first official SAS post.

Hi from the high seas! I miss everyone from home and I just want to “blog” about my adventures to share and reflect on my experiences thus far.

We’ve been at sea for five out of eight days straight so far since leaving Puerto rico…and these are just the first few of many long days at sea. As expected, one can get a little antsy being on a boat and seeing nothing but open seas for days and days, but it’s also very easy to stay distracted. *As a side note though, we just crossed the equator today! I am now on the southern hemisphere of ze earth :) According to taylor, i should take note of which direction the toilet water spins when i flush now. Haha. it’s summer down here! Jealous? Don’t worry, i still miss snow…sometimes. I feel even further from everyone at home now.

It’s difficult for me to get motivated to sit down and blog because i rarely want to separate myself from other kids on the boat and write. there seems to be WAY too much to talk about and it’s hard to remember all the details. I’d drive you guys nuts if i typed out every little detail of each day and what has been going on here. I’ll try and blog in the most entertaining and “efficient” manner possible.

Although this is an amazing experience that i am so lucky to have and will forever cherish, i will not lie and say the transition was easy. A lot of changes were made abruptly in those first few days of this study abroad experience, and i found myself feeling shocked and confused and questioning whether i had made the right decision in leaving. The first couple days (when the “changes” were still fresh), i had to work hard to convince myself to not be sad, feel lonely, and miss friends and loved ones. I was completely out of my comfort zone. I realized however that this was normal and it required more than simply a few days to fully adjust. i then started beating myself up for feeling sad when i have this opportunity of a lifetime in my hands, and i’ve since been working hard to stay optimistic and live it up and enjoy the PRESENT—it’s what studying abroad is all about. It’s been quite the journey already. **Learning to adjust to and accept change will be my biggest personal challenge.**

Okay i’m gonna talk about some fun stuff. my first day as a study abroad kid was rough…not gonna lie! Some of it being my fault, some of it not. My dad will probably shake his head in disdain if he reads this, because i haven’t told either one of my parents yet that this happened. But the rest of you will probably find it mildly entertaining. I left on Tuesday, January 22nd. I completely misjudged Washington D.C. morning traffic and basically missed my flight!!!! I was supposed to depart from Reagan national airport at 7:15am, but because of insane traffic going into the city, and poor planning and timing on my part, I got to the airport at like, oh, 6:50. Taylor took me to the airport and i could tell he was frustrated—guess i should’ve let him plan out what time was best for us to leave. Whoops. Luckily, the airline was great and figured out that they could put me on a 20 minute jet flight from DC to philly, and fly me from philly to Nassau, Bahamas, and get me there basically at the same time i would’ve gotten there originally. I’m not one to believe in omens or superstition, but i won’t deny it—the thought of “maybe this is a sign that i shouldn’t go on semester at sea” definitely crossed my mind when i missed my flight.

It worked out fine (actually, it was ultimately “fate” because i probably wouldn’t have met my bestest SAS buddies if i hadn’t missed my flight). unfortunately though, because of the flight mix-up, i regret that i had to say a very speedy and flustered goodbye to taylor…not quite how i pictured us saying goodbye. :( it was my fault, but you live and learn from your mistakes… well anyways. i met a girl named Niki after the flight to Nassau and we hit it off from the start. We figured we’d get a cab from the airport to the atlantis hotel and split the fare (smart decision), but US Airways lost one of Niki’s bags, so we had to wait around for quite awhile. We spent that day getting to know each other while exploring the atlantis (huuuuge!). later i met Niki’s friend from home, Ashley. (they’re from New Hampshire…side note: i’ve met a ton of New England kids on SAS…weird for me, given that i’m from midwest Colorado/NoVA). But yeah, Ashley came in later that night, and niki and ash have become my closest friends thus far. We always joke that it was fate that i missed my original flight and got placed on the Philly one. I also met Niki’s temporary roomie in the Atlantis, Steph, and a group of 6 of us went to dinner that night Nassau.

