Jason's Travels

Reawakening

2012-09-30T15:24:00.001-07:00

Three and a half years and a thousand life and travel experiences since my most recent post, I have decided to inject some life into this blog. My approach, this time, is a bit different. Rather than provide readers with detailed journal-style accounts of my experiences, I intend to focus on individual experiences that I have and observations that I make, describing them and then analyzing them. Will I still write about the people that I meet? Definitely. This blog is still a first-person narrative. I have just decided to move a bit more in the social/political commentary and travel advice direction, which means I am unlikely to describe every meal I have and every footstep I take.

If you are a close friend or family member, you probably receive my travel updates. Earlier this year, I started to reference books that I read while on the road in these updates. Literature, as a construct, is something I am very fond of. I think that the novels, histories, and biographies that I read will be mentioned in my blog posts,as I often find that themes or motifs in the literature I read are germane to the experiences I have and the lessons I learn while traveling.

For all intensive purposes, this may as well be my first blog post. A bit about me: I am a 24-year-old American, born and raised in Arizona, who loves to travel, loves to read, and loves to love. I graduated from university a year and a half ago, fortunate enough to find a job that would allow me to travel just about anywhere I wanted (although a distinction between traveling where I want and traveling how I want should definitely be made--after accounting for taxes, insurance, and long-haul transportation expenses, my discretionary daily budget for food, lodging, day-to-day transport, and entertainment has been $13 a day). For the most part, I have still traveled quite comfortably, but I have made some interesting decisions to save a buck or two (or $200) while traveling. I studied International Studies, Economics, and German Literature at university. After graduating and taking a job that has little do to with any of those disciplines, I set off with my then-boyfriend and very close friend Jeff. We visited some friends in Boston and Cape Cod, before boarding a one-way flight for Iceland. We drove across Iceland on a white summer night, in order to catch a ferry to the Faroe Islands, where we couchsurfed with a cute and hospitable couple who is now happily married. From there, we made our way by ship to Hirtshals, Denmark, where we stopped briefly before disembarking in Bergen, Norway. We spent a couple of weeks in Norway and Sweden, before catching a flight to Freiburg, Germany, a city I studied in during college and that will probably always have a remarkably special place in my heart (I will be going back in two months!). Six weeks later, we enjoyed a few Steins at Munich's Oktoberfest, before hurriedly stumbling through the morning cold to catch a bus to Prague, where we spent a week before parting ways.

After Prague, I went south through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. I caught a flight to the Netherlands, where I spent a couple of weeks Couchsurfing (my best experience was with a Mongolian yurt builder in Utrecht). After knocking myself out with a legally purchased "space cake," I slept soundly on a night bus to Berlin, waking only once during the 11-hour journey, with a German border guard shining a flashlight in my face, demanding that I show him my passport. Satisfied that I decided not to smuggle any drugs across the German border for a one-night rendezvous with a friend of mine in a city I love dearly, I fell asleep until an announcement made by the bus driver informed me that we had arrived at our final destination.

From Berlin, I flew to the States to attend a friend's wedding and visit with my family for awhile. Recharged, I set off after the New Year for San Francisco, where I spent a week before flying to Thailand. The next six months were spent SCUBA diving in the South China Sea; blogging from the comfort of my personal hammock on the beach; passing time with my good friend Alison who was living and teaching in Bangkok; sailing down the Nile River and touring the Pyramids of Giza via chariot with Jeff; exploring the freezing yet magical waters of the Red Sea with my self contained underwater breathing apparatus; reveling in the friendly smiles and beautiful scenery that Burma has to offer (while trying to ignore the surprisingly mediocre food); trekking through the Annapurnan Himalayas in Nepal; and by chance finding my own guru in Northern Thailand, who helped me grow more comfortable with my meditation practice and find the peace I had been seeking.

Right now I am back in the States, recharging my batteries and refueling my bank account. In shortly over a month, I will set off to Sweden for the start of another adventure. In the meantime, I hope to post about some of the highlights of my recent travels.

More pics for my other blog.

2009-05-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

Just some pics.

2009-04-28T01:23:00.000-07:00

Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Vienna, Belgrade

2009-03-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

So I don’t even think there is a point to me making another resolution to update my blog more frequently, because chances are I won’t follow through and I will just let down anyone who still checks this thing.

Since my last post, I spent about ten days in Romania, a few days in Budapest, a week in Prague, a few days in Vienna (where I had to pay an unexpected visit to the hospital), a day in Bratislava (which officially takes the cake as my least favorite city in Europe so far), and three days in Belgrade. I just crossed the border into Macedonia, and am on a train headed for Skopje, where I will spend a couple of days before continuing south into Greece.

I have had a ton of positive experiences (and some not-so-wonderful experiences) during my eastern Europe tour over the past month. Romania was almost all-around one giant positive experience. I loved Timisoara, made great friends there, and even ended up stopping back there before leaving Romania at the end of my trip. Bucharest was also nice, although I was ready to leave after spending one night and one day there. Sighisoara was deserted and beautiful, and I had a hostel room almost entirely to myself. Brasov was an excellent gateway for exploration of the Rasnov Fortress, Bran Castle, and Poiana Brasov, where I had the opportunity to spend a day snowboarding for dirt cheap. I stayed with a nice couple in Brasov who is doing education development work with Roma (gypsy) children in a neighboring community to Brasov. After three days in Brasov I set off for Sibiu, where I met up with a friend from my intensive language course that I took in September in Germany. She showed me around the city, which was a European cultural capital in 2007 or 2008 and has a lot of German influence (it is called Hermannstadt in German). On my second day in Brasov, Cornelia invited me to eat lunch at her place and I had one of the most touching experiences I have ever had in my life. After trudging through snow to get to the village museum and spending the morning there, I had a lot of hunger. We bused back into the city and then walked to her apartment. We walked by am abandoned orphanage and a Catholic church, then turned a corner, walked through a gate, ascended a flight of stairs, and we were there. I felt like it was connected to the church, but I figured that I was just disoriented. Before inviting me into her home, Cornelia had apologized profusely for not being able to offer to host me while I was in Sibiu. I told her not to worry about it, but she kept apologizing. When we entered her place, I immediately knew why she couldn’t host me. Her place is not terribly small for three people, but for the nine that once lived there it is insanely small. The apartment is made up of a bathroom, a kitchen, a dining room, which doubles as Cornelia’s mother’s room, and a living room, which is also Cornelia’s and her brother’s bedroom. After giving me the grand tour, Cornelia asked her brother where her mom is and he said in the church. Just then she walked through the door into the dining room. I was a bit confused, but I didn’t say anything. Cornelia asked if I would like to see her church and I said sure. I followed Cornelia back through her room, and she opened a wooden door and beckoned me through. Her apartment was a small portion of the church! We walked to the church balcony, where Cornelia told me her touching life story. Her father walked out on the family when Cornelia was 8 years old, at which time her mother took all eight of her children, ranging in age from five to seventeen, away from their home in Moldavia and moved them to Sibiu. She sought aid from a church, and a priest created this apartment for them in the church. They have lived there ever since, although now most of the children are full-grown adults and have moved out. At one time they all shared this small two-room apartment. All of the children have turned out very well, and after hearing this story and meeting Cornelia’s mother, she instantly became a hero of mine. I was also well fed, having some dumpling soup, sausages, bread, pickled vegetables, and a Romanian liquor (sounds like “pah-link-oh”). It was a great meal, and I left feeling full and grateful. Cornelia walked me to t he train station, and waited with me until my train left, even though it was almost an hour delayed. I headed back to Timisoara for two days before saying sayonara to Romania. I shared a train compartment with a Romania actress named Cristina, who I had some of the most incredibly genuine conversation with. We had such a good time talking together that she invited Patri and me to go out to eat with her friend and her oncewe arrived in Timisoara. We went, but the dinner ended up being kind of an awkward experience. I stayed with my host, Patri, again, and had a great time with her and Julia. I also had the chance to go to her parents’ house (which is REALLY nice) and eat a home-cooked meal that her mother made, which consisted of a soup, bread, a salad, and homemade chicken cordon bleu, which was delicious.

After leaving Romania I headed back to Budapest where I stayed for a couple of days, ate a ton of hummus, met some great people, and spent two days at a Turkish bath. It was a really relaxing experience, and was followed by a night of couchsurfing in Bratislava, which was beautiful but boring. I did have some delicious halusky, and my host was a nice guy, but I was ready to leave Bratislava far before my train pulled out for Prague.

Next comes a week in Prague, spent staying with my good friend Shannon from Semester at Sea. This was a great time, filled with an excessive amount of partying and storytelling. I took a day trip with her program to the Budweiser brewery and a small castle town in lower Bohemia. This was a blast. Aside from that, I sampled many Czech beers and ate a lot of food. I got the chance to meet her friends there, who are all great, had a really interesting laundry experience, and reminisced A LOT about Semester at Sea. By the time I left Prague, I was feeling pretty sick, but I had an incredible time there.

My plan was then to stop back in Vienna for one night, but that one night turned into three nights, one of which was spent primarily at the hospital. I was feeling extraordinarily light-headed, and was worried I was going to faint and that it would not end well, since I was traveling alone. At the hospital I found out that I had bronchitis and a viral infection. I was prescribed some medication and given an inhaler, and I tried to spend the rest of my time in Vienna resting up. Unfortunately this was pretty unsuccessful…I maybe slept 8 hours in three days.

I finally left Vienna, feeling sick as a dog, spent one more night in Budapest, where I ate some more hummus, met more nice people, and spent another unsuccessful right hours in bed (not really sleeping at all).

I left Budapest for Belgrade, where I rented a single room at the urging of my mom. This gave me the chance to rest up, and now I am feeling almost completely better. Belgrade was beautiful, but the weather was terrible (it has been almost this entire trip actually), and the food was very salty/greasy.

Now I am in Macedonia, and it is snowing outside…I was just thinking earlier on this train ride that I might have seen snow for the last time this season, and I certainly didn’t expect to experience any down here. The sun is setting, but it is a fairly dreary day so I can’t really tell. I don’t have special plans for Skopje, I will mainly just explore the city, eat some Macedonian cuisine, and try to rest up a bit more. My hostel claims to have a hot tub (but so did the one I stayed at in Sibiu), and I am pretty excited to hit that up. I am also excited about continuing onward and meeting up with a friend from high school at Meteora in a couple of days!

Eastern Europe Tour

2009-03-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

Finally getting around to giving you all another update. Right now I am on a train from Timisoara, Romania to Bucharest, and there is about 4 feet of snow covering the landscape around me. Since I last wrote, I had my final exams, which were certainly not easy, then I left Freiburg at 7 AM the morning after my last test and had a 17-hour travel day to Vienna, which really should have been about an eight-hour trip. My first train left from Freiburg and arrived in Basel on time. My second train, from Basel to Zurich, was just a few minutes late. Then I boarded my third train of the morning, which was to take me from Zurich to Innsbruck, and then it was announced that there was a problem with the breaks. They ended up just getting a new engine to pull the train, but it took about two hours, so I arrived in Innsbruck about two hours after expected. I had about an hour to walk around, and it was a beautiful day…clear blue sky meeting snow-capped mountains, etc. The city seemed pretty nice. Anyway, I then boarded the train that was supposed to take me to Vienna, and they told us that the train would not be going any further than Innsbruck that day, but to stay on the train until they gave us more information. I think there was a problem on the tracks somewhere between Innsbruck and Vienna. They had all passengers get off the train and wait at the bus station for about an hour, then packed buses (standing room only) carried us to a small village called Jenbach, where we had to wait an hour and a half before we could finally leave for Vienna. I arrived in Vienna at around midnight, checked into my hostel, and found out that one of the girls in my hostel room and I have a good mutual friend. This is the second time this has happened to me this year (also happened in Madrid). On the way to Vienna I shared an apartment with a nice group of people from all over Austria. They all had strong accents, but once I spoke with them for a little while I had no problem understanding them. We discussed the economic crisis, Obama, etc. (frequent topics of discussion that Europeans like to have with Americans). This one guy worked for a financial firm in Switzerland, and he seemed very confident in his prediction that by the end of the year 2010 the US Dollar and the Euro will have the same value, and that shortly thereafter the US Dollar will become stronger.

It was snowing in Vienna.

I crashed at my hostel once I arrived, and got about six hours of much needed sleep before taking a train to Budapest in the morning. I arrived in Budapest around noon, checked into my hostel (which was great), and then gave myself a Budapest-in-one-day city tour. I also ate some of the best hummus I have ever had in my life.

It was snowing in Budapest.

I left Budapest at 7 AM yesterday for Timisoara, a beautiful city which is where the Romanian revolution began in 1989 and which is considered to be the country’s most cosmopolitan city. There was a one-hour time change, so my host picked me up at the train station at 1. We walked around the city for five hours (yet another beautiful city), and then we went to the supermarket and purchased vegetables and meat and made a traditional Romanian vegetable and pork soup, which was delicious. Julia, a good friend of my host Patri, joined us for dinner and then they took me out to a couple of their favorite bars. We didn’t stay out too late (only until about 1), and while I was out a received a text from my friend Valerie that she would no longer be meeting up with me in Romania. She said that a friend who lived on her floor (she studies in Lille, France) was stabbed in the hand about 10 feet away from Valerie and that, although her friend is thankfully okay, now is not the time for her to be globetrotting. She was pretty shaken up. I am glad that her friend is alright, and have no problem traveling around Romania by myself, but I would have preferred to couch surf the whole time, but booked hostels because Valerie wanted to stay in them and I hurriedly sent out e-mails last night, hoping to cancel my hostels in some cities, and cutting all the reservations to one. Hopefully I won’t have to pay for two people at any of them. After Bucharest, I plan to visit a couple of cities in Transylvania before finishing up my Romanian tour in Sibiu, where a friend from my German language course in September lives. After this, I will either head to the Low Tatras Mountains in Slovakia or to Lviv, Ukraine, I think…although Patri and her friend told me I could stop back in Timisoara and that we could take a day trip to Belgrade, Serbia, which I think would be really neat and was hoping to visit sometime in mid-March anyway.

