Destination: South Africa

February 19, 2008: Day 28?

Ok, today is the first day that we have been in Cape Town, South Africa, and I love it here, just as I knew I would (thus far, of course...)! But, to go back in the past a bit, the night after my last post we had another ballroom dancing session, which was walzting this time, and I had soooo much fun! I already know the waltz better than some people because I've learned it so many times in cotillion and my college dance classes. So, I was much more confident in what I was doing, and, therefore, having much more fun! I'm so glad that things are going so much better. It makes me happy :-) Oh, by the way, we have suffered 5 time changes since we left Brazil, which occurred every other night, and on the last two nights, consecutively, which was a-w-f-u-l and very hard to get used to. I haven't gotten much sleep/very good sleep because I don't want to go to bed/can't go to bed that early (yay homework) plus the fact that the ship, when the waves are particularly large, likes to push me up and down my bed, which makes sleeping properly a challenge. I'm confident, however, that I will become used to it sometime soon. The next night (yesterday) we had another ballroom dance session, and this time it was cha cha, which I have already learned as well, and that was so much fun. I really want to dance so much more, but it's just really hard to afford lessons... bleh. Anywho, then we had pre-port, which was by far the most boring pre-port ever, and I don't think that we even had an interport lecturer this time, just a South African student, so we all missed Javier that much more. Mauritius probably won't be much better, but it's cool. I never seem to meet these interport students—I swear they hide on the ship or something :-P Hmmm... Oh yeah, I went with Caitlin and Michael (Teneya would have gone if she didn't already have to do something else) to World Religions, a casual discussion on religions, but we're obviously stuck on Christianity because that's a huge part of American culture—so many people seem to be Christians or have Christian influence. That's ok, though, because we had an awesome 2 ½- hour conversation between 6 people about if and why we believe in God, and various other subjects, and I love explaining why what I do works for me. Then, we went up to the 7^th deck bar for some snacks, but the grill was closed (we really wanted pizza because dinner was disgusting) so we ate cup of noodles and froze outside until we were finished, talking (this is me, Caitlin, Teneya, and Catherine at this point). We had planned on sleeping outside under the stars to wake up to see the sunrise in the morning as we entered Cape Town, so we stripped our beds, bundled up big time (it was reeeeally cold outside), and settled on the port side of the 7^th deck. The sky was so clear and it was so interesting to watch the stars sway side to side as the ship moved—obviously, we were the ones moving, but it felt like the stars were instead. I could see the Southern Cross, which was cool, and we were all so wide awake (Teneya slept til 3 pm! She had been sick) that we stayed up until 3:30 am, freezing our butts off, and breathing in the good old salty air. We were being so loud and annoying, I hate to say it, because we were all so excited, so we kept waking up the other people on the deck... :-/ But, it was great fun, and three other people joined us. Then, Caitlin and I were so positively sick of freezing that we went back to bed for about an hour, and got up at 5 am to get back up on deck to watch the sunrise. Everyone came up there, it seemed, and it was really neat watching us come in, but I was soooo tired. Sleeping for an hour and half and that's it just isn't good for oneself. I hate to sound jaded, but the sunrise was not at all as beautiful as everyone had hyped it up to be—I was disappointed, and I appreciate those things more than some people seem to :-( Oh well. I was so tired/hungry/weak that I even got really nauseous for a while, which was awful. Thank goodness it went away. But, before the sun rose completely, a whole bunch of people came out with their African drums and started drumming out a beat as we approached land. It was sooo cool. Plus, some people right next to me played Lion King's "Circle of Life" song, which was awwwwesome (haaaa you ain't gonna get me onnne catbury egg? lol), so that was great. Then, we had our diplomatic briefing, and one of the American foreign ambassador people talked about the really bad HIV/AIDS issue in South Africa, and