1.14.09 0214

It has now been one month since I disembarked from the MV Explorer. I keep expecting some epiphany to hit me about how different the US is from other areas of the world and how difficult it is to be back. Yes, it has been a hard transition, but not because I find it hard to slip back into the American culture. More because if the people I left. Now that I am back in their lives, they don’t know what to do with me and vice versa. I would like to think that they can now boast about their super amazing friend, but I find that most people just don’t care, which I find to be unfortunate.

The hardest part about being home is being far away from those I was in such close quarters with for the past 4 months. I miss not being able to walk down the hall and see all of my friends. Its like living in a dorm – except with a majority of people whom you are good friends with and you get to sail around the world. Now we are all spread throughout the country and have to try and coordinate skype dates. On the plus side, we all now have access to these hand inventions called cell phones and the ease of texting.

I feel like after having been around the world and seeing everything that I was able to, that I should have some deep, profound thing to say, but in all honesty I am just confused and still trying to process. One thing I have noticed is that people in the US seem to fall into 2 categories – those who care and those who don’t. Those who care generally seem to be people who have traveled outside the US – especially to developing countries. They really want to understand other cultures and experience what the world has to offer. If that means a sleeper train in India or a fish massage in Cambodia – they are always up for the adventure. The second category is FAR more common. Category 2 people generally have not traveled (when I say travel, I mean more than going to Cancun on Spring Break or the Bahamas, but I guess it is a start). They are perfectly content in their little American bubble. Yes, they know about world events and how there is no clean water in Africa. They take a moment out of their day and say, “That’s terrible,” and then proceed to guzzle down a designer bottle of water while loading their 2.5 kids into the back of the SUV and head back to the house that could house an entire village. Don’t get me wrong – I am all for the “American Dream” but we as a cultural go WAY overboard. I had never realized the excess in the States. I had always heard people talk about it, but it didn’t really sink in. The food portions, the size of our homes and cars, the way we spend money. The whole thing is ridiculous.

Traveling has made me have a love/hate relationship with my own culture. I love the ease of the US. Shashank was telling me how easy everything was in the US compared to India. I just said it was because we are lazy. With this he countered by saying that it is easy to be lazy in the US because almost everything can be solved with a phone call or over the internet. In India everything must be done in person, which is frustrating because transportation there is about ridiculous.

On the other hand, I really hate how it seems most people are content within our own little US bubble. When I told people about SAS, either people were really excited to hear about it or they looked at me like I had 2 heads. This can also somewhat be blamed on the media. They villainize religions (like Islam) and scare people. I mean come on, I survived an entire Islamic country and was worried more about a snake charmer or being running over by a donkey than a terrorist. We have got to be the most paranoid people ever, Mom ranking at the top of that list.

I heard an analogy about the US and how it is in its teenage years. The US thinks it knows everything and can do whatever it wants and then whines when it doesn’t get its way. Older countries, like the UK, India and China, who I guess you could say are in their Parent stage, realize that the US is just throwing temper tantrums and they gave into for a while, but now they are realizing that they don’t have to listen. I think this is a pretty accurate analogy.

One final point, once you travel you never stop. You realize what the world has to offer and you don’t want to miss anything. I realized that I have been to 22 countries in 22 years. I think a good goal in life would be to visit one country for every year that I am alive. I don’t really think this will be hard. I might not make it to a different country every year, but eventually I will get there. So now that SAS is over, I have gained perspective and life long friends and I can’t wait for my next adventure. I have my sights set on Italy with mom.

12.16.09

Yesterday I got off the MV Explorer and I don’t even know what I am feeling. I am so glad to be back with Mom, but I also have the realization that this experience is over. I am absolutely terrified to go home. I know that I am not going to fit in and my friends don’t really care about what I did. They will ask how was the trip and what my favorite country was, but once i launch into a story their eyes will glaze over. I know this, but I still don’t know what I am going to do. Everything is different. I could never go back to who I was. I now realize just how small the world is. Before, flying to New York or Colorado would have seemed like a daunting task and that that is really far away. Now I am thinking about going those places just for a long weekend. They seem like they are next door. I have no problem traveling alone or planning things for myself.

Today Mom and I were walking around the Gas Lamp District in San Diego and I was really uncomfortable. No one was grabbing me and trying to get me to buy their goods, I couldn’t bargain the price down and everything was neatly arranged. The only place I felt remotely comfortable was the world market where everything was thrown into together and I saw things from South Africa, Morocco, and Japan. What the hell am I going to do when I get back into Bowling Green?

Mom and I were talking the other night and I realized that I am 22 years old and I have been to 22 different countries (Austria, Bermuda, Belize, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Czech Republic, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Vietnam, and the USA). That is a pretty amazing thing, but it also reminds me that everywhere is just a plane ride away and it is just getting the courage up to plan it. I realize that I am never going to stop moving. I am in San Diego and I feel like it is just another port and it is parents weekend. We are going to Disneyland tomorrow and then the San Diego Zoo the next day and then home. Then Bowling Green. Everywhere I travel from here on out will just be another port. I will expect to get a green sheet from Karen and try to remember to be back by Byron Time. Terrence made a great point tonight (Bridget’s parents rented out the lounge at the Sheraton and there were about 15 SASers there). China is a big country and we managed to always run into each other there. If we can run into each other in China, we can run into each other in the US. We all know how small the world is and we all can get back to each other. I don’t want to leave these people. They have become my family and they actually understand what I have been through. They understand the cultural barriers and language barriers, green sheets, Byron time, Taco Day, “Don’t be stupid – be cute. Do it in the aft”, Sparkles, Chez Ali, Thriller, Chiner and about 8 billion other things.

I don’t want to go home. I should want to go home, but I don’t. I don’t fit in there. I know it sounds like I am whining, but I don’t know what else to do. It is going to be so weird to be able to eat when I want to eat, DRIVE A CAR, have animals around, not have projects due between countries.

How do I tell my story without sounding like an ass? I don’t. Even if I try to offer input I will always sound like I bragging. I am taking international marketing and international entrepreneurship next semester. I am going to be the annoying girl who the students loathe and the teacher hates. I just realize that I can never tell people about the trip. There are no words. How do I explain the children in Ghana, the hunger in the townships in South Africa, the dirtiness of India, the claustrophobia of Japan? Simple – I can’t. All I can do is cling to the people who have had this experience with me and push people to do it in the future.

I realize how much I have changed on this trip. There are things I will simply not put up with anymore. I don’t mind standing up to people. My bargaining skills have improved drastically. I don’t mind planning things or traveling by myself. My sense of direction has improved. I know who I am. I know what I want out of life. “Make a life – don’t make a living.” I need a lot less than I thought. Give me a camera, a toothbrush, a pair of jeans, and two t-shirts and I can survive for 5 days. I have found out who my friends are and they are not the people I would have thought they would be. I realize that I don’t have to stress out about the small things and that in the end everything will come together, and even if it doesn’t it will all still be ok. I realized that I need my family. I can survive on pasta and potatoes for 4 months.

What the hell am I going to do in Lebanon?

