Hawaii

First off I cannot believe this abroad experience is over. Kind of freaking out! … There are rumors flying around the ship that when SASers get home, they need to be medicated for depression because they all get so upset- really hoping this doesn’t happen to me! Anyways, we still have a couple days left on the ship, where we will be taking exams and laying out on the 7th deck. We also have this event called the Alumni Ball. Not quite sure why this is such a big deal, but I guess it is like the prom of SAS? I mean the spa has been booked for weeks… that should say something? Ok, so onto Hawaii….
Unfortunately, we didn’t go to the normal Hawaiian Islands you would typically guess like Maui or Oahu... We went to the big island, actually called Hawaii and docked in the city of Hilo. A lot of SASers were getting a beach house in Hilo and calling it a day, but because my friends and I weren’t really down to stay inside a house all day, we rounded up a group and did something a little different. A group of 18 of us got two buses and had them meet us at the port. We were met by a man named Brandy who was AWESOME and really showed us a good time. We first started on our journey to a waterfall on the way to the main beach city called Kona (you know Kona coffee? Best in the world!). After we walked around the waterfall, we kept driving until we got to the largest mountain in the world called Monte Kea. It was huge! The area around this mountain and the drive was very scenic… a lot of lava rock and greenery. We kept driving till we got to Kona town, which was definitely a scene. There were farmers markets, little shops, and a ton of people. We shopped, ate, and went to a bar on the beach called Coconuts. Around 5 o clock we all headed about 30 min north to the Hilton, which was one of the biggest resorts on the island. I mean a tram that surrounded the complex, 10 pools, 5 hot tubs, waterfalls and bridges… this place was crazy. But before we put our stuff down, we decided to go on a Catamaran for sunset. So the group of 18 of us got on this white luxurious boat and headed out to sea. It was open bar and there were a couple of other tourists with us who LOVED US after the cruise was over. This was gorgeous and a ton of fun! We headed back to the Hilton after for dinner and to get ready. A lot of other SASers had the same idea as us to go to Kona for the night and they all got condos at the Hilton. So that night we headed to the condo area and went condo party hoping. Because this was more of a family oriented resort, we kept getting noise violations, which eventually lead everyone to split up. My roommate (Missy) and my best friend from high school (Casey) had gotten a beach house back in Kona town with about 20 others, which I had originally wanted to visit. So even though it was already 1 am and it was 30-45 min away a couple of us got in a cab and headed to their beach house. This was so much fun to be with them on my last night and we ended up pulling an all nighter. Around 6am (after cooking food for the first time in months) the people who stayed up all night walked to the beach to watch the sunrise. This was gorgeous- unreal colors over the ocean- we all sat on the lava rocks next to the beach and my friend Andrew brought his guitar. The best part was that there was a rainbow that appeared around 7am over the ocean.… I can'’t even explain how amazing this picture was. It was the best and only way I could’ve imagined ending my abroad experience.
After the sunrise I woke up the kids I came to the beach house with and we all got into a cab to go back to the Hilton. We swam and played in the pools until around lunchtime and then headed back to Hilo with Brandy.  We also stopped at Akaka state park for another waterfall. This one was one of the largest in Hawaii and was seriously a site to see. When we got back to Hilo, we shopped some more, and all got back onto the ship around 6pm. Overall, Hawaii was a great way to end my trip and I’m glad I made all the decisions I did. Not really looking forward to this exam week, but I’m sure it won't be that bad… wish me luck and see you soon AMERICA!

