tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130093203917988272024-03-12T19:37:25.339-07:0012 Countries, 106 Days, 1 Amazing JourneyLauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-32386146941225337132013-04-13T10:09:00.003-07:002013-04-13T12:06:11.889-07:00Day 30: 2/8 Only One Day in Hong Kong<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today I had a field lab for my
Global Lens course called Health Promotion and Behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t totally sure if we were still going
to have this field lab since the woman teaching it was the wife of the
professor who passed away, and she had left to go back to the States to have a
funeral service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some other staff
members helped cover the chaperone position though, so at 9 in the morning we
all met in the Union.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From there, we
walked through the town to Kowloon Park which was a sizable park in the middle
of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was kind of cool that
this spot which was filled with all of these natural elements was in the middle
of all of the skyscrapers of Hong Kong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On a side note, the city of Hong Kong is basically built upwards rather
than outwards, so the skyscrapers in Hong Kong are extremely tall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel like their skyscrapers put all of the
skyscrapers in the United States to shame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kowloon Park was pretty cool though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was pretty big and had all these different parts to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was this one part that had a covered
area wrapping around this pond, another part had a maze built out of bushes,
another part had all sorts of sculptures, another part had a fountain, another
part had a swimming pool, and another part had an aviary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were allowed time to just wander around
the park and observe the healthy behaviors being practiced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a bunch of people doing Tai Chi
and many of them were elderly people, but they were still kicking it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t really know too many people in that
class, so I decided to just wander around by myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to admit I actually really enjoyed
just being on my own because I was able to go where I wanted and spend as much
or as little time as I wanted at each place and I had no one to answer to or
cater to but myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are times
when I wish I could actually do travels on my own in port, but I had to be born
a tiny girl… thanks a lot Mom and Dad! Just kidding, but in all seriousness I
have come to find that I kind of like doing my own thing but I like having
other people plan out the major logistics like transportation and housing and
stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, I wandered around for a while
and then met up with the group again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then walked back toward the ship but instead went
onto the Star Ferry which is this ferry that has been running for a long time
and goes between Kowloon Island and Hong Kong Island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got to Hong Kong Island we got onto
some buses and traveled to another park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This one was called Hong Kong Park (creative huh?).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did the same thing at this park, but this
park seemed to be bigger in size than Kowloon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this park there was a large pond with lots of fish, there was a
little waterfall that you could walk behind/under, an observation tower that
you could climb up and get a cool view of the whole city, a memorial for
doctors and health care workers who died during the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong,
an Olympic Square thing, an aviary, and a playground that was three different
levels that catered to different age groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was really cool to walk around this park, but there were so many
stairs that I climbed up and down that I felt like I really got a good workout
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we explored this park we went
to a dim sum restaurant that was in this huge room and was pretty much full of
businessmen on their lunch break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got
rice dishes, noodle dishes, like four different kinds of dumplings, some
veggies, and plenty of tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ate as
much as I could at my own table without looking like a complete pig, and even
though I probably ate the most at my table of about 12 people, I could have
eaten so much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
delicious!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch we got in the buses and were taken to Hong
Kong University where we were going to listen to some professors and guest
speakers talk about health in Hong Kong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Parts of it were interesting, but I think a slight food coma was also
starting to set in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until the last
speaker, the mood in the room was just bleh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The last speaker was this older man who had a good sense of humor and
was just kind of crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it was a
mixture of what he was saying with his age, but it was hilarious and really
seemed to pick up the mood and the engagement of the students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all of the speakers, we got back on the
buses and drove back to the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kind
of dozed off on the bus ride back, and it felt wonderful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We got back to the ship a little earlier than on ship
time (the time we’re required to be on the ship on the last day in port), and
my friend Mike and I were both starving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We decided to go to the bar on the 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> deck and get a
burger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been trying to put off
buying any food from the 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> deck bar since I knew I would want to
get it more often after I started, but in that moment it sounded so good that I
gave into temptation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ate our burgers
(which were just as delicious as I thought it would be) and then we went our
separate ways for the night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in
the evening Jillian, Alexa, and I went to deck 7 aft (the back part of the
ship) to watch the 8 o’clock light show that goes on every night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From what I have heard from other people it
is much better with the music that is supposed to accompany it, but we didn’t
get to have that combo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We watched as
the lights on the buildings lit up the sky in deliberate patterns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the light show was coming to an end, our
ship started to pull away from the port.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The city of Hong Kong at night was amazing to look at, and even though
the pictures I have don’t quite capture all of its awesomeness it is pretty
apparent how spectacular it really was to see.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-42601666336795553272013-04-13T10:08:00.003-07:002013-04-13T12:06:40.004-07:00Day 29: 2/7 Sad to Say Goodbye<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We got everything all packed up
and ready to go for the car that was going to pick us up at 9:15.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allie and I needed some more cash and needed
something to eat, so we sped-walked to the ATM and stopped by this bakery which
had all sorts of goodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got a few
pastries and a thing of cookies (yeah Mom and Dad I eat cookies for breakfast
and there isn’t anything you can do to stop me… well I’m sure there is but oh
well) and paid with one of the bills I got from the ATM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up getting 78 Yuan back in change,
but I stuffed it into my pocket because we were starting to push it on
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got outside and started to jog
a bit because we were getting close to the scheduled pick-up time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got to the hostel the car hadn’t
arrived yet, so we basically ran for nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The car finally showed up and we packed ourselves in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About two minutes into the ride I reached
into my pocket and only grabbed air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
checked my other pocket partly because I wasn’t sure if I just blanked on which
pocket I put my money but partly because I was freaking out and didn’t know
what else to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow on our way back
to the hostel my 78 Yuan had fallen out of my pocket, so some lucky person
found about $12 on the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The car
picked up two other people on the way who were from the Beijing area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man asked Allie where she was from and
she said the United States, and then he said something to me in Chinese and I
said “huh?” and he repeated it, and then I said I don’t speak Chinese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was taken aback and then said, “Oh sorry,
I thought you were Chinese.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t
try to explain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rest of the ride was
pretty silent; most people were asleep, and the rest of us were too tired to
talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure how, but the two plus
hour ride that we took out to Yangshuo from the airport only took 30-45 minutes
when we used another route.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We got to the airport and
checked in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bryson, who had missed two
of his flights out to Guilin (one he was late for and then the other one he
missed because he underestimated how long it would take to get to another gate),
found out that he was scheduled for a flight earlier in the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went with a worker to try to figure out if
he could get on our flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile,
the rest of us went to the gate to wait to board the plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We finally got on and this time I had a
window seat! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bryson ended up getting on
our flight for those of you who were curious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I couldn’t tell you if anything exciting happened during that flight
because I was out cold, so the window seat was kind of wasted on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got to </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Guangzhou</span><span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
and had a three hour layover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allie,
Braden, and I went to a restaurant to get some lunch and then we made our way
to the gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I don’t think any of
us anticipated was that we had to go to the part of the airport where
international flights were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to go
through immigration and customs to get to our gate which took a decent amount
of time, so we lucked out by going to the gate early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got on the plane I realized I had a
window seat again!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt like I was
lucking out but then realized the plane was so empty that eventually the other
people in my row went to their own set of seats; nonetheless having a whole row
all to myself was nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got to Hong
Kong and had to take a train to Kowloon which was the island our ship was
docked on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rode the train and when we
got off we found fellow SASers getting off the train as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all tried to figure out how to get to the
ship when we decided to just start walking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were walking through various construction sites and taking detours to
get to what looked like the main part of town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We continued to walk until we came across the area that the ship was
supposed to be docked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The terminal of
the port was basically a shopping mall with very high end type of shops; the
part of the mall we walked by to get to the ship consisted of clothing for
children, but I’m guessing it was crazy expensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We finally got to where the terminal was
(which was at the very back of the terminal mall thing) and, as I was going
through ship security, Sawyer and Kyle passed by and asked if I wanted to go
grab something to eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quickly rushed
to my room to change and then went back out to meet up with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked around the terminal a while trying
to find something appealing and affordable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some other SASers suggested some restaurant that they went to, and at
this point the three of us were trying to hush the growls coming from our
stomachs and just went there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got
some pizza (which I have found to be quite the comforting food and have found
myself craving pizza more and more) and some nasty carbonated water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After dinner we were all pretty worn out and
we all had field labs the next morning, so we decided to just go to bed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-65012603511644701722013-04-13T10:07:00.003-07:002013-04-13T12:07:04.479-07:00Day 28: 2/6 Biking Through the Countryside<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today Braden, Allie, Emily, and
I planned to meet up with Wendy at the restaurant that we originally met her at
(which worked out nicely since we were probably going to eat breakfast there
again no matter what).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Braden wasn’t
feeling well, so Emily, Allie, and I headed to breakfast to meet up with Rachel
(who we invited to join us on the bike tour).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A little after we got our food, Braden joined us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we were eating, there was this little
wedding party that appeared and then we saw the groom walking to the colorfully
decorated car with his bride hoisted over his shoulder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wedding party set off confetti cannons as
they said their goodbyes to the newlyweds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the car pulled away, we spotted Wendy across the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We went over to her where we got
the bikes we were going to rent for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I haven’t really ridden a bicycle in probably like seven years, so I was
kind of nervous to try it again but it really is true what they say about never
forgetting how to ride a bike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
started riding and it wasn’t too bad, but then we got to the main street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know how I said that the streets and
driving were crazy and scary?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well it
got even worse when you’re actually riding through it yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were so many cars and motorcycles and
everything was just chaotic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were
numerous times that I felt like I was going to crash into something or I didn’t
feel comfortable enough on the bike that I stepped off and walked the
bike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt so bad for Braden, because
if you take how I felt and multiplied it by 20 that’s probably how he was
feeling because he had never learned how to ride a bike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t even imagine how scary it would be if
that was your first experience riding a bike, which is probably part of the
reason why he called it quits after trying to get through the town.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The rest of us continued to
follow Wendy as she went down what seemed to be very random streets and
paths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We eventually ended up going on a
dirt/rock path that was very bumpy and kind of like mountain biking terrain (I
don’t really know what mountain biking terrain is like, but I would imagine
that this was pretty close or at least a beginner version of mountain
biking).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The entire time we were biking
