4/28 ? 4/30: Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Day 1: After breakfast we headed out looking for the black sand beach of Monterrico. After some haggling with the company arranging shuttles and taxis we finally convinced them to take us for $10 US each. We made a pit stop at the only store in the vicinity and picked up some drinks and snacks. After about a half hour of driving toward the beach (and some sketchy occurrences that may or may not have been someone casing us) we started to be a little worried; it was supposed to only be 20 minutes away. So we asked and it turns out the beach was actually about an hour away. We finally got there after about an hour of driving on country back roads and immediately sat down at a little café-type restaurant for lunch. Delicious. I had a coconut while we waited for the food to be done. I’m going to miss those.

After lunch we walked down to the beach; it was beautiful. The sand is soft (and really hot) and dark because it comes from volcanic rocks. The waves were HUGE and way too strong to swim in so we played along the edge. We booked a horseback ride along the beach and let me tell you, an hour on a horse is painful. But it was fun; we spent the whole ride trying to keep our horses from biting one another and singing ridiculous songs. After that we made our way back towards the town to get a ride back to the ship; we made a stop at a bar and all had really yummy cocktails. Rhina arranged for us to get a ride in the back of a pickup for $7 with a police escort because it was getting dark; apparently no one in Guatemela travels at night without an escort due to the increased levels of crime that has been happening. We got back to the port and waited for the shuttle to take us back to the ship. While we waited I spent the last of my money on a really sweet bag from a little Guatemalan woman selling handmade goods.

I spent the next two days on the ship because I had homework to do and really had no desire to see anymore of Guatemala; the only thing I had wanted to do was go to Tikal but that was too expensive and dangerous. Instead I got some much-needed rest and got some work done. And in all honesty, I’m ready to be home. I never thought I’d get tired of traveling but I feel like I need a vacation from traveling; all the planning and frenzied pace really gets to you after a while. I’m ready to go back to my wonderful regular home life. I’ve learned so much on this trip about people, their cultures and religions and traveling in general; and most importantly, I’ve learned more about myself. The next week is going to be full of creative packing, sleepless nights, media-swapping, nostalgia and sappy goodbyes. I’ve made some amazing friends on this trip, met some incredible people, done incredible things and I couldn’t have asked for a better 4 months; I only hope next time around I can bring everyone I love with me to share it with them. I hope you’ve enjoyed my journey. I might write more reflections later on but until my next world adventure, I’m out. Love and miss you all. <3

4/19 - 4/20: Honolulu, Hawaii

Day 1: After breakfast (where EVERYONE had their cell phones out…it was slightly overwhelming) we headed out in search of the mall and beach. Lucky for us this really nice guy driving the free shuttle picked us up and dropped us off at the mall. It wasn’t open yet so my friends and I bought some drinks and just hung out for a while. Then we spent a couple hours shopping – I found one of the three Harley shops in Honololu – and then ate a quick lunch before heading towards Waikiki beach. We spent a few hours on the beach, enjoying the amazingly warm water and then headed back to the ship to change for dinner. We met up with everyone at Senor Frogs for Rhina’s birthday dinner; the food, drinks and waiters were great. After dinner we made our way to one of the many ABC stores and bought our drinks for the night; Rhina got a Malibu lei. We found our way to the beach, drank and hung out until everyone was ready. Then we went off in search of an 18+ club so everyone could get in. Found the only club open and danced the night away. Around 3am we decided to call it a night and headed back to the ship.

Day 2: Woke up at a decent hour, ate breakfast and headed for the beach. Ate Taco Bell for lunch (because we’d all been craving it and they only have it in the US) and then left around 2 for the mall. We stopped at the international market first where I found a bunch of random wonderful things. Then on the way to the bus stop we had the most hilarious conversation with a bunch of very very drunk Navy guys from the Honolulu base…it was 3 in the afternoon and they were dunzo and highly entertaining. Victoria and I got to the mall and quickly got what we needed before quickly heading for the ship; it was after 5 and on-ship time was 6. We got back in time.

I need to go back to Hawaii but I’d like to go to the less populated islands next time; Honolulu’s beauty is dulled by the din of the city. I didn’t do much besides eat, drink and enjoy the beach but the little time I had there was wonderful. Next up (and last), Guatemala.

