Hong Kong

Port #6: Hong Kong Feb. 21-23

Day 1

     Today was pretty relaxing.  I got into port early in the morning but all of my friends who I travel with were still on their Beijing trip. So I went to the mall in the terminal and used the FREE WIFI!!!! J I was so happy.  I was able to talk to my family on skype.  And I even skyped with Woofy and Annie.  It was so nice seeing and chatting with all of them.  God bless the people who made skype! Then I got to skype with Lisa, my best friend of 21 years who is in Portland right now.  So that was also a nice treat. Then I met up with some friends for dinner.  Five of us girls went out around downtown Hong Kong.  (My friend Victoria, the one on Semester at Sea from Hong Kong practically showed us around the entire time we were in Hong Kong.) So she suggested a Thai restaurant which is supposedly the best Thai restaurant in Hong Kong.  Victoria ordered for us to share, and everything she ordered was sooo good!!!! –Steven, I realized I don’t hate all curry.  Have you had green curry? Its now officially my favorite. I’ve been craving it for the last 5 days! It is made with Coconut milk and has a bit of a spicy kick to it. Its amazing! – Anyway, from there we walked to a few places around the city.  It was really nice, and pretty calm out considering it was a Sunday night.  We retired fairly early that night because all the other girls were exhausted from their Great Wall trips.  (As a reminder, I didn’t go to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, or The Forbidden City because I saw all of that in 2005.)

     The next day Victoria showed us around. We saw both the city life and the rural life.  She took us to a “wet market” which had fish, seafood, vegetables, etc.  I saw so much butchering of fish and pigs, it almost made me turn vegetarian.  I videotaped a live fish as it was killed and cut a part and right after they put it on the ice to be sold and you could still see the heart beating.  (I wasn’t watching the process, but I filmed it, so hopefully I didn’t film the floor or wall on accident….not that anyone will want to see that video anyways.) From there we went to the fish market.  This time these were live fish, actually pet fish. So I enjoyed this street much more! There were millions of fish in aquariums and plastic baggies waiting to be sold.  I wanted to buy one and sneak it on the ship, but I didn’t.  Then we went past the flower market which was an entire street of florists selling beautiful flowers.  After that we got to a park where older Chinese men bring their pet birds and socialize with other bird owners.  Here you can also buy pet birds.  It was so noisy and dirty along this road, but very interesting as well. 

    That night we celebrated Victoria’s birthday.  We went to Dragon-i which is a popular club which on the weekends are very classy and only for celebrities and models.  We saw a few models while we were there.  Made us feel like celebrities too.  Victoria’s sister bought her a huge bottle of champagne for her birthday for all of us to share. 

      The last day in Hong Kong Becca, Toree, Sally and I traveled on our own. We went to four different cities around Hong Kong looking for certain things they needed to buy.  That was fun. And a great way to see Hong Kong. 

Sorry I have been rushing through this blog because I am meeting right now to go with a group to the airport where I will catch my plane to CAMBODIA!!!! J I have 3 days in Cambodia and then 2 in VietNam!!!!

CHINA!

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010

After three days in Shanghai, China, I am leaving with: a few new friends; closer bonds to best friends; knowledge about China; a cultural experience; and anxiety from the culture shock.  I have been to China before in 2005 with a group from my high school and my mom. But this was a completely different experience than what I remember from before, probably because this time, I was with a smaller group traveling independently on my own. Maybe also because we just came from Japan only two days before. These two countries seem like they could be similar but really they are so so different! At least that is my opinion from visiting various places in Japan and now Shanghai, China.

Day 1:

We entered the mouth of the river at 1am and reached Shanghai at 8am.  After waiting hours to be called for immigration, I got off the ship at noon and walked out onto the dock which was directly across the Huangpu River from the famous Oriental Pearl Tower and The Bund: a picturesque view.  This morning, my roommate Sally got to see her boyfriend.  Daniel flew in the night before to spend our 8 days in China with Sally.  Since I was called last to get off the ship, I missed seeing Sally and Daniel reunite, and didn’t get to meet him yet.  But I will sometime in Hong Kong when we all meet up for dinner. 

