Dominica - Day 2

We only had two days in Dominica, so unfortunately we really only had
the day time to explore before we had to get back on the ship to depart.
It was really hard trying to choose what do because of this, and there
are far too many options to limit a trip here to just two days! But,
alas, a decision had to be made. Dain and I didn't really get to see
each other at all the first day here, so we decided to spend day two
together. We decided to go to snorkeling at a place called Champagne
Reef, but it was a really tough choice between that and going to the
Emerald Pool, where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. At the reef we
were able to swim super far out and see a ton of cool aquatic life I
have never seen before. We were a mere five(ish) feet away from giant
seahorses and probably even closer to the actual reef corals! It was
actually kind of intimidating because I was so scared I was going to hit
something poisonous! Some SAS-ers that were there actually got to go
Scuba Diving since they are certified and i'd be lying if I said I
wasn't a little jealous every time I saw them diving deep. The reason
Champagne Reef has its name is because of a certain section of the reef.
In this part, warm bubbles actually continually arise from the rock and
sand to form what looks like the opening of a chamagne glass underwater.
Now, I have no idea how this happens, but it was pretty damn cool to
look at. Words can't really describe the cool things we saw out there,
but let's just say the three hours we spent in the water wasn't close to
enough. I would say that I would share some really cool underwater
pictures, but let's just say my underwater camera is no longer
functional (nor is my point and shoot for that matter). But hopefully
google image will have some better explanations than I do right now.

Note to anyone taking a vacation anywhere, SAS or not: Bring back up
cameras. If I didn't bring more, I would be out a camera one day into my
first port. Sure, I may no longer have anything I can take underwater,
but at least I still have one for land.

After that we took a cab back into downtown Roseau to spend the last few
hours. We were nervous about taking another excursion because we didn't
want to risk not making it back to the ship on time, so we decided to
just walk around town like the day before. When we arrived downtown we
ended up having a verbal fight with the cab driver, due to
misunderstandings of fees (cabs don't run on meters in Dominica - it's
all negotiated prior), and ended up paying far more than we should but
it really wasn't worth wasting our last few hours fighting over. Oh,
well. We then explored the market area again where Dain was able to buy
a giant flag (he's collecting one from every country) and we got some
postcards. We also went to the post office to buy a bunch of stamps and
got some more varieties of bananas. We got back to the ship about 2
hours before our "on-ship time" (when we have to be on the ship by
without being penalized) because we were nervous of how long the
security lines and things would take. So we grabbed our computers and
sat outside on the deck, trying to scam the free wifi that reached our
boat. It seemed like everyone else had that idea too though, and nothing
on the wifi actually worked. 100% of our voyage was actually on board
on-time, which apparently is pretty rare. Anyway, we weren't going to
actually depart Dominica for a few more hours, so a few of us grabbed
dinner and went back outside to enjoy the views for the last time.

Dinner was a pretty interesting experience for me. It started out
totally fine, but about 10 minutes in I just started to sneeze
uncontroably. This was followed by coughing spells, sweating, watery
eyes and a sore throat. I ran downstairs to wash the makeup off my face
and take some cold medicine, and then went back upstairs. None of those
symptoms got any better over the next hour, and I actually devoloped
some more. My throat started to close up and I started to get itchy from
head to toe in every part of my body. Exhausted, dizzy, and naucious, I
excused myself and went downstairs to lay down. About half an hour
later, Dain came knocking on my door and told me he had gone to the
Purser's desk and had the doctor paged and I had no choice but to go see
him. Reluctantly (since I am way too stubborn), I went and it turned out
to be a bacterial infection I got from swimming in the Reef. I don't
know if it is from something I may have accidently swollowed or touched
in the water or the equipment itself, but thankfully it wasn't something
more serious. I was given a few different meds to take for a week, and
was told I should feel better within a few hours. I went back to my room
and tried to do homework, but couldn't really focus. However, after a
few hours I did start noticing significant improvements to how I was
feeling, although the medicines were VERY drowsy-making so I was
exhausted. I ended up going to bed without doing my homework, but at
least I was feeling better. I am really sad that I missed us leaving
Dominica, but I guess there's nothing I can really do about that and my
health has to come first. I haven't met or heard about anyone else on
board that got sick in Dominica, so I'm guessing I may very well be the
first one to have contracted something. This doesn't surprise me at all,
though, as I tend to contract a lot of diseases. I guess it could be a
lot worse than a bacteria, though.

Dominica was definitely a memorable experience for me. From my camera
breaking, to getting sick, to seeing things more beautiful than I could
have ever imagined and meeting wonderful locals who were just so full of
life, I had a wonderful two days and hope to see American cruise ships
or airlines venturing here in the future.

Just a quick note on safety. This is something I will try to do for each
country for future SAS-ers or any traveler: I felt pretty safe in
Dominica. All the kids said hi to us and were super friendly, and
drivers actually use their horns as a sign of friendliness rather than
anger (like I am used to back home). I didn't fear getting robbed or
getting hurt, but I also didn't carelessly leave things either. One girl
on the boat did get her back slashed and taken, but I don't necessarily
think 1 of 700 is that bad of a number. I am far more worried about some
later ports.

