Life on this ship is actually way cooler than I thought it would be. I thought it would be boring, with not much to do, but that is not the case. Because we don’t have internet or tv or phone or anything, we are forced to make our own fun. I love this. Some times I’ll just hang out and talk at the piano bar, or I love spending time out on the 7th deck by the pool. I meet the coolest people by just walking around talking to people. I have class every day until 13:30, and then I have the rest of the day I have free to do whatever. I have homework, but not a ton yet. A lot of reading to do though! The water has been pretty rough today and last night, and a lot of people are pretty sea sick. I am one of the few lucky ones who don’t get sea sick one bit. Things were flying across rooms last night it was so crazy, and I was just fine. It rocked me to sleep like a little baby. I love it! It’s funny to watch people walk though, everyone looks extremely drunk.
Yesterday when people were starting to get back onto the ship, a lot of people were pretty intoxicated, so I couldn’t tell if they were walking like that because of the ship rocking or because of the rum. Hahaha So I was sitting in the piano bar with Kayla and this guy walked up and asked if we minded if he played the piano for a little while. I couldn’t tell if he was serious, or if he was just going to go bang on some keys. We told him that of course we didn’t mind. He went over to the piano and Kayla and I continued our conversation. To our surpise, this kid is like freaking MOZART. Most incredible piano playing I have ever heard. I turned around and just stared for like ten minutes. I was legit melting. When he was done playing, he came over and sat down with us. He introduced himself and asked where we were from. CRAZY STORY: we go to school like 5 mins away from each other. His name is Hasan and he is the most amazing piano player I have ever heard.
I love moments like these, meeting such interesting people just because no one knows anyone so everyone is so open. Ok, dinner time! Email me to keep in touch: lcsutherland@semesteratsea.net
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Ship Life So far
Dominica January 16 and 17, 2011.
At 7:00 on the first morning that we were in Dominica, my room started rumbling like it always does when the engine turns on or off. I’m in the back of the ship, so I’m pretty close to the engine. I jumped out of bed (well, ok I stumbled) to look out the window. Outside, there was the most beautiful, lush, green mountainous island. It was raining when I looked out, but I didn’t even care. Once I got up to the garden lounge to have breakfast, it had stopped raining. I was meeting with a group of 30 other students who all singed up for this tour (Bumpiing tour) that Tram set up for us, and handed off to Jojo when she left. When we walked off the ship and down the stairs to the dock, it really hit me. This is happening. This is my life right now. Most of the time, I feel like I am in one big dream… but it’s really happening. So when we get down to the dock, I stopped and stared for a few minutes. This island is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I couldn’t have even imagined something so amazing. The way the sun makes all the green shine with the water from the rain or waterfalls is incredible. It’s almost magical how beautiful this island looks. We met our tour guides right at the port, Levi and Gary. Right away, they were so friendly and I could tell it was going to be a fun day. Kayla and I sat in the front of the van with our driver, Gary, and the whole van was singing along to Bob Marley. Driving through the mountains to Titou Gorge was so amazing. I took video for a little while of driving and singing, but my camera died. I’m going to steal Francisco’s photos of the whole trip because he had an underwater camera and he got some incredible photos when we were swimming through the gorge. Titou Gorge is where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed, and it was the most spectacular place. We all swam through it and got to the end where there was a waterfall that you could climb up (with someone pulling you up because the current was pretty strong) and then once you got above it, you were in another pool of water above your head. We hung out up there and took some pictures, and then one by one jumped off the waterfall back down into the gorge. Someone actually took a picture of my tattoo that says “Jump first, fear later.” How fitting! So after Titou Gorge, Gary and Levi took us to Trafalgar falls. They are twin waterfalls up in the mountains with hot springs around the base. We were all making our way through the string of hot springs, when Gary asked for the adventurous people to follow him. He told us we were going to make our way up to the actual base of the larger waterfall to swim in it’s pool. To get up there, you have to scramble over boulders, rocks, and streams, and it’s all really steep and slippery. In between all the larger rocks were those smaller rocks that hurt your feet. We were all barefoot and in our bathing suits, so needless to say I have some battle wounds. I felt like a monkey trying to get up and over all those rocks. Once we got up though, it was the most breath taking view and feeling. I felt like I was inside a movie. The only way I can think to describe it so you can picture it is like Pandora (from Avatar). It was so lush and green and tropical… with the sun catching the mist from the waterfall just right and everything was glistening. It was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen in my life. Coming down from those rocks… that is a whole different story.
