Home. Where is it? ...and "What was your favorite country?"

Before I finished Semester at Sea, I was talking with a fellow SASer, and told them how my definition of home is so skewed at this point. I've called many places home. Home: Indio, CA. Home: Thousand Oaks, CA...and the big one...

Home: MV Explorer in:
- Canada
- Spain
- Morocco
- Ghana
- South Africa
- Mauritius
- India
- Vietnam
- Hong Kong
- Shanghai, China
- Japan
- Oahu, Hawaii
- Big Island, Hawaii

I realized prior to debarkation, that I have felt at home in a lot of places, and it amazes me. So how about my first home, I mean technically Indio, CA isn't even my first home, it's my second... so how does it feel to be home? How am I dealing with re-entry?

Well, to be quite honest, I can't say that I am. Every day it's the same old thing, waking up in the afternoon out of my coma from lack of sleep all semester. Sitting around working on pictures from the voyage, preparing a slideshow for my family, and being consumed in my life to come. It isn't until those pesky questions and phrases I long to hear come out..."How was it?" "What was your favorite country?" "I couldn't ever be on a ship that long" "Where all did you go?" "India...woah...how was it" that I realize I'm not just in another port anymore.

Night four of being home, I was curious as to what time on ship time was the following day, but there wasn't in fact the place I called home had left for someone else to call home for a few short days. Weird. It doesn't matter if I am not thinking about Semester at Sea, something still reminds me of it, and so many things have a new meaning, or just...are crazy to hear after seeing it or experiencing it. Some examples:

1) The following day after arriving in San Diego, I went to school where during the study break my friends played, "Jaiho" and "You're the One That I Want" - Grease. Jaiho to simply remind me of the night I showed it for Piano Bar Program Board and finally got to finish the movie. And India of course, and all that came with thinking of India. Then, the next song, how can anyone forget Sea Olympics and Don't forget the lyrics, aside from my terrible memory of lyrics of popular songs that we all knew, this one song was debated amongst all of us and little did we know we were all wrong. It's crazy how small these things are but how much they can remind you of.

2) I was at Best Buy with my friend, and we were walking around and all of a sudden I hear a familiar tune. Some girls were playing the demo rockband, which apparently now has a Beatles version. What song were they playing..."Yellow Submarine" except what did lyrics did I start singing..."We all live on a university, Semester at Sea, the best place to be"...my friend was so clueless.

3) Chinese food: how I miss you China for your wonderful food. I long for pan fried wantons, pot stickers, and pork puffballs...and I had them for dinner tonight. Not tasting nearly as good, the plum sauce wasn't black like in China, the puffball was half the size, and the potstickers were weird...but yet it felt so good to eat it and brought back lots of wonderful memories. Particularly almost missing my sleeper train with Randall, Gio, and Grace (miss you guys).

Now how about looking at a world map...weird. I signed so many of them before we left but never actually looked at it. Now off the ship looking at a map...and trying to realize that I went... *points* there, there, there, and there...oh and there. yea there too. it's so surreal. what evidence do I really have besides pictures and memories...pictures can be deleted and and memories fade. I realized something though...I will always have the passion for SAS. I realized that at my friend Austin's Christmas party. During reflection re-entry day on the ship we were told some people would really care about what we did and want to know everything and it was usually your family. Austin however was different, he wanted to know everything, and I was sort of summarizing and he said "Don't just like summarize it, I want to know EVERYTHING, every little detail!" It felt really good to hear that, and by the end of it he himself wanted to do the program, and that is exactly how I decided to do the program. When I heard someone as passionate as myself three years ago, at my university's admitted students day, talk about study abroad. They had done SAS, and by the end of that day, I didn't care where I went to school I just knew that I had to do Semester at Sea. It is because of Austin I realized, the ones that really want to know are going to be the greatest at helping in my re-entry. Even better, future voyagers, and those new to college are going to be the best listeners, and I can't wait to inspire others to do this program.

So am I dealing? Not really. I am pretending to deal or just shoving in the corner, we'll see what happens next semester but for now...I think I'll be okay. Thankfully I have Kiah to turn to at school whenever and her, me. Anyway! That's my Christmas Eve thought process ....not your typical one haha. :)