Taiwan

So because of all of the traumatic events happening in Japan, as you know we instead traveled to our second to last port to Taiwan. Unfortunately, we only stayed in Taiwan for three days, so we really just wanted to have fun and enjoy our time there. We had heard a couple days before that there was a huge music festival called “Spring Scream” happening in Kenting (southern Taiwan) the first night we were there. Because Kenting is about a 4-hour trip away from our port (Keelung) everyone was pretty hesitant about going. So we first took a train to Tei Pei (the capital) and when we got there made the most impulsive decision EVER to go to the festival. With 10 minutes till the train left, Jeff, Michelle, and I met up with other kids to travel south. After a 90-minute train and a three-hour bus ride, we ended up in Kenting and (thank god) we went because it was so nice out, and on the beach! Back in Tei Pei it was pretty gross out… so we were all very happy to have made the decision to go to Kenting. We got hotel rooms at Howard Hotel, and starting getting ready for the festival. When you walked on the streets there, stand after stand of different souvenirs, street food, bars, clubs all lined the lit up street. We walked around a bit, and then headed to the festival. It was the last night and unfortunately not as crazy as we had hoped but it was still pretty nuts (probably because there was about 50 SAS kids there). There were around six stages with different bands and djs playing all different American and Chinese songs. We stayed there till around 12 untill when we headed back to the beach for the beach party. At the beach there were fireworks and bonfires all along the beach- kinda looked like Manhattan Beach at night!
The next day we woke up early because we thought we wouldn’t be able to get a train back to Tei Pei. It was a national holiday that day, so a lot of families were traveling to different parts of Taiwan. Well, we decided to stay at the beach for the first half of the day because it was super nice out and the beach just looked too appealing! I stayed with Kevin, Adam, and Breuer and they all went tubing (on the back of a jet ski) with some other Taiwanese people. The beach was so much fun and it really did feel like a beach town. We traveled back around 1 o’clock… train… bus… finally made it back to Tei Pei just in time to meet up with everyone to go out for the night. We ended up staying in a five star hotel (the W) in probably the coolest hotel I've ever seen. The toilets were automatic… and heated. Ya- enough said. We met up with everyone and went to a club called, Baby 18 (future SASers- go to Luxy Club instead- it was closed that night but supposedly its amazing).
We woke up the next morning and decided to stick around the hotel for a while. We swam, had lunch, and just walked around the hotel. The W was located in an area called Tei Pei 101, which is known for the second tallest building in the world. We drove by it that day, and man was it tall! We went to a famous night market (yes I know it was during the day) to see what they were all about. Obviously not everything was opened, but it was still cool to see the alley with different shops and restaurants. We went to an alley close to there, called snake alley where people drink the snake’s blood and eat the eyeballs. Well, being the crazy kids that we are, we all decided to take a shot of snake blood. Can’t believe I did that… it tasted like tomato and chicken juice. UGH. On our way back to the train station we did some shopping, ate some street food, and really got the feel for this city. I wouldn’t say that I loved Tei Pei or Taiwan for that matter… it was like a small China (well it kinda is), just not as cool. The buildings and people looked very similar to Beijing, and the streets weren’t as crowded with people. A plus however was that they spoke a lot better English there, so it was definitely easier to get around.
I cant believe how fast this trip is going by… we only have two weeks left and only one more port! We are now on the ship for 12 days so I'm probably going to go crazy… please e-mail me at rzsigal@semesteratsea.net if you want because all I will be doing from now on is checking my email! Hope all is well with you all and I miss everyone so much!

China

Sorry for the delayed Blogs - my parents were in China and could not send these out - Blogs are blocked by the government - Welcome to China!  


Our ship first docked in Hong Kong for the day and then sailed to Shanghai. For the most part, kids independently traveled in this country and didn’t sail with the ship. Most of my friends in this country went through a program called China Guide- which I would recommend to the future SASer. As for me however… I had something much better planned- my family came to Beijing to meet me! Talk about lucky J

Well, the first day in Hong Kong was super packed of activities to say the least. Michelle, Natalie, Lindsey, Olivia and I made a day out of it, and got off the ship first to start roaming the streets. We first docked at a huge mall where it was literally like stepping into a land of "Hello Kitty" and small Asian people. It was awesome- especially wearing my pink sparkly fanny pack…I fit right in! The mall took us out onto the street where we realized we weren’t even in the city of Hong Kong, so we ferried over to the city. We got onto a double decker tour bus (I know so touristy, but we made it happen) and started our journey. We first stopped at a shopping market, made some deals- everything was so cheap! Hong Kong was the first place that I actually felt a language barrier. I used charades and pictures a lot, and I wasn’t really expecting to have such a hard time communicating. Our next stop was to Victoria’s Peak, which was a definite site to see. This was a rooftop view off the tallest building in Hong Kong. We took a tram up to see the view, and man was it worth it! We also had the most expensive lunch ever up there, which I'm still pissed off about... but that’s beside the point. We also stopped at the largest escalator in the world that took us to the “Ladies Market”. We shopped here, and realized it was already 5pm when Lindsey and I had to be back at the ship at 6 for dinner! Hans and Bonnie (my secret family parents… remember them?) took our family out to a really expensive, amazinnnng dinner downtown. Everyone ate pig, crab, duck, dog (just kidding... but seriously, who knows?) and everything else in sight. We then went to a famous street to meet everyone called LKF. Since it was the night of the international rugby tournament in Hong Kong, this street was packed with Europeans, Australians, Asians, Americans, babies, mothers, white people, blue people, seriously- I have never seen anything like this. I wish I could paint a picture for you because words don’t do it justice. People were decked out in different hats, there were flashing lights everywhere, the bars and pubs were jammed with people and it was absolute chaos. This night definitely topped Mardi Gras or Halloween at UCSB for sure! Needless to say it was a great night and I ended up staying in Hong Kong city in a hotel.

