Between All the Ports
Between Lisbon and Casablanca:
We only have two days until we reach Casablanca! The night we got back on the ship and set sail we watched Casablanca the movie. It was good but not my personal favorite. Then we only have two days of class and then we land in Casablanca.
Between Casablanca and Tema:
This is the first very long sea stretch on my trip. It is 9 days long which I heard from videos, people get very bored and hate the long stretches but so far, I love it. I met a lot of cool new people during my field programs and classes during our stay in Casablanca and now I get to say “hi” to all the new people I know. I love it! I can feel and see myself really coming out of my shell socially. I definitely am still learning and growing but slowly I am learning more about the people I meet and it really is still only the beginning and I am so excited for what the future will bring! I do have my moments where I miss my family and friends but I am not homesick…which is surprising because this is the longest I have been away from home and my parents, family and friends. I believe I do very well at taking care of myself and I do the things I enjoy, like reading when I may be bored. We had fancy dinner for my friends birthdays and that was fun to dress up for. Overall I did great staying on the boat and not were arriving in Ghana!
After my crazy fun adventures of my field program through SAS, we got back about 2pm that afternoon. Then I opened my bag to dry out and unpack because everything was wet and there was so much sand! I took one of the best showers of my life because of how wet, cold and dirty I felt and I got into comfy clothes and headed to dinner. We watched a movie that night and just hung out.
The next day was the first day of classes again on the ship and that went by fast, I bought new SAS branded pj pants! And I am in love with them. Then that night we officially crossed the equator. This meant the next day was Neptune Day!
So on Neptune Day, we got woken up with a parade of drums through the halls. We had to get dressed in swimsuits and head upstairs. Then we had a whole ceremony and announcements that launched the activities of going through all the traditions you do to come from hollywog to a shellback?
We had to stand in line which took forever then you got 0 degrees written on your arm, you ate salkt, got green water dump in your head, had to swim across the pool, kiss a fish, kiss the ring of King Neptune, and the queen and high five the jester, then if you choose to, you can shave your head. Yes that was a lot and it was all super long but after that I worked out and then kind of chilled the rest of the day and got all my homework done as well. Then after that it has been the same everyday—lunch and breakfast, working out, class and then socializing at snack time. Snack time is basically where they put out the leftover sandwiches and cake and water at 10pm at night.
I also did join a SAS family on the ship where basically life long learners are our parents and were in a little family and so we all had dinner together and ice cream cake—I ate way too much…
I am trying to figure out and finalize some of my plans for Cape Town but it is difficult with so many people and wanted to do things with so many different people but I am trying to figure it out.
And on that note please send me any recommendations for things to do or see in any of the ports I am visiting!
Between Cape Town and Mauritius:
This stretch was 6 days long. And Halloween happened! I was a clown. The rest was not too bad but definitely a more stressful one. First was trying to plan ahead about what is going to happen after the voyage is over and deciding what I want to do—which I still don’t know. And then also we all had midterms this stretch. One of my midterms was for my human trafficking class and we had a presentation to do for the human trafficking awareness club—which actually I created and am organizing. And then every single person had the midterm for Global Studies which is the one class that is required for everyone to take. I do think this class is very useful and important but after having a really informative conversation with some friends till 1am one night it has changed my perspective a little bit. In a couple of my classes I am learning a lot about inequality between races and genders, how to act in a different culture than your own, improving your cultural awareness, and how to navigate the differences. But even with learning all these useful tools, the way some of the teachers portray some of the countries we’re going to is not the way locals would want it to be portrayed. So with all of this, this stretch has been a lot about digging deeper and having more self reflection and self growth in a lot of aspects. I am continuously pushing myself out of my comfort zone to gain as much as I can from this experience. Because even though the way SAS does some things that are not my favorite—which I can learn a lot from—I am still extremely grateful for this whole experience.
Between Mauritius and India:
This sea stretch was not so bad. It went by super fast and there were a lot of good meals for lunch and dinner. There was a lot of homework and writing essays but I got most of it done so that the next stretch I can finish everything and not have many big projects until finals at the end. I went to a lot of the cross currents which are events where there are guest speakers who talk about a subject that is informative. A lot of them are very interesting and I try to go to all of them. There was also banner sign painting where all the seas painted their sign for sea Olympics. I forget if I’ve explained the seas, but we are all split up into seas based on where our cabins are and these seas are important for getting on and off the ship in ports and then having a community. And then it’s important for the sea Olympics! Overall though, it was a good sea stretch and I read about 3 books just for fun.
Between India and Vietnam:
This was the longest sea stretch of the whole voyage. But somehow it went by very quickly. It was nice to have some recovery time after doing a lot of traveling in India. I had a lot of papers and projects due for school. The main projects we have are the Creative Experimental Project(CEP). And this paper or presentation is required for every class you take. You get to choose which ports you want to research about while visiting them and you get to compare across all the ports related to your class. So for example, for my intercultural communication class, I wrote down notes about how ads are portrayed in a couple ports and then their communication style and language. So after turning in those I had a more relaxed time. We had Sea Olympics— an all day thing where there are competitive events like tug-of-war, push-ups, planks and synchronized swimming. Our teams were our seas, mine was the Bering sea and we were the color black. At the end of the day we got 4th place out of 7. So not bad, but most of my friends were in the Yellow Sea and that’s the team who won. It was all super fun and had a very good energy. Then the next day was Thanksgiving and the dinner that day was not the best but it’s okay. Overall I missed home at this point but I knew it will make the holiday that much special next year. We then arrived in Ho Chi Minh and it was amazing to watch us dock because we had to go up the canal for a while and we had a gorgeous view of the city.
Last days on the ship:
Wow, what an emotional roller coaster. I have been so genuinely happy this entire trip. I have loved absolutely everything and I can’t express how thankful I am that I had this opportunity. The last couple days were easy but hard emotionally. I was basically done with my classes. And then there were other events like Alumni Ball which was super fun to dress up for. Then my friends and I did a presentation night in my room where we all shared about our life and some of my friends made their presentation about comparing everyone in the friend group to something. For example, what type of dog we are, food we are, charters in tv shows. It was such a fun night and I laughed so much. Then the last two days were packing and tanning! Have to soak up the warmth and sun before going back to Colorado. I spent a lot of time doing things with my friends and only time in my cabin to pack. I watched the last 3 sunrises and sunsets. I didn’t cry until the pre port for Bangkok and saying goodbye to my friends.
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