I had no clue where we were going, but it was fun to just be in the outskirts
of the town where I hardly saw other people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We even randomly stopped and Wendy went and picked us some mandarin
oranges from a tree of some farm (which were amazingly delicious).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then continued our bike tour until we got
to the “highway” (I only put them in quotes because it isn’t like the highways
I think of back home where they are like 3 lanes across, rather it was like
highway 93 in Colorado where it was one/sometimes two lanes).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We then rode up toward the
Goldwater Cave which is this big cave (like three levels deep) that has hot
springs and a mud bath thing inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
cave walls were lit up with all sorts of different colored lights which made it
look pretty cool and would accentuate the formation of the stalagmites and
stalactites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also a name for
practically every inch of the caves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was almost like someone was looking at the caves, like they would look at
clouds, and just come up with a name for some weird, abstract formation that
they would see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of them were very
obvious like one was called broccoli because it looked like broccoli (and was
lit up green) and one was called the frog prince because it looked like a giant
frog kind of puckering its lips. There were times when I would not understand
where the name came from; it would be like me looking at the wall and saying to
myself, “I don’t see the upside down unicorn on a pogo stick.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was one that was called the “Rebirth
Hole” which you could crawl through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Allie, Rachel, and I decided we wanted to crawl through it and found
that it was a lot tighter than we were anticipating, but it was still pretty
fun to climb around in the caves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
then continued our tour through the caves and walked by the hot springs and mud
bath but didn’t get in (now I kind of wish I had brought a bathing suit to try
it out).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We got out to the bikes and
started to ride again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as my
butt hit the bicycle seat I could feel that my butt was starting to get tender
from the seat, so I knew that the rest of the day had the potential to be
really rough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We headed down the highway
a bit until we reached a little restaurant on the side of the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we dismounted our bikes and went to go
sit down we saw Moon Hill which is basically a rock formation where there is a
half circle missing from the middle and it makes it look like a moon… fancy
that! We ate lunch at the little restaurant and then Wendy asked if we wanted
to visit her home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I, being a kind of
paranoid person, was just imagining some sort of story like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taken</i> playing out where she takes us to
her house and then these men jump out from behind the door and kidnap us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I figured that wouldn’t happen but the
imagination is a powerful thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We biked to her house which was this cement
building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked in and the first
thing I see is a chicken walking around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For those of you who know me, you can just imagine how I reacted to that
thing, but I made it safely into the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first room was just an open space with a refrigerator, table, TV,
pictures on the wall, and a beat up couch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wendy gave us some more mandarin oranges that she had picked from her
backyard earlier, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that there were probably
40-50 oranges in the bag she handed us, so I felt no shame in eating multiple
oranges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we were indulging in the
sweet fruit, she pulled out this funkily-shaped thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looked kind of like a giant pear but at
the same time I have never seen any fruit like it before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently it’s called pomadoro fruit or
something like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wendy used this
huge machete looking knife to cut through the extremely thick skin of the
fruit, and then she took the skin and wore it around as a hat which looked
goofy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After some effort we finally got
to the center where the good stuff was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The fruit didn’t have too much taste to it, but the texture was weird
because it had these thick stringy parts to it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was weird.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As we were eating the fruit the chicken decided to walk inside the house
and I swear it was staring me down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
walked around the outskirts of the group and I made sure to stay on the
opposite side of the cluster of people to avoid the demon bird.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right when I was near the door and the bird
was on the other side of the room, Wendy then decided to try to shoo the bird
outside the door… right toward me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless
to say I had a slight freak out moment when the bird flew in my direction. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We left Wendy’s house with full bellies and fresh
legs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rode toward this place called
Butterfly Caves which is notorious for a giant butterfly sculpture thing on the
side of the cave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went through the
caves until we got to this stretch that was lined with numerous bells of all
different sizes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As people walked
through they would hit the bells with a mallet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After the path of bells there was this suspended bridge that we had to
cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other side there was a
path of stairs we could take to get to a scenic spot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point I was extremely hot and tired,
but I slowly made it up all of the stairs to the top which provided a pretty
awesome view of the surrounding area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
took some pictures and then made our way down toward this performance
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this area some of the locals
that were part of a minority Dong group would put on shows of their traditional
dances and singing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outfits of the
performers were very extravagant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
women would have these huge crown-like head pieces and necklace things that
would be completely silver, and the dresses that were worn were vibrantly
colored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were many dancers and
singers, but my favorite performance was this young man who walked out carrying
a little branch with a few leaves on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He got to the center of the stage where he plucked a single leaf off the
branch and strategically placed it in his hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He brought his hands to his mouth and started
to play the leaf like an instrument matching the pitches of the background
music and playing the melody with perfect precision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was quite impressive how he could hit all
of the notes with a stinkin’ leaf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the very end we were allowed to get on the stage with all of the dancers and do
a dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dance reminded me of the
Jewish dance where you hold hands with your neighbors and walk in a
circle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pretty fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that we got back on our bikes to head
back to town.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We got back to the hostel and met up with Braden to
get some dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wandered around the
town and chose a random restaurant to eat at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I decided to try some sort of duck dish since I figured it would
probably be decent, but when I got it every chunk of duck had more bones than
meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very difficult to eat any
of the dish, so I was slightly disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Braden said that I got “river shrimped,” so I guess we have a new term
for getting gypped with food.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-10741711468580314232013-04-13T10:06:00.002-07:002013-04-13T12:07:47.521-07:00Day 27: 2/5 Floating on Air...Well, Technically Water<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I woke up this morning and went
straight up to the roof to look at Yangshuo in proper lighting, and let me tell
you it was beyond any words I could say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The entire area was probably the most beautiful place I have ever
been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through the hostel, we booked a
1:30 bamboo boat tour, so in the mean time we just planned to walk around town
and explore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We first went to this
little restaurant/café that had an awesome breakfast menu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got the “Special Breakfast” (I think that’s
what it was called) which included a fried egg, steak, French fries, a banana
pancake, coffee, and orange juice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
French fries weren’t the best but they were much better than river shrimp! The
banana pancake was delicious! It was basically a crepe with bananas in it, but
it tasted so good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I am not an OJ
fan, but the orange juice was fresh squeezed and extremely tasty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was so happy to have something substantial
in my belly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During breakfast we were
approached by this Chinese woman, Wendy, who spoke English well and asked if we
would like to take a bicycle tour with her the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all decided that it would be fun and set
up a time to meet up with her the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We then walked around town wasting some time, looking around, and trying
not to die crossing the hectic streets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After enough time had passed we headed back to the hostel where we would
leave to go to the bamboo raft rides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We were picked up by this van which had about four
rows of seating behind the driver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
picked up many other groups of people and happened to pick up a life-long
learner, Rachel, from SAS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The van drove
for about an hour or so, much of which was on a small dirt road which had
several large dips and bumps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On top of
the not-so-great road, we had a pretty crazy driver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure if it is just the culture, but
many of the drivers here seem to regard the lines in the road as mere
suggestions rather than something to follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think our driver spent just as much time in the center of the road or
on the other side of the road passing others as he did on the side of the road
he was supposed to be on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, honking
here is something used about every ten seconds by one driver, so add all the
other drivers and you have a pretty constant tune of honks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The honking here is used to inform other
drivers that you are there, or you are passing them, or whatever it may be,
rather than what I’m used to where we use our horns to tell someone to pay
attention because the light is green or to tell them how big of a jerk they are
and where they can stick it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After my
life had flashed before my eyes more times than I would have liked, we finally
made it to where the boats were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
boats each held four people and were (to my disappointment) motorized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was imagining and hoping for a boat that
was paddled by a person with a stick similar to the gondolas in Italy, but
there was no such luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we were
herded onto the boats by a Chinese man who sounded like he wasn’t very happy,
we were handed life vests and were motioned at to put them on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then set off to the river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My boat was unfortunately attached to another
boat, so I wasn’t able to see some parts of the mountains that we passed but it
was still amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boats traveled at
a decent pace, but everywhere you looked there were these astounding mountain
formations that seemed to just jut out of the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in complete awe for the entire boat
ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t even wrap my mind
around the fact that I was in China in this beautiful, majestic place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It blew my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I took a ton of pictures because I
wanted to capture the beauty of the region, but no matter how much I try to
describe it or try to capture a picture to depict it there is no way to do it
justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one of those places that
you have to see to be able to understand what I’m talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t get me wrong…the pictures help, but
seeing these things in person is 1000 times better than any picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the boat tour, we stopped at two
“scenic” spots where they would take your picture and you could buy a
copy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took pictures in both spots but
with our own cameras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After those stops
we headed back to where we started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
this point, if you looked toward a certain direction it was the exact scene
that is pictured on the back of the 20 Yuan bill! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cool huh? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After another heart-stopping van ride, we arrived back
on familiar ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went back to the
hostel for some good down time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We sat
around the hostel’s common area drinking a big bottle of beer that cost 6 Yuan
(approximately $1) and talking to the other travelers staying in the
hostel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was really cool just talking
to these people and hearing about their travels and what had brought them to
the No Kidd Inn; some were backpackers travelling all over the world, others
were in China teaching English to children, and others were just there on
vacation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a while, a SAS student,
Bryson, came into the hostel who knew Braden and Emily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The five of us then went out to try to find
some dinner (preferably not river shrimp).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We ended up at this restaurant right off of the river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allie and I decided to play it safe and split
a lemon chicken (which turned out to be delicious!) and some noodles which very
well could have just been ramen noodles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While we were sitting there, fireworks were going off in the distance
and reflecting off the river which was pretty cool to watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then ventured down this street of little
market stands where people were bargaining left and right for miscellaneous
items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we were walking, everyone
seemed to get a hankering for some ice cream and I also realized that I had to
pee really badly (yeah that’s probably too much information, but this leads to
quite a personal accomplishment so bear with me).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then came across a McDonalds, so I thought
that I’d be able to kill two birds with one stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I got into the bathroom, it was a
squatty-potty which have been everywhere in both China and Japan, but I had