The last few days on the ship were filled with a mixture of sadness, fear, anxiety, happiness, excitement and pretty much every other emotion. People wanted to get home, but didn’t want to have to deal with packing or lugging everything off the ship themselves. Our last night on the ship we spent the night swapping pictures and eating the last of our snacks that we couldn’t get through customs. Kelsey, Jennifer, Mackenzie, Rosario, Katie and I all goofed off in the room and eventually had to say goodnight. Due to some roommate drama and the fact that her room is the size a cardboard box, Kelsey spent the night on our third bed. We ended up staying up until about 0330 watching videos from China and reminiscing about all of our adventures.

WE all had to be up at 6 the next morning to finish getting our stuff together and because breakfast was only being served from 6-7. After grabbing breakfast we all went up to 7^th deck to watch us come into San Diego. Talk about a surreal experience. We were all so close to our parents, but we still had to wait hours to get off the ship. Mackenzie pretty much broke down on the top. She was just blubbering as she walked around. Nobody wanted to go home. Mackenzie was able to help distract us from our own emotions. She had also won a drawing to be one of the first 14 off the ship. We went down to her room and helped bring all of her 392847 bags to the gangway. It was pretty sad. It was finally hitting us that this is over. No more countries. No more ports. No more pasta and potatoes or boxed lunches.

People started getting off the ship around 10 and people gathered on the 5^th and 7^th deck to yell and wave at people as they left. That is the part that got to me. I realized that all of these people were never going to be together again. That there are going to be people that I never see again. I really lost it when Dr. Aimee and Kara got off the ship. It was terrible watching everyone say goodbye to each other. Bryan and Jeremy were a mess. Mackenzie was hysterical. Everyone is crying and people are stalling to get off the ship.

Before I knew it, it was my turn. I grabbed my stuff and said goodbye to cabin 4167 and the best cabin steward Don. What sucked the most was that I didn’t even get to swipe my card one last time. They took it from me and swiped it for me and then I didn’t even get it back. Stupid security. Once I got off the ship and into the port I saw the madhouse that was our luggage. Luckily, I was able to find all of mine, but a lot of people were missing bags. Then there were only so many porters and clearly no one was able to carry all of their bags. Rosario and I teamed up with Katie and got a porter, who was an ass, and found our way outside to the parents. I collapsed in Mom’s arms and just started crying. She asked if they were happy tears and I responded with I don’t know what they are. I was an emotional wreck. I happy to be with Mom, sad to be leaving the ship, worried about going home, scared to be back in the US, and pretty much everything else. It was an interesting scene. Parents trying to find their kids, who hadn’t gotten their bags yet and people crying and hugging and laughing and yelling.

We moved our stuff over with Mackenzie and I finally got to meet her mom and Max! Max is her foreign exchange student from Germany. He is pretty much the cutest thing ever. I told mom we need to look into getting a foreign exchange student. We shared a cab and went to the hotel. We met Katie and her mom there and then we all had lunch together. It was neat for all the Moms to finally meet. We had a great lunch and then we spotted Dr. Aimee by the pool so we went our and chatted with her for a little while.

This is really weird. I don’t feel like SAS is over. It is just another port and it happens to be parents weekend. Especially, since we are staying in San Diego for a little while and we constantly running into other SASers. It was a really emotionally draining day and we took it easy.

12.12.09

I woke up this morning and tried to find Katie, but I ended up finishing a book instead. Who does that? I grabbed some lunch and then tried to pack a little bit. Katie and I also did a video of the ship. Neither of us had videoed a tour of the ship so we stated on the 7^th deck and went down to 5^th. We didn’t get a chance to finish because we had to go to the union for a reflection time. Pat and Shira did a program about how hard it is to re-enter into the US because people just don’t get it. They ask one question and then their eyes just glaze over. The whole process just kind of hit all of us. We all had our maps and were having people sign them. Terrance showed a video he made about the life long learners and it brought all of us to tears. It was beautiful.

We had a couple break out sessions, but I didn’t go to any of them. I finished my tour with Katie and did a little packing, but then went back to the union. We all had a fresh cut flowers and in a processions led by Stella and the dependent children, we all went to Deck 6 and threw them overboard. It was really sad. This process is coming to an end and no one wants it to. I am so excited to go home, but I am so sad that this is over and we are all scattering across the US and the world back to our hometowns. All of these people on the ship have found their way into my heart and I am truly going to miss them. I know I have found some life long friends and I can’t wait to see what our new adventures are going to bring.

Once we had all thrown our flowers into the ocean, we all gathered up on 7^th deck and pretty much everyone was crying a hugging. We all just have to remember that it is not goodbye, but a see you later. I stayed up on 7^th getting people to sign my map and I split a pizza with Kelsey. I also had to turn in my customs form so I went and got that done and then finished packing…well not quite finished, but pretty close. Then I had to get ready for the Alumni Ball. I got dressed and then headed down to Mackenzie’s. We finished getting ready and picked up Katie and then we all went and took pictures with Captain Jeremy. I kind of felt bad for him because there is no telling how many pictures he took that night. It was SO fun to see everyone dressed up. Most of the time we are slumming in sweatpants and t-shirts or roughing it some country. Tonight really made me realize how much I like guys in suits! They all looked so handsome!

We took some pictures and then headed to dinner. We got steak and a 5 course meal. It was delicious. I sat with Mackenzie, Kristin, Becky, Ashley and Katie. It was a lot of fun. After dinner we went to union for the dance. There was hardly anyone there, but we had fun out on the dance floor. It turns out that everyone was waiting in line to get dessert at the fabulous dessert buffet that had been set up. Shows were our priorities are haha.

Once everyone had had dessert, the dance floor was packed. Paulo’s hip hop class did a performance that included step. It was great! They ended with “I Got a Feeling” and then pulled the whole crowd into it. Everyone was jumping around and someone stepped on my toe, but it was so worth it. It was an absolute blast, but it was a great way to end it.

When we were all tired out we back to the room and played a game of pish posh. I finally started enforcing the 3 gronk limit. It makes the game go a little bit faster. Rosario won.

12.11.09

I woke up this morning and studied for my Dr. Aimee finals. I made note cards and before I knew it, it was time to take the test. I went to the union and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I grabbed lunch with Mackenzie afterward and then I had to go study for my other final. When I finished my note cards, I went and studied them on Deck 6. After going through them, I started reading this book called Obedience by William Lavendar. It is the craziest book ever. I got completely sucked into it.

I took my second test and when I was done, Dr. Aimee showed me that I got a 92 on my first final! Woo Hoo! That is pretty exciting. They also posted the Global Studies Final and I got a C, which is all that I was aiming for, so I guess that is a bonus. I am DONE with school! That is a pretty crazy feeling. It all went by so quickly!

I spent the rest of the day finishing up packing and then I got dinner with Katie. Mackenzie, Katie and I started a game of Monopoly before the logistical pre-port. During the pre-port, they went over the information for the disembarkation process. Turns out that the Arabian Sea is 5^th off rather than the last one as I was expecting. Karen kind of made fun of the US culture during preport. Just the language we use and the way we get around. Then Dean Nick got up and showed the SAS promotional video, a video that I watched a ton before I left. And now the thing moved me to tears. Mackenzie, Katie and I were crying by the end of it. Especially when they got to the part about the students coming home and seeing their parents at the dock. It just kind of hit all of us that we are going to be going through the same thing in about 3 days. Everyone in the union was pretty quiet afterward. Dean Nick closed it out and everyone kind of hung out in the Union and Bryan, Jeremy, Ken and Eben were running around tackling people in a hug. Tonight I think it was hitting everyone that this is coming to an end.

