Hey guys! I am waiting for a train in Rome. We are headed to the airport to fly to VENICE!!! I can't believe we are leaving Rome already. We really saw everything that we wanted to see so I am glad we leave for Venice today. It is hard to believe we have been here for two days already!
Today we woke up and went to the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and the Saint Peter's Basilica. That was stunning. The detail in each room was overwhelming! I used an entire battery for my camera by 10:15. I am so glad I bought three batteries for my camera! You never want to run out! We ate lunch on the gardens within the walls. I had a salami sandwich which was amazing! We then left Vatican City after stopping for gelato at The Bridge. I had a cup of melon, coconut and walnut for only 2 euro! It was so delicious! Everyone told us it was the best in Italy!!!!! We traveled by metro to the Tiber River, the river that runs through the middle of Rome. It was pretty neat. We then walked around a few parks and headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags before coming to the train. It has been a long few days. We all are worn out and ready for a shower! It will be nice sitting down for a while during our travels tonight.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Italy update #2
Hey guys! We have explored so much of Rome all in one day. We went to the coliseum, trevi fountain, pantheon, spanish steps and many more. Tomorrow we go to see the vatican, take a train to the airport and head to VENICE! The food was amazing! I had pizza, pasta, 2 gelatos, cannoli and lots of bread. Everything was delicious! I took 600 pictures since 10 o'clock this morning! It is so exciting. More tomorrow!
Live from Rome it's Italy Update #1
While I was taking a shower, Nick opened up the door and shouted "it's christmas!". Our laundry actually arrived over night. We left the ship at 09:00 and walked to the train station in Civit. We boarded the 09:59 train to Roma Termini for only 4.5 euros. We just checked into the hostel and are headed to the Coliseum now. Can't wait to eat REAL ITAILIAN FOOD! Later!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Day 14...Italy Day!
Day 14, June 28th:
Italy Day!
Today is called Italy Day on the ship! That means today was full of meetings and inter-port lecturers giving speeches and advice about what to do in Rome and Naples. I just kinda didn’t go to any of them, but I did watch the mandatory ones from the comfort of my room. Since everyone can’t fit in the Union, they broadcast everything held in the Union over the television system. We had our pre-port meeting as always tonight as well. It was kinda cool, but I still don’t feel like Italy is going to be here in less than 7 hours! Tonight for dinner, we had all Italian food (4 pastas, 2 different types of garlic bread, tiramisu, spinach lasagna, chicken cacciatore, ministrone soup and salad. It was pretty good. I can’t wait to explore all of the real Italian food! BTW this girl on the ship today asked how order Italian food in Italy! “If you want Italian food in Italy, do you just ask for food?” Wow!!!! See what we have to deal with on this ship! You all think it is fun and games…yeah, what about the stupid people that we can’t throw overboard. (That’s why we have stupid questions that people over hear on each set of announcements each day!!!!!!!!) Anyways…just letting you know that I will not be posting very much on the blog over the next few days. I am not taking my computer with me, but I may send in a quick update from my Blackberry if I can. It is going to be FUN!!!!!! and AMAZING!!!!!! I can’t wait! Later guys…
P.S. Ohh BTW…so today was our first laundry day since we left Halifax! And guess what…we don’t get it back until after Italy!!!! But they failed to tell us this!!! I put all of my clothes for the last 15 days in the laundry, so I am kinda running on fumes in terms of clothes. I guess I may be doing what Pa (my grandfather) suggested: wear your underwear 4 days by flipping it inside out and then turn them around. We will have to see! This may be very interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Basic Outline of Schedule for Italy:
June 29th: Take train from ship to Rome, explore Rome, hostel in Rome for the night
June 30th: Vatican in the morning, explore Rome, plane to Venice in late evening, hostel in Venice
July 1st: Explore Venice, Hostel in Venice
July 2nd: Explore Venice, plane to Naples in the late evening, hostel in Naples
July 3rd: Train to Pompeii, explore Pompeii, return to ship for the night in Naples
July 4th: Capri (Details TBD), return to ship for the night in Naples
July 5th: Explore Naples, On-board time is 6pm, depart Italy at 8pm
Noon Report for June 28th:
190 NM since Barcelona, 250 NM to Civitavecchia, average of 13.67 knots since Barcelona, distance to nearest land is 84 NM NW from Sardenga Island (Italy), sea depth is 8,202 ft, sea swells are .3 ft, water temperature is 69.8 degrees, air temperature is 71.6 degrees, sunset 21:00, sunrise 05:40, currently +6 hrs from EST.
Day 13...Last Day in Barcelona!
Day 13, June 27th:
Last Day in Barcelona!
After a short 3-hour nap, we began our day by heading to La Sagrada Familia, one of Gaudi’s most famous buildings. It was absolutely amazing! The architecture is so unique as there are basically no straight or flat walls in the entire building. After we finished exploring, we headed across the street to purchase a local staple: can art! As young children make Palmetto Roses in Charleston, people make little dishes out of soda pop cans. It is not really easy to explain, so you will have to wait until I get home to see it! It is pretty cool for only one euro. I bought one for my port pal Jenn too (port pals are like non-secret secret santa’s from our Sea/floor group). We then ate lunch at a pizzeria called Pizza Marzano. Yet again, Danielle, Heather and I bought two pizzas, an Americana pizza (pepperoni…but not like ours…it was totally different because they make theirs here) and a Quattro Formaggi pizza, and split them between us. Both were very good! I can’t wait until Italy…
After lunch, we bought some international stamps from a tobacco store (the only place you can buy stamps besides the post office) and mailed out a few postcards. Since we only had a few hours left before we had to be back on the ship, we headed to the mall right by the ship to see if they had another Alcampo store to purchase some more food, but they didn’t have one. We walked around the mall anyways, before heading back to the ship.
All of us then gathered in the Garden Lounge to write our blogs, but I was so tired that I couldn’t think straight. We all ate dinner on the ship again for the first time since we crossed the Atlantic. We had pork, rosemary potatoes, broccoli, and little chocolate cake pinwheels with chocolate mouse filling. After this point, Heather was so funny! She basically fell asleep everywhere: Danielle’s bed, at the table while eating late-night snacks, while walking down the stairs, on the deck while observing the redness of the moon, etc. I even had to carry her out of the dinning room…well kinda! How funny! I then crashed on the bed around midnight! ITALY DAY TOMORROW!!!
Day 12...and Day 13
Day 12, June 26th:
Barcelona Day Tres!
After just a few hours of sleep, Danielle and I were off to the La Boqueria, an outdoor local food market hidden off the Las Ramblas. It was so much more than I ever expected! The market was full of individual stands stocked full of various fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, grains and spices. There were some pretty disturbing things too. For example, whole skinned rabbits, whole fish being chopped in front of you, pig heads starring through the glass meat displays, saws with blood and meat remnants, as well as the wonderful smell of cured hams that were hanging from the ceilings of many of the booths that mulled over the entire market. That’s enough of the gross stuff…moving on to the healthy and cool part. The locals are very keen on fruit juices; therefore, many of the fruit stands also specialized in the making of various freshly made fruit juice blends. There were millions of flavors including coconut, pineapple, guava, strawberry, kiwi, banana, passion fruit, orange, watermelon, cherry, blueberry, peach, lime, and all of the possible combinations of these flavors and more. The glass of fresh juice was only 1.5 euros, so we both had to give it a try. I chose the pineapple coconut flavor and Danielle chose cherry mango. Mine was delicious. There were small shreds of coconut, so it was like drinking orange juice with a little pulp. Delicious! I also purchased a small fruit tray with pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, coconut, oranges, and a few grapes for 1.5 euros as well. It hit the spot, since we don’t get very good fruit that often on the ship.