avoided using one up until this point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
won’t go into any more details, but it was definitely a different
experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, we all got
McFlurries and headed back to the hostel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we got back, I decided that I should probably
take a shower and be a little hygienic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bathroom in our room at the hostel was basically a room with a
toilet, a sink, a shower head attached to the wall, and a drain on the floor,
so if you wanted to take a shower the entire bathroom would turn into your
shower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was kind of nice not having a
confined space that was covered by a curtain to shower in, but the entire
bathroom was wet and flooded after my shower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The group then decided to check out the night life of
Yangshuo, so we went to the busy street of the town and found many different
“clubs” bumpin’ music and packed with people (and smoke).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went into this one place after paying a
set price; I wasn’t sure if that was for a certain amount of beer or more like
a cover charge to get in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got
in, we noticed that there was this little stage in the middle of the room with
a lit floor and a pole on one side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
sat in this booth and were drinking beer when the “MC” (the guy that was
dancing around on the stage with a mic in hand) motioned for us (the only
non-locals) to go dance on the stage with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All of us were compliant with his request and made our way through the
people around the stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started
dancing a little bit when the people around the stage (most likely intoxicated)
were taking pictures like teenage girls seeing Justin Bieber and then were
getting pictures with Braden and Bryson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The locals were having a great time watching and dancing with all of us,
and it was really fun for us as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-32453468606887143052013-04-13T10:04:00.003-07:002013-04-14T09:14:19.791-07:00Day 26: 2/4 Guilin is Calling My Name<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yesterday I had received two
sticky notes on my door, one from each person who I would be traveling with to
Guilin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently I didn’t read both of
them too carefully because in the morning I went to the Garden Lounge (the 6<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
deck dining hall) to meet the group at 8, because I knew that’s what one sticky
note said and I assumed the other one said the same thing… wrong-o.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ate some breakfast and waited for the group
to show up; 15 minutes passed before I saw Braden (who wrote the sticky note I
followed).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t for another 10 or
so minutes that we realized that Emily (the other person in our group) said to
meet in Tymitz Square at 8… apparently she wasn’t very happy there was a
miscommunication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we were now
waiting for her in Tymitz Square, we came across a sign that read, “In loving
memory of Wade Lancaster…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wade
Lancaster was a professor who taught on the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had heard the night before that he had a
heart attack on the bus after a field program, but I had no clue that he had
passed away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We found out he had passed
the night before from a stroke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
news struck me like a slap in the face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I didn’t know him personally, but his wife teaches one of my
classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was there every class
walking around with the attendance sheet for everyone to sign in during
class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew that deaths have happened
on Semester at Sea and it was a possibility, but, no matter what, you don’t
expect it to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that I had
encountered him and seen him every other day, and now he was gone, made my mind
race with thoughts and emotions of life and death.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back to our adventure, to add to Emily being mad that
we were “running late,” I had to go to an ATM because I didn't have any cash on
me to help pay for a taxi. I stopped at the ATM across the street, but neither
machine would accept my card. Emily was getting really irritated that we hadn't
left yet (note: it was about 8:30-9 am and our flight was at 12:20). We got in
a taxi and arrived at the airport at about 9:30, so we were 3 HOURS early for
our flight. I know it's better to be safe than sorry, but seriously? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The airport felt super empty which for some
reason kind of made me feel uneasy, but because it was so empty we went through
security and everything very quickly which was nice. We then got some lunch and
Emily wanted to find a battery for some water filter thing she had. She asked
if we would be sitting in the restaurant for a little longer while she went to
look for a battery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We said that was
fine and just sat there talking for 15 minutes… 30 minutes… an hour… no sign of
her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We waited a little longer because
we figured she’d be coming back to where we were, but she just went to the
terminal at some point and didn’t inform us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a good start to a five day trip, huh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, as we were waiting and Braden went
to search for Emily, he ran into this girl, Allie, who was traveling to Guilin
without a group, so she joined our group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We finally started to board our plane just before
noon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we flew on our 2.5 hour flight,
we were served beverages (water and a drink of our choice) as well as a
meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember the last time I
had a meal during a flight, and even though it wasn’t the greatest meal it was
still nice to have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we started to
land, I could see hints of the hills of the gorgeous Guilin out the
window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we landed, I found out
that we would actually be staying in a nearby town to Guilin called
Yangshuo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we were trying to figure
out all of the things we wanted to do while in the area we were also trying to
figure out how we were going to get to Yangshuo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ended up hopping on a bus that took us to
the actual city of Guilin, and then we planned to change buses to go to
Yangshuo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the bus drove through the
city, we realized how crazy and chaotic the roads seemed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were so many motor bikes, bicycles,
vehicles, and people crossing this huge intersection with, what seemed to me,
very little organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got to the
bus station and were trying to figure out what bus we needed to get on when
these two young Chinese girls (probably middle school or early high school age),
who were completely gaga over Braden, started to help us find our way to the
correct bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got on this bus that
cost us 18 Yuan (about 3 dollars) to get to Yangshuo; we later found out this
wasn’t a legit bus from the actual bus system but rather a bus that was more
independently run and would make more stops… kind of sketch if you ask me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the bright side, as we drove into town we
were gradually surrounded by the amazing hills/mountains that make the area
famous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was breathtakingly beautiful
out there and, during the drive, the sun was setting giving the wondrous
mountains a beautiful backdrop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that
moment I knew I had made the right decision to skip on the Great Wall, the
Forbidden City, and the Terracotta soldiers and come to this area.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we finally made it to Yangshuo, we ran into
another road block.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t know
exactly where the hostel we planned to stay in was located.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked up and down the street that we knew
it was on without a clue of where it could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We asked many different people who would point us in the direction we
just came, and then we would walk a little bit back the way we came and would ask
someone else who would point us back the other way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took us a good 30 minutes to actually find
the place, which made sense because it was kind of tucked away in a back
street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hostel was called the No
Kidd Inn and was this cute, colorful five story hostel with a roof top “bar”
(which actually had a great view of the area surrounding the hostel which
included beautiful hills and a river, but the bar wasn’t much of a bar) and
very friendly staff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best parts of
the hostel though were the fact that it only cost about $7 a night to stay
there and that there was this little puppy that lived there who was one of the
cutest little things! We got the keys to our rooms and dropped our stuff off
before going out to get something to fill our empty stomachs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked around a bit but then got to the
point where we were so hungry that we just wanted to get food, so we ate at the
next restaurant we came across.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
perused over the menu a bit before deciding what to get (mostly based on the
pictures they offered since very little was in English).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the things we got was fried shrimp
which didn’t look terrible in the picture, but when they brought out the dish
we were less than pleased with the outcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were these little one inch long shrimps that were caught in the
nearby river; they were then lightly battered and deep fried whole, eyes,
antenna things, shell and all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When put
in the mouth your tongue was greeted by either a taste of cardboard or poop…
appetizing huh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not much of that dish
really got consumed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then stopped by
a little convenience store to get some snacks since our dinner wasn’t very
filling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went back to the hostel, and
Allie (who I was sharing a room with) and I spent a good amount of time just
talking about random things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
nice ending to an interesting day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-68821804438856023422013-04-13T10:03:00.003-07:002013-04-13T12:08:27.216-07:00Day 25: 2/3 Visiting Half of My Roots<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This morning I woke up and
looked out my window to see land not far from the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We weren’t quite docked yet, but rather we
were navigating through a river to where our ship would be docked in
Shanghai.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jillian and I, again, went up
to try to see the sunrise, but it was so gloomy out that there really wasn’t a
sunrise to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we finally docked,
I noticed that my room had a fantastic view of the Pearl Tower across the river
from our ship, which made me excited even though I would only be there for that
one night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jillian had a field lab
today, so I planned to venture into town with Sawyer, Kyle, and Alexa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before we could go anywhere though Kyle,
Sawyer, and Alexa needed to exchange some cash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As we walked to a nearby bank I realized that I was still wearing my
moccasins instead of actual shoes… whoops!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was planning on just dealing with the mistake since it would take a
while for everyone to get off the ship (since we couldn’t get back on the ship
until everyone got off and the ship was “cleared”), but we found out that in
order for them to exchange money they had to go through an extensive amount of
paperwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw my window of
opportunity!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they were waiting in
line I was waiting to be able to get back on the ship to change my shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After about 20 minutes or so I was able to
board the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I raced (well more like
sped-walked) to my room, changed into my Merrells, and raced back to the
gangway (where we get on and off the ship while it is docked).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There really was no need to practice my
speed-walking abilities (even though I’ll probably be training for the Olympics
pretty soon since I’m that good) because they were still waiting to get their
money exchanged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It probably took an
hour or so for them to exchange their money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Once they did we headed towards town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We walked a pretty good distance to get into town and then walked down a
street where some shops were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were
looking for some underground shopping to be able to get a good, cheap deal and
be able to haggle with people for items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was no such luck as we walked down this street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We found a mall and decided to get something
to eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After we were refueled we decided to walk to another
part of town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On our way we wandered
into a little souvenir shop and there it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>An escalator, going down under the building, dwelled in the back of this
random store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went down the moving
staircase to find a bunch of vendors dealing and bargaining with
customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We found one!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We spent the next hour or so walking around
haggling and buying little things that we wanted or got for gifts for those back
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I’m not very good at
haggling, I have to admit it was kind of fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was this sort of rush that went along with bargaining; it almost
turned into a sort of game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We left the
underground area with a sense of energy and joy at getting some good
deals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then continued to the area we
planned to go to when we got distracted by the underground market.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We went to what we thought was supposed to be “Old
Town,” but I’m not 100% sure that’s where we actually ended up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stumbled upon this area with tons of
vendors similar to the ones at the previous underground market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we were impressed by the market we came
across earlier, our minds were blown when we came to this place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a building about seven stories tall
filled with vendors, and on the streets there were more filling every nook and
cranny of the area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pretty
amazing how many people were trying to sell things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was fun at times, but at the same time it
got kind of scary when the people would push so hard for you to buy something
from them and to have people all up in your grill trying to show you what they
have for you to buy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt very
overwhelmed in this area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was one
moment when a man was trying to sell Kyle a North Face jacket, but in order to
get to his “store” we had to go through this little alley and go into this
little room that had jackets and sunglasses and other “brand name” items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know it sounds sketchy. I thought the exact
same thing when we were going there, but I guess it is kind of the norm to do
