I woke up at 5:45 because I had to be in the dinning hall by 6:15. Breakfast was such a let down. They only had these weird roll things. They didn’t even have cereal. It was so disappointing. So I ended up having a granola bar that I bought in Canada.
We boarded the bus and headed to Torgorme. We got there after about 1½ hours of driving.  The entire village greeted us. It was so cool! They led us to our seats and then the welcoming began. They gave one of the most touching welcome speeches I have ever heard. This village really opened their arms to us. They then did a prayer from the local holy man and the chief entered. We all stood and then went and shook all the village elders hands. The chief hand some major bling going on.
After numerous dances from the village children ranging from the ages of 4-14ish, the naming ceremony began. The day of the week in which you were born is very important in their culture. SAS had provided them with our birthdays so they knew what day they were on. Everyone’s first name, or birthday name, is the name that corresponds with the day of the week they were born. For example, I was born on a Sunday, so my first name is Akosua. Then their second name is what they call their local name. My local name is Sitsofe, which means, “shelter”. So my name is Akosua Sitsofe. I don’t remember what the names were in that dialect, but some of my friend’s names were:
        Mackenzie – “My Creator Loves Me”
        Kelsey – “Day of Joy”
        Kristin – “Courage”
        Katie – “Patience”
        Jeremy – “Wisdom”
How the ceremony worked was that our names were called and we went up where we presented our left wrist (right if you were a guy) and a woman tied a bracelet around it. Then a man presented you with a pot that they have made in the village with your new name on it. The village is known for their pots. The pots are really smooth and round, but they do not use any sort of wheel to make them. It’s pretty amazing.
After the naming ceremony, there was more dancing and some poetry readings and soon the welcoming ceremony was over. We then got to meet our host families. After everyone met their hosts we all gathered around the chief and took a picture.
We only had enough time to grab our stuff off of the bus and put it in the house we are staying in. Me and three other girls are staying with a woman named Maggie. Brittany and me are in one room and the other two girls are in another. We had some quick introductions and then we were whisked away to the local mess hall for lunch. We had rice and French fries, fish and this goat stew stuff. I have been forcing myself to eat fish on the ship just because there really isn’t anything else besides pasta, but I couldn’t make myself eat this. It was literally a fried fish and you could either have the head or the tail so I settled for goat. It was actually pretty good.
After lunch, there was some drama about the next day’s itinerary. There was some debate about changing it from hiking the highest mountain in Ghana and visiting a monkey sanctuary to going to a nature reserve and seeing baboons and caves. Tom, our trip leader and the cop aboard the ship, wanted to do the later and was proposing it to the group. Needless to say lots of arguments ensued and we just said we would figure it out the next day.
We went back to the village and met back up with Maggie. She planted all of us firmly on her porch thing and let us watch her cook. It was awkward because she really wasn’t talking to us and we all just wanted to walk around the village. Watching her cook was entertaining for about 2.5 seconds. One thing that I did think was interesting was that one of the first things she told us was that Torgorme was now our home and when we graduate we need to send them lots of money….um no. She also kept asking Brittany (who has a Canon 5D) and I to leave her cameras with her. Again…um no. She said that they needed the money because they needed to clean up the village, which was true and I totally could have gotten behind that, but she told me this as she opened a tin can, emptied the contents into the pot and then flung the can into the street where small children run around barefoot.
Kelsey and Kristin joined us a little later with their host and sat and talked with us. The next thing I know I see little Ryan (who is kind of like my little brother on the ship. We have extended families on the ship and his mom is my mom, her name is Christie. Christie, her husband Jay, her two sons Ryan (4) and Luke (5), and her father in law Milton make up the Orris clan and they were all on the cultural immersion with us) running around being followed by about 20 kids. He was really overwhelmed because these kids are very physical with one another and he is not used to that. He had gotten separated from his parents because he went off chasing goats. He was trying to find his parents and these kids are just dragging him around. So I got up and went over to him and at first he wouldn’t even come to me, but he eventually let me pick him up. So Kelsey and I went off in search of Christie and Jay. We eventually found them and I had escaped Maggie. Ryan had fallen while he was chasing goats, so I went with Christie and Ryan to the first aid station at the village. I eventually just sat outside and played with the kids with Kelsey. After leaving Ryan, Kelsey and I met back up with Kristin and their host. So I just walked around with them and we went down to the school. We saw the play area that they had for soccer and volleyball. We also saw the classrooms. At this point another girl from the village joined us named Cecelia. She told me she was 14. The school was really sad. They really had no supplies, but they were making the best of it.
From the school we went down to the riverfront. It was so beautiful! It reminded me a little bit of the boundary waters, but not as big. After the riverfront, Kelsey and Kristin went back to their house and Cecelia took me back to Maggie’s. I had no idea how to get back to her house from where we were in the village. On the way back Cecelia took me by her house and I met her mom and her littlest brother. When I asked her about how many brothers and sisters she had she just said “I have plenty” which I thought was really cute. At one point we walked past these people and Cecelia stopped me and told me that we had to greet them and I totally kept on walking…whoops. But I came back they just laughed at me as I tried to say I was sorry. It amazes me at how formal their society is. That was the last thing I was expecting out of Ghana.
When we got back to Maggie’s I couldn’t find anyone. So Cecelia asked around and found out that they were down at the fields. So we walked down there and I met back up with the girls I was staying with. We hung out and played with the kids a little bit more before we headed back to Maggie’s to load up on bug spray before dinner. I still haven’t seen Maggie since I left the house with Ryan. While waiting at the common area for dinner we played with the kids. These kids are adorable. I want to take all of them back with me. All they want to do is just hold your hand. At one point I think I had 3 on one hand and 2 on the other. We played Ring Around the Rosie and London Bridge. The kids got a kick out of it.
The next thing I know Brittany is taping me on the shoulder saying we are sitting over there and then warned me that Maggie was mad at me. Before I can even sit down at the table Maggie is yelling “Why did you leave? It not good for you?” I am trying to explain that I came by the house, but no one is there and then she started yelling “You Lie! You Lie!” I just gave up and sat down. Then she just walked away. Apparently she had yelled at the other girls too. I guess she was giving us the typical Ghanaian family experience. It kind of sucked because it was such a bad way to end a fabulous day. The rest of the night we did whatever Maggie said. If she wanted to dance – we danced. If she was tired, so were we. None of us wanted to get yelled at again. I am just glad that she didn’t resort to beating us with the sticks like they do the school children. But she did force us to have these drinks called Malta that are made by Guinness. It is basically all the barley and hops in beer, but without the carbonation and alcohol. So basically, it was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. Maggie wouldn’t let us leave the table until we had finished our drinks. There was no way I was going to make it through the whole bottle without getting sick. Luckily, she got up and walked away for a minute and Brittany and I poured our bottles out and kicked some dirt over it.
After some dancing, we headed back to her house to go to sleep. I use the term house loosely. It was this little mud brick type thing. But we did have electricity and a fan! I actually had a mattress and it felt like I was sleeping on a marshmallow. I melted into that bed it was so comfortable. The best part was the fan though. It actually made the heat bearable, especially since we were sleeping in long sleeves and long pants to avoid mosquitoes because I really don’t want to get malaria.