4/8 - 4/9: Tokyo/ Yokohama, Japan

Day 1: We woke up early and headed to the metro station to get to the main Yokohama train station. There we took a train to the main Tokyo station. After getting there we walked around for a couple of hours looking for the Imperial Palace to no avail; it seems that the royal gardens don’t ever actually lead to the palace. After giving up on that we headed in the direction of the Tokyo Tower. We took a break in Hibiya Park, laying in the grass and enjoying the beautiful weather. On the rest of our walk we couldn’t find a restaurant we liked so we stopped at a convenience store instead and grabbed random pre-made sushi and foods; we ate it outside on the sidewalk. After lunch we finally found Tokyo Tower and went up to the half point; you can see all of Tokyo! After we left the tower – which I stupidly decided would be fun to race down the 20 or so flights of stairs – we thought we would go check out the wholesale market which we had found on the map. Lucky for us, the wholesale market turned out to be a fish market. So we decided that we were all tired of walking around so we headed back to the main station and to Yokohama. We got back to the ship in time for dinner and spent the night watching movies and such.

Day 2: I had to wake up really early for a SaS trip to Mt. Fuji. Once we got on the bus at 7am we took off; it was going to be a 2 hour drive so everyone was hoping to sleep. NOT! Our tour guide was the world’s most talkative person; I don’t think she ever so much as stopped for air during the entire trip. Our first stop was at the tourist center at the very bottom of the mountain; we took a few pictures, bought a few things and headed up to the Level 5 station. There we had 30 minutes to take a few pictures, play with the snow and buy a few things before getting back on the bus. The mountain itself is still covered in snow which is why we could only get up to Level 5; the others are still snow bound. After that quick stop we headed out to Hakone, which is a town about 2 hours from the mountain. There we took a cable car ride to the top of another mountain with a different view of Mt. Fuji from its summit and then a boat ride around the lake at its base. After the boat ride we were back on the bus to head back to the ship. It was a beautiful day but we literally spent over half of it on the bus so it was a little exhausting.

Japan is on my top 3 list for favorite places so far; the climate reminds me of New England, the people are nice and helpful and even the cities are clean and feel safe. The only downfall is everything is expensive in comparison to all other countries. Now we’re off to Hawaii; a 10-day trek across the Pacific that we’ve been told is very long and very rough. You’d imagine after not having had class for more than 2 days in a row for over a month how 10 days in a row is going to feel. There are only 27 days left before we’re back but it’s the hardest part of the trip, academically.  Wish me luck. I’ll see you all soon. All my love.

4/6 ? 4/7: Kobe, Japan

Day 1: A long morning. We woke up early for breakfast but we had to wait to get off the ship because Japan’s customs is really strict. So after breakfast, the diplomatic briefing and the temperature checks, we had to wait around for each hall to be called to go through customs. Our hall didn’t get called until almost 11am and then we had to wait for our passport to be scanned and our photo and finger IDs to be entered into the system. Once that was done we took off to the center of the city by metro. We walked around and through the central plaza for a while and found somewhere to eat. The woman working didn’t speak much English so we basically ordered by pointing at pictures; it worked in our favor because it was all delicious. After lunch we took off looking for the tattoo studio we had heard about. It didn’t take us long and after talking to the owner for a while, Rhina decided she wanted to get it done; I wasn’t willing to pay the exorbitant prices they had so I told her I’d wait until Hawaii. The girl was really quick and Rhina’s anchor was done in less than 30 minutes; it came out cute. After that I had to go back to the ship for a welcome reception I had signed up for. Got back and met a few Japanese university students, saw some performances, did origami, gave them a tour of the ship and that was that. Then dinner and out we went to enjoy the night life.

Well you can imagine the night life on a Monday night but we made it work. We all bought drinks and just sat in a park to drink. I tried ginger flavored Smirnoff and something called Strong beer which tasted nothing like beer; it was 8% alcohol, lemony and delicious. We made friends with 2 new SaS kids – Shannon and Jordan -- that were hanging out in the same park as us. We got harassed by someone who wanted our booze. Then we ended up finding a karaoke bar that was decently priced and spent over an hour screaming songs at each other in a tiny room. The drinks I had did me in and I was gone after 3 of them but I kept drinking; mistake number one. During karaoke I managed to chip a tooth (just a small chip) when my friend Graham shoved the mic in my face and I wasn’t looking. After karaoke we went to McDonalds because what better drunk food is there? I apparently started crying because I felt bad that I was so drunk and making a bad impression on Shannon and Jordan and in general. I think after McD’s is when Shannon and Jordan took off and the rest of us headed back to the ship. Apparently I told a boy from the ship – that I didn’t know – that he was cute and we bonded over having girlfriends. I eventually got to my room and passed out.

