolute heaven and we headed down there for some donuts and coffee. I got two donuts that were definitely different than the US. It was some kind of mocha donut. They were both delicious and I had a mocha iced latte which was fantastic! I was literally the happiest person on earth. After that we headed to another market for shopping. We sat down in a tea shop and the women let us try 5 different kinds of tea, we were there about an hour doing this by the way. Some of us bought tea and then we did a little more shopping before we decided we needed to head back to the ship as we were leaving tonight. Mind you that it has been down pouring all day since we had arrived this morning. So were cold, tired, and wet and in search of a taxi. That was impossible to find to begin with and once we would flag one down they had no idea where our ship was. We walked and walked and walked. We tried 5 different taxis to get us home. Our map fell into a puddle it was in 3 pieces, no taxi driver knew where our port is, and that paper was beginning to bleed through. Eventually we found one that knew where he was going, but we didn’t have more than 12 RMB to get back and  we weren’t sure if we were further away it would cost too much more. We had the taxi driver drop us off blocks from the ship once we knew where we were. It was a disaster. We finally got back to the ship and see that a trip is just getting back. Well apparently they were all standing on the bus and cut us in line because they didn’t want to get wet. So about another 20 minutes in the rain before we could get on board to find out……. We weren’t leaving until the next morning due to rough seas and on ship time isn’t until tomorrow. We rushed for nothing. We laughed about it, but it was just so frustrating! I had dinner on the ship with my friends and finally found my other friends that I had not seen in 5 days. We all decided to go out for a few drinks, but didn’t really know where we were going. It was raining, but not as hard as it was earlier so we decided to walk around. We tried walking over a bridge that gave us a dead end, and about 40 minutes of walking we found a bar called Bund 30. So, we went inside and we were the only ones there we had some beers and food and stayed there for about 2 hrs. We were the only ones in the place so of course it was awkward. They all just starred us the entire time. It was fun though to catch up with Katie and Erin on the past few days being in China. After we finished our drinks we walked back to the ship and went to bed.

11/17/09

Today, I decided to sleep in instead of getting off the ship. I had done all of my shopping and had no money left to venture around. I had lunch with my friends, which was difficult going back to ship food. Oh well, it wasn’t too bad a deli sandwich, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, and brownies. I’ve spent all day just putting pictures on my computer, and relaxing. We left Shanghai about 2pm and were on our way to Japan. The weather outside is foggy and cold, so it makes me want to just lie down and watch movies all day. I hope that at some point I can be productive with my school work. I really enjoyed China and the independent trip that I did. It was definitely worth it. The food in China was amazing and everything was so cheap. I had a great time and I can say I’ve hiked and slept on the GREAT WALL!!!! I’ll be in Japan on Friday! Some of the things I am doing are Mt. Fuji and Hakone, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. I’m traveling independently with one of my friends so it should be an interesting experience. We don’t have any really set things we want to see and we just want to travel through the cities. I’m excited! I just wanted to tell everyone that I will be home in 30 days. I’m sad to see this trip come to an end, but it brings me that much closer to all of you. I am so close to say that I’ve been around the world. Love and Miss all of you!!!!!!!

Vietnam... amazing! Now.. HONG KONG & CHINA!

11/03/09

Today as I mentioned previously we got to Vietnam today. I had lunch with my friends and then got off the ship and took the shuttle to the Rex Hotel. I had a map and used it to find the Ben Than Market that was supposed to be nearest place to do some shopping. Ho Chi Minh City was much more developed than I thought it would be. I had pictured India in my head and what I encountered there, but definitely was wrong. There were large buildings, restaurants, markets, stores everywhere. It was the first country in a while that they drove on the right side of the road. It definitely was a bit weird. We arrived at the market after a couple blocks and were amazed at what we saw. It was a warehouse with an indoor market and things as far as you could see. The aisles were extremely small and left and right where Vietnamese women grabbing out you to buy their products. It did get uncomfortable to an extent, but we were able to handle it. The market did get extremely hot quickly and sweat was just pouring off of us. It was quite disgusting actually haha. After navigating circles and circles around the market I did end up buying a north face backpack and some t-shirts. We walked our way back toward the Rex Hotel and found an indoor shopping mall. It was about 5 different floors and we found some things we were looking for. There was a grocery store so I did stock up on some food. After the mall we went back to the hotel to take the shuttle back to the ship. We met up with Kirstin and decided to head out for dinner. We ended up seeing Erin on the bus so the four of us were in search for dinner. We ended up back at the market and went to a restaurant called Pho 24. Pho is Vietnamese food of choice. It’s a soup with noodles and chicken it was amazing. It also came with spring rolls which are AMAZING. I had a soda and ordered a beer. One beer that is Vietnamese is called Tiger, and I particularly enjoyed it. After we finished eating we walked around the night market where many stores and shops open up. There are food vendors everywhere and the indoor market closes. On the way back to the shuttle my friends stopped to get dresses made, but I had an early trip in the morning so I headed back to the ship. I have to be up and downstairs by 3:45am to leave for my trip to Nha Trang. GOODNIGHT!