We explored the island some more with Gary and Levi, and then before they took us back to the ship, they made a detour and took us to this place where you could look out over the entire city and ocean. It was sunset, and so amazing. We all took a bunch of pictures, and at that moment I was almost glad I didn’t have my camera. When I have my camera, sometimes I forget to see things with my own eyes. It was refreshing to really take in the beauty of this whole day. Gary dropped us off at the ship and gave us his number in case we wanted him to take us out that night. We all ended up going to this bar called JR’s or JD’s or something like that, and it was SO crowded and you had to wait in line for like an hour just to get one tiny drink, so all the taxi drivers told us that Crazy Coconuts (or Club 91) opened up just for us. There was a mad dash to get there. Idin and I lost part of our group in the rush, so we ended up taking a cab by ourselves and then met up with everyone at the club. We all had an awesome night, I met so many new people and got to hang out with people I had talked to previously. We ended up seeing Gary there, and he offered to take us back to the ship when ever we were ready. He stayed sober all night so that he could drive us back. It never ceases to amaze me how friendly all the people that I have met so far can be. We danced the night away and then ended up going back to the ship.
The next day, we went to find an internet café to try and upload some pictures. Then for the rest of the day, we just wandered around the island shopping around in some little markets and got lunch at this place called “The Garage.” We waited about an hour or more for our food, so by the time it came we all devoured it! On ship time was 6pm, so we all went back at around 3 or 4 and then relaxed and watched the sunset from the ship. I got some amazing pictures of the island at sunset, and looking through them I am constantly asking: “is this really my life?”
Saturday, January 15, 2011
JANUARY 13th, 2011- first full day at sea.
Yesterday was a whirlwind of emotions to say the least. I thought I was going to cry or be extremely upset saying goodbye to my parents when I got on the ship, but surprisingly I wasn’t! I mean, it was sad, but I was just so excited to finally get on the ship that I didn’t even take the time to think about it. I got on the ship and found my little box… I mean cabin. Gina was already all unpacked, and I didn’t even know where to begin. We found Idin’s room, because he is really close to us! We wrote a post-it that said “3133… see you there” and stuck it on his door. I wish you could hear his accent. He is from Iran (I think I’ve said this before…) and has the greatest accent. I don’t even know how this got started, but when we hung out with him in the Bahamas, it became out joke to always try and say “see you there” in his accent. I’ll get a video someday, you need to hear it. So we went to lunch out on the deck, and met some more people. After lunch I finally came back and unpacked… it was a nightmare. The ship was supposed to set sail at 5pm, but because of all the storms back home, they had to hold it until 8:30. They thought they were going to hold us until midnight, but everyone finally got in. We had one meeting before we set sail last night, and it was honestly the most awkward thing. Most of us were extremely exhausted, so when the speaker told us to close our eyes (she was doing some sort of meditation thing) just about everyone fell asleep. I ate dinner with 9 of the people I met in the Bahamas. It was nice to have a somewhat… family dinner. After dinner, Greg wanted to teach me how to play cribbage, so we went up on the 7th deck by the pool with some people to try and play… but the wind was trying to steal our cards. We sat up there and talked until 8:30, when everyone came outside to say goodbye to the Bahamas and our families. It was the most incredible feeling seeing the ropes come up and watching the shore get further away. We had some more meetings last night, and went to bed pretty early. The water was a bit rough last night and this morning, so everyone has been trying (but most, not succeeding) to getting their sea legs. My cabin is at the back of the ship, so the noise of the engine puts me right to sleep. A lot of people don’t like it, but I need that white noise to sleep. The rocking of the boat was an interesting feeling, but everyone will tell you that it makes us all SO tired. I slept for a good amount of time last night, and I still feel like I could sleep all day. Today, we are pretty much spending all day in the union for orientation. I sat with Idin, Gina, Gavin, and Drew all morning in the first part. Gina and Idin fell asleep so eventually they just went back to the room. I dozed off a few times, but forced myself to stick it out. We’ll see how the rest of the day goes. We just figured out that they stream what is going on in the Union on our tv’s in the cabin… so if I really can’t handle it (the rocking is the worst in the union, by the way) then I’ll come back and listen from bed! I’ll be uploading pictures when I’m in port because we can’t upload pics on the ship. Classes start in the morning, and I’m very excited! I got all my books yesterday, and there are SO many. This is definitely not going to be an easy semester… but that’s the great thing. I’m going to be challenged in so many ways and I can’t wait. Alright, that’s all for now! I’m going up on the pool deck to see nothing but ocean.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
These days are starting to blend together.