It was snowing in Timisoara.

So far I have spent much of this break on trains, but it has been a great experience thus far. The couchsurfing experience I had with Patri was arguably my best one yet, and I have been extremely pleasantly surprised by Romania. I think there is much more money here than many Americans and western Europeans would believe, the landscape is beautiful, and the people are friendly and hospitable. English is definitely not widely spoken, but I taught myself some Romanian on my train ride over and yesterday Patri was with me everywhere and could help me with anything I needed. We spoke to each other in German, her and Julia spoke to each other in Romanian, and Julia and I spoke to one another in English, so it was a really interesting little language triangle.

There is an update for now. I am being cautious, but really feel quite safe here. I am very much looking forward to exploring the Balkans a bit more. Will write again soon.

Oh, and it’s snowing now.

Two and a half months later...

2008-11-16T14:19:00.000-08:00

I am finally getting the chance to write my first blog entry pertaining to my time here in Germany. I am sorry it has taken so long, but because I was without internet for my first seven weeks here, am keeping another blog for a foundation while I am here (http://www.daad.org/page/bloggers/), have started keeping a personal handwritten journal for the first time ever, and have nearly morphed into a sloth since my arrival, I have kept those of you who avidly keep up with my blog in suspense. Instead of backtracking and writing a separate blog entry for each segment of my life in Freiburg, as well as for each of the trips I have made outside of the aforementioned city, which already feels like home to me, I will try my hardest to update you on what I have done over the last 75 days in one concise (by my standards) entry.

As I sat in my parents’ L-Z-Boy Chair at 11 PM August 31^st, furiously scribbling all of the verbs that I was unfamiliar with from 501 German Verbs onto note cards, the familiar chatter of the detectives from Without a Trace filling what would have otherwise been complete and utter silence, my cell phone vibrated. A good friend of mine, Aliya (who spent last spring in France and I had not seen since December 2007), was on the other line calling to find out when I left for Germany. I told her I was leaving in six hours…she told me she would see me in two and a half. She drove up from Tucson and we desperately tried to catch each other up on what was happening in our lives while I packed last-minute and she helped me stuff way more clothes than should ever be able to fit in two suitcases into vacuum bags. I left Phoenix at the crack of dawn on September 1st, after having just spent a much needed week at home and getting the chance to see all of my family except for my brother and sister-in-law, as well as some of my closest friends. While my mom drove me to the airport, I tried to take in as much of the southwest desert landscape as I could, thinking that a year away from it all might actually make me miss the red rock and saguaro cacti for once in my life. I was fortunate enough to watch what will probably turn out to have been the most beautiful sunrise I will have seen all year by the time I leave here. I tried to acknowledge the fact that I was about to leave home for an entire year, but just sat there telling my mom it was not sinking in. When I hugged her goodbye, realizing that I had never before gone more than 4 months without seeing either of my parents, some semblance of what was to set in on my later flight from Atlanta started to sink in…

My plane touched down in Frankfurt-am-Main at roughly 7 AM on the morning of September 2^nd, and while I had not fallen asleep since I last awoke on the morning of August 31^st, I was giddy from the anticipation of the opening of a new chapter of my life, one which promised to be one of the most eventful yet. The train that was supposed to carry me and my 100 pounds of luggage to Freiburg had been canceled (the Deutsche Bahn has a reputation for being the most timely and efficient rail network in all of Europe, and canceled trains are nearly unheard of), and I headed to the Reise Zentrum (travel center) to figure out a new way to get to Freiburg. My entire conversation with the Deutsche Bahn clerk was in German, and I was so excited that he didn’t even try to switch to English once he undoubtedly heard my accent. This was promising, but boarding a train to Freiburg with no available seats was not. I spent the ensuing two hours sitting atop my backpack, moving all of my luggage from side to side as the platforms we stopped at switched from left to right, staring at the extraordinarily green landscape out the window, and trying to capture my impressions in my journal. After arriving in Freiburg, I took a taxi to the Sprachlerinstitut, where I was given the keys to my room for the next month, and given directions on how to get to my student apartment via Strassenbahn (streetcar).

When I opened the door to what would be my room for the next month, I for the first time wondered what I had gotten myself into. There were dust bunnies everywhere, at least 15 living spiders and two dozen dead insects spread throughout the room, bread crumbs behind the part of the bed where a headboard would normally be, and the room smelled like it had been abandoned fourteen years ago, although I was nearly certain someone had moved out just days before. Further exploration of my WG only made me more uncertain of the living situation I had gotten myself into: fruit flies harbored themselves in every nook and cranny that exists in the kitchen, and the kitchen itself had realistically not been cleaned for at least six months, and the bathrooms were in an equal state of disrepair. I had been warned against living in StuSie (Studentensiedlung am Seepark) by someone who had studied in Freiburg the year before, and tried desperately to land a room in a different building (Haendelstrasse) over the summer, but I never could have imagined StuSie would turn out to be as bad as it was. My feelings toward StuSie (while I am still not altogether sure I would choose it over a couple of the other Studentenwerk [residence life, sort of] options or a shared apartment in the city center) could not be more different today…

Two and a half months have passed since I opened the door to my first room in StuSie, gaping in horror and, although I unwillingly had to relocate to another room, I have come to love Studentensiedlung am Seepark, as well as the city of Freiburg and almost everyone I have met here. My first month was spent primarily on improving my German, as I took an intensive language course and spoke to my roommates almost exclusively in German. I didn’t leave Freiburg the entire time (with the exception of two day trips to Basel and the Alsace region of France), as I wanted to really familiarize myself with the city and establish relationships with Germans that I hoped would last through the year. My German did get much better, and I got so close to two of my roommates that I was actually sad to leave my filthy apartment when the time came for me to move. My language course went well, and we all got to know each other so well that we would go out some nights for a beer and invite our professor (he joined us on one occasion). I still see many of my Sprachkurs friends, who hail from five different continents and are some of the most fascinating individuals I have ever met. We had a ridiculously difficult final examination, but I did alright in the course and met people I hope to remain in contact with for years to come.

Since my first month in Freiburg I feel like I have done nothing but travel. I had pre-purchased a fifteen day in two months Eurail pass and wanted to get my money’s worth, so I went to Hamburg one weekend, Munich and Salzburg the next, followed by a conference in Bonn and a week in Portugal in Spain, then two weekends in Freiburg before spending a long weekend in Berlin. My most recent outing was to Brussels to visit a friend studying there. I will be traveling the next two weekends, and then I hope to spend an entire month in Freiburg before spending Christmas in Rheinland-Pfalz with my old host family, the Schmitts.

Each of my trips has been great, but my favorite three destinations so far were Hamburg, Portugal, and Berlin.

I would describe Hamburg as being the perfect mix between old and new, with Gothic facades meeting Art Nouveaux architecture high in the air. It has a thriving artistic community, surprisingly beautiful beaches, delicious food, and a nightlife like none I have encountered before or after. All of the people I met in Hamburg, including both of my couchsurfing hosts, were extremely friendly and helpful, and despite being a bit sick while I was there I had an incredible time.

Munich was great, and it wasn’t a coincidence that I hit it up during Oktoberfest. I couchsurfed there as well, and had the chance to meet up with two friends from Semester at Sea and a number of my friends from Freiburg. But when the time came to head off to Salzburg, I welcomed the opportunity to escape the pool of Mass (one-liter Steins of beer) I had been drowning myself in for four days. I had a completely dry experience in Salzburg, which accompanied by the fresh mountain air left me feeling healthy once more as I headed back to Freiburg. My couchsurfing experience in Salzburg was another positive one, and although an Australian was staying there as well (with his former German host sister), we managed to speak only in German the entire time.

I had a day to do laundry and appreciate Freiburg before catching a morning train to Bonn for a conference with a few other students studying here in Freiburg. The conference was great, and we stayed in a hostel that reminded me of the seemingly countless weeks I have spent at various camps in northern Arizona throughout the years. We saw a German history museum with a chilling holocaust exhibit, and ate dinner at a Chinese buffet on a boat on the Rhein (Rhine River). After the conference I met up with my friend Alison from Semester at Sea for three days in Lisbon. We took day trips to Cascais and Sintra, and stayed at the world’s coolest hostel, Travelers’ House Lisbon (one of my favorites, anyway). She flew back to Milan, and I took a train to Porto where I couchsurfed for a night before taking my first night train ever (to Madrid). I had a sketchy two-hour stopover in the middle of nowhere, Portugal (Encontramento), before my ten hour ride to Madrid. In Madrid I met up with my friend Danielle from Semester at Sea, and then got to spend two days with my good friend from school, Arizona. I spent my last day there with a friend who studies with me in Freiburg. While in Madrid, I was contacted by another two people I had no idea were even there, and met someone from Tucson who I have a ton of mutual friends with. I really liked the Prado and the Reine Sofia museums, and was so excited to see Dali’s The Enigma of Hitler and The Great Masturbator. I also encountered a painting I was unfamiliar with, Ponce de Leon’s Accidente, which is now one of my favorite works of art. I went to the “world’s largest nightclub,” a seven story shit show that was fun to experience once, but not a place I would hang out at if I were to move to Madrid. My favorite thing about Madrid was without a doubt the city’s most well known park, El Retiro. I left Madrid at 6 AM on October 18^th, and took five consecutive trains before arriving home in Freiburg at 2 AM on the 19^th. I had one day to rest up before classes began, and suddenly realized at about 10 PM on the 19^th that I had no idea what classes I was going to try to get into. I frantically perused the course catalogue, and settled on ten classes that I was going to visit the first week, before narrowing the number down to five or six I would actually take. The six I decided on are outlined below (sorry, I copied these descriptions from my other blog).

“Auschwitz Denken”, which is a look back at the Holocaust from a modern-day German perspective, and so far is one of the two classes that has captured my interest the most.
“Theorien der Internationale Politik,” which is an overview of different political theories as well as an introduction to international political relations. This course is pretty interesting so far, and the professor is great, although it is the toughest yet for me to follow.
“Green Business and Environmental Policy in Freiburg,” the other of my two favorite classes thus far. It is taught by the International Programs Director for the Department of Economics here and is designed specifically for exchange students. We have the chance to learn about the interrelation between economics and the environment in a city which has on several occasions been dubbed the “greenest city in the world.” The resources available here for this course is outstanding and we have three hands-on field trips planned already. I don’t think there is even the slightest chance I won’t follow through with this course. This course is taught in English
Grundlagen fuer Wirtschaftpolitik (Foundations of Economic Policy), one of two lectures I am enrolled in. It is a large class with a much more impersonal feel than most of my other courses have, but I have deemed it a great choice for my “Applied Political Economy” concentration at home.
Economics of Social Justice (also taught in English), a course in which the focus is on determining costs and benefits of promoting social justice in the different national economies today. As an active proponent of social justice and a budding economist, I think this class will give me some great insight on the settling of my political leanings with my natural economic instincts.
Lastly, but only because it is my last class of the week (on Thursdays at noon J), I am enrolled in a course titled “Deutsche Literaturgeschichte im Ueberblick,” and overview of German literary history, with a reading list containing works by Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, and Kleist. I do not think there is a better way for me to integrate myself into the German literary world than by taking this course. This is my other lecture, but it is smaller than the Economics course and feels more intimate.

I am not sure if I will keep all six of these or drop down to five, as I am seriously struggling with a couple of them already and not sure I want to spend as much time focusing on my academic workload here as I do at home.

The first weekend after I started school Alison (the friend from SAS who is studying in Milan) came to visit me. I had such a great time showing Freiburg off to someone else for the first time, and Alison was so taken with Freiburg that it made me appreciate the city more than I already do. I did pretty much everything touristy Freiburg has to offer with her, most of which I had not done before myself, and I was duly impressed with the Schauinsland and Freiburg’s signature cathedral, the Muenster. I also showed Alison my favorite streets in Freiburg, took her to my favorite restaurants, etc.

The following weekend was Halloween, and Halloween in Freiburg isn’t too different from Halloween in the States, although the costumes here usually utilize more textile materials than costumes at home do. They also tend to be a bit darker than most of the costumes one would find at most US college campuses. I went to one Halloween party with mostly Germans, as well as one that was mostly Americans. They were both fun, and I was pretty impressed by some of the costumes that exchange students managed to put together in spite of their tight budgets and seriously condensed wardrobes.