how the US has given S.A. millions of dollars to do this program that we devised, not the South Africans, to help the AIDS epidemic from continuing to spread, which stresses: abstinence, the use of condoms, and being faithful to one partner at a time. Clearly, the US does not understand African culture, because it does not work like ours does (as in, that program would come much closer to working in America than it ever will in Africa). Let me explain: Africans have more than one partner at one time, for starters. That's just the way they are, and to ask them to stay faithful is just silly because that's just who they are. Secondly, they're not going to employ abstinence. I know in one culture, you as a citizen of that ethnic group are encouraged to test out the waters with other people before you get married. That's kind of a taboo in the US, but we're not talking about the US here. I don't know how Africans would feel about using condoms, so that one I can't say much about. However, this woman said that they were making lots of progress in the program, but then contradicted herself by saying that progress has been really slow. If you want to make a difference, you cannot just go into someone else's country and give them advice/tell them how to fix a problem if you don't even know how things work in their land, because not every culture is the same. It's so near-sighted and I'm sick of the American approach to things like that because it a. doesn't work b. makes the subjects angry/apathetic to such motives and c. wastes away even more of our tax dollars.... Anyway, I really disagree with it, and if we really actually cared, I feel like we would have taken into consideration the fact that they're different from us, whether we like it or not, and cater to that difference to make a difference in whatever it is that us help-happy Americans are trying to solve. Anyway, then Caitlin and I showered and went out into the great unknown of South Africa. We walked 20 minutes in the direction of the Green(street?) Market and asked 5 people on the way how on earth to get there, until we finally arrived. The malls in Cape Town in the tourist section, by the way, are soooo much nicer than the one in Kennesaw, oh my goodness... I went grocery shopping there and got lots of snacks (I think I need to buy more lol) and then we arrived at Greenstreet Market—it's an open-air market with lots of awesome African stuff!!! :-D I wanted to buy everything... I got lots of stuff. The rand (their unit of currency) is worth our dollar divided by 7—the best we've had yet, so everything is soooo cheap for us. Yessss. The people here are so nice and helpful, and Table Mountain is such a sight to see. You all absolutely have to go there someday. One guy walked me at least 5 blocks to get to a taxi, and he was talkative and friendly, and I was 100% sure he was expecting money, but when we reached a taxi, he walked off before I could even offer money! He was so, so nice! Then, I ran to the ship to drop off my stuff and grab my ticket for the city orientation I did today (thank goodness that I made it just in time!) because I'm missing an FDP for my Art and Architecture class in India, so to make up for it, I have to write a short paper about the art and architecture I saw, but it wound up being decently enjoyable. We stopped for tea and scones, which was cute, and sat with two very nice and friendly girls from Cornell. I took a good deal of pictures, which was enjoyable, so I had a good day. I feel so bad for one of my friends, though, because her account got tapped into in Salvador, and she only has $3 left in it!!! I'm so sad for her! That's just terrible! The crazy thing is that whenever I was around her in Salvador and she got money out, there were guards around! :-( Hence, I shall definitely be using cash as much as possible, and only use the ATMs around the touristy areas near the wharf. Those are safe, I am told. But, we were going to go to a jazz club and dinner, and I want to pay for everything, but she won't let me. I want to go, and I insist that she come too, so hopefully she'll give in :-) I want to cheer her up about it, anyway. I really hope things work out for her as far as that goes. Well, that's all for now! I've got Habitat for Humanity tomorrow, and then hopefully high tea for $13 at the Mount Nelson (affectionately referred to as "Nellie") and Table Mountain. Table Mountain was closed today because it was too windy... I hope I'll be able to go up there sometime while I'm here. Well, that's all! Mucho amor!