Probably not the smartest decision I have ever made, considering I woke up about 30 minutes from the ship the next morning (a ferry ride away) and I had to meet my SAS trip group in 30 minutes! Thank god I packed my bag before I left or I would’ve been in trouble. I met the group at the ship just in time and took a flight to Beijing. Arriving at the airport, I met with my parents and we drove about 2 hours away to our hotel in Beijing. We had dinner this night at the hotel. Julia (my sister for those of you who don’t know) and I watched Due Date on her computer and passed out.

We woke around 8am for our long hike on the great wall. Oh I forgot to mention that this SAS trip was titled- “Hiking the Great Wall”. Wonder who choose that?? My crazy active family is who! Well, we woke up, and drove to the great wall to hike for 12 kilometers. This took all day (around 7 hours) and we took a break for lunch on the wall, which they provided. Guess what it was?? MCDONALDS! Eating McDonalds on the great wall was definitely an interesting experience- considering I don’t even eat that crap to begin with. The great wall wasn’t exactly what I expected either. I assumed there would be a lot of tourists, it to be paved, and there to be a city around it. Well, this road was not paved, that’s for sure. At some points we were on our knees climbing the stone steps! Pretty strenuous, but my family did great- mom (who trained for this?), dad (who does yoga on the reg), me (the naturally active one) and Julia (who didn’t complain too much). We drove this night to a new hotel to have dinner, and rested our sore legs. After dinner the fam and I walked down the streets to different shops and into a giant mall, which was totally local to this suburb of Beijing. There were no tourists in sight, and we were definitely immersed in the culture. Julia and I tried the sugar fruit dessert that China is known for- it is strawberries on a skewer with melted sugar on it. Delish!

The next day we pretty much did the same thing, except today was a lot more strenuous. The hills that we were climbing were brutal and there were over 3,000 steps! The tour guide told me this was the most challenging hike on the great wall (orrrrr I might have made him lie to me so I could write that on my blog). When we finished our hike we drove to a traditional tea ceremony, which are all over Beijing. They introduced us to different Chinese teas- my favorite was the lechee rose one just in case you were wondering. We drove to a dinner that night at a famous restaurant for the traditional peeking duck. Literally everything is made of duck in these meals (awesome for a veg right?). Like no joke- the soup was duck soup. Ew. That night we went to a famous street where they have bars and pubs that line the street. Each bar was different with different Chinese pole dancers or drunken Americans playing karaoke. Julia and I tried the weirdest dessert this night- it was a crepe ice cream with red beans it. Probably the most delicious dessert ever. After the parentals ran out of steam, Julia and I roamed the street and she got to meet a couple of my friends from SAS.

The next day we THANK GOD didn’t hike again, and went to go see the sights. We saw the famous Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. These places were great to see especially because I had seen so many pictures of them in my class on the boat. Funny story- so for those of you who know I seriously have a bladder problem sometimes and I literally couldn’t hold it on the bus right before the Forbidden City. Well we were at a red light and I ran out into a local villages “public restroom” aka six holes in the ground all full of Chinese women squatting. That was an image I will never forget. Probably should be saying that about the Tiananmen square but sometimes those uncomfortable cultural moments are the ones you remember more. We took a flight later that day to Shanghai, which I was really excited for considering I didn’t really love the city of Beijing. Shanghai was everything I hoped it would be and more. It was colorful, beautiful, busy, and full of life. Finishing with the SAS trip, my family and I went to our hotel and out to dinner at the most amazing restaurant I have ever seen. This place called M1NT (best restaurant of China 2010) was on the roof of a building with amazing glass walls that overlooked the whole city. They also had a club attached to it with a shark tank, chandeliers, and huge glass walls over looking Shanghai (even above the urinals!). This place was totally hip, and I loved watching the dynamic of the 40 year old business men in suits hitting on skinny Chinese and Eueropean models. My roommate on the ship Missy (who I love btw) met us there to roam Shanghai. We went to a famous bar street called Xin Tian Di and partied at a couple different bars and clubs. At the hotel that night, Missy and I video chatted with our mutual friend Jenn who is studying abroad in London right now. SHOUT OUT! It was great seeing her face even for a little while- its crazy how much I miss all my friends from home!