After indulging in our wonderful fruit concoctions, we headed back to the ship to pick up Heather and head to one of the three places the ship told us not to go…McDonald’s. It had free Wi-Fi, also known as Wi-Fi gratis, so I could Skype back to the US to Mom and Dad. We/I talked for over an hour. While I was chatting, Danielle spotted 6 free Coke World Cup glasses on a table after the people left, so we split them between the entire “group.” They are pretty cool. Apparently, you don’t throw your trash away while in McDonalds in Barcelona, as they do it for you. The next stop of the day was the Museo Picasso, located in the middle of the Barri Gothic (Gothic Quarters). The museum displayed Picasso’s paintings from the Golden Ages, the Blue Period, the Rose Period, his pottery, and more. As you guys know, I am not really into art, but it was interesting to see everything in one place. Even his one set of paintings, entitled the Las Meninas series, revolves around the same basic figure overall, but each painting was totally different. It was cool to see how much changed in each of the 56 paintings and you could tell what kind of mood he was in when painting each piece. I am glad that I went! I was upset that we couldn’t take any pictures, even of the outside of the building. I got a few anyways!
Once we left the museum, we ran to a restaurant to grab a bite to eat because our stomachs were screaming for food. We ate at Pleasure 23, which was right around the corner from the museum. Heather, Danielle, and I have been ordering three different items and sharing them so that we all can taste more of the local cuisine. It may have been one of the best things we have done! We ate chicken nachos, steak and chicken kabobs, and tortilla espanola. For those of you with a good memory, I wrote about tortilla espanola several days ago…it is a lot like a frittata, which is made of eggs and potatoes, cooked like an omelet and served like a wedge of your favorite pie. I really enjoyed the tortilla espanola and the chicken nachos. They served homemade salsa and guacamole with the nachos that was absolutely amazing. That is what made the nachos so delicious… Danielle also got a local cervesa, so I had to give it a taste.
While waiting for our food, music began playing from around the building on the street. Of course I had to jump up to see what was going on! It was two people dancing in the middle of the street. Both people were wearing large costumes that were supported by a wooden frame, which they placed on their shoulders. A small marching band accompanied them to provide the music for the dance. It was pretty cool. They march all over the Barri Gothic stopping at various street corners along the way on various evenings. What an unexpected cultural surprise! But it only gets better…
After dinner, we wanted to be sure to go to Valor Chocolates to have chocolate con churros for desert. But we before we flooded ourselves with more deliciousness, we decided to sight see a little bit more in the Gothic Quarters before the sun went down. We went just around the block to the Barcelona Cathedral and this cool building with an extremely colorful mosaic roof shaped like a wave. The cathedral is so beautiful and full of architectural detail. It is located on a large bricked walkway/square/park thingy and as we begin to explore this thingy we hear some live singing from down this alley behind the cathedral. Of course, the three of us wanted to explore yet again. Along the way, we noticed three vans of the Spanish National Guard, but we didn’t think anything of it…hindsight 20-20, this should have been a clue for what was ahead! Anyways, we head down the alley to find two locals singing for a crowd of people. I love that about Barcelona. There are local artists, musicians and random people with talents that just set up camp on the side of the road and do their thing for all to see and listen. On the alley, we decide to stop in this cool shop to buy some gifts and look around. Within a few minutes, the streets are full of people and they are making all kinds of noise. There was chanting, music being played from speakers, etc. I ask the store clerk if there is a festival going on and she says she has no idea what is going on. Of course, I have to see what is going on yet again…see the pattern of our trip! Well, little did we know…it was not a festival! It was a rally for equal rights during Barcelona’s gay pride week. We realized this rather quickly as the first thing we see is a truck full of girls and guys with their shirts off, some of the girls only had fishnet stockings on (THAT’S IT…). The National Guard had bordered the square with riot helmets and batons strapped to their waists. Several of the soldiers were standing back up the alley where we were standing, so we felt pretty safe. It was definitely not what we expected! We expected to see 14-foot tall dancing characters and instead we see a massive blob of people holding rainbow flags spanking each other with rubber whips. Yeah…enough said! Not what we were expected at all!
We then proceeded in the other direction and headed to Valor Chocolates for dessert. We ordered the chocolate con churros and a scoop of Crema de Catalana ice cream. Chocolate con churros are sticks of fried dough, similar to funnel cake, that are served with a super large mug of pure awesomeness…warm melted chocolate. You either can dip the churros into the chocolate or some pour the chocolate over the churros on a plate. It was absolutely amazing! I don’t even like chocolate that much, but if I owned the restaurant then I would eat it out of business! I really want them again now…thanks blog for making me hungry (Daniel went there and didn’t even order them! He had a Spanish coffee, which is supposed to be really good. I am sitting here talking to him about them and I just told him that I am not friends with him anymore because he went all the way there and didn’t get chocolate con churros!). We also had another Spanish favorite: Crema de Catalana helado (that’s ice cream for you non-Spaniards). Crema de Catalana is a Spanish variation of Crème Brule awesomeness. The helado was muy muy muy bueno! I would have spent every second we had left in Barcelona there eating those desserts if they didn’t kick me out. Again, both were incredible!
After filling our bellies, we decided to walk it off by heading back to the ship. Daniel and the girls wanted to go to the clubs dancing, but Clark and I said we didn’t want to go. Clark and I began writing our blogs while everyone was getting ready; however, once the girls were ready to go, Daniel fled the ship in search of the city on his own without updating the group of his new adventurous plan. The girls searched the ship, but he was M.I.A. They then decided that they were going to the club on their own! Once word hit Clark and I, we threw on some long pants and flew off the ship to meet them waiting on the bus. We couldn’t let them go into the city at 2 am alone. By the time we got outside of the club, it was 3 o’clock in the morning. I was sooooo tired. Clark and I were just planning on sitting outside, so we were there when they came out. Heather then remembered that she couldn’t go in either because it was too smoky for her asthma. So the three of us, went for a walk along the boardwalk in search of a restroom and food; however, everything was closed so we walked the ENTIRE boardwalk to the Westin Hotel (known as the big W), which was very close to where the ship was located. We thought that the hotel would have a restroom we could use in the lobby, but the hotel staff kicked us out of the building before we could even look for a restroom. Ohh well! It only took us about 30 minutes to walk there, so we decided to walk back a different way. Once we arrived back at the club, we sat on a bench outside of the club. That was an experience in itself. We saw someone get kicked out of the club, a drunk guy pass out on a bench in front of us, a few prostitutes, a guy get handcuffed by police and many other exciting things. We had fun people watching until the girls came out around 4:30 am. We finally got back to the ship and hit the hay around 6 o’clock. What a night (especially since Clark and I really wanted to get to bed early)! I was glad we went with them because even with the two of us, many of the Spaniards kept walking past saying 15, 20, 30 dollars. Prostitution must be high in Barcelona.
Overall, it was a really interesting day! Let’s recap!!! First, we saw whole skinned rabbits, hams hanging from the ceiling, fish being chopped to pieces, and millions of various fruits and vegetables at the la boqueria market. Followed by Picasso’s paintings, a group of locals dancing in the street wearing super tall costumes, the Barcelona Cathedral, and people singing in an alley. We moved on to seeing National Guard members protecting buildings around a gay pride event with riot gear strapped to their waists and naked females standing on the back of a truck right behind the Cathedral. Then we ate chocolate con churros and crema catalana helado, went on the underground metro at 2:30 and 5:00 in the morning to go see hookers, drunks get kicked out of clubs, and the entire Barcelona boardwalk along the beach minus the restrooms at the Westin hotel. Now, what did you do on Saturday night? Was it entertaining? The worst part was putting your head down on your pillow and the sun is starting to shine in on your face under the blinds. Since we got back so late, it felt like one day for us so here is what happened next…
Friday, June 25, 2010
Day 11...The Best Views of the City!