We had planned on yesterday being a pretty relaxing day, and for the most part, it was. Until about 4:30… but lets start at the beginning. We took our time waking up and getting ready and headed to the beach. When we got outside the hotel, Aaron was there and told us that the ship had arrived in port and you could see it if you walked down to the water! They all made bets that I would freak out when they told me, and then cry when I saw it. I freaked out yes, but did NOT cry! Hahah It’s just so surreal seeing the ship we are going to be living on! So after we saw the ship, we layed on the beach for a while, and then planned on going parasailing, but changed our minds last minute. We went to eat at this little local fast food place called Imperials (it’s the cheapest place we can find… we eat there all the time now) and then cam back and hung out here. Tram and Rolando got in at about 5, and I was so so so excited! Rolando went to his place on Paradise Island before I could “meet” him, so we took our time getting ready and then took the water taxi over. That was an awesome way to go, let me tell you! Kayla asked the driver if he wanted her to drive because he seemed a little… off (She jokes a lot) and he goes “noo baby, you are too sober to drive” We got to sit on the roof of the boat, which was so awesome! So here is the… fun part of the day. Once we got onto Paradise Island, we literally walked for about 2 hours trying to find the place that Rolando was staying. We finally found it, and he was just leaving to go somewhere with his roommate, Idin. We were so lucky to get there when we did! We hung out in their AMAZING condo for a little while, before walking back (BAD idea) to the towne to get food at imperial. By this time, there were about ten of us. All in all, we walked about 4 hours yesterday… I guess it’s good training for what’s about to come! After dinner, Tram, Rolando, and Idin and I took a cab (why we didn’t do this earlier is beyond me…) back to their condo to meet their other roommate, Francisco. When we got there, Francisco was standing outside with another SAS kid, Drew. It was very cool to meet both of them! We hung out at their place for a while, and Gina came over for a bit with her friends. Oh—somewhere in all of this, I got my hair braided on the beach (these days are starting to blend together, bare with me). My braids were really hurting my head and giving me a constant headache, so I was going to take them out, when Idin asked if he could do one. So, Idin and Francisco ended up taking all my braids out. It was actually really funny, two guys concentrating so hard on my braids.
The next day, Tram and I pretty much spent all day on Paradise Island, not even knowing where the boys were. It’s our joke, that we spend all day going back and forth between the islands. And the boys come over here to wait for us, and then we take too long so they go back and then we go over there and then we come back and so forth and so on. So yesterday, we got dunkin’ donuts because it was cheap and Tram had never been to one before! We then tried to wave a taxi down, but no one would pick us up! Normally, when you walk around the streets, taxi’s wave YOU down to ask if you need a ride, but then the one time we actually tried to do it ourselves, no one would stop! So we finally got over there, and Idin wasn’t answering my texts, so we went up to their condo and sat outside their door for a good hour. It was actually really fun. We tried to pick the lock… didn’t work. Finally they came back, and we met their 4th roommate max, and hung out with them for the rest of the night (until my parents got here). We hung out by their amazing pool, and sat in the hottub. Well, I had my clothes on so I sat on the edge. We took a bunch of pictures, and in one of them, Francisco and Idin tried to pull my into the hottub. I went in a little bit, but caught myself! I hate being in wet clothing! My parents got here later that night, and took Rolando, Tram and I out to dinner on Paradise Island (I told you, we go back and forth so many times). After dinner, Tram and Rolando and I went back to his condo and started to watch a movie. About 30 mins into the movie, Tram told us she was going home. This is something we had been battling with her for a while, and she finally made the decision. I won’t lie, I cried. Tram and Rolando are more than just SAS friends for me, we are super super close and I can’t picture myself doing this trip without one of them. We can’t tie her down though. It’s going to be hard for a while, but I know I’ll make more amazing friends on this trip. Alright—time to explore the island! I can’t believe I’m getting onto the ship tomorrow!!
(Pictures of all of the above will be up here soon!)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Bahamas day two: Jan 8th, 2011.