Prior to my parents visiting, my grandma (Omi <3) made a connection for us with a local Chinese girl who she met and loved last time she was in China. Bato (or Nora the Explorer as I called her because Nora was her American name) was the cutest little Chinese woman ever! We went on a four hour bike ride through Shanghai and really felt the activity of the city. We went through a local food market, the French section, the Old City, and crossed the Huangpu River by ferry. We saw amazing looking buildings- my favorite was a building called the Gran Melia Shanghai- which had two huge pink balls on the tower. This city was aesthetically hard to explain. It looked like a mixture between Washington DC (because of all the buildings) but also New York City (because of the crazy amount of people and multicolored lights). Once we were done with the bike ride (ps- such a great way to see the city) we went to Nora the explorers favorite place to eat dim sum (which I have decided is just an array of different dumplings). This place was as big as my bathroom and didn’t look like the typical “Sigal family restaurant” for lunch. Padre just pointed to the picture of the different dumplings, and this woman made them for us. Bringing out tray after tray of the freshest most delightful dumplings was probably the best lunch I had the entire time I was in China. Afterwards, we went shopping on Changle Street which was supposed to be a good place to get clothes… ended up being way to expensive (who would’ve thought?), so we went to another area which was recommended for shopping. This place was awesome- little maze of small stores through alleys, outlined with bamboo and little restaurants - Taikang Road,   I loved this area and honestly didn’t want to leave because every corner we turned were more shops- any girl's dream! We went to dinner that night at an Italian restaurant (getting sick of Chinese food?) right before the acrobat show! This was a highlight of my trip in China. The women were so bendy and the men were extremely strong. It was beautiful to watch, and I loved every act. Afterwards, we went to a famous area called The Bund to see the buildings all lit up at night. On the bund we met up with my two friends from Penn State (Jeff and Armand) so they could meet my family.  We had drinks at a famous restaurant called M on the Bund and went on the terrace that overlooked the water. For the rest of the night, I took everyone back to M1NT and a club called Rouge where we met up with the rest of my friends who did China Guide. It was great to reunite with everyone, and it was awesome to have Julia there to meet my friends.

My final day in shanghai was very bittersweet. With Missy, we traveled about two hours outside Shanghai to a water village ( Zhu Jia Jiao)  that resembled Venice, Italy. The boats on the water that looked like bananas, the bridges over the city, the stores and street food that lined the streets… made this village look like a movie set. Nora the Explorer brought us here, and introduced us to many different types of street food and things to buy. My favorite thing we ate was this handmade peanut butter brittle (that I snuck back onto the ship yayy) and this green paste that looked like a soft taco. This village was very historic, and I loved running around the gardens with my family. On our way back to the ship, we had an hour or so to kill so we decided (of course) to go to the urban planning museum. Even though I was not too thrilled to be in a museum for my final hours on land… it was super cool. The museum basically showed what Shanghai were to look like in the future with different models and this elaborate movie that was surround sound and made you feel like you were actually in the city. Its crazy how futuristic some of the places we have visited look like. Singapore being the first one that I can think of… also felt so much more developed than America. We are really behind. Anyways, after the museum Nora the explorer just seemed to stumble upon the greatest mall known to man. We took an escalator under the museum to literally a mall on steroids. There was an endless street (yes underground) of just shops and different places to eat. With no time (of course they do this to me) we only shopped for a little untill we had to part at the ship. Such a bummer ending the trip like this because my parents weren’t allowed to come on the ship. I literally threw a little bitch fit at this Chinese man but it didn’t help. At least they got to see the ship and me of course! Overall, China was a great port. I loved having my family there, and I loved Shanghai. Two days till Taiwan, and more to come soon!