Day 11, June 25th:
Barcelona Day Dos!
Danielle, Heather and I began the day by taking a taxi from Las Ramblas up to Montjuic. Montjuic is the mountain that over looks the city of Barcelona, the beach, the port and it is where the Olympics was held a few years ago. The taxi ride was like a crazy amusement park ride. I have never felt like we were going to hit someone so many times in my life. Spaniards drive very close to each other and the lanes are much smaller in width than in the US. Motorbikes even pass stopped cars, even moving cars for that matter, and taxi drivers almost run them off the road. If someone is crossing the road when they are not allowed, then they speed up (but it is to get them to move quicker…). They also stop on a dime…pretty well too. It was a true experience for the first time I have ever ridden in a taxi! It ended up costing us about 12 euro total for the three of us. Not bad at all. The view of Barcelona was phenomenal! We could see the ship from one side of the small park, so the three of us were taking some creative pictures with the ship in the background including standing on a brick wall on the top of the mountain. We then took a cable-car, called Teleferic de Montjuic, across the water and over to the boardwalk by the beach. The view was stunning! We could see the entire town from thousands of feet in the air! What an awesome ride! We then took the elevator down from the cable-car tower and met some other Americans that actually know one of the people on SAS (best part is they gave us a note to give her if we saw her and I remembered reading this girl’s name from the name cards on each door by Heather’s room…it was 4 doors down). It was great to find someone who spoke full English and knew a lot about the city of Barcelona. They answered many of our questions regarding public transit, where to go, etc. We then headed down to the beach and walked along the boardwalk to find a place to eat. Now, one of the things you need to know about the beaches in Barcelona is that many of the women go topless on the beach (even if they are 50+) and many of the guys wear speedos (even if they are so fat that more than half of their stomach hangs out underneath their tee-shirt…). We ended up eating outside and people watching (that’s where we saw way too much while eating…). We all ate our first cheeseburger and french fries since we left Los Estados Unidos. I have been craving this all week! We then took the underground metro along the beach to a mall to go shopping. This was another neat cultural experience because we got to see the stores, the families, the various types of clothing, and see the locals in a totally different setting. I really wanted an Espana soccer shirt and I found one in a sporting goods store for 10 euro. I was so excited! It was so cool that Danielle had to buy one too. In Spain, jamon (ham) is cured naturally with salt and is sold almost everywhere including in kiosks in the middle of the mall. I tried to take a picture, but apparently we were not allowed as a Mall Cop told me no (don’t worry…I already took the shot before he told me no). They smell really bad too because they just have hams hanging from the top of the stand open to the world (aka no packaging). We then stumbled into what we assume is a Spanish Walmart/Kmart that was all three stories of the mall called Alcampo. It was so cool! I bought all kinds of snacks and drinks for the ship including an assortment of miniature candy bars, Haribo gummy bears, more potato chips cooked in olive oil (two different types), lemon and orange Fanta soda, markers for children at the various service visits, and Spanish coffee (since it is supposedly some of the best in the world behind Columbia). All of that was less than 15 euros. Now that’s what I call business! The trick was carrying all 24 sodas and three extremely large bags of food between us back to the ship via the metro. We made it, but it wasn’t easy! After writing my blog post about what we did yesterday, we headed out in search of a bar to watch Spain play in the World Cup; however, we ended up eating pizza at a place called Candela near Placa de Espana. Placa de Espana is located near the base of Montjuic and there is a musical fountain with a light display at night, and the bull-fighting stadium was located across the square. After dinner, we headed back to the ship for the night. Tomorrow should be another fun-filled day. I can’t believe how much stuff we have done in only two days! Good night Barcelona! Hasta luego!
p.s. Each euro is equal to about $1.20.
Day 10 #2...Exploring la cuidad y cultura de Barcelona (Flamenco included)
Day 10, June 24th:
LIVE FROM BARCELONA, SPAIN itttttts BLOG TIME!
After watching the sun come up and the ship come into port, we finally got off the ship around 11:00. The gangway is actually located on Deck 2 for this port, so it makes it much easier for us to enter and exit everyday. The ship is docked at a commercial pier (because we are here so long) so they have a shuttle tour bus for us that takes us a block away from the main drag, Las Ramblas! The Las Ramblas is the Market Street of Barcelona. It is full of shops, tents, restaurants, and places with entertainment. There are millions of people painted up like all different types of characters and you can take your picture with them for some change. They also can sell you beer on the street; therefore, every two steps someone is trying to sell you one out of a six-pack for 1 euro each. It was entertaining at first, but quickly got annoying. Anyways, we all ate breakfast on the ship, but we were hungry for local cuisine, so we ate desayuno on the Las Ramblas. We ordered the famous Spanish food, croquettes, which are little fried dough sticks with jamon (ham) or other local specialties. They were very inexpensive (8 euro) and were very good; however, we had them again at dinner and learned that they really were not that good (at least not homemade like we had for dinner). The buildings are so different than the US. Every one of them looks totally different and they are all very beautiful. Don’t worry! I have millions of pictures. The architecture is awesome! We saw almost the entire city by foot. Okay, not really but we walked like 3,000 miles yesterday…no joke! We passed several of the houses and buildings that Gaudi designed while ultimately making our way to the La Sagrada Familia. It is a church that Gaudi designed that has been under construction since the 1800s and is not scheduled for completion until 2026. It is currently a museum and the money raised from visitors have funded the entire construction process of the building. It is one of the tallest buildings in the city and it is beautiful to see. We are planning to go see it on Sunday with the entire “group”. We then decided that we should head to buy tickets to a Flamenco show, so we hopped on the underground metro towards the theater. It was pretty fun exploring the city via underground rails when we don’t have any idea what the signs say and have no clue where we are going! You learn quick though… We found the theater but it was closed, so we began our quest to find an internet café in order to purchase our tickets online. We also made a quick stop at a local corner store to purchase potato chips cooked in olive oil. Let’s just say I ate the entire bag! After our long and tiring expedition around the city, we headed back to the ship to exchange members of our group…we picked up some and dropped off others. It really sucks for those that take all SAS trips because they all want to do what we did, but they are restricted to time because of their trips. The entire group, minus Daniel and Lacey (she went to see Flamenco at the same place we did except with SAS at the earlier show for two and a half times more then we paid), went to eat before our show. We took David’s advice and found this small restaurant located on the second floor a building over looking Las Ramblas. OHHH MY GOD THIS PLACE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!! It was sooooo nice and CHEAP! Danielle, Heather, and I all ordered different things and we may or may not have played pass the plate game. All of the dishes were scrumptious! The others all wanted seafood so they played their own pass the plate game. We had croquettes con jamon (croquettes with ham), a hamburger patty topped with a fried egg and caramelized onions, and veal steaks topped with phyllo dough pouches of baked brie and a wonderful white sauce that we don’t know what it was. SOOOOOOOOO GOOD! Everything was so inexpensive too! The entire bill was 29 euro for the three of us. We would have paid at least 20 dollars a plate for that in the US, probably 30 dollars a plate in Charleston. I could eat there every night! I even told the waiter that he should come back on the ship with us and serve us dinner like that every night. He didn’t know what I said, but I tried. I have gotten much better at la language de Espanol while we have been here. It is fun communicating with them! I did try their octopus though. It was okay…I would never order it, but I ate it! I am trying to become adventurous. We even meet a whole group of students from USC at the restaurant. We had about an hour or so before our Flamenco