India
Entry #10: India
Good afternoon to wherever you are in the world! I just got back from India. The first day in any new country is filled with two things consistently, excitement and confirmation bias. I am always filled with such anticipation to get off the ship and explore a new zone. Everyone always has their perspective of what the country we are heading to is going to look like. Whether that’s because of the info we collect from Global Studies or external research, we always have a bias. The confirmation bias for me at least, is always challenged. No matter how much I expect to already know about a place, I am constantly surprised.
The only difference today is that my first day included anticipation and confirmation bias, but also included communism. Yes you heard that right. I have a field class today for Chad Emmett’s Political Geography, where we will be exploring and hearing about the communist party of Kochi, India. The state of India we are in, Kerala, is the most democratic of all 28 states in India. We spent our morning in the communist office where mayor Anil Kumar told us the history of communism in India.
My personal highlight of the day was lunch, because oh my goodness I died and went to heaven. It was a buffet of roughly 15 assortments to choose from. And any buffet becomes an all-you-can-eat buffet for me. I tried one of every single thing, and went back for more twice. It was one of those meals that hugs the soul, and inspires you to write a 5 star google review.
Left: My first plate of food. Phone always eats first.
Right: Communist selfie. On our heads is a Bindi which is a decorative dot worn on the forehead and is a symbol of spirituality and the third eye chakra in Hinduism.
After lunch I did two things, reminisced about lunch, and participated in other less important things. Collectively we traveled to a museum to learn more about the colonial past of India. It was centralized around the Dutch, however the order of colonization in India goes like this: Portuguese, Dutch, and British.
Next we explored a nearby village where we saw a Muslim burial site, tried local food, and visited the Tamil people at work. After that we boarded the bus back to the boat.
Day two would be the only day to do extensive shopping, because for the remainder of the days we all have programs booked. For transportation we went in a Tuk Tuk, and our driver Abdul showed us around the whole local town. We must have made 5 stops for tourist scenery before we got to shop. Very sweet of him, and it’s been one of my favorite things to see each port city from a locals perspective.
Here is a photo of a Tuk Tuk. Its like a moped with a cart on the top. Essentially it’s like a golf cart.
Every single country we have been in a local has asked us, “What is up with that Trump guy?” And without fail has bantered to us about how screwed he is. It has been really interesting to get several perspectives of international views on Trump.
On day three our program begins at 5:00am, which was easily attainable because I went to bed at 9:00pm exhausted from the exploration of the days before. This would be my first experience into a field program, which are SAS coordinated trips in country. We drove to the airport to board our 3 hour flight to New Delhi, India’s capital.
India was an extremely thoughtful trip for me with all the transportation that took place. In between the bus rides, flights, and waiting, I spent at least an hour a day just thinking. It was really nice to have a deep reflection time for the first extended time period on SAS. I felt overjoyed with gratitude. One multiple occasions I found myself tearing up thinking about all that I’ve experienced and the opportunities that have arose for me during this time. I reflected on each of my favorite days, in each port.
The first thing I noticed above New Delhi, was the pollution. There was a cloud of smog across the landscape. Everyone kept commenting about how it felt like we experienced the pollution in the Lorax. For the next three days the pollution would be able to be tasted in the air when we walked outside.
Right: The air quality index screen shot we took.
Before lunch, we ventured to Humayun's Tomb which is the first substantial Mughal garden-tomb in India. It influenced the creation of the Taj Mahal. My favorite part of each day was quickly becoming eating. For lunch we had a buffet styled meal again. The flavor palate was over consuming for me. Every meal I stuffed myself full like it was thanksgiving dinner.
Left: Here is Maddy and most importantly here is the excellent food we had.
Right: I didn’t take any photos of Humayun’s tomb so here is a google image.
Next we got to see the Ghandi memorial, where he took his last steps before getting assassinated. There was extensive quotes and a detailed life story about Ghandi. It was one of those moments in SAS where you do a realty check and think about the history of the ground you have walked on. Very cool indeed.
Left: Gandhi painting in his memorial museum.
Right: The footsteps modeling his last few steps to his assassination spot, which is marked by the small granite structure.
One last stop was in the dark, which added to the experience. A local shopping market with lights, flags, and lots of colorful decorations was the encore of our day. Here I got to continue my search for christmas gifts for my family and souvenirs for myself.
By the time the day was ending it felt like several days had been packed into one. Luckily my field program had us staying at a nice hotel. This was a new, but very pleasing, adjustment from a lot of my traveling prior. As we settled in, our new friend Mac had found a fun and bougie bar for us to explore with our taste buds and wallets. This wonderful day ended with Maddy and I, along with our new friends Julia, Mac and Meta sipping ciders and talking about our SAS experiences up until this point.
When we awoke the next day, we had a 5 hour bus ride until Agra which is the city containing the Taj Mahal. This might be obvious, but if you are ever considering taking Malaria medication, mixing drinks the night before, and eating acidic food for breakfast– all before a 5 hour bus ride– I would recommend against it. With that being said I was in a battlefield for those first 2 hours. It was just me, my stomach, and the light at the end of the tunnel at odds.
My day took a turn for the absolute best because it was lunch time, and we had reached our destination. I am beginning to get fearful for the food on the ship when I leave India. I believe that no food would compare to the buffet of glory I have been eating.
Here is my plate of lunch. Other then real Indian food, I am very excited because we’ve been served icecream at everymeal again. This is the first time I have had icecream in forever.
Our next stop was to the Agra Fort, a historical Mughal fort. It is red sandstone for half of structure which identifies the first empirical period. The second portion of the structure is white marble for the other empire. The emperor who lived here, built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his wife, which was the last building he was allowed to buy before his son put him on house arrest for spending too much money. Part of learning the history of the world has just filled my brain with random weird yet fun facts like this one. We were here for around an hour exploring and didn’t even see half of the building itself. It was massive and I wish we could’ve stayed longer.
One thing about India that they prepared us for was the likelihood of local Indians asking to take photos of us, touching us, and not respecting personal space. Regardless of how this sounds like a nightmare to my Mom, it wasn’t as bad as what I was told. I felt like a celebrity, and within one hour exploring around I got asked for over 7 selfies.
The next thing we did was have high tea with a local family. Our hosts started off by introducing themselves, their religious identity, their work, their family, and then opened the floor to questions from us. After a brief Q&A we tried their prepared snacks and tea and hung out.
Left: Mom, here is a horse selfie for you.
Right: The beautiful red sandstone of Agra fort.
We went to our hotel and I enjoyed the spacious room, and free shower toiletries. This whole trip has been very nice because I have had to make 0 plans, since the itinerary is already set in stone. The places we have stayed, the food, and the daily itinerary has all been excellently planned. On the flip side, I do wish we would be able to spend more time in each area. Since this trip is the ‘express version’ we do a lot in little time which is efficient and also a little rushed. With that being said, I’ve liked my freedom while traveling a lot more, and am happy this was the only field program I booked.
Tonight our method of transportation was the magnificent Tuk Tuk. We enjoyed our night be going to a rooftop bar and dancefloor. I love traveling because they brought us out jagerbombs on a tray that was on fire, which you would assume to be pretty expensive. It was $6 a glass. I also love travleing because there are no rules. They had a flame thrower you could try for $10. A majority of the people using them were toddlers. I made my way to the dancefloor mostly drawn in by the insane DJ. This was the best music of all the places we’ve been to since Portugal and it was all in a language I couldn’t even understand. I found a local couple and we all we dancing together. I taught them the macarena, and they taught me a bollywood dance. I couldn’t stop laughing. Moments like this are almost as good as India food. We took another Tuk Tuk home which obviously was awesome.
Left: The hotel room we stayed in.
Right: Mac hanging out of the Tuk Tuk on the way home
Obviously I didn't know it now, but this was the start to my perfect day in India. I woke up feeling great, and only the girls will get this, but my hair was looking perfect and my makeup was done perfectly the first time. A start to the best day, is just feeling great.
Ella, today I wore the green skirt you inspired me to buy from Ruby Jane. So far the $45 I've spent on it has been very very very worth it. Along with that I wore a green patterned pashmina I bought in India, and a soft charcoal grey shirt. Modesty is key in India.
I went down stairs and had bacon and breakfast before meeting up with the rest of the group. On our short commute there I got to relish in the very rare and awesome reflection time I had on the bus. At the entrance to the Taj we had to board a shuttle bus. Everyone was getting wrapped in their Saris which is a traditional 6-8 foot long colorful cloth wrap that Indian women wear. Our group was one coloful jumble which exploits another fantastic thing about India, the vibrancy of color everywhere. Goodbye millennial grey.
I was coordinating with Rebecca, because her group was currently getting ready to leave the Taj. We hoped we could meet up briefly to get a photo. As we grazed past the entrance we ran into them and got to take a photo. You can see our allotment of colors from Saris and Pashminas in the picture.
Sniped a photo all together outside the Taj Mahal. Left to right is Rebecca, Leah, Maddy, and I.
Walking in the gate of the Taj Mahal is filled with very much anticipation. In between the bus ride there, the shuttle, the walk, entering through security, our final stop was walking through an arching red sandstone gate. The work up to walk into this monument made it feel that much more profound and I was just excited to see it.
The Taj Mahal is known for it’s symmetry, and I spent my glances trying to notice it’s imperfections. For this I turned up dry. There are reflection pools that lead from the gate, all the way to the Taj Mahal. As you walk towards the path with this beautiful structure in front of you it is incredible to be able to focus more on minor details while you get closer and closer. This was also one of the rare times that I think the pollutant layer of smog added to the view. It made the Taj Mahal look eerie. There is a river, and flat valley behind the Taj. It was constructed purposefully like that to look like the world ended after it according to our tour guide.