11/04/09

Today I woke up at 3:15am and got my stuff together for my trip. I was exhausted after not much sleep I felt like a zombie walking to breakfast. We checked in with our trip leader Karen and ate breakfast. It was a rough start to the morning some people were coming in from the night and some even forgot their passport. So, we were finally on our way to the airport which was about a half hour away. We checked in and went through security. We waited a little while before boarding the flight and by 6am we were all set to go. Just as I was falling asleep the pilot came over the speakers with the announcement “prepare for landing.” That was a 40 minute flight and felt like the biggest waste of time. We arrived at approximately 7am and were met by our guide in the terminal his name was Liam. He took us around for our city orientation. The first place we stopped at was a giant white Buddha. We climbed 152 steps to the top and it was an amazing view. After we finished our tour around the Buddha we headed toward our second stop a Pagoda. However, before reaching the Pagoda we had the option of walking across the bridge. Majority of us walked and it was really a beautiful view. The water was brown due to the typhoon and the current had picked up a lot. The boats were lined up in the water and the little islands of homes stood out. We walked over to the Pagoda and climbed to the top of platform. The architecture was amazing. I cannot wait to show you all pictures. We were able to see where we had just come from as the Pagoda was overlooking the river. The last place we visited before lunch was an area along the water that had unique rocks. We all had to climb out to the middle of the rocks in order to see it. There was this massive rock that was wedged between two other rock structures and it was amazing to see how it was hanging in the air. We moved out further and climbed more of the rocks. The view was awesome and then it started raining, so we all rushed back to land. It was hard to maneuver our way through the rocks and because it was wet made it 10x more difficult. After we finished the tour there we headed to lunch. It was at a restaurant that was overlooking the river on top of the mountain it was awesome. We were the only people in the restaurant and the table was set up for all of us. Liam taught us to do CHEERS with every meal so we would count 1,2,3 in Vietnamese and then say YO = Cheers! It was a lot of fun. We had tons of food it was like a 7 course meal. We had shrimp, squid fried balls, rice, vegetables, soup, and lastly ostrich! YES I ate ostrich, and I highly recommend it! Everything was really great and I loved the seafood. After lunch we went to the aquarium. It was really net I saw tons of different animals I felt like a little kid again. There were tons of DORY’s they are so cool! Giant sea turtles,  sea stars, fish, sharks, etc. After we finished the aquarium we headed back to the hotel. We had 3 hours free time so majority of us took naps and showered. Dinner was at 7pm at a hotel not too far from our hotel. Again it was seafood, but I was excited. We sat outside on the patio in the back at a long table. The menu was a little strange and I definitely tried some new things. I had the usual shrimp, veges, soup, rice, etc. But, I did try JELLYFISH. I do not recommend trying that as I think I ate it raw. After dinner watched a cultural show in the lobby and headed back to the hotel. We decided to go to the Karaoke bar in the hotel. We packed a bunch of us in this small room with a couch, table, chairs, private bathroom, and refrigerator. Everyone was singing and having a great time, we spent a few hours in there. Eventually we were kicked out because it was getting late so we all went to bed.

11/05/09

Today I woke up at 8am and went down to the restaurant to have breakfast. I had some good bacon and croissants! Then we made our way to the bus for our day boat trip. We all boarded and were on our way to god knows where. It was quite choppy because of the storm that just passed through so after about 45 minutes we found calm waters for swimming. Many people jumped off the roof of the boat and went swimming or stayed on the boat for massages that Vietnamese women were giving. I decided to just hang out and keep tabs on the Yankee game! CONGRATULATIONS YANKEEEESSSSS 2009 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!! I did get the news in the middle of the river on a boat in Vietnam. I was able to celebrate and lunch and at the bars later. Our guide was nuts and was jumping off the roof of the boat with the Vietnamese flag on a pole. He was intense! After awhile we headed to lunch and seafood again. It wasn’t that good unfortunately and we had our guide place a call to make dinner chicken and beef. After lunch we went to another area and swam for a little while then headed back to the hotel. I took a nap and got ready for dinner.  We walked to dinner which was just a few blocks from the hotel. It was on the 2^nd floor of a restaurant that we had all to ourselves. It was amazing – fried chicken, spring rolls, lots of rice, soup, etc. After that we all headed to a bar called Why Not Bar? And we ordered a large drink that 10 of us split. After we finished that we went to a bar on the beach and headed back to the hotel.

11/06/09

Today I woke up and headed down for breakfast. My friends were already ready to go out so I grabbed my stuff and headed to a tour agency to find something to do on our free day. We ended up booking a trip to the villages and to a waterfall. Our guide bought candy for the children we would see along the way. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get to the villages as the roads were blocked due to flooding. The countryside was beautiful and I loved it. I felt like I was able to see the real parts of Vietnam. We finally reached some of the villages and were able to stop and hand out the candy to tons of children. We even took pictures and showed them on the digital cameras. Their faces just lighted up. We walked down the road and saw rice plantations and a woman loading a bike with bananas weighing 10x her weight to drive to town. Our guide told us about the communities and how the government helps them out by building them homes. The ages of the children were much higher than any of us imagined. They all looked so small. After that we headed to the waterfalls. They were beautiful and we were able to climb to the top. I took tons of pictures too. It was difficult to get back down so the guide had to help me and one of my friends, but we did make it without falling. We wandered around the park and saw some black bears and different plants. Then, we made our way back to Nha Trang. We got lunch at restaurant that had western cuisine on top of Vietnamese. I got French fries, spring rolls, and fried chicken. It was really pretty good. French fries definitely made my day. We went back to the hotel and met our group to transfer to the airport. We waited about 45 minutes and boarded the flight. However, the airport wasn’t air conditioned so it was scorching. The flight back didn’t take too long only about a half an hour. Then, we transferred back to the ship. I had dinner and decided to call it a night.

11/07/09

Today I slept in until about 11am which was exactly what I needed. I showered and met my friends to go out for our last day in Vietnam. We had lunch at Pho 24 again and it was even better the 2^nd time. We had some shopping to do so that’s what we did all afternoon. We went back to the market and I got some more stuff that I needed. After the market we stopped at a dress shop so my friend could get a dress for the ambassador’s ball. Then, we took a taxi back to the ship to ship to be back in time for the BBQ. It was good, not as good as usual, but good enough for ship food. We talked for awhile and then I relaxed for the night. We leave Vietnam 6am tomorrow morning. I’m sad to see it go and really hope to come back one day. I enjoyed my time here and don’t think there was nearly enough time to see everything that I wanted.

