Capetown, South Africa

This city is singlehandedly the most amazing, beautiful, cultural, and friendly city that I have ever been to. I have decided that if I didn’t do Semester At Sea that I would 100 percent be studying abroad here. All the people were so amiable, the food was spectacular, the city was so much fun and I loved everything I did here. Now of course being the extreme “packer-in-er” that I am… I didn’t sleep for three days (no joke) and my body is now falling apart! I have bruises all over me, my entire back and neck are sprained (oopps?) and my left knee might be broken… but you know what? IT WAS SOOOO FREAKIN' WORTH IT!
Starting from Thursday- we actually couldn'’t dock when we were supposed to because the winds were too strong. This is typical of this port because the winds around Capetown are incredibly strong- probably having to do with the mixture of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean? So everyone was so depressed on Thursday, people missed $2000 safari flights, and everyone honestly was plain miserable. But I wasn’t because I wasn’t missing anything, and I just tanned all day on the front deck ☺ But ya, it kind of sucked. Anyways- a little prelude to Fridays activity- we have these “families” on board which are called our extended families. I met this man and woman the first day in Dominica (both around 50?) who are on the boat and I absolutely fell in love with them. They are from San Diego, extremely worldly and totally awesome. They “adopted” about 20 of us to be a part of this family thing we have on board, where we sometimes eat together and do different activities on and off the ship. Well, Bonnie and Hans (the couple) put together this wine tour for the family on Friday. Now this was no ordinary wine tour (not only because I didn’t have to pay for it) but because we took a party bus into wine country and went to the two best wineries in all of Capetown. The area was called Stellenbosch and the wineries were called Kanonkop and Wickenry. We had private viewings of each and private tastings. These were both so beautiful- one on a lake with the greenest grass you have ever seen, and one in a beautiful wooden barn. It felt good to dress up and be clean for once! Once we finished, Bonnie and Hans took all of us out to a very nice dinner on the waterfront in Capetown for steaks. This was such a generous offer, and Mom and Dad- I seriously cant wait for you to meet them! Right after, a group of us went back to the ship to change and got ready for our first night out in Capetown. We went to a club called Fez and stayed out till around 4:30am!
So around 4:45 (that is 15 minutes later) a group of 12 of us met outside the ship. See I wasn’t kidding about the no sleep! We got in a little bus and drove about two and a half hours away with our tour guide Cristo (total South African hottie). He brought us to a little breakfast place and explained to us the logistics for SHARK DIVING. Ya… what?? So we went onto this little boat, got in wet suits, and saw the cage we were driving into. This was a tad freaky. About five at a time we lowered ourselves into this legit cage (in 30 degree Atlantic ocean), with a snorkeling mask and that’s it. Once in the cage they shut the top and when the guide saw sharks we just went underwater and peed ourselves. No joke, scariest thing EVER. I was an arms length away from these 12 ft long great white sharks. At one point there were four circling our boat all ranging from 8-16 ft. It was terrifying (especially being somewhat drunk still)! Remember in Finding Nemo, the shark Bruce? Well I literally felt like Bruce and I were in a staring contest at some parts... it was crazy. After the shark diving we went back from lunch and drove another two hours to a very famous mountain in Capetown called Table Mountain. It’s called this because the top looks exactly like a table top- duh. Well Cristo  literally pushed us up this mountain so fast I couldn’t believe it. The normal hiker takes about three hours, we did it in one and a half. It was unreal… literally stair stepper for an hour. But it was so worth it when we got to the top because the views were incredible. A full 360 of what it felt like all of South Africa. I can’t wait to show pictures! The walk down was brutal though- we thought we could take the cable car down but the winds were too strong, so instead we hiked down through a huge cloud and this is where I hurt my knee ☹ But anyways it was worth it and we got back to the ship just in time to go out with everyone! We went to a street this night called Long Street where there were bars after bars of locals and SASers. We went to two bars here and ended at Fez again. This night I got home around 4:30 to wake up at 8 once again (so a little more sleep here)!