My series of events in our 3 hours at the Taj went like this. We arrived, I gawked at the Taj. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude and also sad that I got to experience this wonder without any of my most favorite people. I facetimed Nonnie, Poppie, Baby Donna, Papa Bob, Mom, and Dad successfully and together we got to kiss, and touch the Taj Mahal. We went inside this tomb to see the burial of Mumtaz Mahal (whom the tomb was built for) and her husband, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. After that we were freed to go explore as we pleased. We went to the front of the first reflection pool to take photos. Then for the remainder of our time, I stood on a park bench and just studied the Taj Mahal.
This is where time stood still momentarily. I tried to be as still as possible, with the thousands of gawking tourists around. I reflected agian on the opportunity of SAS. I pondered the people I got to share this with and how happy I was the my grandma got to see Taj. And after a brief but glorious snapshot of the Taj we were off again.
We did the extensive shuttling and walking to get farther and farther from this wonder of the world. We next had a bus ride, flight, another connection flight, and two hour shuttle ride back to the boat. From there we went through security, customs, and boat security which took around an hour. Even though the rest of this travel day’s itinerary was 12 hours, the only important thing was the conversations and thinking that occurred. I got to meet and bond with 3 new people this afternoon. Elenor is studying at the Unviersity of Virgina and we talked about love and how life is too short to miss opportunities of what something/someone could’ve been. Nick and Will both loved their Ghana experience, and apon bonding over that, we quickly got chatting about the atmosphere of traveling. We discussed how we’ve both been able to experience cutulure in new and exciting ways. Will is also from Cal Poly so we chatted about that as well.
Nonnie, Poppie, Baby Donna, and Papa Bob: I listened to Moon River and a ton more of your songs on the plane ride home. I was tapping my feet and just feeling euphoric and it felt like you guys were right next to be experiencing it too.
By the time I got back to the ship, it was my favorite part chilling and decompressing. We decided to let ourselves sleep in tonight, trying to catch up on all the hours we have enjoyed awake.
We woke up in the morning later around 10:00 to go shopping and eat. As is normal in anywhere othe then the states we packed 8 people into a small taxi car and went to the shops. Clover and Candice cannot get off the boat at all in India, because they are Chinese passport holders. So I found some more souvenirs for them so hopefully they can experience the colors of India even though they can’t walk the streets.
After shopping Maddy and I had been invited to late lunch with Mac (from our field program) and his dad. We enjoyed happy hour and appetizers. I knew the hardest part of leaving India would be saying goodbye to the food. After a short hangout, we returned to the ship to go through customs again. Note: every port we have on-ship time which is the last moment you can be on the ship and scanned through security before getting penalized. This penilization is dock time. Meaning for every 15 minutes you are late, one hour of dock time is taken in your next port.
Anyways that’s all I have for you about India. I hope your mouth is watering for good food, and you are inspired to see some bueaitufl colors.
Don’t worry, I included some colors for you right here! Here are some of the shops we explored.
Entry #9: Special Insider’s Scoop
Hello fans, kindest welcomes to this special edition of the blog!!!
For this portion I will discuss two sections; one will be interesting components of ship life, and the other will be an update on the most recent sea stretch.
Section #1: Ship Life
This whole ship is a matriarch which is awesome. All the administrative people on this ship, and I mean everyone, is a woman. The reception ladies, the deans, the doctors, nurses, resident directors, and more. On the flip side everyone that works for janitorial services, kitchen staff, or parts of the crew are all men. It is completely swapped from everything societal which is so cool.
Here is a photo of Rebecca, Austin, and I. Our extra friends are Ria and Bev who work in reception.
I have already addressed this legend in my last blog post, but Dr. Ed Boyer needs his own paragraph. Ed is an inspiring person to be around. He is very humble about his impressive professional background and knowledge. He is currently working in Mexico near the Gulf of California. Even though I have him for 8am, he always has almost full attendance. Ed has iconic one-liners and easily makes an 8am class humorful. You can tell he loves his job, his students, and the topic that is being discussed. If you can’t find him in class, he will be on the deck of the ship scouting the sea for any life. He was the opening act of our talent show, where he performed The Big Fish Blues on his guitar which was a witty song he made.
The MV World Odyssey is the ship I have been traveling on for these past few months. It is normally called the Duechetland, but is rented by SAS. The ship has nine decks. I have not seen the first two, they are mostly crew areas. Floor three holds one of the gangways (which is a door for getting on and off the ship) and the clinic. Floor four is where I live with Clover and Candice in room 4053. Floor five is also residential, but includes a reception desk and another gangway as well. Deck 6 is the best deck. Features here include Berlin dining hall, the library, the gym/sauna, the union (largest lecture hall), and an area to go outside. Deck 7 holds the student store, other outdoor space, offices, classrooms/dining areas. Floor eight is residential, but includes my office, outside leisure, a gym, and the Adlon and a theater which are both classrooms. The Lido deck is the 9th and final deck. Here is the Lido dining hall, pool bar, pool, the terrace which is yet another classroom, and other leisure areas. But that is our incredible ship. I love her. Because of this, I have a superpower: it takes me 0.9 minutes to get to class. This means I can wake up at 7:55 for 8am.
The Sea Olympics is a Semester at Sea tradition. I encourage you to look it up. It is very awesome and cool and lit. I am a Sea Captain for my sea, which is essentially being a leader for your dorm for the Olympics. I understand all of that probably flew over your head. More on this later. :)
One weird thing that I only noticed recently is that we literally do not have one day off ever. Everyday in port countries is jam packed, as they should be. But any on ship day, except for 3 all semester, are class days. Therefore, on a 6 day sea stretch, we do class the whole time. It can be quite exhausting, especially since I have work or class everyday starting at 8am.
Fancy Dinner happens on deck 7 in the 4Seasons and is $39.95 for a 5 course meal. I have gone once with my friends so far to celebrate all birthdays that are not on the ship. We are going again for thanksgiving.
Here is a photo of Rebecca in the 5th and final course of our fancy dinner meal. Hello Rebecca!
Section #2:
Welcome! I hope you are enjoying this, because I sure am. Now lets discuss this sea stretch.
Day 1: We do something called a port memento assignment which is when we submit a photo and a reflection of something we found in port. Ideally it connects to what we are discussing in class. In three days is Sea Olympics, so this sea stretch is very busy in terms of practices, sea captain tasks, and things I need to complete for work. In order to stay on top of things, I need to write an essay practically everyday during this sea stretch. Today I was a hermit completing my todo list. This is what I completed in my 7:30am-11:30pm day: Port Momento and reflection, budget check for Mauritius, Baltic Hype Video, Riff-off Practice (for Sea Olympics), Map Quiz of Asia and Oceania, and a presentation for my Coastal class. Most of my day was spent studying for my Map Quiz, which has been my favorite part of my Political Geography class.
Left: Map of Asia for my map quiz.
Right: A classic meal on the ship. Salad bar salad and chicken. Yum
Day 2: Today’s writing assignment was my field class write up for Coastal Environmental Ecology. I also hermitted today. I had a negotiation for my International Business Management class that following day where I would be the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. I took a study break by attending practices for Lip Sync and Synchronized Swimming for Sea Olympics. A final Sea Captains meeting at 18:20 was celebrated with cake for the work we had been doing. I finished my assignments by 1:15am and headed off to bed. Note: it is so nice to sleep on the ship. It rocks back and forth and helps you sleep.
Here is the cake we celebrated with. It reads, “I spent three weeks of my life being a sea captain & all I got was this cake.”
Day 3: This was the last day leading up to Sea Olympics. Work was very busy today with helping prepare for the extensive day tomorrow. I had an essay to write for Political Geography on the Asian minority group in South Africa and their aspirations towards recognition, access, and participation. For dinner I watched the sunset on the Lido deck with my friends, and the sun was working wonders today. It fanned away like lights in a concert. We had our final Sea Meeting in the 4Seasons where my co-captain ABC (Anna Beth Clark), and I got Baltic Sea hyped and ready for the following day.
Photo of the sunset at dinner from the Lido deck. You can see Ellie is also impressed.
Day 4: Now I’m sure you are all wondering, what the heck is Sea Olympics. It is a SAS tradition where all 7 of the Seas (which are the divided resident hallways) compete in athletic, and intellectual events. The days prior had been filled with a variety of events that can earn Seas different points to help them start ahead in Sea Olympics. There was a banner decorating competition, scholarship drive, and a spirit week, which were all based on participation percentages. The Seas competing were Yellow, Red, Arabian, Adriatic, Aegean, Baltic, and Bering Sea. My sea, The Baltic Sea, would start off the day in 7th out of 7 places, meaning we only had up to go.
From 8am until 9pm, this jam packed day has several events that voyagers would take part in. These events included: Sea photos, opening ceremony, Push ups, Pull ups, Planks, Life Jacket Limbo, Basketball 3V3, Family Feud, Paper Airplanes, Speed Chess, Ping Pong, Tug O’ War, Hackey Sac, Riff Off, Human Word Scramble, Volleyball 4V4, Survivor Styled Relay, Jeopardy, Synchronized Swimming, and Lip Sync. My duties, along with my co-captain, was to put all 86 members of Baltic Sea into events of their choice. Other than that we encouraged them to practice and completed other tasks for these groups organizationally. Leading up to this ABC and I practiced with Lip Sync and Synchronized swimming several hours a day to help them prepare. These were high-impact events, meaning that if we ended on the podium, our points would be doubled.
Regardless of the long time it took to get here, the day was finally amongst us and I knew it was going to be quite fun. ABC and I met at 6:45 am and made a game plan for the events each of us would attend. And boom, we were off.
Left: A 0.5 selfie of me, ABC, and the Baltic Sea. Our group chat is the Baltic Besties. I love them.
Right: Rebecca and I strutted our SASsy shorts for the day. These are shorts we bought in the store, and vandalised with acrylic paint.
I tracked how we were doing in each event throughout the day, and I know I am biased, but we crushed it. If my notes were accurate we were on the podium by the end of the day. If we finished on the podium for the high impact events, I was certain Baltic had a shot at the top.