Thanks For Reading,
A-Ram

Japan: The Not So Easy Country After All

So we arrived in Japan on November 20th, in Yokohama. I had made travel plans with the sisters from Minnesota, Kelly Rose, and Liz. We started off the day walking around Yokohama and found a nice coffee shop to sit and relax and people watch for a bit. After some coffee we decided to make our way to Yokohama Tower to get a view of the city from the tallest building in the city with a full circle walk about. We headed up there and enjoyed the view for a bit and then headed out to get some lunch, after trying to find a place to eat Japanese food we figured since it was so expensive to just eat at Wendy’s where A) we knew we would like it and B) it was cheaper…except still seven bucks. After lunch we walked over to the little carnival area since we had been eyeing the ferris wheel all day. We found out how much it was and then proceeded to walk around Yokohama looking for the 100 Yen stores. Never finding it we ended up at some shopping area where I found a sweet jacket that I love so much! And it came with a t shirt and it was 22 bucks for both, I thought it was a steal for Japan. Haha. I could have bought all of the jackets but I refrained. We headed back towards the ship and eventually we made our way to the ferris wheel and rode it for 15 minutes then Kelly Rose and I decided to ride the rollercoaster as well, where I got in trouble for using my iPhone to video tape our adventure and they stopped us as we were slanted back going up the hill… that was fun. Once we finished all of that we headed back to the ship for dinner and then met with a larger group of people to go to karaoke. The night was real, and it was good but it wasn’t exactly real good. But hey karaoke was involved so you can’t complain too much. I don’t really remember what time we were out till but I know it was late.

Then we woke up the next morning and Laura and Becca had decided to leave at like 5:30AM so they could get to the fish market in Tokyo and then I woke up and met up with the other girls. They didn’t want to leave till much later so I just left with some other friends who were heading that way. One of my friends had actually been stranded in Shanghai as we traveled to Japan because she lost her Hong Kong mainlanders card while on my china trip and so she wasn’t allowed to leave China until she replaced it. Anyway we both had hostels in the same area so we left at around 10 and we didn’t end up getting to where wanted until about 1pm because of the long process. They made Japan transportation sound like it was the easiest and fastest thing…LIES. So by the time we got out of the station I called the hostel I was supposed to meet the girls at to figure out how to get there. Well I had a little surprise when I called the and the guy told me that we weren’t staying there because the confirmation didn’t go through and the girls had left…uhh WHAT?!?! So I panicked but knew that they would still be there at 1pm like we had planned so I went there anyway and sure enough they were there and Laura walks out and says “we have no where to sleep tonight!!!” and I was like “So I’ve heard” Anyway we waited around for the other girls to get there and they never showed and by three we definitely just didn’t want to spend our time in the lobby of the hostel we weren’t staying at. So we finally made our way towards the SAS hotel in another part of Tokyo after numerous calls to get a hold of Chris Battin for help and other hotels. We left the girls a note and made our way to the hotel to meet him since we had to be there for his birthday celebration anyway! We get there and the girls are there and we are there and happily reunited, we found some girls that agreed to let us crash in their room and then proceeded to freshen up and get ready for dinner and the Ice Bar. So we did that whole shebang, and I was really excited for the icebar and had the pleasure of arranging that for B-Payne’s 21st birthday..it was really cold and really fun. The night ended with barely catching the last train, me trying to figure out how to get back since I didn’t pay attention on the way over, and moving a large group of drunk people…great. Oh and how about me trying to communicate with the local to get me home…and in the end we managed to get lost and walk for two hours back to the hotel. WOO! Lol. Basically it was a rough night and I was exhausted and had along day ahead of me as I was traveling to Hiroshima by myself and was going to meet the girls back in Kobe the next day.

So I woke up later than I ahd planned and went to the concierege desk and they helped me figure out all the trains I need to take to get to Hiroshima, I ended up getting to Hiroshima around 1pm and staying until about 4pm when I caught my train to Kobe. Hiroshima was something else, it makes the Pearl Harbor Museum look like nothing. The memorial is really all about Peace. They make us out to seem real terrible and we were I agree but it was very hard for me to be there and be a believe of the fact that what we did was the only way to end the war quickly and without losing more and more people that woujld have exceeded the amount that did with the dropping of the atomic bomb. Unfortunately, I seemed to bet he only American at the memorial that day…and when you go by yourself you really feel like you are the only one. So I walked through the museum section pretty quickly but enjoyed the outside a lot. I couldn’t really believe I was there, it was amazing, I finally got to see something that I had studied so much in high school. I left Hiroshima and got to Kobe around 6:15 and somehow the girls had just gotten there too by the time I walked out to get the bus to the hotel, so I didn’t have to run around and search for them. We went to the hotel left to get food and hit up the 100Yen store and bought ridiculous stuff. Then went back to the hotel where we just relaxed since none of us had gotten any decient sleep the night before without beds or blankets. Man that was the best sleep ever.

