The Final Stretch

The stretch between Hawaii and Japan was an excruciating 10 days; once i saw land i couldn't wait to get off. But as we sailed back home to the U.S, I couldn't help but wish I had the ability to slow time down and make the 9 days last just a little bit longer.

Most of my time was spent frantically trying to scramble all the work I had done this semester to turn in for final projects, or I was kooked up in my room studying. One thing I definitely learned on the ship was time management. Somehow- although I'm not sure exactly how- i was able to both study hard, and keep my normal routine of laying out in the afternoon, hang out with friends, and watching movies at night. I know... a rough life. Holing up in my room, classroom 8 or the Union paid off though because I found out that i knocked my classes out of the park! This semester is probably the best I have, or ever will do, in college. Hopefully it's not all down hill from here. But don't get me wrong, it's not because the classes were too easy, or there wasn't much work. Towards the end the professors certainly piled it on, but I think I succeeded the most because I made the projects and papers fun to write, and actually enjoyed writing about what I had learned and experienced.

Once the exams had been taken and the projects turned in, the entire feel of the ship changed. At first it was a buzz of excitement. The first night free for everyone was filled by the Alumni Ball, a nice dinner and dance where everyone dresses up in their nicest attire. I wore my dress I had made in Vietnam and most of the guys dawned their handmade suits. Wine was served- the glasses were rarely allowed below half full if you tipped them well, so the general air was one of drunken happiness. And champagne was popped to celebrate; a good way to end the voyage.

Of course after the excitement of the Alumni Ball faded, it started to set in that Semester at Sea was coming to a close. The next morning there was convocation- cheesy, but worth going to, and a funny closing pre-port lecture "preparing us to get to Ft. Lauderdale" It was definitely sad, but I think a lot of people were ready to get back home. Personally, all I wanted to do was hang out with friends for the last time before we'd have to say goodbye on May 5th.

I wrote this blog after I already got back, so the accounts of events were more nostalgic than anything else. I got my luggage today and as I opened it up I found a few thing hidden in my bag that I didn't even know I had packed. I will certainly miss Semester at Sea and probably consider it the best semester of my life, but I am glad to be back home in Charlottesville (although it's a bit cold, everything is beautiful and so green!) If anyone has any questions about my trip, feel free to ask, I love talking about it! Also, most of my pictures are posted on my facebook page for those interested. Otherwise, I'll miss you all from Semester at Sea, but I'm sure we'll see each other sometime soon!

Circus Freaks

What was perhaps one of the most memorable parts of Salvador was the morning trip to the circus. I had already been to see the Chinese Acrobats, so I didn't think anything could top that, so when Skye and I sat down on a concrete riser we weren't really sure what to expect. I had thought it was supposed to just be our group of 20 or so Semester at Sea students to watch the show, but just before the performance began, a heard of little Brazilian children came charging into the arena and filled up the entire tent. Great. I get stuck on the end next to 3 girls about 7 or 8 who are squirming in their seats, anxiously awaiting the clowns to enter onto the stage. this would have been fine, except on girl decided it was a fun game to kick me, eat her cheetos while crumbling crumbs onto my head. To top it off, the girls found a stray cat that they continuously tried to have me hold and eat off my head... it was hot, the show was entirely in portuguese so I understood next to nothing, and sadly, the Chinese Acrobats were better.

But what I thought was going to be a miserable experience turned out to be a wonderful one- once all the children left that it. I was not sad to see the little Brazilian girl go with her sticky orange cheeto fingers. Semester at Sea had arranged for us to learn how to do circus things after the show was over. The first talent we were going to *try and learn was trampoline jumping. We were instructed to jump on a spring board, then a trampoline, and try various things: jumping, tucking, summersulting... honestly, this was not my forte, however skye was able to do a complete flip in the air (although I'm not sure the clowns enjoyed that, their eyes bugged out and each sucked in their breath as he landed with a smack on the mat.) The other events we tried were tight rope walking, trapeze, juggling, unicycling, and some cheerleading stunts. I was fairly good at trapeze and tight rope walking, but not nearly good enough to join the circus. But it sure was fun!

Salvador, Brazil

So I am technically home already, but I wanted to finish up my blog posts. I know a few of you have asked if I would- apologies for taking so long. At the end of the voyage things got very hectic with exams and saying goodbyes.

Salvador was a wonderful port. I had no unpleasant experiences, unlike others; there were muggings and stolen bank accounts. In fact, I felt that Salvador was one of the safer ports. I certainly felt that way after Ghana. The first day was dedicated to exploring the city. In order to get up to the historical part of town we had to take an elevator, which of course was miserable for me, seeing as in general, I hate elevators. But the ride up was well worth it. Old town was beautiful and so cute! All of the buildings were painted different colors, restaurants had outdoor seating, and since it was a girl's day out (the only day I ever travelled with all girls) we were given many free trinkets- a flower nimbly made out of palm leaves and some sort of swan like creature. Shopping around was fun and just generally soaking up the sun in our last port was exactly how I wanted to spend my first day in our last port. Especially before the evening...

The evening was reserved for a special last dinner at the Brazilian Steakhouse, Boi Pretto. I've never been to a restaurant like this, but all I can say is that it is probably my favorite restaurant now. It catered to my new found hobby of eating- make fun of me all you want, but porky here loves to eat and doesn't mind that she's gained weight. In fact she's thrilled! In order to get food, all you had to do was turn over a card that signaled to the waiter you would like slivers or rather slabs, of meat carved onto your plate. Needless to say my card was never flipped over to tell them to stop. The meat was amazing, my favorite being the filet mignon, and I probably could have eaten more, but eventually I needed to stop for fear I would have to be rolled out of there. We also had plenty of bottles of both wine and champagne, so it was good that I ate enough to soak it all up. All in all, a wonderful last dinner with everyone in the last port.