Other the swimming and lip sync there was one more high-impact event, sportsmanship. This is where the Baltic Sea showed up and showed out. We placed 2nd overall, and it was well deserved. Everyone made it a point to celebrate whether in a loss or a win. Even though we did well with sportsmanship, we unfortunately did not podium for swimming or lip sync. It was really disappointing because everyone worked so hard, but all the performances were incredibly done and highly impressive.
Left: The Synchronized swimming team who performed 5 minutes of a teenbeach movie mashup.
Middle: My friendgroup and I at the end of the day. We are all dressed in our sea colors and our smiles.
Right: You can see a snapshot of our Lip Sync team performing with Ellie as the focal point. They performed a high school musical mashup.
At the end of a hard fought day the Baltic Sea ended up placing 5th overall. Obviously there was mixed emotions. Today was easily one of my favorite days on the ship. A break from schoolwork, and an opportunity to be outside and moving around all day had me going to bed very happy. I was so happy to lead such an extraordinary team of people, and if we didn’t win I’m still so happy we placed so well for sportsmanship.
Day 5: I woke up like I had been shot today. I was so tired and stumbled into class and work. Today I needed to write my CEP (Comparative Experimental Project) for my International Business class. If I’m telling you the honest itinerary of the day, I will tell you that I finished some other work instead of my CEP. I was exhausted. Today was a chill day, where I was mostly productive, and just enjoyed reminiscing about the day prior.
Day 6: Today I caught up on a lot of the things I was supposed to have completed prior. I wrote the majority of my CEP for International Business, planned a lot of the itinerary for Vietnam, and booked things in Hong Kong. There was also a wholesome photo of the schools that send the most people on Semester at Sea.
Left: Brooke and Piper selfie on my phone whilst booking Hong Kong Disney.
Right: Cal Poly SLO SAS photo. There are 11 of us total on the boat. Fun fact: one of these girls was almost my freshman year roommate!!
Day 7: On the final day of the sea stretch, anticipation climbs and everyone rushes to book things and finish assignments. Luckily for me I have a field program in India, which means everything is planned and I have inner peace. Today I wrote the remainder of my CEP to submit it, and wrote this edition of the blog. I also wrote the Mauritius blog today.
Thank you for coming to read a day in my life, heck several. I love you.
Entry #8: Mauritius
Mauritius is a delightful island off the eastern coast of Madagascar that is 720 square miles. It is half the size of Rhode Island, which puts its petiteness into perspective. Other than that, it is known for the Dodo bird, which is endemic to this region. They lived happily until the white colonizers came in and killed them all. Other than that, this island is a mostly Indian nation, with 66% of the population being Hindu. In three short facts, you can easily see the unique personality Mauritius has.
The first thing I noticed as I waited to disembark was the utter beauty of this small island. It is covered in mountains, volcanoes, and extensive greenery. Paradise. I am a fond user of metaphors, and all morning I said I felt like an excited dog waiting to get hooked up to a leash to go on a walk. Accompanied by Ellie, Annabelle, Megan, Dahlia, Rebecca, Zoe, and Erin we set off to the streets. I have grown to appreciate a walk outside, a change of scenery, or even something as simple as a new park bench. The ship is small, and I feel claustrophobic after a long sea stretch like the last one we did. The first few steps on Marutius and I were excited by every leaf I saw blowing and every new smell.
Dahlia and Meg had to split early, so that left Rebecca, Zoe, Annabelle, Erin, Ellie, and I. We booked a driver for the day, which was $30 per person and not supposed to be a tour. Simel was a local man whose last 5 generations are from Mauritius. He has 3 kids and a kind heart. It quickly turned into a tour as Simel pointed out landmarks, and walked with us on all of our stops. First, we found an outpost to view Marutius from up high. In front of our face was a National Geographic quality scene of the year. Endless green scapes with white birds flying down below. The fog demonstrates the different layers of height as it settles just above the mountains and below us. To the right is a long, calm waterfall connecting the top to the bottom. I kept blinking as if to take screenshots of where I was.
Left: Starting with me and working right, it goes Ellie, Zoe, Rebecca, Annabelle, and Erin. But I’m sure you are focused more on the beautiful view behind us.
Right: I don’t know if it’s a me thing or a monkey thing, but I always find a fun primate. This dude was eating ice cream, proof that humans really did evolve from monkeys. Don’t worry I took a monkey selfie as well!
Mom, don’t freak out, but the next place we went is called the 7 Coloured Earths. In this park volcanic lava cooled into basalt, which then slowly converted into clay minerals due to the tropical climate and heavy rainfall. Left is a large mound of earth producing red, brown, yellow, blue, green, and violet shades.
Dad, don’t freak out, but there were Tourtoiuises there. So after I got to gawk at the pretty earth, I got to take photos of Tourtiouises. I also learned how to identify them based on male or female shell and tail sizes. I fed it grass and got to tell the story of us feeding Giraffes carrots in Mexico.
Left: My group and I next to the 7 Coloured Earth. If you zoom in you can see how I am the only one on my tip toes.
Right: Zoe and I with a Tortoise selfie.
Dalilah, don’t freak out, but next Simel brought us to the beach. For this I want you to picture Moana’s home island Motanui. The water is crystal clear, and there is a reef offshore where the waves break. The sand is a yellow white, with shells washed up. For the first time in my life I opened my eyes underwater in the ocean. It was so clear I could see the ground.
In one day we had traveled from Port Luis, which is on the Northern west point of Mauritius. In one day we had made our way all the way down to the Southern point next to Le Morne Brabant. This is a major historical spot. After an excellent day, my day got even better because I went to bed for the first time on this voyage at 9pm.
Day two I had my field class for Coastal Environmental Ecology. I summed up this day in a 10 page write up, but don’t worry you won't need to read it. We met up at 7:30 to rally to leave. I love this class. I especially love my professor Dr. Ed Boyer, who called himself the snorkeling master for the day. My group, Shipyardigans with Madison and Austin, is also top tier. We arrived at Le Morne Brabant where we would explore a mangrove estuary and “do science” as Ed would say. Joined with us is another class, Geography of Hazards, which has some of my other friends in it. It is so exciting to be able to learn about the environment with my friends in the sun, all for class credit.
Left: Suited up for Science with “Binocs, book, and boots”, here we have me, Ed, Austin, Madison, Skylar, and Valerie.
Right: Me posing for science in front of the beautiful landscape. Le Morne Brabant is in the back.
After extensive exploration of the mangroves we went back to Heritage Marine Education Center in Bel Ombré. Austin and Ed have a special relationship because they coincidentally ran into each other in Busua, Ghana where they first tested the water testing instruments. Because of this Ed calls Austin Science Girl. We tested some of the water from the nearby estuary. And as Ed said, “I am so bitchin’, and Austin is such a science girl.” I love him, the coolest teacher ever.
It’s so special to have a deep connection with my classmates. We've traveled the world together, and now we are on some random island in the Indian ocean together learning about the ecological environment. During lunch Val and I sat in the water and chatted. The thing I will miss the most about Semester at Sea is the conversations with tons of different people.
Next we went snorkeling. It was a race against the incoming weather and the end of the day, so unfortunately our time was cut very short. Regardless, in the water I found a crown of thornes, lionfish, sea pickle, lots of fishes, eel, corals, sea stars, and other fun creatures. After this, we fathered our things and left for the hour drive back to the boat.
Left: The icon Skylar doing science.
Right: Pictured here is Valerie, Me, Austin, and Madison before our snorkeling experience. I almost drowned in laughter when I handed Val a sea cucumber and she freaked out. Even though most of this coral was alive, lots were dead.
For our last day we decided to take the biggest risk yet of the voyage. We were going to sleep in. Collectively, we had not remembered a single time in the past months when we had slept in. It was excellent to wake up to the end of a dream instead of to an alarm. Brunch was our first stop of the day, with some drinks and traditional Mauritian food.
We walked around the waterfront markets of Marutius for souvenirs and gifts. I packed an extra checked bag for the things I buy in the country on SAS, and I have yet to buy anything. So I focused on purchasing gifts for my family and filling that extra checked bag. I even bought a Dodo bird shirt!!
Kameryn, don’t freak out, but I got a cute abalone necklace for only $10. It is definitely fragile, but a beautiful statement piece.
Anyways, friends, lovers, grandparents, and maple, that is the end of the Mauritius trip. Thank you for joining me in this process and learning about the beautiful adventure I am on. It feels like in some super cool way, that you are here too.
Entry #7: South Africa
I may have already addressed this but last sea stretch the wifi cut out for 5 days, leaving me stranded without Instagram, this blog, and calling my mother. And the lesser of the two evils, was an extension of 5 days for schoolwork. Luckily we had Neptune Day. Neptune day is a SAS tradition for celebrating crossing the equator. We get woken up at 07:00 by drums in the hallway from the crew. We make our way to the Lido Deck and everyone is dressed in oceanic costumes. Neptune, the God of the sea, makes a speech and invites us to initiate to be shellbacks (or part of his community). We oblige by getting in line and getting marked with a 0º on our arms. After this we get fish guts poured on us, jump into the pool, and swim across to kiss Neptune’s fish, and his ring. We get knighted after this ceremony and celebrate our coming of age to the sea by dancing and singing. Many people shave their heads for tradition, I did not. I swear I am not a part of a cult. A truly joyous day that was completed by 11:00.
Captain Jan holding Neptune’s key that he ‘stole’ back for the ship. You can see he is wet from completing the same tradition we had.