It’s the morning of day three, and I’m loving the Bahamas. I still can’t believe I’m walking around in shorts and a tank… in January! So amazing! So yesterday I woke up pretty early and waited for the boys to get up to start our day. When everyone was up, we decided to go walk around and see the straw market. It was pretty crowded, but very cool! We didn’t really stop and shop, we just walked straight through to the back, to get to the water where all the ships are docked. It was the first time I was seeing the water in the daylight, and I was in absolute awe. It is the most beautiful aqua color, I just want to jump in and live in it! We were walking alone and found this glass bottom boat tour, and decided it would be a fun idea. It was a small boat, and it took us around paradise island, showing us all the famous people’s house. We saw Oprah’s house, Mick Jagger (I think), Tom Cruise… just crazy famous people. When we were out there, Tom told us that he has actually been on Tom Cruise’s yacht, with Tom Cruise… insane! The tour guide’s name was Angelo, and he was a pretty cool guy. At one point, he stopped the boat and put the anchor down and started feeding the fish. We saw some awesome fish, a lot of snappers (the kind we ate the other night…) Tom and Bruno decided it was a good idea to jump in and swim under the glass bottom so that we could take pics of them with the fish. I was so envious, I wanted to jump in so badly but I didn’t have my suit and I hate being in wet clothes. They said the water was amazing. When we were out there, we saw a whole different side of the island that we would really love to explore. A few of us (depending on how much money we have left!) want to rent scooters and go find some back roads and explore! We all decided that we’d try to do one cool thing a day, so that we weren’t blowing all our money in one spot. I swear I feel like I’m going to be broke before I even get on the ship! It’s really just the food that I hate paying for though, I can’t wait to get on the ship and not have to spend money to eat! So after the boat, we walked around for a while, and then came back for a bit and relaxed in the room. We met up with Kayla and then went to spend some time on the beach. I got sucked into THE ultimate tourist trap and got my hair braided. I feel so silly and I feel like I look so weird. The guys say it looks awesome though, so I’ll take their word for it and leave them in for a few days at least. After the beach, the boys went to buy some wine and then we all hung out on the rooftop deck talking and having some wine. We left to get dinner at this really good Bahamian fast food place down the street (we’re going for cheap!) and then hung out some more on the roof. We had an awesome time just talking and laughing and getting to know one another. Bruno still cracks us all up. He blames any kind of weird thing on “it’s a cultural thing.” It’s so funny when he chimes in with his little “bruno-ism’s” We’ve all decided that we are going to make a movie about Bruno and all the funny things he says. It’s going to be called “Bruno liiiikes this.” After a while of hanging out on the roof, we all went to walk Kayla back to her hotel and then Tom and Alex went to a local bar, and Ben and I went to go sit by the water. We ended up staying there for a few hours just talking about literally everything. When we got back to the room it was 3am and Tom and Alex had just gotten back too. I slept really well last night, but woke up pretty early again! I wish I could sleep in here!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Bahamas day one: Jan 7th, 2011.
So it’s the morning of my first full day in Nassau. I got in at about 5:30 last night, and Ben (an SAS kid from Montana) was waiting for me at the airport. We stayed there for about an hour to wait for the other guy we are staying with, Tom. When he came through the gate, he was wearing a SAS hat. This is such a good idea! Everywhere we go, we see college-aged kids and wonder if they are doing SAS or not. If we walk around with Tom though, everyone knows we are doing it! So I got literally no sleep last night... I hate sleeping in a new place, but I'll get used to it. When we got to the hotel, we met up with a few other SAS kids, Bruno and Kayla, and Tom’s (non SAS) friend Alex. We put all our luggage in out tiny room, and walked around the city trying to find a place to eat. It was kind of fun walking around not knowing where we were going... we just looked for bright lights and walked towards them. The locals are so friendly here! This guy Matthew took us under his wing and walked us to all his favorite restaurants and told us what was good and what wasn’t. We ended up walking in circles, and finally decided on eating at this place called “Goldie’s.” They have “Barracuda” on the menu, and Matthew said to “eat at your own risk, man” He told us that some kinds are poisonous, but they are the sweetest fish in the sea, so you have to take your chance and try it anyway. Bruno, Tom, and Alex were going to try it, but they were all out. We ended up all getting fried snapper, but mine was the only one that had the head cut off. We had this awesome waitress that taught us how to eat the fish head, and everyone pretty much devoured the whole thing, eyeballs and all! I don’t think I’ve ever even eaten fish, I’m not going to eat the head on my first try! The fish was actually really good, but I wasn’t too hungry. We walked around some more after dinner and came back to the room by like 9:30 and talked until 1 and went to sleep. So far, I love the friends I’m making! The boys are all really nice, and Kayla is so fun! Bruno is absolutely hilarious. He is from Brazil, so he doesn’t speak perfect English and has a very strong accent. He always says “Bruno likes this” and the entire group of us just laugh. Actually, pretty much whatever he says is hilarious and he has us almost crying with laughter. It’s 8:30 in the morning, and Tom and I are the only ones awake. We’re about to go wake the others up so they don’t miss the free breakfast in the hotel, and then we are going to try and find some sort of grocery store to buy bread and pb and j... food here is really expensive, but everyone serves the exact same thing... you just have to try and find the cheapest place. All the restaurants have the prices outside on big menu boards... but once you are inside and get the real menu the price is jacked up. I’ll try to keep this blog up as much as possible, but internet on the ship is limited. I think I’m going to write out a bunch of blog posts on word, and then post them all at the same time. Maybe country by country? For now though, here’s my first post!
Ben eating a fish head
"Bruno liiiikes thiiiisss"
ps. I left my little camera at home. Mom and Dad are bringing it out when they get here on Monday, but for now, my phone will have to do! haha