There have been a few changes to the itinerary of my trip, mostly minor and not worth noting here... except in Brazil. Instead of going to Salvador, we are going about 900 miles north into Manaus. Now, this is all great and dandy, and actually quite exciting... but also pretty upsetting for me. I had plans to see Caue, a very close friend of mine, in Rio. Manaus is waaaaay far away from Rio, so my plans are out the window.

Manaus will be exciting, just in a totally different way. I am talking to Caue right now and this is how he describes it. "You're only gonna see wild Brazil. Like places where people don't go to. NO CLUBS. NO PARTIES. Just plants and exotic animals. AND LOTS OF MOSQUITOES"Granted, I am not going on this trip to party, I am going to see and learn the cultures (and a multitude of other reasons) but I had my hopes up for this one leg of my journey. Caue and I planned it all out, and now our plans are shot. Yes, I am a bit upset right now, today, at this moment... but I will get over it, and when I do, I will become VERY VERY excited for the fact that I am traveling down the Amazon river, into the heart of the rainforest. Incredible. I can not WAIT for this amazing experience!

Beginning.

So this is pretty much a test post, but also a beginning. I have been fully accepted, as well as confirmed for a 3rd deck outside on the ship! I am starting to (well... i have been for months! haha) really research each country and figure out what type of stuff I might like to do or see! Here is the list of countries that I will be visiting on this adventure:

• Nassau, Bahamas
• Rosseau, Dominica
• Salvador, Brazil
• Tema (Accra), Ghana
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Port Louis, Mauritius
• Chennai, India
• Singapore
• Ho Chi Minh, City, Viet Nam
• Hong Kong/Shanghai, China
• Kobe/Yokohama, Japan
• Hilo, Hawaii
• San Diego, CA USA

Incredible, right?! I'm hoping to blog throughout the entire journey, but Internet is limited on the ship (and expensive!) and I'm not sure how much I'm actually going to want to carry my laptop around in the countries! I'll try to keep this updated though! I guess you can email posts (which would be free for me) to this blog? So I'll test it out and hopefully use that as a way to keep everyone in my life updated!

Also, I'll update a few times before the spring semester for things like my SAS email (one of the only ways you will be able to contact me or vice versa when I'm out in the world) and any other important updates that I may have! So check back later on in the summer or next semester!

I'm so excited and ready for this next HUGE chapter in my life!