that if you want those kinds of items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It still seems sketch to me though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We left the chaotic market area and headed to get some dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ended up at a Canadian restaurant/bar… yes
Canadian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know why there is a
Canadian restaurant in China when I have never heard of Canadian food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked back toward the ship and got to see
a gorgeous view of the city at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
got back to the ship and I was going to go out to some bars with Shelley and
some of her friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started to walk
back into town, but didn’t really end up going anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked and walked and walked some more
until we made a funny-shaped loop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
that point Shelley and I decided that we’d just go back to the ship and go to
bed because we both had to pack for our trips the next day and get some
sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got back and I took off my
shoes to find some lovely blisters that had formed on the bottom of my pinky
toes… seriously, who gets blisters there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I grabbed some of my lovely Band-Aids that Keenan so kindly gave me for
Christmas and wrapped my injured toes before going to bed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-14004684645881794452013-04-13T10:02:00.003-07:002013-04-13T12:08:39.562-07:00Day 24: 2/2 Being a Good Student<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since I’m on the ship in the
middle of the ocean on my way to so many different and amazing countries the
last thing I want to do is school work, but today I finally buckled down a bit
to catch up on school work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My motivation
for doing school work is practically nonexistent now, so to muster up the will
to do this was extremely difficult but most definitely necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent the day going to class and then doing
work in between classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you proud
mom?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bet you are!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later that night we had pre-port which I
realize I didn’t talk about in any of my previous blog entries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pre-port is a mandatory session they have the
night before we arrive in every port.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The pre-port includes information like what kind of currency the country
uses, where to get money, what to watch out for and be cautious of, what is
safe to eat/drink, and other information they think we should know before we
get into the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one also
included statistics from Japan like how many people were drugged, pickpocketed,
subjected to credit card fraud, or injured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, I forget the numbers, but it is surprisingly more than I
thought it would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the things
that happened occurred because people were being stupid and careless with how they
carried themselves, so there’s no need for you all back home to worry
excessively about my safety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span>Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-39675205440050699862013-04-13T10:02:00.000-07:002013-04-13T12:08:51.967-07:00Day 23: 2/1 Sleepy Kid<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I never realized how draining
going into port can be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today I slept
pretty much all day besides going to class and eating some meals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of the reason was due to that dang seasickness
that crept up on me again, but the other part was just pure exhaustion from
doing so much in the past several days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I felt like such a lazy bum, but I have to admit getting some sleep made
me feel so much better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t until
later in the day that I actually did something other than sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shelley, Jillian, and I planned to have a
nail night and just hang out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned
into watching Game of Thrones with two of the people Shelley traveled with in
Japan, Zak and Alex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While they were
watching the show we were painting our toe nails, and for those of you who know
me you know that I hardly ever just paint my fingernails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one besides Jillian knew this about me, so
when I told Shelley I would do her nails I don’t think she knew what I was
talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I didn’t bring any
of my nail stuff with me I improvised by using a Sharpie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I drew some designs on the toes of one foot
and showed her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m pretty sure her jaw
dropped to the floor; I don’t think she was expecting me to do anything like
what I did, so she was pretty shocked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They started another episode of GOT while I was working on writing for
this blog (which has been more difficult to keep up with than I initially
thought).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shelley I think fell asleep
within the first 15 or so minutes of the episode and Jillian already went to
bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to go to sleep so badly
but I didn’t want to ask the others to leave, so I kept writing through my
drowsiness until the episode finally ended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I got ready for bed and even though I slept for most of the day I passed
out as soon as my head hit the pillow.<o:p></o:p></span></span>Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-6384747487362662332013-03-23T09:28:00.000-07:002013-04-13T12:09:08.523-07:00Day 22: 1/31 Beautiful Kyoto<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today I went to Kyoto for the day with a
friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kyoto is home to
many beautiful temples and shrines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although I didn’t get to see much due to the time constraint of only
being there a day (since we had to be back at the ship by 6 pm), the temples
that I did see were absolutely breathtaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I am amazed by older Asian architecture, so I was perfectly content with
just looking at all of the buildings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We took the train to Kyoto which
was about an hour or so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Kyoto train
station was enormous!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very modern
looking and was about 11 or 12 levels high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We grabbed some lunch at a restaurant that was on the 11<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
floor and planned out our day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We first
went to Kiyomizu Temple (I think that is what it is called) which was located
at the top of this giant hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt
like it took forever to get to the top, but luckily there were little shops
along the way that occupied my attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the slope of the hill started to level off, I was met by the vision
of a collection of vibrant, red-orange accented buildings that would make your
jaw drop in awe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was absolutely
beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were many people doing
certain practices of their religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some people would take these long stemmed looking spoons made out of
bamboo and fill them with water and pour the water over their hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other people would be praying and then would
ring this giant gong, that was high above their heads, using an extremely thick
rope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was really interesting and cool
to watch the people who would come to these temples, not because it was a
touristy spot, but rather because they were there for their own personal, spiritual reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After exploring the grounds a bit we decided
we should probably start to head to the next temple if we wanted to see some
more before we had to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started
walking down a different street where every open door was filled with
knick-knacks, t-shirts, food, and everything in between.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My attention was constantly being grabbed by
little things here and there, things that I wanted to buy for myself or for
family and friends back home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took a
good hour or so just to get down to the bottom of the hill.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We then jumped on the bus and
went to the next temple. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it was
called the Gion Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It, just like
every other temple I have seen thus far, was stunning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This temple was surrounded by a vast amount
of grounds, and unfortunately I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked
to explore each and every corner and crevice of the space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did get to walk around and just look at
the gorgeous buildings and watch those who practice the religion pray in
temples and shrines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being in the midst
of all of these old buildings I completely forgot about the world of
skyscrapers and metal buildings that awaited me outside of the grounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being here made me think about what the world
looked like back in the day when these buildings were newly built.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were all of the buildings this gorgeous?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why didn’t we keep this kind of architecture
around in these places?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish I could
have seen first-hand what the city of Kyoto looked like years and years
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we finished walking around
this temple we decided that there wasn’t enough time to go to any more temples
which made me kind of sad because there were so many incredible temples in the
area that I didn’t get to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
people have the feeling that every temple looks so similar that once you see
one you’ve pretty much seen them all; even though they do look very similar in architectural style, I feel like I
could spend days looking at these buildings and not get tired of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took the train back and made it on the
ship with time to spare before getting dock time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We left the port at 8:00 (like usual) and,
just as we were greeted into Japan, we left with the same showcase of
hospitality and kindness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a
small band playing songs with breaks in between where they would wave to all of
us on the outside deck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were also
a good amount of people there, some had signs telling us farewell, others were
giant cutouts of hands and others used their arms to wave to us goodbye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was such an amazing act of kindness in my
book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were so many people in Japan
who went out of their way to help us or make us feel welcome in their country;
it was a very cool thing to see that something like that exists in the world.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-75736495444111106122013-03-23T09:19:00.000-07:002013-04-13T12:09:25.813-07:00Day 21: 1/30 Kobe Round Two<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We woke up today full of hope
and energy with the will to try to figure out how to get to the ropeway, but
first we had to stop and get breakfast at good ol’ Mister Donut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we were finishing up, I decided to go
next door to a grocery store to buy some strawberries because I heard from
another student that the strawberries were magically delicious (which they
were! So if you go to Japan, you should get some strawberries).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After breakfast, we took the train back into
town but this time we changed trains and finally got to where we needed to
be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A huge relief set in among the whole
group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took the gondola up the
mountain to this little town square where there were a few shops but it was
still very small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The view from the top
of the mountain was fantastic; we had a nice view of pretty much the entire
city (with the exception of some of the hills from the mountain).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From there, we walked down a winding road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About a quarter of the way down
the mountain there was this really cool greenhouse that was filled with all
sorts of flowers and plants (many arranged in valentine themed
formations).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we walked through the
whole greenhouse we happened upon the most wonderful, relaxing place. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was this random herbal footbath that was
set up overlooking the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stayed
with our feet soaking in the footbath for as long as we possibly could before
we had to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked down to the
halfway point and took the gondola the rest of the way down.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We then headed to the port
terminal where the ship was newly located after its transit between Yokohama
and Kobe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once there, we sat in the
terminal to get some much needed wifi and facetime with family and the boyfriend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very nice to be able to see everyone’s
faces, but sadly my facetime stopped working for some unknown reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After numerous attempts and fails to restore
the feature, I called it quits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in
the night some friends and I indulged in a Japanese classic… karaoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, Japanese karaoke isn’t like the karaoke
that most of you are used to where there is one person in front of the entire
room singing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With Japanese karaoke, you
and your friends get a small room to yourselves where you can pick all of the
songs that play and what you all want to sing along to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is much more my style because I don’t
like singing in front of people (especially alone), so this style made me much
more comfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all had a great
time! I highly recommend you try karaoke if you go to Japan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-48610648724555204562013-03-23T09:11:00.000-07:002013-04-13T12:09:50.077-07:00Day 20: 1/29 Exploring Kobe<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We woke up and went to a donut
shop called Mister Donut that we saw in the train station the night
before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had normal-looking donuts as
well as wild-looking donuts that I have never seen before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were pretty much like mini works of art;
to put it in one word, they were pretty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We enjoyed some donuts and coffee for a good hour or so and then headed
to Sannomiya station which is in the middle of everything in the Kobe
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surprisingly, we didn’t have any
trouble getting there, but then again this was the stop that we got off on last
night by mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got there we
started to walk around the town a little bit, and then we tried to find the
underground mall. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went down some
stairs and found a web of hallways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
one we were searching for was the one with all sorts of restaurants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stopped for some lunch at a pretty
traditional looking restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got
fried pork with rice and an egg, and it was pretty darn delicious! And I don’t
mean to toot my own horn (yes mom, I did just say “toot”), but I’m starting to
get really good with chopsticks!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then
walked around some more and came across this huge area that had all sorts of
little kiosks that were selling all sorts of food, desserts, knick-knacks,
chocolates, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one that got me and