                I went straight to the bank with my friends.  The nine of us broke off into three groups.  Becca and I walked Toree back to the ship for her field trip through Semester at Sea.  There were two open spots on the bus so Becca and I joined Toree. We went to Zujiajiao Water Village which is an ancient water town more than 1700 years old.  Tiny canals run through the city and used as their form of transportation. Our group got to take tiny wooden boats down the Pearl Stream. That was the best part of the trip. We also got to toured a Buddhist monastery and see the oldest post office which used to deliver mail all over China using the canals.  That night Becca, Toree and I met up with the rest of the group at a nice bar called Cloud 9.  Our friend Victoria is from Hong Kong and also has a house in Shanghai, so she knew of all the great places to take us to while in China.  Cloud 9 is on the 87^th floor of the Hyatt hotel.  At night, the lights of Shanghai are unbelievable. One of the things Shanghai is known for is all of the bright, colorful lights at night.  It was quite a view.  We could see the Oriental Pearl Tower with the river behind it where our ship was docked.

 

Day 2:  

WOW! what a day! Let me try to describe it...I woke up early for breakfast and then set off for an adventurous day with Becca and Toree at 9am.  We took a taxi to a plaza where we thought we could get some necessary shopping done since we had a few things on our list that we needed to get.  But the stores didnt open until 10 so we had about 45 minutes to waste around town.  A man came up to us and asked if we wanted to buy some purses and sunglasses, etc. and becca and toree did, so we took the advice that our friend gave us from her experiences the yesterday before...and followed this man.  We followed him for about a mile, to a back alley and down some stairs.  We knew it was going to be sketchy, but we didn't expect it to be this crazy. Three hours later, we end up on the other side of town in a shopping warehouse with an angry asian man and only one purse. (i can provide details later. just know that the important thing is that we are safe.) finally, we were on our own and able to freely shop around.  (Mom, this warehouse is the sketchy shopping mall that is 6 stories high where we were able to haggle a lot.  It is the place where Marcelo’s mom and the other mom were haggling for the beaded shoes...thats the only detail I can remember from that shopping complex. ) We found our way out of the building and walked down some streets to a main road to find a taxi to take us back to where we started.  As we were walking on the side of the road, someone set off fireworks that sounded like canons and scared the living daylights out of me. 

   We went back to the plaza where we started and found a Starbucks where we could sit and relax and regain our sanity.  From there we found an indoor mall that was really nice.  First we went into a Nike ID store which was really really cool. It had all kinds of Nike shoes and an area to make your own Nike shoes and then tons and tons of Kobe Bryant pictures because of his special Nike shoe that he designed.  We walked around that mall for awhile. That mall was pretty ritzy, completely opposite than where we had been earlier.

   From there we went to The Bund, which is the street along the river in Shanghai with old important buildings (thats my best way to describe it). We walked along there and found a street with many little shops, good for souviners. By now it was 4pm and we were ready for lunch.  We found a small place on that street to have lunch. We all got fried rice, enough to tide us over until dinner.

    Then after that we took a taxi to "the food street" which doesn't sound too impressive, but it is a small street flooded with beautiful colored lights!!!!!!!! There were lit archways over the street every few feet with lit lanterns lining both sides. It was a sight!  We first spotted this street as we drove past it on the bus last night during our field trip and everyone simultaneously said "Ohhhh" and just stared.  It was so impressive. We didn't buy any food, but we walked through the two blocks under the archways and then took a taxi on the other side to meet with the rest of the group for dinner. 

     One of the girls in our group is from Hong Kong.  Her name is Victoria.  And she has a house in Shanghai as well. So she knows all of the good places to go in Shanghai. Tonight we met with her at a restaurant which is one of New York's Top 10 Favorite Restaurants. It was so delicious! She ordered all of the food for us, and without even asking, she pleased nine hungry people. We had tons of dumplings, noodles, and some kind of spinach dish. mmm...amazing.  And to my luck, this restaurant is a chain and one of the locations is in Los Angeles!!!! I am definitely visiting when I get home.  After that we got Coldstones. a delicious taste of home.  Even though it was in the 30s, the cold was worth the tastiness. I haven’t had ice cream in over a month! and who knows when the last time I had coldstones was. 