11/08/09

This morning I relaxed as it was a reading day no classes. We did get a notice over the PA system that there was a slight issue in the engine room, but everything turned out to be fine. I got my friends for lunch and then went outside and relaxed. I did get some sunburn. I filled out my independent travel forms for Japan so I can travel to Tokyo and Osaka. In the afternoon I went to the Women’s Leadership Forum which was really interesting and helpful. It was a panel of female faculty who have been leaders at some point in their lives and gave advice on how to help women succeed. We had dinner on deck 7 and then relaxed for awhile. I got some work done and I cannot believe China is in 3 days!!!

11/09/09

Today I slept in a little bit and sat outside for lunch on deck 6. I had International Law today and it went well. Sociology of Marriage and the Family was good too I handed in my last brief so I’m done with those.  After class I finished my final paper for Sociology of Marriage so I’m done with papers for that class completely. I had dinner on deck 7 again because dinner was awful downstairs. I did go to a meeting that a former FBI agent had held. It was about his experience in the international system with the FBI and working with foreign governments. It was amazing and I hope to be able to talk to him. Then, I had a required panel discussion on China for Global Studies. It was boring as usual. Then I watched 500 days of summer and wasn’t really a fan. Now, I’m going to bed.

11/10/09

Today, I woke up and went global studies. It was all about economics and difficult to pay attention. I relaxed after class and then had lunch with my friends. I sat outside for awhile because it was really nice and got more sunburn. I figured I needed to catch up on it as China is going to be freezing. I went to my Deviance and Social Control Class and that was interesting today’s debate was on decriminalization of drugs. It got heated as usual. Then, I relaxed this afternoon and had dinner with my friends upstairs. I did attend a meeting before dinner for Japan and got a lot of insight on what to do. It was also required my China to have our temperature recorded because of Swine Flu. I was not running a fever so I won’t have an issue in China. We had logistical preport tonight and tomorrow we are in HONG KONG! The things I am doing in China is an independent trip to Beijing. There are about 70 of us going and it should be tons of fun. I will be sleeping on the great wall of China, hiking the great wall, visiting the forbidden city, Tiananmen square, and the Olympic venues to name a few. I’m really excited can’t wait to get there. Although, it’s sad were coming to the end China and Japan are my last two countries. It’s really starting to hit me. I’m going to start feeling the homestretch soon. I’m going to relax and rest for the night. I have to prepare myself for the 22 degrees in Beijing when I have to sleep outside. Wish me Luck!!!

HAPPPPPY FIRST BIRTDAYYY LOLLAA!!!!!

Good Morning VIETNAM!

10/31/09

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Today I had Global Studies and it was boring as anything. I don’t know how many times were going to have guest lecturers talk about economics. It’s never easy to understand either. I had lunch with my friend Erin on deck 6. After lunch I got all of my materials together to write my 5 page paper for international law. That as a whole lot of fun… nope. So I spent about 2 and a half hours writing this paper in deck 5 dining hall. The question was is international law a part of domestic law and how it implemented? it was kind of broad question from all that we’ve been learning, but I think I answered it pretty well. I had Deviance and Social Control in the afternoon and we talked about extramarital relationships as deviant behavior. We watched a movie about swinging couples and then had a big discussion. After class I went back to my room and wrote the conclusion to my paper so that I was finally done with it. The Harry Potter movies have been on the TV so I’ve been watching those in the afternoon too. Tonight was the Halloween Dance. I’m not a fan of Halloween so I chose not to go. It seemed like a lot of people did enjoy themselves though. I chose to watch Good Morning Vietnam and eat some candy instead.

11/01/09

Today I had International Law and Sociology of Marriage and family. I handed in my paper for International Law, I was so happy to be done with it. We talked about Law of the Sea in class today. It was actually really interesting learning about the different zones and about of miles off the coast countries really have control over. I had my next class right after that and we discussed the book we’ve been reading called Promises I can Keep: Why poor women put motherhood before marriage. It’s actually about Camden, NJ and Philadelphia, PA. The book is based off mother’s interviews in these poor areas and how they feel about motherhood, marriage, their lives, their dreams. I really enjoy it because you can get an idea what is the mindset of these women, many who are teenagers. After class I went and signed up for Ambassador’s Ball which takes place 2 days before arriving in San Diego. It’s a fancy dinner and dance that celebrates the voyage and is the beginning of the commencement process. I have a table seating at 8:00pm and I am sitting with 5 of my friends. It should be a lot of fun. I had dinner and did some little things before pre-port. Oh I forgot I haven’t mentioned lately, I’ll be in VIETNAM in two days!!!!!! So we had cultural pre-port tonight as always. It was really good we had our interport student help us out a lot with information such as places to go, eat, bars, shopping, etc. I had to leave early because I was watching a movie in one of the classrooms. I set up to watch HOCUS POCUS! A few of my friends came too and we ate candy and watched the movie. I’m exhausted so I’m going to bed.

11/02/09

Today I woke up and went to Global Studies with the mindset of… oh a another boring day of class. I was wrong we actually had a professor who gave a presentation on the Vietnam War. We had a student panel and then a faculty panel. We learned the history of the Vietnam and about the war. The basis of the presentation though was to explain the aftermath and how people are dealing with it. The three professors explained their story behind the war and the students explained their feelings. It really was a much more relaxed class and I learned a lot more about Vietnam and its history. I had lunch with my friends and read a little bit more for class. In Deviance and Social Control the topic of the day was transgender. We watched video clips of Oprah on the topic and then had an open discussion about it. It was an interesting class to say the least. I had dinner on 7^th deck with my two friends because regular dinner sucked. I had two hotdogs that were amazing! I haven’t had a hotdog on the ship before, and now I’ve realized I’ve been missing out. We played scattergories for a little while then headed to logistical pre-port. After logistical preport and a lesson on how to cross the road I went to play Pictionary for awhile. Oh the lesson how to cross the road is: JUST WALK AND KEEP WALKING, DO NOT STOP THEY WILL AVOID YOU. I am a little nervous to cross the street in Vietnam, I’ll be sure to take pictures though! After Pictionary I checked my email and printed some info about Vietnam and where to get NORTH FACE from my mom. Thanks MOM! I am now exhausted and going to bed. VIETNAM IN THE MORNING!