My temporary roommate from the Atlantis, Andrea, is going to KILL me for writing about this on here (if she reads this), but nevertheless i think she and everyone else will get a nice “chuckle” out of this. Our hotel situation was awkward. First off, we had to pay big money $$ to stay in the atlantis… and they placed us in a villa with ONE BED. Now, i honestly have no problem sleeping in the same bed with another girl, but it was definitely bizarre that they gave 2 girls who are complete strangers just one bed. On top of that, our flights had gotten in at different times so we didn’t meet until that night when we had to crawl into bed with each other. Awkward. Super awkward. She came in that night about an hour after i did. I could tell she had been drinking but i didn’t know exactly how drunk she was. Andrea and i had a functional conversation; we talked about NoVA (she’s from Fairfax), boys/boyfriend situations, SAS, and so forth before deciding to go to sleep. Then around 4am, i was awakened because andrea seemed to be in some kind of frenzy. She had somehow moved a large dresser, moved other stuff around and was making lots of noise, kept frantically trying to open the door connecting into the neighbors’ villa!, took a bunch of my clothes (not on purpose, she was confused), used one of my sweatshirts as a door stop because she had propped our front door open and kept pacing in and out! I was nervous and confused and kept asking her if she was okay, but i just felt helpless. She kept saying, “we need to check in to the atlantis!” and “where is all our stuff?!” and “i don’t understand what’s going on!” I tried to calm her down and reassure her that we WERE at the atlantis and we HAD all our luggage and stuff right there. I asked her if she had anxiety (okay that’s the nerdy psychologist coming out of me, but what else was i supposed to think?) and eventually she calmed down… only after i offered/threatened to call her MOTHER. She fell asleep eventually. It was funny the next morning because neither of us addressed what had happened the previous night. We’ve seen each other on the ship since then (and have a class together!) but it wasn’t until last night (so almost 2 weeks later) that we talked about it! I feel bad because she has been feeling really embarrassed about the situation since then. We still have no idea exactly what happened that night and what she was frantically in “search” for, but she thinks she may have some type of sleepwalking disorder…? If so, it’s recently acquired. My theory is she was simply disoriented from being drunk and waking up in such a randomly strange setting. Haha, love you andrea! Anyway, that was my first day/night of the study abroad experience. Way to start things off interestingly.

I won’t go into this much detail with everything else, or i’ll try not to at least. Ship life…ah, the living’s easy. :) the MV Explorer was built in 2001 and is the fastest cruise ship in the world. We can travel up to 31 knots (it’s one fast boat). There are 733 students alone on this voyage – largest in SAS history. Including staff, crew, lifelong learners, and temporary members that come on and off the ship, there’s anywhere from 850 to close to 1,000 people onboard at a time. Colorado is the 2nd state in which most students are from, woo!! (California is #1, surprise surprise.) And better yet, CU represents the most students onboard! GO BUFFS. There’s a whopping 74 of us. Everyone gives us shit for it, but it’s cool. A not-so-fun statistic: it’s 70% girls to 30% guys. That’s 7 girls for every 3 guys. Not so great for the ladies, but we’ll just have to deal with it.

Food’s fine, the crew is incredible. I am trying to get all their names down—they’re amazing, overly nurturing, just wonderful people overall. There’s always lots of distractions for when we’re out at sea—laying out by the pool on the top deck (i’m already 10 shades darker…the sun is toxic out here...wooo!!), working out in the gym (quite an experience trying to run on a treadmill on a rocking boat), yoga in the afternoon, trying to do "8 minute abs" with at least 3 people crammed in our cabin (long story, haha), and pub nights. It’s also nice to find secluded decks when you want some alone time, and just watch the ocean and journal or read. i’m definitely milking it for what it’s worth. My roommate on the ship’s name is ALSO Andrea… luckily she goes by Andy ;) She’s great: from NorCal, goes to Berkeley, and is spunky, perky (more so than me even, which is strange) and enthusiastic. Interestingly enough, she came on this with her boyfriend…who is also from northern Cali but goes to CU. His name is Pedrom (we call him “Ped”) and it’s nice to chat it up with someone who’s chill and knows Boulder. I’m envious that they get to experience this together.

Puerto Rico was our first port and was so much fun! It was the perfect first stop just because it’s still the US and it was a nice little vacation. We spent the first day exploring old San Juan and touring old forts/monuments, shopping, etc. That night, we went out for a fancy dinner and ordered sangria with our meal. Then we explored the bar scene and settled on one where they were playing Ricky Martin LIVE on DVD in the bar!!! Perfecto. I couldn’t stop staring at ricky martin’s crotchal region the entire night—couldn’t help it, i mean it was just…there. Awkward. Dunno if i should have actually typed that out. Anyways, Puerto rico has great local beer! My goal is to try out the local beer in each country. I’m becoming quite the beer expert. In the Bahamas, their local beer is called “Kalik,” and i wasn’t too impressed. It was pretty bitter, reminded me of Stella, but definitely not as good. Puerto Rico has GREAT beer. It’s called “Medalla” and i think it’s a wheat beer. I really enjoyed it. The weather at night in the ‘Rico is extremely comfortable, and it was so much fun to wander around the city without having to worry about being super cautious or how we dressed or getting mugged—we will be have to be on our top game for the next few countries we go to…especially Brazil.