Sawyer to buy something was this little pastry section where you went around
with a tray (like the ones used in cafeterias) and tongs and you picked which
pastries you wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got some
strawberry thing, and it (like most things in this country) was mouthwatering
goodness.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After emerging from the world
under the streets of the Sannomiya area, we tried to find our way to this
ropeway thing that Sawyer told us about earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is like a gondola (the one that goes up a
mountain, not the one that goes in water; I first assumed the latter for some
reason, but I was wrong) that takes you up to the top of Mount Rokko and gives a
really cool view of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We, once
again, had a lot of trouble figuring out how to get up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We couldn’t figure out which train to take,
or which bus to take, or how to communicate with the taxi driver on how to get
to the ropeway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a side note, I
learned a few phrases in Japanese like “good morning,” “good afternoon,” “good
evening,” “thank you,” “excuse me,” “are you well?,” “yes, I am well,” and a
few others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every once in a while I
would say something, and I think some of the people thought I was actually
Japanese because they would start talking to me extensively in Japanese. Since I
couldn’t understand a single word, I probably looked dumb standing there
with a puzzled look on my face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
happened with the taxi driver; I asked him “how much?” in Japanese, and then he
said something back to me in Japanese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
he found out I didn’t know what he was saying, he got frustrated trying to
explain and wouldn’t let us in his cab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s another thing, when the Japanese people were telling us “no” for
whatever reason they would almost always cross their fingers or their arms into
an “X” and say “no, no, no, no.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway,
we were all pretty frustrated trying to get to this dang ropeway, so we decided
to just go back to the hotel and regroup later for dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got back to the station near our
hotel and were walking to the hotel, Kyle randomly wanted to go down these
stairs to try to walk under the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We walked down the stairs and down a hallway to another underground
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hallway opened up to an array
of shops and restaurants up and down another hallway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked around a little bit before we tried
another staircase to surface from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
emerged a little ways away from where we descended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we went back to the hotel, I wanted to
explore the underground system near our hotel, so Jillian and I were on our way
to the elevator to go back down when we ran into Sawyer who said that the
elevator will go all the way down to the underground part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took the elevator all the way to the
bottom, and were surprised to find where we ended up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We weren’t far from where we went back up the
stairs earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best part was we
found a completely different underground system that was connected to the first
one we found by the area that led to our hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We walked a little bit down this new system and found a 100 Yen store
(which is pretty much the equivalent of a dollar store in the USA).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t get to spend much time down in this
system, but I wish we did because it looked like it extended a good distance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jillian and I then met up with
Kyle and Sawyer and took the underground (our new favorite thing to use) toward
Harborland (I think that’s what it was called)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>which would take us close to Kobe Tower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just like Tokyo Tower looked like a red version of the Eiffel Tower,
Kobe Tower looked like a red version of the Space Needle in Seattle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was really pretty at night though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also a museum near the tower that
had this cool net-like architecture that was lit up too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went to the tower so we could go up to the
observation deck which should have been open, but for some reason they closed
it down for the night which was pretty disappointing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then walked over to this building called
“Mosaic” which had a bunch of restaurants and shops, but the first thing we ran
into there was an arcade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was like
Dave and Busters where there are just a ton of arcade games everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were also a bunch of things like
crane-games with different themes for the items that were inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also came across a room filled with photo
booths which Jillian had done earlier and said that they were extremely fun but
I’ll get to that in a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went to
dinner and ate this thing that was like an egg that was like a crepe and was
filled with rice, topped with meat and a sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As weird as it looked it was actually really good!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then went back to the photo booth room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The room was filled with about 15 different
kinds of photo booths each with their own theme; some were girly, some were
punk, some were chic, and some were slightly odd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We picked one that had a Tokyo theme to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We slipped under the unusually thick and heavy curtain that was hanging
across the entrance way into the booth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The booth was quite a bit different than the booths back in the States;
there was no bench to sit on, but rather there was a large area to stand with a
green screen on the back wall and shelves on each side of the large screen
displaying pictures and the camera waiting to capture our beauty for us to
store our belongings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since Jillian had
already done one of these earlier in the week we didn’t have to spend much time
trying to figure out how to work the machine (even though it probably wouldn’t
have been too difficult… I think).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
screen started to change images as it showed us a sample pose to do for the
first picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The image was two Asian girls
standing and smiling; once the camera had taken the picture of our lovely faces
the image changed into the same two girls doing a new pose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next poses consisted of the typical peace
sign pose, the two girls forming a heart (each forming a half), two girls
putting their hands together in what, to me, looked like girls high-fiving
while awkwardly putting our heads together and looking in the direction of our
hands, a Charlie’s angels pose, and a hand cupping the face while winking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah they were interesting poses, but it was
nice to have some ideas since, as many of you know, I am not very creative or
decisive with my poses for pictures (rather
they usually end up with me just making a freakishly weird face).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the beginning Jillian and I were just
taking pictures by ourselves because Kyle and Sawyer decided not to join, but
as I suspected after a few pictures were taken, both of them ended up coming in
and joining the fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After all the pictures were taken, we went out of the
booth to the side where there was another screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This screen was a touch screen used to
decorate and customize your photo strip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each person could pick their own backgrounds and themes and then you
could decorate each photo with stamps and letters and whatever you want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was kind of difficult figuring out how to
decorate the pictures and how to undo what you did if you didn’t like it
because everything was in Japanese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
weirdest thing about these photos is that somehow our eyes got bigger and our
skin looked flawless; this led to some pictures making us look extremely good
looking and others making us look like we have some crazy eyes, but overall it
was a blast!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After all the fun and excitement, we decided to grab a
snack at the local family mart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
family mart has become somewhat of a safe haven for us in Japan; it is just a
little convenience store like a 7Eleven (without the slurpees though) where we
go to get snacks and drinks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tonight,
however, we ventured to try the Japanese drink that caters to both the adult
and the kid in me… juice box sake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have to say it wasn’t quite as bad as it sounds, but it definitely wasn’t
something that I would sip on for my own enjoyment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though that was a bust (as we kind of
assumed it would be) I got to eat one of my favorite treats… mochi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you don’t know what mochi is, it is a
gummy, chewy texture made out of rice, and even though it sounds weird (and I
can just imagine some of the faces being made after reading that last statement),
it tastes like a marshmallow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I had
was that texture enclosing some ice cream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t know if it was just the fact that I ate mochi in Japan, but it
was delicious!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It definitely made up for
the nasty sake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We spent the rest of the
night just talking and eating ice cream and having a grand old time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-50324215831641473482013-03-23T08:57:00.002-07:002013-04-13T12:10:07.539-07:00Day 19: 1/28 Tokyo in a Day<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today was one of the busiest and
most hectic days I have had on the voyage thus far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started our day semi early in order to try
to get a jump start on our sightseeing adventures in Tokyo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jillian and I were supposed to meet up with
Shelley somehow in Tokyo, but we had absolutely no way to communicate with her
so we gave up on that plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We met up
with Kyle, Sawyer, and Alexa and ventured to the nearby train station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The train station was insane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a ton of people walking every
which way, some even jogging or running, and then there was us, a group of
confused, and slightly scared Americans (at least I was confused and slightly
scared).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The train system is pretty
simple, but when everything is written in a foreign language it becomes 100
times more complicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What you have to
do is figure out which stop you want to get off and that stop is associated
with a certain price; the farther you go from the station you are currently at,
the more it costs… simple right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well,
for some reason, it wasn’t as simple as it should have been for us all day.</span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We luckily got on a train that
went straight to Shibuya without even knowing it (Shibuya is a section of
Tokyo).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surprisingly, Tokyo is a lot
bigger than I expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went and saw
Shibuya crossing which is supposedly the biggest, busiest crossing in the world
with about 3.2 million people crossing every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we went, it wasn’t nearly as busy as I
think it usually is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure why
that was the case, but it was still pretty busy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After walking around a little bit we got back
on the train and went towards Tokyo tower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After some confusion on how to get to the tower by
train, we finally made it to our stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The tower was only a short walk from the train station, but we could see
the tower so there was no need for a map.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The tower looked like a red version of the Eiffel Tower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way to the tower we passed some
temples and shrines that were really pretty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I actually found the temples to be cooler looking than the tower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t go up in the tower even though
after I got back on the ship I heard it was an awesome view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were planning to go to the Imperial
Palace, but ended up just going back to Yokohama for dinner.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We went to a conveyer belt sushi restaurant which was
awesome!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only problem was I didn’t
really know what I was grabbing off the conveyer belt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a menu that had most of the sushi
that was going around, but by the time I figured out what the dish was it was
way past where I was sitting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of
the stuff I pulled off was delicious like the salmon things, the tuna rolls,
and whatever else I got, but there was one dish that I took that still makes me
gag just thinking about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was some
sort of shrimp and rice roll with fish eggs on top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had rolls similar to this before, so I
thought this wouldn’t be bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boy was I
wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t even describe the taste,
but as soon as it hit my tongue I wanted to spit it out and scrape my tongue of
the sick, nasty taste that overwhelmed my taste buds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After dinner, we went next door to “Hawaiian
Town”… yes there was a Hawaiian town in Japan… to get these donut-like things
for dessert, which were delicious if you were wondering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then tried to make our way to wherever the bullet
train (which is better known, actually <u>only</u> known, as the shinkansen in Japan)
picked up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we finally got to the
station that the shinkansen went through, we had no clue where to go to get to
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We probably looked like lost,
helpless puppy dogs because we were approached by a young Japanese woman who
asked if we needed help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We told her we
were trying to find the bullet train, and of course she was confused because
they don’t call it by that name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
we all got on the same page, she didn’t just tell us how to get to the station,
but she took us down, up, through, and around the station to where we buy
tickets for the train.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On top of that,
she then stayed with us to help us buy the correct tickets and translate what
the ticket guy was saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was one of
the kindest things I have ever seen anyone do for lost foreigners, but
apparently cases like this happen more frequently than you’d expect in
Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people there are incredibly
kind!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got on the shinkansen and
settled in for about a three hour ride to Kobe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The shinkansen was a pretty nice train, but the section we were in had a
lot of people, which led to an interesting aroma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t necessarily a smell that wasn’t
manageable to be around, but it definitely wasn’t a pleasant smell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While on the train, I was extremely hungry
and there was a food cart that came around but I didn’t know what anything was
so I didn’t chance it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best part was