I woke up early this morning to meet Mackenzie and watch the pilot boat. I never found Mackenzie, but I did find Dr. Aimee and Becky. We also never saw the pilot boat, but we saw something WAY better. We saw WHALES!!! There were two of them and they were jumping out of the water and splashing. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen! I really had no idea that whales did that in the wild. The whale excitement happened mid-breakfast with Becky. We went back and headed back to breakfast after the excitement and finished eating.
Afterward, we got ready and went to Tymetz Square to wait for the ship to be cleared. While there, I ran into Dr. Aimee, so we waited together. The ship was finally cleared and we were allowed to disembark. I headed out with Dr. Aimee for her Global Mamas FDP. Our tour guide Sam was hilarious. We asked him about the people balancing things on their heads. He just looked at us like we were stupid and said it was easy. He then grabbed one of our boxed lunches and put it on his head. Even with the bus moving around he made it look easy. I really need to practice this when I get home. We saw people walking down the streets with suitcases on their heads. I can see it now – walking up the Hill balancing my backpack on my head. That would be pretty sweet. Anyway, then we asked what this woman was selling out of this bin she was carrying on her head. From afar, it looked like bread. The people walk up and down the streets – through the streets for that matter – selling things. So Sam gets her attention and buys some – it wasn’t bread. It was fried octopus. Yep, fried octopus and it was actually pretty good. It tasted a lot like calamari.
We made it to Global Mamas and met the founder. She founded it 6½ years ago using her own money. Global Mamas is a micro-financer, but rather then loan out money they loan out supplies. They give out the amount of supplies to complete the order. Once the order is complete the women are paid. They are technically a non-profit, but they run like they are a for-profit company. They actually pay the women a living wage and about 40% goes back to the women, which is really good. Usually in other non-profits, only about 15%-20% goes back.  We had a little time to shop, but we were quickly whisked away for a tour of the main market with a local named Selena. She showed us the different kinds of cloth. They reserve the colors black and red for funerals, which I thought was interesting. She also showed us the type of plant that they chew on to “brush” their teeth. The weirdest thing about the market was that there are fish everywhere! They are salted and fried and raw and they smell was horrible. One lady even had crabs crawling around. Selena also took us to a music vendor. He played us some traditional music and we all danced right there in the market. After we left the market, we went on a bit of a walking tour of Accra. The city is really dirty, but the people are really nice. We found ourselves at the beach. In Ghana, they don’t value beach front property like they do in the US. If you live on the coast they think you are really poor because most people that live there are fishermen who are uneducated. There was a small restaurant there we grabbed some cokes and I got a “meat” kabob. It was either goat or beef. I am not really sure. There were some rocks that lead down to the beach and we climbed down and took pictures.
We walked back to Global Mamas and were there for another .2 seconds and were whisked away again to the WEB DuBois Center for a drumming and dance workshop. We learned a couple of dances and then got up and did them. The group that was doing the city tour were there and joined us for a bit. It was so fun! After the dancing part was over, we were each given our own drum and we learned some beats. It was cool, but we were running late on time so we didn’t really get to finish, but it was still awesome!
We went back to Global Mamas and were finally able to finish our shopping. I spent so much money there! Well really it was only about $70 and I got all of my souvenir shopping done. If you want to learn more about Global Mamas visit their website at www.globalmamas.org but don’t buy anything because I have already gotten it for you! 
Mackenzie, Kristin, and I finally had to leave Global Mamas and went to the shuttle stop, which is at a gas station on the busiest street in Accra (yeah, it was a little sketch) so we could catch the bus to the Welcome Reception. The welcome reception took place on the Asheshi school campus, which is a local university. While we were there, their dance troupe did a performance for us and we were welcomed. I got to sit next to the Deputy Minister of Education in Ghana and we chatted about Semester At Sea. He seemed pretty interested in it. Apparently, he is a pretty big deal. After the welcome, we had appetizers and were able to mingle with some of the students. I met three of the nicest students named Rasheed, Edwin, and Lady. They were all really interested about life in the US and it was neat hearing their views of the US and Ghana. They all got my information and said they would find me on facebook so I hope that happens.
We all piled back on the bus and headed back to the ship afterward. Everyone converged on the upper deck and we had ice cream, which was the perfect way to spend a fabulous first day in Ghana!

So we have been at sea for a couple of days and we dock in Ghana tomorrow morning. The days at sea have been marked by class and my two tests that I had today. They weren’t too bad though. The highlight of this time at sea, though, was the Semester At Sea’s Got Talent Talent/No Talent Show. There were 26 acts and lasted about 2½ hours in the union. It was probably the best time on ship by far. There were so many different acts and I never realized that there were so many talented people onboard. Even some of the staff and LLLs participated. I helped Mackenzie get ready by doing her hair. She was in the talent show doing the Single Ladies dance. Luckily, I was VIP and got to get into the Union before everyone else and managed to snag front-row seats. It was pretty entertaining to watch everyone flood into the union and fight over seats. I wish I would have video taped it. Not everyone fit in the union so they had it broadcasted in the other classrooms and in the piano lounge.
The show was kicked off by the Ship Kids (aka the dependent children). They sang their own version of Yellow Submarine (We all live in a University. Semester at Sea. The Best Place to Be). It was awesome. They did such a good job. They had instruments and everything.
Other highlights included Mackenzie’s Single Ladies dance, which was pretty much amazing. Also, another person did a tribute to nutella and peanut butter. There are no words to describe what that entailed so I will try and upload a video. The sweetest thing was when Ray Fifer played the saxophone. Ray is one of the LLLs. He and his wife Gretchen have been on Semester At Sea five times and they pretty much the cutest things ever. Gretchen is so sweet and so cute. Ray and Gretchen have got to be some of the coolest grandparents ever. Anyway, I digress. The shipboard community found out that Ray has some sort disease where he still has the same mental capacity, but he can’t articulate the words and he is slowly losing his ability write. He played the saxophone and as soon as he was down the entire union (and I am sure everyone else who was watching) jumped to their feet and there was a thunderous applause. I almost started crying. It was just so touching.  Also, all the guys that are from Spain aka the Latin Lovers did a hilarious song and dance to a song that only people who knew Spanish could understand it, but it was actually about tennis. It was hilarious. George did some hilarious voices including Captain Jeremy’s, he went on to win the Talent Show. Benno and Paolo did some amazing dancing and Caroline and Alyssa rapped to Lose Yourself by Eminem. Another kid re-did “I’m On A Boat” and played it acoustically and edited it. A professor told a story about biting himself in the balls and another gave a yo-yo demonstration. Apparently he used to compete.
The show ended with all the LLCs doing a skit called “Chez Ali at Sea.” My stomach hurt I was laughing so hard. They were making fun of the Medieval Times like place that apparently a ton of people went to while we were in Morocco. They were unenthusiastic; Eddie was even on the phone at one point, just like all the performers were. They even had the Darth Vadar theme music when they came riding out on their “horses” which were rolling desk chairs. They ended the skit by getting everyone up to do the Macarena with them. It was a great way to end the night and spend an evening.

I woke up early this morning and grabbed some breakfast before heading out to Casablanca. Olivia, Kate, Carley and I headed out and sat at little café before the souks opened. When we were crossing the street to get back to the souks, a man asked us if we were from the ship. When we said yes he said “You come from Spain and you are going to Ghana!” He got so excited and introduced himself as Abdul (not the same one from dinner) and he proceeded to be our tour guide around the souks. Olivia and Kate were on a mission for bags so he took us from shop to shop until we found something we wanted. He showed us around for a good 2 hours or so. We finally had to say goodbye to explore on our own, but that was not the last time we saw Abdul. He popped up randomly throughout the souks all day. One of the last times we saw him, Olivia took a picture with him. He asked her to mail it to him, so she got his address. We spent the rest of the day buying this and that. I picked up a few things for some of you lucky people at home.
Later in the day, when we were trying to find something to, which we never did because everything was closed because of Ramadan, we stumbled upon an internet café. I talked to Mom and Dad and let Olivia call her parents. Afterward, we headed back to the ship a little early to avoid getting dock time. We grabbed some dinner, watched movies and said goodbye to Morocco.

DAD: I did find Rick’s café and I have a picture of it, but I did not eat there. It was way overpriced and there was no Sam to play me a song at the piano.

We got up early so we could go to the souks and shop. Mackenzie and I walked with Alyssa, Ashley and Mike. The souk was busy, but nothing compared to what it was last night. Mackenzie and I bought our dresses from a little shop. The guy that sold them to us then wanted to show us a “real” Berber house. We followed at first, but then decided against it because they would probably trap us in a shop and make us buy a rug. We spent the rest of the morning in the souks.
We had to run back to our hotel to grab our bags and get on the bus back to Casablanca. On the way back we stopped at the Moroccan equivalent to Wal-Mart to get lunch. It had a McDonald’s in it, and like typical American tourists, we flocked to it. But their credit card machine was broken, so there was a mad dash to get cash.
Once we were about 45 minutes away from the port, we started having bus karaoke. I had a flash back to all the drunken sing alongs from the bus rides while I was in Europe, except this time we had a microphone. Some songs included I want it that way, Wannabe, Buttercup, Ain’t no mountain high, and some more. We tried to get Jamal and Eddie to sing, but they wouldn’t do it. Jamal got on the microphone (tap tap tap) and said that this was going to be the last time he got on the mic. Alyssa then presented him with the money we had collected from everybody because he was an amazing tour guide. It ended up being about $40-$50.
We got back to the ship about 1630, but I didn’t get to board the ship until about 1800 because the security line was so long because all the trips got back at the same time and they have to go through everyone’s bags. We grabbed some dinner on the ship and feel asleep watching the Emperor’s New Groove.