Gluten-Free - This is something I'll also try to do for any Celiac
travelers. People in Dominica didn't seem to know what gluten was, but
it wasn't a complete loss. Thankfully, the major crops here are fruits,
and they are sold absolutely everywhere. I'm sure a lot of the fish
would be okay in restaurants too, but the cleanliness wasn't good enough
where I felt comfortable ordering it and expecting it to be non
cross-contaminated. For someone who isn't a Celiac though, there are
gluten-free fish dishes to try. And I was able to order french fries in
a few places without feeling sick. Not the best for travelers wanting to
experience local cuisine, but it wasn't any better or worse than the
Bahamas, either. There were also plenty of supermarkets in downtown
Roseau, and since the language is English you can always find something.

We crossed the equator yesterday and arrive in our port, Manaus
tomorrow. My next post will about life at sea, followed by some posts on
my 4 days in Brazil!

A Goal In Life

Since my life seems to revolve around Disney and doing anything but
staying one place I have decided to combine the two into a new life
goal: visit the countries of all of those represented at Epcot's World
Showcase.

As of today I have visited:
-Canada
-U.K
-France
-Morocco
-USA

As of May I will add to the list:
-China
-Japan
-Village Traders (aka rural, non Moroccan Africa)

This leaves:
-Italy
-Germany
-Norway
-Mexico

I will make it to these 4 countries in my lifetime. It's now a necessity.

Dominica - Day 1

Just four days after boarding the MV, three after leaving our dock in
the Bahamas and two days of classes, we arrived in our first port,
Dominica. Dominica may seem at immediate glance to just be an
abbreviation of the Dominican Republic, but it is in fact an entirely
different island. Pronounced Dom-Min-Ee-Ka, this is an island that many
Americans have not only not heard of it, but probably will never visit.
It is a minor tourist destination, but it doesn't offer international
flights in nor do any American cruise ships dock there (though there was
a German ship docked there at the same time we were). It only receives
about 60,000 visitors per year, which is absolutely crazy since tourism
is a major industry here, and working at Disney I know that at least
60,000 people are there PER DAY on even the slowest of seasons. But I
think that is part of Dominica's beauty. Yes, it's a tourist destination
and that's very apparent, but it has also retained some of its natural
beauty that other islands seem to have lost.

On day 1 in Dominica I woke up at 6:00 to try to see us pull into port,
but it turns out we got there early and were already there!
Nevertheless, I was one of the first people up on the deck watching, and
was able to see our actual approach from the sea into the dock. We
aren't allowed off the ship immediately after porting, and have to wait
until we are cleared by customs. So after watching for a while, I went
to breakfast on the deck and then went into the union to wait for my
trip. This morning I went on an SAS trip to a few different places.
Initially, I hadn't registered for any SAS trips here but I ended up
doing a last minute sign up for one. First, we went to the top of Roseau
(the capital) and were able to just glance down at the city and our ship
in the distance. There was a small market there and we also got to see
some natural vegetation. Next, we went to the botanical gardens, which
is a collection of plants, animals and a lot of other nature-related
beautifies in a public park. There was a group of school kids having gym
in the park too, and it was really cool to watch the different exercises
that they were doing. All the kids wore colored uniforms based upon
their grade year, and they were all doing a different version of cardio
that US students don't normally do and I don't even have a name for.
Also in the botanical gardens is an old crash site from a hurricane that
hit in the 1970s. A bus, with no passengers, crashed into a house there
and it was never moved. The bus is still sitting there, deteriorating
against the house. The tree is still split in half, although very
rotting, and the windows of the bus were all busted up and broken. It
honestly looked like something straight out of a movie scene (or, as my
inner Floridan comes out, the Twister ride at Universal). Our next stop
was to a place called Trafalgar Falls, which is a duel waterfall site
you can get to after a hike. It was beautiful to see, and I got great
panoramic shots of it , but I was disappointed that we weren't allowed
to walk past the bridge part and onto the rocks near the falls. This was
because we were on an SAS trip and they take safety really seriously,
but there were a lot of other students there independently that got to
walk up and I'd by lying if I said I wasn't really jealous. In fact, we
actually got yelled at on the way back because our tour guide thought
some of the kids walking up were from our group (they weren't), which
made me wish even more that I had done it! After the falls we went to a
local restaurant where we got beverages and watched a cultural
performance. Most of the people in my group got Dominican Rum Punch, but
I settled for some Passionfruit juice, which was really, really good.
The cultural performance was of 4 women, singing and dancing, a man
accompanying them playing the drums. The songs were a mix of Creole and
English, and mostly about Dominica. At the end, we got up and got to
dance with them, which was really cool and definitely an experience. I
also thought it was really cool that the performers danced with no
shoes, but I don't really understand the meaning of it. The restaurant
we went to actually had free wifi, and the majority of our trip pulled
out their phones right after and started using it. Although I had my
phone on me, I was able to suppress the urge and instead enjoyed the
views and talking to the performers. I was really proud of myself for
this simply because I thought I would have SUCH phone withdrawals, but I
didn't care to pull it out. Go me! One thing I do have to say about this
cultural performance, though, is that I wish it felt more cultural. A
lot of the songs seemed to be about visiting Dominica and bringing your
friends and coming back for a vacation and so on. Though that of course
is part of the industry and something they are trying to promote (as
well as everyone on the island was, I noticed how many people said "tell
your friends to come to Dominica"), I wish I had been able to experience
more of a native culture rather than a desire to impress Americans.