     Next to coldstones was a German Pub....which I just HAD to go in.  It was funny because this German pub was the happinin' place.  Chinese ladies were dressed in Dirndls and two singers were on stage singing American songs. it was awesome.  And then Victoria took us to a Jazz Club where a French Band was playing tonight.  We had two tables reserved front and center.  The singer had a beatiful voice. I could sit there and listen to her all day.  But at 11pm we had to leave because we were meeting Victoria's family at her house. When we showed up, the police was outside her complex with all the fireworks, ready to start lighting them.  ok, really? when would this EVER happen in America?  Hundreds upon hundreds of illegal fireworks lined up in the street for US to set off! Everything from sparklers to HUGE REAL Disneyland type fireworks!!!!!!!! They were going off within 50 ft above us. They were hitting the buildings, trees, cars all around us.  Totally not safe.  We ran for cover a few times.  But the cops were there, so it must have been ok.  Between the 9 of us, we have some of the coolest pictures ever of the fireworks.  I cant even describe what it was like to do this.  -The reason for all these fireworks is that right now it is the Chinese New Year. and from what I understand, tonight was the celebration to the god of money. so everyone in China sets off fireworks to wake the god and bring him to them.  We took a taxi cab back to the ship at midnight.  It was INSANE! People were lighting them in the street, 2 feet from the car as we drove by.  At one point, I looked around from the taxi and saw 8 different sets of those large, beautiful fireworks going off. And that was just at the same moment in the nearby streets where I was at. This entire trip so far seems so surreal.  I sware I am dreaming all of this because of everything I have experienced thus far in the last 4 ports. 

 

Day 3:

                I slept in real late and made it to lunch just in time.  All of my close friends were on the Beijing trip along with 95% of the ship is in Beijing right now.  When I eat by myself I find a table with an available seat and ask if I can sit with them.  I’ve made a lot of new friends this way.  It is funny because back at CLU I used to be terrified to go to the cafeteria alone because I didn’t want to be seen by myself.  But now, one thing I have gained already from this trip is the confidence to go places alone and to make new acquaintances.  Anyway, the two people I had lunch with are named Kareem and Sheila.  They said they were going out around Shanghai so I asked if I could tag along.  We went shopping for a bit and to an internet café and I finally was able to download skype! So if anyone has skype, find me! My user name is Clihde. But I don’t get on very often. I’ll be on tomorrow when I get to Hong Kong from 9-4pm, that is Saturday evening 5pm-12am California time.   

Now we have two days in transit to Hong Kong.  Today is the second day, so I have had two days on the quiet ship to myself to do homework and sleep a lot.  Thankfully its only two days and no more because I really miss my friends, especially my roommate Sally.  Its hard because times like this is when I get the most homesick.  Miss you!

There is nothing like a heated toilet seat in 30 degree weather

Port #3: Yokohama Day 2

February 10, 2010

 

        This was an early morning for me.  Running off of 2 ½ hours of sleep, I somehow woke up and made it to the field trip with other Semester at Sea’ers.  I was excited to see that Lydia, the other girl from Cal Lu, was also on this trip.  We sat together on the long bus ride.   First we went to Mt. Fuji.  The weather was awful that day: cold and cloudy unlike the day before which was surprisingly hot and sunny (even though the weather forecast predicted rain.)  So we were all pretty upset that we wouldn’t be able to see Mt. Fuji.  But as our bus got closer, the clouds started blowing away and we were able to snap some pretty good photos from the bus.  We stopped at a ‘Mt. Fuji museum’ which was at the basin of mt. fuji.  As we got out of the bus and walked to the building, we saw a great view of Mt. Fuji.  Good thing we all went camera crazy and took our photos then, because five minutes later, the entire mountain was covered with clouds for the entire rest of the day. 