I woke up at some point last night freezing despite being under all the blankets and having a hoodie on. I am really glad that I woke up though because the stars were incredible. But I didn’t see a shooting star ☹
We all got up at 6 and hiked to the top of this hill/dune thing to watch the sunrise at about 0630. We hiked back down and packed up our stuff and dragged our mats back into our tents and then found our camel. I was able to find Elvis again. I was pretty excited I found him, but he is pretty distinctive because of all of his hair. Mackenzie jumped on the one behind him and named him Abu. Mackenzie had rode two different camels the day before and their names were Fievel and Sally (when she was riding Sally she was singing “Ride Sally Ride” the entire time. The nomads thought she was nuts). The trek back was pretty uneventful except a camel that was foaming at the mouth almost slobbered me on. NOTE: Camels make the strangest noises. I am dead set on believing that that is where George Lucas got his inspiration for what Wookies should sound like. And while I suggest everyone should ride a camel at some point in their life, the male half of the population should be careful. I imagine it could be quite painful.
We got back on the bus for the 8-hour bus ride back to Marrakech. I am happy to report that the bus ride was uneventful. We stopped at a Kasbah (Rock the Kasbah!) for lunch. Mackenzie and I sat with one of the LLLs who used to be a police detective for domestic violence and child abuse. She has traveled all over. She told us about volunteering at National Parks. They put you up and let you work in the park. It sounds like the Disney thing except National Parks rather then theme parks.
After lunch, Mackenzie and I walked around the Kasbah. We walked into a little store looking at scarves. The next thing I know, the shopkeeper has put a scarf over my face and is tying it in the traditional way. I was a little freaked out at first, but I figured I would just go with it. At one point, the shopkeeper told me I was worth 2,000 camels. According to Jamal, anything over 1,000 is really good so…yay? I ended up buying a scarf for 40 Dirham (roughly $5). I had my first bargaining experience! He started at 50, but took 40. Granted it wasn’t much, but you have got to start somewhere.
OK So I realize that I am in a different country and that they have a different culture and I should embrace that, but what I saw was just gross. When we came back to the bus, our bus driver was holding a rabbit by the ears, while one of the other guys was digging under the bus. Well that guy pulls out a knife and hands it to our bus driver. So then our bus driver walks behind the bus and kills the rabbit!!! Mackenzie was hysterical and called him Rabbit Killer the whole rest of the trip haha
What we drove through to get back to Marrakech was insane. The mountains were beautiful, but really shocked me were the little clusters of people that live up there. Their houses literally come out of the mountain. There are kids just running around everywhere. I wish we could have stopped in all the little villages. They were so fascinating, but really sad. Morocco is a country with 55% illiteracy and now seeing that part of the country I understand why. I tried to snap some pictures from out of the window.
On the summer voyage, Morocco was the last port. 3 kids were kicked off of the ship because of what they did on the same trip that I am on. Apparently, they got really drunk, got into a fistfight and destroyed one of the nomads tents. It is kind of surprising that they still served alcohol while we were there. They had beer and bottles of wine. They even had bottle of hard liquor for 1000 dirham (about $125). Luckily, there were no fights – just one really drunk guy that wouldn’t shut up when everyone was trying to go to sleep.
Anyway, we got back to the hotel about 1730ish and we had a free night in Marrakech. Jamal invited us all out to the place he goes when his mom doesn’t cook for him. We all agreed to meet there about 2030.
        Jamal took us into the Medina (old city) of Marrakech. The outside of this place looked super sketchy, especially since it was down a really narrow ally. When we walked in, it was like we were in a totally different place. There was beautiful tile work and archways. It turned out that the place that we went used to be some high city official’s house. We were led out into this courtyard in the middle of the building. It was pretty cool. It was a large square with a fountain in the middle and no ceiling. Jamal told us that this architecture is really common in Morocco and it is called Veil architecture.
        The courtyard was set up with a bunch of private tables just for us. Our waiter was named Abdul and he was pretty much hysterical. I have found that Moroccan people are SO nice. They just want to talk to you and make sure that your stay in Morocco is the best that it can be. Abdul told us all about his family and what we needed to make sure we saw while we were in Marrakech. We ended up taking pictures with Abdul and we gave us a flower. The meal was really good. Mackenzie and I split cous cous with chicken and veggies. We had some of the best dinner conversation yet with Julie, Leigh-Ann and Kristen. I have never laughed so hard. (“You want to sleep with camel? It will support your weight.”)
        After dinner we went back into the souk. When we walked through the souk before dinner, it was right after sundown. We saw thousands of people praying outside the mosque and then they came into the souk to break their fast since we are here during Ramadan. It was about 2100 and the place was packed! It was crazy so we all just stuck close to Jamal and his fancy shoes. So now after dinner, the souks still had many people in them after dinner – it was about 2230. Jamal gave us advice on where to buy stuff and get good prices. He also gave us the history of the markets. One of the areas that he took us to used to be the slave trade. And another area he said to stay away from because they sale contraband. We walked back to the main square and were mobbed by snake charmers, who I guess think that it is ok to just come up and put a snake on someone. Jamal gave us the history of the mosque in Marrakech and then we made the walk back to our hotel.

This morning we woke up at 6 to be on the bus by 7. Even though our AC didn’t work and I was bonding with my awesome towel that I bought at the Wal-Mart in Canada, I had to abandon the towel and actually get under the covers because it was freezing. But we made it on the bus and I was reunited with my Nalgene, which had been eaten by the bus the day before.

***Mom please skip ahead to the next paragraph. Thanks***

So our 8-hour bus ride from Marrakech to Zagora was probably the worst bus ride ever. Our bus driver, while I believe he is a very good driver, likes to be a little bit of a daredevil and speed up around corners rather then brake like a normal person. Normally, I wouldn’t really mind this, but when we are driving through the High Atlas Mountains in a tour bus and going around sharp curves where we could go tumbling off the edge, I tend to care. Right after we stopped at a little shop on the side of the road for people to go to the bathroom and a few other people bought crafts. Mackenzie and I loaded up on food – go figure. So we are driving to our next stop – lunch. Our bus driver comes around a corner and a truck was in our lane. He slammed on his brakes and got the bus over to the shoulder. Luckily we were on the rock side rather then the cliff side. He barely missed the truck on one side and the rock face on the other. Everyone on the bus was sleeping except for a few people, so most everyone slammed into the seat in front of them. I used the mom arm bar to save Mackenzie. If we had hit that truck, it would have gone over the cliff and I don’t really know what would have happened to the bus. Granted, he was going around the corner a bit fast, but the truck was in our lane, and he did a heck of a job avoiding an accident. We quickly made an impromptu stop so the bus driver could calm down. Jamal got the hand of Fatima amulet to ward off evil spirits from the roadside vendor haha. We eventually made it to lunch safe and sound.

***Mom you can begin reading here***

Lunch was ok. It started with bread and a salsa like dish with carrots and potatoes. Next was another veggie dish and finally the meat course. We had kebabs and they were scrumptious. Still no pigeon though. We asked Jamal and he said they don’t really eat pigeon. Weirdly, I was slightly disappointed.
We got back on the bus and the rest of the drive was uneventful, but as Eddie said “You guys put on your seatbelts. I’m not joking.” We decided to would be safest to buckle up.
We arrived in Zagora and were greeted by our camels and nomads. They didn’t have enough camels for all of us, so we had to pair up. I think that was really dumb on SAS’s part, but whatever. They keep preaching to be flexible, so I just went with it. We trekked for about 45 minutes and then we switched. I rode a camel I named Elvis. Ok just a quick note on getting on a camel. I was thinking it really wouldn’t be that hard – it would be kind of like riding a horse. Not quite. They are sitting/kneeling when you get one. Once you are on, they start to stand up with their back legs so you pitch forward and then backward and then basically thrown every other direction. If you managed to hold on through all that then you are ready for a pretty bouncy ride. But anyway, I named him so because he had some sweet sideburns. Elvis was a bit harrier then the rest of the camels. The camels in my train were named Jared, Jafar and Speedy McSmokes. When we got to our camp, there were nomads singing and dancing. We got our tent assignment and dropped our packs. Dinner wasn’t for another 2 hours, so we climbed to the top of a dune and watched the sun go down. It is crazy to think that here I am not quite in the dunes of the Sahara watching the sunset with some nomads.
We went back to camp and sat around waiting for dinner. The nomads started singing and dancing again and before I knew it everyone was up dancing and trying to sing with them. We really did more clapping and laughing then actually singing because we had no idea what they were saying.
We ate dinner at 2030 so that everyone could eat at the same time because of Ramadan. The meal started off with bread and a salsa dish…of course. I think I eaten my weight in bread while in Morocco. The main dish was a Moroccan twist on beef stew and it was soooo good. Dessert was some sort of melon that I am going to call Nomad Melon. It was delicious, considering that I don’t like fruit,
We spent the rest of the night talking, which was occasionally interrupted by more singing and dancing and clapping. We eventually got a got a game of mafia going, which I hadn’t played since probably 6th grade. My neighbor on the ship (and in the hotel in Marrakech and in the namad…this seemed to be a reoccurring theme) Bryan, decided it would be fun to kill me off every time. Thanks…what happened to love thy neighbor? Anyway, when it was time for bed, we dragged our mats out of the tent so we could sleep under the stars. We were given a mat, 2 sheets, a pillow and a THICK wool blanket. There was sand all in the blankets so therefore in all of our beds. No matter how much you brushed off more appeared. We finally gave up and tucked our pant legs in our socks (to avoid from anything crawling up there like the scorpion that was found) and settled into our sandboxes. We all feel asleep looking at the stars in our little pow wow of beds.  