Last weekend I went to Berlin. Oh, Berlin. The city had been talked up to me quite a bit, as a number of people I know who have backpacked Europe rank Berlin as one of their favorite cities, if not their favorite. I couldn’t help but have high expectations, and I will have to say that they were met but not exceeded. I loved everything about Berlin, from its excessive street art to the architectural differences one finds crossing from one borough into the next. When I first stepped off my train into Berlin’s mammoth new Hauptbahnhof (main strain station), I knew I was not going to leave the city disappointed. The four days that followed were filled with fantastic food (including the best doener I have found to date), non-stop sightseeing, and bitterness toward the sun for setting so early. I only used public transportation in Berlin twice, once to get from the Hauptbahnhof to my hostel (Wombats City Hostel, another really good one!) and once because it was required as part of a “free” city tour. I have never walked so much before in my life, and have also never enjoyed walking so much. I think I saw everything most tourists go to Berlin to see (from the outside, at least) and I had a chance to take an alternative tour of Berlin, which introduced me to a few of the successful squats that have been operating in Berlin since the wall fell down. I only had the chance to explore three of the museums in Berlin (Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jewish Museum, and one art museum), but plan to go back to Berlin one or two more times this year to see more. I spent the first two days exploring alone, and then my friend Jake met up with me and we saw everything I didn’t see the first two days (With some repeats), and participated in a pub crawl, on which we met a really nice Australian couple living and working in London. When Sunday evening came, I was far from ready to leave the tasty Thai, Indian, and Turkish food I had been feasting on for four days straight, but my legs were more than ready for the six-hour rest they received on the train ride home. Berlin is a place I would recommend to anyone and everyone. It’s like the Washington D.C. of Germany in the sense that there is a memorial of some sort every four footsteps, and also similar to D.C. when the political views of its inhabitants are taken into consideration, but Berlin is bigger than D.C. and its tumultuous history in recent years gives it a much different feel. I expected to like it a lot and I did.

This past week has been a dip in the rollercoaster that is a year abroad, not in the sense that I am depressed or doubting why I am over here or anything like that, but because I realized that I am going to have to put in quite a bit more effort into my classes than I have been and am kicking myself for not focusing from the get-go. I submitted an awful Protokoll (an analysis of the presentation given by another student the previous week of class, in which the Protokoller must address any points he or she believes were missed by the other student and present some questions on the topic), which was definitely a wake-up call for me. On Monday I had a paper due in my first class, the Protokoll to give in my second class, and a test to take in my third—it kind of felt like a typical Tuesday for me second semester of freshman year. The week ended well, however, with a field trip to my city’s recycling center for my Green Business class, which my instructor turned into an environmentally friendly excursion by offering to lead those of us with bikes on a bike ride to.

After the field trip I headed home and stuffed my backpack to head off to Brussels to see my friend Brittney and explore the city a bit more than I had the chance to do so when I was there this summer (I was only there for four hours, and the majority of that time was spent in presentations at the European Commission and the US Embassy). Unfortunately I was only able to stay one night, but in less than twenty-four hours I managed to have four Liege waffles, devour a sizeable portion of Frites with Curry-Ketchup, and sample a couple of beers that I didn’t get to try this past summer.

This brings me to now (breathing a big sigh of relief for having caught you up in far less space than I thought it would take). I finally have a relatively stable internet connection and have settled in enough that I think I should manage to post on here somewhat more regularly (I will try for twice a month but don’t want to make any promises). I moved from my first-story WG of 12 people to another building, where I live on the 7^th floor (8^th floor by American building terminology) and have seven roommates, five Germans and two Bulgarians (although a Russian and Ukrainian lived there when I first moved in). I get along pretty well with all of them, but still miss living with Gent and Jonathan, the two roommates I had grown close to in my first apartment. I now cook almost all of my meals, and am getting used to the German way of grocery shopping (almost daily and with total grocery bills averaging five Euros). I have a ghetto fabulous bike that I ride often, but not as much as I did when I first bought it. I recently joined a gym that is about ten minutes walking from my WG, and I am pretty happy with it although its fitness technology pales in comparison to that of CampusRec at home. I have a great group of friends from all over the world (although the majority of my close friends are from America), and am still meeting new people almost every day. I have fallen head over heels in love with Freiburg, its weather (starkly contrastive to Tucson’s or Phoenix’s), its cobblestone streets, its smiling inhabitants, and all it has to offer that unfortunately distracts me from my schoolwork. I spend way too much money on gummy candy, and probably consume roughly a kilogram of gummies a week (from my favorite shop, Gummi-Baeren Treff). I have discovered that I like dark chocolate more than I thought I did, and eat a bar after nearly every lunch and dinner. I had the opportunity to celebrate Obama’s victory with hundreds of German in my university’s cafeteria, where applause erupted every time the color blue filled the CNN screen. I have also come to really like my apartment, and laugh when I think back to the disastrous state my first room was in when I first saw it. My new WG is quite a bit cleaner than my last one, and we have a good cleaning schedule. I miss my family and friends, as well as the MV Explorer, but I am incredibly happy and feel very fortunate to be where I am right now. Also, as mentioned before, I have internet and my Skype is set up, so search for me or send me an e-mail if you want my Skype name.

I will try to post pictures as soon as I can, but my computer is unfortunately on its last leg, and its dysfunctionality combined with my weak internet connection make it pretty tough to upload pics.

The Journey Home

2008-10-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

I think the reason I waited so long to finish my post on Croatia has something to do with the fact that I was in denial for so long that my Semester at Sea experience came to an end, but, like all good things, it did. I disembarked the MV Explorer permanently (well, at least indefinitely) on August 22, more than a month and a half ago. Yet I still think about the experience numerous times daily. I am now studying abroad in Germany, and am having an incredible time here and know that I have a great year to look forward to, but even here I find my mind often wandering to Semester at Sea, the places that I visited, the things I experienced, and, most often, the people that I met. In only seventy days, I would venture to say that I met roughly half of the people I would now call my closest friends. But the thing is that there were so many amazing people on the ship that I met only at the very end, and some I didn’t even meet at all, that I also think I could have been just as close to. The MV Explorer had 600 of the most quality people one can find in this world aboard it this summer.

Many people thought that the leg home was going to seem to last forever, and for a few it probably did. This was not the case for me. Those twelve days were filled with (for me) play practice and the actual performance of “A Doll’s House,” the first ever full-length Semester at Sea theatre production, final papers, final exams, Sam Wiles’ comedy show, the Ambassador’s Ball, a commencement ceremony, countless community colleges, seemingly endless hours of sunbathing, 35 straight inedible meals, ridiculous dance parties on deck, a little bit of working out, meteor showers at 4 AM, sleeping less than ever, watching the water trail from the engines on the back of the ship alone late at night, and spending time with those I had grown closest to throughout the voyage, as well as with other great people that I met only in the final weeks.

If life were catered only to the wishes of those living it, I would still be on board the MV Explorer, living with Brett in room 4031, eating disgusting ship food with some of the people that mean the most to me, going to Wilkerson and White’s classes every day, and trying to make it through Global Studies most of the time. But for those of us fortunate enough to be here, life presses on, and thankfully so. If my life were spent entirely on Semester at Sea, it would truly be a joke, as I would have nothing to compare it to and no time to reflect on the experiences I had and what they mean in my life. I don’t want to make the Semester at Sea experience sounds heavenly, because it was far from it. I have already griped about the food plenty in this blog, sometimes classes could be a real nuisance, and plenty of students had serious bones with many SAS policies, and at times I would be included in this group of students. Life goes on outside the ship, and it is extremely hard to maintain good contact with family and close friends at home while aboard the ship, which can be a strain at times, especially when hardships strike your family or friends and you want nothing more than to be with them, even if it means leaving the Semester at Sea experience. I dealt with my fair share of problems while on board, but many students had far more difficult issues at home to tend to. Luckily the shipboard community and the friends that participants make on board can be so comforting in times of need.

I have wanted to participate in Semester at Sea since I first heard about it junior year of high school. Almost four years later, I finally had the chance to do so. I was extremely excited about my journey, and expected to have a great time, but I really didn’t think it was going to be such a life-changing experience for me, and I definitely never would have guessed I would have met so many incredible people that I will keep in touch with for the rest of my life. I learned so much about myself and about others while on Semester at Sea, in so many different ways, and in such a surreal environment, that I can say without hesitation, a month and a half after leaving the ship, that it has been the best experience in my life to this point. I didn’t think that I would feel this way, even a month into the voyage. I’m not even sure that I knew how much my Semester at Sea experience would mean to me when I disembarked, despite being a complete mess on the last morning, but with time to reflect I now know what the experience meant to me, and I cannot thank my parents enough for supporting me on my journey and my best friends back home for constantly being at my side, despite my constant jetsetting and unintentional neglect/lack of correspondence. I hope that you have all either had a similarly meaningful experience or will someday get to do so.

So that’s it. I know this post was a jumble of feelings and was filled with ambiguities (this is a public blog and I don’t want to get too personal with any randoms who may stumble upon it), but my Semester at Sea experience has come to a close. Actually, it came to a close awhile ago. I had a great reunion with my parents and my sisters (unfortunately did not get to see my brother and his wife before leaving for Germany) and a great weekend in Tucson with my closest friends, and I miss them and my family an outrageous amount and I think about you guys all the time. But I am here in Germany now, and as I discovered I should on Semester at Sea, I must live mostly in the moment, thinking of past memories but not dwelling on these moments (this includes SAS) and spending less time planning for the future than I always used to. I will start blogging about Germany soon (as well as put up SAS pics in these past ten or so entries). If anyone who reads this is contemplating participating SAS, and is still not sure whether the experience will be worth the money (be it loans, personal funds, parent’s money, whatever), please do not hesitate to e-mail me at Jase1219@gmail.com. I would be a liar if I said that Semester at Sea was for everyone, but I can answer any questions you may have honestly, and I will not hesitate to leave the negatives out.

Mom, Dad, Jon, Ali, Amanda, Steph--thanks again for all of your support. I love you guys!

Gabby, Christina, and Kerry, thanks for a great reunion and one last weekend in T-Town and for putting up with me constantly being out of town (or out of the country).

And everyone I met on Semester at Sea (and even those I didn’t), you guys are awesome and if you are ever somewhere near me I expect to hear from you. I wish you all the best. Many of you (you know who you are) made more of an impact on me than you will ever know.

And to anyone who may have been reading this blog, thank you and I hope you enjoyed it!!

Croatia

2008-10-17T03:19:00.001-07:00

Another day at sea (Croatia Day) was necessary to allow everyone the chance to process what we experienced in Greece before docking in another new and exciting country.

Days 1-3

When I peeled back my blackout curtain the morning we arrived in Croatia, I was greeted by a beautiful landscape that immediately looked to me like a fusion of Norway and Greece. Beautiful hills filled with lush vegetation rolled straight down to the water, islands were abundant in the nearby Adriatic waters, and red-roofed villas lined the beaches where thousands of people from around the world were having what must have been the most beautiful vacations of their lives. I breakfasted on the outside deck with Carly and we talked about her Croatian heritage and she taught me a few words in Croatian. Croatia was one of the three ports I had been most intrigued by since the itinerary for the voyage was finalized, but after anchoring and talking to Carly I was beyond excited for what was to come in the next three days. I was not disappointed, and, in fact, the only bad thing I can say about Croatia is that it was our last port, which made leaving it rougher than leaving all the other countries.

After breakfast I grabbed my backpack and headed up to the Union to grab a tender ticket. Dubrovnik was the only port we were tendering at, and the tender ride was a good twenty minutes or so. Once on land, my friends and I looked at each other. We were happy to be here, but really had no clue how to get into the city and how we were going to find our apartments. We went to an ATM to take out another type of Krone, or Kroner (for the last time L), and then bought bus tickets into the city center. We got off right by the Walled City, and the sight of ice cream made my mouth water because I was warmer and thirstier than I had been in a long time (probably at least since Greece). We met an employee who showed us our apartments in the walled city, and then I headed up to look at the ocean view villa with Becca and Jazmin. We were ripped off by our taxi driver, but forgot all about it once we toured our small apartment and then marveled at the view from our balcony. I was instantly glad I decided to stay off the ship for our Croatian experience. Once we threw our bags down and changed, we headed down to the Walled City for some pizza before going to the beach and meeting essentially all of SAS. The beach was called East-West, and was a beach by day and a club by night, and it would be our home base for the next three days. It was a beautiful pebble beach and supported every water sport imaginable. I went snorkeling every day, road the banana boat once, and did plenty of swimming.

So the first seven ports were all about immersing ourselves into different cultures for a few days and trying our best to observe similarities and differences across the places we visited, as well as between life at home and life in these places. Croatia was about relaxing and spending time with those that we had grown so close to over the previous sixty days. During the day I was at East-West for three days straight, leaving only to explore the Walled City once and to go to Lokram Island for a few hours. Lokram Island is a beautiful island that is accessible only during the daytime (nobody lives on the island and I believe camping is not allowed). The only ways to get there are by boat or by swimming. I took the lazier option of the two, and arrived to be greeted by the sound of millions of crickets chirping in unison. Normally crickets annoy me, but this was one of the most peaceful, relaxing sounds I have ever heard. The island has a number of rock beaches, hiking trails, and a lake in the middle (the Dead Lake) with a cliff to jump off of. I jumped off, and it was a ton of fun, despite the bruise I acquired on my rear end as a result of my awkward landing. I spent a few hours on the island and met up with some of my closest friends on the trip, and I recommend it to anybody going to Dubrovnik.

The first night was spent at La Feugo, a Latin bar known for being the craziest club in Dubrovnik. It was a ton of fun, although I must say I was weirded out a little bit by the “Chill Room,” where those who didn’t want to dance could go to watch the others dance on a giant TV screen…the bar is also known for its 1-liter drinks, which I later found out are really found all over Dubrovnik, and perhaps all over Croatia as well. Walking up the several hundred stairs (I think it was 490) to the villa I was staying in after leaving La Fuego was not fun, and I was rewarded by zero sleep as the sun was about to come up and I decided I should go to the beach and memorize some lines.