We are in Cape Town, South Africa. From the ship you can see Table mountain. Which is the eiffel tower of Cape Town or even the pyramids of egypt. It is a massive canyon like plateaued mountain that seems to just have dropped in the middle of the city. I wanted to hike it, so that's exactly what we did on the first day. United with Maddie, Averi, Claudia, Brooke, and Piper we began our trek. This 3 mile hike was a stair master climb to the top of this massive mountain. It took us 2.5 hours and a lot of stops to gape at the scenery. From the top the elevation is roughly 3,400 feet, and the base is just above sea level. It was one of the most beautiful things I have seen, and I got more and more absorbed in my nature driven happiness the higher I climbed. The rocks, plants, and lizards were similar and simultaneously 100% different from anything I’d seen in the states. It was like I entered a story book land, but got to experience it in real life. I practically ran for the last 15 minutes, and left the group, excited to get to the top. The view from the top, could only be compared to what God sees when he looks down on earth. I could see the whole city. It was serenely quiet. I was in the clouds. The birds called out to me for snacks, and I whisked back at them and offered plantain chips. There is a magical peace that only nature can make me feel, and here I was on top of the world, feeling it all. 
Middle: The view of Cape Town from above. Featured in this photo is Short Bald Brendon and Austin.
Right: The view of the coast from Table Mountain.
I came home from that fabulous morning exhausted. I hit my legs the day prior, and was already a little sore. Now my legs were shaking and I was thirsty. I recuperated myself by washing my underwear and dirty clothes in the sink. Additionally I showered, and napped for 2 hours.
I awoke, beautiful, rested, and well exercised. We are celebrating Maddie’s birthday with a fancy dinner tonight. I put on my Canadian tuxedo, and the mascara that makes the ladies say wow; and boom just like that I was ready. Unfortunately I am a cheap skate so I quickly ran up to the dining hall for some free dinner so that way my fancy dinner was cheaper. This did nothing to prevent me from buying two fancy expensive cocktails though, however my appetizer dinner was only $11! The last thing on the agenda for today is to go see a hockey game.
Ella, Megan, Lily, and Morgan: All of a sudden I am 16 again, drunk, and excitedly cheering for men on ice skates. It reminded me of the hockey nights in high school with you guys. How I miss you all.
On day two I didn’t have much of an itinerary, so my friend Steph and I walked around Cape Town in the morning. We made our way to Kirstenboch Botanical Gardens. This garden was like the Garden of Eden compared to a normal greenhouse, or the Grand Canyon compared to a stream. I was in awe of any expectations I had for other botanical regions. For the 4 hours we explored, much of it was sitting and talking in awe of the view. Table mountain’s mammoth body protected the back half of this garden and aided its extraordinary view. We attended a small art gallery of miscellaneous artists. Within Kirstenboch was an extinction garden which emphasised the importance of environmental protection, and the impact humans have on the world. I was continuously blown away with the components of this area that were unusual to normal botanical zones. After this we got free ship dinner, and went out on the town. And as most nights with us go, we befriended Gio, our bartender, consumed $0.87 shots, and went to bed at 4 am. Bob’s would be our nightly location for the rest of the trip, both to visit Gio and to also enjoy the cost effective menu. I befriended some locals (Mikalya, Jayden, Bianca, and Bianca’s boyfriend) who are currently working in Zimbabwe. Jayden bought us drinks for the remainder of the night.
Middle: My new favorite flower, Gazania Hybrid Sticky.
Right: My favorite painting from the art gallery, called The Blue Door. I enjoyed the contrast between inside and outside. Most of all I liked how it felt exciting to go outside a feeling I closely understand.
At 5:45am we got picked up from our Airbnb for our day Safari. Accompanied with me was Brooke, Piper, Clover, Candice, Claire, Maddy, Leah, and Rebecca. As most people napped I enjoyed the 2 hour commute by talking to Brooke and Piper. At the Safari we started off by seeing monkeys scratching their butts, and by that we knew it was going to be an excellent day. On the two hour exploration we ran into Emus/Ostriches, Rhinos, Antelope, Giraffes, Lions, Hippos, Water Buffalo, Elephants, and Zebras. The Ostrich was my favorite because it was in a family. The mother protected her eggs by covering them in the warm sand and moving them around in the nest. We were a little over 10 feet away so our view was insane. The father, in his black feathers and pink shins walked around with the babies. The babies looked just like a little pomeranian dogs and were very little body, and very much fluff. At the end of this we enjoyed lunch. Our amazing tour guide Victor drove us back to the Airbnb and we fell asleep for 5 hours. After awakening we rinse and repeat our nightly routine from the night before and went to visit Gio again.
Middle: Candice, Clover, and I outside before our Safari. First roommate excursion!
Right: A little photo of Rebecca and I on our way to Bob’s.
Day 4 I spent what I would call near perfect. Leah, Maddy, and Rebecca left for a tour at 8 am, and I stayed in before my activities started at 11. I got to shower, clean my room, work on this blog, research for school, and even finish my budget from Ghana. I was feeling reset, and mostly just grateful to have my own alone time. Even though I am an extrovert, I have been dying on the ship without space to think and breathe by myself once in a while. This was very pleasant.
Kameryn, I don’t think there is anything here you wouldn’t enjoy. The culture, the nightlife, the shopping, the scenery, the hiking, the animals, everything. I can’t wait to travel with you.
I met up with Brooke, Dahlia, and Piper to go to penguin beach. On the uber there we chit chatted, which has got to be one of my most favorite things in the world. The juxtaposition of penguin beach is a little unsettling, because usually you’d assume penguins to be a thing of colder climates. But these cute fellas didn’t mind. We walked around for a few hours to eat icecream, shop, and chit chat. On the ride back Brooke and I exchange the poetry we’ve written for the other to read. She is currently applying to grad school, and this was her portfolio, how cool! We traveled back to Cape Town, with one thing in mind, HUNGRY. Our inter-port lecturer in our Global Studies class had recommended Big Bowl, an all you can eat sushi place. And all we could do was eat. We enjoyed the rest of our day together, and the company of one another before we went our separate ways.
Left: Penguin beach.
Right: Me and Brooke. Piper is not in this photo but she’s is doing a wonderful job at taking this photo.
Tonight we went out again, but this time looked a little different. We saw a lot of different SAS people out tonight, and even watched our Uber driver get attacked by this random local man. It ended in a small 6 v 6 fight between locals and cops outside our bar. We are truly getting immersed in the night life here. This was something that happened frequently and to a lot of people we knew in Cape Town, and I felt slightly nervous exploring this city.
Today I awoke and went to brunch with Brooke and Piper to a rooftop bar, it was delicious. Next, we explored a Dog Museum, I found new and unexpected glories. There was a book called The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk as a clue in the scavenger hunt the Dog Museum includes. I opened to the table of contents and was instantly distracted by chapter 12, Kissing on the Lips. I flipped to it and read it 3 times. I love hearing the beautiful way people can articulate their feelings of all things magical through writing. Next we walked to an Apartheid museum that was closed, which became a dead end. We turned to another one as plan B, and met a dead end once again as well. So we just enjoyed each other's company for a little while longer.
Piper then got mugged unsuccessfully, at least to the stealer. And I went my separate way to fancy dinner. Averi, Maddy, Maddie, Leah, Steph, Rebecca, and I went to Si a cheap nice restaurant by the waterfront. Rebecca’s kindness just shines through all the time, and she bought me dinner because she knew I was stressed about money. I had two cocktails, and chicken tacos. We traveled back to homebase, and you’ll never guess what we did next… we went out. I did not want to go, but was convinced. We went to Halo, a club with a lot of other SASers. We danced and sang with our friends to some sort of house music, but eventually I was too tired and had to head off to bed.
On the last day, I was supposed to go open water cage diving with great whites, but it was canceled at the last minute due to bad weather. This was a bucket list item for me since I learned what shark was when I was 6.
Dad, looks like you and I are coming back here to go Shark Diving.
So I spent the rest of today shopping in a mall, and going with my friends to get their nails done. I got three cute shirts, and I am excited to have some wardrobe variety because I am getting a little bored. We came back to the ship, went through immigration, and got dinner. I always love these days because they feel like resets. The showers, the unpacking, the naps, the potatoes on the ship, all hit 10x harder then normal. Another great day, and another great experience. Peace out Cape Town.
Quick splurge: Overall Cape Town was kind of a reset for me, I was feeling a little bleh overall and found it hard to be motivated for things. Regardless of this, the things I did I felt completely reset by. I needed to hang out with new people, because there’s been drama in my friendgroup and it’s been overly consuming. I needed some alone time as well. I was disappointed because my bucket list item for the 6th day, Shark Cage diving, was canceled due to bad weather. I felt that I didn’t get to execute what I wanted out of Cape Town to the full potential, but some of that I think comes from the expectations I hold to myself. I was also really anxious about money because I had been over budget on my trip to the last two ports, and felt I couldn’t afford the more expensive tours my friends went on. This has been a difficult few days, but I think it’s because I haven’t given myself the grace of chilling and thinking for a moment.
Despite everything, I am overjoyed with gratitude all the time. I’ve felt a new form of focus and awareness of the things I am experiencing. I am forever a changed person, and I am only half way done. I am forever learning what more glories the world holds, and I feel a lot smaller and ambitious to see what else there is to know.
Entry #6: Ghana
#DayinthelifeasaSASstudent Welcome everyone. So school here is separated into A and B days. For A days I have class from 09:30-10:30 and 11:00-12:00; and I also have work from 08:00-09:30 and again at 13:00. For B days I have class 08:00-09:20, 09:30-10:30, and 12:20-13:50; with work intermixed at 10:30-11:30, and 14:00-15:00. Ok phew, a lot of random numbers and little information. For work I am a student life assistant on the ship. More on this later.
I have been highly involved in life here on the ship. Cal Poly Lili needs to keep this up when I get back to school. I recently got nominated as a Sea Captain for the Sea Olympics, which is a highly competitive leadership position. Me and my friend ‘ABC’ were the only two selected for our Sea. Other than that I also work on the ship, I am a student assistant. I am not paid technically, since it was a scholarship I applied for. I am in charge of organizing some of the activities happening on the ship, among other things. This is also a highly sought-after position, #prestigious #smartcookie #favoritechild. It is really cool because I also work with Maddy, Leah, Addy, and Skylar who I am very close. I also am involved in a few clubs; surf, love island, finance, writing club, and Christmas club.