        Our bus drove up the mountain as far as we could go, 250 meters up.  From this lookout point, we could see…..absolutely nothing.  If we looked up towards Mt. Fuji, you couldn’t see it.  If you tried to look out at the land below, there was nothing.  Everywhere you looked was misty. I made the mistake of leaving the bus without my sweatshirt.  With snow on the ground and the sight of my breath, I was freezing.  So I quickly took a picture with Lydia in front of a Mt. Fuji sign and ran back into the bus.  It took awhile before I got warm again.  But, little did I know, that that weather was the least of my worries. 

        We then went from Mt. Fuji to Hakone.  Hakone is a nice place to go to with natural hot springs…..in the summer.  It is winter. And this place was pretty much abandoned except for us.  I don’t blame them, it was so cold!  To get there we took a boat across a lake from our bus.  Then we had the option of shopping at the stores of going up a ropeway to a Shinto Shrine.  Most of us took the ropeway up the mountain 4,000 meters to this shrine.  Normally I am sure that the view is gorgeous, but not even half way up the ropeway we lost all sight because we were in a cloud.  On top of the mountain was freezing! We walked half a mile to get to this shrine.  By the time we reached the shrine, my hair was drenched from the wetness of the air.  It looked like all of us had just taken a shower.  Poor Lydia, her glasses froze.  They had ice formed on them.  I was worried they would shatter or something.  But we made it to and from the shrine safely.  I seriously felt like I was in one of those eerie movies.  Because fifty Semester at Sea students were told to take a gondola up a mountain and then get out and walk around.  Yet we didn’t know where we were walking to, and we couldn’t see more than 15 feet a head of us.  We thought that somebody had set us up and we were going to die. But it turned out ok and I survived the freezing freezing weather with just a sweatshirt on. (Ha, of course. The day before when it was hot, I had with me gloves and a scarf.  But today…when I needed it the most, I didn’t pack them.)

             I came home from that trip exhausted.  Lydia and I tried cuddling and sleeping on the bus, but it wasn’t very good sleep.  But instead of resting, I had to take full advantage of our last few hours in the port of Yokohama so I arranged to go out with some friends for dinner near our ship.  I met two new guys, a girl named Donna (my age, weird) and then my two other friends.  We walked around near the port and found an underground market with restaurants.  We actually split up because three wanted sushi and three of us wanted other Japanese food.  I got a fried rice dish with shrimp in a sweet but spicy sauce and a bowl of Odon noodles.  It was pretty good.  All this seafood which I’m not used to eating has been upsetting my stomach.  But it is all very tasty.  So from there the two guys and I went to a café to get internet.  I didn’t have much time at all, but I was able to check my facebook and upload a few pictures.  (hopefully tomorrow, my last day in Japan, I can find free internet access again and upload some pictures onto the blog!)

        We returned that night and then set sail for Kobe, Japan.  It was weird being one of the few people who decided to stay on the ship and travel to Kobe rather than do independent travel.  But it was also really nice! It was extremely quiet…kind of too quiet.  But that day when we were in transit with the ship the other students and I watched movies in the Union on the big screen. I saw Batman, Sex and the City, the Proposal, and Iron Man.  And that night since there were so few people, we had a special “sit down” dinner planned.  I was every impressed!  It seemed like a real cruise ship!  The tables were nicely decorated, the waiters were nicely dressed, and we actually had a 5 course meal with good food.  Something I have only dreamed about happening on the ship.  So I took full advantage of this meal and ate everything, literally!  I sat at a table with two of my guy friends, and I ate almost twice as much as both of them.  I got two appetizers: the fruit cocktail and fried calamari. Then broccoli soup and the caesar salad. For the main dish I ordered pork (which was extremely bold of me after having pork every other day on this ship and it tasting awful) but this pork was delicious.  And for dessert, cherries jubilee. So tasty. 