11/03/09

Today I woke up and went to breakfast so that I could see the beautiful view of the ship traveling up the river. It is an amazing view and we are dodging small ships, large ships, every direction. It will take us 3 hours to get up the river to the port so, we’ll be arriving at 11am. I don’t have anything really planned for today except shopping and more shopping. I am on a mission to find a north face! Other than that I have to pack for my 3 day trip and sleep. As for the things I am doing in Vietnam there is only one; Nha Trang. Google it! It’s much like a beach resort kind of deal. We go sightseeing tomorrow and then the next day we take a boat ride and have a seafood lunch and then the 3^rd day we have it free to ourselves. I do have to be up at 3:15am tomorrow and be ready to go, so I’ll be sleeping early tonight. I’m going to get ready and prepare myself for Vietnam haha. Miss and Love all of you!!!

Taj Mahal, Varanasi, Independent trip = SUCCESS

10/23/09

I finished packing and met my group at 1:15pm on 5^th floor by the Field Office. I was a little nervous about what was just outside the doors of the ship… India. I was really excited about my Independent trip, but still had some feeling of uneasiness. Once we walked outside we showed our papers to the guards and were on our way. Since our trip wasn’t an SAS trip we had to walk all the way to the gate to get on our bus. So the 30 of us trekked to the gate sweating like you wouldn’t believe, got our papers checked again and saw the bus 20 feet ahead of us. We got on the bus and there was no air conditioning on, so we waited a few minutes to see if they would turn it on. Nope, so we literally sat there for 20 minutes with sweat dripping off of us until the bus driver came back from LUCNH! This is when many of us realized what an adventure these next few days were going to be. Finally, we were on our way and I noticed we were going in a circle and then pulled over. A shop keeper got on the bus and tried to sell us stuff. Our leader Barbara had to explain we just want to get to the airport, so finally the guide understood and we were on our way.  We arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before our flight. We navigated our way around and then finally found the ticket counter and got our tickets. We put the tags on our bags and went through security.  We waited about 1 hour and then they called for boarding. We had our tickets checked again then boarded a bus that took us to our plane. We got off the bus and had our tickets checked again and finally boarded. I didn’t know who was sitting next to me and as more and more SAS kids took the seats around me I was getting nervous. I ended up sitting between two Indians. I actually had conversations with both of them about SAS and what we were doing in India. They both told me good luck. We had lunch on the plane and I was a little nervous because I didn’t know what I was eating. I ate some vegetarian curried meal that was EXTREMELY spicy. I also had some chocolate cake that was amazing. We had a two and a half hour flight so I watched Night at the Museum 2. This plane was pretty cool the TV screen was on the back of the headrest in front of you. We arrived at the airport in Delhi around 8pm and we were greeted by our tour guide. He took us to our bus which was a short walk from the front of the terminal. We were given leis and a warm welcome to Delhi. It was really awesome. Then we boarded the bus and did a little sightseeing around Delhi. We saw the president’s house, and other government buildings. After that we had dinner at a local hotel. Our dinner consisted of chicken, rice, potatoes, curry (I skipped it), bread, and dessert was a donut like shape with honey on it. Everything was absolutely delicious. Oh and of course I had a beer, it’s called Kingfisher and it was really good. By the time we finished dinner it was around 11:30pm so we headed to the hotel. We pulled up in front of a string of hotels and were told to get off and walk with the guide to check in. So, we walked and passed a few hotels covered in what looked like Christmas lights I wasn’t too sure which one would have been our best bet. We ended up in the hotel with blue stringing lights hanging down from the building. They collected our shore passes and escorted us to our rooms. They turned on the air conditioning which was blowing practically hot air at me and left the room. We decided to scope out the rest of the room. Two twin beds, a bathroom with a toilet, a desk, some furniture, seems nice right? Well, the beds didn’t have bed spreads, the tub shaped object didn’t have a shower curtain, the hot water heater plug was just dangling and the towels looked like they were from 1912. We all know how much I sweat so of course I try to fix the air conditioning to turbo and I end up with the handle in my hand. We tried everything to get it to work, but we just decided to turn off the lights and the overhead fan and suffer. It was our first hotel experience in India and it was funny to say the least. Oh and we had to be up at 430am because we had to meet our guide to transfer to the train station. We didn’t get to bed until after 12.