I felt like I was on the Asian version of the Hogwarts Express; I mean it
wasn’t nearly as cool as the Hogwarts train, but something about it reminded me
of that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In Yokohama and Tokyo, there were a fair number of
English speakers, but that percentage decreased as we got into
Kobe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed like there wasn’t nearly
as much English around which didn’t help with our poor navigation with the
train system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once we got into the Kobe
area, we had to take another train to get to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We, again, had difficulties figuring out
which train to get on and what stop we were supposed to get off to get close to
the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We asked many different
people and received different answers from almost every person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got on a train, got off at the wrong stop,
got on another train, and almost got off at the wrong stop again before we got
to the right stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, on top of
everything else, we had no clue where the hotel was and couldn’t find anyone
who knew where the hotel was or could understand what we were asking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a good amount of struggle, we finally
found it about two or three blocks away from the train station.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Kyle and Sawyer already had a reservation at this
hotel, so Jillian and I thought we’d just ask if they had any open rooms that
we could use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man at the front desk
didn’t know much English, so communicating was kind of difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had an open room, so Jillian and I felt a
load of relief that we didn’t have to go out and search for a place to
stay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went up the elevator to the
ninth floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doors opened and we get
bombarded with a gust of nasty, smoky air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We walked to the end of the hall to our room which was just as bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went back down to the front desk to ask
for a non-smoking room, but unfortunately they said they were all booked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was one thing that I didn’t even think
about since it doesn’t happen back home anymore, but smoking in public
facilities is still legal in Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
restaurants allowed smoking; most had smoking “sections” but, no matter what, the
smoke filled the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went back to
the room and started to settle in a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was a big king size bed that was much lower to the ground than I’m
used to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we looked inside of the
bathroom door (which looked eerily like the bathroom in our rooms on the
ship).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was extremely small with a
toilet that had a remote-like attachment with a bunch of buttons with pictures
(some pictures I couldn’t even guess what they were depicting and others were
not something I wanted to be done to me) and a shower that had the tallest tub
that I’ve ever seen (it probably came up to my hip, which might not be saying
too much seeing that I’m such a shorty but it was much taller than what I
consider to be usual).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, when we went
to bed, I was so exhausted and the bed looked so inviting and the pillow looked
so fluffy that I just belly flopped onto the bed which ended up being a
terrible idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pillow was like the
killer bunny from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monty Python and the
Holy Grail</i>; even though it looked inviting with all of its fluffiness, the
inside was like a sack of rocks (I think it was actually a sack of beans, but
either way it was not pleasant).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a
good thing I can pretty much sleep no matter what the conditions are and that I
was exhausted, otherwise it would have been a rough night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-46860568330980121212013-03-23T08:46:00.000-07:002013-04-13T12:10:47.835-07:00Day 18: 1/27 Japan: Monks and Meditation<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I woke up today, bright and early,
in high hopes of being able to see the sunrise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Land had already emerged onto the horizon ,and Yokohama, Japan was in our
sights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know if I’ve ever been
so happy to see land, after the crazy waves yesterday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately the clouds decided that they
wanted to see the sun before everyone else and had to block the view from the
anticipating people congregating on the back deck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The clouds were willing to give us a little
peak of the sun after a while, which was nice to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The air outside was bitterly cold
though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as I walked through the
door out of the ship walls, it hit me like a ton of icy cold bricks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I almost gave up on watching the sunrise
because it was too cold, and the sun was taking too long to make its
appearance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then again, I was
ill-prepared for the weather in my sweatpants and hoodie in the midst of the
Japanese winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily, I toughed it
out and got to see a very beautiful sunrise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As we pulled into port, we were
welcomed by a quite impressive welcoming committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were many local people waving their
arms and jumping up and down, and a small marching band with flag twirlers
playing songs and dancing around with waving sessions in the breaks between
each song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was amazing to see these
people who were so excited to see us and went through all the trouble to give
us this greeting. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today I had my first field lab,
which is basically like a field trip. There is one field lab required for each class during the semester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each field
lab counts for 20% of our grade, so it’s pretty important in
order to get a decent grade in the lab. My field lab today was for my Myth of the Self class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In a few words, w</span>e went to a Buddhist temple
in Kamakura and did Zazen meditation (Zen meditation) with Buddhist
Monks/Priests, but the experience was far and beyond what I was expecting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We arrived at the temple grounds
and first got a little tour of the area around the temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were many different things like a giant
bell, many Buddha statues, a shrine-looking thing, and many natural
surroundings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The monk who was showing
us around and talking to us was very quiet and didn’t speak much English,
so trying to listen to what he was saying about each aspect of the temple
grounds was difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily the main
monk came to take over; his name was Fugio, and we called him Fugio
Sensei.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and the other two monks who
were accompanying him were all wearing these dress/robe things, these
bib-looking things, the little socks that are like toe socks in between your
big toe and “index toe” but the rest is like a normal sock so you can wear them
with flip-flop shoes (which they were also wearing), had bald heads, were
cleanly shaven, and had glasses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
very interesting to see what they dress like.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we got into the temple, we had to take off our shoes and put them into plastic bags similar to
the kind you get at King Soopers or Target.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We then entered the area where we were going to meditate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were four rows of these futon-like
pillow/mattresses that were about the length of a mattress but they were folded
in half.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We claimed our cushion and
waited for everyone to settle into their spots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were then shown the proper way to sit while doing meditation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First we had to fold the top half of our
cushion in half and plant our butts on the higher portion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our legs were crossed in front of us similar
to crisscross-applesauce style, our hands were placed near our bellies making
an “O” shape with one hand on top of the other, and our eyes were focused on a
point about a meter in front of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
meditation was supposed to be about an hour long… yeah you read that right... an
HOUR long, but luckily the monks knew that we couldn’t meditate for that long
of a period, so they split it up into three sections.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>During the first section, we sat
while the monks came around correcting people’s posture and form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not to brag or anything but I had excellent
form and they didn’t do anything to change my form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then again, we did a couple of practice
sessions in class prior to the field lab, but no one really has to know
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, my professor talked about
how monks would not move from their position during meditation no matter what,
so if they had an itch they would just let it itch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I was sitting there I don’t know if I
just stopped blinking or what, but my eyes started to water and tears ended up
running down my face, but I was trying so hard to attempt to do meditation like
the monks would do it that I just let the tears stream in a river down my
cheeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the weirdest feeling not
being able to do anything but sit, but at the same time it was kind of
cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were supposed to put all of our
focus into our breathing and just being aware that we are breathing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that's something that few
people do: think about the fact that we are alive and we are breathing
human beings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a crazy thing to
think about and a crazy concept to get your thoughts and your mind lost
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was fairly easy for me to get
lost in these thoughts because of how silent it was in the hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only noises were the occasional times
where a monk would tell someone to fix something; other than that it was eerily
quiet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The next two sessions, however,
were not nearly as quiet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During these
two sessions we were to do the same thing as the first, but this time we could
ask the monks as they walked up and down the rows to assist us because we are
either losing focus, falling asleep, or starting to feel pain in our bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would ask them by putting our hands
together like in prayer as they were walking by, then we would bow to each
other, and then the meditator would lean over their crossed legs and arch their
back with their head down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The monk
would then take a bamboo stick/paddle thing and hit the meditator twice on the
left and right sides of the back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now
this hitting wasn’t like they were beating us because I don’t think Semester at
Sea would allow that, but I think the motion was more like a whip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that whipping doesn’t sound much
better than beating, but it was like the paddle would barely touch us and they
would bring it back up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The monks
claimed that the sound is worse than the actual feeling, but I beg to differ on
that statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a monk, who just
happened to be the monk that hit the hardest, hit me on the back because it
was an experience I was told I should have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I went through the whole process of putting my hands together, bowing,
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he hit me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It felt like the sensation of someone
whipping me with a towel but all the way down my back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It stung much more than I was anticipating
which caused my eyes to water slightly, but ironically not as much as the first
session of random crying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After I sat up
and bowed to the monk (because that was the protocol), I tried to gather my
thoughts to focus on my breathing again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Oddly enough, after a few moments, the stinging turned into tingling, and
the pain turned into a good feeling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
somehow allowed me to bring all of my attention to my breathing rather than the
other people getting hit, and it helped my posture immensely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It felt as though there was a board attached
to my back that made me sit straight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was the weirdest sensation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is really
hard to describe, so I guess if you want to know what I’m talking about, you
should try it for yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We finished up our meditation
and then had a Q&A with the monks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was difficult to understand the two assisting monks to Fugio Sensei,
so much of the discussion was lost in translation for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the life of a monk, from what Fugio
Sensei described is quite crazy from my perspective; I don’t remember if this
is exact, but basically they get up around 3 in the morning, meditate for a couple
of hours, eat breakfast, meditate some more, do some chores, eat lunch,
meditate, go around the town gathering food, eat dinner, meditate, go to bed
around midnight, and then do it all over again the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not exactly my style, but to each his own I
guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then got some dinner in town,
and I learned how to use chopsticks or somehow I’m better at using chopsticks
in Asia… it must be the atmosphere or something, but I am definitely better with
chopsticks here than I was in the States.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We then went back to the ship
where I met up with Jillian who also had a field lab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We attempted to try to get wifi in the port
terminal but failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ran into some
people that we met a few nights ago named Sawyer, Kyle, and Alexa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sawyer and Kyle are an engaged couple who are
students from Texas, and Alexa is Sawyer’s roommate who was supposed to travel
with Shelley to Tokyo today but somehow got left behind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We planned to go to Tokyo with these three
people in the morning because we figured it would be better to travel in a
group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They went to bed as Jillian and I
were still trying to get internet to contact some people since the Japanese
government wouldn’t allow the ship to have internet while in port.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, we got kicked out of the terminal
because it was closing, and we had no luck being able to talk to anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s always tomorrow I guess.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-63889230872570486062013-03-23T08:24:00.001-07:002013-04-13T12:11:06.868-07:00Day 17: 1/26 Crazy Waves<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today we have experienced the
most intense waves since the beginning of the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before we arrived in Hawaii, the waves tended
to make the ship rock right to left like a baby’s cradle. Since we left Hawaii,
the motion of the waves has been a bit more sporadic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The motion was no longer back and forth, but
rather like standing on a flat board that is balancing on top of a ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The motion could potentially be described as
circular which was extremely hard to adjust to, especially when walking up and