        Now we will be in Kobe, Japan for two days: Feb 12^th and 13^th. I will post a blog and hopefully pictures if I find free internet.  J

Port #3: Yokohama Day 1

Port #3: Yokohama

                Day 1: Shibuya, Harajuku, Tokyo, and Tsukube

   What a day!!! Seriously, my experiences get better every day I’m in each port.  I am having such a great time; I don’t see how it can get any better than this!  I woke up this morning, February 9, 2010 at 8am to sit down in the dining hall and eat breakfast in front of the beautiful scenery of Yokohama.  At 8am we got to the port and it took about an hour for us to reach the dock. This port was HUGE! Yet I am not surprised…its Japan!  After breakfast I went up to the top deck to watch us dock.  We were quite far from the pier and could hear drumming.  There were five drummers standing on the roof of the port terminal playing the Taiko Drums for us as we docked.  That was a very nice welcome to Japan!

                Although we docked at 9, we couldn’t get off the ship until noon.  The ship was announcing us by our groups randomly and it took awhile between each group because of customs.  Each of us was fingerprinted, thermal scanned, and a picture of our eyes was taken, plus all of the regular immigration checks.  So I finally got through customs and met up with my friend Soya.  (Soya is a friend of mine who lives in the prefecture of Chiba.  His girlfriend, Natsuka stayed at my house in 2006 for three weeks, and I spent a few days with her and her family that summer in Japan while I lived in Kashiwa for three weeks.)  Soya offered to take me and my friend Becca around Tokyo for the day. (Becca is one of my girlfriends who is from Michigan and goes to Ithica.) Soya was so nice and traveled to Yokohama just to pick us up.  Thank God for Soya or else Becca and I would have spent the entire day helpless little lost souls in Yokohama and Tokyo.  He took us to the post office so that Becca could exchange money, then we hopped on a train to go to a special station to exchange my money, then found the correct place to exchange Becca’s voucher for the Japan Rail Pass.  After all of that mess was taken care of, we were off to Shibuya to have a great time! … I had been to Shibuya and Harajuku before, but it is a great, exciting and fun place to be so I didn’t mind going back and I definitely wanted Becca to experience it.  While in Shibuya, Soya took us to a Japanese restaurant that was tucked into a building.  We had no idea what the menu said, but luckily Japan includes pictures with their menus so that helpless tourists like us could order food that at least looked good.  Both Becca and I got decided on a chicken and vegetable dish that had an interesting sweet and sour orange flavor to it.  It was delicious! And of course it came with rice and miso soup; my favorites! From there we walked a few miles to Harajuku: a city of fashion, entertainment, and cosplay!  (Shibuya and Harajuku are very hip cities for the young life, as opposed to Ginza directed to middle aged and older woman).  So Harajuku is a place where teenagers can dress up in costumes of any sort.  There are all kinds of looks and characters here.  I have a picture of me with a Japanese girl who looks like Little Bo Peep.  After walking around we decided to head into Tokyo more and go to the Tokyo Tower.  I thought I had been here in 2006 and once I got to the top, I realized I hadn’t.  It was gorgeous!  And we were so lucky!  Right when we got off the elevator, our eyes were drawn to the most beautiful orange sunset I have ever seen.  Miles and miles of Tokyo glowed orange from the reflection of the setting sun off the windows and roofs.  And even better!... Mt. Fuji lied there, PERFECTLY placed in that picturesque scene.  I was literally speechless.  I know how rare it is to see Mt. Fuji.  For three weeks I tried to see Mt. Fuji and only caught a glimpse before the clouds rolled in.  And today, it was right in front of me; presenting itself so rare and so beautifully as if God himself painted a scene above the Tokyo skyline for me to witness for five minutes before the sunset.  This sounds weird, but that moment had such a huge impact on me.  I have pictures, but I feel like they do not do justice for what I saw today.  A beautiful sunset. A symbol, icon of Japan.  Overlooked the biggest city in Japan with 8-13 million people.   I stood there at the top of Tokyo Tower, 250m high, staring at this view which I knew I would never experience again and realizing that THIS is why I am on this trip: the emotions I felt of being so small in such a large, beautiful world that God has created and reminding myself how freaking lucky I am to do this. 