We thought we were going to go on a safari today but the guide changed the times and we missed it ☹ This was actually a good thing however because everyone kept talking about this all day BBQ in a township called Mazoli. Now, outside Capetown there are these townships, which are kind of like ghettos. They are really colorful, made of what it looks like aluminum, and completely destroyed looking. There were clothes hanging outside of the little shacks, and trash everywhere. It was really sad and kind of scary in some parts. Well, we drove into this one township and up to this open area with a little shop that sold meats. Yes, this was sketchy. But once you walked into the open area there was live music and around 300 people all enjoying themselves. There were locals, SASers, and a bunch of Americans who were studying abroad in Capetown. Now, the meat was ridiculous. You walked into this shop and all this raw meat (chicken, sausage, beef, ribs) was just lying there ready to be BBQed. Well, since I don’t normally eat red meat… I was very skeptical of this part but I did it anyways, and man was it worth it. They brought out literal barrels of BBQed meat and people just destroyed it. It was the best thing I have ever tasted. I think I ate a two ft long sausage (no joke). We partied all day, and met a ton of locals- it was one of the best days of my life. Around 3 pm we got in a cab to drive about two hours away to a famous beach called Boulder Beach. What was so cool about this beach was that there were natural penguins running around the beach! It was awesome. We played with penguins for the rest of the day on these huge boulders until returning back to the ship. We went out this night to an area called Camps Bay (a local beach with bars and clubs along it). We went to a bar called Café Capris and then to a club called St. Ives. This night felt like spring break in Acapulco- absolutely crazy! And yes, I pulled an all nighter.
Bad idea on no sleep because at 6am we were picked up by Cristo to go kloofing! What in that name is kloofing might you ask? Well, this was something recommended to us by previous SASers, and man were they right. By the way, kloofing is essentially just cliff jumping. It was seriously OUT OF CONTROL! We hiked over boulders, streams, and yes more mountains till we got to our first cliff. All of the cliffs we jumped off of were located basically in between two mountains where water passed through. So these weren’t really cliffs they were more like waterfalls. It was unreal. The views were amazing, everything was so green, and beautiful. We jumped off eight waterfalls in total, the lowest being 7 ft, and the highest (and last one) was 65 ft. Made a check off the bucket list on that one! We literally walked from 8 am to 5 pm that day, after already being sore from Table Mountain. It was brutal, and I was trying not to complain too much ;) After kloofing, we went to a local place to eat, and I tried a local dish called springbuck pie (AKA antelope!). It was amazing, but I felt like red meat overloaded. This night out was the best. We went to a club called Mercury. Which was an old warehouse where they played house music. And guess what? Another all nighter. UH OH!
On our last day, just the girls decided to walk around Capetown and really understand the city. Ps- my friends on this ship are amazing and we really have a core group of girls and guys. Most of them are from California and some from Colorado. The group of girls are all blonde and all the guys are really crazy. We went back to Long St. where we walked around, shopped, and went to a market to buy traditional African souvenirs. After we were shopped out, we went to a recommended Monkey and Bird reserve in Haut Bay (another beach community near Camps Bay). This was the largest bird reserve in all of Africa and man were they not lying. I think I've now seen every bird in the world. It was awesome- they were flying around us and all so beautiful. At the end there were the monkeys! I love monkeys, so this was a real treat. We saw every species of monkey, and went into a cage to play with the squirrel monkeys! They were so cute, and had such soft fingers! Making our way back to the ship, we still had some time so we went to the mall to get some necessary items. Had 100 rand left over (about 12 US) so we went out for sushi. BEST SUSHI I EVER HAD or so I thought… it was probably the lack of sleep. Getting back to the ship around 6pm, I immediately passed out and slept for 16 hours. Amazing city, and best four days of my life.