My 1st impression of Morocco was the industrialized port of Casablanca. They told us in the preport to watch out for cranes…great.
We huddled in the union at 0930 and awaited instructions. After the most unorganized process of handing out passports, we grabbed a box lunch and got on the bus. Turns out we didn’t even need the boxed lunches – lunch was included. So now we had a boxed snack. I feel sorry for whoever made those – there are 150 of us on this trip.
Mackenzie and I were bus buddies and we sat in the very back of the bus. It was not the most encouraging thing when the first thing we saw was a guy give our bus a thumbs down. What a great way to start. The 4 hour bus rides to Marrakech was pretty uneventful. We did get to see the 2nd largest mosque in the world. It is only second to the mosque in Mecca.
When we got to Marrakech, we were herded off the bus and mass chaos ensued. For some reason they divided our buses by sexes. Here they are telling us to make sure we have a male companion and then they take all of them away. So here is this big group of girls in the market and the only male in sight is our tour guide Jamal and Charlie (the psychology teacher on the ship). All of us were overwhelmed. I have never seen ANYTHING compared to what I had just stepped into. I basically glued myself to Jamal while he gave us time to go get money exchanged. Luckily, I already had some.
Once we had all met up, we were escorted to a restaurant for lunch. The place was beautiful and the tile work was so colorful. The room was a rich blue color and the chair and plates matched. Drinks were not included sp I bought a big bottle of water for the table because I needed to break some of the bills that I had. The first round of the food was bread and an assortment of dishes. One I know was potatoes, another was carrots (but they were gross – they tasted like flowers). One was a type of salsa and the other two I have no idea what they were, but they were delicious. The main course was brought out in the dish that looked like a volcano. Inside I was chicken in this lemon salsa. At first we all thought it was pigeon because that is a very popular dish here. They consider it a delicacy. There were these doughnut like pastries and some little cakes covered in powdered sugar. Both were delicious. Lunch was concluded with a glass of mint tea. I felt really bad during lunch because it is Ramadan and they are fasting from sunup to sundown and here we are stuffing our faces.
After lunch, we had some free time so we set off into the souks (markets). Mackenzie and I attached ourselves to Carol and Charlie because some sketchy guy was trying to pretend to be a tour guide and get us to follow him. Apparently, this is really common. One quick not on the marketplace: There are birds in the restaurants (or at least in ours at lunch), cats in the shops and snakes in the street.
Once we ere free of the creeper, we meandered through the marketplace. We walked through the produce section and the smell was amazing. I was overwhelmed with the smell of citrus. We also passed some snake charmers who yell at you to take a picture so they can then charge you 2000 dirhams or something crazy. The exchange rate is roughly 8 dirhams to $1. We saw fabrics of all kind and silver pots, shoes, backpacks and wnything else you can imagine. Mackenzie got run over by a donkey cart. Balek! Balek! I really felt like I had stepped into a Indiana Jones movie and at any moment Harrison Ford (or maybe if I was lucky Shia LaBeouf) was going to swoop in at any moment and save me from the aggressive vendors.
We had only been in the market about 30 minutes, when about 30 minutes when it started monsooning. We found some shelter to wait it out. We still had 30 minutes until we had to meet the bus. When it lightened up we made a break for it. Mackenzie went one way and ended up basically in a pond. I climbed up on a wall to avoid the water, but almost got kicked by a horse…so either way you went you were screwed. We figured the buses would be there because of the rain, but no we all had to stand in the rain. Normally, this would have not bothered me, but 1. I had my camera and 2. I was wearing a white shirt. So I was attempting to not flash the locals. I’m pretty sure that would fall under the unwanted attention category.
We finally made back on the bus and went to check into our hotel. The hotel was pretty nice except for the fact that our room didn’t have AC. Luckily, the rain had cooled everything off and we had a balcony so we just kept the door open. Even though we didn’t have AC, some people had brown water…eww. Mackenzie and I did have some issues trying to figure out how to flush the toilet. You had to squeeze this lever and then the toilet basically exploded. After that excitement, we passed out for a nap before dinner.
Dinner. I don’t even know how to describe what we experienced. We went to a place called Fantasia Chez Ali. The only way I can think to describe it is a cross between Medieval Times and Morocco at Epcot Morocco in Disney World. We were led into this palace type thing by men on white horses. As we walked in, performers representing the different regions of Morocco greeted us. They were dressed in what I would assume would be traditional outfits and singing songs. The Sahara people were the best. We were then led into the dining area. Each dining area had a different color – we chose red. Mackenzie and I ate with Eddie, the Assistant Dean of Students, Dr. Charlie Morris and his wife Carol, Christie, Lucas and Louie. We hardly had the chance to enjoy our dinner because the various groups we had seen at the entrance kept interrupting us. They took a liking to Mackenzie. A belly dancer pulled her up to dance with her and then in a separate group one mouthed something to her that looked a lot like “I love you.”
The main course was veggies, cous cous and chicken and dinner was rounded out with a HUGE bowl of fruit. It looked delicious, but none of us could eat it because of the fear of getting traveler’s diarrhea because it was washed in their water. Louis, Eddie, and Charlie all had an orange after bathing it in Purell. Mackenzie debated on a peach, but decided against it. But this spawned one of the most hilarious conversations between Carol and Charlie. Apparently, whenever they travel Charlie always gets diarrhea when they travel and she wasn’t going to take care of him anymore. He was going to have to do it himself. Haha (“You know you are going to get diarrhea.” “Carol can we please stop talking about it?” “I’m just letting you know I am not going to take care of you this time.”)
We skipped out on the mint tea to watch the horse show. Again, probably the most bizarre thing. There was a parade of the performers we saw at the entrance and a fire dancer. Then they drove this stage-looking thing out in the middle of the field and this belly dancing girl pops out of the middle of. While belly dancing it neat and all, I really don’t want to watch one girl dance for 20 minutes. The belly dancing was cut off by the Darth Vader theme song and all these horse galloping forward while the riders did tricks. The next thing I know the “Fantasia” is comes galloping forward and fire their guns. It was SO loud. After doing this about 4 times and thoroughly scared the horses, I guess this cued it was time for the finale. All the performers came back out on the field and out of nowhere comes a flying carpet. Yep, a flying carpet. Too bad the people on it looked nothing like Aladdin and Jasmine. Then in true Disney fashion, they ended the night with fireworks.
After the most unconventional dinner of my life, we made it back to the hotel about midnight. Mackenzie and I just laughed about today. Way to say hello Morocco. We get a thumbs down from a guy to start the day, get harassed by a sketchy man, we got adopted by Charlie and Carol, got caught in a freak rainstorm, the hotel had no AC, there were birds in the restaurants, cats in the shops and snakes on the street, and then we rounded out the day with Medieval Times/Epcot Morocco. I think I will count today as a success.

My first taste of Africa. I really have no idea what to expect. This is my first Islamic country and I am a little nervous. Will I be harassed or pick pocketed? Will I be able to handle the markets and bargaining? What am I looking forward to the most is the camel trek. I mean come on – how many people can say that they have even been to the Sahara Desert, much less ridden a camel through it. Although, I don’t see how else you would get through it.
Since we are here during the month of Ramadan I really want to learn about the Islamic faith. I feel like the American media really try to villainize and sensationalize it. I mean only 18% of Muslims are Arab. It is also the fastest growing religion in the world. Another misconception is the veils that women wear. It originally started as a form of protection from men. By covering themselves, they did not draw any unwanted attention and therefore protecting themselves. They the American media says they are oppressing women. And the Taliban started because women were being raped. So when the Taliban came to power, they made women stay indoors, which pretty much guaranteed they wouldn’t be raped. Again the media misrepresents that.
One interesting thing about Morocco is that they were the first country to recognize the United States as a country in 1777. We also have the longest standing treaty of friendship with them. They speak French because they were a French colony. They consider French to be the language of business. Too bad I don’t know French. But I am ready to experience this country and everything it has to offer.

We woke up this morning to the lovely banging of something under our cabin, but luckily it woke up in time for Global Studies. I guess both Rosario and I were really tired because we both slept through the alarm. Global studies was really interesting. One of the professors, whose name I cannot spell, gave a speech on Islam and women. It was super interesting. Who knew that the Taliban started because people got mad because women were getting raped. So when they came to power, they put women under house arrest so they would be protected. Also, the robes that women wear to cover themselves with were a form of protection from men. She was basically saying that women are coming a long way and that there was a quiet revolution going on with the women of Islam.
After global studies, they showed a documentary called “I Love Hip Hop In Morocco.” It was about the hip hop culture in Morocco and how it is really influencing the youth. It was really cool how the US Embassy in Rabat got money to help put on this music festival to help Moroccan understand the “urban” culture of the US. It is amazing these people speak Arabic, French and some English as well.
We were stopped in the Strait of Gibraltar for quite a while today refueling. We were just hanging out in the middle of the water with land around us. One part was Gibraltar – technically the UK, one part was Spain and we could barely see the coast of Africa off in the distance. The fact that we could see that all at once is pretty incredible.
Later on, I taught Rosario and Jennifer how to play pish-posh before meeting Mackenzie for dinner. She then told me that we leave for our camel trek in the morning. I totally thought that we were leaving the day after tomorrow, but apparently not. After dinner, we finished our card game and headed to our cultural pre-port. Dean Bob gave a quick power point on Morocco. Then Kareem, a work-study student who is Egyptian and a Muslim from NY, gave a informative speech about Islam and Ramadan. We are going to be there while Ramadan is going on (it started on Aug 22.) He said there was no need to cover our heads unless we go into a mosque. Also, we just need to be respectful of eating and not do it in public or broadcast it because some could see that as disrespectful. We also learned that the language of business so all the vendors speak French.