                We left Tokyo and got on a train for an hour to go to Tsukube to visit Natsuka for dinner.  I didn’t realize this until I was on that train, that we would be passing through Kashiwa, the home where I lived for three weeks and the residence of all my friends and families.  It was a bitter sweet feeling as we stopped at that train stop.  Brought back good memories, but I wish I had more time to see all of my friends whom I miss so much! When we reached Tsukube, Natsuka was outside in her car waiting for us.  She picked the three of us up and took us to dinner.  We went to a really nice restaurant where we sat on tatomi mats on the floor and we ate Shaboo-Shaboo and Sukiyaki. (please excuse the misspelling! I realized I massacred the Japanese, but I want to post this blog ASAP and do not have internet access to look up these words.) The food was DELICIOUS!!! Ladies dressed in Kimonos came into our private room and started cooking the meal in front of us, then later Soya and Natsuka took over.  There was SO much to eat! Mom, Dad, Steven: you are going to be SO proud of me!!!!!....I ate macaroll, tuna, yellow tail, scallops (all raw!) and crab.  AND I ate raw eggs (which you know I NEVER eat yoke, raw or now! Haha) I enjoyed all of it, especially the yoke! haha.  Well, Becca and I weren’t too fond of the texture of some of the fish, but we didn’t mind the taste.  I had such a great time.  Great food and great company.  I had a very hard time saying bye to Natsuka again.  But I told her I’d be back to visit, hopefully sooner than later.

                Becca and I got back to the ship at 1am after a wonderful first day in Japan.  I was exhausted and ready to hit the sack, but first wanted to write this blog.  But before I could even do that, I was stopped at my bedroom door with a note addressed to me.  It said I had a package. WHAT? I never receive packages!!! So excited, I ran upstairs hoping that the desk would still be open. What the heck, it still was! AWESOME! So I got a fairly large package from my family.  I ran down to my room and showed it off to Sally and Becca.  I was too excited to wait, so I opened it right then.  Aw I thought. My brother baked me a few cookies, as I glanced in the box around a piece of paper.  Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. As I moved the paper, I saw nothing by cookies! I was literally laughing out loud and the girls looked at me really confused.  I looked back and them and turned the box upside down as I dumped the cookies all over me creating a sea of cookies.  Included inside was a card (a cute fuzzy polar bear card) from my mommy for Valentine’s Day.  So thank you mom!!!! Sorry I opened it early, but it was the best surprise ever!!!!! (Besides the three surprises on my birthday!) You never cease to amaze me.  Thanks for being so cute!!! I miss you and love you mom, dad, and Steven! (steven, I take it you baked the cookies? I saw ur specialties were in there.)

                Its 3am now.  I have to wake up at 6.  Shoot! Hopefully I can sleep on the bus ride to Mt. Fuji and Hakone.  I am traveling with Semester at Sea so there won’t be any exciting “getting lost” stories this time. But I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write about still tomorrow night. 

ASIA Day and Super Bowl Monday

Monday, February 8th, 2009:   ASIA Day and Super Bowl Monday!

     After having 9 days of classes in a row, it was nice to have a day off.  Today was the super bowl, and we were able to watch it on the ship.  It was really bad quality though.  Luckily the Colts were wearing blue and the Saints were white because other than that, you couldn't make out the game.  Even watching it on a big screen from a projector, you couldn't see where the ball was until 10 guys were piled on top of each other.  But I'm sure none of us cared about the quality because we got to watch real, LIVE TV, something which seems so foreign to us already.  Seeing the commercials though brought some traces of homesickness.  Everyone on the ship talks about how much we miss going to the movie theaters, and how much we miss our certain shows while we are gone.  And not to mention, every time we sit down and have a meal, as we finish eating the crappy food, we all talk about the certain foods we miss and crave at that moment...after every meal!! So it was painful today seeing the commercials for food, movies, TV shows because it reinstated how much we really miss those things.  But overall, it was a lot of fun.  We all gathered in the union and watched it on the screen.  Definitely the biggest super bowl party I have ever/and will ever perhaps, attend.  It was an exciting game!  Especially having 400 people all crowded around watching and cheering made it that more exciting.