Our last stop on the SAS trip was to what is called the "hot springs."
The springs are literally that, a small water mass that boils at 95
degrees CELSIUS. You could smell a scent of burning from a mile away and
the site was a lot smaller than I expected, but its hard to imagine how
that happened or how it continues. There were vendors actually selling
some of the salts and things from the waters, but I didn't buy any
because I didn't actually believe it. After this we bordered the bus to
head back to the dock but not before stopping along the way to smell
some local lemongrass, which smelled delicious and I totally wish I
could bring some home. Surprisingly, all this happened in 3.5 hours so
it was only 12:30 by time we got back to the dock. There were a few of
us on the trip that didn't have any plans for the rest of the day so we
decided to venture into downtown to walk around, explore, and maybe try
some local cuisine. We walked around for a few hours, and ended up
eating at a place called "The Garage." I unfortunately could only eat
french fries, since no one seemed to know what gluten was, but the rest
of my group got to try some local foods. Although, local food in
Dominica isn't really that different from American. There was a few
different meats, like dolphin and pig snout (which no one in my group
tried), but most of it was very familiar. After lunch, Kevin and Megan
decided to go scope out the internet cafe, but Quincy and I had no
desire so we decided to see what else we could do. Unfortunately, a lot
of cab fares in Dominica work on a group-based system, so it was going
to be really expensive for us to go anywhere and we really only had a
few hours before our plans for that night started. So, after making the
20ish minute trek back to the ship to find a cab, we decided to drop off
our heavy bags from the morning and head back into town to walk around.
On the ship we found one more girl, Lindsey, to join our group too.
While in town we decided to go to the local fruit market, and try some
of the over 200-varieities of bananas they grow here. Over the course of
my trip here, I tried 3 different types of bananas, 2 of which were
great and 1 of which wasn't. After the fruit market we walked around and
checked out the vendors. I was really tempted to buy some of the
dresses, but I resisted knowing that they were very typical-beach
vacation and not really representative of the country. I did, however,
add to my magnet collection (it's sort of an obsession). We also walked
up to the big Cathedral and when we got up there we heard something
going on in Creole. We got really excited and wanted to go in and
listen, but it turned out to be a funeral so we didn't. Outside of the
church is a MASSIVE banana tree that I wish I could post a picture of,
but I surely will in May. After that we walked along the coastline back
to the boat, and a few interesting sights, including a man running
around the beach completely naked while his dog followed along the shore.

We headed back to the MV around 6, ate dinner, then went back to our
cabins to change and get ready for the night. Pretty much the entirety
of the MV Explorer was going to a place called Krazy Koconuts that
night, including us. I ended up going with Quincy, her roommate
Christina, their friend Ryan, my roommate Robin, Dain and Will. We got
there around 9 and were kind of taken off guard at first. We walked in
and the place was literally like a tent over a bar with a random DJ
stand in the middle. It's the first club I have ever been to that sold
chicken fingers, french fries, and popcorn, too. After a few minutes of
confusion, we found our way upstairs. Upstairs there was one room with
an actual club, and another room that was just an empty room with a
stage. From that room with the stage we could oversee a room on the
bottom floor too with people playing games. The girls ended up finding
our way to the dance floor, where Dain and Will quickly disappeared. We
met a Dominican girl on the dance floor that totally taught us a bunch
of Dominican moves, and after a couple hours went downstairs to find
where the guys went. Dain and Will had actually ended up getting
involved in the Dominos game going on downstairs and had been playing
with the locals for over 2 hours! I actually thought it was super cool
and was kind of jealous of the experience they were getting with
natives. Being exhausted, the girls ended up leaving about deciding to l
leave about an hour later, and Dain and Will decided to stay and
continue playing dominos. Somehow, though, in the process of walking
around finding the boys...we had lost Quincy! We searched for her for
about 45 minutes, and then decided to hope that she had just made it
back to the ship. When we got back to the ship we found her safely in
her bed, thank god. The next morning we found out she was also looking
for us and had assumed we left! But as long as all got home safely.

It ended up being a 6am-midnight day, so I came home and crashed for a
few hours to wake up early the next morning. All in all, a very fun
first day in port.
Coming soon - Day 2!