We woke up this morning and left the boat around 0930 and went to Plaza de Juan de dios. In all of the plazas in Spain there is free wi-fi. It is pretty nice. I bought the rest of my postcards and some other gifts for people. Jennifer, Rosario and I camped out at the little café. They used skype while I wrote my postcards. Jennifer wasn’t done uploading pictures to facebook so Rosario and I left her at the café and we went to find the post office to mail our cumulative total of 34 postcards. So you should feel special if you get one.
We met back up with Jennifer and went to the local market in search of Churos. Sadly, we found out that churos are only offered in the morning and around dinnertime. So Rosario settled for some ice cream.
We wandered through the market and back to Plaza de Flores and decided to have some lunch. We sat down at this little café so that we could enjoy the music being played by this street musician (whose CD I ended up buying). It turned out that the café we sat down at only served tapas (kind of like appetizers). They had a special going where we could get three tapas and 2 drinks for 10 euro. So we planned to eat the tapas and then move down to the next café and have more paella, but we were full.
We went back through Plaza de Flores. Jennifer and I wanted to get our last gelato, but they were out of chocolate. Sorry Dad, I didn’t get a gelato that gelato, but I did get ice cream! We also made a pit stop at the grocery store so get snacks for the ship.
On our way back to the ship, we stumbled upon a street artist that some other SAS students were looking at. They were beautiful. We all ended up getting one. They are about poster signed and hand painted on canvas. He only charged us 10 euro because we were students. I ended up getting a painting I had looked at the other day, but passed because he was charging 45 euro. So he gave a really good deal.
We were going to head back to the ship, but we some how ended up at the beach. It was so hot! Rosario wanted to get into the water, but she was wearing jeans. Since we were in Europe at a beach and there were topless women everywhere, she took off her jeans and made her shirt into a dress. It actually looked pretty cute and she ended up walking back to the ship in her new shirt/dress.
We made it made back to the ship about 5. I was surprised that everyone made it back onto the ship and no one to my knowledge got dock time. We had dinner out on deck 6. Then movie time! Jennifer, Rosario and I piled into the cabin and watched Just Friends. We took a break half way through the movie to watch us depart Cadiz. We finished the movie and then just set around and chatted and caught up. The ship is really really rocky. Rosario got seasick and she passed out. It was so rocky that I almost fell into the shower while I was brushing my teeth.

Rosario and I slept in until 1030 and it was amazing! We had every intention to be off the ship by 1000 because that is when the shops open, but that didn’t happen. We ended up not leaving until about 1130. Our plan was to walk to one of the plazas and find a little restaurant and have some lunch, but we got a little distracted by the stores. We ended up not making it to Plaza de Flores until 1430 because we stopped in so many stores on the way there. We each bought a couple of things, but we realized wasn’t as expensive as I thought it was going to be.
For lunch we had some delicious paella. Rosario ordered one with mushrooms, sausage, and noodles, while I got one with chicken, rice and mixed veggies. Naturally, we tried each others and they were both really good. The only down side to the meal was our waiter. It was terrible service. We had to hunt him down to get our check. The French women that were sitting next to us had the same issue. It really wasn’t that big of a deal – just slightly annoying.
We moseyed back to the ship stopping in little shops that caught our eye. When we got back to the ship we both grabbed our laptops and headed back out to Plaza de Mina to use the free wi-fi. I got to talk to mom and dad so that was exciting. I was also able to upload some pics to facebook. We sat in the plaza until about 6ish and went back to the ship to change clothes and go out for dinner. We met up with Jennifer and some of her friends that she had gone to Sevilla with that day. We took the bus to the new side of town by the beach and had a dinner at a little café. I ordered chicken empanadas and it turns out that is basically chicken fingers. I got up before dinner was done and walked down to the water to take pictures of the sunset. We ended the night with a toast with sangria and a baño run at Burger King.
Before we got back on the ship, we sat in one of the plazas and chatted. It is crazy because it is 0100 and there are kids just running around and skateboarding and whatever. We had an uneventful night so Rosario and I had a movie night and fell asleep watching Take the Lead.

I had to be up and at the bus by 0900. On the way out to Grazelema, we stopped at a bus station to take pictures of one of the white towns we were passing. They are called white towns because, according to our guide, the women of the village white wash the outside of their homes while they gossip.
Jennifer and I ended up falling asleep for a majority of the remainder of the 2 hour bus ride to Grazelema. We woke when we started going around this really curvy road. It was a little nerve-racking, but we made it ok. We stopped at the camp sites in the park. Our bus driver had a little difficulty getting up the mountain from the camp site. We probably sat there for 15 minutes and he tried about 15 times before the bus got up the hill.
We made it to where we were to begin our hike. SAS provided us with boxed lunches, which contained the strangest assortment of food – but more on that later. I shoved my lunch in my backpack and away we went.
The first part of the hike was the worst. For the first 45 minutes we were going straight up this mountain. We were climbing over rocks and falling over the loose ones. There were sticker bushes everywhere. I came back with the ankles all scratched up thanks to lovely sticker bushes. The other difficult part of the hike was that the trail was no more then a foot wide. If you take one wrong step your done. It was slightly terrifying, but the views were amazing. At the beginning all we really could see was some desert looking land, but we came up over a ridge and saw a forest of fir trees. These trees were anywhere from 30-500 years old. This species of Fir trees have been around since the last glacial period. That was pretty neat.
We hiked about 2 hours, with some breaks in there for picture taking, before we stopped for lunch.
The box lunches from SAS were crazy. They included
-       A salami/bologna and cheese sandwich
-       2 pieces of chicken. This is the more awkward thing to eat. It was basically 2 chicken legs and we are trying to eat this in the middle of the woods after we have been hiking. Not exactly the most appealing.
-       A hard boiled egg
-       A slice of a banana nut bread
-       An orange Capri sun
-       An apple
-       2 oreos

It was pretty interesting to try to eat this while flies are attacking you. We were stopped for about 30 minutes for lunch and then we headed back down the way we came. We couldn’t take the path in the loop because the forest part of it was closed. It is the dry season in Spain and the forest area was closed due to wild fires. You are not allowed to bring glass into the park because the glass acts as way for brush to catch fire. Our guide told us that they have fires everyday. When we looked out into the park you can see the fire lines that they had created in order to help control the fires when the happen. Another interesting fact about Grazelema is that the park is known for its hang gliding. They had the World Championship Hang Gliding competition. We didn’t see any hang gliders because it was really windy and it would have been dangerous for them. The one thing about the hike that I didn’t like was that I was so concentrated on where I was walking because I really didn’t feel like falling over a cliff, that I really didn’t get the chance to really take in my surroundings.
The bus on the way back was dead. Everyone was asleep except Jennifer and me. We had a nice conversation on the way back and got to know each other. On the way back to Cadiz, we spent about 30 minutes in the city of Grazelema. The first thing Jennifer and I did was grab some ice cream. We really didn’t have much time to do anything else. We just walked around and looked in a couple little shops. The bus driver drove passed at us on the way to the meeting point and I guess he recognized me and Jennifer and waved and honked the horn and drove right past us. I thought that was pretty funny.
We got back to Cadiz around dinnertime. The first thing I did was jump in the shower. Rosario and I went up to dinner before heading out to Cadiz. Rosario, Olivia, Kate, Jennifer and I took a taxi back down to the beach area. We walked along the vendors and chatted with a few. Most of them are Argentinean and they are much more friendly then the Spaniards. One couple we met tried to help me with my Spanish, but it didn’t really go all that great and I needed Rosario’s help. They had heard of LA, but the only thing that they knew about Tennessee was Jack Daniels. They were really sweet.
We ended up meeting Olivia and Kate, who had left us to get Sangria, at a little restaurant. We also tried the ham, which apparently Spain is known for. It was really greasy and cut really thin, but it was really good. We sat and chatted and people watched, but we eventually decided we should get back to the ship because it was about 2am. We caught a cab and headed back to the ship.