The next day Kelly Rose and I headed back to the ship since we both had homestay/university visits. Unfortunately Kelly Rose was really sick and couldn’t make hers and then I left off to my university visit in Kyoto. The student that picked us up was named Yu and she was awesome. Just by the way she dressed I knew she was a rebel to Japanese society and I was totally right. We got to the university after losing someone along the way and I ate the weirdest lunch of my life, there were big fish little tiny fish that looked like noodles, it was weird. Seriously you would all be amazed at the stuff I’ve eaten on this damn trip. We ate, got into our groups and headed out to temples in Kyoto and walked around of course getting lost because even the students didn’t know where to go. We headed back for dinner which consisted of mass amounts of sushi, and other Japanese spring rolls and food. Had good conversation and a gift exchange. We then spent the night in a building that we couldn’t leave, now just imagine college students confined in a space…it’s not pretty, we even tried to escape. Haha. In the end it was ar ealy interesting day getting to know these Japanese students

The next day we headed out in our groups again and we went downtown and did some shopping, took some pictures in photo booths nad decorated them, it was hilarious!! Then I proceeded to try this dish that I can’t type out but it was dumpling based with a piece of octopus in the middle…yea like I said you would be really impressed the things I’ve eaten. Then I bought my favorite little “puff balls” as I call them they were just the meat dumpling but they were big puffs of dough mmm so good, and they sold them at gas stations it was awesome. We finally headed towards the area where the Geisha’s were supposed to be  but unfortunately didn’t get to see any, so we started to make our way back towards Kobe. We hung out and said bye and two of the students got on the train with us back towards their home and we went back to Kobe. The university visit was awesome, I am really glad I did it because I got to know a lot more about Japanese students and had a lot of fun with people from the ship as well. Well that’s Japan…sorry it’s late…and I’ll do Hawaii too…


HAWAII WAS AWESOME…I GOT TO SEE RANDY…THE END!

A-Ram

I'll Go Back To China Just To Say "Chiner" "Pander" and Wear My Panda Hat

Well what to say about China…it was freezing….I slept on the Great Wall…in the freezing weather, …oh and there was snow…and not many other people get to see the wall with snow on it. I enjoyed Beijing, did lots of shopping. Ate lots of Chinese food, man I am missing it already, I could stay there just for the food. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell for those of you who want the short version. Now here is the long version

The first day I spent in Hong Kong with the tour I put together through the China Guide, we got to see all sorts of cool stuff. We went up to Victoria Peak and got a great view of Hong Kong, had a great dim sum lunch, saw Arbedeen Fishing Village and went to Man Mao Temple. We also got to go to Stanley Market through our tour to do a little shopping, but it wasn’t the best market I have ever seen in my life, I heard the shopping in Beijing was good so I waited till then. That night Collin had invited me earlier in the day to go to dinner with him and his mom, and some of our other friends. We went to this cute little restaurant close by with a great view of the waterfront buildings for the light show. We had an amazing and long dinner with wine and conversation and a light show (which is nothing like the Disneyland one…hopes crushed). After that we went out to LKF and I met up with friends that were there too, just enjoyed being there watching everyone make a fool of themselves as usual. I did get to call Emily while in the Russian Ice Bar (so lame) because there is free wifi everywhere in Hong Kong (but not China). We finally headed back to the ship and got a good night’s sleep as we had to be up and ready the next morning to be taken to the airport. After we got all checked in, Gio, Grace, and Lindsay and I all went to get some food. I got myself two orders of pan fried dumplings…yum yum. Then we proceeded to wait for our plane so we could board and get ourselves to Beijing.

When we arrived in Beijing we got to our hotel, checked in and then Randall, Gio, and I went to dinner with some other people and had the worst American food of our lives. I didn’t want to eat American food but we ended up there and it was just terrible. Then we hung around that place talking with the people who were selling stuff and bought our Panda hats! Yay! We were arguing over prices until Randall finally put her hat on and was like, “guys let’s just pay her it’s fine, I really like panda hat” (I just literally laughed out loud as I wrote this because the tone was hilarious). So we wore panda’s and roamed the streets near our hotel. We headed back and hung out in Randall’s room then headed to bed as the next day was going to be eventful, because it was the day that we headed to the Great Wall.

In the morning we woke up and they took us to the Silk Market because the weather was colder than they expected for us to sleep on the great wall and they wanted to make sure we had enough warm clothes. So I got some water proof pants, and long thick socks so I wouldn’t freeze my butt off. Then after we were done there we proceeded to go on a hutong tour where we ate at a family’s home and learned about the hutong’s and that family’s particular story. Then we rode a rickshawk through the rest of the hutongs and ended up and the drum tower and got to watch them play the huge drums. After that we then proceeded on our long journey to the Great Wall of China. I knocked out for a while but as we got closer it was fun to see the temperature continue to drop even though it was like 3 in the afternoon. We were the first bus to get to the spot where we were doing our sunset hike. We hiked up there and got some great pictures of the wall with the snow and the sun setting, and some panda hat pictures too haha. We then went back down and had dinner a restaurant at the bottom of the mountain, after dinner is when the real fun began and we all realized that we were really going to freeze our asses off. So we started putting on our 8 layers of clothes each on the bus, which was interesting and had about an hours hike up to our sleeping spot and that’s where we just hung out until it got too cold to not be in our sleeping bags. I saw my first shooting star finally, and I am glad I can say I saw it on the Great Wall of China. We fell asleep freezing and woke up freezing to a beautiful sunrise and I couldn’t feel my feet which was fun. The lame people slept in the guard tower where they had a fire but me and my friends slept out under the stars like champions…guess I am ready for Minnesota winters now dontcha know?