Days 3 and 4

Days 3 and 4 at sea were filled with a complete ton of chaos. Not only
was it our first two days of classes, but it was also our two pre-port
days for Dominica. Basically, the way classes run here is that there are
A days and B days, and classes can run on any and all days of the week.
So, our first day of classes just happened to be a Saturday. On A days I
have two classes: History of Modern China and Mass Movement Media. On B
days, the first of which was a Sunday, I have Sociology of Marriage and
Family and Global Studies. Global Studies is a course required by all
voyagers.
History of Modern China is a course taught jointly by two professors, a
historian from the United States, and a Political Scientist from China.
This is the last class I need towards my major, and I was really excited
because of the potential it had. However, so far I have been rather
disappointed. The two professors do not seem very excited to be here,
the required FDPs seem completly irreveloent (each course has two
required FDPs in various countries - and for some reason I have yet to
figure out these FDPs for History of Modern CHINA are in Singapore and
South Africa) and the homework load is almost insurmountable. Seriously,
like more than I have had in four years of college and probably drier
than any content I've ever read. Also, the lectures have so far been
less of learning and more of struggling to stay awake (so far, so good,
but barely). Dain was in this class with me, our only one together, but
since it isn't required for his major he jumped on the opportunity to
switch out. I would if I could, too. It's so disappointing because
honestly if a history major can't find joy in a history class while
sailing around the world, it can't be good. Everyone I have talked to
taking any of these professors classes seem to also agree.
The rest of my classes, however, are quite enjoyable. Social Movement
Media is the first class I have ever taken in communications. It makes
me kind of worried since I am jumping right into an upper division,
3000-level course, but so far I am really interested in what we have
been discussing. It's basically about alternative movements and media
sources, and our FDPs involve visiting local college radios and
independent newspapers and the like. My professor has quite a resume,
having taught literally all over the world, and I feel very lucky to be
experiencing such a course.
Sociology of Marriage and Family is, hands down, the most enjoyable of
the three courses I chose on my own. We are studying different practices
of family structures, systems of marriage and doing case studies of
small groups of countries we will be visiting. My professor is from
Cornell, and this is her 4th voyage with SAS! She seems to really have
the ropes down and is very engaging and passionate about her subject.
She also really makes an effort to get to know her students, offering
lunch sessions and encouraging class discussion. I think this class will
be a favorite.
Global Studies...the required course. Some people might hate it, but I
happen to really love it. Of course, part of that comes from my passion
for history and another part comes from already knowing a lot of the
course content from taking 4 years of college history courses, but I am
even enjoying doing the reading because it really is very engaging and
interesting. My professor is also extremely passionate about the
subject. Something different for me though is that this is truly my
first college lecture hall experience. One of the few things I have
always enjoyed about Salem State is the lack of large classes. I think
my biggest college class has probably been around 25 students, but I
have had classes with as few as 7. Global Studies has 300. Quite the
difference. And it's a very weird thing to come across in a final
semester. It's kind of funny because I'll mention that to other people,
and most seem to think it is strange to have mostly smaller classes, but
I guess it is all relative on what you are used to. I do think I will
continue to enjoy this class, and I also think I'll be doing pretty well
grade-wise, which is always a bonus :).
Two days before we arrive in port, we have what is called a Cultural
Preport Meeting. This is voluntary, and is basically a lecture about the
culture of the country we are about to visit. I plan on goign to all of
these, especially seeing how informative and helpful the one on Dominica
was. The night before we port, we have a mandatory legistacial preport.
This basically goes over all of the SAS trips, contact information, dock
times and things like that. So on our first A day, I finished classes at
3:30, sat outside and basked in the crisp 90 (i am guessing) degree
January heat, and started my immense about of history homework until
2000 when I went to preport. The next day was rather similar, except
that I am in class only from 8am to 1035am on B days! It's kind of nice,
but it stinks to get up so early. Especially because of all the time
changes. Our first time change was on this first B day, where we jumped
forward an hour. Since we are traveling in this direction, we have time
advances every few hours. Eventually, this will lead to having a day
twice (April 20th) while heading from Japan to Hawaii, but until then we
loose precious sleep. It may seem like living on a ship I have all the
time in the world to do homework and sleep and play games and hang out,
but truthfully, that is SO far from the truth. I barely have time to do
anything, and for the first time in my life I am actually BEHIND on
homework. I'll talk about this more in my "life at sea" post that is
upcoming, but these first two days weren't just two classes and a
meeting each, but a whole lot more, contributing to what I feel will be
a semester of complete exhaustion..that is worth every second.

First two days

Though I've now been on the MV Explorer for a week, this update will
only be about the first 2 days, before we even started classes or docked
in our first port.