We docked in Cadiz about 0700. Rosario and I got up about 0630 and got really excited when we looked out the window and saw land. We ran upstairs to get breakfast and made it up on the deck to watch the sunrise. When we were eventually able to disembark, I set off with Becky, Sam, and Alyse. We headed first to the ATM, which was swarmed with SAS students. After we got through the line, we set off wondering Cadiz with particular destination in mind. We wandered by Plazo de Juan de Dios, which is their town hall. After that I really have no idea where we were. We stumbled upon a market, but really wasn’t all the exciting. We also found the Spanish equivalent to the Dollar Store. There was some pretty sweet stuff in there. Of course we hit up the really touristy shops to get postcards. I had one encounter with a Spaniard and I felt really stupid. I wanted to buy a thimble, but for some reason I could not think of “to buy” in Spanish. It is comprar by the way. At first the guy thought I wanted to know how much, but I knew how much they were. The only thing I could think of to say you quiero (I want). So here is am just say I want to this guy. He looked at me like I was crazy, but he knew what I was talking about.
We spent the rest of the morning walking about little stores and trying to get our bearings in Cadiz. The best part of the day was seeing these people dressed in turn of the century clothing. We decided to investigate. They were taking photos of people dressed up in the costumes. We asked how much it was. It was free so of course we got a picture. I got to hold a pretty sweet fan, while the other girls got hats. One of the costume guys got in out picture because Becky was wearing shorts and women couldn’t show their legs in that time period so he covered them in the picture. It turns out they were promoting a traveling exhibit about the progress in technology that has been made in the past 125 years and where we are going in the next 125. It was pretty interesting and there were some awesome exhibits. By the time we walked out, out picture was printed and it turned out so cute!
We all had to get back to the ship because we had FDPs at 1300. We grabbed a quick lunch on the ship and we set on our way. I went on a City Orientation with Becky, Rosario, Jennifer, and Mackenzie. It was all pretty interesting. We went to a couple museums and stopped by a really pretty beach. It was really tiring though. We did stop and get gelato, which helped the energy level. We had to help Mackenzie with her Spanish. She was wondering around yelling “Yo quiero a Espana.” (I want Spain) She thought that she was saying “I love Spain.” That was pretty funny. Also on the tour, we saw 4 different weddings. Our tour guide, Carmen, got really excited because apparently that is really good luck.
We came back to the ship to get a little rest before Flamenco night. We stayed a little bit longer then we wanted to so we ended up having to eat on the ship. The food is much better while we are in port.
We met the buses and headed out to the middle of nowhere. Rosario and I fell asleep on the bus, so I have no idea how long the drive was, but I think it was about 45 minutes. When we got off the buses, we were greeted by glasses of wine. We stood outside the arena and took pictures with the dancers and the horses. We got into the arena and the show was awesome. They started out with this flamenco where the female dancers danced with the horse or something. I didn’t really get it, but it was neat to watch. The male flamenco dance either was riding the horse or leading it. The whole thing was pretty bizarre. After that show, there was an amateur bullfight. The kid looked like he was about 12 and the bull was really small. It was really entertaining despite the fact that I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. The kid took a couple of hits, but he was ok.
We then were led into a house looking area with a stage. We were seated at tables filled with appetizers and Sangria. It was a fantastic setup. Before we knew it, the show was starting. It was probably one of the most passionate things I have ever seen. The way the move and dance is mesmerizing. One of the dancers was so focused it looked like she wasn’t even blinking, but she was loving every minute. Plus, the music they were dancing to was live and the guy playing the guitar was amazing. There is no way I could describe it and do it justice. You all will just have to see all the video that I took. It makes me want to learn how to flamenco. Once the real show was over, they called Dani up to the front because it was her birthday. So we all serenaded her and then she danced with one of the performers. She did so good! Then it was time for the audience to dance. We all got up there and did out best, but somehow we all ended up doing the Macarena. For the next couple of dances, we tried to follow the dancers, but it didn’t end up that well. I could have stayed there all night and danced, but we had to leave.
Once we got back to the ship, we ran to the cabin and put our bags away. I changed shoes, put money in part of my bra and my id in the other was good to go. Charis, Olivia, Rosario and I set off to find a club. We had talked to the Spanish student who said we needed to go to Barabass so that’s where we went. It was really dead, but it was only midnight. A note on the Spanish – their dinner time is 2100-2230 and then they don’t go out until about 0130-0200 and stay out until 0700. None of the clubs close until 0730. We thought there might be a private party because there was a woman in her wedding dress and what looked like a wedding party there, but it wasn’t so we were good. At Barabass, we befriended a muy guapo bartender named Tito (real name Alberto, but goes by Tito, which according to Rosario is a very common nickname). He is a professor, but has to go to school to learn English so that he will be allowed to teach. Apparently that is a new requirement in Spain or something. About 0030 a bunch of SAS kids showed up there. These kids aren’t my favorite hence us leaving. We asked Tito where to go and he said to head to Poco Loco so we did. Turns out they were having a Heaven and Hell party. There were not that many people when we first got there, but in about 30 minutes the place was crawling with SAS kids. It was ok this time because they were actually fun. We were just glad we finally found a place that we could dance. We couldn’t understand most of the music, but they did play some Black Eyed Peas. I am pretty sure the Spaniards thought we were crazy because they don’t really start dancing that early in the night. There was one guy that came up to Olivia and said “I love America!” That was pretty funny, but other then that the locals didn’t really acknowledge we where there. We danced the night away until about 0230 and then we caught a taxi back to the ship. We had to head back early because we both have early FDPs tomorrow. After tomorrow I have no more trips planned so Rosario and I are just going to wing it. It should be really fun!

We arrive in Spain Tomorrow!! Actually as I write this we are 10 hours away from docking. I am so excited.  We had class as usual today. I wish I could have my professor here back at Western. I would take all my classes with her. It really isn’t a lecture it’s more of a group discussion. Even though we basically discussed the same thing in each class, we had two totally different perspectives. I really liked.
Mario and I worked on the calendar for all of our programs, but we ended up getting sidetracked by trying to plan trips to Hong Kong Disneyland. We headed up to dinner and then went up to the 7th deck to enjoy the sun. I was really excited because it was the first night we have had since the first night where we would have had a good sunset, but we didn’t see it because they stuck us in a logistical preport for 394875 hours. They went over the stupid green sheet (which has all of our field trip info, addresses for the part, US Embassy and Consulate, and just basically info we should know) about 4 times. Then they showed us this alcohol video to try and get us to drink responsibly while in port. It is called Haze and has to do with the Chi Psi pledge death at CU-Boulder. It was interesting to see the reaction of the 50 or so Colorado students that are here. Some had seen it before, but many hadn’t. While I understand the point of the video is to get people to not drink, I really hate watching those because the Greek system gets blamed for everything. I realize that hazing happens on some campuses, but it does not just happed at fraternities. Many student organizations haze such as sport teams or club teams or even debate teams. But anyway, that is a whole different topic. The video was really graphic, but I think that was kind of the point.
After an hour and a half we were finally allowed to leave. I ran to the cabin and dropped some stuff off and then ran back up to the smaller dinning room for snack time! Snack time is ridiculous. The line starts forming 10 minutes before the food is even set out. It’s not that this food is even that good. Usually, it is PB&J and some sort of other sandwich (tonight it was tuna) and then some desserts, but nothing worth eating. After the voyage, I am pretty sure I will never look at a PB&J sandwich the same. Rosario and I watched Brother Bear and we are calling it a night early because we are getting up to watch us dock in Spain, which happens about 0630.

Global studies was pretty much unbearable, We had the interport speaker talk about Ecological Economics. Not that the topic is all the terrible, but I have already sat through 3 Econ classes and really don’t want anymore. Plus, supply and demand curves and the growth theory is not something I really care about at 9 in the morning.
I had lunch with Mackenzie and I met 2 new people named Allison and Ashley. We had a mini-rant session during lunch about the field office. The people that work there never give out consistent information and we all just felt like they should have had more of a system. I mean come on this is the 100th voyage. They should have it down to a science, but they are still making dumb mistakes and not being able to answer questions.
Anyway, Service Learning was just how it always is. We had a group meeting afterward, but it got a little complicated because Mackenzie was late because of work and then I forgot about the bridge tour I had. The bridge tour was so much fun. It turned out that all the LLC’s (leaders like Mario) and PC’s (me and other work study) were all on this tour.
We went to the bridge and it was really cool. One of the crew members went through all the equipment and how everything works and why we should care about it. Another crew member showed up how they plot our course on the map. It was all really interesting. I didn’t realize how slow we were going. If the ship was going at full speed, we could get to Spain in just under 4 days. Instead, we are dragging it out into a week because we have to have enough days for classes. Also, I was really excited to see the steering wheel. I guess I just always envisioned this massive steering wheel, but that is definitely not the case. The steering wheel looks more like what a rather larger model car would use. While Captain Jeremy was not up there at the time, we did get to wear his hat and sit in his char. We all had a mini-photo shoot.
I met back up with my group and we finished up the meeting. Mackenzie, Becky and I then had to rush because we only had 15 minutes for dinner before the Vicarious Voyage meeting. The Vicarious Voyage is where we students send “culture packets” back to schools in the US to help those countries come alive for those kids. The program is really neat and they try to match you up with schools close to you so that you can visit the class once you leave SAS. I got matched up with two other girls and we have a 5th and 6th grade class (roughly 100 students) in Shelby, Mississippi. I have no idea where Shelby, Mississippi is or how close it is to Nashville. The thing that is frustrating is that there was a school from Knoxville and if they were trying to get people matched up to schools close to them, why didn’t I get put in that group? I would like to be able to visit this class because in addition to the packets we are going to be sending them postcards and letters from each port. The kids have the opportunity to write back to us and I thought it would be neat to go see the class.
Tonight we also had our first cultural pre-port. This is where they go over the culture about the place we are about to visit. They went over the different types of food in Spain and how much we should expect to pay. We also went over a bit of the pop culture, like music and sports. It was all run by the interport lecturer and the interport students. At the end, they went over some stereotypes that the Spanish have about Americans. They were pretty funny and included things like
-       Americans only eat hamburgers and French fries and that this is a standard meal
-       In big cities, we drive big cars and in the country we ride horses.
-       Adults wear cowboy hats and college students wear baseball hats
-       We talk really fast and like we have gum in our mouth
-       Football and beer our the most important things (this one caught a huge round of applause from the audience. So I guess we count that as true?)