Day 2: And the next morning I was reminded of why I don’t drink often or a lot because I was either still drunk (after only having 5 drinks) or I had the world’s worst hang-over. Needless to say I skipped out on any adventuring and spent the morning sleeping it off. I woke up in time for lunch, showered and went out hoping to at least see the Himeji castle before I left but I couldn’t find a bank to exchange money in and I didn’t have enough to cover the metro fair (which was $20 roundtrip) so I ended up just walking around a little and then coming back to the ship to wallow in Grey’s Anatomy and the stupidity of my decisions. Once again I swear off drinking for a while. I don’t understand how most of the kids on this ship get drunk every day that we’re at port; I couldn’t do it nor would I want to. Ugh.

What I’ve learned:
*Drinking things in Japan that say ‘strong’ in excess equals bad; and apparently I’m now a light-weight. Thank goodness for great friends.
*Japanese people all have impeccable fashion sense; everyone looks like they walked off the pages of a magazine including older women and the young men. 
*Their Haagen Das ice cream parlors have green tea flavored ice cream.
*All the girls here wear knee socks, leg warmers or leggings and crazy cool high heels.
*There’s an entire section of the plaza mall area dedicated to cards and gamer stuff; it made me giggle.

Now we’re off to Yokohama, Japan where my friends and I are going to Tokyo for a day and then I have a trip to Mt. Fuji. And there will be no drinking happening at either. Love and miss you all.

4/1 - 4/2: Shanghai, China

Day 1: Woke up early and waited around for Chinese immigration to clear the ship. I did a SaS trip to a local kindergarten and spent the entire 2 hours being entertained by the cutest little kids ever; we also stopped at a community center and had green tea while we learned a little about how each community runs. We went back to the ship for lunch and I spent the afternoon doing art homework and watching Grey’s Anatomy. Then I got dressed and went down to help out with the formal open ship Semester at Sea had for all the Chinese dignitaries who donate money to the program; I gave a few ship tours and enjoyed a fancy dinner and ceremony that took most of the night. I didn’t feel like going out so I stayed in and watched some more Grey’s Anatomy.

Day 2: Woke up early and went to breakfast. Then Shelly, Cara, Graham and I went out to explore Shanghai. After finding a bank and realizing the market that we wanted to go to was far, we took a taxi to the street where most of the activity in the city is. We walked around and found the market mall; I bought a pair of red fake Converses and a cool painting. Then we had lunch at McDonalds because my friends wanted American food. After lunch we had a taxi take us to the Bund which is an underground tunnel that connects the new and old city but you had to pay and couldn’t just walk across so we decided not to. Instead we walked outside and found a sweet underground market with loads of souvenirs and nifty things. Spent an hour or so there and headed back to the ship.

Things I’ve learned:
*Language barriers suck; maps with Chinese characters and English written on them are lifesavers.
*Hong Kong really is nothing like China; no one here speaks English but almost everyone in HK did. And the people in Honk Kong were much nicer to us.
*China really does have a problem with air pollution; you can’t even tell the sun has risen because the smog is so thick on some days.
*Shanghai is a 2-hour drive from tip to tip; it’s a huge city broken up into new and old halves.
*The buildings in new Shanghai are really cool; I got some great pictures of the night skyline.
*When you and the taxi driver don’t speak the same language, you can both end up really confused; at one point we had to ask 3 different drivers to take us to one spot (which I pointed to on the map) and even then they took us to the wrong place.

Now we’re almost to Japan. We make 2 ports for 2 days each with 1 day in between; Kobe and Yokohama. My friends and I are trying to get tattoos while there and I have a trip to Mt. Fuji on the last day so I’m really, really excited. I think I’m down to 32 days or so left until I’m back in Maine so I’m getting really anxious for that too. Hopefully the rest of the trip goes by as good and quickly. Love and miss you all.