Middle: Maddy at work
Right: ABC and I on our Sea Captain headshot day
I really enjoy my classes on this ship, because I know everyone in my classes. It is really special to be in a community where everyone knows each other, whereas sometimes large college lectures can be isolating.
Rope Dropping has become a frequent term, and a hobby of me and my friends. Rope Drop (v): is the action of waiting in front of the dining hall as it opens to be the first person to eat. I wish I was kidding, but it’s one of my favorite parts of the school day. Regardless of the food I’ve been inhaling, I’ve actually lost weight. I will update if I end up gaining the Floating 15 though.
This stretch we also got to celebrate the Culture Fair where all the international students got to discuss their cultures. This included dances, stories, photos, and language pronunciation practices.
Anyways, time to discuss Ghana: Approximately 1.5 hours before our paperwork was due to disembark, we found a perfect tour. The only problem was we had no one to go with. (For in port activities you can book Field Programs which are SAS led excursions. And all students have a Field Class required for their classes which are full day excursions within the country. Ghana had everyone very booked and busy for this port.) So Rebecca, my new friend Jillian, and I started networking. We walked up to random people across the whole ship, gave them our pitch, and within an hour had 7 new faces we were going to travel with. More new faces, a new place, and a cheap awesome tour, sign me up!
Part II:
I am writing this on a Saturday in my international business class, and I have food poisoning as I cross the Equator. What a sentence. So now I am Ghana and tell you about this really incredible country I just went to.
On the first day we had nothing planned other than exploration in our first port, Tema. My credit card got canceled which was an aggravating start to this trip. But as Michelle with Costco Citi Visa said, “I am being dramatic and this isn’t that big of a deal.” As we walked around Tema, this port town was small which permitted us to explore the whole area in an hour. As we walked back to the boat, we sought out souvenirs from the pop up shops next to the boat. I met a man who I bought two paintings from. One that demonstrates the strength of the woman, as she carries an infant on her back, and a bucket on her head. The other is a symbol that means A Chi Chi Dia, which roughly means take your time everything will be alright. He taught me of his culture and was beaming from ear to ear as we conversed. I went inside to eat lunch, but promised this new friend I would return. Upon returning, I met Kwame, who invited me under his umbrella. Kwame means Saturday, and several Ghainain people are named after the day of the week they were born on. Kwame taught me a Ghanian greeting handshake, where you shake hands and pull away as you snap with the other person's fingers. He also sat me down and showed me how to play the drums. After giggling with my new friends I met Josephine and Livingsteen, who deepened my inviting first impression into Ghanaian culture. I didn’t buy anything from Josephine, and she didn’t pressure me into it. Instead she told me about her culture, where she is from, and what she does now. We talked for a good 30 minutes, and she gave me a painting for free. On the back of it she wrote her whatsapp number, and encouraged me to come to Ghana again with friends and family. She promised she would give us a place to stay, and show us around her country. She asked to take a photo with us, and we promised we would send more friends her way to purchase from her.
Leah, Josephine, and I were smiling all together. Leah and I are holding our free paintings Josphine offered to us. Mine is Al Nisa, which is a womanhood festival in Josephine’s culture where girls become women and are invited into motherhood.
A ‘DJ’ on the boat was throwing a birthday party for 4 people who had upgraded in age in the past few days. One of those people was Clover, so I was so excited to celebrate. We took the hour-long shuttle to Accra, Ghana’s capital. Here a random man walked up to me and my friends and offered to drive us to this party. Issac is a junior in high school and packed the 6 of us into his car for 30 Cedi, or roughly $3 USD. At the party we talked to friends and tried some of the interesting liquids that Ghana considers alcohol. (This included a ginger shot of vodka that was 120 proof) Issac partied with us and drove us and a few extra friends we picked up back to the shuttle for the boat. As we waited in line to get back on the MV World Odyssey, a friend in front of us got put in observation, aka the Drunk Tank.
Drunk Tank (n): The place you go if security for the boat notices you obviously intoxicated. You are put in an observational room until deemed sober enough to return to your room. Not only is this mortifying, but also can get you in trouble if it continues.
Luckily none of my friends I went out with got put in here. One girl, Erin, who was celebrating her 21st birthday this night, had thrown up all over herself. As the experienced and amazing friend I am, I told Erin to tell security that her friend had thrown up on her. And by some miracle that new 21 year old made it back onto the boat and avoided the Drunk Tank. Tonight Rebecca and I chit chatted with those deep talks we both love, and eventually consoled the girl who got drunk and tanked. And by 4:45am we slept, all to wake up at 5:15 for our tour the next morning.
Now this blog is being taken over by Rebecca for the time being. Anyway, we get on the shuttle and meet our tour guide, Schubert or Shubby for short. He introduces himself first as being very single to the eight of us girls on this tour and then we head to our first stop, a monkey sanctuary. In other words, Lili’s people. On the way we stop for a bathroom break at a random person's house, where they invite all 9 of us in to use their bathroom. Here we asked Schubert to elaborate on the kindness culture, where he said that Ghana is like a friendship community where everyone helps each other. We had a quick stop at this bridge called Adomi which was the oldest bridge in the world. Luckily, I was the chosen one and the monkeys hopped onto my head before we even got the bananas out. The guide told us our relationship with the monkey lasts as long as we have food to feed them and he was definitely right. The monkeys would jump on two to three to eat the bananas and Lili even got “banana jizz” on her. After we visited the monkeys, she took a few extra monkey selfies and headed to Wili Waterfall. Even though we did lots of driving in Ghana between each excursion it was nothing compared to the long unairconditioned rides in Morocco. We arrive at the hike/waterfall extremely sleep deprived and starving but the outdoors is Lili’s heaven. Lili said that exploring in the Jungle is a bucket list item, and now we are immersed in the bird calls welcoming us to this haven. Once we get to the top of the hike, Lili decides to swim. Lili is in heaven while everyone else in our tour group is so focused on taking pictures of the waterfall. Lili and I decide to soak up every minute there by taking minimal pictures and just watching the water fall. This waterfall was the tallest waterfall in West Africa and atop the waterfall was a lot of bats.
Thank you Rebecca, this is Lili writing again. We focused on certain parts of the water at the top, and watched it race the rest of the waterfall as it got to the bottom. To call this view comparable to what I saw in the Grand Canyon, shows the grandeur of this magnificent place. When I layed in the water and found myself just laughing with my eyes closed. Zoe made our word of the day, ‘Whismiscal’, which was fitting for the beginning of our special day.
Left: Yet again another monkey selfie.
Middle: Me eating the waterfall to take it home with me.
Right: Little Lili and the biggest waterfall in West Africa (Wili Waterfall).
At the bottom of the hike we had lunch which was much deserved and needed. We started our drive on the rickety dirt roads of Ghana back towards the boat in Tema. On the way we stopped at a school where we got to meet the other students our age. We exchanged whatsapp numbers and got to ask further questions about the others' education, especially the next step in higher education. Back on the ship we fell asleep ASAP.
In the morning, we ventured to the oldest coco farm in Ghana. We learned about the process of coco production from the origin of the coco bean. It came here in the 19th century from the Republic of Guinea, and the original trees in this farm are still standing from 1879.
Above: I will describe the process to create coco. On the left is a coco pod, notice how it is yellow which means it is ripe and ready for harvest. To the right of the pod is a white seed which is taken from the coco pod. The flesh on this seed tastes like a mango. This is where the initial drying process takes place. Large leaves entrap the seed and limit its airflow. (The purple seed to the right of this shows the inside of the seed, if it was to be planted immediately the plant will ferment or sprout.) All the way to the right are two brown seeds which will happen after two drying processes and several weeks of heat and suffocation of oxygen. This seed is edible and is 100% dark chocolate. It is bitter, dry, and crunchy.
After this, a teacher standing outside welcomed us into her classroom to show us around and have us meet her students. Their teacher was boisterous and smiley and started singing to us. Our spirits were enlightened and it was only 9:30 in the morning. With a long day ahead we headed to our next spot, a botanical garden. This is where I enjoyed touching plants, bugs, and animals; and Shubby enjoyed saying, “Lili no touching!” I am Schubert’s favorite, which is a hard burden to bear. Fun fact about California is that much of their urban vegetation is not from California itself. And here I was in Ghana looking at the same tree that I know from Cal Poly. We tried nutmeg and cinnamon directly from the trees they are grown from.
After this we got lunch and headed to a jungle zipline. The 8 of us, and Shubby in support, navigated the zipline ropes course. This is where strangers became a brotherhood. Vibes were high and so was the profuse amount of humidity driven sweat.
Right: Keywords on the blackboard of the kindergarten classroom. I felt like these were random and interesting words.
It’s a truly amazing switch when strangers become friends, which was the point we were at. We all danced, sang, and rapped our favorite hype up songs on the way back. After we filled time with learning about each other and eventually a great nap. I am so grateful to have traveled and met new people. These people fed into the same energy I have and were almost as funny as me.
Megan, Rebecca reminds me so much of you. Her kindness and ability to see the best in everyone is a reflection of you. It’s reassuring that whenever I am homesick I have someone here who reminds me of the same spunk, love, and fun you have.
We got to our Airbnb in Accra which was a mansion for $21 a person. Each duo shared a california king sized bed and a private bathroom. The house had two sections which made for two kitchens, two living rooms, and two dining rooms. My favorite component, the crisp air conditioning.