<3,>

**Update**: Caitlin and I went to the waterfront (you basically step off the ship and you're there—it's so nice; everything's right there) this evening to enjoy some South African jazz music. So, we first went to this one place that I'd read in the travel book that said it was good, but there was only one guy playing guitar and the rest was synthesized stuff, and she wanted a real band, and I thought, "Good point," and so we went to another place that proved me wrong about first impressions... it looked to me to be about as respectable as a Three Dollar Cafe, and maybe an IHOP, from the outside. It's called the Green Dolphin, which was another turn-off, but once we stepped inside—lo!—(haha) we beheld an entirely different scene than we expected: it was actually a really nice atmosphere, like one from Buckhead kind of nice, and a jazz trio was playing live. Caitlin and I were like, we wanna sit in view of these guys!!! So, the hostess tried to work with us and sit us upstairs, but you couldn't see them at all, and I really wanted to videotape them... So, Caitlin and I decided to wait until a table opened up on the floor so we could see these guys play, and right as we were descending the stairs, the other host told us that he had a two top just for us, quite literally in the front row! We could touch the stage without any effort whatsoever from where we were sitting. It was ssooooo cool. We definitely got what we asked for :-) Caitlin was having a bad day, so I bought her a glass of wine—she had a shiraz and I got a pinot-thingy (pinotate??? pinote? I don't remember lol, but it wasn't a regular pinot), and hers was definitely better. She knows wine much better than I do. Anyway, we sat there, feeling all sophisticated in our awesome tunic-shirts (I just bought mine today—the lady called it a kimono, but it's a shirt that's like a kimono. It's so unique, I just had to get it, and she hand-made it. I bought a "kimono" from an Indian woman in South Africa—that just strikes me as interesting, and I like it) and drinking our red wines with the jazz band playing in the background... it was cool. My wine was gross but oh well. We stayed for about 2 hours, and it was quite enjoyable. I got one glass of wine (plus the one I bought for Caitlin), a braised lamb shank (it was soooo good!), some Amarula (that stuff is amazing, I have discovered), the entertainment fee, the tip, and the dessert (Caitlin's paying me back half) for only 357!........ haha, just kidding! That's actually what I paid in rands, which means I spent about $50 on a very good meal—I had a great time and finally relaxed, so it was totally worth it. I ran into my Transcendentalism professor and his wife, there, too, so that was cool... It's funny how one can easily escape one's professors and classmates, but as we all live together, you cannot get away from these people. For example: I'm used to having that "wall" between me and my professors where it's really awkward to be forced for conversation in the hallway or something like that, but here, your professors and staff join in on the dances and ship activities, so we call all our professors and superiors by their first names. We're all familiar with each other whether we like it or not :-P Well, something that's not good is that somehow my knee got hurt while I was walking around town today (which is surprising because the sidewalks and roads are in as perfect condition as those in America) and it gradually got worse to the point where I couldn't straighten/lock my knee without it being painful. This is worrisome because I'm supposed to be doing Habitat for Humanity. I'm icing it right now, so hopefully that will help... :-/

Mucho amor,

Michelle

February 20, 2008: Day 29?

Hello all,

Today was wonderful. I woke up at 7 am and Caitlin and I got breakfast before

we parted ways on our separate adventures. I don't remember what she did, but

I went with a group of people through SAS to a township, where we helped build

a house for this sweet older Khosa woman through Habitat for Humanity. It was such an awesome experience. I was kinda disappointed when I didn't get a township visit, but now I know that this was much more meaningful than a visit would have been, and I am so glad that I got to do it. The children were so sweet and the people we worked with were so nice. The shacks these people lived in are dilapidated tin houses that are smaller than trailer homes, and are probably extremely hot in that African sun thanks to the metal. The most amazing part about it, though, is these people are genuinely happy with life, especially the children. If you took their pictures, they loooooved to see themselves on your camera screen. I even let a few kids take pictures with my camera. There was one very little boy who gave hugs to every single person in our group with a huge smile on his face. It was so, so heartwarming. I kept almost tearing up... I realize that I might not have mentioned the fact that in both Brazil and South Africa, the people really do not like it when you take their pictures without asking. I don't like this because I love candid shots, and of course, when you ask, people strike a pose, and that's not nearly as meaningful. But, I want to be respectful, so if they're within "asking distance," I make sure to do so, but secretly I just want to take their pictures without permission. Oh well. Anyway, there was one little boy who kept wanting to try on my sunglasses, so I let him, and the second time I did it was lunchtime, so I went to eat and came back and he was gone, so I accidentally gave him my glasses, but it's fine—even though I use them a lot, it's good not to be selfish. But, what really made me feel annoyed/sad was when he asked me for more sunglasses when God knows where the other ones wound up a few hours later, and I told him I had no more, and then he asked for my hat, and I told him no: it just made me sad that he completely missed the point of me allowing him to keep my sunglasses and just wanted more. I know he's a child, but it's too bad that he couldn't appreciate my gift (of sorts) :-( poor kid. Hopefully he'll learn someday... Anyway, the future homeowner made us such a nice little lunch with this interesting rice-like side dish (rice-like in that it has the same consistency and was pure white) that was interesting and very fine—I think it was some sort of vegetable meal. It was good. I got lots of good pictures throughout the day, which was awesome. Then we cleaned up and left—it was such a great experience... I just got back from watching the sunset on Table Mountain, and it was unbelievable—even though there was a whoooole lot of pollution, in this instance it is strangely both a good and bad thing, because if there wasn't pollution today, it would be too windy to use the cable car to go up (and there was no way I would hike up because of my knee and because I hate hiking/I'm lazy), but pollution is a bad thing and it also prevented us from seeing the city as well (and who doesn't like a nice, clear day for nice, crisp photos?? I sure do!)... But, the sunset was fantastic nonetheless, and was a very enjoyable experience. The moon was spectacular as well and the city lights were sparkling down below. Wow. Now, as I have no one else to go do stuff with, I am about to find myself at the Green Dolphin yet again and I'm going to hope that I will run into someone who wants to do something else—not that I don't like the people I'm going with—it's just I already went there and I have a very limited amount of time in Cape Town and I want to do as much stuff as possible. But, that's quite alright! Things tend to work out for me, so I just have to hope :-) Much love,