Ghana

So when we first arrived to Takoradi, Ghana on Sunday I had to stay on the boat for three extra hours. This is what SAS calls “dock time”- kind of like a time out for doing something bad? Anyways, I got dock time for eating from the mini bar in Rio which carried onto this day. Needless to say, it was ridiculous and Semester at Sea is way too strict about things- I mean eating from the mini bar? Really? I even paid for it! Anyways, I didn’t miss much because people didn’t leave the ship until around 11. A couple of us decided to go to a local beach called Africa beach which was supposedly the nicest beach in Takoradi. When we first left the boat, I was very scared at what I saw and smelled… it smelled like burning chocolate mixed with cement and B.O. We had to walk about 15 minutes to get to a taxi- and this walk was brutal. It was hot as anything and smelled sooo bad! Great introduction to Ghana right?! Once we got to Africa Beach we met up with some people and just hung around the ocean with some locals. I met the cutest family and spent sometime talking to the kids and taking lots of pictures. The children here don’t see digital cameras that often so showing them the photo of themselves after I took it rocked their worlds! On our way back to the boat, we got harassed by locals to buy their stuff.  They asked us our names and on the way back into port they had made us bracelets with our names on it- crazyyy.. feeling bad, you buy them - its such a scam. Anyways, this day was pretty relaxed we went back to the boat for dinner and then all went to the same local bar called Ocean bar which was a great time. A ton of dancing with locals and I ended up out till 4:30am!! Lucky for me, I had already packed, so when our village drivers picked us up at 5:30am, I was already ready!

My friend Natalie on the ship had a connection with this Canadian woman named Linda who was married to an African man named Abraham. Abraham lives in a village about 4 hours north of Accra (the capital) and about 8 hours away from the boat. Linda and Abraham told Natalie she could pick 12 people to come with her to the village for 3 days and 2 nights. We had a group of us go- all soo hungover… but we made it. That morning we all got into this small bus with barely any air conditioning and started on our journey into Ghana. We stopped for breakfast (an egg on a piece of this sweet bread) in Abraham's brother's village, met his family and kept on driving. We stopped mid-day in Accra on our way. In Accra, the streets were bustling with people. The streets and buildings all looked like they were falling apart, they were dirty, and all the shops looked kind of out of business. Men and women lined the streets with huge bowls on their heads of different items such as plantain chips, African chocolate, gums, and random things such as pencils? It was bizarre (I made one of the woman put the bowl on my head so I could try holding it hehe).   If you put a dollar out the window, they would literally run up to your car and run with you even if you were going really fast. It was crazy! 


We went to the local market here and did some shopping/ had lunch. This market was the most amazing market for me because I literally turned into a celebrity. These people have never seen red heads before so I was a hot commodity... if I may say so myself! I had guys flocking around me trying to sell me stuff and giving me marrage proposals? Haha it was great! The best was this one man Sici who gave me his necklace and told me I should remember him forever. He was full of positivity and life- I will forever remember his smile. Literally, throughout my time in Ghana, I got 3 marrage proposals, 4 free items, and a ton of looks from women.. Once we left Accra it was a lot of uncle wiggly had for breakfast and 20 questions in the car. We arrived at the village around 8pm to Abrahams aunt dancing - she as so excited for us to come visit. Since it was relatively late, everyone was sleeping and we couldn’t really see anything (no lights anywhere) but it was okay- they fed us dinner (some local dish called foofoo and chicken) which was delishhh and we went to sleep in our bunkbeds.

6 am wake up by the roosters- we woke up to this little village and walked with the children to their school. The school was about half a mile away and had about 6 classrooms. There were 608 kids there, who all fell in love with us immediately. I think I had 7 kids on me at all times- especially this one girl, Manuella, ohmygosh was this girl a cutie!! I wanted to pack her up and take her home with me! Everytime, I got up she would follow me- ughh so precious! We taught some classes (aka played hangman with words like apple), played in a soccer game (I watched... duh), and just simply played with the kids. Oh, I also got a group of girls to Bat Mitzvah dance - it was hilarious! This was so rewarding and they loved having us. 