This whole trip has flown by, but now this day felt like a week long. Starting at 5:50am Shubby picked us up to head to Kakoum park. I slept like a crazy person. On the floor, straddling the seats, in a pretzel, you name it. Anything to brace my body enough so the rickety dirt road would not throw me around while I limply slept. Our 3 hour ride, turned into 5 and a half with traffic and road conditions, this set us back on our itinerary. At Kakoum we once again got to explore the beauty of the jungle. Zoe’s word of the day was Serendipity. At the top we crossed a canopy walk on a rope bridge that intertwined between trees. What a juxtaposition it is to look down on a forest that is usually looking down on us; I felt oddly superior and small.
Now we rushed. I took a photo of a flat Zaddy. We grabbed food and ate it on the drive. And made our way to the Cape Coast Castles. These castles are nothing like the glory their name suggests, they are one of many for oirgin of the transatlantic slave trade. Enslaved Africans were not viewed as humans here, but these atrocities they endured were something no living creature should ever experience. The violence here added additional understandings to my original view of slavery.
They were branded and sliced in the ears for identification. Any acts of rebellion by enslaved Africans faced a cell, where they rotted in chains amongst the dark heat until they died. Their bodies were laid in the courtyard as psychological warfare, to deter other enslaved people from attempting the same. Manillas, a brass C shaped band, was slave currency. One band equivalent to one person.
Women were only permitted to shower after getting raped, and would often sacrifice themselves to sexual assault of the Europeans in order to bathe. The castle of Elmina, had a trap door from the Govenor's chambers into the women’s cell. This was for easy access to pick out and assault women. If women became pregnant (often from rape), she would carry the child, birth them, and breast feed until nessisary. After that mother and child were separated, and the mother would be sold.
Both men and women had roughly 5 rooms, each held 150-200 people. Two or three windows were the only forms of ventilation or light. Windows were the size of a five liter bucket. On the walls there was white built up, which was human waste remnants. Because of the massive amounts of human waste it remained on the walls even after remodeling and the years it’s been vacant.
In the courtyard there was a church. Below was the men’s dungeon. During worship services, religious goers would frequently hear the moaning and screams of desperation below from enslaved people.
Several people can trace their ancestral roots only as far back as this castle, losing a historical identity of themselves to the horrors of the slave trade.
The economies of most of the world are built on the labor of enslaved Africans, who will never receive credit and will always fight to tell their true story. I struggled with my own Americanized understanding of slavery. I felt upset about all I didn’t fully understand, and the extent of the violence that started before enslaved people had even left Africa.
Right: The entrance to the Men’s dungeon.
We were on our way to Butre, a beach town next to Busua where a lot of our other friends were staying at. Our new father Shubby managed the whole way finding, got us lost in the jungle for a short while, and then got us a escort to our hotel. Afro Beach was 10 yards off the ocean, and our group split up into the treehouse rooms and the beachside rooms. We wanted to go see our friends in Busua, which was supposed to be a 30 minute walk from Butre. A kind thirteen year old named Benji and his brother offered to guide us to Busua for 200 Cedi. ($18.96 USD).
The journey to Busua beach can only be told short story long. You leave and walk down the beach, then cross a bridge across a river, walk through the town, turn left up the hill by Isabella’s house, walk flat in the dark along the jungle, turn right down a single track into the jungle, and emerge on to the beach for another strut until Busua. This short expedition took 1 hour… sigh. Here we caught crabs, swam, laughed in the rain, gossiped with our friends, and had a few (truthfully many) celebratory drinks. Benji and his brother waited until 11:30 to walk us home. And at 12:30 we got home and I had dinner, the leftover fish and rice from lunch that had been sitting in the heat for 10 hours. Shockingly this is what gave me food poisoning, who saw that coming. Unfortunately I missed out on watching the leatherback turtle lay eggs on the beach in front of our hotel.
We woke up to sunrise surf and were joined by a few more of our friends on the same jungle path as last night. I had a goal to surf from the moment I commited to SAS, similar to my friend Austin. I felt like I was in paradise. I was in the middle of Ghana, no service, surrounded by strangers who had become friends, and under the sun. The blue warm water meant that for the first time in my short surfing career I got to surf in a bikini. And when the wave hit me hard, but my bikini harder; I only accidentally flashed Megan twice. I was smiling and running and bouncing up and down in happiness. I taught Rebecca, Caroline, and Jillian how to surf. Most of them got up, but all of them got recirculated in the waves. #Darwinism
Left: Me and beach selfie. I like surfing for a lot of reasons, but also because no one has their phones. I’m so sick of people taking photos of everything and not actually looking & thinking at things.
Right: Beach on the walk back
Sunburnt, and tired we still had an hour walk back to our hotel so we left at 9:15am. Back at the hotel we paid for a shuttle and packed the 6 of us (Ellie and Zoe had already shuttled back) into a toyota corolla for the 1.5 hour ride back to the boat. We discussed our trip and for one final time enjoyed our special company with each other. I didn’t expect that I was Ghana have such a inspiring, educational, and fun time in this country. How wonderful is it to be pleasantly surprised.
Entry #5: Morocco
Before I get into the magic of this port, I need to bring attention to the harsh reality I experienced before disembarking. There is this thing called, single story, that our Global Studies class has been trying to eliminate. The foundation is this: a single story is an overly simplistic and generalized perception of a person, place, or thing. Despite their continuous banter of the removal of the single story, they promoted it for Morocco. In our Pre Port lecture (that provides basic tips, travel areas, and touristy dos/do nots) a majority of the lecture was spent warning LGBTQ+ people against public displays of affection, and against women traveling outside at night for fear of harassment or death. It was an unfortunate and unrepresentative example of fear mongering. Even to the extent that my Political Geography professor said that ‘the streets are curved so that way women can hide easier’. So now the single story I had been encouraged to destroy, was highlighted.
The single story of Morocco became difficult for me to destroy even in our first day in Casablanca. The group I explored and traveled with had a mixture of perspectives about what was going on. Few felt that this place was a cultural paradise and beautiful. Few felt that we were going to get attacked, and said things such as “people were taking photos of us to sex traffic us.”
I traveled back with a different group. My friend Valerie and I talked about the unfair prejudice that had been placed on this country. Women experience sexualizing verbiage and harassment around the world, and queer people struggle to exist safely globally as well. Several people got harassed and pitpocketed in Spain, so why did we just hear this story for Morocco? This would become a topic of discussion and dismay for the continuing time both on and off the ship.
Now to discuss our time in Morocco. On the first day we dealt with lengthy immigration processes and only got off the ship around 1:00 pm. We shopped in the local markets for a very brief time before we walked to the Hassan II Mosque next to the coast. You can see a photo of it to the left. This Mosque is the third largest in the world. We covered to respect the modest dress code. Despite this, the Mosque required us to be barefoot. So covered head to almost toe, we explored this two tiered Mosque. I've decided that any religion where I must be barefoot, is the religion meant for me.
Penelope, Dalilah, Mom, Dad, I have a confession. I have had McDonalds 3 times on this trip. Which is more times than I have had Mcdonalds in the past 10 years. I know you are disappointed, but I promise I’m still the same Lili. xoxo I miss you
I was overwhelmed and emotionally upset from this day. And quite frankly a little disgusted by the perspective proposed to me from extremely educated, yet extremely arrogant people. Not only that but our friend group had drama today. There was a problem with exclusion and it separated my closest friend from our group into another group. It left me frustrated and questioning the friends I’ve been making. Overall, I knew I was hungry, tired, ovulating, and overwhelmed. So I went to my room, cried, showered, chit-chatted with Becca, who helped talk me through it, and went to bed.
Natali, everyone here is so kind. And everything I love about your heart and friendship I see in my friends here. I crashed out today, and then we chit chatted and called the next day about your crashout. Funny how we are on the same wavelength but across the world. #missyou
I slept well that night. I think a good cry can fix a lot of things, and I was feeling reset. We had to meet at 7:45am for our tour that would cover the rest of our 5 days in Morocco. At the bus we met our tour guide Mohamed, who was a disorganized sweetheart. We would be traveling with around 100 other students from SAS (semester at sea) with a company called Morocco Fabulous Travel.
Today we had a 4 hour bus ride to Chefchaouen which is called the Blue City. It was gorgeous, and we spent time gawking around. We went to a restaurant and Becca, Charley, Pieper, and I all tried the Chicken Tajine. Moroccan food culture is very focused on olives, and at all the restaurants we ate at there would be oil, salt, pepper, and olive juice on the table. I also ate a loaf of bread, as one does when olive juice and oil is so accessible. The US Dollar is equal to 9.81 Moroccan Dirham, and dinner and bottled water tonight was $2.5. I love traveling.
If I had to describe Morocco in a word, I would say cats. Every street corner, restaurant, hotel, roof, bus, and sometimes bathroom had a cat there. I was in feline heaven.
We slept in the cutest blue hotel with a view of the whole city and got to watch the sunset. This was my favorite place I’d been on all of SAS so far. The kindest people, the kitty-est city, best food, and the cleanest area.
We woke up early for a 10 hour drive to reach the Sahara. Which sounds awful but is the only way to see the whole country so worth it. Unfortunately the bus had no air conditioning, and we were suffocating in the bus. There was a 2 hour period when no one said anything and just fanned themselves. Around half way we got to a monkey forest for a break. That's where I met my new best friend and we just sat next to each other talking and scratching ourselves. At the hotel, we had another fantastic dinner. I asked the server what his favorite food was, and tried two of them. Only thing better then being off that dam bus, was our room. Our 5 person suite assigned Charley, Becca, Leah, Maddy and I together.
The best day of my entire life: I woke up after very little sleep, very happy. The desert, brings out a very spunky excited version of myself. Breakfast consisted of Morocaan crepes which is smillilar to flat naan, some flavorless cream cheese, and an array of jams and jellies. After breakfast we left with Mohamed around 8:30 to get our heads wrapped. The room was vibrantly colored and covered with a variety of different Pashminas. A man wrapped all of our heads.