Michelle

Almost to South Africa!

Hello all,

very quickly: we've had I believe 5 time changes and it has been messing up my sleep schedule big time. It will be nice to have some time to catch up when we arrive in Cape Town. Love!!!

February 15, 2008: Day 24

Wow, it has almost been a quarter of the way through this journey—that's amazing! So many things have happened, and every day, no matter what, I am so grateful to be able to do this. I know it seems like sometimes I wasn't or am not, but truly I am grateful. Thanks to everyone who made this possible for me. Anyway, today was my first full day rockin a pixie cut... I don't even look like a "baldie" as they've come to be called (I like skinheads better lol, but oh well), and people stare at me anyway, which is weird... My haircut isn't that unusual... hmm. So, I just stare back, haha. I've found that I've been looking into people's eyes more, daring them to stare. Normally I would walk along and avoid most people's gazes because that's just how I roll :-P But anyway, Caitlin misses her hair sometimes and sometimes doesn't mind that she's a baldie... I would not have been able to handle totally shaving my head, and I'm glad I recognized that. The only problem with my haircut is that some of my superblonde highlights were growing out and so it looks really patchy in a not flattering at all way :-( So, in S.A., I'm going to get some hair color and fix it, and I'm going to give Teneya pink highlights and Michael said he wanted his hair electric blue, so we're going to have a hair dyeing extravaganza... I also can't wait to buy more snacks and clothes, and especially scarves!!! I'm ready to look cute! :-) So, I'm very, very happy because I found the cute little drawing Kristin up the street drew for me and I magneted (yay making up words) it to the wall, along with the note Jess left me when she spent the night, and the scavenger hunt Alex put me on to find a note in my room :-D Those were lost inside one of my packages I brought along with me, and I had thought that I had lost them, but I'm soooo happy to find that I hadn't!!! Yay! Anyway, sleeping last night was not so successful. I'm freaking exhausted. I would slide up and down the bed a little bit as the ship hit each wave, and our room creaks with the slightest movement from the ship, and we had to tape the drawers shut so that they wouldn't open and close loudly. I dragged myself to Global Studies, only to find out that 1. North Illinois (right?) University had a shooting today or yesterday, which is absolutely awful. It breaks my heart to know that such things go on like that in this world... and 2. The guy posted the powerpoint online, just like the guy before him, which does not encourage anyone to go at all, it's so dumb... But I'm ok with that, because I like sleeping in :-P I tried taking a nap today but the ship was rocking so much that it was barely successful. I hung out with Michael and Alex in their room for a bit and then went to Art and Architecture, after which I grabbed some dinner with Caitlin. I went to snack this evening and had some of the amazing pink cake that they had yesterday, too, and it has the most amazing frosting EVER. Yumm. So, off on a random tangent, but something I really like is that the clock on my phone and on my computer show the time at home, and whenever I see the time at home, it makes me think of what you guys are doing right now, and I wish I could be there with you to participate, even if it's just cleaning the dishes :-P I've been going to bed so late, I really need to stop or I'll shave a bunch of years off my life from so little sleep—and by that, I mean I'm getting 8 hours of sleep like a normal person, rather than my customary 8 or 9 or even 10... lol One last thing: Teneya has me as her accomplice in her playful scheme against the executive dean, Kenn Gaither: we're going to play small-scale pranks on him, and she is the mastermind. Tonight, at 2 am, we're going to put up a sign we made on his door and knock loudly, so when he answers the door, he will have to un-magnetize the sign before he can get out to see who it is. We'll see how he handles that and then move onto the next one :-D Tis fun! At least at that time in the morning the internet will be super fast, yayaayayay! Much love to you all!!!

