Ship Life

Where to start… right now I’m in my cabin, resenting myself for waiting seven days to make the first entry since I boarded the ship and began the voyage across the Atlantic. Departing from Halifax seems like a lifetime ago, and what I remember since then seems like a whirlwind of new faces, names, and events.

Living on the sea is, to say the least, a drastic change from my usual life: my bed rocks up and down while I sleep, the clock moves forward an hour each night, and the whole day takes place no farther than 5 minutes from my room. The transition though really reminds me of freshman year – being suddenly thrown into new surroundings with nothing familiar around you, and basically starting over: new friends, new routines, a new way of life. It’s a lot of fun once you get over the initial awkward phase of not knowing anyone. The people I’ve met here are probably the best part of this trip so far. I wasn’t sure what kinds of people would show up to a trip like this – most people I’ve known have spent their whole lives in one country, and traveling to 8 countries in one summer at the age of 21, in my opinion, takes some balls and an adventurous spirit. I was half-expecting this to be a huge party-boat, but I was surprised and pleased to quickly find out that I was absolutely wrong. The students here are generally intelligent, hard-working, open-minded, and well-traveled. When I tell people I’m from Hawaii almost everyone tells me about their experience there – most of the people I’ve met since high school can’t even pronounce Kihei (my hometown), but in the past 24 hours I’ve met two people who have actually been there. Already I’ve hung out with a student from Saudi Arabia, had breakfast with a kid from Pakistan, and sat next to a girl from South Africa in class. And best of all, every single student here shares my excitement for traveling abroad.

The professors here are equally amazing. I didn’t really think about this before but I can’t even imagine the level of competition there is for a position teaching on a cruise ship that travels across the Mediterranean in the summertime. And naturally, every professor I have is absolutely brilliant, engaging, and fascinating. One is a Cornell grad with a PhD from U of Chicago, another a business professor at UVA, and the other is a quirky clinical psychologist who’s worked and lived in London, South Korea, Japan, Guam, and an endless list of states in the US. The Global Studies professor in particular is one of the most interesting lecturers I’ve ever listened to – he’s probably the first person to ever get me excited about history, and already I’ve sensed a profound shift in my understanding of the globe and the places in which I’ve lived or traveled to.

Most of the day is taken up with class and readings, but I’ve been able to find time here and there to exercise on the deck while watching the ocean pass by, have meals with friends or at least friendly-looking strangers, and lay in the sun while listening to music. At night the ship gets lively at Pub Night up on the top deck, even though we’re only given three drinks per night. We’ve been getting around this by storing drinks in containers and saving up for small parties in the cabins.

Tomorrow: Spain. There was a presentation last night on Spanish food and I’m ecstatic thinking about all the stuff I want to try. I’ll be spending the day in Cadiz, then the next day my plan is to take a train up to Seville, and then on to Cordoba. No real plans about what to do but I’m hoping to watch a bull fight and definitely walk around the city hopping around through Tapas bars. I’ll try to find an internet café along the way and try to upload some pictures if I have the time.

Japan to Halifax

After waking at 4am at my grandparents' home in Saitama, Japan, I traveled by car, then train, then bus to Narita Airport, and went on to endure a grueling and sleepless 30-hour journey from Japan to Halifax where I'll be boarding the ship for the first time later today.

In Narita I randomly chatted up an American guy sitting next to me who looked like Santa Clause on a Carribbean vacation, who turned out to be a college professor/traveling writer/sailing enthusiast badass. Hearing about my plans he told me the story of a Robin Graham who sailed around the world alone at age 16, and whose historic sailboat "Dove" he had come to acquire. He kindly wrote me a good-luck letter during the flight and handed it to me in Chicago. Random encounter but meeting interesting people like this is one of my favorite things about traveling.

I got into Halifax at 10pm and even though I hadn't slept for over a day, I had trouble sleeping and woke up at 7:30, after which I went downstairs and had an awesome Canadian breakfast next to a scenic lake. With three cups of coffee and ham in my system I'm feeling pretty good, and since my taxi will be here to take me to port in 15 minutes I should probably stop writing now. The day I've been waiting for is finally here.

My Journey

I’ll be using this blog to record my voyage on the summer program of Semester at Sea, as I travel to eight countries in 67 days. From Halifax, Nova Scotia, the MV Explorer will take me across the Atlantic and through the Mediterranean Sea, stopping at ports in Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, and Morocco before returning to the US. Prepare to be jealous, and enjoy!