Can we leave tomorrow?

Well, another week has passed and I get more excited every day that passes. The Semester at Sea meeting was very informative as we learned what viruses we can get and how to prevent them (I guess it is time to go take some shots! Get your mind off drinking…I mean vaccinations!) as well as much, much more. I also have begun getting familiar with the 24-hour clock, since that is what we will use on the ship. This process has been fun, but my roommates hate me now.

Last night, Danielle and I looked on the web and at the SAS Field Practica excursions to see where we wanted to go in each country and what we want to see. Both of us agreed that we want to do several service visits throughout the voyage; however, we noticed that most of them occur near the end of the trip because we will be in lesser-developed countries.

We hope to travel to Seville and/or Madrid from our port city of Barcelona while in Spain, as well as visit Rome, Pompeii, Naples, and Capri (an island in which you take a hydrofoil to get there…YES!!!). I would love to visit the Vatican in Rome, climb up the active volcano near Pompeii, and definitely eat some REAL Italian food. Up next is Croatia and we think we may stay near port (maybe even stay on the ship) to save some money after our expensive travels in Italy. We definitely want to go snorkeling while in Croatia and possibly go to the various beaches to see the sites… We also can have fun getting lost in the city and discover many cool picture taking spots. Then we are off to Greece (about 6 miles away from Athens) so we will definitely visit the Acropolis and probably go to the island of Crete and/or Santorini. After this point, we haven’t planned too much because we want to see where others want to go; however, we know we want to see the Sphinx in Egypt, go to Cairo, take a camel ride, ride ATVs in the Sahara Desert, do a zip-line in Morocco, and much more. Overall, we found some el cheapo train tickets and hostels all over Europe (most were like $22.50-$30 for hostels per night and train tickets were like $25-$30). I can’t wait to explore the web more after exams are over to see what else there is to do and where we can find the cheapest prices for hostels, transportation, and activities.

My mom has finally decided that she is going to fly to Halifax with me to send me off on my voyage. I can’t wait. This means that both of us will get to do some fun and exciting things in Nova Scotia before I set sail. With only 1 month and 16 days until I depart Halifax, I have already begun buying things to take with me. I bought some CofC apparel and a CofC Nalgene water bottle at the bookstore so that I can represent the “Harvard of the South” while traveling the world. Well, I got to get back to studying for exams! Wish me luck…

The Journey Begins!

Today has been a very exciting day. Why? I just spoke to my good friend Elan Ziff for over three hours about SAS. You will probably hear a lot about Elan during the course of this voyage (at least in the beginning) because he sailed with SAS during the Fall 2009 semester. Tonight Elan and I discussed everything about the voyage: what to bring, what not to bring, how many pairs of underwear I need to take, how not to sneak alcohol onto to the ship, when to not sleep, how to make friends on the ship, and most importantly how to make sure you are always having a blast. The best piece of advice he has given me already is to do things that you don’t want to do and do things you want to do but are too scared to do them on a normal day. For example, go bungee jumping off the tallest bridge in South Africa (using one of his examples…I wish I had that opportunity) or drive ATVs through the Moroccan desert (I definitely want to do this now…thanks a lot Elan). We discussed what to see in Spain and when to take siestas. We talked about currency, beer, shipboard food, hostels all over the world, and camels. It was absolutely amazing to have the opportunity to discuss these things with a past voyager. I have learned a lot and I know I will have many more questions for him in the future.

Since this is the first blog entry, I guess I should do a little background of what has happened so far… First, let me mention that I am currently so excited for this voyage that I am writing this at 12:34am when I should be sleeping and studying for final exams. If that does not express my excitement, I have been counting down the day, minutes, and seconds until we leave port in Halifax: 1 month, 24 days, 16 hours, 25 minutes and 44 seconds precisely. Well, I know that was a very important detail in all of our lives, but I can’t wait for this trip. Moving on, I registered for classes last Friday and I am taking Global Studies (everyone must take this), Art History and Intro to International Trade. I am very excited that all of the courses transfer back to CofC and count for something in my major or General Education requirements (except for Global Studies…stupid class). Well, I know that was boring for a second, but it is essential for the journal.

I am looking forward to tomorrow, as we have a meeting with the International Education department to discuss everything for the voyage on the CofC end of the spectrum. We also get to meet everyone that will be traveling with me on the Summer voyage, as well as those traveling on the Spring voyage. I am very excited! By the way, one of my good friends from CofC is going on the voyage with me. Her name is Danielle Ireton and I am sure you will hear a lot about our experiences over the next few months. She is a math major with me, but she “thinks” she wants to be a teacher. Well, it is getting late and I must go to sleep because after tonight talking to Elan, I can tell that I need to start sleeping now because I will not be sleeping much this summer. Signing off…