The second night I stayed at East-West, and had even more fun there than I did at La Fuego. At 4 or 5 in the morning, some of my friends and I wandered around the Walled City looking for food, and I contemplated going to another club, but the entrance fee was the equivalent of $50 dollars and once I found that out I dropped that plan. I got a couple hours of sleep before spending one last day at the beach.

Embarking the ship one last time was extremely difficult, and my friends and I stayed at the beach as long as we possibly could without missing the ship. We got on the ship, and had one last barbecue (probably the best ever). After the barbecue, Ryan (this kid who sang a hilarious song at the first talent show and instantly became a ship favorite) played guitar for about three hours after he and the band “A Band On Ship” (look at that play on words closely) stopped playing. I was one of a handful of people who stayed the entire time, and I don’t think any of us wanted the music to stop when it finally did. Croatia was the perfect last port and there could have been no better way to start the twelve-night journey home.

Griechenland.

2008-09-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

Greece

Day 1

After one day at sea, we docked in Piraeus. I set off with some friends to explore the port town and find some pita bread with hummus before my first FDP at noon. Our FDP took us to the Acropolis, with stops at the Olympic stadium that was built for the 2004 Olympics and at a palace to watch a changing of the guard. It was very exciting being in Greece just days before the 2008 Olympics were to begin. Seeing the Parthenon atop the Acropolis was an experience similar to seeing the pyramids at Giza or the Eiffel Tower. It is one of those monuments that one sees pictures of on an almost weekly basis and that anyone living in a modernized society anywhere on earth could draw a sketch of without having seen it. To see it in person is completely surreal. I circled it, trying to imagine what it must have looked like when it was first built and reminding myself what an architectural feat it would be if it were built today, let alone thousands of years ago. After leaving the Pantheon, I went back to the ship and got ready to go out for Meaghan’s birthday, the first of three friends’ birthdays that I was to celebrate on the three evenings in Greece. We headed into Athens for a delicious Greek dinner (I had tzaziki with pita) and then a taste of the Grecian nightlife. Unfortunately for Meaghan, we docked in Piraeus on a Sunday, and in Greece most places are closed during the day on Sundays, and virtually everything is closed at night. We did eventually stumble on an open bar and we hung out there for a bit, but I wasn’t feeling too well so I bid everyone goodnight and headed back to the ship to rest up for my excursion to Delphi.

Day 2

We left for Delphi at 0730 and had quite a ride to our first stop, the monastery of Oseus Lucas. Our guide, whose English was so great I thought he was American, talked to us most of the way to a rest stop, where we had the chance to grab some coffee and a morning snack, and then continued to give us a Greek history lesson as we headed up the narrow, winding roads of a small village to the monastery. It turns out that our Greek tour guide grew up in the Netherlands, and English was his third language. He learned it with a British accent, but he has perfected the American accent for tours he gives to American groups. I was dumbfounded. Oseus Lucas was phenomenal, and I now have a desire to visit as many working monasteries as I possibly can and have an even stronger desire to get to Mount Athos while I am studying in Germany this upcoming year. We toured the main chapel as well as some side ones, and were allowed to wander around the courtyard and the monastery grounds as well. I tried a Greek Delight, which has the same consistency as a Turkish delight but tastes quite literally like roses. After an hour or so at the monastery, we drove to a large Greek restaurant perched on a cliff overlooking a dramatic Greek valley. The landscape was beautiful throughout our entire ride from Piraeus to Delphi and back, and it was ever-changing. I at times said it reminded me of Arizona, and Portia told me at times it reminded her of Colorado, and Caitlin said it reminded her of Missouri, etc. so it really was constantly changing. Our lunch was delicious, starting with the Greek salad, moving onto the plate of appetizers each of us got that I thought was our meal (we each were given four typical Greek delicacies to taste and each was of substantial quantity), and then onto the actual meal, which was a stew of lamb with vegetables, and finally the tasteful honeydew melon we had for dessert. I love Greek food even more now than I did before. After lunch we probably had about 45 more minutes of driving to Delphi, and once again I was impressed at the skill these bus drivers have to make it through these narrow streets without scraping buildings and cut the sharp switchbacks on the mountainsides without driving the bus straight off the roads.

The first thing we did at Delphi was visit the archaeological museum, which contains thousands of artifacts found at Delphi, the highlight for me being the statues of the twin brothers at Argos, who rumor has it went to sleep and never woke up after either completing some heroic deed or major athletic accomplishment (can’t remember quite which). The story made me think of the whole “dying during your prime” deal which is why we remember James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and (insert runner’s name here) in the way we do. And the statues themselves looked eerily similar to some that I had seen in the Egyptian Museum a few days before. The museum was neat, but walking up Delphi was even neater. Our guide told us that what we saw was less than seven percent of what used to stand at this thriving center for economic transactions, competitions, and exchanges of information across cultures. After walking up to the old amphitheatre, we were given the option to continue to walk up to the top, and the original Olympic stadium, or to just hang out or walk back down. I chose the former option and had to hurry to the top because we didn’t have much time. I am so glad I did, but after imagining the stadium filled with ancient Grecians cheering on the athletic heroes of their day and snapping a few pictures, it was time to head back down the mountain. We had a long bus ride back to Piraeus, but I was sitting next to Portia so we had fun talking to each other and gawking at the beauty outside the windows. We got back to the ship, and I changed quickly in order to meet everyone to go out for Marlee’s birthday. We went to this really upscale district in Piraeus that was a strip of 6 or 7 posh clubs, and I must say a good time was had by all.

Day 3

While I love all of the people I have spent time with so far on Semester at Sea, I also love traveling alone, and I decided I needed to enjoy a day by myself. I set off in the morning to explore Piraeus on a weekday, and found it to be much more bustling than it was on the Sunday we arrived. I just wandered aimlessly, stopping at a café for coffee and then a bakery to have some Loukomades, which I had been looking for since I arrived. The Loukomades did not disappoint. Then I tried to find some internet, and was able to get a very weak connection for a very short period of time. After spending an hour looking for an internet café (it was not an hour wasted because I was sure to take in my surroundings while I was searching), I gave up and decided to put on my swimsuit and head south in search of a nice beach. I took the metro into Athens, then got on a tram and just took it south until we were on the coast and I found a beach that looked nice and free. It was a free beach, and I think I was the only non-Greek person there. This was nice, and I spent the afternoon laying on the sand, jumping in the Aegean frequently to cool off.

After spending the day entirely by my lonesome, I was ready to hang out with people as I went back to the ship and went out for Lisa’s 22^nd birthday. Again a good time was had by all, and by the end of the night I decided I was broke from going out for three big birthdays three nights in a row.

Day 4

I do not want to sound like a bum, since I spent the previous afternoon at a beach as well, and if you know me you also know that I have an insane passion for travel and am the last person to waste time while visiting someplace unique, but eventually one needs a break from castles, cathedrals, and museums, and that it was today was for me. Mike, Adam, and I decided to go to one of the many private beaches in Athens, and it was probably the most relaxing day of the entire voyage (to this point). We found a beach called Ble, which some other friends of mine had gone to the day before and recommended, and spent a solid five hours soaking up the sun there. It was a pebble beach, with blue and white lawn chairs and umbrellas that were extremely uniform, and the beach itself was remarkable clean. It was a beautiful day, and the water was a welcome reprieve from the scorching hot sun and I went swimming a number of times. When five o’clock rolled around, none of us wanted to leave, but we still hadn’t looked for any souvenirs and needed to be back on the ship by seven.

Overall Impression of Greece

Greece is a beautiful country with great food, an extraordinarily rich history, and an exciting culture, and what I experienced was only a small taste of this. My friends who made trips out to the Saronic Islands and other islands like Mykonos or Santorini said that each island had its own culture and they were all exciting in their own ways. While I cannot say that my experience in Greece was more educational than the one I had in Egypt just before, I can say that I am really fond of Greece as a country and look forward to returning in the spring and experiencing more of its beauty.

Egypt

2008-09-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

To put my Egypt experience into words is going to be infinitely more difficult for me than taking the AP Calc BC test junior year of high school was (which I failed miserably), but I am going to try my hardest to explain to you what I did and saw in Egypt.

Day 1

I set sail on this voyage two months ago without the slightest inkling that I would see the only intact wonder of the ancient world before returning home. Spending three days in Egypt was completely unplanned, but I embraced the opportunity to step foot on a continent I had never been on like only those who know me would believe. I woke up early to watch us pull into port, and was up early enough to see the sunrise over the water, wish was beautiful. After breakfast, I showered and waited until we were allowed off the ship, then set off with a pretty large group of friends to explore Alexandria on our own. We wandered the streets near the ports for awhile, soaking in the Arabic letters and our distinctly different surroundings. Eventually we found an ATM, and decided we should map our way to the famous library. It was very far, and we walked for so long we ended up stopping to eat at McDonald’s (to my dismay—I had lost this time), but it was neat because their fries tasted kind of healthy and they had McArabian sandwiches that were definitely middle eastern.

When we came to the Bibliotheka Alexandrina, I was floored to see such a sparkling new monstrosity in the midst of old crumbling buildings. It was a true marvel, and the treasures held within the walls were all the better. It is connected to a Hilton hotel, which also seemed pretty nice. We went to the museum in the library, where I had my first run-in with an actually mummy. The art and artifacts that lie in the basement of the library are astounding, and one could tell that every effort is being made to preserve these treasures. Unlike the Hermitage, and, as I would find, the National Museum of Cairo, unless something unexpected happens, these artifacts should be viewable to the general population for many years to come. The library was huge, and after looking at the museum we explored the library, eventually taking advantage of the free wireless internet access it provided.

We left the museum in the early afternoon in search of the Catacombs of Alexandria. On our way, we got lost in No Man’s Land. I am pretty sure no traveler has ever been where we were. Like in the parts of Alexandria tourists are meant to see, the streets (or dirt pathways) were lined with shops on either side, but these were not shops with Egyptian papyrus prints and Pashmina scarves, but rather shops that sold broken cabinets and cracked mirrors, used porcelain toilets and sinks of every color imaginable, phone keypads without actually telephones, chairs that could not be sit on because they had giant holes in them, etc. There was trash everywhere. I saw the carcass of a dog that was so decayed it must have dies at least four or five days prior to my encountering it, and I got the sinking feeling that the dog would never be removed from the street. There were deceased rats and birds everywhere. Yet people were going about their daily life. Men were getting shaved on barber chairs in the street while smoking hookah, women were walking about, dressed in full black burkas that looked stifling hot, and their children were minding their business until we walked by, at which point they would run up to us and try to touch us, take pictures with us, etc. We were treated as celebrities, and all these children wanted was a smile in return. One boy in particular took a picture with my friend Justin, and when Justin tried to give him a few Egyptian Pounds in return the boy denied the cash, but followed us for several minutes before his father summoned him to return to his daily musings. This short diversion through a very authentic part of Alexandria was extremely eye opening for me, and it surely sticks out as one of the most moving events of my entire experience.

We were walking around this area for about an hour before we decided that we were lost and should take cabs to the catacombs, and good thing we decided to do that, because we got to the catacombs within ten minutes of their closing. We paid our entrance fees, handed over our cameras, and explored as quickly as we could. The catacombs were very neat, not piled with bones from floor to ceiling like those I saw in Paris last summer, but neat nonetheless. We walked down a winding dirt path until we were probably a couple hundred feet underground, and we got to see a few tombs and vaults before the lights started flickering and we knew it was closing time.

After the catacombs, I walked back to the ship with Mike, Meaghan, and Lauren, stopping along the way to buy the giant growing duffel I had spotted earlier. The bag has since busted, but it did serve me well in getting all of my belongings home without being charged anything extra. We ate dinner on the ship, and then headed out to smoke some authentic Egyptian hookah and see Alexandria by night. Just a stone’s throw away from the ship, Mohammed the cab driver suckered us into letting him escort us for the whole night. At first, it was great, but he obviously took us to a hookah lounge where he got a major cutback, and then he tried to take us to this Egyptian wedding ceremony which he said was only a few minutes away, but it actually ended up being nearly an hour away from where we had been and when we told him we needed to get back to the ship he was pissed off. He charged us way more than he said he would, and we ended up only paying some of it because he had morphed from a kind, helpful, taxi driver who seemed to want to show off Alexandria’s best to a money-sucking fool with no sense of hospitality.

Day 2

We had gotten back pretty late, and I think I went to bed for about three or four hours before I woke up and packed my bag for Cairo. This would be my first SAS overnight trip, and I was very excited about it. We had a three hour bus ride from Alexandria to Cairo, and it reminded me quite a bit of the trek from Phoenix to Tucson, as far as scenery is concerned. On that drive, our tour guide Manal talked about Egypt for almost two hours before answering any questions any of us had. We asked about contemporary teen culture in Egypt, the role of women, and I asked about the labor market and the role of women and youngsters in the work force. It was very interesting, and Manal stressed the fact that the workplace is becoming more and more egalitarian every day, but something about the way she said it made me think she was trying to hide an unfortunate reality that still exists in Egypt today. Regardless, the ride was great and Manal really taught us a lot.

Our first stop was a temple near Sakkara, followed immediately by the step pyramid of Sakkara, the oldest known pyramid in the world. After visiting the Temple of Sakkara, we headed to an upscale restaurant for an Egyptian-style buffet lunch. It was delicious. After lunch, we went to the National Museum of Cairo, which has an extraordinary collection of works but is obviously in need of some serious refurbishment. I found out, however, that a new museum is going to be built, and its level of cleanliness and upkeep should be similar to that of the Alexandrina Bibliothek in Alexandria. This will be great for the artifacts in the museum’s collection. Despite seeing an incredible collection of Kind Tut’s, my favorite part of the entire experience was without a doubt the two mummy collections I saw, which had mummies ranging from 15 to 93 years of age at time of decease, most dating from approximately 3500 years ago. The level of preservation of these mummies is astonishing, and the mummy of Ramses II, who died at age 93, was perhaps the most impressive of all. Another particularly interesting one for me to see was the mummy of a young princess who had been mummified with her pet baboon, and the baboon was available for viewing as well as her.