3/29 - 3/30: Hong Kong

Day 1: Woke up early for breakfast and the diplomatic briefing. Got our passports and headed out to the Star Ferry, which takes people from Kowloon (Hong Kong mainland) to Hong Kong Island. We went searching for another ferry depot so we could find out how much it would cost to go to Macau, which is another ‘region’ of China but like Hong Kong, it’s considered separate from China so we wanted to go get another stamp on our passport. However, we found out it was $40 US roundtrip so we gave up on that idea and decided to eat lunch at a Chinese fast food chain; not the best food but it was cheap so it’s all good. Then Rhina, D and I decided to go try and find a market or something to do by following the street signs. We ended up at a café (after asking 3 people for directions) so we could use the internet, then we walked through a small market and bought a few trinkets. After that we ended up walking for 2 hours in search of something called the Western Market; well after walking uphill and in circles and asking about 5 different people directions, we finally found it. The biggest disappointment of the day; it was really just a small 2-story mall. lol BUT the adventure of looking for it was fun so we didn’t really mind. Went back to the ship for dinner and took a power nap until 8pm when Hong Kong Island’s laser light show started; the show is done every night at 8pm and corresponds to music. It’s in the Guinness World Record book for being the largest permanent light show. It’s really sweet because the lights are on the front of the skyscrapers and buildings; it looks like a giant rave! After that we took off to the famous Temple Street night market to do some shopping. Found some cool stuff and then we decided to get a snack; we ended up at McDonalds because everyone was craving some good ol’ all-American junk food. Went back to the ship, watched a movie and went to bed.

Day 2: Woke up early for breakfast and got on the bus to go to Lantau Island for an SaS trip. We stopped along the way to take pictures of the world’s longest dual-suspension bridge (or something like that) and at a beach. Then we stopped at a traditional fishing village, whose houses are built on stilts. There we saw a small temple and I met an older man named Wilfred who used to be a merchant who traveled to the U.S; my friends Elle, Emma and I made friends with him and chatted him up a while. He was a funny old man who was a bit senile and going deaf but he was great to talk to; we took a picture with him and promised we’d send him postcards and a copy of the picture. Next we went up to a statue of the world’s largest sitting bronze Buddha and then walked down the 256 steps to the Buddhist monastery where we had a delicious vegetarian lunch. After lunch we walked around a little and explored the temple and then the Ngong Ping cultural village (which is just another name for a street of gift shops) before taking a cable car back down the mountain of Lantau Island to where a bus was waiting for us to take us back to the ship. Spent the rest of the day relaxing on the ship.

Interesting tid-bits:
*There are sooo many stairs on Hong Kong Island; it’s a city built into the side of mountains so it’s all uphill as soon as you get off the ferry and a lot of the side walks are stairs.
*They have a beautiful metro system; very clean and efficient.
*The street signs are sometimes wrong and lead you in the wrong direction; so do the locals.
*Hong Kong Island’s streets and walkways are way sophisticated and efficient; they have walkways that go above the roads, connecting all the important places together so you don’t have to deal with traffic; we only found that out when we tried to walk alongside traffic. lol Also, all the roads on Lantau Island are made so that during the wet season, the torrential rains don’t ruin the roads.
*Hong Kong is made up of hundreds of islands but only about 22 are inhabited; Lantau is the largest.

I would love to come back to Hong Kong; it’s a big city (app. 7 million permanent residents) but it didn’t overwhelm me; it never felt over-crowded or dirty or aggressive. Now we have 2 No-Class days until Shanghai, China; most students stayed off the ship to go to Beijing or just spend more time in Hong Kong so there’re only about 150 students left. I’m a little sad that I didn’t get to go to the Great Wall or to see the Terra Cotta warriors but I’m hoping I’ll get to come back someday; it just wasn’t meant to happen this time. Plus now I get to spend the next two days working on my scary pile of homework; it would’ve been impossible to go do anything because of it so I’m glad I’m on the ship.

3/22 - 3/26 VietNam

Day 1: Woke up early for breakfast and our diplomatic briefing. The port is sweet looking because it's actually a river that we're ported on so it's really shallow and between what looks like a jungle on the far side and Ho Chi Minh City on the ship side. Crazy cool. So after the briefing we got ready, got our landing passes and took off on the shuttle provided by SaS to the center of the city. We walked around looking for a cheap tailor to get dresses and suits made; it's one of the things we were told to get while in Viet Nam because it's so cheap. We found one, bargained and arranged. Then went to the tourist center to get some food; rice noodles really do make up the Asian food world. Delicious though. Then we took off for the War Remnants Museum; really graphic and hard to stomach but I'm glad I went because it helps see the war from the Vietnamese perspective. I'll suffice it to say that war in general is horrendous but this one was especially cruel and had horrible, lasting repercussions.