QOS outtt

Cambodia/ Vietnam

First off, let me start by saying how much I miss my girls back at PSU, and all my friends from home. If you are reading this, you know how much that means to me, and I really would give anything to see you right now. Vietnam was an amazing country, and our stay there went by with a blink of an eye. Most people stayed in Ho Chi Mihn City, but through an SAS trip I got to travel to Cambodia for the first three days. This was such a unique experience and I’m so glad I was able to see both countries. Doing SAS trips however, are extremely challenging because you really have to go by their schedule, and you can’t really travel on your own. However, this SAS trip, and the one in India, were the ones to do. I would recommend doing these trips to anyone doing SAS in the future, but THAT’S IT- because you can have a lot more fun traveling on your own.
On our first day, we flew from Saigon (Vietnam) to Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Getting off the ship in Vietnam was definitely an eye opener. It was brutally hot. I mean hot- like scorching. When you breathed in the air it smelled humid, and you were constantly sweating. The streets of the city were pretty dirty, and all the buildings looked like they were falling apart. It was pretty cool to see temples in between some of the buildings. These temples were beautifully colorful, and made the city feel very spiritual. However, this isn’t what I had pictured Vietnam to look like. I was expecting more greenery, and more lush farmlands. Although there were those straw pointy hats everywhere! When we got to Cambodia, the cities looked and felt pretty similar. First, we drove to the National museum. Oh- and our bus broke down on the way… minor detail. The museum was great- very different than going to a national museum in the States. It was all outside, and the relics were incredible (all buddhas). We then drove to our sunset cruise on the Mekong Delta River. We got in these junk boats (all 60 of us), and floated down the river, enjoying the blue and purple sunset. After the ride we drove to a near by orphanage (Palm Tree Orphanage) that was actually created by a SAS alumni. Many alumni seem to go to remote countries and help out after completing this voyage, probably because they can’t sit still after this incredible experience. I can definitely see myself doing something after this trip in a third world country for a while. The orphanage was an eye opener as well. The kids immediately jumped on us and were attached to our hips for the next couple hours. One girl who I became close with was named, Srey Rith. She was about 8, and quite possibly the cutest girl I had ever met. I can see why Angelina and Brad Pitt adopted from Cambodia- these kids were precious! We ate dinner at a local restaurant called, Khmer Surin restaurant, where we were served traditional Cambodia foods. My favorite food that we ate that night was these rice cakes dipped in a bean and peanut sauce (must try at home!). Getting to our hotel we were all dead tired from this busy day but of course rallied to go out on Pub Street. Cambodia had great nightlife- which I wasn’t expecting. We took these tuk tuks (Cambodian rickshaws) to a famous club called Heart of Darkness, and tried their famous drinks (the flaming shot). A lot of fun this night- riding on the backs of motorcycles… ya ya you get the jist.
Our wake up call was at 4:30am (we all pulled all nighters), to go see some of the famous temples. How we sight see with no sleep is beyond me… we went first to a place called the Silver pagoda which was near the Royal Palace. Both were such beautifully designed structures, and it was crazy to me that the king was actually in the palace that we were looking at. We had to take off our shoes at most of these places and we had to cover our knees and shoulders (just like in India). This trip felt a lot like India because we were looking at very similar buildings. However the structures in Cambodia felt a lot more Asian by design. More pagoda-like, and with deeper red colors. We then traveled to the Toul Sleng museum, which was a museum on the killings of the Cambodian people. There was so much history I didn’t know about the genocide in Cambodia- I was never taught about this movement so this day was extremely interesting to me. We visited the Killing Fields afterwards, which was by far the most moving experience. There was white powder on the ground that was the bone remains of the Cambodia people. The fields stretched for miles and there were actual skulls and bones spread out through the fields. I can’t really describe the feeling I had throughout this visit because it was such a mixture of emotions. I was sad, obviously for these people, disappointed, that I didn’t know about this huge event, and glad, that I had the rare opportunity to see such a historic place. After the killing fields, we went to Sorya restaurant, which was near the central market. Favorite food here was the dessert- a green tapioca jello (freakin awesome). The market though is what blew me away. There were about 10 entrances all bombarded with people and stands of souvenirs, jewelry, clothes, food, makeup- you name it. People here weren’t as aggressive with trying to sell you things (compared to India). They really just sat in their stand, ate their foo (traditional Vietnamese