After a couple of hours at the Egyptian Museum, we checked into our five-star hotel, which was extraordinarily nice and located what seemed to be only a couple hundred feet from the pyramids at Giza. Some of my friends had balconies overlooking the pyramids. I jumped in the pool, which was the perfect temperature, and then ate one of the best buffets I have ever had (I love Egyptian food!). At about 9 PM we went to the pyramids for the Pharaoh’s lights and sounds show, which was incredibly cheesy but great fun. It felt a little bit like watching Star Wars over the desert, as green laser lights danced off of the pyramids and the Great Sphinx for thirty minutes and a woman spoke of pyramidal history.

After purchasing a Hard Rock Café: Cairo shirt right after the show, we headed back to the hotel, where I smoked hookah with Mike, Beth, and Brad for an hour or two before going to bed for an hour and a half.

Day 3 (or continuation of day 2)

After a marginal amount of sleep, my roommate Rich and I were woken by a 4 AM wake-up call. I hopped in the shower, changed, grabbed my pre-packaged lunch, and hit up the bus. We drove to the pyramids at Giza, where we sat on a stone wall and ate our breakfasts as we watched the sun come up over the pyramids. It was one of the most majestic experiences I have ever had. Once the sun came up, it was time for our pre-arranged camel ride. As Mike and I approached the camels, I nudged him and pointed at a camel that had about six feet of foam protruding from its horse-like mouth. I said “any camel but that camel.” No sooner had the words left my mouth than did our camel driver, Mohammed, approach us and lead us straight to camel-Mc-foam-foam. I was certain this camel had a minimum of three infectious diseases and a remaining life-span of four minutes, but in spite of this, I listened to Mohammed and climbed aboard…

As it turns out, Izzy Dozzy (our beloved camel’s name) was a serious trooper. Not only was he a fantastic ride, but he gave us quite the thrill at the end when he so suddenly dropped his front legs to the grant I thought we were going to tumble over forward. Riding the camels around the pyramids at Giza was an incredible experience I will surely remember forever.

After the camel ride, we took a bus right up to the pyramids, where we had a chance to take pictures up close to them and explore the surrounding area. Kelly, Mike, and I were three of the lucky 150 visitors who were able to purchase a ticket to enter the Great Pyramid that morning. I felt bad for Kerry, Amanda, and Marco, because they all wanted to go in and were not able to get tickets in time. We entered the pyramid and starting maneuvering a long, narrow shaft straight to what must have been the epicenter of this true marvel. We reached the burial chamber in the center, which had a single tomb lying front and center, and even though it was mostly bare it was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had. I felt like we were in Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider as we had rushed as quickly as we could to reach this historical wonder, dodging invisible bullets and trampling over invisible skeletons.

After our adventure at the pyramids, we headed just a few hundred meters to the remarkable Sphinx and the temple right next to it. This was really neat to see, and we hung out for awhile and took a lot of pictures before moving on to our next stop, Cairo’s Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar was overwhelming, and I found everything under the sun except for the one item I was searching for, white cotton pants. After a couple of hours at the Bazaar, we headed to the Nile River for a lunch buffet and Egyptian entertainment cruise. The cruise was nice, but the entertainment was laughable. Before the Dervish and belly dancers came out, there was an air band. It was two guys lip synching terribly, one of them “playing” a guitar with his fingers strumming the air about two inches away from the chords, and the other pretending to play a keyboard. I took a video because of how hilarious I found this to be. The belly dancer was also not that great, but the Dervish dancer was really cool and I video recorded that as well. After the Nile cruise, it was time for us to head home. The bus ride seemed to be warmer than normal, but it wasn’t until about a half hour that somebody said something (Amanda went up to the driver and asked if he could turn the air any lower). Once she did this, it really started baking in there. It got so hot that midway between Cairo and Alexandria our bus had to pull over to the side of the road. Some of us got out because the 100 plus degree whether without a breeze outside felt better than the stifling heat in the bus. I started taking some pictures of what was going on, only to have Egyptian security come up to us and tell us that we could not take pictures of this area…I’m still confused about why.

Anyway, our trip made it back to the ship around on-ship time, and everybody ate one last ship meal before the massive breakout of Pharaoh’s Revenge (a strand of eColi that just about everyone on the ship caught sooner or later) occurred.

Overall Impressions of Egypt

Go!!

Leg 6: Naples to ?

2008-08-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

Leg 6: Naples to ~~Istanbul~~ Alexandria

The night after we sailed away from Italy there were two bombings in a working-class neighborhood of Istanbul. 15 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured. News of these bombings (which were suspected to be a terrorist attack) caused my heart go out to those impacted by them. I cannot hear about anything of this sort without feeling both compassionate and sympathetic, and I was touched when a student on board started a fund for the families of those who lost loved ones in the bombings. While these attacks were undoubtedly closer to home to those residing in Istanbul, and even those visiting Istanbul at the time, the shipboard administrators were faced with a difficult decision: to go to Istanbul or not go to Istanbul.

After a full day of waiting to find out what the decision was going to be, the moment of truth came. All members of the shipboard community were summoned to the Union, where we were not held in suspense for very long. Executive Dean Jill Wright opened the meeting by saying: “I will tell you all what you came to hear, and then we will discuss the decision. Because of the recent events which occurred in Istanbul, we will not be going to Turkey. We will instead be redirecting our route and docking in Alexandria-----------there was an eruption of cheers and the excitement in the room could probably have been felt by those south of the equator. Many students, faculty members, and crew were scared to go to Istanbul, but many had no probably voicing their staunch opposition to a change in itinerary. I would have classified myself as somewhere in between, but closer to the latter. Istanbul may have been the port I was looking forward to visiting most, it was going to be the most different from the United States, and we were less than twelve hours away when the MV Explorer made a complete 180-degree turn in the northern Mediterranean. But my real concern was that we were going to end up spending four days on a Greek Island, as rumors had quelled this concern among many on board. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to spend four days on Corfu, Mykonos, or Santorini, but I was looking for something different, someplace a little less western. And we were going to get it. Since our new port of call was announced just twelve hours before we should have been docking in Istanbul and there was an entire sea separating us from Egypt, we had an extra day at sea (With no classes) and as a result were given only three days to spend in Egypt, as opposed to the four we were originally to have in Turkey. The administration onboard the ship, and Jill Wright especially, handled the situation extremely well, and the field office worked tirelessly to create field programs for students and lifelong learners for Alexandria and Cairo, and they did an extraordinary job. I was extremely impressed by the way the change in itinerary was handled by Semester at Sea. Most of the students on the ship spent our extra day laying out in the sun, myself included. My friend Becca’s mom is an instructor on the ship, and since the deck was so packed, some of us hung out on her balcony. It was a great nice, and after the previous two days of classes was a welcome break. However, I spent the length of the day being particularly excited to sail into Egypt.

Italia

2008-08-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

Day 1

If Naples is supposedly the armpit of Italia, then I cannot wait to see the rest of this country. After less than one day here it is easy for me to see why many people who have been to Italy call it their favorite country without any hesitation whatsoever. After docking and eating breakfast, some friends and I set off to explore the streets of Napoli. To my surprise, it wasn’t that dirty and it didn’t smell at all. We roamed the city for about an hour before settling on a little café, where I enjoyed a delightful cappuccino and a tasty Calzone Neoplaitani. After enjoying these Italian delicacies, I headed back to the ship alone to find a ferry ticket for Ischia and to prepare for my climb up Mount Vesuvius. After being directed from one ticket office to another, I finally was able to purchase a ticket for an evening ferry to Casamicciola, Ischia. It cost a bit more than I had anticipated it would (17 Euro). After buying the ticket, I grabbed lunch and made my way to the buses for my SAS trip. The drive to the base of the volcano was spectacular, with views of the outskirts of Naples and the Mediterranean at times. Our tour guide, Vincenzo, was one of the best I have had on any of the field directed practica I have participated in. Once in the national park for Vesuvio, we started our way up the mountain, stopping along the way for scenic views of both Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Near the summit, Vincenzo stopped us to tell us some of the history of a crater that we had reached. There was some steam coming out of one of the sides of the crater. After a few more minutes of walking, we stopped again at a different section of the crater and Vincenzo told us a story about Futbol and then had the entire group shout “GOAL!!!!” on his count of three. The echo that ensued sounded just like the echo heard in a giant soccer stadium—I thought this was really neat. At the top of the mountain, local wine can be purchased at a very low cost. I drank some white wine and it was definitely better than most I have had. The walk down was much quicker than the trek up (perhaps only twenty or so minutes), and at the base of Vesuvius were free samples of cold bruscietta and Limoncello, both of which were spectacular. The tomatoes in Italy are like no other tomatoes I have ever tried.

We arrived back from Mount Vesuvius an hour after we were expected to, so I spent about three minutes at dinner and then grabbed my packed bag before walking to the ferry. Even though I left the ship roughly ten minutes before my ferry was scheduled to leave, I did not feel like I was in any rush whatsoever; the Italian way of life was already rubbing off on me. Fortunately for me, my ferry was delayed about ten minutes, and I made it to the dock before my ferry even got there. My ferry ride was beautiful, and we made one stop before my destination of Ischia.

I was blown away with Ischia before the ferry even docked. I had done my research on what to do around Naples months before leaving for Semester at Sea and knew that Ischia was a must, but I could never have prepared for the sheerly blissful experience I was about to have. The people on the entire island were some of the friendliest I have ever encountered, asking me if I needed help even when I was briskly walking to the destination of my hostel. My hostel, “Ring Hostel,” is the second best I have ever stayed in, falling just short of Budget Backpackers in Edinburgh. I would recommend it to everyone. It is owned by three brothers, and has the capacity to feel like home to people from all over the world. After connecting with some friends at the hostel, we set out for a late dinner of, of course, pizza. What I ordered was called a pizza, but it was actually another calzone. I was not disappointed, as it tasted infinitely better than the one I had eaten earlier, which was pretty tasty itself. After our delicious dinner, Alison, Caitlin, and I sat on a stucco wall at the beach for a little while and then wandered the town, eventually trying to find a way to get onto the grounds of a local castle at night. We were unsuccessful in this endeavor, but we were extremely successful in finding what was and still is the best gelato I have ever tasted. I ordered Panne Cotta from a street vendor, and no description of the exquisite taste of this gelato could do its truly mouthwatering flavor justice. Shortly after midnight we headed back to our hostel, where we all took advantage of the free WiFi for about an hour before turning in.

Day 2

I barely slept, and woke up the next day feeling far sicker than I had the day before. This was probably the worst day of my cold which has now lasted more than three weeks, but it was still one of the most beautiful days of my life. After enjoying the free breakfast of cereal and croissants that our hostel provided us with, we sat in the lobby trying to figure out what we wanted to do for the day. We had ambitious plans: go to the beach for a couple of hours, check out the castle in Ischia Porto, and then take a ferry to Capri and tour that island. Somehow we ended up remaining at the beach until 6:30 PM, and none of us have any regrets. This beach, although crowded, was one of the nicest I have ever seen. The water was perfect, and just about 100 meters from the shoreline were natural rock piles that one could swim to and then sunbathe on, being sprayed lightly by the sea and enjoying the light breeze and cooler temperatures that are usually found on the water. While the beach was great, the water and these rocks provided a great refuge to the scorching heat that one who lies on the beach there for too long is bound to experience.

The only time we left the beach all day was in the early afternoon to find some snacks and replenish our water supply. I had some delicious ice cream, a great little Pizza Margherita, and some fruit that is a close relative of the grape, but with clear skin and mammoth flavor-filled seeds. Whatever fruit this was, I miss it already. I ate the whole batch in about ten minutes. After a long, lazy day at the beach, we returned to our hostel to grab our stuff and then took a jam-packed bus to Ischia Porto, where we caught an 8:10 ferry back to Naples. We returned to the ship at around ten, and I went to bed shortly thereafter.

Day 3

Today I participated in another SAS trip, and it might be my favorite to date. We left Naples early to drive the entire length of the Amalfi Coast, which is one of the most dramatically beautiful shorelines I have ever seen. It rivaled that which my parents and I saw in Cape Breton just over a month prior, and in my eyes is on par with that which decorates the St. Andrews coast in Scotland, although the differing climates make the ecological beauty of the different shorelines hard to compare. The bottom line is that this was another day filled with natural beauty so intense that I felt like I could miss out on something spectacular with each blink of my eyes. We made stops in Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, and another couple of places where we were given free time to roam the cities, and we were served a traditional southern Italian lunch in Positano, with several courses of pasta, veal parmigiana, salad, bread, and cake, all of which was washed down by Limoncello afterwards. The views from our restaurant were breathtaking. The drive along the coast is not an easy one for seventy-foot buses to make, but our driver seemed to have no difficulty chauffeuring us in complete safety for the entire day. We returned late in the evening, and after eating a late dinner I decided to try to get another good night’s sleep, hoping that I could rid myself entirely of the bitter cold I have been suffering. I took some Benadryl, and was asleep almost as soon as I got into bed. About twenty minutes later, I was awakened by the ring of my room phone, which I had contemplated unplugging before I fell asleep. My friends wanted to see if I wanted to go out, and I muttered something before hanging up and unplugging my phone for the rest of the night. Unfortunately I could not fall asleep for the next six hours. I watched Saving Private Ryan in its entirety and read some of Chelsea Handler’s autobiographical laughing fest, Are you there, Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea. I might have slept two hours before my alarm clock serenaded me with the happy birthday song, signaling that it was time to shower and go explore Pompeii.