We came back and finished our Monopoly game. I didn’t do so hot again. I was all settled in after the game to go to bed, but then Rosario and Erica, Jennifer and Robyn came in and we played a game of pish posh.

12.10.09

Today was B day finals study day. I really didn’t do all that much studying. I spent most of the day laying out and reading and trying to catch up on stuff. I also started packing. I just got in the zone, I got a good deal done. I have laundry soon so I can’t really finish packing until then.

Tonight Rosario, Mackenzie, Kristin, Becky, Ashley, Jennifer, Katie and I all had special occasion dinning and it was fun to get all dressed up. Erica and Robyn were also there. We took a big group picture. We all reflected about the voyage and we were all sad about it coming to an end. I can’t believe that we are almost done.

After dinner, Jennifer, Katie and I played Monopoly again. I did much better than the previous night. I actually won. That was pretty exciting.

12.09.09

We are still docked in the Honolulu. The rumor is that we will be leaving around 4. I spent the whole morning completing my portfolio, which finally happened this afternoon. I had to track down Mackenzie so she could peer review it. I had to meet with Dr. Strenecky and Dr. B to turn in my portfolio. When I went in, it was kind of like an interview. It was slightly intimidating. They asked me a lot about Service Learning. They also asked me about Disney. They asked me if I ever thought if Disney would be onboard with the $100 Solution. I said that the only way that they would ever be onboard with it would be if it was really segmented within the Cast Members. Like MK Fantasyland BBB would have and MK Adventureland ODF would have one. I saw Dr. Strenecky later and he said I did well so I guess that is a plus.

We chilled out a little bit that night and played some Monopoly. I epically failed and the game was over in about an hour.

12.08.09

Today we pulled back into Honolulu. I was debating what I was going to do because I really needed to get my portfolio done for service learning. I ended up taking the bus with Katie and Ashley to Waikiki. They headed for the beach and I went walking around. My goal was to find some internet. I really wanted to chill out. I went walking around and ended up finding and strip mall type thing. There were all these shops in an outdoor area. Wouldn’t you know that I found a Boarders Express. It didn’t have wi-fi, but it did have books of course. I ended up sitting down and reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, which is the sequel to The Hunger Games. I got a good way through it, but then decided to go walk around. I went to a couple places and tried to find internet, but I was unsuccessful. While I was wondering around, Katie and Ashley called and I met them at Cheesecake Factory.

The food was delicious. The portions are SO big, but it was SO good! It is so nice to have good fresh food again. We were stuffed after lunch and Katie and Ashley headed back to the beach and I went back to walking around. I ended up going back to Boarders and my goal was to finish the book before I had to meet up with Ashley and Katie. I got really close. I was only about 70 pages away and it was terrible because I got about 70 pages away.

I met back up with them at 4 at the International Market. I had walked through there earlier and it was huge. I also felt a lot more comfortable there because people spoke all different languages and you could bargain. I am really going to have a hard time when we get back and I am not going to be able to bargain. We got lost within the place. After we had exhausted the market and pointed out where we had seen everything in other countries, we thought it best to head back to the ship.

We made it back to the ship and changed and what not. Katie and I decided to meet up at 7 (on ship time was 9) to find some last minute food. We really wanted to go to Subway and there are about 4 within the port area. By the time we made it off the ship it was about 1915 and EVERY Subway we came upon was closed. We went to our last ditch effort of McDonalds and that was even close. What fast food restaurants close at 7? We had to admit defeat and ended up buying dinner up on 7^th deck. It was a slightly disappointing end to Hawaii.

The rest of the night I worked on my portfolio. I met up with the group and we finished a couple of chapter, but we got a little distracted by You Tube on Becky’s phone. It is weird to have internet readily available. I really have no idea what to do with it. Around 2 I thought it best to go to bed.

12.07.09

I woke up a little past 9 and meet Katie and Jennifer in Tymetz Square so we could go to Wal-Mart. Katie needed to pick up some bags for a collection drive and Jennifer needed to print some stuff off for her Diversity Scholars project and I was just tagging along. While they went into to Wal-Mart, I walked over to Boarders and used their free wi-fi. The wi-fi was really slow so I ended up just grabbing a book and reading. I got about 130 pages into Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, which had come out while we have been gone.

Katie met me after she had gotten her bags and we waited for Jennifer. After about an hour and half had gone by, she still wasn’t back yet. Her cell phone was broken so we couldn’t call her. As we were leaving Boarders to go back to Wal-Mart to look for her, she walked right through the door. We left and walked to Burger King and had lunch. We went back to wal-mart after lunch and Katie and I ended up buying Monopoly because we have been dying to play all voyage and SAS only has Monopoly Jr., which is an epic fail. We caught the shuttle back to the ship and hung out for a couple hours.

At 3, we all met outside the ship for the 5K that had been put together to benefit the $100 Solution. I didn’t run it, but I walked with Erica, Robyn, and Jennifer. A lot of people dressed up because it was a fun run. One kid even did the whole thing on crutches. That is pretty awesome. It was actually pretty fun. We took pictures and chatted. Once back at the ship, everyone was on their cell phone making those last minute calls before we lose service for a week. I made some calls, but then I got a nice surprise when I found out that we had a BBQ for dinner. We got good food! There was Hawaiian BBQ and burgers. It was great.

The next exciting thing happened when we were all told to gather in the union at 2000 because of some itinerary changes. I didn’t really think that they would actually change the itinerary and that they all wanted us there because we had some sort of speaker. I was wrong and they really did change the itinerary. We are going back to Honolulu because there is a HUGE storm coming and they wanted to avoid the swells. So we get an extra day in Hawaii. The bad news is that we now don’t get a study day before our A Day finals. Which sucks because that was the day I was planning on doing my portfolio, but I will get done eventually. So now I have another day in Hawaii to look forward to. It really sucks though that the one day I would have really liked to be in Honolulu was today because it is Pearl Harbor day and that would have been too amazing. Oh well, just have to come back.

12.6.09

We ported in Hilo this morning on the Big Island. We had our 100^th voyage picture off the aft of the ship on Decks 7, 6, and 5. We were able to disembark right after we were done with the picture. Katie, Jennifer and I decided to explore Hilo a little bit. We soon found out that there is nothing in Hilo. We walked about 30 minutes and came upon a civic center of some sort. They were having a Christmas crafts fair, but everything was kind of pricey. It was neat to see some Hawaiian crafts, though. We left and walked probably another 45 minutes until we were in “downtown” Hilo. Downtown Hilo consists of about 5 blocks of the most random and sketchy assortment of stores ever. To make everything worse, everything was closed because it was Sunday. Great. We did find a small sports bar and walked in just in time to see the Titans lose. Great.

We managed to entertain ourselves for a little while and then decided to grab lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. It wasn’t very good Mexican, but when we haven’t had it in 4 months just about anything will work. Afterward, we called a cab and went to Wal-Mart. Yeah, I know – Wal-Mart in Hawaii, but there was nothing else to do. I bought an external hard drive. Wal-Mart was in a little shopping center with Ross Dress for Less, TJMaxx and a Borders! I was so excited for a Borders. I was in dire need of a good bookstore. Katie and Jennifer wanted to go to the beach, but it looked like it was about to rain. I stayed at Boarders and they went ahead. It was absolutely fabulous to be able to sit and read. There are so many books out that I have never even heard of. It is crazy to think about the things we missed. Who knew that Britney Spears got married? I haven’t even heard of half the movies in the theaters.