food), and waited for you to come and name your price. The best part was however, was that everything was beyond cheap. For example, an OPI nail polish was $1! Thank god I didn’t bring money or it would’ve been a bad day for Visa. We then flew to Siem Reap (Cambodia) for our next couple days. Dinner this night was the most incredible meal ever. For those of you who have been to Hawaii and done a Luao, this was very similar. We entered the Kulen II restaurant, to find a huge room with a stage and an enormous buffet of traditional foods. We ate (more than 3 courses) and watched the traditional men and women perform dances. Back at our hotel that night we heard that you could order massages to your rooms. We immediately made appointments and boy were we in for a surprise. My friend Nat and I shared a bed while these miniature women came in and gave us “massages”. More like beat us up. They were hitting us and laughing the whole time. It was extremely uncomfortable and definitely an experience!
The next morning we woke up again around 4:30 to see the sunrise tour of Angkor Wat. Unfortunately this morning was really cloudy and we didn’t get a sunrise, but it was still cool to see Angkor Wat for the first time. For those of you who don’t know what this is- Angkor Wat temple is one of the natural wonders of the world, and the largest Hindu temple in the world. It was magical. We toured around the temple, took a ton of photos, and then went to another famous place called, Ta Prohm temple. This was the temple were Tomberator was filmed at. Huge trees were coming out of the stones, and took over the sight. This was probably my favorite temple we visited. We then visited the south gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon, Baphuon, Terrace of the leper king and Elephant terraces. All lot of sight seeing on no sleep. We flew back to Saigon that night, and went out in Ho Chi Mihn City. Went to a club called Apocalypse Now (by scooter), and had a great time with everyone who stayed in Vietnam.
Supposedly the thing to do in Vietnam is to get customized suits or dresses made. Because it is so cheap to do so, a lot of people told us to go to the market and try to get it done. The market here was a lot like the one in Cambodia except a lot more compact. There were soooo many people, everywhere. People were eating bugs, cutting up eels, selling fake purses, you name it. I found a dress place where I sketched out a dress, and picked out the fabric. I felt like a real designer! I did some damage at that market… and then was pulled away to go see the Cu Chi tunnels. This sight was probably the only real important thing to see in Ho Chi Mihn, because it was the famous tunnels used in the Vietnam War (or the American war as the Vietnamese call it). We climbed through a 100 meter long tunnel, which was 30 ft underground. We shot AK47s and walked around the grounds. This was also a unique experience because there were pictures of American soldiers being killed and tortured everywhere. There were also traps all along the grounds explaining how they caught the American soldiers. This was definitely hard to see, and made me really uncomfortable at some points. After the tunnels, we went back to the market and got our nails done. Also a cultural experience (in a different way)- very cool to have a Vietnamese woman painting your nails in Vietnam- can't really explain it… you have to be a nail salon go-er. That night was our last night in Vietnam, so everyone went crazy. We all rode around the city on motorcycles and hit up two awesome clubs called Lush and Crazy Buffalo. There were surprisingly a lot of tourists here, or people who were in Vietnam for business. I met this one man from Paris, who really changed my perspective on traveling, made me really reconsider my life, and what I want to do in the future. I loved how he put into perspective how small we are, and how you can really live anywhere you want (and do whatever you want). I always thought that living in the states and going by the book was my only option, but I now realize that the world is so much bigger than that, and if I want to live in a foreign place, no one can really stop me. I know, I know, this might sound crazy, and I'm sorry mom and dad for probably scaring you right now, but it was a great eye opener to feel so independent and so in charge of my own life.
For our last day, we did some last minute shopping at the same market, went to a local water park to play with Vietnamese children, and got sushi. I did a lot of damage in this country… not going to lie. But the experiences I had, and the moments of complete awe that I captured, were by far more important. I learned a lot about myself in this port, learned a lot about the world, and really got to understand how to travel. I’ve now realized that I love traveling in small groups, I love airports, I love meeting people from around the world, and I love motorcycles. However, I don’t like buses, tour groups, or negative people. What I love the most about SAS is that everyone on this voyage is somewhat similar to me. They are up for adventure, live to travel, and most importantly are optimistic. I can’t believe how fast this trip is going by, Vietnam and Cambodia felt like a blink of an eye. It was truly amazing to me how just that little snapshot in my life can change so much of who I am.