show, so we decided to run and see the Arc de Triomf. It was just a few blocks out of the way, but we went anyways. It was soooo cool! The sun was setting as we arrived, so it was beautiful. We then began making our way to the show and the story begins. We ended up walking and walking and walking and walking and walking and walking and walking…NO JOKE! It was maybe one of the coolest things we have done in Barcelona, but ohh man did we walk. Clark played navigator. We never got lost, but we just didn’t realize how far out of the way we went. We ended walking down back streets where all of the locals live and it was sooooo cool. We never would have found or saw that if we didn’t do what we did. It was awesome. The locals were all hanging out in the street playing music, going to super small restaurants and bars, playing in playgrounds, socializing, and drinking out the coolest water fountains in the world. Water comes out of the light posts!!!!!!!!! We stumbled across the Palau de la Musica Catalana that millions of columns that were all decorated differently with mosaics and the Barcelona Cathedral. We didn’t think we were that far away so we decided to walk to the show, which started in 45 minutes, but it ended being about an hour and a half walk at a leisurely pace. We floored it! We walked so fast that we might as well ran there! To top it off, it was uphill. Our trip through the Spanish village actually took us about 7 blocks further away from the theater. If I would have known how far away we were, I would have suggested taking the underground metro; hindsight 20-20, we walked the entire way! Once we got there, the show had just started and we enjoyed the Flamenco show a lot. It was awesome! I have pictures and video too. They were dancing, singing, playing music, and even a type of tap dancing that made it a true experience. I have never seen anything like it before! Since the show ended at midnight, the metro was closed and we had to walk all the way back to the ship! We tried to get a taxi, but little did we know that you can only have 4 people per cab…we had 5! Our feet were so tired, but we definitely didn’t want to split up in two taxis, since we really don’t know what we are doing! We ended up meeting Lacey and Daniel in the Placa de Catalunya on the way. We tried to go back to the Attic, where we ate dinner, for dessert, but they were closing, so we stopped for homemade ice cream. I had both pistachio and mint chocolate chip (thanks to Danielle) for 2 euro! It was pretty good after a long day. Once we got back to the ship, we went straight to bed! We were so tired. It was 02:30 by the time we got to our rooms. Daniel, Lacey and Clark have to be up at 05:00 for their SAS trip to Madrid and Toledo. I am so happy that we decided not to go to Madrid independently. Barcelona is sooo amazing! We already are running out of time to do everything we wanted and you have just read everything we did on our first day! The weather was amazing too! Just perfecto! This entire city is so different and amazing! I wish you could have been here!
I hope you enjoyed the shortest post I have ever written…don’t forget that that is only what we did since we got off the ship at 11:00 (the first 5 hours of our day was in a separate post so be sure to read that too). Tomorrow’s post is not looking good either!
Buenos noches!
(I love being able to actually speak normally and having the locals actually understand me…those of you that know me well will understand why!)
Barcelona Update
I just wanted to let everyone know that I had an awesome first day in Spain! Since I woke up at 6 am this morning with only 3 hrs of sleep the night before and it is 2:30 am now, I am way too tired to write a whole post. More tomorrow!
Buenos noches!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Buenos Dias Barcelona!
We are in BARCELONA!!!! This post is coming to you from my room as I look out our window at a mountain covered in palm trees and exposed rock with a beautiful fort on the top. There are millions of seagulls, which many of you are thinking “big whoop-ti-do”, but it is bringing back reality to us on the boat. It is weird to think that in only 10 days time, all of us have changed as much as we have. We are accustomed to not seeing wildlife, not walking on still surfaces, sleeping while rocking with the waves, and having our bodies constantly swaying with the ocean. It is really a weird feeling being stopped, looking at land, cars, people, and the modern day conveniences of life. The group woke up at 06:00 to go watch the sunrise on from the observation deck and watch the ship come into port. It was awesome! The city skyline is very unique as there is a huge mountain-like region separating our view, but it goes on forever. The pilot boarded the ship around 07:00 as scheduled and we drifted into port, secured the ropes, and are beginning to drop the gangway now. I can’t wait! The anticipation of the unknown is kind of scary though. Will we be able to communicate effectively with the locals? Will we be able to find the sites we want to see? How will we all communicate with all of our new SAS friends to meet up on different days or for specific events? However, I am sure it will be fine in the end and we all will have a blast! The next four days will soar by so fast, that we all will be sitting on the boat wondering where the time went. Buenos Dias Barcelona!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Day 9...ESPANA HERE I COME!
Day 9 / C 7, June 23rd:
This post is coming to you from the 7th deck of the MV Explorer. Normally, I would be sitting by the pool or watching the waves, but tonight the group is teaching my roommate Daniel to do a cartwheel. Now this is hilarious! I love our group! It is so spontaneous. Anyways, we all just got out of our logistical and cultural pre-port meetings. These meetings are mandatory for everyone on the ship and they tell us everything we need to know about Spain including how to get a taxi, what not to eat, where we will need our passport, where the ship docks, etc. In the morning, the group is waking up to see our first sunrise from the boat before the pilot arrives on the boat at 07:00. You may be asking what, how, or why? The pilot is a local ship captain that will assist our crew in docking our ship in the port. He will arrive on the boat by helicopter. If you believe that I will tell you another one… The pilot actually arrives by a small boat, which will pull along side the ship and he will board via the 2nd deck. By 08:00, the ship should be settled into port, secured, and tucked in for its nap for the next 4 days. By 08:30, the gangway should be dropped and Spanish customs officials will begin to clear the ship, while all of the ship members attend the Diplomatic Briefing in the Union. Once customs clear the ship, we can begin running, jumping, and flying off the ship. There will be a shuttle service just for our ship that will run from the port to the bottom of the Las Ramblas. Okay enough about the boring logistics…
After we can leave this wonderful ship and worship land for the first time in 9 days, Danielle and I are headed to the Las Ramblas (like Market Street in Charleston) to explore and find tickets to a flamenco performance tomorrow night. Google flamenco if you want to learn more or stay tuned, as I will provide an update. I really don’t know what to expect, but it should be a great cultural experience. It also will be an experience dinning in Barcelona, as they eat all day long with dinner around 10 or 11 at night. On Friday, Spain is playing in the World Cup, so the whole city should be having a party! It should be interesting. Daniel, Clark, and Lacey are taking a SAS trip to Madrid and Toledo on Friday and Saturday, so Danielle, Heather, and I will be on our own, along with any other members of our extended group. It should be fun! I am sure we will meet others hanging around the city too. We also want to see Gaudi buildings, Parque Guell (outdoor park designed by Gaudi located at the top of Las Ramblas), Boqueria Market (local food market), La Sagrada Familia, the gothic Quarter, Miro Fountain up on Montjuich, and of course just explore! We have all kinds of information from Mr. David, the interport lecturer, which I ate lunch with again today and he spoke in my International Economics course. He was absolutely awesome and I wish he was participating in the entire voyage (but he is leaving us in Spain…). His son (which came with them for their short trip) is actually from Charleston, so it was neat to talk to them. David is actually going to be the Dean for the entire Fall voyage…I wish I could go! Anyways, I guess I should get some sleep as I have 4 busy days ahead of me! Hasta luego…Spain here I come!!!!!!!!
Noon Report for June 23rd:
3200 NM since Halifax, 335 NM since noon yesterday, 263 NM to Barcelona, average of 17.71 knots since Halifax, average of 14.56 knots since noon yesterday, closest land is 9 NM SE of Cabo de Palos (Spain), sea depth is 2,395 ft, sea swells are 0.3 ft, water and air temperature is 70 degrees, sunset 21:26, sunrise 06:19, currently +6 hrs from EST, 76,874 gallons of water used since last noon, 73 gallons per person (the highest amount per person since Halifax).