After about and hour or so they came back and picked me up and headed back to the ship for the day. We really didn’t get that much accomplished, but there was NOTHING to do. I feel like this port is a complete waste. Can’t we leave early and just head to San Diego already? That would be ok with me. The rest of the night consisted of food, cards and the movie Matilda.

12.5.09

Katie and I got up this morning with the intention to go to the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium. We left the ship, found the bus stop and boarded bus #19, which is the one the security guard at the ship told us to take. There were two other SAS kids on there as well. We kept driving and driving and an hour later, we were barely half way there. Then the next thing we knew we were at Hickam Air Force Base. As we were going in, a police officer came on board and asked us for our military ID. Clearly, we didn’t have a military ID. Katie, the other 2 SAS guys and I were kicked off the public bus and told to wait at the bus stop for it to come back out of the base. 45 minutes later, the bus still had not come back. By this time, we are all frustrated because it has taken almost 2 hours to get somewhere that should have taken 30 minutes. I finally just called a cab. Of course, right after we called the cab, the bus came out. Turns out that bus 19 didn’t even go to where we wanted to go, rather we had to transfer buses and it was going to take another 20ish minutes. The bus driver tried to convince us to take the bus, but we were all over it and decided to wait for the cab. It was probably the most frustrating thing ever.

When the cab finally got there, we told them where we wanted to go. Our cab driver then informed us that the Swap Meet was closed because Hawaii plays Wisconson today. So we had just gone though all of that for nothing. So we got out of the cab with the guys at Pearl Harbor. We decided to just grab yet ANOTHER bus to go back to Waikiki. That was another hour on a bus. We eventually got to the beach and it was great to just lay out and listen to the waves. Katie and I laid out for about an hour and then went to get some lunch.

We went to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was hard to find a table because there were a ton of people were there watching the Florida v. Alabama game. Who would have thought that there would be so many Florida fans in Hawaii. We ate and watched the game. It was fantastic to be able to watch football again. We both celebrated when Alabama won. When they showed Tebow crying on the TV the whole place erupted into a mixture of cheers and laughter. It was pretty much awesome. The thing about Tebow is that I really want to hate him, but he is a good football player and he is an even better person off the field, but I am still happy to see him lose.

After lunch, Katie and I went back to the beach and laid out for a little while longer. When we couldn’t take anymore of the sun, we wondered around the town. We went into a couple little shops and such. We called Mackenzie to see if she wanted to share a cab back to the ship, but she was getting a psychic reading so we just grabbed a cab and headed back to the ship. We still had an hour before on ship time and there were some shops around the port. We killed some time and finally got onboard.

I had completely forgotten that the CSI program’s Etiquette Dinner was that night. I ran and got ready and met everyone up on Deck 5. Barb was our host and gave a short presentation before the meal to get the basics down for the dinner. It was a very informative dinner. There were a lot of small things that I never knew. I sat with Mackenzie, Kareem and 3 other people. We ended up reminiscing about Morocco and the dangers of being on Bus 3 (my bus). It was a great dinner.

After dinner, I went directly to classroom 2 to help Mario set up for CSI graduation. 17 people completed the program, which is guess it is good, since Mario and I kind of created it at the beginning of the voyage. We had lights and pizza and cookies. Like we needed anymore food after the special occasion dinning. Dean Nick and Dean Byron gave a short speech and then Mario presented us with our certificates. We all each got a little SAS pin as well. We all sat and chatted for a bit and then I headed off to the cabin. I played a quick game of pish posh and then hit the hay.

12.4.09

Imagine laying cozy in bed, minus the minor earthquake going on in the cabin, and then being woken up at 0545 by some Hawaiian music playing over the ship intercom. I understand that they were trying to wake us gently, but still not the best wake up call ever. Rita then came over the intercom and said “Welcome to Hawaii” and that we needed to be ready to go through immigration at any time because the immigration officers were coming onboard at 0600.

I crawled to the end of the bed and grabbed my phone off the charger and low and behold I had normal cell service!! Woo hoo!! I laid in bed and called Mom, Dad, Sarah, Ebonee, Brian, Jenny and pretty much everyone else. It was pretty fantastic to be able to lay in bed and talk on a cell phone.

Once I emerged from my cabin with breakfast in mind, it was funny to see EVERYONE on their cell phone. I grabbed breakfast with Dr. Aimme and then headed up to immigration. It was weird being able to talk to them and my customs officer asked me if I wanted a stamp and I said yes and I was sent on my way. I met up with Kelsey and waved to her parents who were waiting at the bottom of the gangway. Once the ship was cleared, Katie and I met up with Kelsey and her parents. WE exchanged hugs and then were on our way to Pearl Harbor.

We walked around Honolulu for a while and got a little confused as to where we actually catch the bus to get to Pearl Harbor. We did stumble upon a little produce stand and they bought bananas and some other fresh produce. After asking directions a couple of times, we made it to the bus stop. We got our tickets and chatted on the way.

It is pretty weird being here. People speak English and they drive on the correct side of the road and we have spotted every chain restaurant you can imagine. The extremely weird part was getting US currency back as change. Pennies and dimes all look really foreign.

When we got to Pearl Harbor, we checked our bags because they have a strict no bag policy for security reasons. It was really interesting to see. There is also the USS Missouri and the Bowfin Memorial. It is beautiful there and it is hard to believe that such a terrible attack happened in such a pristine place. We got our tickets, which had the time when we were allowed to go in. We had about 30 minutes to kill so we looked around. We saw the types of torpedoes they used and the anti-aircraft guns. Once our time came about, we went and got in line. We were ushered into a theater and watched a 20 minute movie about what led up to the attack, what happened during the attack and afterward. It was really informative and really well done. I didn’t realize that they had so much footage from the attack.

After the film, we boarded a ferryboat and were taken out the Arizona Memorial. The memorial is really simple and really beautiful. The memorial is over the hull of the USS Arizona. There are parts of the ship that are still out of the water. The USS Arizona was struck by an armor piercing bomb and it penetrated into the heart of the ship. When it exploded, it also exploded the ship’s ammo locker. The ship really exploded from the inside out. It sunk in 9 minutes, entombing 900 men within her. This is a memorial to them. The ship is also still leaking oil and you can see the sheen of the oil on top of the water. I really don’t know how to explain it. It was also really interesting to be there especially because we have just sailed from Japan. There were a lot of Japanese tourists there and I really just wonder if they feel the same way when they visit Pearl Harbor as Americans do when they visit Hiroshima. I didn’t make it to Hiroshima, and after today I really wish I had.

When we got back from the memorial, we went to the museum and I got to meet two Pearl Harbor survivors. They were probably the cutest old men ever. My favorite was Al. He was hysterical. He had made up a fact sheet about himself with a picture and everything. When I asked if I could have one, he said yes, but he wanted to make sure that he had signed it. Then he proceeded to explain how he presigns all of them because he knows how popular he is. So cute.