10/24/09

Today I had a wakeup call from the front desk and expected to hear a voice. NOPE! All I hear is annoying buzzing sound in my ear, exactly what I wanted at 430am. So, miserable I got out of bed and started to get ready. We went downstairs after packing up all our stuff and checked out. We were told to go to the roof top for breakfast. So we took the elevator to the 3^rd floor because apparently that’s as high as you could go and then walk up another flight to the roof. Literally we were outside eating a piece of dry toast. After eating quickly I ran downstairs and jumped on the bus to get to the train station. We got to the train station and waited only a little bit before boarding. We were exhausted and many of us slept. I wasn’t too tired, more excited than anything. We had “breakfast” on the train which consisted of tea and a cracker, how appetizing! After about a 2 hour train ride we arrived at 8:15am in Agra. We were met by our new tour guide who took us to the bus. We had a 45 minute ride to a palace called Fatehpur Sikri-a perfectly preserved red sandstone “ghost town” which was the estranged capital of mughal emperor Akbar, built in 1569 and deserted when its water supply failed. It was a beautiful place. The architecture was awesome. Some of the specific designs that went into the making of the town were unbelievable. I cannot wait to show pictures to everyone!. We left there and headed to lunch at the Taj Mahal restaurant which seemed to be a chain of Indian cuisine. It was a buffet style so I had some more bread of course, rice, and vegetables with pasta. After lunch we went to Agra Fort. It was so crowded trying to get in and I hadn’t mentioned this before, but the beggars and people selling stuff are everywhere. Sometimes they would listen and just walk away and others would follow you around making it uncomfortable. Eventually, we dodged most of them and made it to the entrance. But, before you enter if you looked to your right you could see the Taj Mahal off in the distance. We knew we were so close yet so far away. So we had a long tour of the fort which was really cool. There were monkeys everywhere hanging from the buildings. Inside was buildings after buildings with you unique designs even better than the first place we went. I couldn’t believe how articulate some of the structures and designs were. We eventually made up to the top right portion of the fort where we had a CLEAR view of the Taj Mahal. We took tons of pictures and then our guide asked us if we were ready to see the real thing. We obviously told him how excited we were and left the fort to go to the Taj Mahal. We arrived outside the reception area where we were given white booties to put over our shoes if we wanted to walk in or on the marble of the Taj Mahal and a bottle of water. We took an oversized golf cart half the distance to the front gate and then walked the rest. once inside we had to wait for our tour guide. The suspense was killing majority of us because we knew what was on the other side of the large stone entrance. We finally made our way with our cameras out and ready to film. It was absolutely beautiful, I cannot even begin to explain how we all felt seeing it right there in front of us. I snapped pictures and videos and couldn’t help but smile. I couldn’t believe I was standing there in front of the Taj Mahal with about what looked like a million other people. We were all amazed. We made our way toward it when a photographer stopped us and asked if we wanted pictures done. We had solo pictures done and also one group picture and if we liked them we could buy them right before we leave. We were given an hour on our own to explore, and needless to say it was not enough time. I kept taking pictures as I got closer and closer. I finally made it to the stairs and put on my booties and walked up to the platform. It was extremely crowded everywhere and the stairs were practically impossible to climb. It took a few minutes and finally I was standing right there on the marble, looking at the Taj about 10 feet from me. The sun was setting and it was just beautiful. Unfortunately, the line was toooo long to be able to see the inside but I did touch it and took pictures sitting on the outside of it. By that time we had to head back to our guide at the other end. We made our way back and then left to go have dinner. We had dinner at the same restaurant that we had lunch and it was good. I had practically the same stuff and some tomato soup too. After dinner it was now time to transfer to our OVERNIGHT train. Yes, that’s right I took an overnight train in India, to Varanasi our next destination. Our train was to leave at 9:10pm and arrive the next morning at 8:40am. We saw the train pull in and saw 2^nd class which was filled with people just squished everywhere with no room to move and no air conditioning. We all hoped that 1^st class would be much better. So we held our breath practically, and began boarding. All you could hear was  oh my god from the few people ahead of me. I was afraid to look and then once on board your mouth dropped and you couldn’t hold back from laughing. The walkway was no wider than two feet, there were six beds to a compartment (two of which fold up), one fan, one light, two beds across the hall, a blanket, a pillow, and two sheets. No door, no curtain, no lock, no privacy, no real bathroom just a hole in the floor. Once we got on there were people everywhere it was impossible to move and there were people in our beds it was crazy to say the least. Eventually we all got situated and did nothing but laugh for an entire hour. I paid for the experience didn’t I? we all thought what the hell have we got ourselves into. We were all so tired from the lack of sleep the night before majority of us tried to just pass out. I ended up having an allergy attack and couldn’t sleep very well, not to mention the fact that the beds felt like I was sleeping on ply wood which was probably less than 2 feet wide. Eventually I fell asleep or well somewhat.

10/25/09

Today I had woken up several times because of a man walking up and down the aisles about 6am yelling CHAI tea CHAI coffee. It was annoying as all hell, but I dealt with it. Eventually we all woke up and got our stuff together so that we could get off the train. It was after 9 and we still weren’t there yet. Finally we asked the Germans that were staying next to us and said we have over a 2 hour delay and we won’t be arriving until about 11am. We all took of our shoes and went back to sleep. Finally we arrived at 11am and found our tour guide who took us to the bus. We were still in our pajamas and wanted a shower bad. So, he took us to the hotel and told us 30 minutes to shower. So we got into the room as quick as possible and started to get ready. This hotel was like 7 stars compared to what we had stayed in the past two nights. It had a large bed, dining table and chairs, living room set, a desk, a shower and closets. It was amazing. After we were done getting ready we headed downstairs to meet our group for lunch. We went to a place called BROWNIE’S. The first thing that they gave us was some sort of white substance in a glass. It looked disgusting and something that Dr. Dave would definitely not approve of. So, none of us drank it. For lunch we had rice, an orange gravy sauce that tasted like beef gravy, vegetables, and some bread. After we finished lunch we went to an Archaeological museum. All of the artifacts were discovered in 1905 in a site just across from the museum. Some of the items dated back centuries ago, it was really neat. We left there and went over to the site where all of it was found. It is also the site where Buddha gave his first speech. And then we went to a temple and the tree of enlightenment which was where he was enlightened. Upon finishing the visit of these two places we headed to the silk factory. We actually watched them make silk items such as scarves, table cloths, etc. it was really neat. After some people purchasing some of their products we got back on the bus and headed to the Ganges River for the ceremony. This was the point in which we had our Rickshaw ride. A rickshaw ride consists of a man on a bicycle with a small carriage attached for two people to sit. It was probably one of my favorite parts of this trip. They just weave in and out of traffic whether it be cars, crowds of people, or motorcycles or actually even COWS. Cows roam the street freely and are everywhere you go. It’s ridiculous and just wanted to inform you that cows are sacred. It was soooo much fun. The streets were extremely crowded because of everyone heading to the Ganges River for the ceremony. Don’t get me wrong the streets of India are crowded all the time, but especially at this time of the night. The dirt, the dust, the pollution was really killing my allergies this whole time and I was having a difficult time breathing. We eventually reached the river and walked down to the ceremony. We went up to a balcony in order to see it sat down and had a soda. It was amazing just to watch it. I have tons of pictures from it too. The ceremony is for the people to give back to the river and to thank it for cleansing their souls. Let me back track a minute, in the morning which we will see tomorrow people gather at the river and cleanse their bodies and souls. It is a ritual that is done and a part of the people of Varanasi. At night is when the ceremony happens to give thanks for this. After the ceremony ended we went to dinner at the hotel. It was pretty good and it was buffet style again so I chose what I wanted to eat. I had some soup, vegetables, rice, etc. We all hung out for a bit then went to the bars for a little then to bed because we had to be up early for the sunrise boat ride on the Ganges River.