Day 1:
Dain had a work study position, so he got to board the ship a day
earlier than most everyone else to train for his job. So, the last day
in Nassau I was more or less on my own where I became super nervous
about the whole thing and the upcoming days. On Thursday, the 19th, I
struggled to the lobby of the hotel with my two suitcases, duffle bag
and backpack (struggle is an understatement, I stupidly brought luggage
WITHOUT handles to roll them, poor choice. I don't recommend it) and
found two other SAS-ers to share a cab to the dock with. My check in
time was second to last, at 11:20, which is weird since my last name
falls in the middle of the alphabet, but it went in a very random order.
When I got there, the check in line was really long but moved fast.
After waiting outside for about half an hour, I got to the check
in-booth were I was able to drop of my big luggage and go through
security with my carry ons. Next I went to a booth to get my shipboard
ID, but for some reason mine totally hadn't been printed. So I was taken
to the purser's desk with an MV Staff member to get it all straightened
out, and lo and behold, the ID they printed had the wrong cabin number
and wouldn't work on my door! So I went back for take three, and got a
working ID (the lines at the Purser's desk was huge - so apparently
non-functioning IDs were kind of common). Then I went over the Union to
go through a series of stations about classes, payments, registering a
shipboard credit card, FDPs, medical stuff and a whole lot more. I was
also assigned my global studies discussion group, group 2. This whole
process from start to finish only took a few hours and then I was free
to explore on my own until 8pm that day. So I went to my room and met my
roommate, Robin. My parents surprised me and upgraded me from economy to
deck 4 inside (ah!) so I only have the one roommate. We walked around
the ship for a while and grabbed out first meal, then came back to
unpack our room once our suitcases had been delivered. The afternoon was
spent mostly trying to find our way around and introducing ourselves to
countless other voyagers. Sometime during the day, I ran into Dain on
the ship too, which was great since I had absolutely no idea where his
room even was. Turns out, he's on my floor! On the complete other end,
but still on my floor! He got super lucky and has a deck 4 outside cabin
with 2 other roommates. Not all economy students got something that
nice, and from what I have seen they are all very different, with some
being great and others being crap. At 8pm, we had a mandatory meeting to
introduce us all the the voyage and our staff. Our ship was supposed to
sail off at 5pm, but it was delayed until the next day because of
students STILL having visas issues from Pinnacle (I repeat: upcoming SAS
voyagers, DO NOT USE PINNACLE TO OBTAIN VISAS). After that we had sea
meetings. The ship is divided into 10 seas based upon room number, and I
am part of the Adriatic Sea. Our team color is black, and almost all of
the dependent children on board (lifelong learners can bring their
kids!) are on my sea! After that we were all exhausted and slowly made
our way to sleep in preparation for orientation all day.

Day 2:
Day two is filled with orientations pretty much from 9am to 9pm. I
managed to stay awake all morning, but i'll admit I totally fell asleep
during the second half of the day. Something really interesting did
happen this day though, and I believe it's a first for an SAS voyage. We
got 3 of the missing visa students on board, and were told we were going
to leave at noon. Well, it turns out the remaining 10 students had
driven to Miami that morning and gotten duplicate copies of their
passports and were on their way to Nassau! Therefore, we were going to
wait for them to complete our shipboard community! However, we had been
docked in Nassau for too long and actually had to leave the dock for 4
hours, only to return to pick up the other students. So we left and
sailed around for 4 hours, literally making it almost to Florida, and
came back to the Nassau dock to load the rest of the students. Everyone
on board got outside and cheered and screamed, so excited for these
students to be able to join us! It was truly the first moment where I
realized this WAS a family. It absolutely astounds me what ISE did for
these students. To sit in port, to sail around for 4 hours without
purpose, to have to fly double speed to make it to Dominica, our first
port, twice as fast, must have cost SAS a complete fortune, but it was
the right thing to do and something that truly shows how amazing this
program is. As far as we all know, too, this is the first time a voyage
has actually left, and then returned to the embarkation dock ;).

Updates hopefully coming in the next few days:
1) Days 3 and 4 - aka first days of classes
2) Days 5 and 6 - aka our first port, Dominica!
3) Descriptions of life on the ship, food allergies included.

Coming soon!

I need to update, I know. Its so busy here though! One will come as soon
as I finish the stack of homework I have. I just need to say one thing
first, though: Why does it not surprise me that I am the first one on
the ship to contract a local infection? Don't worry, I'm going to be
just fine in a few days, and I'll write all about it in the update, I
just wanted to say how rediculous it is that I get sick from EVERYTHING.

Burnt.

Hi everyone! I'm sitting in the lobby of my hotel in the Bahamas basking in the free Wifi that I will probably be longing for 24 hours from now.

24 hours, 24 hours and I'll be standing somewhere on the MV Explorer watching as we leave land behind to sail to our first port, Dominica. Surreal.

Dain and I arrived here 3 days ago when we flew from the 6 degrees in Boston to the 75 here in Nassau and when we picked up our very-overweight (60,65, 70 and 71 pounds) baggage Dain's very-full duffle was completely COVERED in duck tape, like, head to toe duck tape. Our guess was that it had been searched and the TSA worker was unable (or shall I say too lazy) to close it, but we weren't investigating that on the off chance it had actually broken. Eventually, at the hotel we did, and we were proved right, but god can you imagine?

After customs and what not, we made our way to the hotel and our beautiful room overlooking two of the pools (there are 4) and beach. That first night we walked around the hotel and surrounding cable beach area, then just hung around the lobby, organized some of our things and relaxed. Day two we traveled into downtown Nassau where we first went to the ferry to take us to Paradise Island and the Atlantis. The ferry leaves from right near where the cruise ships park, and although the MV Explorer wasn't there, the Disney Dream was!! Therefore, we have no idea what our tour guide on the ride may have said, nor what other sites were to be seen during the trip. However, we do have 143349 pictures of the Disney Dream and nothing else, but I guess you can expect nothing less from two cast members. Though, the rest of the boat was staring a little oddly when I screamed like a little girl after seeing Minnie Mouse on the bow and Sorcerer Mickey at the stern.I don't care, if they only knew how close Mickey and I really are...

I have also decided from this that I NEED to go on a Disney cruise. I WANT THAT WATERSLIDE.