After that we found the Ben Thanh Market that we had heard about and shopped for about an hour; it's crazy though because they literally have anything and everything you could want all in one area. I bought a bunch of cute, cheap stuff. Side note: $1 US = approximately 17, 500 dong! Lol It's crazy! Then we came back to the ship and I chose to stay in while my friends went out because I'm completely out of clean clothes (which I have to hand wash again!) and I have ridiculous amounts of homework to do.

Day 2: Woke up early for breakfast. Took a bus to the Da Thien School for Handicapped Children; we heard a little about the school and then spent an hour or so playing with the children. It was hard because the kids only know Vietnamese so we couldn't talk to them at all or anything. We just ended up playing games and coloring and stuff. Then the people at the school provided us with an amazing lunch (which wasn't included in the original itinerary) and then we left. It was good but the past 3 service visits I've done have been a disappointment; more just that I don't actually consider it service because all we're doing is playing with children. I don't feel like I'm actually doing anything of substance. I expect them to put me to work doing something like building a playhouse or cleaning something. I guess it's just my mentality. Anyways, after that I came to the ship and slept the afternoon away, ate dinner, watched a movie and worked on my art journal.

Day 3: Woke up early for breakfast. Took a bus to a public elementary school where we were given a briefing on the school and then given free reign to walk around for 2 hours and mingle with the children. I learned a lot of valuable information for the 8 page case study I have to write for my education course. I got back around lunch time, ate and took off with D to find the post office and then the market again. I got soooo many souvenirs at the market; D and I are master bargainers! So I came back very happy; among my purchases were a Vietnamese hat for myself and seasons 1-4 of Grey's Anatomy (for less than $9 US...bootleg of course) I also got almost everyone else on my list something from the market. Yay! Then just back to the ship for some chill time on the pool deck, dinner and to my room for homework.

Day 4: Woke up early for breakfast then off on a 2 hour bus ride to the Mekong district. Along the way we stopped to see a Cao Doa (?) temple and walk through a small market before getting to the river and being transported over to an island where they grow exotic tropical fruit. We sampled some of the fruit; mango, pineapple, lychee, sweet grapefruit, and jack fruit. Then we got into these smaller boats made for traversing through the canals; except it's the dry season here so the canal was basically dried up and our boatman had to push us through the murky water for about 15 minutes. But it was really cool because it was like traveling through jungle. From there we were dropped off on another island where they make coconut candy; we got to see the whole process, sample and then buy some. We also stopped there to have a cup of kumquat tea; they just squeeze the juice of a kumquat and mix in some honey and add hot water. Both the tea and coconut candy were delicious. Last on the trip was a lunch of Vietnamese food; mostly rice noodle and seafood dishes prepared in a variety of ways. The best part was when they brought out a huge fried elephant fish perched upward on the plate and placed it in the middle of each table; no one really knew how to take it or what to do with it until one of the servers showed us how to make our own fish spring rolls. After lunch we went back across the river and had fresh coconut water on our way back to the bus. Then the 2 hour drive back to the ship.

Day 5: I only left long enough to go buy a bubble tea, a couple of t-shirts and to exchange my dong back into US$. Homework beckons. 2 days of classes and then we're in Hong Kong so I've got plenty to keep me busy

What I've learned:
*Both Vietnamese men and women go to extreme measures trying to hide their skin from the sun; they almost all wear pants and long sleeves in 90 degree heat and they all wear gloves, hats, and face coverings whenever they're in the sun for an extended amount of time.
*Communism can't be that horrible of a system because I never saw a single homeless person while in VietNam; they also have a very low crime rate.
*The cone-shaped hats they wear really do keep you cooler; I wore one during my Mekong Delta trip.
*Ho Chi Minh City used to be called Saigon; it still says it everywhere.
*You can get almost anything you want or need in a market; food, clothes, accessories, etc.
*Everyone drives a motorcycle or moped and they ALL wear helmets.
*Traffic is nuts; but if you close your eyes and just walk at a constant rate you won't get hit. I tried it and survived. It's almost like playing life-size Frogger.