Michelle

February 16, 2008: Day 25? (I don't even know anymore....)

Today was pretty good... I slept in until 10:30 because I was sooo tired from last night's devious activities (pranking!), so Caitlin's going to give me the notes from the Global lecture I missed. Then, I went to lunch with Caitlin, which was good... Then, I went to drawing class, where I realized that I had forgotten to do the homework... urgh. Not good. But, it kind of doesn't matter because my grades I will be getting at the end of this voyage will not be calculated into my GPA, and I will only be getting credit for the classes (if I pass them, and I will)... Besides, I'm going to have to take drawing again anyway, because that class is a joke. Anyway, we learned how to use a viewfinder... what fun? And then I went on the 5^th deck aft to draw Caitlin for my homework, and I was out there for 10 minutes and my shoulders got burned, which is lame. I don't ever go outside except for meals, so I need to condition myself to the sun. Besides, as much as I am an advocate for having healthy skin, I want to be tanner to make up for my short hair. So, I tanned with Caitlin for about an hour. Then, I went to dinner with Michael, and I was outside eating during sunset, and Ben: I am sorry to report that I started into that sun until my retinas bled (not really :-P) while the sun was setting and I saw no trace of a green flash :-( I was disappointed. So, my theory is that the whole green flash thing is a myth, but I will not discount it just yet—I will try it again. Michael and I talked about what animals we would be if we could be one, and he said wolf, and I said a bird. A funny thing about eating here on the ship is the fact that my favorite part of my meal without fail is the rolls. I freakin love the rolls, they are soooo good! I'm literally going to miss them when I come back home. Their desserts aren't so bad most of the time (except for today: sticky date pudding?! Ew...), which I have been eating way too much unfortunately... I can foresee myself gaining weight on this trip. If the gym wasn't so crowded, and if I was willing to change up my schedule, I would work out more, but at least I get TONS of exercising in port, so it's not so bad. After dinner, I came back and wrote my paper for Art and Architecture on Stonehenge, and got dragged out of my room by Teneya right after I finished it, saying something about making a banner for our sea, and I for the first time (amazingly... I would have expected this to happen earlier, knowing me) I locked myself out, and with no shoes on (which is not allowed—apparently it is easier to get toes chopped off in rougher seas?), but luckily I saw Tricia not long after that and she got me my card. We had a "captain's challenge" where we were notified last-minute that we had to come up with a chant by 9:00 for our sea (part of the competition for the Sea Olympics), and only 10 people out of about 30 or so in our sea showed up for this, so we were by far the smallest sea that performed (even though apparently we are the largest on the ship?) because no one knew about it, so we definitely didn't win that round—sadness. If we win the Sea Olympics, we get to be the first off the ship in Miami, which is excellent motivation, but I've never been much of a "team spirit" type of person, so I'm not too interested in all this—just winning lol. After that, we had our first coffeehouse (without the coffee... sadness) and lots of very talented people played guitar and sang, and juggled, and read their poetry. It was awesome! The only thing I didn't like was Noah, the ship's store guy, who did some comedy and introduced each person as well, and he was raunchy in all of his acts—yes, we are college students, but his stuff was gross and inappropriate and was waaayyy too much information, and I'm no prude. I imagine he will not be asked to perform again (I hope so). All the guitar playing action made me quite nostalgic and caused me to think of that special young man of mine back home, and miss him terribly. I realized that music is the purest and most meaningful way to speak to my heart, especially when accompanied with lyrics. It makes me so happy that Alex is musical. I miss hearing him play, and sing. I wish I could sing with him right now. And dance with him :-) Oh, I forgot to mention: I bought a Lonely Planet book for Japan, and it has been such a pleasure reading through it and learning about Japan. I think that because Japan is bustling with opportunity and things to do that it will be way up there on my list of favorite countries. You can get a ski ticket on one of the finest slopes in Japan for about $35... I'm so sad that Caitlin is not into skiing. But hey, it's not like I won't be going back someday! I wonder why it is that I have such a fascination with Japan, and its people... I don't really understand why I feel so drawn to it. But, I am very excited about going, and especially doing it indy. Did I already mention that Caitlin and I are on the same safari, as well as the same Beijing trip? This is totally by pure luck, which is awesome. Caitlin and I are going to be roommates for the Beijing trip, which is going to be amazing. Well, I'd better get to bed... Much love to you all! Muah!

