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!!!