10/26/09

Today I had a wakeup call at 435am went back to sleep until alarm my alarm at 5am. We met downstairs in lobby and made our way to the Ganges for the sunrise boat ride. Upon arriving there were tons of people worshipping in the river and the sun wasn’t even up yet. We got in a boat and made our journey down the Ganges. It was definitely a moving experience. There was a dead body floating down the river which caught majority of our attention. It was a little uncomfortable. We moved further down the river and the sun started coming up. It was a gorgeous red color that light up the sky. It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. I took tons of pictures. Down the river was a crematorium. This is where people bring those who have died to be cremated. By the edge of the river was a body wrapped in an orange sheet with the family standing around it. We weren’t allowed to take pictures because it’s insulting. We turned around and went back down the river the other direction. We were bombarded with people trying to sell us things which was annoying because many of us just wanted the experience of the river and the way of life early in the morning. Another crematorium was located at the other end of the river and there we actually saw a body. It was covered in sticks and lit on fire, but you could see the feet sticking out. It made me feel uneasy. We made our way back to where we started from and got off the boat. We headed back to the hotel and had breakfast. We were given the option of hanging out for the next 3 hours or going to see a classical Varanasi dance. We still had an hour to relax in between if we chose the dancing, so that’s what I did. I was able to watch the end of the Yankees game that brought them to the WORLD SERIES! GO YANKS! After the game ended I went downstairs and headed to the place where we could see the dancing. We were served some tea and sat around on couches. They told us that Varanasi dancing is much like story telling. It was really a lot of fun to watch and the girl had tremendous talent. After the dance we headed back to the hotel and some of us decided to head to the mall. I ended up eating McDonald’s for lunch which was pretty good! We met everyone back at the hotel, they had lunch, and we were on our way to the airport to fly back to Chennai. When we got to the airport it looked like a warehouse. I was a little sketched out. We got inside got our tickets and waited on the security line. Another SAS group was there and their plane was delayed an hour so we left before them. We walked out the back of the “terminal” and walked right to the plane. Needless to say this was an extremely small airport. We took our last group picture together too. We got on the plane and it was MUCH different than our first one. There were no TV’s or anything and it wasn’t very nice inside. I sat next to one SAS student and a creepy Indian who starred at me the whole time. Thank god the flight was only 1 hour and 20 minutes. We arrived at the Delhi airport and got word that our flight back to Chennai was delayed by 1 hour and wouldn’t leave until 8pm. We stood in line for about 45 minutes waiting to get our food vouchers for the plane, which was a pain in the ass. Then we all went up to the food court and had dinner. I ate a giant pizza from pizza hut. We waited about another 45 minutes and then we boarded the plane. Luckily, this time I got a seat in between my two friends. I thought for sure there would be TV’s, nope wrong again. So I listened to my iPod for as long as I could until it died. The flight was long and painful for me because by this time my allergies were killing me. The turbulence almost made me cry because of my ears hurting so bad. Eventually we reached Chennai and were escorted by our guide to the bus and made our way back to the ship. The bus wasn’t allowed in the terminal so we all had to walk back to the ship. Well most of us walked some jumped on the back of a flatbed truck and others took rickshaws. I didn’t get on the ship until after 1am. It was sad to say that our India trip had ended. I have a FDP in the morning I need sleeeeep!

10/27/09

Today I woke up and showered. Then, I made my way to lunch and met my friends there. I went on my FDP in the afternoon which was really awesome. We were able to see the 3 social classes of Chennai the posh, the colonies, and the slums. We spoke to women about the programs that they have set up for their communities. It is much like financial advisors; they have bank accounts and help each other when they need it. Each family contributes a certain amount per week and that goes into their funds. They use these funds for things such as starting a business and to help them get loans from the bank. We spoke to some students about how they go to school there in order to take the exams so they could get a certificate. This certificate helps them get a job in the real world. Next we went to a disabled children’s school. It was really cool they focus on educating the children, but also teach them daily tasks that can help them survive outside the school. One girl participated in Special Olympics in Ireland and competed in the sport of Basketball. She was very proud of the medal she won. I just want to mention that she was partially blind, deaf, and had a mental defect. It was amazing to see what such a poor community does to help all those in need in a community. Lastly, we went to a child labor school which gets children out of the jobs they are forced into and gives them an education. They sang us a few songs, it was really cute. All in all everyone was very welcoming. There were smiles and waves from side to side. Many children lined up to see us. It was an awesome experience. I headed back to the ship, relaxed, then had some dinner with my friends.  I spent some time outside on deck 7 then went to bed. Tomorrow is a reading day thank god!