P.S. Nice day=everyone at pool=everyone nasty=everyone takes extra shower=highest water usage
P.S.S. I should be able to use Blackberry Messenger while in Barcelona for FREE! Calls and texts are never free, sorry! BBM me!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day 8...Seven miles of Awesomeness
Day 8 / C6, June 22nd:
NOTE: Some of the posts may have appeared on the blog out of order! I know you will be able to figure it out. The ship lost its internet connection for a little while and all of the emails were being sent out very slowly and out of order…
Today, we got to see what we have been waiting for all week! LAND!!! At 13:00, me and all of my friends (we call ourselves “the group”) went to the upper deck to catch some rays and watch for our first glimpse of foreign land. One hour later: “This is the Captain speaking. The ship is scheduled to pass through the Straight of Gibraltar at 15:00 hours; however, you may begin to see land from the bow of the ship within the next half hour.” The whole ship roared with excitement! Everyone on the ship made their way to the decks to see our first view of Spain and Morocco. It was soooo exciting!!!!! We began seeing all sorts of ships, smaller boats/yachts, high-speed ferries, and wildlife! AWESOME! It really took a second to take in the fact that I AM LOOKING AT LAND OVER TWO AND A HALF THOUSAND MILES AWAY FROM HOME and IT IS ON TWO DIFFERENT CONTINENTS!!!!!!! WOW! It is really hard to believe… As we were taking in the views and taking millions of pictures, there were several whales and dolphins playing in the waters near us! Even little baby dolphins! I bet we saw 30-40 dolphins and 5 whales. One of the whales kept waving at us too. It was AWESOME!!!! Wish you could have been here!
Time for a little history lesson! (BTW I suck at history, so this will be fun) The Mediterranean’s only outlet to the wider world of ocean is the Straight of Gibraltar. This small body of water is extremely ancient (over 5 million years old), and without it the Mediterranean would have dried up. When passing through the Straight today, Spain was on the port (left) side and Morocco was on the starboard (right) side of the ship. Did you know that all water traffic entering and exiting the Mediterranean pass through this seven nautical mile wide Straight! Is that not amazing! Now, I know seven miles seems like a lot, but look at it like this… On most clear days, you can see approximately ten miles away from you if your view is free from obstructions (and you put your glasses on…hahaha…ok, I tried!). That means that on a clear day you can see ten miles to the left and turn to see ten miles on your right. Now, how wide do you think seven miles really is? (I know that some of you are saying “duhhh it’s seven miles…” but in this case seven miles seems sooo small.) It was amazing to see how the two continents look like they converge into one large sea: THE MEDITERRANEAN!!!! Here is a piece of trivia for you! Now that we have just passed through the Straight of Gibraltar, what sea is the ship currently located in? I will give you a hint: it does not start with an “m”! Answer will appear in tomorrow’s blog…what a cliff hanger!
I can’t remember if I mentioned this or not so here it goes…I signed up for a tour of the bridge for July 7th (that is after Italy). It should be exciting. Moving on to the rest of the day… Tonight, the “group” went to two different Explorer Seminars. The first speaker was an interport student from Barcelona. He told us all about what to see, when to go, how to get there, how much it costs, cultural norms, and much more. It was pretty nice having an actual student from Spain (and even Barcelona) provide us with so much information. The second speaker was our SSO (Ship Security Officer) and he told all about safety in each port. Both were very informative (as always both were very funny too)! I also signed up for three SAS trips: Sufi Dancing in Turkey, Evening with a Moroccan Family, and a service visit to the SOS Children’s Village in Morocco. These should be pretty cool. More about those as we get closer to each port…
Okay, so I guess I have never really described the “group” or the roommates. Drum roll please! Beginning with the roommates: Daniel Pell is a senior Philosophy major at California Lutheran University and Nick Despoditis is from New Jersey majoring in the art of having a girl for each arm / some random humanity (in the words of Danielle). The rest of the “group” includes Danielle, Clark, Lacey and Heather. Nick is also known as “champ” and is only seen with two females next to his side. No really! Clark is the quiet one of the group, but he is so funny when he talks. Lacey is Danielle’s long lost twin! Lacey, Clark, and Daniel all go to the same school. Heather is also from California, but she goes to California Baptist University. The group changes size daily based on time, place, and event; however, we all welcome adopted children! We eat together, hang out on the deck together, play games together, play hit the person sleeping in class together, pick on Daniel together, watch Heather (all of 108 pounds) eat six dinner rolls together, and in general we have a pretty good time! Daniel and Lacey were pretty good friends at school and it is very funny to see how much they act like Danielle and I. We notice this every other minute. Take last night for instance; the entire group was sitting in my very small and cramped room for about two and a half hours laughing our butts off. It was sooo funny. We were playing with pillows, passing the basketball around, as well as the goldfish and banana bread/cake they stole from the late night snack, and just having fun! What a great time at sea! Well, we have a full day of pre-port meetings tomorrow so I better go to bed. We also advance the clocks ahead another hour tonight! Good night!
Noon Report for June 22nd:
2865 NM since Halifax, 465 NM since noon yesterday, 597 NM to Barcelona, average of 18.17 knots since Halifax, average of 19.38 knots since noon yesterday, closest land is 45 NM SW of Cabo Roche (Spain), sea depth is 2,789 ft, sea swells are 1.6 ft, water and air temperature is 68 degrees, sunset 20:38, sunrise 06:48, we change our clocks one hour ahead tonight to +6 hrs from EST.
A few extra fun facts:
We create our own water onboard, so they track water consumption daily. Today we used the lowest amount of water since we left Halifax (61, 024 gallons/58 gal per person). We also have been at sea for 157.7 hrs as of noon today (it’s hard to believe we have been at sea that long already)! Just to see if you paying attention...the answer to the question above is the Alboran Sea!
Quick Update
Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that we are about 90 minutes away from going through the Straight of Gibraltar, which is a 7 mile wide body of water to enter the Mediterranean Sea. Espana will be on the port side of the ship and Morocco will be on the Starboard side. There are all kinds of cargo ships passing us now and we have slowed down considerably, The water is pretty flat too. More later!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Day 7...Splish Splash I was taking a bath with my sea legs on!
Day 7 / C5, June 21st:
Well I have officially been at sea for a week now! I can’t believe it! I have mastered the skills of walking on a rocking boat, studying on a pool deck at sunset, and eating potatoes and pasta for every meal. Today was just another ordinary day at sea. Not too much is going on…I mean there is sooooo much to do on a ship for a week in the middle of the Atlantic. We did see a cargo ship today, so that was exciting. Can you tell how much we look forward to seeing other signs of life? This morning was great. The water was as smooth as a baby’s bottom and it was nice and sunny outside. It was only about 66 degrees today, but the pool deck was still flooded with people. After 30 min or so, I had to come in because I was freezing. There were a few Explorer Seminars tonight, but I didn’t go. My Italy travel companions met in the computer lounge to reserve our hostels in Rome, Venice, and Naples. I can’t wait to actually get off this ship and explore the countries that we have been researching and planning for months.