We took the bus to go to Waikiki and meet Drew and Paulo. Drew’s Dad got him a hotel room at the Sheraton. It took forever to catch the bus and then even longer to get into Waikiki. Once we got off the bus, we just kind of wondered around since we had no idea where the Sheraton was. Turns out that there are 2 or 3 on Oahu. During our wondering, we found a little market and we were able to use our bargaining skills again. Who would have thought? We were starving and we found a restaurant called Da Big Kahuna. It was exactly what we were looking for. I had probably one of the best cheeseburgers and we got to catch up on our sports. Our waitress was also really nice, although she was a little odd. When we told her we were from Semester At Sea, she asked us if we had to go to the bathroom off the side of the boat. I feel like if that were true the program would not nearly be as popular, but it is just a thought.

After lunch, we found a Sheraton, but it was the wrong one and got directions to the right one. We called Drew when we got there. We put our stuff in his room and then changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach. As we were walking around the beach, we ran into Dr. Aimee so that was a nice surprise. Katie and I decided to try out Paddle Boarding. Well actually Katie really wanted to try it and convinced me to do it.

We got our boards and after a VERY brief how to from the guy who ran the rental place, we went out into the water. It was a little weird because rather than the beach having a sandy bottom, it was full of rocks. We kneeled on our boards and paddled out a ways. Katie was brave and stood first. It took me a little while longer get the hang of it. I have no balance. This point was proven when I wasn’t even standing up and I somehow flipped over. Yes, I know that takes talent. I did eventually stand up, even if I did just fall over a couple seconds later. I eventually did get the hang of it. It was a little bit weird when you look down and you see rocks under the water. That really makes you not want to fall. I eventually just sat on the board and paddled around. It was very calming and relaxing. I must say that the best part was Katie paddled up to me while standing and was telling me about what awesome balance she has and then she flipped off the board. Best moment ever.

When our hour was up, we met back up with Drew and Paulo and we headed out to dinner. We were a little sidetracked because we kept running into SAS people on the beach. We also ran into Becky and Ashley on the beach and they joined us for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I don’t think I have ever eaten so much food, but it was so good! After dinner, we just hung out in the hotel room and watched MTV and ESPN. It is crazy watching the trailers for new movies. I have never heard of half of them and I realize that I have no idea about what is going on in the world, except that Tiger Woods had some sort of affair with his wife and that the US will play England in the first round of the World Cup.

Becky, Ashley, Katie and I ended up getting a taxi back to the ship and crashing for the night.

I am really excited, but I’m not for Hawaii. It is going to be weird not having to communicate in hand signals and not have to mentally try to figure out exchange rates. Hawaii has its own unique culture that is very different than the mainland US. I haven’t fully comprehended that I am going to be in the US tomorrow. I will have my cell phone back. I can drink the water and have a salad without worrying about some weird parasite or getting sick. I don’t have to have the additional 2 inches on my waist that my lovely passport pouch/money belt adds when I wear it. I don’t have to worry about offending someone because of the way I dress. I will actually have to start carrying my driver’s license around again. I will get IDed when I buy an alcoholic beverage. The whole thing is just going to be weird.

The unique thing is that even though the majority of us are US citizens, the MV EXPLORER is not registered in the US, we are not officially going through customs and we are simply guests of the US. Even people who live in Hawaii can’t even take their bags off so they don’t have to fly with everything back to Hawaii. We have to go through security that is equal if not more tight than airport security. We can’t bring water or food off the ship. They basically told us that if we try to sneak anything on or off the ship we will go to jail. WELCOME HOME! Geez.

So plans in Hawaii include Pearl Harbor and the beach. I might throw in a Volcano or two, but that is all up in the air. We basically only have a day and a half and I really just want to relax and spend time with people. After this voyage, I probably won’t be able to see all these people for a while so I want to spend time with them. Mackenzie is going skydiving tomorrow. Kelsey and I are going to Pearl Harbor with her parents and then I am meeting Katie, Drew, and Paulo in Waikiki. Then in Hilo, I am doing a 5K for the $100 Solution. 300 people on the ship are participating, which is over half. That is awesome! So Hawaii here we come.

12.3.09

Since the auction, there hasn’t been too much excitement on the ship. We land in Honolulu tomorrow so that is pretty exciting. We had a play on the ship. They performed Dog Sees God. It is about the cast of Peanuts and they are all grown up and in high school. The cast did a fabulous job. Monica was hilarious as Charlie Brown’s sister (I want to go from a caterpillar to a platypus.) Benno was in it as Schroder or aka Beethoven. His character his gay, which Benno is. I was shocked because the guy playing Charlie Brown made out with Benno. That is so awesome. The play has terrible language and full of drugs and sex and controversy, but a great message. It was a bold choice and it turned out really well. Also, Benno found out that he was cast as Angel in the San Francisco’s production of Rent. He is going to be fabulous. Although, I never heard Beeno sing, but I imagine that he is pretty good.

That night I had my first special occasion dinning experience with my family. It was great. The Orris’ had a “Keep the Orris’ Hip List.” I am going to make them some CDs. I went directly from dinner to the play.

We had our last official day of class, besides our final. We gave a presentation in service learning to Dr. Burn, the new VP of ISE, explaining why we think service learning should be on every voyage of SAS. I think we convinced her pretty well. She said she was skeptical until about ½ way through. After she left, Dr. Strenecky and Dr. B gave these speeches about how much this class has meant to them and how great we have been. By the end of it, pretty much everyone was in tears. Well, at least everyone around me (Mackenzie)

Today was also our Global Studies final! It wasn’t as confusing as the mid-term. I say that, but I will probably do worse. That is usually how it goes. I am just glad that I am done with global FOREVER!

We had our logistical and cultural preports. They had such potential to be fun, but they were just really boring. The just droned on and on. I am still excited to see land tomorrow. And I will have my cellphone back. That will be weird. We had a huge game of pish-posh up on 7^th deck to celebrate being done with global and for being in Hawaii tomorrow.

11.28.09 The 2nd One

Yesterday was 11.28.09 and today is 11.28.09 as well. We crossed the international dateline. It is pretty cool to live the same day twice. On the 1^st 11/28 it was a normal day of class. That night there was pub trivia in the piano lounge. I ended up on a team with Claire, Ed, and Byron with help from Jay and Kelsey. I stole Uncle Chip’s name from the Olympics a couple years ago and we were team Fairly Awesome. The first categories were movie sequels, wacky laws, video games and movie quotes. Wacky laws were stupid. You couldn’t even guess what state. Apparently, its illegal to bring a live skunk into the state of Tennessee. Who knew? Considering I was on a team with all adults, I thought we faired pretty well in the video game category. Next we had to identify men from their pictures. We got 8 out of the 10. Then I was thankful to be on the team with adults because I wouldn’t have known any of them. The last category was list 10. We had to list the Midwest states, the school of the UC system and the largest beer drinking countries per capita. In the end team Fairly Awesome was fairly awesome by placing 4^th out of 29.