I think India has become my new favorite country!!! I’m sad to see it go already!

10/28/09

Today I slept in because I could. No haha I definitely needed it after all the lack of sleep from my adventures in India. I wrote a paper for my Sociology of Marriage and Family class and relaxed. I had lunch with Brianne and then began making my plans for Japan. I’m not sure what exactly I’m doing, but I’m going to venture up to Tokyo for a few days. So I did a little research and figured out how to get there and stuff. I spent the afternoon pretty much doing that. Then, I watched Juno with my roommate and I had my ship picture taken too for SCRANTON! I had dinner with my friends and then relaxed for the rest of the night doing some small stuff. I cannot believe it’s back to classes tomorrow. I only have 3 more countries and I’m really starting to feel the end of this voyage coming. It’s already becoming hard.

10/29/09

Today we all had Global Studies together to watch a movie about Vietnam. It was really interesting and talked a lot about mending relationships with Vietnam after the war. After that I had some lunch with my friends and then read for my one class. I had Deviance and Social Control in the afternoon and the topic we discussed was sexual harassment. After class I watched Harry Potter because it was on the movie channel. We had a lifeboat drill at 5:45 which pushed dinner back a bit. So, I had dinner a little later than usual. After that I spent the night just playing a couple games with my friends and relaxing. Tomorrow is crew talent show which is supposed to be amazing so I’ll have to get there early!

10/30/09

Today I slept in a little later than I thought I would. Then, I did some stuff for class and ate lunch outside on deck 6. I had two classes back to back (International Law and Socio of Marriage and the Family). They were both pretty good. I had dinner with my friends and then relaxed for a little. Nothing to exciting has been going on lately except for CREW TALENT SHOW which took place tonight. I stood in line for 2 hours in order to get a good seat. I got to sit in row 4 not the best seats but I’ll take what I can get. The show was amazing. Some of the crew has amazing talent, singing, dancing, comedy, etc. it was so much fun and made me realize how much I love this community. They were awesome tonight. I’m exhausted and I have to write a long paper tomorrow, FUN!

Sorry for this being so long, but India was intense and exciting and I wanted to share everything with all of you. I figured you would want an explaination of why I think India was so great! I miss you all and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

 

I AM IN INDIA!

10/20/09

SEA OLYMPICS! It was a crazy day. We had opening ceremonies at 9am and that is where the beginning of the games also started. There was the picture with the torch contest, and your seas chant. Captain Jeremy is the person who officially opened the games. I made my way to where my first game was on deck 6 aft. The game was flip cup which was played with water not beer.. sad I know. We were competing in teams of 10 and the winner moved on. Well apparently not everyone decided to show up so 3 boys had to go twice. We ended up losing and were eliminated. I decided to go up to deck 7 to watch the beginning of synchronized swimming. Surprisingly it was mostly guys that were participating and it was absolutely hysterical. For my sea it was 4 girls that did a good job, but not good enough to pull out a win. I walked over and watched volleyball too. And guess what? We lost that too. We did pretty well in the pull-ups competition; the guy on our team did 25. After that I ran downstairs and watched my friend play Pictionary. There was a tie-breaker and we lost that too. I missed the extreme musical chairs, but apparently we didn’t do well in that either. We were off to a rough start in the morning until I went to watch the spelling bee. We ended up placing 3^rd which was better than the rest of the competitions we were in. then, it was about a 2 hr break for lunch and games would resume around 1:30-2pm.My friend was in the popcorn eating contest and that was hysterical to watch. We placed second in that too! I didn’t realize my next game started at 2:15 not 4:15 so I ran to the aft deck 6 to play. It was water pong, civil war style. It was best out of 3. And I was on the 3^rd team. The other team cheated  and were just annoying the entire time. We ended up losing so I went and relaxed up on 7^th deck. I watched some of the sweatshirt medley and then watched the dodge ball finals. Something we were actually in! We lost that too though. I decided to try the Caramel Coffee Freezer for the first time because it was so hot and I was already sunburned. It was AMAZING! It reminded me of dunkin donuts coolattas. I will definitely be getting more of them. Then, it was on to the relay which consisted of about 234233 different things and it was a timed event. If I can remember all of the events I’ll be lucky, but here it goes: butt scoot, dizzy bat, wheel barrel race, swim for a question, mystery cocktail, water pong into pitchers, three legged race, picture drawing, fishing, and run down to the podium. We came in 2^nd in this event! The last event that I watched was Don’t Forget The Lyrics. We ended up placing 2^nd but it was stupid because the judges changed the rules in the middle. Completely unfair, but we took the 2^nd place with pride. Then, it was on to the BBQ I had a cheese burger and some potatoes. It was heaven! I relaxed outside with a few friends and saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen on this trip. I took tons of pictures of it, the clouds and sky were amazing. I watched slumdog millionaire in one of the classrooms. I had seen it before, but only once so I was really excited to watch it again. After that I went to bed.

10/21/09

Today I spent most of the day just relaxing and taking a break from everything. I did only have one class which was Deviance and Social Control. There was a debate today on legalization of Prostitution. It pretty much turned into a screaming match after the arguments were presented. I thought it was hysterical. It was getting really intense so eventually my professor stepped in and opened it up to the class. That didn’t make it any better because everyone wanted to have the last word. I did get my midterm back and I did really well so I am happy about that. I had dinner with my friends it seems like it’s the same old every time; pasta, potatoes, and meat. Everything is really plain, but I just eat it anyway. Then, we had cultural pre-port at 8pm. It was really interesting and was mostly presented by our two interport students and Sanjoy the lecturer. After that was over I went to watch You Don’t Know Jack which was a gameshow that the programming board was putting on. It was really funny and some of the questions were impossible to answer, but it was a good time. It was really annoying though when some of the pairs were cheating by showing their answers to the partners by reflecting the image on their whiteboard off the mirror behind the audience. In the end two sisters ending up winning and the prize was special dining which is a 5 course meal that is nothing compared to the regular ship food. That ended around 11pm so I went to bed.