When we arrived at Paradise Island, we walked towards the Atlantis area and Marina Cove (what I can best explain as the Bahamas less-awesome version of Downtown Disney). While I had been to the Atlantis before, Dain hadn't, so we enjoyed walking around and exploring. A day pass to see and use the slides/beach/aquarium is like $120, and we both agreed that it was not worth that price (especially since I had paid it once last year and thought it was unnecessarily high). Nonetheless, we had fun walking around and even more than that, envying the exuberantly high priced yachts parked in the dock, which Dain managed to take more than just a few pictures of ;). After that we headed back into downtown and walked around before heading back to the hotel later on. On the bus ride home, we were on a route that went through the non-touristy part of Nassau and it really was just an indication to both of us of the people and places we are going to be seeing throughout this journey. The tourist front certainty isn't the norm anywhere. That night we went to the hot tub and enjoyed the wonderful weather. The next day, yesterday, we spent the day laying at the pools/beach and enjoying the wonderful weather. Last night we went to Senor Frogs with probably 75-100 other SAS kids. Senor Frogs is a really touristy bar on the Nassau pier, but its really the place to be around here. A lot of stuff in Nassau seems to be more of a day-time attraction and the city does seem to die down more at night, but Senor Frogs is really where the night is. It's a bar/dance floor/restaurant, and even though I don't drink, I had a blast there with my non-alcoholic Pina Colada and looking out into the dock watching cruise ships come in and leave. Plus, an amazing SAS-er named Ada arranged a whole SAS deal and got us all 2-for-1 drinks, plus a waived cover charge. Dain was hanging out with her and some other people throughout the night and said that the restaurant brought over some really-expensive alcohol for them for free too, and they got to keep the shot glasses. I was with some other new friends throughout the night, and we both enjoyed our night. I also met two other couples who were sailing together, which is an amazing feeling and I'm hoping there is more. Dain and I haven't been telling people we are dating to avoid being labeled as a couple, so I'm happy there will be others too. Our night ended with wicked awesome taxi ride home where the driver stopped at every red light, looked for police,and then sped through it while telling us some of his crazy stories from 16 years of driving, which are indeed a bit too crazy for blogger.

This morning we got up early and packed up Dain's things so he could head to the ship. We were able to find him two other SAS-ers to share a cab with so he didn't have to worry about me getting back to the hotel by myself (which he was VERY worried about when the plan was for me to go with him). And after he left I spent the day laying at the pool reading. I came in a few hours ago, and as you might have guessed from this title, am very burnt. I also miss Dain a lot and hope he can e-mail me to tell me how everything is going. It's crazy to love someone so much that just a day without talking to them can drive you crazy. But we've gone apart a lot longer than a day and if his excitement this morning is any indication, I know he is having a blast on that ship right now. I'm feeling rather nervous and lonely without him, but I'll be okay and will have a blast come my check in at 11:20 am tomorrow. I don't have plans for tonight at all, but I doubt I'll want to be hanging in my room alone so I'll probably go to the hot tub or maybe see if any SAS-kids are in the lobby to do something.

My next update will be from the ship! Whoa!

For any food-restricted readers, the Bahamas is not your ideal vacation destination. Stick to Disney. Or bring your own food. I haven't been able to find a thing.

One more way to contact me!

Droid/Iphone/Blackberry/Nokia users:

Download an app called Whatsapp

It's like text free, but you can use your own phone number rather than a random one.

Basically, when I have wifi I can send unlimited amounts of texts through this program to other users.

The app was free on droid, and .99 cents for iphone, not sure about blackberry and nokia.

But anyway, if you have one of those devices, give it a download and text me on it through my normal number ;)

Other SAS '12 Bloggers

Adam Bianchi: http://blog.AdamJBianchi.com/

Adolfo Kahan: http://adolfokahan.wordpress.com/

Alexandra Munoz: http://surfingalexsas.tumblr.com/

Alli Hughes: http://allisjourneyaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/