Overall, the cultural preport was entertaining and pretty informative.
Afterward, we tried to get a board game from the student life desk, but they were already closed. We checked out a Spain guidebook to try and figure out what we want to do in Spain. We have talked about going to Gibraltar or Seville, but we really have no idea. We might just stay in Cadiz. We talked to the Interport lecturer about where to go, but he made us ask in Spanish. What’s weird is that both he and Rosario say that I have a really good accent when I am speaking, which is weird. Carla McDaniel would be proud. We lose another hour of sleep tonight. Right now on-ship time is 0129 and according to my watch it is 1829 at home so I guess I better get to bed.

I worked with Mario this morning and helped lay out a little bit more of our C-SI program that we are putting on for the Career Services. It should be pretty good if we can actually get people to participate, but isn’t that always the challenge? Nothing too exciting happened in my first class. We went over a little bit about Spain and Morocco’s economy and such. I had lunch with some people from class and then we all went our separate ways.
I tried to do some of my reading and I managed a little bit my sitting up on 7, but then the weather turned really nice and I got distracted. Randomly, there was a sailboat behind us for a while today during lunch. That was weird considering we are somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I think the noon announcement said that there were some islands about 100 miles away that were part of Portugal, but 100 miles is still a long way in a sailboat and it wasn’t that big of one either.
After my last class, I went back to Mario’s office and finalized a few things and then headed back to the cabin to work on the newsletter. I got most of it done before I went to dinner with Olivia. We headed back up to 7 and brought some cards and played speed and wagon wheel in the beautiful weather. Some of the guys were playing soccer and that was interesting to watch. They have the starboard side of the ship made into kind of a net box so you don’t have to worry about losing any of the equipment overboard. The only downside is that the area is really small so it is a bit hard to maneuver.
I had a meeting at 2100 for the Voyage Book, which is basically like the voyage yearbook that the alumni association pays for everyone to get a copy. I was chosen to be part of the staff so that’s exciting. When the meeting was over, it was snack time so there were a bunch of people in dinning hall. I ran into Mackenzie and we had a brief meeting about one of group projects. Rosario and Olivia and went out on the deck and I tried to find a place to camp out for the night, but I was unsuccessful. We are planning to sleep on the deck on Friday night so we can wake up to Spain on Saturday morning. They were showing Aladdin tonight (Ebonee I totally thought of you) so of course I had to watch. And that really just sums up another day at sea.

Rosario and I got up this morning and booked it to the field study office. Today was the last day we could sign up for day trips for everywhere through Chennai. I signed up for Operation Hunger in South Africa because all of the township visits are while I am on safari in Kruger. Rosario and I also signed up the Adventure Park and Beach in Mauritius. That should be fun.
The second day of Global was really interesting. We watched Sylvia Earle’s TED speech. She is a famous marine biologist who has pioneered ocean research. Her speech basically told up that we need to clean up our acts in the ocean, while there is still time. If we don’t we are basically screwed. Then in lecture, we talked about this place in the Pacific gyre (current) where there is currently 100 million tons of plastic floating around taking up an area roughly the size of the United States. The thing that really shocked me was that there is no effort to try and clean this up. Apparently it is so bad that you can just reach your hand down about a foot in the water and pull up handfuls of plastic. The last part of the class was a panel with Captain Jeremy, the COO of ISE and the international law professor. The only really exciting thing that came out of the was that Captain Jeremy said we use 1.8 tons of fuel per hour to run one engine (we are currently running on one engine) and another .6 tons per hour for electricity. So roughly that’s 56 tons a day. Multiply that by the 54 days we are at sea and you get 3024 tons of fuel for this voyage. There goes my carbon footprint.
In Dr. Strenecky’s class we had to bring 3 items that describe ourselves. I chose my camera, a picture of the fam, and the little packet of pixie dust that Ebonee was nice enough to get for me from the Boutique. It was really interesting to see what other people brought. We then divided up into groups for our project and that was about it.
We had a presentation from Global Nomads, which was founded by SAS alum. Global Nomads travels all over the world connecting middle and high school students with live feeds from other schools all over the world. Apparently they are working with SAS for the 100th voyage.
We had a BBQ up on 7th deck. The food was so good. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, baked beans and ice cream! YUM! Mackenzie, who I have just decided to call Jenn because she reminds me so much of Ben’s friend Jenn on the houseboat, and I went to a workshop on journaling that is led by one of the LLLs.
After the workshop, in addition to the BBQ, to help kick off the 100th voyage we had a “Mash-Up” Mixer. Basically it was a WTF theme. It had potential to be really fun, but it was just ok. They played terrible music so everybody just kind of stood around awkwardly. I felt like I was back at BGA because there was about the same amount of people there and all of the awkwardness. We were just one electric slide away. Towards the end they finally started playing normal music and everyone started dancing.

I had my second first day of classes. I had my intro to international business and international management. My first class wasn’t until 1045, but Rosario and I still got up at 0815 and ran up to breakfast. I am so glad that they have cereal and milk, even though their milk tastes a little sweeter then I am used to.
My Intro to International Business is going to be interesting. It is a lower level business course and there are about 25 people in my class. My other class, international Management, is with the same professor in the same classroom. It only has 13 people in it. While in class we signed up for out FDPs (Faculty Directed Practica). I ended up not having to go to the Nike Factory in Vietnam, but I had to add a “Sugar Adventure” while we are in Mauritius. Apparently that follows the history of sugar around the world from Africa to the Caribbean. It also looks at how Rum has made an impact globally.
My professor seems really cool and laid-back. This is also her first time teaching on SAS. She is willing to work with us on test dates and due dates if we feel like we have too much on our plate at some point. Also, she wants us to share our experiences even if they have nothing to do with the class. The first day in International Management we just sat around chatting about where everybody is from and asking each other questions. We barely had time to go over the syllabus.
We had a lot of time to kill yesterday so Rosario, Olivia and I gathered in the piano lounge and played a rousing game of Uno and I taught Rosario how to play Wagon Wheel.
We are all going a little bit stir crazy. I just think that knowing there is nowhere to escape, except into the ocean, kind of messes with you. We are still 4 days from Spain…booo.

Fun Fact of the Day: There are two types of seasickness. The first type would be the normal throwing up and being sick to your stomach. The second kind happens in you ears. 3 tries as to the type that I got. The only way I know how to describe it is it is like flying in an airplane constantly and my ears are popping all the time. So basically it is super annoying, but I guess it is better then actually being sick.


First day of class was pretty uneventful. Global studies is really interesting. It is basically this guy standing up there and talking. While the topic is pretty interesting, I have no idea what I am supposed to be taking notes on. For example, I titled today’s lecture as “What does it have to do with egg consumption in China?” Apparently everything. Because eggs mean more chickens which means more grain, which means more water and everything just leads back to something else. Why I am concerned with whether or not the Chinese population is eating 100 or 200 eggs I have not yet discovered, other then the fact I will be there in a couple months. I am sure the point of it will soon become apparent.
Service Learning with Dr. Strenecky is going to be amazing. It is going to be a lot of work but it going to be really good. Dr. Strenecky is so passionate about it, it makes me want to go out and do something about it. He is asking us to bring in 3 items that really to about who we are. Other then a picture of the family I have no idea what to bring. Guess I will figure it out.
I spent most of the remaining afternoon on the back of Deck 6 reading the book for Global Studies. At some point, I took about a 20 minutes power nap. After finishing my reading, I headed back inside. I picked the wrong time to come inside. About that time, we hit a huge wave and I got thrown into the wall (luckily my laptop was not on that side) meanwhile, I saw another person fall out of their chair, two classroom doors come flying open and about 35 plates from the dinning hall shattered on the floor. It has been pretty smooth sailing, but this afternoon we were really rocking and rolling. It was really entertaining watching everybody try to walk. Everybody leans the same way and we all wobble down the hallways.
All the WKU kids also had a meeting with Dr. Strenecky tonight about the work we are doing for WKU while we are on SAS. I got put in charge of researching UVAs Honor Code. It will be interesting looking at UVA compared to BGA. We also got free WKU drawstring backpacks, a jumbo pack of Big Red gum, a new red towel, and WKU polo.
After dinner, I met with Mario to get the sign up sheets from the involvement fair so I could type up a contact sheet. We also went over a little more about what my role is even though I am still a little confused about it. The night ended by watching Finding Nemo, which I think it totally appropriate…..”It’s a big blue world…..”