down the long hallways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tonight, however, was wild.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully I can find a video that someone
took with a GoPro showing the magnitude of how much the ship was moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People were flying all over the place, the
drawers in my room were opening and slamming shut on their own, someone’s TV
fell down, some people’s drawers came off the tracks and out of the dresser
completely, things were flying off shelves, and it got to be so bad that they
cancelled all activities (including classes) after 1655. Dinner time was
especially interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trying to walk
through a maze of tables, chairs, and people with a full plate of food in one
hand and a drink in the other while the waves are rocking and rolling was very
difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought I was going to
spill something on someone a good 10 times in the 20 feet that I walked to get
to the table where we were sitting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>During dinner there were people who fell or almost fell out of their
chairs, dishes falling off the tables, and lots of sliding around for
everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I weren’t as sea sick as I
was earlier in the day, I would probably have had a great time during this
storm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe next time there’s a sizable
wave I’ll be able to enjoy it more than this one. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-87239005782066522192013-03-23T08:21:00.001-07:002013-04-13T12:11:23.643-07:00Day 16: 1/25 Homesickness Kicking In<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This nine or ten day stretch on
the sea has started to give everyone cabin fever and has given me the
homesickness bug.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much fun as this
trip is, it is still difficult when the ones you love are so far away and the
only form of communication is email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
has started to hit me how homesick I have become. I’m guessing it is just
because there isn’t much to do on the ship that will occupy my mind to make
sure it doesn’t wander into the land of despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are times when the littlest thing will
trigger a memory or an emotion that will remind me of my family or Keenan and
will make me a little sad because they aren’t just a phone call or a drive
away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that homesickness is a part
of the process of studying abroad, but it really is no fun to experience
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure once we start going to
ports more often the homesickness will decrease, but it is days like today that being alone in my room with only my thoughts as company is not a
pleasant experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span>Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-11005846591215156062013-03-23T08:17:00.000-07:002013-04-13T12:11:40.770-07:00Day 15: 1/24 Soccer Attempt<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today was the first day I tried
to play soccer on the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people
got together at 1530 to get a little 3 v 3 game going, but what ended up
happening was about 15 people showing up to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Shelley and I waited for our turn to step
onto the court, it started to rain in the strong, breezy winds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This turned rain into sharp needles that
pelted your skin with precision and made you squeal like a girl at a Justin
Bieber concert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hid behind a wall as
the two teams on the court muscled through the painful weather to score that
golden goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was hoping that, by the
time my team was called to the court to play, the rain would stop or at least
let up, but there was no luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took a
deep breath and ventured into the stinging rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have always known that I disliked playing 3
v 3 soccer, but given the circumstances that are involved with soccer on the
ship, I really loathed playing 3 v 3 soccer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is very difficult to really do anything effective on that small court, and the
movement of the ship mixed with the wind of the storm made it nearly impossible
to control the ball. Hopefully when I actually play for intramurals it won’t be
quite as difficult, but part of me kind of doubts it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span>Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-71843377355900807952013-03-23T08:13:00.000-07:002013-04-13T12:12:02.849-07:00Day 14: 1/23 Extended Family and Taco Night<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the programs that SAS
does on the ship is called “Extended Family” where students sign up to get put
into a “family” with a professor or a life-long learner and other
students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is supposed to be like your
own little shipboard family while you’re on the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I signed up for it because I had heard good
things about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tonight I finally got
to meet my “family” during dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
“parents” are Charles and Carol Morris and my “siblings” are Luke, Torrie,
Andie, and two others who didn’t join us for dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charles is a Psychology professor, and he and
his wife have been on two voyages prior to this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both of them and the other students in my
family all seem very nice; this makes me very excited to have them as a family
because I miss my own family very much.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We met for dinner which happened to be Taco
Night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think I’ve ever been so
excited to eat tacos in my life!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
food on the ship is not bad at all; it follows a basic format of some sort of
pasta, rice, white meat, red meat, veggies, soup, salad, bread, sometimes
fruit, and dessert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They change
each one for every meal, but overall this is what the meals look like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The meals don’t taste bad, but after a while
you get tired of having basically the same thing every meal, so tacos were like
an exquisite meal for me to enjoy and savor each and every sloppy, messy
bite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since this was the case, I ended
up eating so much I thought I was going to burst open like a piñata!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was worth it though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-7599189423280100302013-03-23T08:09:00.001-07:002013-04-13T12:21:36.950-07:00Day 13: 1/21...no wait!...1/22 The Lost Day, Immigration Forms<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the middle of the night we
crossed the International Date Line which made us skip an entire day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it’s like I didn’t even live through
January 21, 2013! I guess we make up for it when we gain an hour almost every
night when we travel, but who’s counting?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a really weird feeling though to be almost a day ahead of everyone
back home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like I’m in the future
and have already lived the day that they are about to live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think about it too much sometimes and cause
my head to throb with how weird of a concept it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today was designated as a “study day” instead of being
an A or B day, but rather than catch up on all of the reading I had to do I
spent a good chunk of my day filling out all of the immigration forms for the
countries we’re going to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily there
was a PowerPoint with step-by-step instructions on how to fill out each form,
so I don’t think I screwed any of them up (or at least I hope I didn’t).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rest of my day was spent doing many
things; however, none of them really consisted of doing actual school work. I
have lost much of the motivation I had once had to do my schoolwork which is
very unfortunate considering I’m only about ¼ into the semester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully I’ll be able to get into my classes
more in the next few weeks otherwise this whole school thing will come to bite
me in the butt!</span></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-9285774962719348672013-02-02T10:57:00.002-08:002013-04-13T12:21:56.102-07:00Day 12: 1/20 Mermaids and Trivia<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
you’re on this ship all the time with not many forms of entertainment, having a
good movie on the loop can be a very nice treat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When said movie is Disney it makes it 100
times better, and when it is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Little
Mermaid</i> it makes it 1,000 times better!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the time in between my classes, dinner, and trivia, I’m pretty sure I
watched the movie 4 or 5 times (and watched it more the next day).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disney movies will probably be one of the
greatest little delights I will have on this ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently there will be more throughout the
voyage, so I’m excited for that!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
trivia night was pretty fun and interesting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually learned quite a bit of random
pieces of information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the
things I learned were: there are 418 cabins on the ship, the leftover food on
the ship gets ground up and pulped out into the ocean, there are 8 inhabited
islands in Hawaii, 2/3 of eggplants are grown in New Jersey, the index finger
of the Statue of Liberty is 8 feet long, there are very few teams in the NFL,
NHL, NBA, and MLB that don’t end in “s”, the first bathroom scene was on the
show Leave it to Beaver, there are 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet, corn
originated in Mexico, and pineapple originated in Brazil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a ton of other questions, but I
don’t remember them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though we
didn’t win, it was a good time!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>HAPPY
BIRTHDAY STEPHEN!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-24185212443341587392013-02-02T10:56:00.002-08:002013-04-13T12:22:16.180-07:00Day 11: 1/19 Bleh Kind of Day<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today
was not a very good day for my stomach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The seasickness started again; it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it was
the very first day, so I guess that’s good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think it is just being at the front of the ship that really gets me
sick, but let me tell you it is not fun at all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I spent the day kind of in a daze and really didn’t do much besides
sleep and eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did sign up to be on an
intramural soccer team though, which will hopefully be fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s 3v3 (which isn’t my favorite), on a
hardwood type of surface (even though it isn’t hardwood), and in the basketball
area which is pretty tiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will
definitely be interesting so stay tuned for how it actually goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLY!!<o:p></o:p></span>Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-87192592744408873452013-02-02T10:55:00.002-08:002013-04-13T12:22:36.042-07:00Day 10: 1/18 Sudden Goodbye<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Being
in this part of Hawaii was very nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was a wonderful temperature outside with the sun shining for the majority of
the day; I even tried to get my tan on for a little bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish we were able to get off the boat,
since there was an actual beach and I know this part of the island and some
people here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason we couldn’t is
because it would cost a ton of money and we would have to go through customs
again (I think) and it just wouldn’t be worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was going to lunch when I noticed that the
boat was moving!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suddenly freaked out
because I wasn’t expecting to leave until later in the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keenan and I started talking on the
phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tried to get me to go to lunch
and just say goodbye then, but I was starting to freak out a little bit because
I knew in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t be able to hear his voice for a
long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was trying to hold on until
the very last possible moment to say goodbye, and then the phone call suddenly
dropped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that moment my heart dropped
and my stomach twisted into knots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
frantically tried to get service and call him back, but ultimately failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess that was just the universe teaching
me to not be so greedy and to learn to let go… dang universe!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-21310200216693280722013-02-02T10:54:00.000-08:002013-04-13T12:23:08.436-07:00Day 9: 1/17 Stuck in Honolulu with a Bunch of Idiots<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As I
woke up this morning we were still at sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My roommate made me panic though because someone told her that it only
took around 3 hours to get to Honolulu, so maybe we already stopped there and
left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This worried me because I was
planning on talking to Keenan one last time before we didn’t have cell service
any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I frantically ran to the TV to
check the map of our location (which is always on channel 1), and found that we
hadn’t reached Honolulu yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a big
sigh of relief I got ready for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After my class, I was still waiting to get close enough to land to get
service; in the mean time I checked my email and read our sea update that our
RD (resident director --- each sea has one) puts together each day with some
reminders, notifications, events, and stuff like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the very top it said that there was a
mandatory meeting for all students tonight in the Union.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also an announcement telling the shipboard
community about the meeting and stressing that it was mandatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also learned later in the day that we were
going to stay in Honolulu for the night to avoid a storm and would leave no
later than 1800 the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
mandatory meeting started and it was the Executive Dean (Tom) who was
speaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He started off with saying,
“This is not going to be a dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This will be a monologue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will
be speaking to you and you will not have the opportunity to talk or ask
questions.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went on to explain that
there was an incident in Hilo the night between the two days we were there
where a hotel was basically trashed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
said that 200 students were staying in 32 rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lobby and many rooms were trashed, and
someone puked in the elevator so they had to completely take out the carpet in
the elevator and replace that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
were hundreds of empty alcohol containers, and people were recorded on video
coming in with alcohol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was one
lady from the University of Hawaii- Hilo who was staying in the hotel and
didn’t get any sleep the day before an interview because of the students; now
it is rumored that the university won’t have any affiliation with SAS (don’t
know if that’s true or not).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hotel
security kicked some people out, but no one was arrested by request of SAS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said that if it weren’t for this request that
many people would have been put in jail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He then went on to say that these people were very lucky that this
didn’t happen in a different country, because if it were in some other country
they could have easily been put in jail or caned or some other form of