Today (11/28 part 2) was a reading day as well as auction day. Katie and I got up and worked out and then I met up for a group project. We took a sneak peak at the things in the silent auction. There is some really good stuff: The flags flown on the ship from all the countries, a signed map by Captain Jeremy, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Czech Republic and Mozabique homestays, a bunch of houses in Colorado, Hershey park tickets, massages, a Louisville Sluger bat engraved with “Semester at Sea 100^th Voyage” (donated by the Strenecky’s), artwork, sporting event tickets and about a million other things. After doing some homework and eating dinner. I went to an explorer sminar and then to the live auction. I had thought about bidding on a couple of things, but I knew I was in trouble when the first item went for $1000. The list is as follows:

- Steer the Ship (!0 Minutes) $1,000

- Colorado Week Stay at Summit Mtn. $630

- Breakfast in bed from the Deans $125

- 4 Anaheim Angels Tickets $200

- Beach House in NC for 1 Week $1700

o This item was auctioned off twice

- Blast the Ships Horn in San Diego $700

- Christmas in Manhattan Apartment

Above Central Park $1200

- Character in Prof. Farkas’ Novel $550

- Blue Ridge Mountain Stay 1 week $325

- 2 Stagecoach Festival Tickets $485

- Minnesota Fishing Trip $350

- 5-Course dinner with the Orris family $750

- 6 Days in Paris Homestay $1900

- Chance to be the Captain $50

- Extended weekend in Bailey, CO $275

- Derby Tickets and stay with the Streneckys $725

- Condo in Northstar, CO – 10 People $2150

- Duke Basketball Package $900

- Week stay at rustic CO cabin $2200

- Private Balcony dinning with Dean Eddie

And violin by Prof. Skokan $425

- Extended weekend homestay in Puerto Rico $475

- Two Backstage passes to SNL $2600

GRAND TOTAL FOR LIVE AUCTION $21,590

And all of that was just from the live auction. In the end, we raised over $33,000. All of that from the ship community! We raised the most money of any voyage to date, which is pretty cool. I couldn’t believe some of the money that was being thrown around, but a lot of these are really good deals. The only thing I ended up with was our Arabian Sea banner from the Sea Olympics for $10. Katie bought Batter Blasters, which is apparently pancake batter in a can. I had never heard of it before, but she was really excited about it. Mackenzie got the Lacadive Sea banner and a personalized children’s song for $110. It was by the award winning Kalidescope group and they usually charge $3200 for that. The auction was really exciting. It makes me want to go to more auctions. After the excitement of the auction, we ended the night with pish-posh.

11.27.09

I got up early this morning and worked out and then went to work with Mario. We are working on MEGA Career Week. I got to talk to Mom and Dad and everyone. That was nice. I called home because it was Thanksgiving there.

I went to class and afterward I chilled out on deck 6 with Mackenzie for a bit. We ended up eating on the 7^th deck because dinner was so gross. I went to the global studies review and then a motivation explorer seminar. It was weird. We had to cut stars out that were in a chain. It was kind of frustrating. My team was definitely not the best, but we had the best quality and we improved with every round. So I guess that is a plus.

It was a pretty boring day out at sea.

11.26.09

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Today was one of the most unorthodox Thanksgivings ever, but it was the least stressful! I didn’t have to worry about bouncing from house to house.

I had class and it really didn’t feel much like Thanksgiving. We reflected in class about what we were thankful for. We had a big Thanksgiving dinner on the ship. I ate with my ship family so that was a little bit comforting. It was nice to have dinner with an actual family. The chef did a great job. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, stuffing and all sorts of other yummy stuff, but it still wasn’t as good as home. When we went around the table asking what we all missed the most about home, I thought it was funny that everyone said football.

After dinner, I went to an explorer seminar with Mario and then everyone piled in the room to watch The Holiday. We ended up more or less reminiscing and laughing rather than watching the movie.

11.25.09

The first day back on the ship was a normal class day. We did have a lifeboat (muster station) drill. It was definitely the most fun drill ever. Bryan and James had some inappropriate mustering going on. They were late on the drill and everyone was getting antsy because we were all getting hungry. It was also pretty entertaining to see all the hats people had. There were panda hats, communist hats, rice hats, and hats on top of hats. It was great.

It was a little stressful because we had to hurry and get to your Voyage of Discovery. The meeting went well and afterward I headed up to workout with Katie. My elliptical got high jacked so I just ran outside and borrowed Kristin’s jump rope. That was about all I did.

Japan is the only country that we have visited that I would actually consider living in (okay maybe South Africa too). Kyoto in a weird way felt like Nashville. The whole country had this whole just laid-back, but still fast paced feel about it. That makes no sense, but I really have no way to describe it. There are tons of people, but you hardly see anyone. Everyone is also really quiet. I think that would be the only part that would really bother me. That would be the American coming out in me. We, as a people, really dislike silence and we think we need to fill it. It is just down right eerie how quiet they are on the trains. The other downside of Japan would be how expensive it is, but assuming that hopefully I would have at least a somewhat decent paying job.

I really would like to come back to Japan. I really want to come back to see Hiroshima, Tokyo Disneyland, the Cherry Blossom Festival, and some sumo would be nice too. Japan overall I really enjoyed and I think that it was a really nice last port. It was relaxing and nice not to do any really big SAS trips. Katie and I had a blast just handing out in Kyoto and Kobe.

11.24.09

I got up this morning and Katie and I headed out into Kobe. We stopped at the hospitality desk and picked up some maps and we were on our way. We first headed to find the shopping streets. We got a little lost and asked a man where it was. The man said something to us in Japanese and then walked away with our map. His wife then took my arm and escorted me to follow her husband. The husband then turned around and in broken English said we go together. So we followed this man and his wife. They were so cute. They tried to make conversation with us. When we got to the shopping area everything was closed. Through hand gestures we learned everything opened at 10. It was 0915. So we had an hour to kill. We found a café and bought some internet. We sat outside and killed time.

At 10, we headed back that way. Stuff still wasn’t open. It was weird because we found all sorts of stores for real shopping. There were no stores for souvenir type stuff. It was pretty ridiculous because all we could find were show stores.

At some point we ended up in China and India, but not Japan. Weird. We got some awesome chicken on a stick, but didn’t find much else there. So we got on the subway and headed to Nara. Nara is another section of Kobe, where there are sake breweries.

We arrived in the sleepy little town of Nara and there was NOONE anywhere. We did see one woman who was walking her schnauzer and I got so excited and I ended up running over and petting the dog. The little woman thought it was hilarious and she couldn’t stop giggling. I thought I had terrified her. She was adorable. We continued walking and ended up walking right past the brewery we wanted to go to. After stopping at a gas station for directions, we made it to the brewery only to find out that it is closed on Tuesdays. Of course it is. Apparently, the Japanese are not fans of sake on Tuesdays. The security guard there did give us a name of a brewery that was open. We found it after a quick walk and I think we somehow managed to get in the back way into the museum. Everything was in Japanese so we really didn’t understand much, but it was cool to see it. We got to try some sake and it wasn’t nearly as strong as I thought it was going to be. One of the main reasons we went to the brewery was to buy sake sets. The first place didn’t have much so we went on to another place called Skauken. We found some with breweries name on it. They were pretty cool. After walking around some more, we admitted defeat we headed back to Kobe.

Once back in Kobe, it was almost on ship time so we headed back to the ship. We stopped at the little souvenir shop because it was one of the only places that you could find the touristy stuff. We spent some yen and the exchanged the rest and boarded the ship.