After our time with the kids, we went back to the village, where 6 men (good looking mind you) were ready for us on motorcycles. Two to a motorcycle, we scooted all around Ghana, we saw rice farms, went on canoes into the river, and saw some of the other villages (and met their chiefs!)- it was a great time and an amazing way to see the area. When we got back, we were surprised by the whole village coming to together (about 100 people) with drums and these crazy outfits all singing and dancing their local traditional tunes. The men would beat on the drums to these crazy beats and the women would dance (their moves kinda looked like chickens pulsating?)- it was great. We all put on their traditional skirts and danced 'till the sun went down.

Another 6 am rooster wake up call and we sadly had to say goodbye. We got in the car with Linda and Abraham and started on the 8 hour bus ride once again. Oh and one of the chiefs of the village came to wave us off- so I thought- nope, he came to say goodbye to ME ya. Ghana men - all about the redheads! Not too many stops this time but a lot of games! Once we got back to the boat, we were all dead tired, but we mustered up the energy and went to a local bar called spike. About 30 minutes into the bar, I all of sudden started getting the worst cramps ever! I immediately started throwing up and needed to go back to the boat... bc I was in desperate need of a toliet. Now of corse it’s the night that Semester at Sea decides to conserve water and they shut off the water sources on the boat. REALLY??? This was a huge problem. My body was getting rid of what ever it had in it in multiple areas including my nose (if you get what I mean) and I couldn’t FLUSH THE TOLIET. Needless to say it was probably one of the worst nights of my life and it continued for about 24 hours- water turned on at 6am thank god so I could rinse my mouth off and flush the toliet. Sorry for the TMI, but ya it was painful. This kinda sucked for me because the last day in Ghana I literally was stuck in my room puking and pooping (at least I was pooping!!)... but yea I still don’t feel 100% better but its okay, I'm paying for my Ghana experience, I guess.   Overall great trips and were all so pumped for Capetown!

Oh and my yoga classes are a huge hit- they have hired another teacher to teach beginner classes and there was like 40 people there today! Also I have mastered how to walk around instead of just showing the positions- this is a huge step and I am really proud of myself :)

Thats all for nowww

xoxo- QOS

Brazil

Just got back on the ship from a PACKED 4 days.. I have slept in total 6 hours in the past 3 nights and you can totally tell. My voice is gone and I have huge bags under my eyes.. but that's beside the point because it was all sooo incredibly worth it! So starting from the beginning.. 

We arrive to Manaus, which is the port city in Brazil, around 7am. We looked out our windows at these 3 huge river boats that would be our home for the next 2 days. Now, just to clarify, everyone in SAS does there own thing when we get to these countries. Some people have registered trips through SAS, but most people actually do stuff independently with other kids on the ship. In brazil, I signed up (through SAS) for the Amazon and Rio trip. Thankfully, I had a lot of friends going on it too so I was really pumped. The first thing they had for us were boats- they were 2 stories. The top level had about 25 hammocks and bottom was just tables and some holes to go to the bathroom. It was pretty rustic- but they had fried plantains waiting for us so I was happy :) As we start to cruse down the amazon we actually could see the mixing of the water with the Negro river which was what we would travel on. We were on the boat taking a million pictures and playing cards in our hammocks for about 4 hours. At one point, I actually made everyone take a blanket and go onto the deck for some yogayoga! I led everyone through a meditation series and it was so peaceful and beautiful. Everyone really enjoyed themselves (duh)! We were being followed by two other ships because there were 3 groups of us,  they all watched us obviously having a better time than them! We finally arrive to the first stop which was a site with huge lilly pads (probably half the size of my body) and took photos with the locals. Then we shopped around the floating island for a while. In the amazon, there are some communities on the side of the rivers that are purely based around tourism. It's amazing how much these people really rely on us for their income. Anyways, I helped them out a little ;). After shooting some blow darts, and drinking a Fanta and were on our way again. The sun was starting to set. I really wish I could explain to you what this looked like. This sunset was unlike anything I had ever seen before... the clouds turned pink and the whole sky was different shades of purple. We got to where we were going drop anchor for the night (in the middle of the river because we didn't want mosquitos to get to us- yes I'm on malaria pills) with all of the other boats. (P.S.- camera died right here) We then transfered to small motor boats and our guide took us to go camen fishing! So just to paint a picture- it's dark out and were in the middle of parahna and camen infested waters with no protection except our short amazonian guide. Yeah, it was scary. There were yellow eyes that you could see watching you. At one point the guide actually pulled a baby camen out of the water so we could hold it! We had a delish amazonian homecooked meal on the boat and went to bed in our hammocks. I told the bed time stories tonight to our whole boat- ya 25 people- about my car accident when I hit a duck... and then when I hit a stationary motorcyle story... needless to say, everyone never wants to get in a car with me! W