Amanda Grond: http://ajgettingsassy.blogspot.com

Annamarie Gavin: http://annamariegoessailing.wordpress.com/

Anna Sophia van der Mersch http://annas1991.tumblr.com/

Betsy Groton: http://betsyatsea.blogspot.com/

Brandon R. Hill: http://www.brandonsinspiration.com/

Briley Curry: http://brileywithadashofcurry.wordpress.com/

Catherine Kerber: http://unbateausurleau.tumblr.com/

Chelcie Cusumano: http://chelcieatsea.tumblr.com

Christina Lane: http://wondersofthesea.wordpress.com/

Cole Arndt: http://colesalingaway.wordpress.com/

Destiny Yarbro: http://bringmethathorizondestiny.wordpress.com/

Emily Block: http://chronicworldadventures.blogspot.com/

Emily Krehbiel: http://www.krehbielsfables.com/

Emily Resnevic: http://sitforluck.tumblr.com/

Eric Hinkel: http://morethanjustapage.wordpress.com/

Erin Margaret McLaughlin: http://knotsoftime.blogspot.com

Eshley Spitzer: http://eshleyatsea.wordpress.com/

Evan Terwilliger: http://amishatsea.wordpress.com/

Daniela Varela: http://lunaresymuchomas.blogspot.com/

Giana Ballard: http://28knots.tumblr.com/

Gracie Loescher: http://graloeatsea.tumblr.com/

Haley Bassett: http://haleyshippingout.blogspot.com/

Hannah Bouchillon: http://globalsmurfette.wordpress.com/

Jake Palacio: http://jakecartwrightpalacio.tumblr.com/

Janie Giebelhaus: http://www.janiebrain.com/#!around-the-world-in-127-days

Jessica Boeve: http://jessicaonaboat.tumblr.com/

Jira Vinyoopongphan: http://http://meetmeonthecoast.tumblr.com/

Josh Keen: http://hearearthdance.wordpress.com/

Julie Sauchelli http://poseidonsvoyage.blogspot.com/

Kadeem-Emmanuel Rafal: http://kadeemsworld.blogspot.com/

Kathryn Krick: http://katatsea.blogspot.com/

Katie Bete: http://catchingkatie.tumblr.com/

Kellie Elizabeth: http://kellieabroad.wordpress.com/

Kelly Motter: http://semesteratsea-kellymotter.blogspot.com/

Kelly Pillar: http://theawkwardtourist.wordpress.com/

Kelsey Riley: http://openingmyeyes.tumblr.com/

Lauren McCook: http://laurens12sas.blogspot.com/

Lexi Lister: http://lexiatsea.blogspot.com/

Lizzy Porter: http://lizzypatsea.tumblr.com/

Liz Kream: http://churningkream.blogspot.com/

Lydia Sizemore: http://owlatsea.blogspot.com/

Mackenzie Jill Weber: http://mysweetlifeondeck.tumblr.com/

Matt Rogers: http://myowntravelingcompanion.blogspot.com/

Matt Schnitzler: http://sailtheworldwithaschnitzler.blogspot.com/

Maya Wandsberg: http://whereintheworldismayaw.blogspot.com/

Megan Mandell: http://meganmandellabroad.tumblr.com/

Michael Kahn: http://michaelonaboat.wordpress.com/

Michael Potiker: http://potiker.blogspot.com/

Michelle Gagnon: http://theditzytourist.wordpress.com/

Miho Fujii: http://fromhawaiitotheworld.blogspot.com/

Miranda Denny: http://travelingdennychild.blogspot.com/

Missy Christensen: http://melissachristensen.wordpress.com/

Morgan Chelsea: http://givemewanderlust.tumblr.com/

Natalee McCarthney: http://brinybound.tumblr.com/

Paige Constance Polzer: http://paigessemesteratsea.blogspot.com/

Patrick Garrett: http://patrickgarrettsas.wordpress.com/

Paul Vergara: http://shoe-mesteratsea.blogspot.com/

Perri Guzofsky: http://pdizzledawg.tumblr.com/

Rebecca Cummings: http://beccastravelogs.wordpress.com/

Robin Baker http://robinstoverbaker.wordpress.com/

Rosemary Dorman: http://iwillsailaway.blogspot.com/

Ross Waycaster: http://RossOnDeck.com/

Rowan Moody: http://rowanatsea.tumblr.com/

Ryan Donahue: http://statuescrumbleforme.wordpress.com/

Samantha Kate: http://samesteratsea.tumblr.com/

Sarah Brinzendine: http://sarahbriz.tumblr.com/

Sephora Findling: http://travelsofthefrasian.wordpress.com/

Shannon Daly: http://shanatsea.wordpress.com/

Suse Sampaio Simoes: http://susetraveler.wordpress.com/

Sydney Fisher: http://sydneyatsea.tumblr.com/

Thomas Lord: http://colorsofdiscovery.wordpress.com/

Thorne Perun: http://occupysea.tumblr.com/

Torie Foley: http://the-wanderers-mischief.blogspot.com/

Alaia Schwegler: http://offtoseatheworld.blogspot.com/

Lizzie Szoke : http://lizzieatsea.blogspot.com/

Alexis Faughn: http://alexisloves.tumblr.com/

Jaimie Esaki: http://whatruafraidof.wordpress.com/

David Clark: http://buffsatsea.blogspot.com/

Charlie Anderson: http://whereintheworldischarlie.blogspot.com/

Steven Lowy: http://stevenonaboat.blogspot.com

contact information

Here is my contact information for Semester at Sea:

E-Mail:

Alisa.Kashdan.S12@Semesteratsea.org

Send me mail:

MV Explorer - Spring 2012 Voyage
Attn: Alisa Kashdan

then the appropriate from below -->

(http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/staying-in-touch.php)

letter sizes only, packages cost a minimum of $50
Side note: I'm arriving in Japan on my birthday, and accept cards. :)

Time Zone Differences in hours (from EST):

-Dominica: +1

-Brazil: +1

-Ghana: +5

-South Africa: +7

-Mauritius: +9

-India: +10.5

-Singapore: +12

-Vietnam: +11

-China: +12

-Japan: +13

-Hawaii: -6

Two things...

1) I wish I saw this earlier and not a day before the deadline

2) Is it sad that if I had entered I'd be wishing for third or forth rather than first or second?

Not my countries..but still totally awesome

is this really happening in just five days?!