punishment and SAS couldn’t do anything about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew that there were some kids on this trip
that came for a booze cruise and are just here to party, but seriously??<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is just amazing to me that people would
even do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They really are lucky that
this happened on U.S. soil and not in another country, but it shouldn’t have
even happened in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like
Tom said, “At what point did you think this was okay?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just don’t understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t heard of anyone getting kicked off
the voyage, but I’m sure there will be a ton of people that will have
points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I haven’t mentioned how
points work, there are a certain number of points that each action receives and
the max you can have is 10. After that you get kicked off the voyage, and, no matter
where we are, it is up to you to get back home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I really hope people don’t act like this again because not only does it
look bad for SAS, but it is also a danger to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully people wise up, or else I really do
think that the consequences will be a lot more severe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-51379275995074088452013-02-02T10:53:00.000-08:002013-04-13T12:23:37.748-07:00Day 8: 1/16 Markets and Waterfalls<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today I
woke up nice and early to head into town with some people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got to downtown Hilo and went to this
coffee shop with wifi so some people could use the internet to skype or update
their blogs or whatever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After some time
spent there, we went to the Hilo Farmers Market which happens on Wednesdays and
Saturdays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the market there were a
lot of fresh food vendors and craft vendors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The food ranged from fresh coconuts to pineapples to rambutan to coffee
to fresh fish. I didn’t get any food, even though now I kind of wish I got
something because fresh food is somewhat limited on the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did buy some things from the other parts of
the market, but caught myself several times wanting to buy something and then
thinking, “There are so many other countries you’re going to go to. You don’t need
to buy this.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any case, it was fun to
just walk around and see some local crafts and things that people had to
sell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After walking through the whole
market, we decided to go to Rainbow Falls which is a waterfall near town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily, when we went, there were other
people that also were heading there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Otherwise
I don’t know if we would have found it on our own because it was kind of tucked
away in an unusual spot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a designated
spot where people went to take pictures of the falls from a distance, and it
was a very pretty waterfall (pictures will show up at some point
hopefully).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then ventured up towards
the top of the falls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On our way there
was this giant tree that was more like a jungle gym for people of all
ages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was really easy to climb, so
Shelley and I were having fun climbing up, around, and through the tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After some play time in the tree we went to
where the falls started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
walked/hopped across some rocks and went towards the cliff overlooking the
falls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a while I was just amazed at
how cool it was to be up there near this beautiful waterfall, but after a while
I got a little anxious being so close to the edge and went back away from the
cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pretty crazy how much
water falls from this waterfall, but how little water looks like is feeding
into the falls from the top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After some time, we went back
towards town to get some lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went
to this place called the Wiki Wiki Kitchen and got some laulau which is pork
that is wrapped in some sort of leaves and steamed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pretty good, but not my favorite thing
to eat. After lunch we went back to the market to pick up some things that we
weren’t sure we wanted earlier but now wanted to buy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While in the market, Shelley decided she
wanted some shave ice, so we went to an ice cream shop near the market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we were in there, there were some other
SAS students who just bought some ice cream that was a bright purple
color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They told us that it was
delicious and they highly recommend getting it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ice cream was ube flavored; ube is a purple yam and is similar to a
sweet potato.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up getting an ube
ice cream cone, and I have to admit it was quite delicious!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We headed back to the ship around 4
because we wanted to make sure we got there with plenty of time to spare in
order to not get dock time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dock time is
a penalty that SAS gives for different reasons, but the main one is if you’re
late getting back on the ship in a port.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What it does is it makes you have to wait a certain amount of time
(correlated to the punishment) on the ship before you can get off in the next
port.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dock time can range from an hour
to a day to an entire port, so it isn’t something I was looking to get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got back on the ship I had plenty of
time before we were scheduled to leave the port, so I utilized the opportunity
that I still had cell service to facetime with my family and Keenan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I miss these people dearly, so being able to
talk to them outside of email made me very happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tonight we leave to head towards Honolulu to
stop for fuel, so that will be the last time I will have cell service and get
to do things like talk to people back home on the phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-47891049987667553372013-02-02T10:51:00.001-08:002013-04-13T12:24:03.370-07:00Day 7: 1/15 Land Ho!<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From
talking to a friend who did SAS in a previous semester, she suggested seeing
the sunrise and watching the land emerge in the horizon in every port. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This idea really sounded like a cool thing to
do for all of the ports, so today I started my day early (or what I thought was
early enough) to see the sunrise and look for land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I got up to the 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> deck, the
land of Hawaii had already made its debut in the horizon, but the sun hadn’t
risen yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, there were so
many clouds that there wasn’t a very good sunrise; hopefully the other ports
will be better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any case, it was very
exciting to see land for the first time in about a week!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what the majority of the people on the 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
deck were doing, and seemed the most excited for, was using their cell phones
since we now had service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was quite
amusing to see how attached people (including myself) became to their cell
phones for the time we were in Hawaii.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think one of the things I’m looking forward to during this trip is not being so
dependent and attached to technology, but for the time being it was nice to be
able to call and text people on this trip and people back home.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After eating some breakfast, we had
to wait for the immigration process to begin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It took a good 2 hours or so to go through immigration which kind of
worried me since it was just into Hawaii.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wonder how long it will take for other countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How they did it is they call up every person
to go through customs (in groups) and then we are let off the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First they called up faculty, staff, and
lifelong learners to go through customs, then they went through each “sea”
starting with the 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> deck and moving their way up to the 4<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
deck (my sea was last to be called).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
we did was go up to the faculty/staff/LLL lounge, picked up our passport and
showed it to a Hawaiian Customs person, and then gave our passport back to a
worker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed like it was pretty quick,
but there were a couple of people who didn’t go up and so everyone had to wait
until they went up there and went through the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once everyone was cleared, they allowed
people who were signed up for field programs (trips planned through SAS) to get
off the boat first because many of them were on time constraints.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I signed up to go to Volcanoes
National Park through SAS because I didn’t know anyone who was planning a trip
up there, and it was something I wanted to do while I was in Hilo. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean how many times in your life can you go
see an active volcano? Then again this volcano wasn’t erupting or anything (I
didn’t even see any actual lava), but in any case the volcano is active.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I got off the ship, I had to wait for
the bus that would take us up to the volcano, and while I was waiting I noticed
that I was swaying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the weirdest
feeling to be on solid ground, so my body was swaying from habit of being on
the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t really know how to
explain the sensation but it was a wild feeling!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finally got on the bus and our first stop
was the caldera of Mauna Loa (I think that’s what it’s called) which was pretty
cool and pretty impressively large.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the middle of the caldera there was a spot that steam was coming out, and just
below the steam was where lava was trying to surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then went to a spot where a large amount
of lava flowed many years ago, and now the lava has hardened into lava
rock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was wild how much lava had come
out of these fissures because there was a large amount of land that was covered
by this lava.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our guide told us that it
was probably about 10-12 feet deep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
also saw some molds that were formed around trees; when the lava flowed and
moved around trees, the difference in temperature of the trees and the lava
caused the lava to “freeze” and turn into lava rock and the tree would burn
inside of the lava so there was just a mold of what used to be a tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During this part of the tour it started to
rain pretty hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was wearing a light
rain jacket, but it wasn’t enough; I was so soaked that the rain permeated
through my jacket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then made our way
to this area that was almost like a rainforest that contained a lava tunnel in
the middle of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lava tunnel was
made when a lava river flowed and melted through a rock, forming a tunnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was really cool to go through, and
apparently there are a bunch of them around the world and some can be miles
long!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During this, I ended up wearing
one of the ponchos that the bus had, which was a one-size-fits-all deal, which
means it swallowed me up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pretty
funny to see some people who were probably about 7 feet tall wearing the same
ponchos and having them come to just above their knees, and then mine coming to
maybe the middle of my shins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
interesting thing about the Big Island of Hawaii is it is in the middle of
trade winds so it has many different climates all across the island; one side
gets a lot of rain while the other side is more barren (I find this pretty
fascinating but that could just be me).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we got back to the ship I went
to take a shower since I probably smelt like a wet dog, and then I waited for
Jillian and Shelley to get back to the ship so we could all go to Walmart to
pick up some snacks and last minute things we forgot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I was waiting I got to facetime Keenan
which was really nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know how
I would function on this kind of trip if I couldn’t email or skype with people
back home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I had to rely on letters I
don’t know how well I would do with homesickness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we went to Walmart, it was a pretty
typical Walmart with the exception of a Hawaiian souvenir section and that the
McDonalds in the Walmart sold taro pies (like their apple pies but with
taro).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got one because I was curious;
it tasted really good but was kind of odd looking because the inside was a
purple color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stocked up on some
snacks (which I highly recommend for anyone who is going to go on this trip
because you will get hungry in between meals on the ship) and we got some
coloring books (which I also recommend because they are awesome!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We decided to stay on the ship for the night
to save some money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got back
from Walmart, we just unpacked our new items and then watched <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ted</i> and colored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surprisingly, I was the last one awake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For anyone who knows me, this is very rare
for me to not fall asleep during a movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For the past few nights I haven’t slept great, so maybe that had
something to do with me not falling asleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113009320391798827.post-83795971619180676362013-02-02T10:49:00.003-08:002013-04-13T12:24:24.075-07:00Day 6: 1/14 Fresh Air Never Felt So Nice<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since
that first night when I felt the need to get fresh air because of seasickness,
I haven’t been outside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t exactly
know why I haven’t had a meal or done my reading outside, but I finally got out
onto the 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> deck and did some reading (or tried to do some
reading).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is kind of difficult for me
to do my reading outside though especially when there’s so much going on, and
when I enjoy looking out at the ocean and all the waves I tend to get a little
distracted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, the warmth of the sun
and a little bit of a sea breeze makes me just want to sit and enjoy rather
than read a stinkin’ book. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every once in
a while when we are in the middle of the ocean it hits me how big and how
amazing and beautiful the ocean actually is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When all you can see is ocean around you, you start to feel very small
compared to the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a difficult
thing to explain, but when I look out at the ocean I tend to get lost in
thought about how remarkable the world is and how remarkable life is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope that everyone has this feeling, and I
hope I will continue to have this feeling after I am no longer surrounded by water
but rather am surrounded by the more mundane life I live and love back home.<o:p></o:p></span>Lauren.Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03272026477749181626noreply@blogger.com0