Recall, how the water looked this morning? (pause for thinking) Well, let me tell you…all hell broke loose this evening! This water is crazy!!!! It is splashing all over Danielle’s port hole (I am surprised they haven’t shut it yet) and we can’t even see out of our window on the fourth deck because of all the water spots. What I great time to have the world’s rockiest seas…the day I have to take off my seasick patch and can’t put another one on!!!! I need to go ask the doctor people how long I have to wait to restart the 6 day cycle. Anyways, we are exercising our ab muscles, as we can’t even stand up straight. Let’s make this an interactive blog and see if you are a master at sea legs! First, stand up and place one foot in front of you and one foot behind you. Now, bend your knees and put your arms out next to your body. You now have a good stance to hold onto the railings, push people off of you, and/or bounce back and forth off the hallway walls. Doing good? Awesome! (pause) Do you remember what a mechanical bull looks like and how it moves? Great! (un-pause) While keeping the last position, stand on top of a mechanical bull that is jerking all over the place trying to get you sick. You now have mastered the feeling of the MV Explorer crossing the Atlantic Ocean (on most days…). Ohhh, I forgot! Stand on the bull in that same position for 7 days. Don’t forget you also must eat, sit in class, shower, climb the stairs multiple times a day, sleep, study, type blog entries and socialize while on the bull. I know you want to be here too. Luckly, (knock on wood…knock on wood) I have not gotten sick yet! Okay, time to change the subject!
Tonight, I also had a meeting to work on the SAS Auction. This auction is actually pretty cool. It raises money to pay for school supplies for the students to take on their service visits in port, as well as fund our shipboard activities. Almost every year the auction raises about 10 to 15 thousand dollars. Items up for bid normally include: a dinner with the Captain, a world map signed by the ship’s crew, souvenirs from places on the voyage, Prof. Ian’s headband (which went for $250 last year…it is a staple on these voyages), a chance to drive the ship, etc. It should be pretty cool. I think we are going with a clown theme, since Grandma the Clown performed for us and the Academic Dean is a circus historian. It sounds really cool. “Grandma” is also trying to get tickets to the Big Apple Circus (where he performs in NYC) and backstage passes for the auction. How awesome would that be! BTW, the auction will be held on the way back home after Morocco. Well, I guess I better go to bed…
Noon Report for June 21st:
2400 NM since Halifax, 473 NM since noon yesterday, 1060 NM to Barcelona, average of 17.95 knots since Halifax, average of 20.56 knots since noon yesterday, closest land is 247 NM North of Porto Santo Island, water is 12,000 ft deep, air temperature is 64 degrees, water temperature is 66 degrees, sunset 21:12, sunrise 06:19, currently +5 hrs from EST.
Last pics until Barcelona...
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I hope you can actually see these pictures. I have to scale them down to the smallest size possible in order to send them via email from the ship. Enjoy!
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Sunday, June 20, 2010
Day 6...Whales Port Side
Day 6/ C 4, June 20th:
Today is probably the most beautiful days that we have had on the ship! The ocean is very flat so we are not rocking much and it is about 76 degrees. Perfecto!!! That also means that the entire boat is hanging out on the pool deck studying for our map quiz this evening. What a view…of the ocean…(don’t forget that the girl to guy ratio is 3:1)! I would bet that not one person is looking at the ocean…
Switching gears, the food on the ship is now kinda getting annoying. We always get the exact same thing! I didn’t know you could call quartered red potatoes so many things. They become hash-browns for breakfast, baked potato bites at lunch, rosemary potatoes for dinner, or roasted potatoes, boiled potatoes, mashed red potatoes, gratin potatoes, potatoes in stew, potatoes in soup…I think you get the hint. : ) We also have salad (some even have beets…), PB&J, rolls, cheese cubes, mixed veggies, pasta (every shape, size, sauce and ingredients possible like primavera, alfredo, garlic, marinara, pasta with peas and broccoli, pizza pasta, cheesy pasta, and again I am sure you get the hint), and various soups. The meat dish varies and is normally good, but just seems like we eat the same thing every meal. They also have a fish dish every meal, but who wants that! Yuck! It doesn’t look like we get normal college food at all. For example, we don’t get chicken fingers, burgers, or pizza. That makes me mad. Ohh well. I guess we could have good food that we eat everyday or bad food of the things we want. Moving on…
I am beginning to see why this program is so unique. Let me explain. My International Economics professor is from India, but he has lived in the US for 43 years. He also travels the entire world teaching Economics to students. He flew to meet the ship straight from a teaching a semester in China. The thing that I think is so different is that he really demonstrates how much he cares about his students, what he is teaching, and respecting each person in general. I have had some great teachers that do the same things; however, it is his mannerisms and his actions that make it remarkable. When in class, he teaches his lecture through student questions. If what he wants to cover does not come up in class that day, then we will talk about it another day. He also wants to make sure that everyone is enjoying being in his class. When you ask a question in class, he moves to the end of your row and listens to your question without interrupting, without moving, and completely focused on you. He then thanks you for asking the question and proceeds to answer the question. If more than one hand is raised, he tells everyone that he will get to get to all of their questions and he will. It is very interesting to listen to his stories, feel his emotions about how America impacted his life, and how he can now be relaxed and enjoy his life. It is awesome to see the difference in various cultures and lifestyles that I would not have associated myself with back home. At college, I steer clear of as many foreign professors that I can; however, this is a real eye opener and a good experience for me. I wish all of you had an opportunity to meet this guy. Words can’t describe it.
BTW I am writing this post on the 7th deck watching the sunset just after dinner. There are students and professors calling out “whale port side” and “whale starboard”. The whales are out blowing their spray (I don’t know what it is called) about a quarter mile from the ship. Pretty awesome! I am looking forward to taking a tour of the bridge! I just signed up today to go see it on July 7th at 15:00. It should be pretty cool. Well, I got to go take my map quiz, so peace! (BTW I did awesome!)
If there is something that you would like to know that I have not talked about in the blog, send me an email to ktboggs@semesteratsea.net or leave a comment. I will try my best to answer. I really enjoy getting all of your comments and reactions to my posts. I know I don’t respond to all of them, but just know that it takes a long time to write these posts everyday in between sitting on the deck and watching whales…I know what you are thinking…I wish you were here too.
June 20th Noon Report:
1923 NM since Halifax, 357 NM since noon yesterday, 1537 NM to Barcelona, 28 NM NW of San Miguel Island, water is 3600 ft deep, air and water temperature is 68 degrees, swells are 3.2 ft, sunset 21:00, sunrise 6:59, clocks advance one hour tonight so we are currently +5 hrs from EST.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Days 4 and 5 ( plus extra bonus features including clown stories and travel plans in Italy)
Hey Guys! I just wanted to give you all a quick update. Today has been a hectic day! Six of us have been planning our independent travels in
Day 1: Travel from Ship (just outside
Day 2:
Day 3: Explore
Day 4: Explore
Day 5: Day trip to
Day 6: Day trip to
Day 7: Explore
What a plan! We are going all over and seeing everything we possibly can. I know this sounds like a lot, but this is the port where I think I will spend the most money: 1) We are there for a whole week, 2) It is going to be amazing, and 3) It is going to be amazing and we are there for a whole week!!!!!!!!
It is getting late, so I will just hit the highlights of the past few days. On Day 4, I ate lunch with my roommate Nick, the inter-port lecturer, and his wife. The inter-port lecturer is a faculty member from UVA and is going to be the Academic Dean for the entire next voyage…I am so jealous! We had a blast! They have traveled to
Today was Class Day 3 and Day 5! While on the ship, we use two different schedules. We use a continuous count of days since we embarked in
Everyone onboard is also very tired! There are many reasons: 1) everyone is taking sea sick medicine which puts you to sleep, 2) the boat rocks you to sleep, 3) we have changed the clocks back one hour each night that we have been on the ship except for the day we left Halifax (today was the first day that we were on the ship for a whole 24 hours).