Orientation Day!! Whoo hoo! It was soooo boring. We had to be in the Union at 0900. The first thing they went over was the Honor Code (which was founded in 1847). Charis and I somehow found each other in the crowd and managed to eye roll at the similarities of BGA and UVA. For example, BGA’s honor code states “I pledge my honor as a lady that I have neither given nor received help on this work.” UVA’s says “I pledge as a student that I have neither given nor received help on this work.” I wonder if that is where BGA got the idea. Go figure BGA would plagiarize an honor code.
Moving along, We got a full run down on our Global Studies class, which is going to be ALL lecture. No power point. No anything except him standing at a podium speaking. The only saving grace is that all the tests are multiple choice.
The field office also spoke and went over the sale procedures for purchasing FDPs and other field courses. On sad note I got bumped from one of my trips in Spain so that kind of sucks, but oh well. I know have a $104 credit on my account that goes towards future purchases.
We had a break for lunch. Rosario and I ate in the main dining room, which we hadn’t eaten in before. It is really weird. We have waiters that come to our tables for our drinks and then we just leave our plates on the tables when we are done.
Once back at Orientation, we watched a 60 minutes clip about this professor at Harvard. The segment is called “The Eyes Have It” and if you can find it on you tube I suggest you watch it. It’s only about 15 minutes long.
It was Captain Jeremy’s birthday, so when we got up to speak about safety (again!) we all sang happy birthday to him. He spoke for so long about safety! He did talk about how in Fall 2004 where a kid fell overboard, but no worries he was pulled back aboard, but he was sent home at the next port.
I also met my cabin steward today. His name is Jesse and he is from the Philippines. He is the guy that cleans our cabin and basically takes care of us during this voyage.
Olivia, Rosario and I grabbed some dinner and then watched the sunset on Deck 6, It was pretty much amazing. We couldn’t watch the sun go all the way down because we had to get to the union by 1730 for the involvement fair. I signed up for a couple things, but then I had to go help Mario at the Career development area. There were a lot of people that signed up, but I think most just signed up to sign up and didn’t really care.
After the involvement fair, we had a “Sea” meeting at 2100. A “Sea” is like your hall in a normal dorm. Each deck is divided into sections and each section is a “Sea”. My Sea is the Arabian Sea and our color is Purple (at least it is not orange). The only down side is that I own nothing purple so I guess I am going to keep my eye out while I am in port.
We have to turn our clocks ahead one hour tonight, which sucks because we start class tomorrow (yes class on a Sunday) and I need all the sleep I can get. I am currently writing this from the piano lounge, listening to one of my super talented fellow students play. It is kind of crazy to think this is my life.

Last night Dad came aboard for the Parent Reception. He got to meet Dr. Strenecky and listened to a presentation from the Dean and Captain. Afterward, we ran to the local grocery store so I could grab some food because I missed dinner because I was helping checking in parents for the reception. I grabbed some lunchables and headed back to the ship. I spent my first night on the ship! I slept like a rock. I was exhausted. It was only about 10:30 but I was out.
I woke this morning at 6:15. I was expecting have a nice hot shower, but it wasn’t – it was freezing! What a lovely way to start the day. I made it to the union by 7 and got my assignment for checking in. I was told to go outside and help give out luggage tags, which go on the bags students check through security so that they end up at the right cabin. I started out going up and down the line, but that took to long so I went back to my table. Then the lines were getting out of hand because SAS decided to post what letters were in what line except for on the front of the table, which seemed a little pointless to me. So I ended up checking last names and directing people to the correct line. Before I knew it the Disney point came back and I felt like I was back there trying to line up little kids who had no idea what was going on.
Dad came by for a bit before he left to go to the airport. I hung out with him for a few minutes and then he hit the road. On his was out another girl called out to him. It turns out her name was Lauren and went to Father Ryan. I had my Preds hoodie on and dad had a Legends Club golf shirt and she recognized the shirts. So there is another person from Nashville.
That afternoon we just hung out with new friends on the ship. I ate lunch with Mackenzie, who is from New York. She is pretty much awesome. I also got to meet my roomie! Her name is Rosario Rico and she is from LA. She is 25 years old and is a Sergeant in National Guard. In 2006 she did a tour in Iraq, where she was a fuel truck driver, but normally she works on Black Hawk helicopters. So pretty much she’s a bad ass. We hung out in the room and she unpacked. We took our picture off the wall to see what pass SAS kids had written, but I felt gypped because there was nothing written on it. So I guess Rosario and are going to christen it.
We had lovely muster station drill aka lifeboat drill. We were instructed to dress in warm clothes (close toed shoes, long pants, long sleeves, and a hat or head covering) and make our way to our muster stations. It all went pretty smoothly. We were supposed to be quiet and it amazes me how challenging that is for some people. On an interesting note, we had to line up in order of how we would board a life raft. They made all the women get to the front and wouldn’t let any of the guys line up until all of the women and children (we have some families on our deck) were accounted for. Thought that was interesting.
We all went up to the deck at 1700 for the send off. We went up on Deck 7 and watched them throw off the bow lines. Its kind of crazy to think that for the next 108 days I am going to be living on this ship and sailing around the world. Classes are going to be a lit difficult because they are in the union which says and it pretty much rocks me to sleep. We had orientation/welcome thing there tonight at 2000. The deans spoke as well as Captain Jeremy. The faculty introduced themselves and it was basically the same thing that I heard at the parents thing. If I hear one more thing about how this is the 100th voyage I might just punch a baby (thanks Jess! Haha)
Tomorrow we have the real orientation. It lasts all day. It is either going to be really exciting or really boring.

Check in day did not get off to a good start. I didn’t really sleep the night before. The whole bed at the hotel was down (which I am allergic to). So needless to say I didn’t get much sleep. I woke up about 6 (after not going to bed until around 1) and I couldn’t breathe and my throat and back hurt. It was pretty much awful. Dad was awake too so we just slowly got moving and then eventually got my bags packed and headed to port. We were one of the first people there since we were about 30 minutes early. I guess that is what happens when you can’t sleep. The ship did not dock until about 7 that morning so we had a little bit of a delay waiting for it to clear customs. It was coming from Norfolk, which is where they picked up the faculty. I kept looking for Charis and she finally showed up about 9:15 or so, Turns out that their flight on Delta was delayed and then canceled so they had to jump on an Air Canada flight and didn’t get in until about 4am. Their bags haven’t made it yet.
Once check in got started, I found out that I got bumped from Deck 2 to Deck 4! Score! That is a slightly bigger and more expensive room, but I still only paid like I was on Deck 2. I think they moved a lot of people out of Deck 2 because there are only 521 students rather then the 700 they were expecting. The only hiccup in security was that they took my duct tape ☹ Apparently it is not allowed on the ship, but I still haven’t figured out why.
Once I got onboard, I found my room and put my backpack, camera bag and computer in the room. SAS took my big bags and they were brought back to my cabin later.
I was able to find Charis on the ship and we just wondered around and met a few more people. We eventually had to go to our Orientation meeting. All the deans introduced themselves, as well as the other staff we will be working with. I got my assignment. I will be working in the career services office, which is basically coming up with seminars (nightly meetings that SAS does an different things). I am working with a guy named Mario, who is my supervisor, and we are the only ones in the office, but we will work with a lot of different offices. The neat thing is that this is the first voyage where this office has been established. So Mario and I basically get to make it our own and pass it on. A little about Mario – he is working on his Masters and is employed at Florida International University and lives in Miami, but originally from California.
After we were done with orientation, I went back to my cabin and unpacked everything. I have a lot more room then I thought I was going to. The sweater organizer thing that I got at Bed Bath and Beyond that hangs in the closet was the best decision ever. I got everything up packed and still had room for my roommate who I am assuming checks in tomorrow. I think her name is Rosario Rico or at least that is the name that was on the box that was in the room.
Dad picked me up and we went and explored Halifax. We walked down to the pier and walked around a bit. We got ice cream at Cows, which apparently is the best ice cream in Canada and in the top 10 in the World. It was pretty tasty. We also saw a bagpipe/drummer pair which I thought was weird but it sounded good.
I am now back in hotel taking advantage of the free internet while I have the chance. Dad and I are about to head back to the ship for the parent’s reception. I have to help check all 350 parents in and then I am free to go. I don’t know how long we are staying or even what this reception is about, but I guess I will find out.
I can’t believe we set sail tomorrow! The ship is beautiful, but it looks so tiny compared to the HUGE Carnival ship that is docked next to it. The Union, where we have Global Studies, isn’t as big as I thought it was and I don’t know how everyone is going to fit in there. I also got to eat lunch on the ship and everyone said ship food was gross, but I didn’t think it was that bad. But that is all I have right now. Update again when I get the chance!

So I apologize I have been updating. Well, I thought that I was updating, but I had my address to e-mail my blog wrong so I guess I have just been sending my updates into cyberspace. So here are the updates from the past few days.