Day 4

Now I first heard about Pompeii when I was a junior in high school. Toward the beginning of the year, my APUSH teacher, Mrs. Burcham, told us about Pompeii, and mentioned an old-school brothel that served its clientele in the same manner McDonald’s around the world do today: the patron points at a meal on the menu, and in under a minute gets to enjoy the dish he has just ordered. Of course, Mrs. Burcham described this brothel in a much more comedic manner, and since that day I have been aching to see Pompeii.

And what a marvel Pompeii proved to be. After exploring the streets of this city that was covered entirely by ash for nearly two millennia, I was beginning to worry that I would not have the chance to see the brothel that Mrs. Burcham so enthusiastically described to my class nearly four years previously. Then, after three hours of looking at almost anything ancient that one could imagine, I found it. I felt like I was Indiana Jones and I had just found the lost ark of the covenant. My joy upon entering this heathen paradise I had longed so greatly to see could not be stifled. I am certain that every European and Asian tourist who was witness to my discovery thinks I am a sick freak of nature who should be held in isolation at Alcatraz until the sun no longer shines for me. If only they knew the background behind my overt excitement, they would have understood. The brothel was just as Mrs. Burcham had described it, from the stone menu to the rock-hard beds that occupied booths which provided for very little privacy. To say the least, I was not disappointed. I concluded my stint at Pompeii by touring the ruins of the many columns that adorned the city center and staring at the casts of a few of the 20,000 Pompeii natives that were buried alive by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius so many years ago. It was looking at these casts that made me try hard to imagine what it might be like to be going about your daily business, when in the blink of an eye a volcanic eruption of apocalyptic proportions, shooting smoke and debris 90,000 feet into the air, turning the lights out on an entire civilization. My experience at Pompeii taught me two things: the inhabitants of Pompeii were extremely advanced for their time, and they were also extremely dirty-minded in comparison to what I imagine most ancient civilizations to be with. It is not only the brothel that leads me to this conclusion, but the countless examples of sexual graffiti that adorns the walls of the city as well as the abundance of phallic symbols that can be found throughout. After exploring the city, it is not hard to see why many believe that Mount Vesuvius’ most well known eruption was presumed by many to be a sign of God’s wrath against those it perished.

I loved Pompeii, and am bummed that I did not get the chance to see the archaeological museum in Naples, because it was highly recommended to me by my best friend Gabby and I believe that I would like it very much. But after I left Pompeii, I needed to satiate my appetite for one last Authentic Italian meal. I got a fried ham and cheese calzone that definitely got the job done, and had a slushie-like thing whose name I have since forgotten. My belly was satisfied, and with a couple of hours left before on-ship time, I decided to wander the streets of Naples once more. I was partially in search of some knock-off Ray-Bans, but I ended up buying a pair of very Euro-looking “Prada.” They have since broke. I ate gelato twice more, and then got on the ship for our set-sail barbecue, and mourned the end of our four-day stint in Italy.

Overall Impressions of Italy

Never before has a leisurely pace of life appealed so strongly to me. I love a fast-paced lifestyle, and have always felt that the slower pace should be reserved for vacations, but the Italians know what they are doing. I don’t see how anyone could be unhappy in Italy, and I think that anyone who has ever emigrated from Italy to any other nation must have had an extremely tough time making the decision to leave and especially following through with it. Ischia is now one of my top three favorite places, and Italy has without a doubt become my favorite port of call this far this summer. I have wanted to go to Italy for quite some time, and since my best friend is 100% Italian and has exposed me to some of the food and culture that Italians enjoy, this desire to visit Italy has only increased in recent years. However, I still did not expect to like it quite as much as I did. And I have only scraped the surface. I can now hardly wait to return to Italia, to go to Roma, Florence, Venice, Sardinia, Sicily, and a number of small cities and beach towns throughout the entire country. I cannot imagine how Gabby must have felt leaving Italy at the end of last summer, as it was a serious struggle for me after spending only four days there.

Antwerp, Belgium, and then some

2008-08-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

Day 1

So my sea (the Adriatic Sea) has been called for administration of passports first at every single port so far. The seas are supposedly called at random, but with each passing port the Adriatic Sea is either defying probability or they are letting us off the ship first for some other reason. I actually don’t know what sea was called first in Belgium, because I was on an FDP that left the ship at 8:30 AM and our group was allowed off the ship before even any of the seas were. Basically what I am trying to say is that I have gotten to maximize my time in every port because I have been one of the first people off the ship every time.

So my FDP on the first day in Belgium (July 14^th) was to the EU headquarters and the American Embassy in Brussels. We first went to the EU headquarters, where a spokesperson for the European Economic Community delivered a lecture and answered any questions we had (after he told us that most Europeans view the American economy as very different from their own and not socialist enough I asked him where the UK fit into this picture of Europe he was trying to paint for us). The lecture was pretty interesting, but most of what he talked about (especially the structure of the EU) I had already learned in my European Union class. The American Embassy was definitely an incredible experience though. We were addressed by a member of the foreign service (I think I might want to work for the foreign service someday) and also had a Q&A session. After leaving the Embassy, we went to the Grande Platz of Brussels and took some pictures before splitting up for a bit of free time. I had a waffle with sorbet on top (the waffles actually taste better here—it’s bizarre, but I think it might be the batter more than the way the waffles are prepared), then I ate some Belgian French fries (without mayonnaise), and then to top that off I got a Belgian beer. I was asking for a heart attack, but I had the full Belgian culinary experience in a time span of under twenty minutes, or so I thought. I went back to Antwerp, then set out to get some WiFi (which was super easy to find and free), and then I ate dinner and did some reading/catching up on schoolwork. I stayed in because I wasn’t feeling great, knew that I would need energy to go out in Amsterdam and for Mike’s birthday the next two nights, and I was exhausted.

Day 2

After a solid seven hours of sleep, I left on the world’s earliest FDP to go biking in the Flanders region of Belgium. We biked somewhere between 30 and 35 kilometres of the famous Tour de Flanders, Belgium’s most competitive as well as its most well known bike race. The ride was spectacular, and we biked through the beautiful Belgian countryside, which was dotted with windmills, water mills, and of course filled with cows. It was relatively strenuous, and it was quite hilly. I would also like to add that if any of you ever plan on biking on a bike with a racing over cobblestone, stand the entire time. I stood up for most of the cobblestone that we hit, but at the beginning I did not and I regretted it later. At the end of our tour we were all exhausted, but thankfully we had a three-course Belgian mail awaiting us. We had some kind of fish in a spicy yellow curry sauce and a salad of greens, ham, and a mustard dressing with balsamic vinegar on it. The salad was one of the best salads I have ever had, despite having been entirely different from any salad I had ever had. The main course was prime rib with, which was served medium rare and with a side of some potato and mushroom goulash. Once the main course was over the waitress brought us some French fries, but this was not the dessert—it was Belgian ice cream, and perhaps the best part of the entire meal. After lunch we had a little bit of free time to either check out the museum that is dedicated to the Tour of Flanders or just explore the city (It was called Ordenaarde, I think). I explored the city for a bit, went into three pharmacies looking for some sore throat lozenges (they had neither lozenges nor cough drops at any of the three) since I had a bit of a cold, and then I gave up and went to the bus. After the bus ride back, I packed my overnight bag and met Jill (whom I had just met on the bike tour) to go to the train station, since we were both meeting friends in Amsterdam. We hurried to the train station to try to catch the 5:59 train, but failed miserably at making it on time and bought tickets for the 6:59 train. We grabbed some food and beverages and then boarded our train for the two-hour ride to Amsterdam. We chatted most of the way (she goes to the University of Michigan) and the ride seemed to go by quite quickly. When we got to Amsterdam, we both had the names of our hotels and I had an address (which was not of much help) so we just set off in search for either of our hotels. We found my first, and Jill got direction to hers. We parted ways, and I met up with some friends in the hotel. We hung out there for awhile, and then went out to see the Red Light District at night and go dancing. It was a ton of fun, but we called it a night at 3 AM so we could get up early to enjoy the city.

Day 3

After eating breakfast the next day, Jessica, Alison, Charlie, and I set off to rent some bikes and enjoy Amsterdam. We found some fairly easily and for a reasonable price, then we started riding around without aim. I think we traversed the whole of Amsterdam, north, south, east, and west. The city is spectacular. The Dutch architecture lining the crystal clean canals makes for a very pleasant bike ride. We stopped by the Anne Frank House so that I could see it, but the three of them had gone inside yesterday, the line was long, and I knew that I planned on coming back to Amsterdam next year so I said we could move on. We biked in search of the Van Gogh Museum, but took a wrong turn somewhere (or failed to make a right one), and ended up biking the whole city again. At last we found the museum district, locked our bikes, took some pictures at the “IAMSTERDAM” sign, grabbed a bite to eat (I had a scrumptious ham and cheese sandwich), and headed to the Van Gogh Museum. It was 12,50 Euros to get in, and we didn’t even have a half hour to spare, so we decided against going in, grabbed some ice cream and Belgian waffles, and biked back toward the place we rented our bikes. On the way, we got stuck in between some cars and some pedestrians and there wasn’t much wiggle room, so out of fear of hitting anyone, I slowed down, ended up wobbling, and crashed into a street pole. The pedal pushed my foot firmly against the pole (I was wearing sandals) and there was a big crunching noise. I ended up breaking just one toe, but a couple of others hurt. By the next day my toe (the one right next to the big toe on my left foot) was completely purple. The bike ride was well worth it. After returning our bikes, we went back to our hotel, wrapped my toe and grabbed our bags, and then walked to the train station. After a pleasant two-hour ride (during which I caught up on journaling), we arrived. I arrived back to the ship just after dinner was done being served, but thankfully Alison, Charlie, and Jess had beat me and grabbed some food for me. I ate that, and then got ready to go out for Mike’s birthday. We went to a convenience store and started out the night by hanging out in the beautiful Grand Platz, and then went to a bar wear I tried a drink called a “gas mask” (it is blue and lit on fire, then shaken, and then after drinking the liquid the shooter must inhale the air), which was a cultural experience in itself. After the first bar we moved on to a karaoke bar, where I sang karaoke in public for the first time in my life. We sang “Bye, Bye, Bye,” “Apologize,” “Ironic,” and one of Brittany Spears’ earlier songs. It was definitely a fun night.

Day 4

I had intended on sleeping in today, but my roommate woke up really early to go to Brugges and after his alarm clock went off twice I was awake for the day (my roommate and I are still getting along very well—he rocks). I decided to wander around Antwerp for a bit, then ate lunch on the ship, and then went on my field practicum to Ghent. Ghent was very nice (an entirely medieval town). We had a tour of the historic city centre, with a castle and a cathedral that was really nice. The cathedral, while not as impressive as many on the outside, had some of the most ornate interior architecture and artwork I have ever seen. A very famous triptych of van Rijn’s is housed here, and that was very neat to see. I ate another Belgian waffle while in Ghent (although it was definitely the worst I had the entire time and I was sad that it would be my last for the trip), this one covered in warm Belgian chocolate (which actually turned out to be Belgium’s version of Hershey’s chocolate sauce). We had some free time to walk around at the end, and I went to a grocery store to buy a roll and some paprika shoestring potatoes to bring back on the ship (oh, and some gum). On the way back to Antwerp I memorized some lines for A Doll’s House, and when we arrived I just walked straight to the area where I had been getting WiFi for free the whole time. I needed to figure out my housing situation for Germany this upcoming year, which I think I finally did J. I made it back to the ship no more than three minutes before on-ship time, grabbed some dinner, and watched the ship sail away (even though it was pouring rain, there were a number of Belgians watching the ship as it left Antwerpen’s cruise terminal).

Overall Thoughts on Belgium

I loved Belgium. And Amsterdam. The bike ride through the countryside of Flanders was definitely the highlight of my time there, but the food may have been a close second (I am pretty excited about the food in all of the rest of the ports, especially the next one—Italy). Belgium is a safe place, and most of the Belgians I encountered were fairly friendly. I definitely want to go back to Brussels for another couple of days because I think there is a lot there that I need to explore. I also really want to go to Brugges, because my roommate raved about it and I have heard nothing but good things about that city from everyone I know who has ever been. It was also neat to be in Belgium during the purchase of Anheuser-Busch by a Belgian beer company and for the collapse of Belgian’s government (the Belgian prime minister resigned and there is currently no government, and apparently there is a lot of sentiment from people of the different regions for Belgium to separate into a number of countries, since there are distinctly different regions in which different languages are spoken. If this happened, all of the regions would most likely immediately become part of the EU).

Leg 4: Korsor to Antwerp

2008-08-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

So we had a short two days at sea between Denmark and Belgium, and our trip was drastically shortened in length because we were given right of passage through the Kiel Canal in northern Germany. Classes were good for these two days. I got my first global studies paper back and it was a B, which I was very happy about because it wasn’t super high quality by any means. My EU class was only about ten minutes on the first day because Professor Wilkerson wanted us to have the chance to watch us transit the Kiel Canal if we so wished. I watched, and it was pretty cool. It was pretty rainy the first day, but the second at sea day was nice. We docked in Antwerp ar around midnight on the second day (the night of the 13^th or morning of the 14), but we weren’t allowed to get off the ship until the next morning. It was really weird docking before I fell asleep. I usually have to wake up to watch us pull into a port.