BTW, the water today is sooo beautiful. It was the bluest water I have ever seen! I also purchased a few field directed practica excursions today, so I hope I get to go on them. It is done lottery style if too many people sign up for them. The last one I signed up for was in
Here is today’s noontime report:
We are 1569 NM from
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day 3 and First Day of Classes
The day began with the opening and slamming of all of our drawers, the tv spinning around on the shelf, the items placed on the desk, open shelves, and nightstand crashing to the floor. What a wonderful way to wake up! At least it was only 5 minutes before my alarm went off. After breakfast, I went to Art History class. How exciting! I fell asleep for most of the class. I know you pay to go to class, but when you take medicine that puts you to sleep and the boat rocks then you have no choice. Everyone sleeps constantly, but everyone is already accustomed to it. Global Studies was interesting. We began learning about the different cultures around the Mediterranean. Our whole group, which is even larger now, was supposed to eat lunch together; however, only two of us made it to the location and time everyone agreed on: me and Clark. After lunch, the two of us played cards, walked the ship, and played on the computers looking at the files on the server for each class. We already have a map quiz in a few days, so we had to print off what we have to memorize. My International Trade (aka International Economics) course was pretty exciting. We began looking at various Macro and Micro Principles, but in a global way. It was nothing too exciting, but still pretty neat. The teacher seems cool and I think this will be the most interesting class I am taking on the ship. Not as awesome as CofC’s professors, but in the rankings…(Hey Prof. Snyder, Hefner, and Heather!). After class, I met up with Clark for dinner and then chilled with the rest of the gang on the pool deck while watching the sun go down from our lounge chairs. It was very relaxing. It is actually pretty weird for me not having much to do. I am fixing that though. Each voyage, students work together on special projects, events, and committees like talent shows, sport tournaments, service visits in port, extended families (where students get adopted by the older generations on the ship like professors, staff, and life long learners), and the SAS Auction. I volunteered to help organize the auction that has raised around 15 thousand dollars each voyage for the past few years. All of you know me…I love doing stuff like this! The proceeds go towards the SAS Scholarship Program and provides funds for other SAS events for our voyage. I think it will be fun. Our first meeting is tomorrow, so I will keep you posted. Okay, back to day 3… After dinner and watching the sun go down, we had a guest lecturer onboard telling us about different things to do and see in Spain. It was pretty interesting. Currently, we also have an inter-port student (this means that they are only on the ship while at sea between two ports) from Barcelona on the first leg of the voyage to help all of us with travel questions, etc. After this lecture, we all headed up to the top deck of the ship (the observation deck) to star gaze with one of the professors. There is not a better way to see the stars than out in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Why? There are noooo Walmarts, Targets, or other parking lots with millions of lights near us. We got to see Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars! Now it is time for bed. OHHHH, BTW (that means “By The Way” for those of you that don’t know) we now keeping loosing an hour each night as we cross the Atlantic. Last night and tonight we loose an hour of sleep. That part sucks (maybe that is another reason we all fall asleep everywhere we sit…). Ohh well.
Some fun facts:
So each day, the ”voice” comes over the speaker system and gives us the noon report. This is basically the info that is published to the position report on the web. Just incase you didn’t look at it, we are 646 nautical miles from Halifax and we have a mere 2,883 nautical miles to go until we reach Barcelona next Thursday. Don’t forget this is our location at noon today. The ship was475 nautical miles away from land (a little bity island somewhere over the rainbow…) and is currently floating in water that is 6090 meters deep with swells around 10 feet. It was about 68 degrees today too in both the air and water. The “voice” also has fun with the announcements. For example, “Don’t forget to put your laundry bags in the hallway tonight if you would like them cleaned and are on Deck 4 Starboard and please do not disturb the bear in his cage located on Deck 6.” Or “Many of you have reported sightings of dolphins near the ship. If the dolphin has a black fin, then it is extremely poisonous. Please do not look directly at the dolphin since it may spit venom in your eyes. To look at the black fin dolphins, you must look at them using your peripheral vision being careful not to make eye contact.” These people are crazy!
I would also like to thank everyone for commenting on my blog or sending me random emails. I really appreciate it! However, some of you are not including your name in the comment or you are not choosing the name/url option when posting your comment. Many of the comments are great, but I have no idea who wrote what. It is okay to choose the anonymous option, but please please please include whom it is from! Also, I apologize if there is a small random advertisement at the bottom of my blog entries. I can't figure out how to get rid of it, so you will just have to ignore it. Thanks!!!!
I am off to bed, since it is officially 0:33!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Day 1 & 2: Rock the Boat...the best sleep aid!
Day 1: June 15
Greetings everyone! This is the first post coming from the MV Explorer. GET EXCITED!!! The day began at 6:30am as we showered and began making our way to the cruise terminal. It took a little while to get through security, but it went very well. I got onto the ship at about 9:00am and went to the room. It is pretty nice! I am living with 2 other people: Nick from New Jersey and Daniel from California. Once I went to the room, I came back off the ship and went to lunch with my mom, Danielle and her family. We had to hurry and eat lunch, since we had to be back on the ship by 2:30pm. Once we got back on, Danielle went with me to my room to see if my roommates were there….nope. We then went to go for a walk around the ship to see if we could find them. Both of the roommates are pretty cool. Daniel and I are very similar. We set sail from Halifax yesterday at 5pm or 17:00 hours after participating in the lifeboat drill aka muster drill. We then ran to the top of the ship to watch us pull away from land. It was pretty cool knowing that pulling away from the dock meant that we were beginning the journey and all of countless hours spent have paid off. Dinner was actually pretty good (a lot better than I expected). I continued meeting a lot of new friends and everyone is soooo nice. Danielle and I gathered up a small group of people we had just met and played various card games in the piano lounge. The Dean’s and various staff members, including the Captain, came down and talked to all of us in the Union (the largest room on the ship/the theater room). They are extremely funny guys; however, who really wants to listen to countless hours of rules and introductions. I then returned to the suite to go to sleep.
p.s. One of the things that really surprised me was how nice the ship really is. Everything looks and feels brand new! The bathrooms are clean, the furniture is modern, and overall everything is very new looking.
p.s.s. I also am very glad that after only a few hours I have already established a good group of friends onboard. Everyone keeps adding themselves to your group (probably because we look like we are having a blast with how much we are laughing…). We love adopting people to our family! We are all going to have a great time together!
p.s.s.s. SO the boat is definitely rocking! It is very hard to get accustomed to at first. You learn to grow sea legs very quickly as we had 10 ft waves as soon as we left the Halifax harbor. When everyone walks down the hallway, you just see a line of people swaying back and forth. I guess this is why they say: “Have one had for yourself and one hand for the ship. “ It is not too bad though as I have my bracelets and patch on. Hopefully all goes well.