10/22/09

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN! You are getting old hahaha. Today I had global studies and the interport lecturer Sanjoy gave an interesting presentation. He spoke mainly about the diversity and rich history of India. It definitely kept my attention. After that I picked out my classes for the Spring Semester and then had lunch with my friends. I had two more classes in the afternoon which weren’t bad; International Law and Sociology of Marriage and the Family. I relaxed for awhile after class and then had dinner on the 7^th deck with my friends because the main dining food sucked. I had a pizza which was my first on the ship it’s nothing like pizza at home, but it was good. I also had another coffee caramel freezer, soooo good. Then we had time before logistical preport so we decided to play SORRY. I lost both times and came in 4^th. It clearly wasn’t my day. After we finished we went down to logistical preport and sat through an hour and a half presentation. It was full of useful information such as don’t drink the water, be careful of the food, don’t use tap water when brushing teeth, close mouth when showering, mesquitoes are a problem use DEET, don’t use public buses, and don’t answer to the beggars or give them money. These are just a few of the important details that we were given. Other than that HAVE FUN! I came back to my room and did all of my packing! Oh and as for what am I doing in India is a ton of things! I joined a group on facebook in the summer of people who were interesting in doing some traveling independently from SAS, but with a tour company. So, I was able to join up with them and pay half the price that SAS was asking for. I’ll copy and paste my Itinerary below.

10/23/009

WE ARE IN INDIA!!!!!!! We’ve arrived at about 830 am. We had a diplomatic briefing and the ship has been cleared. I am catching up on blogs and journals as I am not leaving for my trip until 1:15pm. I am really excited because this is a completely different kind of experience for me. I mean that because I am not with SAS, there is no trip leader or anything. I am really excited for it and so are the other 29 people. I’m not good friends with any of them so it will be a good thing for meeting new people! I just wanted to add that I am currently 9.5 hours ahead of EST so for those of you who are emailing me it may be delayed awhile. I will be on this independent trip from the 23^rd-26^th. The last day I have a FDP that is my professor running it called Socioeconomic Problems in Chennai. It states we are not allowed to bring cameras as I will be going into the poorest areas of Chennai and understanding the problems that are prevalent. Well, I have to go finish getting ready for my trip! I miss you all so much and cannot wait to see you in DECEMBER!

Itinerary:
Delhi-Agra-Varanasi Tour

23rd Oct.09 / Fri / Arrival Delhi from Chennai
On arrival at Chennai dock meet assist and transfer to Chennai airport to board the flight to Delhi. On arrival in Delhi meet assist and transfer to hotel. Later proceed to visit sightseeing of Delhi covering India gate & President House. Dinner at hotel. Night stay in Delhi.   


24th Oct.09 / Sat / Delhi - Agra & Agra - Varanasi
Early morning pick up from hotel & transfer to railway station to board the superfast air-conditioned train to Agra. Breakfast in the train, Arrive Agra in approx. 02 hours & visit to Fatehpur Sikri-a perfectly preserved red sandstone “ghost town” which was the estranged capital of mughal emperor Akbar, built in 1569 and deserted when its water supply failed. Later visit AGRA FORT - Fort built in red sandstone with its magnificent palaces, halls of public and private audience and the beautiful gardens. This is where Emperor Shah Jahan was kept under house arrest by his third son Aurangzeb and spent the last year of his life viewing the Taj Mahal from across the river Jamuna. After lunch at good local restaurant. After lunch excursion to TAJ MAHAL at sunset- Built by Shah Jahan, the Taj is a white marble memorial to his beautiful wife Mumtaz Mahal. This monument took 22 years to be completed and was designed, and planned by Persian architect Ustad Isa. Apart from its stunning design balance and perfect symmetry, the Taj is also noted particularly for its elegant domes, intricately carved screens and some of the best inlay work ever seen. Evening dinner at local restaurant and transfer to railway station to board the air-conditioned train to Varanasi. Overnight in air conditioned sleeper class.            

25th Oct.09 / Sun / Varanasi   
Arrive Varanasi, said to be the India’s most sacred city situated on the western bank of the holy river Ganga. It is also the oldest living city in the world. As a place for devotion and worship, with hundreds of temples dotting the city, sunrise on the river front as seen from a boat can be a spiritually uplifting sight. It has a fascination uniquely its own, a quality of sublime beauty, a timeless eternal appeal. Varanasi is the city which cannot be described, only experienced. Meet assist at the railway station and transfer to hotel. Later sight seeing of Varanasi (the oldest and holiest city of India) covering Temples, Aurangazeb’s Mosque and one of the biggest university of India. Afternoon lunch at good local restaurant. Evening view “Aarti” ceremony on the Ghats. Dinner at hotel. Night stay in Varanasi.  

26th Oct.09 / Mon / Varanasi
Morning boat cruise at the river Ganges to observe the way of life of pilgrims by the Ghats. Later excursion to Sarnath,10 kms. East of Varanasi, is one of the Buddhism’s
major centers of India. After attaining enlightenment, the Buddha came to Sarnath where he gave his first sermon. Visit the deer park and the museum and later back to Varanasi. After finishing the lunch at good local restaurant transfer to airport for
flight to Chennai via Delhi. On arrival in Chennai meet assist at airport and transfer to dock to board the ship.