The next morning, we woke up at 5 am to go parahna fishing. We didn't catch that many but still pretty cool- they are scary little creatures. We then went to a local plantation where we learned about different plants and foods in the amazon (one of my favorite parts!). They have this tapioca root which they make tapioca pancakes out of... they were delishhhh i loved this the most. The woman made us fresh ones and we saw how they were properly cooked. We then took a short hike through the amazon where kids ate larva, drank water out of roots and oh wait I RAN INTO A HANGING THORN PLANT!!! Yeah.. talk about needing my adhd meds that day... i had 9 thorns sticking out of my left cheek. Thank goodness I've been teaching a lot of yoga. Thats all i have to say. Im fine though...just incase you were wondering. We then got back on the boat towards Manaus. We had about half the day there to just walking around and see the city- saw a cool cathedral.. nothing much there except really provacatively dressed women and stray dogs. 

Then off to rio that night at 1130 for our red eye flight! This was fun because all groups were on the plane- party plane! We had a layover and got to rio just intime for a breakfast on the beach (felt a little awkward eating when I could see so many butts tanning) and then on to our jeep tour of the "Big Jesus"- that's just what I named the statue. We all got in these Jeep Rangler-style cars and rode up to the statue...it was awesome! I can't wait to show pics of the views from here- it was unreal! We also went to a waterfall, did a hike around it, then went to a botanical gardens. After we rode bikes around rio for about an hour. I felt very touristy.. but it was worth it! That night we went to the nicest brazilian steakhouse in all of rio- it was unlike anything i had ever seen. crazy meats and sushi platters galore! I went into the kitchen and took pictures with the chef ;) We also hit up some local bars and really experienced what rio had to offer. 

The next day we went ziplining and on a ropes corse through the trees in a nearby town. This was fun- zipline was pretty short but the ropes corse was really scary! After, Casey, Ben, Andrew and I went to go hang gliding! By far the coolest thing ive ever done! We ran off cliffs with a guide next to us and literally flew around Rio. We could see the Jesus statue, the beach, a nude tanner, 35 million dollar houses, little kids playing soccer.. the list goes on. I flew with a guy named Mosquito who told me if he were younger he would marry me...? Yeah, that was awkward...when your in the middle of the air! He was a professional and supposedly had flown all over the world and had married like 6 times?Hahaha he was a nut case. We then went back to our hotels to get ready for the soccer game! (see i told you we had packed days!) We all dressed up in Brazilian colors (I wore a flag as a shirt) and got on a bus to go to the soccer game. This is my favorite part of the whole Rio trip- it felt so cultural to be surrounded by these soccer fans. It was a seriously great time. At around 2am, when it was over, we went straight to one of the best clubs in rio called: 00. I sweet talked my way in with no ID and no cover charge... Hehehe. I think it was because I was wearing a flag? Anyways this club was unreal and we stayed out until 4:30 when we had to catch the flight back to Manaus at 5am. Talk about craazyness... anyways it feels good to be back here, even though we are going to be on this boat now for 9 days to Ghana! Can't wait to sleepppp- ta ta for now!