Back at the hotel we stripped as fast as possible into bikinis and then dove into the pool. The on-going joke was that we were on Cabo Spring Break 2025, and this desert infinity pool really sealed the deal. Everyone’s rosy cheeks parted for pearly smiles, and strangers became friends. This was a really special experience to travel with a lot of SASers who I’d never met before.
After a few hours of chilling out, showering, and trying to nap, it was time for a sunset camel ride. We got transported back into the desert via truck to meet our camels.
I met a camel, named it Maddy and scratched her for 10 minutes while we got prepared. On the camel ride I felt a peaceful thoughtfulness. I had a weird guilt I felt being very touristy in Morocco. I wondered if these animals were treated kindly. Maddy had very sweet eyes, and I felt like I was contributing poorly to her life. I thought back to the prejudice discussed our first day, and I kept hearing anger in the back of my head for people’s closemindedness. Simultaneously, I heard my friends calling their parents or friends and enjoyed listening to their laughs. I asked Charley to analyze the dunes and we compared them as squash colored egg cartons, or rough oceanic waves that were just frozen.
Left: Me riding reverse camel and posing for golden hour. Thanks for the photo Charley
Right: Don't look at the people, look at the endless sand behind. #wow
After a brief stop we continued into the sunset until we got to camp. We were staying in a beautiful villa that felt like a five star resort. We had dinner, sat with our new and old friends, and prepared for what Mohamed called, Project X. We drank and partied and celebrated a joyous day. The tour guides drove us to a place with a big bonfire and activities. I danced around the fire with Lucy, rolled in the sand with Rebecca, bonded with Austin, got pantsed by Averi, picked rocks out of Jackson's face, played music with Monet, hugged Maddy, and held hands 4wheeling with Leah. No better activities and people for this incredible place. The only con of the night is I got in a fight with a barbed wire fence. I lost the fight, and so did my clothes and legs. The night ended as all the best nights do, at 4 am.
These photos are all a view of the fabulous villa we stayed in. It was supposed to be "camping" but we had flushing toilets and working showers, and in the middle of the desert nonetheless.
Mia, I had a hotdog for dinner. It was cheesy, bacon covered, and delicious. The man that gave it to me was a saint in my mind.
We went to bed, and had a train ride back to Casablanca the next day. Our taxi driver kindly let us back 4 into a 3 person max taxi, and told us about the city. Everyone in Morocco has been very friendly.
Back in Casablanca we walked the hour back to the shuttle for the ship. Averi and I chatted the whole time, leaving me cognitively alleviated and peaceful. We would spent the rest of the day chilling out and resetting. I am in a paradise mindset, I am always happy, always tired, and always on top of the world. Then I did some homework, and went to bed.
Morocco was my favorite stop yet, and I have a lot of emotions about the experience. I am angry about the fear mongering about Morocco and how it affected those around me. I am grateful I got to see the whole country which is something I haven’t been able to yet complete. I am excited for the new friends I got closer with. I am tired as I always am. Above all I am excited for new cultures past this point. Europe had a lot of similarities to the United States and I am happy that I have had the opportunity to be someplace entirely new.
Entry #4: Spain
DISCLAIMER TO MY INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: If you re-see any of these photos on my Instagram, no you didn’t. And you are lucky to be seeing them twice. XOXO Lili
I am so in love with this adventure I am on. I feel so confident, happy, ambitious, and motivated and I am becoming close friends with several people who are the same. With that being said, I have been getting 4 hours maximum of sleep each night, so I plan to sleep for days once back on the ship.
We had a goal for Spain to utilize the day better, because it seemed like our main aspect of Portugal was the nightlife. So we packed a full self guided tour in for the first day. We disembarked into the city centre and headed to Castillo de Gibralfaro and Aztarzanas. This is a historical two tiered building that resembled something similar to the Great Wall of China. A vertical hike up a slick rock path brought us to the top of Gibralfaro where we had a collective view of the entire city and took a variety of photos. Hungry and hot we de-summited and did some tourist shopping and got food before our Picasso Museum. For lunch we enjoyed TKO Tacos where I spent 9 Euros on 4 tacos and a margarita that hit like 4 margaritas.
Right: A photo of the sexy, awesome, hilarious generator of this blog.
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, so it felt like Picasso had walked through the museum building itself. Becca had taken art history and told me about the Cubist movement, which embodies Picasso’s blocky art. I felt stuck in front of each painting. And whenever I blinked and interrupted my staring, I unlocked a new view and a deeper understanding of each painting.
Middle: Here is a representation of a bull fighter, which is very popular in Spain. The paint is largely portioned and chunky, it was supposed to represent heat and exhaustion.
Right: The Woman, the Man, and the Child was a confusing painting that only Becca really knew about. If you look closely I urge you to find each person in the painting, and what they represent. And if you feel inclined, comment about it.
After that we walked back to the ship, where we would be staying this trip to make house accommodations cheaper. And also because the port was a 5 minute walk from the city centre. We had a dinner reservation on the water for 19:00 at a place called Angus. We all dressed up, most of us coincidentally in orange hues which matched the sunset we’d take photos in front of. Dinner was a cute bonding experience, and I just love my friends here so much already. I feel like a puppy dog wagging its tail aggressively all the time. All I can do is smile and every day feels like a celebration.
Left: Vermouth is a wine that is further fermented in herbs and a delicacy specific to Spain. I enjoyed it for dinner and it tasted similar to a Licorice Maple Syrup mixture. Like a Bourbon. I bet Poppie would like it.
Right: Obviously after a fancy dinner the 14 girls in their twenties went to the cocktail bar for shots and Porn Star Martinis. Shoutout Oliver for the free round of shots!
We went out after, which was uneventful as Monday nights usually are. The most exciting thing was two more rounds of free drinks, shoutout Jaun David. But I did get into the DJ booth and got to play Charger by Triangle Des Bermudes. Our FAV song.
We woke up this morning with a plan to shop and go to the beach. We had a lot more we wanted to do, but all the tours were sold out, which is a down point of traveling with 700 other people. But we persisted and went exploring, which in my opinion is one of the best ways to travel. We went thrifting and to some clothing shops. Additionally to Central de Atarazanas which is a local food market. Here I tried seafood Paella which blew me out of the water.
Left: Lili, Charley, and Becca in Malaga city.
Middle: Paella which was made from cooking seafood initially in seafood broth. Then the rice absorbs the broth and it gives it flavor. Ask Tori Delgado if you have any additional questions about how to make Paella.
Right: Maddy and Averi LOVE orange redbulls. So they go hoarder mode every time they find them in convenience stores. Look at those smiles!
We came back with intentions to surf. After a short uber, we arrived at a waveless beach. What next to do other than nap. So we #burnedandlearned and fell asleep in the sun. After this we came home, and ate dinner. And you guessed it, we got offered free drinks. So two pitchers of Sangria, Kids Chicken Nuggets and Fries, and a bottle of Lemonchello was my nutritious evening meal. Mom, I know you are proud.
Then we went out again and met some homiesexual Dutch men and an awesome bartender named Maria. You guessed it once again, ding ding ding, Maria gave us free shots. I think the pricey adjustment of coming back to the United States, especially as a fresh 21 year old, will be a slap in the face. Anyways… some of us had to come home early from excess consumption. But my friends that stayed out came home at 7:00 am and we met them for breakfast as it opened. How convenient!
Intermission from this long entry to give a shoutout to my Mom and Nonnie:
When I started missing my family I started doing things that reminded me of them. Above I have the rosary Nonnie gave me on my bedside table. So far she's been prayed for in Cathedrals in the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. To the right I have a mosaic of shells to make a butterfly. Something I knew my Mom would love.
On the ship there are two things you need to know, one is the drunk tank. Where the kids get monitored if they come back too noticeably intoxicated. As you can tell from my stories, it takes a LOT to get sent to a drunk prison. Another thing is my job. I am a student assistant for the Resident Directors on the ship. I direct social life activities and operations. Coincidentally I work with some of my friendgroup, Addy, Maddy, and Leah. This was a scholarship, so I’m not getting paid.
Anyways this entry has been too long so let me wrap it up. Day 3: We went to the beach again and I made the mosaic for my mom, took notes on the coastline for my coastal environmental ecology class, laid down, and swam with jellyfish. We ended the daylight with a sunset catamaran where I dropped my silver bracelet in the ocean, and felt the most peace I’ve felt other than when rafting. That night we went out again. (I’m so tired and sleeping for a whole week would do wonderful things to me). We went and saw Maria again, and went to a new Club called mirrors until 4:30 and ubered home. And a lot happened tonight, but I’m not telling you anything else.
Left: Charley, Lili, Becca, & Averi on the Catamaran unshowered, exhausted, & joyful.
Middle: Becca, Lili, and Charley at the club night two.
Right: Averi and Maddy. If there’s one thing you need to know about Maddy, she is always smiling, has a massive bottle of aquaphor, and she has 5 ish nicknames.
On the last day we woke up at 7:30 and took an Uber to Najera where we were going to Kayak to a waterfall. Becca and I shared a Kayak, then there was Averi and Charley, and finally Addy and Ms. Norman. (Ms. Norman is Leah, but we have two Leah’s so she gets a nickname). This was like a scene out of Mama Mia. And my highlight of Spain. We were kayaking on water so blue it must’ve been dyed, and the rocks had veins in them from stalagmites that were exposed. At the waterfall, we all paddled under it, jumped in the water, did flips off the cliffs, and caught crabs. A perfect end to a perfect trip.
Najera beaches and coastline. Unfortunately, I don’t have photos on my phone from the waterfall, yet…
Everyday I’m learning new extremes of happiness. Everyday I learn how cool different perspectives and people are to talk to. Everyday I learn how much I don’t know about the world. Everyday I am inspired to be something special to the world. These past few days have changed my life, beyond the context of this long story.