Day 2: June 16
After a night full of rocking, I woke up for breakfast at 7:30 because we had a full day scheduled out for us. We heard everything little detail about the honor code, UV’s grading procedure, safety, medical services and preventions, IT, locations of things on the ship, directions (port, aft, forward, center, etc.) and much much much more. It was a long day! We listened to hours of this stuff. The good thing is that we watched the people talking in a satellite classroom, not the Union with everyone else. This means that we got to sleep, play tic-tac-toe, and the connect the dot game. I am sooo happy those things are over though. I tried to set up my ship email today so I hope it works. I have not had the opportunity to check my Gmail or have it forwarded…so I guess it will get done tomorrow. I have been hanging out all day with all of the members of the even larger group we have formed. Even this weird artsy girl from Chicago keeps tagging along too. We must look cool (I don’t know)! Dinner was amazing (We even ate out on the deck!). We had steak, potatoes, veggies, fresh baked bread/rolls, salad, dessert (tonight was Boston crème cake), as well as a fish, pasta, soup, sandwich station and vegetarian entrée. I don’t think I will be starving on the ship… Breakfast included pancakes, omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, and much more. Lunch was good too, but it follows the same pattern as dinner (meat, fish, veggie entrée, vegetables, two starches, desert, sandwich station, and soup). All in all, it has been great! Yesterday was pretty chilly on deck, but today is much warmer. They even put water in the pool and they said that was 72 degrees (normally same as the air). Well I am super tired as we are loosing an hour of sleep tonight and we start classes tomorrow morning at 08:00 hours. Well it’s bedtime, so sleep tight and dream of bed bugs tonight!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Bay of Fundy, Hall's Harbour and first views of my new floating home
A few pictures from the last two days:
Mom and I at Peggy's Cove
Bay of Fundy in Hall's Harbour
Outside Peggy's Cove
First view of the MV Explorer
Bay of Fundy
Me in the rocks at Peggy's Cove
We began our day at 9:30 by hitting up a local coffee shop. We both grabbeda hot tea and blueberry muffin. This was kinda the first real out-of-the-country experience. All of the fixin's for tea/coffee were community style aka 1L carton of milks and canister of sugar crystals. You took a real spoon out of the bucket, added your fixin's, and put the spoon back in the bucket. Itwas kinda weird, but neat. We couldn't read the milk carton though...itwas in French! Wethen headed out of town to the Bay of Fundy! The Bay is famous because of the inflow and outflow of water as the tide changes. We took the highway a little ways then jumped on the scenic highway that took us through many cool towns (if they were big enough to call them that). We then found a McDonalds:
IT SOLD LOBSTER!!!!! It was a McLobster Sandwich!!!! We did pull into the drive-thru to see how much it was ($5.99) so it must be pretty legit. I thought that was pretty awesome and unique. Even though we had the opportunity to eat lobster at MickeyD's, we continued down the road towards the Bay of Fundy. The bay is huge, so you can see it from many places. We stopped in another small town and viewed a back bay. It was low tide, so all you could see were a few puddles. The dirt on the bay floor looked like chocolate! It was pretty cool. We then made our way to Hall's Harbour. It was really cool. I swear the road was built to beat the world record of the turns in one road. The view of the bay there was beautiful. The cliffs were
amazing, super cool rock structures and the water was as clear as Aquafina. We walked the shore stopping to climb into the rock caves along the way. We then
almost got stranded because even at low tide, the water was rising closer to the super super tall rock hill. We almost had to get our feet wet! Upsy daisy...we survived. Lunch was awesome at Hall's Lobster Pound, where you go and pick out your lobster from the tank, put in him a bucket, see how much he weighs, and take him to the cook. We had an awesome lunch! After lunch, we decided to keep on traveling past Hall's Harbour and found some cool houses: one was painted like a lighthouse and the other had plants growing all over it. They were pretty cool. Everything about NS is just beautiful. We then headed back to Dartmouth (across the harbor from Halifax to take our first look at the MV Explorer. It was pretty incredible. Before returning to the hotel, we stopped by the Citadel (military base that protected the Halifax Harbor). The views of the city were awesome as it is the highest point in the city. At 6:30pm, mom and Danielle's mom and grandma met up and went to the ship while Dan
ielle and I went with some fellow sasers to eat at Argyle's Restaurant. Let's just say if you put something on Facebook, college students know about it. It was absolutely packed full of SAS students by the time we left. It was great meeting everyone and bonding before we got on the ship. We then returned to the hotel for the night. Last night on land for
10 days...
Peggy's Cove Lighthouse
Sunday, June 13, 2010
First Day of Travels
Well, the adventure has officially begun! I am sitting on the bed in Halifax, Nova Scotia writing this with my eyes almost closed. Last night my mom and I stayed up until 2am packing, but we had to wake up at 3am in order to shower and go to the airport. Needless to say, we didn't even go to bed! We tried to sleep on each of our three plane rides this morning; however, it is easier said than done. We may have slept for a max combined time of 60 minutes on all three flights. Once we finally got here, we picked up our rental car, checked in the hotel, and met up with Danielle and her family to head to Peggy's Cove. It was absolutely beautiful! Peggy's Cove is a quaint fishing village about 30 minutes away from Halifax. The most amazing rocks are nestled along all of the water shores. The rocks are very large and absolutely breathtaking. The rocks are so large that there is a very red and white lighthouse positioned on top. The homes are very colorful, small cottages and many have boats and lobster pots on the back porch. The rocks and untouched land travels as far as the eye can see in all directions. We ate dinner at a small mom 'n pop restaurant at the top of the hill by the lighthouse overlooking the water. We all had a blast, even climbing all over the rocks! Tomorrow we are headed to go see the Bay of Fundy and then our family members get to go on the ship without us at 6:30pm. Danielle and I are going to hang out at the hotel while they are on the ship, so we can meet some other fellow sas students. Okay, I'm toooooo tired to keep typing! Goodnight! Ps it is only 8:15 and I am off to bed. You know we must be tired!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Knock Knock...Housekeeping!
Now that all almost everyone in the world was received an email with a link to my blog and begun reading the posts, I am getting emails left and right with questions. That means it is time for some housekeeping notes...
First, I would like to take a brief second to thank everyone that has made this trip possible for me! Without my Grandparents (aka Mummum and Pa), I definitely would not even be thinking about the possibility of participating on Semester at Sea. Before I could even say Mummum and Pa (what I called them since I couldn't say grandma and grandpa), they started saving money for me to do something fun and exciting while in college. Little did they know it would send their grandson around the Mediterranean on a 66 day voyage 21 years later. From spending money while in port, to saving enough money for the entire voyage, their continuous generosity and compassion is truly amazing. To that, I THANK YOU!!! Love you guys! Thanks to my parents for putting up with my endless conversations and errands in preparation to embark on the voyage of a lifetime. All of the countless hours we have spent together buying toiletries, clothes (which is a very difficult task when dealing with my picky style and extremely short body), and various pieces of technology and communication devices are extremely extremely appreciated. To you!!! To all of my other family and friends, I thank you for all of the wonderful advice and stories you have told me about your travel experiences. Advice is the cheapest thing one can give, but is the most beneficial (if good...which all of yours was)! I have throughly enjoyed telling each and every one of you about this experience! Last but not least, thanks to my Great Aunt Bev for the very nice card and spending money. I am including you into the blog, since I know I don't have a lot of time for thank you notes! Thanks!
Secondly, many have asked how you can keep in contact while I am abroad. There are several ways. I will not be accepting phone calls or text messages (since they cost an arm and a leg), but communication via email is free for the entire voyage! :) My email address is kyletboggs@gmail.com. Another great way just to leave me a short note is by commenting on one of my blog posts. To comment on a post, click comments after the last line of the text in that post. Type your note into the white box and choose name/url from the drop down menu. When prompted, enter your name (something so I know who it is) and click sumbit. Note: you do not need to enter a url to leave a comment with that menu selection. This voyage has already taught me a lot about what I want to do for a living in a few years...not write directions!!! I hope everyone can figure out. Mummum: You can do it too. JUST READ THE SCREEN AND THINK!!! Love ya!
Lastly, I have not even begun packing yet. I have pulled out my suitcases and starting pulling a few things together, but the suitcases are pretttttttty empty. It will get done sooner or later. I am also beginning to loose the excited phase and beginning to enter the nervous phase. I keep wondering "if my bags will make it to the ship with me," "if I will wish I went to Augusta to buy travel toilet paper," or "if I should listen to Jeff Foxworthy and use Piggly Wiggly bags and Igloo coolers as my luggage." I guess that is why there is an "if"! What "if"... I am sure everything will work out in the end...even if the end means I wear the same pair of underwear until I get to Spain to buy clothes! Hey, I guess I could look like a true Spanglish-Spaniard...Buenos Dias! Hopefully NOTTTTTTT!!!!
Well, since I have completed all of the housekeeping, it is time to put a chocolate on the pillow and move on to the next task! ONE DAY LEFT...
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