-QOS

Amazon

So we have entered the Amazon river... trust me not as glamorous as it sounds. The water is the color of milk chocolate and all of a sudden there has been bugs EVERYWHERE!! The boat has started sailing so no rocking thank god and everyones getting a little restless. As we have been traveling down the river we have been passing by different communities with kids waving and little boats passing by us. Its pretty cool. Today was "reading day" a day where everyone is supposed to catch up on our reading... yeah... I dont think I've seen the pool deck this crowded ever! It was a great day everyone was laying out and the sun was sooo strong. At dinner tonight it was hard to find people not burnt to a crisp. I however was fried two days ago so Ive got a nice base coat goin :) Last night for our sober entertainment (yes we have been sober this entire time) we had an open mic night and people did different talent acts. Casey and our new friends Ben, Andrew, and Adam (from PSU) sang titanic- hysterical! After they had a "club union" (union is our meeting room in the front of the ship). This was where they gave us a bunch of sugar and basically danced our hearts out. It was a good time- it felt however like i was in 7th grade. This whole trip so far (ps- I cant beleive its been only 9 days) has felt like 7th grade. We are playing card games and board games every night and really getting to know eachother on a sober and more personal level. I never thought in my 20's i would return to these types of activities but it feels so refreshing you have no idea. Although i am getting very anxious to get off this boat and go to a club... ;) Classes are going well- learning a lot about Rio and the dangers of Brazil to get us prepared for tomorrow. I am leaving tomorrow for the Amazon and Rio SAS trip- 2 nights in the Amazon and 2 nights in Rio- I am so pumpedd! Oh- today I taught yoga on the boat!! It was amazing.. we went to the front deck and there were about 35 people (more guys than girls if you can imagine ;) and a rainbow appeared right over us as we were in downdog. it was spectacular! Anyways- im known as the yoga teacher crazzy red head so thats pretty funny :) Miss you all and talk to you after the Amazon!!

Dominica

We arrived to Dominica on Sat night but we weren't allowed to get off the ship till Sunday morning :( But did it feel good to stop moving! Sunday morning we woke up at 7:30 for the most amazing breakfast- they had all local fruits and hot chocolate croissants for us on the ship before we all left for our outings. My day trip that I signed up for was through semester at sea- it was exploration of the emerald pools and water tubing. Some other trips included Trafalgar falls or snorkeling in the Champagne reef. We left at 8:15 with about 30 SAS kids all eager and excited for the day to come! Dominica was beautiful... extremely green and luscious. The town was full of bright colors and everyone was so happy to have tourists because that is the majority of the income for these people. There were stray dogs and kids running through the streets and it seemed relatively clean. The bus ride took us to a rain forest about 30 min into Dominica. We walked about a mile deep in the forest to see the most beautiful waterfall and it almost did look emerald! The trees and greenery reflected so beautifully on the water and the sun was shinning through the bamboo. It truly was beauty. We swam around and took lots of photos before we were back on the bus to go to the water tubing site! We all got in individual tubes with the Wacky Riders and coasted down the river with some occasional rapids. This was really fun and was a great icebreaker for some of the kids. We ended to fresh sugarcane and pineapple and again took tons of photos! Sorry again I cant post many photos :( It exceeds our Internet which we only have 2 hours of for the entire semester! We then met up with some other kids on the boat and went to a black beach called Mero Beach to have some drinks and enjoy the rest of the day. Back at the ship later that night everyone was very excited to go out because we haven't in so long it felt like! No one really knew were to go because being Sunday, a holiday in Dominica, everything was closed! But of coarse... we made them open this place called Crazy Coconuts just for us and I bargained the cover from $20 to $5 :) Everyone had an amazing night drinking the local rum called Red Cap or the local beer called Kabuli. The club was beautiful and everyone was drenched from sweat coming back to the ship later that night.
Early morning once again today.. awoke to a pounding on my door at 8am. About 20 of us decided to get in a cab with a local who was going to bring us to a waterfall in the middle of Dominica. It was kinda of rainy this morning so it felt good to be in a cab just looking out the window at all of the beauty in this country. Thomas our guide was the man. He had this adorable cracked tooth smile and told me he was into red heads? He brought us to this snack shop and we all ventured into the forest to find this rain forest. (Thanks Omi for that emergency poncho- really came in handy!) So when I say this was the most amazing waterfall Ive ever seen.. its an understatement. The fall was about 50 ft into a pool that you could climb around. It came from a huge wall which enclosed the entire pool with so much greenery and vines surrounding it. There were birds above us, rainbows around us, and we loved it. We then scaled some rocks to get to the other side where there were 3 more waterfalls! I mean it was breath taking... all of us were in awe and stayed there for a couple hours just messing around and enjoying life. When we got back to the snack shop we danced and drank for a while till we got back into the cab and brought to the market. We bought some local food and gifts and decided to head back to the ship since we all have to go back 2 hours before- so we don't get dock time (kinda like a time out for the next port if your not back on time)! Buuuut before we got back I got a hair wrap which i have decided to put a bead or shell in with every port- then cut it off for my scrap book! I thought this was pretty clever :P SO back on the boat we all went to the top deck and tanned and relaxed until the most amazing thing happened. There was a double rainbow over all of Dominica. It was breathtaking. The sun started to set, it was hot, it was misty, and everyone was shocked. You really felt spoiled. This port was amazing and we made such good friendships already- i cant believe I've only been here for 5 days it feels like forever! Well its around 8 now and we have just left for our journey to Brazil- approx 7 days. And i have to write a 3 page paper and read 4 chapters... i totally forgot i was in school??