Copenhagen, Denmark (and Korsor)

2008-07-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, Copenhagen. This would have to be the ship’s favorite port of call so far, as I heard a great number of students and faculty members alike muttering about how they would like to move to Copenhagen as we trudged onward toward Belgium. I myself reflected on my search to find a good fit for my junior year abroad (upcoming), and how Copenhagen had appealed to me and was one of the last three cities I was looking at for the fall semesters before I decided on spending the entire year in Freiburg. Had I chosen to spend the fall in Copenhagen, I would not be let down. Copenhagen is a marvelous city, filled with grand architecture, beautiful people, clean streets, an almost too-safe-to-imagine atmosphere, and a great night life.

We docked in Korsor, which is roughly an hour by train from Copenhagen. As we arrived in Denmark, the people of Korsor were outside playing the Rembrandt’s song “I’ll be there for you” (Friends theme song) and cheering for us. After being received in such a friendly manner, I felt bad that I was going to be taking off for Copenhagen immediately, but plans were set and we were not going to make any changes.

With Adam, Alyssa, Arielle, Julia, Steve, Mike, Marla, Lisa, Zach, Julia, Lauren, and maybe a couple of others, I headed off to the train station. The weather was nice while we were walking, even though it had been pouring rain in the morning, but once we got to the train station the rain came down again, and it was some of the most intense rain I had ever seen. Once in Copenhagen, we walked to our hotel, the Copenhagen Island Hotel (highly recommend it), and marveled at the upscale art deco hotel we were staying in for such a low price (mainly because we were packing 5 people to a bed). We grabbed some food at the mall next door, and then went out in the city centre.

We stayed out really late, but still woke up at a reasonable hour, at which time we split up and I took a canal cruise with a small group of people. We got off to look at some of Copenhagen’s main attractions, went to the Rosenkratz Castle, saw the Little Mermaid statue (which is as overrated as everyone will ever tell you it is, and then some), went to a really old church, checked out Star Island, a really cool area that has some old barracks or something and a windmill and a nice park (the island is actually in the shape of a star), and then went to Nyhaven. In the evening I went to Tivoli Garden with Lisa and Zach and we had a really good time. My favorite amusement park ride of all time has been replaced. They have the flying swings (like the cobra swings you can find at any carnival), but they raise up hundreds of feet in the air and you can see the entire city of Copenhagen from them. Of course the fact that the sun was setting while we were up in the air probably didn’t make me like the ride any less, but I think it would have been my favorite ride ever anyway. I want to let anyone who ever plans on going to Tivoli Garden know that you must purchase the multi-ride pass, even if you only plan on spending a couple of hours at the park. If you don’t, you will wind up spending much more money.

After a few hours at Tivoli we headed to Lauren and Marla’s hotel room to pre-game for another night out in Copenhagen. When we finally went out, we headed to an Australian bar (it had a sandpit, and all sorts of other Australian insignia), which was a ton of fun. This night was a blast.

The next day most of my group went to Sweden, but since I will be going there next year I wanted to see more of Copenhagen. Mike stayed behind with me, and we spent the day walking the streets, going into stores like H&M and Urban Outfitters (yes, in Denmark) and laughing at most of the clothes that could be found in them. Then we went to Tivoli (yes, I went twice), where I bought a multi-ride pass this time around and I think we went on every ride in the park. We ate some crappy Thai amusement park food, and it left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I decided I needed to have good Thai or Indian food that night. Back at the hotel, I went in the sauna and steamroom for a bit before going to an Indian restaurant with Alyssa and Zach. I had Chicken Tikka Biryani and it was incredible. Alyssa’s food was great as well. I definitely got my ethnic food fix for the night. After dinner we went to the Ice Bar, which was a blast. It was a lot smaller than the one in London, but it had ice benches (which the one in London does not have) and the cloaks were blue instead of brown, and there were a couple of other differences. After the Ice Bar, we hung out in the main city square for awhile, just soaking in our surroundings. Eventually two Danish guys came up and started talking to us. They asked about America and we asked about Denmark, and then they asked if we thought we were cool. Someone in the group muttered “no” and they laughed and said that they didn’t want to hang around us then, so somebody else said we definitely were cool. They were undoubtedly trying to flirt with a couple of girls in the group, but they ended up inviting us to a birthday party for their friend (there were a good ten of us so we were not scared at all and I do not think we made a decision based on poor judgment). We followed them to a really nice flat located on one of the pedestrian streets in the city center and we met the birthday boy and then mingled with Danes and a couple of Estonians that were there (one of whom told me she would host me when I visit Tallinn next year!). We taught the Danes the ‘Souja Boy’ dance and danced to Cotton Eye Joe and some other exciting American music. They were all amused, and it was a ton of fun. We stayed there until about 2:30 and then separated and went back to our own hotels.

The last day we had every intention of going into Christiania, but after storing our luggage in luggage lockers we decided to make one last stroll through the city centre, do some souvenir shopping, and eat a traditional Danish meal. We ate at the coolest restaurant, and it was actually very reasonably priced. I got a chicken and bacon sandwich that came with a delicious curry sauce on it and some incredible Danish country fries. Several people got open-faced sandwiches, one of the better known Danish delicacies. After lunch we walked to the train station and headed back to Korsor. After getting back to the ship, I tried to get some free internet in a public area (city hall type place) right next to the ship, but failed, and ended up doing some grocery shopping with the few Krones I had left (unfortunately about 150 Danish Krones fell out of my pocket on one of the rides at Tivoli and the ride was so crazy I couldn’t do anything about it—that is about thirty bucks). I got some chips, pretzels, chocolate, and of course Fanta, and I now have snacks to eat between meals since I tend to get hungry every few hours on the ship and am too cheap to buy grilled cheese and pizza on board, even though I hear the food is really good.

Once we were all back on the ship, some band (I think it was a school band) came and played some Danish music for us and all of the locals waved. They would have definitely seen us off if our departure hadn’t been moved from 9 PM to 4 AM (we were rerouted through the Kiel Canal). Korsor was lovely, and Copenhagen was AWESOME. You can bet I will be back before long.

Signing off from Antwerp, Belgium

---Jason

St. Petersburg, Russia

2008-07-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

Russia was incredible. The city of St. Petersburg is filled with majestic architecture, and in pictures that are taken a distance away from buildings everything looks fantastic, but when you get up close you see how neglected everything is and it is strange to notice how different things can look from a different perspective. The best analogy I can give for the upkeep of Russia is to compare the Louvre with the Hermitage, as Paris and St. Petersburg are two very similar cities with some striking distances. At the Louvre, one always feels as if he is being watched by the museum workers that oversee each room. Everything is polished, and each room has different lighting and temperature in order to best preserve the treasures that lie within. The floor is clean. In essence, the Louvre is pristine. The Hermitage, with a collection that is actually larger than that found at the Louvre and quite comparable in quality, is completely different. I felt as if I could walk right up to a masterpiece (perhaps "The Return of the Prodigal Son"), remove it from the wall, and walk out of the museum without anyone taking notice. The majority of the rooms had no patrol, the docents that were in the museum were all either sleeping or half-dead, and the stench that filled the museum was rancid. Air conditioning was non-existent, and the lighting was neither tailored to the preservation of the artwork nor to the viewer's benefit. Pictures could be taken anywhere. This analogy sums up my experience in St. Petersburg, but I absolutely loved the city nonetheless. I went to a Russian ballet (Swan Lake), which was fantastic, went to a Banya (steam room/sauna that was co-ed and nude and an extremely cultural experience), took a river cruise at night, saw three marvelous palaces (one that was modeled after Versailles--Peterhof), had a few strong, yet smooth, vodka shots, saw a bit of Russian opera, walked by a man playing with his pet bear (no joke!) in a park--I took a picture and a video, ate dinner with two random Russian men that a group of us met on the street (they spoke no English, German, Italian, French, or Spanish, which were the languages that our group collectively had knowledge of), missed the 30-minute opening of the bridge that one can take from the island where most of the night-life and tourism is based to the island we were staying on (we had to wait for the drawbridge to close again at 5:30 AM), and I learned how to make a Russian dish that I do not know the name of (the food was similar to pirogues). Overall it was an outstanding time. I think St. Petersburg is undergoing dramatic change as its economy adjusts to the market system, and in just a few years I think the city will seem entirely different to a visitor than it might today. I will try to give a more descriptive account of my experience in Russia later on, but I was unfortunately unable to spend much time writing about Russia immediately after my visit.

Bergen: "Europe's Most Underrated City"

2008-07-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Frommer’s Norway claims that Bergen, Norway is the most underrated city in all of Europe. After spending four days there, I can easily see why the writers believe that. After our first fully darkless night, the MV Explorer cruised through a fjord into Bergen harbor. It was a cloudy morning, but there was not rain yet. Even though I had seen dozens of pictures of Bergen, the stark contrast in the colors of the paint on the buildings that literally sit on Bergen Harbor left me speechless. After attending a mandatory Norwegian-US relations briefing, I set off to explore Bergen with Amanda, Jessica, and Krista (three girls from the group I have been hanging out with). We headed left of the harbor (away from both the city center and the tourist traps). I am so glad that we decided to do this because we stumbled upon narrow cobblestone streets in strictly residential areas that I would venture to say nine out of ten visitors to Bergen do not see. As we headed back to the ship it started to pour. I had the chance to use my Camelbak raincover for the first time, and after seeing what it looks like in pictures will probably not be using it again. I must say, however, that I am really glad I brought my Camelbak on the trip. I fill it twice a day and bring it everywhere with me.

After eating lunch on the ship (to save money), I went on a city orientation with Bryggen and Troldhaugen. Troldhaugen (Troll Hill) is a secluded area that Edvard Grieg chose as the base for most of his music composition. We got to see his house as well as a studio that has been built since his death. It was really neat. We also stopped at a church that was built in the 12^th century. After getting back into Bergen, I went straight to the library where I got on the internet for the first time in a week and a half. I do not think I have gone that long without using the internet since I was in 4^th grade. I headed back to the ship to meet up with a big group of people to go out and celebrate my friend Kevin’s 21^st birthday. We ate at a Norwegian pizza place, and ordered a hot and cold pizza that was really good. It had meat and veggies on the bottom and cold salad ingredients on top. After dinner we went to a few bars and had a really good time. I did not drink much at all because the average cost of a beer in Norway is the equivalent of 15 US dollars. I got back to the boat at around 2 AM, and went straight to bed.

The next morning I woke up at 6:30, grabbed breakfast, and then went on a tour to Lysoen Island and Ole Bull’s fairy tale home. Ole Bull, in case you are unfamiliar with him (because I was), was a Norwegian musician who made a huge name for himself in Europe and even became somewhat well known on the east coast as he spent his winters in Boston. The house was really neat, evidencing a mix of influences from all over the world, and it was the only building on all of Lysoen Island. Lysoen Island is an incredibly beautiful and peaceful place. The serenity that overwhelmed me while I was there made me think that this was a place Emerson or Thorough would have made home had one of them ever encountered it. After lunch Kevin (having just woken up), Charlie, and I took the funicular up Bergen’s famous Mount Bergen and then hiked to the summit. It took about three hours both ways and was one of the most spectacular hikes I have ever taken (maybe second to King Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh). The weather was beautiful, with barely a cloud in the sky and no rain all day. When we got back we were exhausted. We are dinner, and then went to hang out in Jess and Krista’s room where we journaled and watched Mulan, since it was playing on the loop (every night on the ship there are three movies that play over and over on three different channels).

The next day I participated in a tour called “Norway in a Nutshell.” It was incredible. We took a train to Myrgdal, where we then hiked to Flam and took the famous Flam Railway for awhile before stopping for a Norwegian Buffet (lots and lots of fish). We stopped in Voss for awhile to explore and then returned to Bergen. It was an all day trip and it was absolutely incredible. I saw some of the most incredible waterfalls I have ever seen and we climbed thirteen ridiculous switchbacks with a bus—I think that some of the passengers feared for their lives. Since it was our last night in Norway we went out again. We saw Heidi and some of our other Norwegian friends at the same underground pub we had been at on Kevin’s birthday. We went to a couple of bars before ending up at a nightclub called Downstairs. It was a ton of fun and we stayed out until about 5. We got ice cream on the way back to the ship. I woke up relatively early the next day and had a speaker talk about Norway’s history, even though she was supposed to be discussing Norway and its relationship with the EU. She was a fairly good speaker, and it was pretty interesting. I walked around Bergen one last time, stopping at Bryggen to explore it fully, before going to the library to use the internet for awhile. I thought the internet would stay open until 5, but it ended up closing at 4:30 and I got kicked out before I could post this entry.

My overall thoughts on Bergen and western Norway in general are extremely positive. It is a safe, beautiful place filled with relatively friendly people and I would recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to pass through it.

Leg 1: Halifax to Bergen

2008-07-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

This past week at sea has been the longest and the shortest of my life. The days at sea seem to drag on (not in a negative way, but in an I-can’t-wait-to-get-to-Norway sort of way) and the late sunsets don’t make things go by any more quickly. However, as we approach Norwegian soil it seems as if the past eight days have flown by. It seems as if I have known my friends on the ship for months, and we are already well into the daily routine of our course schedules an extracurricular activities, yet we are all still adjusting to the fierce rocking of the ship and close living quarters. In summation, half of the muses of daily life seem to be flying by while the other’s move along at a snail’s pace.