So that day was full of hiking and then heading back to Beijing for our last night in Beijing. I ended up going to the market again and a Chinese Acrobat show with some friends through our tour company which was crazy to see, and then afterwards we headed back to the hotel after spending twenty minutes trying to get a taxi that wanted to take us back to our hotel. It was a huge problem. We finally got back and we ate at this little street food place which was amazing! Then because we were so tired we just went back to the hotel while everyone else went out and partied with the Ying Yang Twins (oh well). I met up with some other friends who were just drinking beer and chatting and I chatted with them until I was too tired. The next day was going to be very long and I wanted to make sure I got some sleep for our epic journey of all the sights in Beijing.

In the morning we got on our busses and started our day off at the Forbidden City, it was huge, and never ending it seemed like and there were so many people. It was also very cold so we were literally running through the Forbidden City so we didn’t freeze. The pictures are awesome so I can’t really talk about it other than saying I was there. As we ended the tour of the Forbidden City we then reached Tiananmen Square and ventured that way as our bus was meeting us on the other side of the square. It was really weird to be there and not talk about what happened but just walk through it. Since the government forbids anyone from talking about it we couldn’t ask our tour guide about it either. After we left there we went to a local restaurant where we had the best duck lunch and other wonderful foods where we got to use the thin tortilla like things to put the plum sauce with the duck in it.. Gosh it was sooo good! Anyway after that we went to the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube. I decided to pay to get into the Bird’s Nest just for your Kyle. It was amazing. The structure itself is a work of art I couldn’t believe how crazy it was or how it was holding up the stadium for that matter. Once we left there we headed over to Summer Palace which was equally as large as the Forbideen City it seemed like since we were freezing. Then we had finished early so our tour guide with our bus driver gave us the option of going to a Kung Fu show or to another market as we had four hours till our train was going to leave anyway. So I went to the market and just hung around there until they picked us up again to take us to the train station. So now here comes the fun story…
So I am with Grace, Randall, and Gio and we went on a hunt for some food among other things for our sleeper train ride to Shanghai. We didn’t know that there was a time to board the train or let alone that the boarding time was at 9. We just knew the train left at 9:30 or something like that. So we finish our dinner and go to where everyone was and no one is there, and just our bags and sitting there, with no one around. Gio had ran to the bathroom, and it was just us three girls and finally Randall said someone needs to go get our tour guide and catch up to them, so mind you I decide to run since I planned the whole dang trip. What I didn’t tell you is that the bag I bought an hour before at the market had broken so I have a one wheeled rolling (sort of) duffel that weighs a ton from all the poker chips my supervisor gave to me and a duffel bag full of clothes and shoes…and I am running and have no idea where to go. So I finally find this gate that has the train number I am supposed to be on. I see that it’s open so I was like okay good. Well I need to get cart 4 and I am at cart 28 which by the way ended up being like cart 203482034823094 when you are running with like 50 lb weight on you. So I am running dragging everything along finally get on the train and see that it’s a mess already and I run off and start running back towards the gate to find my friends. I see them and they are freaking out. Randall is having a panic attack to the point where I can’t understand a word she is saying we get on the next open door of the train and I just have them walk to cart four and the train starts moving. We literally barely made it. So we get on the sleeper train and have drama over rooms and stuff but it eventually works itself out and we have great conversation until bed time.

We awoke the next day in Shanghai and were taken to the ship and it was all ugly and raining and since there were 70 of us we had a long line outside the ship and checking the bags process. Finally once I was done with that I went to my room and just went back to bed for a little bit, showered then went up to lunch and saw friends who wanted to go get rail passes much like I did and go shopping. So I went and did that on what was supposed to be our last day on the ship…but apparently the weather was terrible at sea so we had an extra night and half day in Shanghai. I didn’t really do much besides get my rail pass, go shopping, hang with the friends and then went to sleep. I didn’t bother to go out at night or the next day as I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Anyway, that was china, it was awesome. The people suck, they don’t like to talk to you and aren’t ncie to you but I would go back solely for shopping and to say Chiner and Pander. Woo!
A-Ram