Puerto Rico

Pit stop in Puerto Rico for gas?! Didn't get off the ship but it felt good to not be moving. The boat is still very rocky and it feels very weird sometimes! Everyone is still really wide eyed and excited. A lot of "I am Becca from Virginia and I go to Penn State" type of conversations. I am excited for those to be over... We are stopping in Dominica tomorrow so I am very excited to get off the ship!

Bahamas

It is 6 am in Dulles, and of corse my flight is cancelled! They reschedule me to arrive in Nassau, Bahamas around the same time so it is all good :) Getting off the plane to see my best friend from high school Casey McGrath was very comforting. She had been there a week prior with her entire family just vacationing (lucky!). We go to the hotel room to drop off my two HUGE suitcases and go back down to the lobby to meet other semester at sea students! For the next couple hours we met a ton of kids all from different areas in the US. Most of the kids are from Boulder or CA. That night we all went to my friend from Penn State (Armand)'s room to pregame for Senior Frogs- a local bar. At the bar we met so many more kids, danced, and all got very excited for the next day when we will check in! Upon arrival we waited in a 2 hour long line and finally aboarded the MV explorer. The boat looked very small compared to the other cruise ships in the area (Carnival ect.). But it still was beautiful. I went to my room, 3068, to meet my roomate Missy- who is totally awesome- and we started to unpack. Yea.. the rooms are not the best. They are pretty small but I feel like they are doable. We bump into eachother a lot but its okay. The bed is smaller than a twin but we have a maid come and clean our rooms every day- so I am not complaining! The first day here felt like the first day of freshman year.. everyone looks young, excited, and ready to have a great time. Everyones asking where they are from, who they know, ect. Its a great time! Today we have been doing orientation all day, listening to speakers and taking placement exams. Pretty fun stuff! I skipped out on a lecture to work out... not the best idea.. I almost fell off the tredmill. I didnt think about how rocky the boat was going to get! Its pretty funny.. some people are sick.. some are not. I feel fine just a little tired sometimes. Everyone keeps tripping and walking into poles haha! It is a good time and everyone is excited to start classes and get into a schedule. As am I! The food on the ship is buffet style.. and not that interesting- a lot of salads and potatos! I have to go to my next lecture about the book Three Cups of Tea- talk you you soon!