Once on the ship, we just hung out and relaxed. I was dead tired so the night consisted mainly of watching House. It is kind of sad to be leaving out last port. We watched the farewell band from our cabin and waved goodbye. And so we left our last foreign port.

11.23.09

We pulled into Kobe around 0715. Katie and I met up for breakfast at 7. A little before 8 the ship was cleared. We disembarked and went to the train station bound for Kyoto. We got on the right train line, but on the local – not the express. We changed trains and things went much quicker.

We go into Kyoto around 0915. When we got there, we left to head to the Nijo Castle. ON the way we ran into a huge temple or shrine, where there was some sort of service going on. The service took a backseat to the fattest pigeons I have ever seen. A man was selling feed so Katie and I bought some. Little did we know that as soon as we bought the stuff these huge pigeons came flying at our face. At one point I had 4 on my arm and another just chilling on my purse. It was rather terrifying and we didn’t realize that we were probably catching some weird bird diseases. But Japan had thought about it and there was hand sanitizer stations. These pigeons were not normal. They would fly right at your face! And there were a ton of them! They were everywhere and would just come at you. After escaping from them, we went and observed the service. It was really beautiful and then everyone started chanting. Katie and I felt a little envasive so we went on our way to the castle.

We still epically failed at Japanese food and stopped at McDonald’s for a snack. We eventually made it to the castle and it was beautiful. But on the way there we found some wifi in the middle of the street. As long as we stood still and held our jaw just right we were able to use skype on Katie’s iPhone. I called Mom and Dad and Katie called Steve. Back to the castle. The structure was absolutely gorgeous. It was a series of wooden houses. It boasts to be the largest wooden structure in the world. It had these floors called Nightengale floors, which is were the floors are designed to squeak so no one could sneak in at night. Pretty clever if you as me.

As we were walking through the garden we got caught up in a school group. This is where I made an interesting observation. All the men in Japan carry a man purse (“It’s called a satchel. Indian Jones carries one”). They also have these adorable cell phone charms. I could see tweens carrying them in the states, but here everyone has them even businessmen. I find it pretty hilarious.

We walked through the gardens, which had some beautiful trees. They were changing colors because the fall was just getting there. The leaves were deep red and bright yellow. There was also a huge coy pond filled with some of the largest fish I have ever seen. We exited the gardens into a little section of shop tents and food. Katie and I finally got some Japanese food. We had a bowl of noodles and rice balls in a sweet soy sauce. The rice balls had the texture of marshmallows so I didn’t much care for those, but the noodles were good. Trying to eat a bowl of noodles with chopsticks is an experience. After looking around at the locals, turns out it is perfectly fine to slurp the noodles and basically drink out of the bowl. After I figured that out, things went much more smoothly.

We then continued our walking tour of Kyoto. We walked along a canal and found our way into this hip little ally. It was pretty cool to see. Our main end goal was the Philosopher’s Walk. We stopped in this store that had floor to ceiling of stuff. The owner spoke really good English so we chatted with him and he told us how to get there. He warned us that it was a really long walk. We still went and wound up walking through Kyoto University’s campus. It was really cool because there was some sort of festival going on. We saw a group of people that looked like a dance class. We wanted to chat, but we never got the chance.

We eventually made it to the walk and it was beautiful. It was sprinkled with shrines, shops, restaurants and temples. It was along a canal and since it was fall, the trees were all changing colors. It was gorgeous, but my feet were killing me.

When the trail ended, we made our way to the train station to head back to Kobe. We got in about an hour later. As we were walking back to the ship we ran into Minh, Rachel, and Andy who were going bowling. We decided to turn back around and go out with them.

We grabbed food at McDonald’s, which was on the ground floor of a 10 story bowling alley. Katie got the shaka shaka chicken. It is basically a fried chicken patty in a bag and you pour the spices in a shake. So kind of like shake and bake Japanese McDonald’s style. We got our shoes out a shoe type vending machine where we pushed a button with our size and out popped our shoes.

We got our lane assignment and we ended up being on the same floor as some sort of sports team. They had some of the most bizarre bowling behavior. They would run and throw the ball half way down the land and then proceed to run half way down the land after the ball. Then they would turn around and scream. It was really entertaining to watch. We ended up making a bet for beer in Hawaii. Andy and Minh barely won the first game. I had a score of 115. We went double or nothing on the second game and still lost. The bowling alley gave us some vouchers for a free play on a crane game and 20 tokens for the games. None of us won anything, but it kept us entertained for a while. We also played a game of Mario Kart. When you chose a character they take a picture of you and put it in the characters face. It was pretty awesome. I ended up getting 3^rd place, but it was a close race.

Afterward, Katie, Rachel and I walked back to the ship while Andy and Minh headed to a party. When we got to the gangway there was a girl there who had cut her foot and there was blood everywhere. It was pretty gross. I crashed as soon as I was in my room. I was exhausted from all the walking that day.

11.22.09

11.21.09

We woke up SUPER early this morning (at 615) to go to breakfast before heading to Mount Fuji. We got on the bus and we were greeted by our adorable tour guide, Oka. We had 2 hours before we reached Mt. Fuji, so she gave us the history of the mountain. It really wasn’t all that exciting until she busted out some visual aids. She kept pulling things out of her bag like she as Mary Poppins. She had cutouts of the mountain and a poster of the elevation and even huge color photos of the emperor and the imperial family. She was just so cute! There was a car accident on the interstate. Go figure the only country that actually obeys traffic laws and it was the only country that we ever got held up because of an accident. Katie and I ended up passing out.

When we woke up, we arrived at the Mt. Fuji’s Visitor Center. It was basically an info center and gift shop. While we were outside taking pictures in front of Mt. Fuji, a group of Japanese ladies asked us to take their pictures. They were so cute. After we left, we headed up to the 5^th station on Mt. Fuji, which is the highest point we can get to because it is winter and about half way up the mountain. There were a bunch of shops and restaurants so we peeked into a few of them. We ran into our Japanese friends, who also high fived Mackenzie in the bathroom. They tried to teach me the Japanese word for opossum, but I don’t remember what it was. They were still just as adorable. We walked along the shops and also found a shrine with a overlook. I am really glad that there was snow even though it made it a little bit hard to walk. The snow was breath taking.

We got back on the bus, where we tore into our last box lunches. Oh how I am not going to miss those boxed lunches. They haven’t improved any since the beginning of the voyage. Our next stop was Hakone. This is where we had the lovely pleasure of riding in a cable bar to the top of Mt. Hakone. I was not too excited about that. MacGarret and I just hung out in the middle of the cable car. It wasn’t as bad as the one on Table Mountain, but it wasn’t great either.

Before we got on the cable bar. We saw these large mechanical animals, like pandas or dogs. They were pretty much the funniest thing ever. We made it to the top of the mountain in 8 minutes. I know it was 8 minutes because Oka told us about 20 times. We happened to get to the top of the mountain right when a cloud got there as well. Our view was about as good as it was when we were on Radhost in the Czech Republic. It was basically the inside of a cloud and you couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of you. We were able to entertain ourselves with a photo booth and hot chocolate. The ride down wasn’t as bad.