      Today was also Asia Day.  All day was dedicated to the super bowl, and then fun activities planned to celebrate and teach about Japan and China.  This lasted all day and was fun and interesting.  Then we had our pre-port lecture for JAPAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which we will be arriving to in FIVE HOURS!!!!!!!! J It is 12:30am right now in the Pacific Ocean, Southeast of Yokohama, Japan.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to set foot in Yokohama tomorrow after a rough ten days at sea.  When I arrive in Yokohama, a friend will be picking me up and taking me to Tokyo for the day.  Then later we are meeting up with Natuska (a good friend of mine from 2006 TSCA exchange) to have dinner. I am extremely excited about that!!!!!!  Then my second day in Yokohama I will be traveling to Mt. Fuji and Hakone with Semester at Sea people.  The weather is supposed to be cold and rainy the entire time so I am hoping I can see Mt. Fuji.  Last time I went to Japan, I only caught a glimpse of Mt. Fuji because it is usually always cloudy. 

    February 11^th is a holiday in Japan, but I decided to travel on the ship down to Kobe instead of independently.  But the 12^th and 13^th I am hoping to meet up with friends in Nara and stay the night there and then return back to Kobe to get on the ship again. 

    I had my first exam yesterday.  It was for Global Studies, which every student must take.  It was interesting because all 600 students were taking this test at the same time.  We were spread throughout the main dining hall, cafeteria, and union and were still squished.  And it probably didn’t help that at that time the seas were so rough.  The waves were around 20 ft swells from the bad weather, erupting volcano, and earthquake recently in Japan.  So the captain made a detour and luckily avoided the 50 ft swells that could have done damage to our small vessel.  (If you have youtube, search for Semester at Sea 2005- I don’t know what its called, but it is about a 50 ft wave that cracked the window and the entire ship lost power. I haven’t seen it but I want to!)  Anyway, I haven’t gotten sea sick since the first few days on board (knock on wood) although the seas have been the worst I’ve ever seen.  During the exam last night, a wave hit and probably 100 students fell over in their chairs. All you can do when stuck on a ship is laugh.  That is what gets us all through the toughest of times. 

    Ok, I am extremely exhausted. Hopefully I can give updates often.  Happy Monday morning to all of you! Wish you were in Japan with me!

What time is it there?

      We have passed the International Dateline and have lost 24 hours.  So what time and day is it there where you are? I guess since we just passed the International Dateline, it is now 2pm on February 2nd.  I don't understand any of this. (But I soon will because I have a lecture on it later with my Global Studies professor.) It is so strange to me how I wake up this morning on the 1st day in February, already 4 hours behind Los Angeles, and as I am sitting in my Global Studies class at 10am, an entire 24 hours flashes by our ship in a mere second. Suddenly it is now February 2nd. When I wake up tomorrow, it will be Feb 3rd.  So... hopefully I haven't confused you guys, but just know that as of right now, I am 4 hours behind you and 1 day ahead.  That means...for me, only 92 days until I'm back home in southern California. (and 93 days for you mom and dad). Just thought I'd share that fun information with you guys back at home. 

      Tonight, we have our first dance! I have no idea what to expect, but I am looking forward to some entertainment on this ship.  Even more exciting....we have a "free day" tomorrow with no classes.  I guess technically that is our "weekend". Tomorrow all the students on our ship will be taking a school photo. I don't know where the 600 students are going to cram to be able to fit us all in a picture. No where on this ship is big enough for that many people.  Also tomorrow, each individual school will be taking a picture to send back to our home universities.  That means Lydia and I will be decked out in our Cal Lutheran clothing, representing CLU proudly. 

      Update: 4th day of sailing across the Pacific. 6 more days left.