I am taking three classes, and so far I find each of them to be pretty interesting. My first class (which is at 8 AM) is called “The Business, Politics, and Culture of the European Union” and is extremely interesting. Our professor is from the University of Virginia and I like him a lot. Immediately following this class is Global Studies, which all students on board are required to take. There are two sections, both with about 300, and this class is a bit difficult for me to feel actively engaged in because I have not taken a 300-person lecture in quite some time, but the professor tries his best to keep things interesting. This is basically a history class (with a bit of anthropology) that will tie all of the ports that we will be visiting together, but there is a definite focus on Russia and tying Russia to all of the other places we will go to. After this class I have a three-hour break (I usually work out and then eat lunch and then sit on the deck and read for awhile if the weather is nice) before my third class. My last class is called “Russia and the Problem of Economic Development.” My professor is from England originally but has lived in Australia for upwards of 30 years and is an instructor at La Trobe University in Melbourne. This class is also enjoyable but we have in insane amount of reading for it.

In the evenings we have these sessions called “community colleges,” and there are one or two options a night and they are not mandatory by any means, but I have gone every night because I have found them to be some of the most interesting lessons I have ever had. So far I have attended one on the Euro, one called “What is Culture?”, and one that was all about GPS. These are all taught by faculty members, and usually about 25 or 30 people go, but most of the attendees are the lifelong learners on board the ship. The life long learners range in age from 23 to 87 or something like that. I think there are about 40 of them, and for them this is basically an extended cruise with opportunities to sit in on whatever classes they want to. They also can go on any of the field programs they choose to sign up for.

The meals on the ship are adequate, although I feel like I have been eating a lot of rice, pasta, bread, and potatoes, and everything is extremely salty. At night I have been hanging out with a group of about ten people, and I spend the majority of my time with them but have been making a point of meeting a few new people every day.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean on ship made me realize just how vast this body of water is. It’s been a long and short journey thus far, but I think that the next couple of months are going to fly by, since we only half a few days at most between each port from here on out. Norway is definitely one of the ports I was most excited about, and I am more than ready to put my feet on solid ground.

Leg 1: Halifax to Bergen

2008-06-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

I am just about done writing this post but am being kicked out of the library in Bergen. Will post ASAP!!

Halifax

2008-06-27T07:25:00.001-07:00

We set off at about 9:30 in the morning, and drove to Halifax, taking a detour to finish the drive we had started the day before along the Cabot Trail. While we could tell that the landscape we passed through was some of the best nature has to offer, visibility was not more than thirty or forty feet in most places and it rained almost the entire way to Halifax (a seven-hour drive, partly due to inclement weather).

Once in Halifax (where the weather was beautiful—55 degrees and sunny), we checked into the Holiday Inn and found a place to eat. We had wonderful Thai food, perfectly spiced and deliciously flavored). I drank a couple of Singhas (a Thai beer), and really enjoyed those as well. That night, I went to the Westin (where most SASers were staying) and met up with about thirty others who would be sailing with me. It was on this night that I met most of the people I am spending time with today. I stayed out until about 2 AM, enjoying Halifax’s exciting nightlife.

On the 14^th we went to the Citadel of Halifax, an impressive fortress where we went on a guided tour and then roamed the grounds of. We spent a couple of hours at the Citadel, staying until the noon cannon’s roar sounded across the entire city of Halifax. After eating lunch, my parents went to the parent event that Semester at Sea had planned and I was walking back to the Holiday Inn (after discovering that students were not allowed to attend the event) when I ran into some of the people I had hung out with the night before. We went to a Mexican Restaurant, and I had churros as a meal. Once my parents were done with their event, we went to a Canadian grocery store and then got some quality Indian food (I had the chance to eat some of my spicy foods of choice which I didn’t think I would be eating for quite some time). I spent some time with my parents, knowing that I would not be seeing too much of them for the next year plus L, and then went out with some Semester at Sea people. I stayed out until just after 1, and then headed back to the hotel for a couple hours of sleep before boarding.

Cape Breton, undoubtedly one of the most dramatically beautiful places on earth.

2008-06-27T07:24:00.001-07:00

The flight that my mom and I took from New York La Guardia to Halifax was smooth, and Air Canada is a great airline in my opinion. Halifax’s airport is also one of the nicest that I have ever been in. Customs went smoothly, and my mom and I met my dad in the terminal where he had been waiting for us for awhile. We got into our rental vehicle, a Chevy Uplander, and headed for New Glasgow. We spent the night at the Country Inn and Suites in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, which was nice. We set off super early the next morning (Thursday, July 12^th) for Cape Breton. The drive was spectacular, and my parents and I were duly impressed by the scenic landscape. Picture stark red and brown cliffs jutting out over a sea of every different cover blue imaginable to the human mind. Imagine dense forests with thousands of species of trees cohabiting the soil, ranging in the color from the lightest green to the darkest evergreen.

We spent the night at the Lantern Hill and Hollow, a bed and breakfast type place where we rented a private cottage directly on the beach. Even with the windows closed, we could hear the ocean waves crashing violently against the rugged shoreline. The cottage was incredible, a place I would love to spend a week or two at some summer. Our dinner was great, and my parents and I just lazed around in the evening, watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune and sipping on tea. I slept like a king this night, getting eight solid hours of sleep for the last time in awhile (I am pretty sure I will never sleep more than five or six a night while on Semester at Sea).

My first ever Philly Cheesesteak.

2008-06-27T07:23:00.001-07:00

After my mom met up with me, we went to Philadelphia for a day trip on Tuesday, June 10^th. It was scorching hot and, once again, very humid. We both loved Philadelphia nonetheless. Neither of us had ever been, so even though the primary reason for our visit was for me to explore the University of Pennsylvania’s law school, we took a hop-on, hop-off tour and checked out the Liberty Bell and the historic district of Philadelphia. Our tour was amazing, and I was highly impressed by the aesthetic makeup of Philly, as well as the diverse architecture that makes up the city buildings. The residential districts on and around Pine Street were my favorite. We had lunch at Jim’s, which has been serving Philly Cheesestakes since 1929 (or was it 1939?). My Jim’s steak was my first ever, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After lunch, my mom and I walked from the Delaware past the Schuylkill River and started to explore UPenn. The undergraduate campus was phenomenal, and the law school was incredibly nice as well. After touring it, I can definitely say that I can see myself attending UPenn Law. We had tickets for a guided tour of Independence Hall, but since we spent so much time touring Penn’s campus (thanks for bearing with me, mom!!) we did not make it back to the city center for the tour.

Sidenote: My mom and I took Bolt Bus round trip from NYC to Philly, and I highly recommend this company to anyone traveling between major cities on the east coast. Out tickets were about $5 a person, each way, and the buses were clean, the drivers friendly, and the buses were wired with an incredible internet connection.

New York

2008-06-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

I haven’t been keeping up with my blog very well, as it is now June 16^th and I am going to try to catch up from June 4^th to now. Instead of keeping a daily account, I am going to split this into sections on New York, Philadelphia, and Cape Breton.

I flew into New York on June 4^th and stayed with my friend Jessica until the 9^th, when I met up with my mom and we stayed at the Manhattan Broadway Hotel on 38^th Street and 8^th Avenue. I do not recommend this hotel, only because I think it is far overpriced. The accommodations were fine, but for $250 a night, they were sub par (decent beds, paper-thin towels, and broken air conditioning).

Jessica’s dorm (Palladium at Union Square) was, on the other hand, extremely nice. Her roommates were all friendly, and it was great to get to see her again, although she had been hosting people in her room for like two solid weeks and I felt bad that I was keeping her from her normal daily routine.

Since I was fortunate enough to have gone to New York in the spring of 2007, I did not feel pressed to do everything that a first-time traveler to the city might try to do (i.e. Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Empire State Building, etc.). Instead, I spent my time exploring the parks and visiting the boroughs outside of Manhattan. I walked almost the entire island of Manhattan my first day, traversing Central Park from the Southeast Corner (59^th St. and 5^th Ave.) to the Northwest Corner (110^th St. and Avenue of the Americas). I crossed the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn, explored Williamsburg by foot, and then crossed back over to Manhattan. I explored the United Nations headquarters, and spent the better part of a day in Tryon Park, which I absolutely loved. I went to a Yankees game and explored the Bronx with Kristie, a friend of mine and Jessica. I highly recommend checking out the “Little Italy” in the Bronx, as I liked it better than that which lies on Manhattan Island. Kristie showed Jess and me her campus, Fordham, which I was also really impressed by. I went to Magnolia (a well-known cupcake establishment) and Max Brenner’s (a pilgrimage for chocolate lovers world-wide). Most of the food that I ate was delicious, and I had an all-around good time.

While in New York, I also had the opportunity to explore the German building on UN Plaza, where I met up with Brid, who works for the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dients), which is the organization that will be funding my experience abroad in Germany. I met up with my friend Danielle from school, and she happened to be staying in the same building from me, and we could see each other through our windows as we were across the Palladium Courtyard from each other. The weather in New York was very pleasant the first few days I was there, but the last half of my trip it was pretty miserable. The temperature was in the upper-nineties, with humidity levels hovering at or near a maximum.

I apologize for the sporadic placement of the events of my trip to New York, the simple sentence structure (“I,” I,” “I”). I do not think I have ever let so much time elapse between my actually travels and my account of them.

Getting ready for the longest boat ride of my life.

2008-05-31T22:12:00.001-07:00

So the simple fact that more than two months have passed since I returned from China and last wrote in this blog is an eery indicator of how quickly this next year of travel, study, and research is going to go by for me. I feel like life in an area I am familiar with, a daily cycle that is relatively routine, is flying by. Next year is going to be crazy...

So I haven't done any serious traveling since March. I finished up school in Tucson and came home about two weeks ago now. I have been doing some data entry for a professor, and living a pretty low-key, slowly paced lifestyle. But now it's time to get cracking.

On Wednesday I will fly to New York, where I will be staying with my good friend Jessica and exploring parts of New York City I have yet to see. I plan on going to Coney Island and the New York Public Library. I might also take the boat out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island since last time I went Ellis Island was closing for the day and we weren't allowed to get off there. Jess and I also have tickets to Rent, so I will get to see it before it goes off Broadway, and to a New York Yankees game. I am excited about both of these. My mom is going to be meeting me in New York and then we are going to head off to Philadelphia. Neither of us have been there so we want to revel in its historic glory and I also want to check out Penn's law school, which is currently one of my top two law school choices.

After a week in New York my mom and I will fly to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and meet up with my dad. We will then be dricing to New Glasgow and onto Cape Breton, where we will stay in a town called Ingonish. It looks beautiful. After we leave Ingonish we are going to spend a couple of nights in Halifax, probably check out the Citadel, and then I board the MV Explorer early on the morning of the 15th and will set sail that evening.

I am extremely excited about this voyage, but I have felt like I had so much time to prepare and suddenly I face no time at all. I have a lot of loose ends to wrap up before I take off, and I have to somehow pack my life into a couple of bags for the next eighty days. To further complicate things (and I am in no way complaining), I need to be sure that I leave my academic and personal affairs in a state that they won't have to be tended to much once I return because I will have about a week to pack up and prepare for my year in Germany. Oh man. I better get ready for some serious blogging.

In case anyone is wondering, I will be keeping a blog from Semester at Sea. I plan to update it frequently, but I don't think it will include pictures until I am gone. Internet on the ship is supposed to be extremely slow and it is also very expensive, so I plan on posting from internet cafes, and I don't think I will have the time to upload pictures to a flash drive and bring them with me to an internet cafe. I will try my hardest to get some pictures uploaded upon my return, but I cannot make any promises since I will simultaneously be busy preparing for my year in Freiburg, Germany.

Sorry if this was a boring post, but I don't think I have a strong following yet anyway, so chances are I am the only one who had to sit through this.

Signing off from Fountain Hills, Arizona,

Jason

Overall Impression of China

2008-03-24T02:17:00.000-07:00

March 24, 2008

Perhaps I should actually title this blog entry "overall impression of Shanghai," as I really did not venture too far from there my whole trip.

I slept for a few hours last night, but am wondering how I am going to make it through this 40-hour plus day. This morning I woke up a bit after six, and rolled out of bed at seven to walk with Steph to her school and look around. I helped her grade a few tests, and then took off to go shower, change, and pack. After I finally finished packing (I’m not sure it has ever taken me so long), I made my way to the bus station, where I took a sketchy van instead of a bus to the metro station. The sketchy van wasn’t bad, and I was glad I took it instead of waiting for the bus. I took the metro to Longyang Station, where there is this thing called the Maglev train that takespassengers the 30 kilometers that lie between the station and the airport; That’s roughly 19 miles. The train takes between six and seven minutes. Our top speed was 431 km/hr. I took pictures. I got through everything quickly at the airport, although when my baggage was examined the attendant seemed wildly suspicious of my contact case. I sure hope my baggage gets through…

Right now I am sitting at Pudong International Airport, with just about thirty minutes left before boarding for the three-hour flight to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong I lay over for about an hour, and then I take the thirteen-hour flight to L.A. (much shorter than the flight here was) Once in L.A., I am schedules to have a six-hour layover but hope to get through customs quickly and catch an earlier flight back to Tucson. Then two hours later I will arrive in Tucson. Then I have two consecutive play practices, finishing at 1 AM. I have class at 8 AM tomorrow morning. It should be an exciting time.

Right now I am at Hong Kong International Airport again.

Signing off from Hong Kong,

Jason