Nerves a go-go

All of a sudden the one week mark hit and I felt a flood of nerves that has completely taken over. I have everything that I want to bring completely organized and ready to be packed, and am just waiting for my order of packing cubes to come in to finish up. It's stressing me out because I just want to be done, but literally everything is ready to go into these cubes once they come. It seems kind of crazy, prolonging my packing for "cubes"...but I felt that way too until I ordered one set to try them. THESE THINGS ARE AWESOME. I'm barely even using space bags because these things are just way cooler.

Anway, I am leaving for the Bahamas in just five days! Crazy! I still am trying to tie up loose ends here (school issues, another disney issue, medical stuff, ect), but I almost feel its wishful thinking to hope it will all be done before I head out. One nagging feeling I've been having lately is that I have sort of been regretting choosing an economy cabin. Sure, its cheaper, but odds are that my cabin will look like this:



and I'm almost wishing I picked deck 2 instead. But there's nothing I can do about that now, I guess.

That's all for now. I apologize for the lack of structure here, scattered thoughts are kind of a forte of mine.

E-mail Test

This is a test to see if e-mailing blog posts work, as that's how i'll be updating from the water!

Since I just realized I never posted these..

Here's what my road map looks like for the next few months :)


And this is the MV Explorer, the place where I'll be learning, living and traveling!

Oh so many clothes!

I'll admit it, I'm a whore when it comes to clothes. I own at least 15 pairs of jeans, more than 20 bathing suits, around 75 pairs of shoes, 30 sweatshirts, 10ish jackets, 30 pairs of shorts and if you combine tanks, tees and longer-sleeves I must have at least 200 tops. Naturally, packing four-months worth of clothes into a suitcase and a duffle was quite the challenge. I absolutely hate repeating clothes. And my definition of repeating tends to be along the somewhat insane lines of wearing the same outfit more than a few times a year. Now, before I keep going, let me just say that I'm definitely not a fashionista. For one thing I can't walk without falling in flats, let alone heels, and I don't really follow trends. I really am a tee-shirt and jeans kind of girl. My makeup routine consists of foundation and mascara, and I own a grand total of one scarf (that has never been worn). I just like varying up those tee-shirts and jeans, and even the thought of wearing the same ones over and over kind of irks me out.

So how much did I end up packing and, more importantly, how in the world did I narrow it down?

Here's what I narrowed it down to:
-8 tees
-7 tanks
-15 camis (at least layering might help me ease myself)
-2 "nice" (more formal) shirts
-2 dresses
-1 raincoat
-2 zip up hoodies
-1 oull over hoodie
-1 pair gym shorts
-1 legging
-1 jegging
-3 jeans
-1 pair of sweatpants
-1 pair of yoga pants
-1 yoga capri
-3 pj pants
-3 sleep pants
-3 sleep shirts
-1 regular skirt
-1 long skirt
-2 bathing suits
-2 pairs flip flops
-1 pairs of hiking shoes
-2 pairs of sneakers
-black flats
-nicer, going out shoes
-15 pairs of regular length socks
-3 pairs of long socks
-an absolute ton of bras and undies

Honestly, I'm pretty damn proud of myself for this, although it is rather difficult to look at my closet and still see it packed to the brim even after I have packed. But it definitely wasn't easy getting it narrowed down so much. It took 4 rounds of going through everything and eliminating more and more, but I feel pretty content with the number I have right now. I'll probably be driving myself crazy with re-wearing things so frequently that I will get rid of all of these out of pure annoying when I return, but I guess I'll survive.

So, how did I manage to bring myself down to this? To be frank, it was really all about getting into the right mindset. This trip is about discovery, aid, giving. I started thinking of the people I am going to meet, people who may never even own 7 tee-shirts, and from there I found myself saying "I don't need this..I don't need this..." And as I narrowed down my pile from 20 to 15 to 10 to 7, I felt my self-pride truly rising for having the will to say no. I'd actually really love to bring some of those "rejects" to give to these struggling peoples, but with cultures so different I am not quite sure even what clothes would acceptable for certain countries or what the meaning of me giving them would be interpreted as. Still, when I pack i'm planning on throwing some of these in, but that's really a topic of a different entry I should probably write. Anyway, to get back to the clothing debacle, I know I'll get stuff along the way, and truthfully I am kind of banking on that to at least get me through. But I guess these over-worn clothes will go right along with the over-eating of potato (I hear the ship food is a lot of potato and pasta, and since I'm allergic to pasta, I see a lot of potato in my future). Maybe these clothes can come to join the pile that I brought along my summer road trip with me; the pile that I look at and think of wearing 5 times in a month, cringe at, and promptly return to the closet in search of something new. For now, I have to keep reminding myself of those in need and stop myself from packing more. I'm pretty sure this battle won't be over until I step on the MV in a couple weeks...I can only hope I'm ready for the fight. To all those traveling anywhere in the present of future, good luck. I hope this can help even a little. Remember, Forever 21 will always be here waiting for us when we return.

All it takes is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie duet.

I can officially say I am seasonal with The Walt Disney Company!

This takes such a huge stress of my back and can hopefully put me one step closer to feeling great. I can't wait to be back with the mouse this summer!