Entry #3: Portugal
If I could spend a full day talking to each individual on this boat and getting to know them, I would. And that’s mostly like what my days have looked like here. Every morning I meet a new person and get a meal with them or just sit and talk. My roommates have been extraordinary, Clover might be the kindest person I’ve ever met and has such deep insight into life and interpersonal connections. Candace is inspiring and super funny. Right now she is teaching me (very basic) Chinese, and I am teaching her words she didn’t know in English, like ‘poop’. I predict that the most influential part of this trip will be the people I get to know and meet, and understanding varieties of cultures first hand.
From left to right: Clover, Lili, and Candace in our fit check for the lifeboat drill.
I think it’s important that I address the environment of the ship. The sea has been insane lately. Twelve foot swells have left the ship creaking and desks and chairs falling over. It has been so fun, but unfortunately a lot of others have been sea sick.The wifi is awful, which means in my free time I’ve been thinking a lot and very bored, which is a weird type of peaceful. The food is bomb, and even though I never got the Freshman fifteen, I feel that the floating fifteen is within my future. Especially because I get snack time with my friends at 20:00 every night which is just assortments of cake. (We have been using strictly military time).
Currently there is political turmoil in France so, there is a change of plans and instead of Nantes, France we are going to Porto, Portugal. *Applause break* I am very excited! Plan is to spend the first two days in Lisbon in a 16 person Air BnB, and the last two in Porto. My travel buddies will be, Rebecca, Maddy, Addie, Maddie, Avery, Lucy, Leah, Lilly, Maile, other Leah, Ryan, Quinn, and Val. So basically we are a tongue twister group of twenty year olds.
Portugal felt like a year-long experience in the matter of 4 days. Buckle up and grab your popcorn.
Day 1: We departed the ship excited and eager to explore. Today we will take the train/bus to Lisbon, the capital. After the first bus ride we stopped at a cafe and I got a bottle of wine, a portuguese corndog, and two other delicacies. My friend Valarie from Chicago shared these with me, and it was my first taste of Portuguese food culture. Welcome to Lisbon, a city of fun house colors and old architecture. Gorgeous smooth rocks lining the streets and little room to maneuver around cars and pedestrians. Our first hiccup was in our 16 person Air BnB, which was actually a shared hostel that only had 12 available beds. The next adventure was a sunset Catamaran. This two tiered boat was designed for dancing, picture taking, laughter, and moderate binge drinking. All of which are aspects women in their twenties succeed in, so we loved it! We took over the dance floor and found our song of the trip, Charger by Triangle Des Bermudes. After a glorious tipsy 6 euro Subway dinner, we gathered ourselves back to the Hostel and sardined into 12 beds.
Left: Our friend Lucy and a fun stranger tearing up the dance floor, and us celebrating. Right: A random beautiful street in Lisbon.
Day 2: So this is where shit hit the fan. We woke up promptly at 6:30 am after a 3:00 am bed time to bed bugs. Yes, my worst nightmare. Immediately we had to add additional problems to this already stressful housing situation, and get in contact with the ship. Suddenly the 14 of us were homeless, hungover, and carrying everything known to our names around Lisbon. My faith in our situation increased, in the optimistic and ambitious attitude of our squad. We were going to explore Lisbon regardless of what it took. We found ourselves in the oldest operating bookstore in the world, a beautiful cemetery, food courts, Pink street, a cathedral, and Brandy Melville. Then we traveled 3 hours back to the shift. At the Gangway security for the ship, a full cleaning of all of our clothes and items was required to prevent bed bugs on the ship. A lengthy process stripped us of everything we had for its two day cleaning, leaving us only with the extra underwear in our cabins and our toiletries. At 23:00 we scrambled our showered and hangry bodies to the restaurant across from the cruise terminal.
Terminal Restaurant 4450 is where our unexpected night started. Nunu, our server, was a 20 year old Portuguese man, who invited us to go see the nightlife of the city with him and his friends. We said yes despite our tired eyes and paraded back to the ship to start the night off at midnight. Other than Nunu and his friend, our Uber driver, Tiago joined as well. Our new friends paid for all of our one Euro shots, from there walked to the clubs as they opened. For a Tuesday in September, the club resembled a New Year’s Eve sized crowd. Our Portuguese friends, Uber Driver, and us danced and sang to songs from Teenage Dream to Charger. I think the first time I checked my phone was at 3:15 and was astounded by how fast the time had passed. We got home (to the ship) at 4:30 am, riding our high from our Epic night and new friends, and were prepared to do the same thing the next day.
Left: Maddy on top of my shoulders, and Nunu under my hands. Just three happy friends. Right: My homeless tired friends and I all dressed up exploring the streets of Lisbon.
DAY 3: We were pretty tired, but excited and ambitious nonetheless. We woke up and went shopping in the mall, and got Portuguese food and a quick snack of Portuguese Taco Bell. And just so Penelope knows, Taco Bell in America is still the best. We came back to the ship, and walked to the beach close by, Praia De Matonsinhos. There were unfortunately no conditions for surfing, only laying in the sun and chit chatting with one another. I have really started to love my friends here, we all have nicknames, inside jokes, and shared hatred for certain people which is the best way to bond. Nunu invited us to go out again tonight with more of his friends, and with more of ours. And that's just what we did. Roughly 20 of us took to the streets, one Euro shots, and great music; all of us eager to celebrate being around one another and in a beautiful safe place. And at 6:00 am I laid down and shut my eyes for another night of 3 wonderful hours of sleep.
From left to right: Maddy (Tiny), Rebecca (Becca), Lili, and Leah. These are some of my favorite people I’ve met so far.
Day 4: We walked into downtown Porto which was pretty, but not as captivating as Lisbon. The quiet town had the nicest people, and especially the Saint that did my toes. An hour of construction was done onto my flaking paint and snaggle toes and I appeared a new person with glamorous feet. The people here in the service industries all seem inspired by their talents and put real hard work into their product. We exchanged Obrigado (thank you) and a 5 star google review and went on our way. We shopped some more and bought some crafts, food, and presents before coming back to the ship. I had a test tomorrow of the Eastern Hemisphere’s geography and other homework so we all sat, somewhat silently, and studied together. One big group again, tired, but most importantly so incredibly excited for what was coming next. See you soon Spain!
The sunset we watched on the ship before starting homework from the Lido Deck (deck 9).
Everyone in the Netherlands appears to be in love with one another and the place itself. One man I talked to today was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk on his lawn chair to lie in the main beam of the sun like a cat. We didn't converse well; he spoke Dutch, and I'm a dumb American, but all he did was smile. All of the houses and buildings are especially unique with different colors on doors, window sills, and walls. The streets are packed tightly, and stairwells are steep with small stairs to make up for the lack of space. Bikers, pedestrians, and drivers all share the same red brick roads.
Regardless of how pretty everything was, Amsterdam itself can be summed up in three words: Weed, Bikes, and Canals. Every souvenir store has cannabis assortments and raunchy shot glasses. I would show them here; however, I figured my grandparents would prefer I didn't. The walls and rails of the city are chained with bikes, and everyone who isn't walking is riding a bike. The canals are perhaps the most picturesque and jaw-dropping part of Amsterdam. The city hugs the canals' sides, and its bricks can be seen slowly eroding away. I sat for a while, quite jet-lagged, and observed the couples, tour guides, and friends who all maneuvered their colorful boats in the water.
I was riding a great mood until 6:15 pm when I showed up for my Anne Frank House tour. This was something I had been dreaming about doing ever since reading her Diary in 7th grade. Importantly but not lightheartedly, there is a sad reminder of awful history emphasized when you get to see it in real life. My one-hour tour took me up into the house Anne Frank stayed in from July 6, 1942, until her arrest on August 4, 1944. Once found the Nazi's were instructed to remove everything in the house, leaving very little evidence of Anne and her friends' existence there. I wasn't allowed to film anything inside, but if I could, I would've photographed the etchings of Anne and her sister Margots heights still etched in the walls of that attic.
Left: "We cannot change what happened anymore. The only thing we can do is to learn from the past and to realize what discrimination and persecution of innocent people means." Otto Frank, the sole survivor of everyone who lived in the attic. Right: A view of Anne Frank's house from the outside.
My first day meeting everyone feels like the freshman year of college all over again. I'm interacting with a ton of new people and forgetting way too many names. Everyone has been so nice, and the only thing better than new friends is new Instagram followers. My second attempt for random roommates in a triple room (which I bravely attempted after how the first trial freshman year of college went) was a success! My roommates are Clover from Irvine, California, and Candace (formerly Yeign) from Shanghai, China. I am taking such cool classes this semester that I am so excited for, Political Geography, Global Studies, International Management and Business, and Coastal Ecosystems and Ecology.
Anyways, thanks for attending my life update. Love and miss you all!
Best,
Lili
Entry #1 Hello dearest friends, family, and Maple,
Welcome to my first-ever blog!! This blog is inspired by my dear friend Lotte De Jager. #shoutout The contents of this blog will be my personal thoughts, photos, stories, new friends, culture, and more that I experience on my study abroad trip this upcoming fall. My itinerary is as follows:
IJmuiden, Netherlands 9/9
Nantes, France 9/15
Malaga, Spain 9/22
Casablanca, Morocco 9/28
Tema & Takoradi, Ghana 10/13
Cape Town, South Africa 10/26
Port Louis, Mauritius 11/8
Kochi, India 11/18
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 12/1
Hong Kong, China 12/10
Bangkok, Thailand 12/22
If you would like to follow along with my travels, please do! I love you all, and I can't wait to see you soon!!
Best,
Lili Wiethake
Howdy Liliana, so exciting…I can’t wait to see your blog posts/pics! Love you bunches XoXoX
ReplyDeletethe Coastal Ecosystems and Ecology sounds exciting, and yeah a lot of cannabis in Amsterdam, however the city is very different from smaller dutch towns and villages
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