When we got down we had 20 minutes of free time so we went into the little shops then met up at the lake. I thought we were going to be really lucky and take a swan boat to the other side of the lake, but it wasn’t so. While we were waiting to get on the ferry, Mackenzie decided to pick up some “LEAves.” It was a pretty interesting conversation about the plural pronunciation of “leaf.” Mackenzie also wound up with a stick that she was carrying around and called her sling shot. She was just cracking me up because she was so distracted by the botanical life in Hakone. Who knew it would be that interesting.

Once on the boat, we had a great view of Fuji and Hakone. Of course as soon as we got down from the cable car, the cloud moved and the view would have been incredible. We took the ferry to the other side of the lake. We back on the bus and headed back to the ship. We ran into more traffic on the way back, which was bad because on ship time was 9 and it was already 715 and we wanted to grab dinner off the ship. When we got into the port, we ran off the ship in search of Japanese food. We epically failed and ended up at a place called Jonathan’s. We had 3 plates of egg rolls and 2 plates of calamari. Yep, epically fail at Japanese food.

We made it back on the ship with about 45 minutes to spare. We dropped our stuff and ended up meeting up on the 7^th deck for ice cream. We played some pish posh and headed to bed.

11.20.09
When we pulled into Yokohama this morning, I went up to Deck 7 and watched the drum performance going on to welcome us. It was pretty cool. I grabbed breakfast with Katie, Dr. Aimee, her husband Mark, Dr. Skokan and the interport lecturer. It was a pretty entertaining breakfast.
Once we got completely docked we all met up in Tymetz square and headed out. Clearing the ship was different this time. We all went through customs individually and we had to get into the port and stand in a single file line, with no talking, which seems to be a huge challenge for some people. We each met with an individual immigration agent. We handed over our passport, had our photo and fingerprints taken. Then we moved onto customs. We handed in paperwork and had our bags x-rayed. We regrouped, went to the info desk, grabbed a map and headed to Tokyo. The railway system is ridiculous. There are about 5 different lines and then there are buses, and subways and about 8 other forms of transportation. We made it to Tokyo after 2 transfers only to realize that we were not in the part of Tokyo we wanted to be in. Our goal ending place was the Harajuku district that has been made famous by Gwen Stefani. After another train or subway ride, I am still not sure which one we were on, we made it.
Once we got there, we really had no plans so we just wondered. We had a guidebook and they mentioned something about an Oriental Bazaar that looked interesting so we headed in that direction. We were all starving and we wanted to find some food, but it turns out that the hibachi style food is not popular in Japan – go figure. We were lured into a restaurant that was advertising pizza and beer. It was kind of like a Japanese Cici’s pizza. It was 1000 yen or about $10 for a drink, and unlimited pizza, pasta, fried potatoes (but not French fries), and for some reason curry with rice. There were not really any set types of pizza. It seemed like the cook was just throwing together whatever he could find in the kitchen. We tried a little of everything. There was a corn and mayonnaise, weird but good. Shrimp and mayo, beef and onion, which was good, and there was another one that was supposed to some sort of beef, but it tasted like seafood. Gross. That was really the only really bad one that I tried. Kelsey and Mackenzie tried this one kind with green powder and a marshmellow. I definitely stayed away from that one. Kelsey tried it and said it was disgusting. I’m not surprised.
Once we had our fill of pizza, we wondered out We thought we were going the wrong direction, but we ended up stumbling upon the Oriental Bazaar. It was a really cool shop. They have pretty much everything you could want from Japan. We shopped around a little bit. After we had our purchases, we got directions from some woman in the bazaar and headed to Harajuku. Turns out that it is basically a street, not really a district, but it was still really cool. As we wondered along the ally, we looked into the little shops. We kept seeing all these thrift stores so eventually decided to go in one. Inside, it was basically a nice goodwill. It was full of all the clothes that you wish you could find at Goodwill at home. Then we were hit with a shock. Instead of paying about $1 for a t-shirt you paid $60! Who knew that our thrown out clothing would be so popular in Japan. Katie bought a vintage Batman shirt for her brother. At another store, we found a ton of cheap t-shirts. I somehow managed to find a sweatshirt that said “Grand Ole Opry. Nashville, Tenn.” On it. That was weird.
We wondered down another alley in search of the 100 yen store, which is basically the dollar store. As we were walking, we were mesmerized by the neon lights and the outfits of the local teens. They all have these adorable thigh-high boots that if anyone in the US wore they would look like a prostitue, but somehow they can get away with it. Actually, I don’t know how they wear some of the clothing they wear and not look like skanks. Even their school uniform skirts, which are WAY cuter than any uniform in the US, are short. They also never have a hair out of place and perfect curls. I was started to get really jealous, but then I realized that most of them were wearing wigs. They also had some weird accessories, like an eye patch or small hats that look like they belong to an American Girl doll.
Anyway, Katie, Kelsey and Mackenzie got crepes and that was right by the 100 yen store. It wasn’t as exciting as everyone made it out to be. After exploring the 4 floors of the store, we went around to the random alleyways and stores. Katie and I ended up with some adorable heels for $30. After some more venturing, we some how came upon the Togo Shrine. It was named for a famous Japanese general who won a huge naval battle. It was interesting, but I felt a little awkward because I didn’t know what the protocol for behavior was.  There were people bowing and clapping. After poking around some more, we went back to the main drag. It was getting dark and we decided to head back to Yokohama. When we looked at the map, we saw that we just needed to get to Shibuya and then we could take a train direct to Yokohama. It took a while to figure out how to get to Shibuya, but we got there eventually. Once in Shibuya, it was even more difficult to find the train we needed because there was NOTHING in English. And it’s not like you can try to sound out Japanese. Turns out that train that we needed had two different names, which made things even more confusing and who would have thought that the Tokyo line would go to Yokohama. The whole process took about 90 minutes.
When we got back to Yokohama we headed for the ship. We ran into a big group of people and made plans to meet up at 2000 and go out. We grabbed dinner on the ship and then got ready.
We met up with the group of about 25 and headed to Chinatown. Yes, I realize that we just came from China, but Chinatown has the karaoke bar that was recommended to us. It took a while to find the place, but it turned out to be more expensive than anyone wanted. So one part of the group left for Yokohama station and the rest went to look for a local bar. We went with the group to find the local bar and found another karaoke bar that was a little cheaper. Paulo, Katie, Kelsey, Drew, Cav and I decided to stay there. It was a lot of fun, but Paulo can actually sing so that sucked for the rest of us. He sounds just like John Legend. We sang a lot of cliché songs, but it was still a lot of fun. There were a ton a businessmen there. Apparently, it is the thing to do after work. We stayed for an hour and then headed back to the ship. Katie and I had to get up early the next morning for a trip.

I am really looking forward to Japan. It will be interesting to see how many people can squeeze into such a small space. I am a little bummed that I can’t get to Disney, but from what research I have done I think I am going to need a month in Japan to really get to see everything. Even though I am staying on the ship for one day, I will still be able to see a lot.
I am really looking forward to the food. I hope it is somewhat like home. Everyone on the ship is excited for sushi, but that is not really what I want. I really want to try Kobe beef, but it is SUPER expensive.
I am also really excited to see Tokyo and Harajuku and the crazy fashions that go along with it. I am pretty sure that Japan is a place I will be coming back to so this is just like a taste.