On day two, we walked into town and went to a local starbucks café to use the internet! Sounds lame, but it was refreshing because we really get limited on how much internet we use on the boat (you’re better off not even trying…it’s so slow because we have low bandwidth). It’s a bit challenging but i’m trying to adjust to life without depending on the internet all the time. But it was nice to get in some emailing action. Then, Ashley and i went on a kayak trip. It was called the “seven seas” kayaking trip because it took place near the Bioluminescent Bay (one of the seven wonders of the world—i sadly didn’t get a trip to the Bio Bay). Kayaking was fun—i’ve river rafted, but i’ve never kayaked…in a giant ocean. That night we went to senor frog’s in town. It was fun to get to go dancing…but since it was a Sunday night, senor’s was filled with mostly SAS kids.

We spent the 3rd day getting up early to pick up useful things like snacks and toiletries to use on the ship in the markets of san juan. Then we spent the day at the beach. Ahhh. Puerto rico is perfect—i found it to be so much more appealing than the Bahamas. The Bahamas focuses and depends so much on tourism that it almost takes away from the beauty of the area. I found Puerto rico to be cultured, genuine, and laid back :)

We will get to Brazil on Feb. 5, this coming Tuesday morning. It’s the last day of Carnival and it’s going to be INSANE (and epic). Brazil is the country where we’re really going to have to alert, safe, and wise about traveling. Girls should stick with guys at all times. We are suggested to put our hair up and wear hats and sunglasses. We absolutely cannot wear jewelry and can’t bring digital cameras or wear purses/backpacks—only moneybelts hidden beneath our clothes. During carnival it will not be safe for American tourists to be on the streets. We are going to try and get into the roped-off areas or balcony areas, but it’ll be difficult and expensive to secure a spot. Despite all this I’m still thrilled I’ll get to see and experience Carnival first-hand. And i think as long as we’re all alert, we act confident, and we don’t do anything stupid (like get drunk), we’ll be fine.

Classes have been kept us SUPER busy—probably a good thing. It’s rough because i have 4 credits to graduate and it’s sometimes difficult to take my random classes on the boat seriously, but i do need to finish off well. We are bogged down with a lot of reading; guess the professors just want to keep us busy so we are not laying out by the pool all day. That doesn’t stop me though :)

I guess i’ll finish off with what i have in store for the next few ports- so we're checking out carnival action in brazil, and a couple of my friends and i are also going to a theatre/dinner function where they'll show us martial art forms and dances like capoeira, samba, candomble, and so forth (for those of you dancers who know what i’m talking about). I have so much planned for South Africa…it’s one of the ports i’m most excited for. we are hiking table mountain independently, and i'm going on a 3-day SAFARIIIIII in Kwazulu Natal. I also have to do a field study for my HIV/AIDS class so i will be observing how the Bush Radio project works in Africa. On top of that, i am volunteering with Operation Hunger—it’ll be nice to do a service project; i haven’t done any since my APO days :) In Mauritius, i'm going on a volcano tour thing where we hike up a dormant volcano (it better be dormant at least)—that’s another field study for my Weather/Climate class. i'm also going to this adventure park zip line course…thingy! In India (this is the port i am MOST excited for), i get to go to dehli and see the taj mahal, the ganges river, and the sacred city of the hindus, varanasi. Also, i'm take part in a real live legit indian yoga demonstration. My plans for when we’re in Asia are hazy for now, since we haven’t registered for trips in the 2nd half of our voyage yet…but i’m WICKED excited to see ‘Nam, hong kong, japan, etc. :) by the way, i have learned that everyone from the New England area (aka Boston) seems to think it’s acceptable to replace the words “really” or “very” with “wicked.” I find it to be rather annoying, yet it’s rubbing off. I’m gonna bring this trend to boulder. It’ll be wicked cool.

I hope everyone at home is well…i miss you all (well, most of you…haha) and i think about you guys more than you may realize. Have fun watching the superbowl tomorrow!! someone's parents are gonna send a taping of the superbowl to the ship so we can all watch. it'll get to us in brazil, so that’ll be nice. i heard it's gonna be a superbowl with a record amount of people tuned in! we all know the Giants are in trouble. Not saying i’m rooting for the Pats, i’m just stating the obvious. email me if you have time, i’d love to hear from you when i get the chance to check my email! (jessica.pham@colorado.edu) It’s always nice to hear from home. Take care, everyone! Until next time…

Photos: http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2235942&l=af13f&id=10200447