Michelle :-D

I Have a Shaved Head-- Sort Of...

February 13, 2008: Day 22

Hello all,

I had forgotten to mention that I have decided against shaving my head— for the last time :-P It all happens tomorrow, and Caitlin's shaving her head at 9:30 am! She's crazy, but in a very good way. Anyway, today was good and laid-back... I slept in til 11 and skipped Global Studies, although I am kind of sad that I had, because it was a very interesting topic: HIV and AIDS. Michael told me that SAS is giving all of us 100 extra internet minutes, oh my goodness! That's so awesome! It's apparently because a lot of people weren't logging out properly and it was due to a glitch in the system or something like that, so they're making it up to us! That's over an hour you guys!!! Yay!!! Anyway, last night was sooo awesome because we have a ballroom dancing club to which I belong and we had our first dance session last night!!! It was soooo much fun, and I'm super excited that I get to dance while on ship, and come home and dazzle you all with my mad dancing skills I will have picked up :-P We learned the Hustle, which is a nightclub dance with two people—it's not the "do the Hustle" dance, it's different. I have no idea why it's called the Hustle as well... Anywho, so that was fantastic. We also changed our soccer team name (thank God) to "No One Goes Down South Without My Permission," because we wanted to do something that everyone on the ship would get, and here's the story behind it—We were having pre-port for Brazil, and Kenn Gaither was talking to us about using money belts. Well, he had one that was on a string and attached to his belt buckle and went in his pants, and he showed it to us, and then said, very seriously, "No one goes down south without my permission." It was hilarious. So, we're going to be awesome and use his adage to our benefit—our opponents will be laughing so hard to whole time that we will win! haha :-) Let's see... Caitlin, Teneya, Catherine, me, and Michael (and someone else—we haven't decided who yet) are getting a villa in Mauritius together and we've started planning that, so that's cool—the one we really have our eyes on looks super nice and it's only $30-$50 a person per night—crazy, no? I had lunch with Caitlin and Teneya, and then I went to drawing class and we did cloud drawings with a model, which was fun. Then, since Teneya and I were dates for the dance tonight, we decided to go all out and "go out" for dinner together as well, lol, and we went to the fancy dining room, and Caitlin and Catherine came, too... Then, we all got ready together for the dance in Caitlin's room, and I did my makeup so amazingly awesomely that Jess would have been super proud of me if she saw it :-) I will post photos on Facebook eventually... I miss being able to do that whenever I want. Anyway, the dance was lots of fun—Caitlin was a jungle cat without ears lol, Teneya was a forest and so was Catherine, and I was a pretty butterfly and I made my own wings and antennae!!! There were some seriously awesome costumes tonight—one guy wore his sleeping bag and was a caterpillar (I really wanted my picture with him—butterfly +caterpillar= awesome!), I saw a jellyfish, a couple of cows, sharks, lots of cats, a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater, some random ones like Tiger Woods and hunters, and a Playboy bunny... ugh. So, it was pretty fun, and lots of people had already gotten mohawks and might shave the rest off tomorrow, so that's cool. Well, I'd better get to bed... they're apparently waking us up at 7 am tomorrow, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's even earlier than that—yuck. Much love to you all my dears!

Michelle

February 14, 2008: Day 23

Hello all,

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! Today was Neptune Day, which is supposed to be when we cross the Equator but for some reason we did it today. It involves getting awoken at 7:30 am by banging and clanging from the crew's pots and pans, with the occasional drum and harmonica that's played horribly off-tune. Then, we all congregate up on the 7^th deck aft by the pool. Today is a nasty day, by the way—the ugliest I've seen it yet. The waters are so violent that we've had to duct tape our drawers shut, and slamming into walls is the norm while walking somewhere. Several objects have fallen off our desks. Anyway, when we all went up to the 7^th deck, King Neptune (aka Kenn Gaither) and Queen (?? Starts with an "M"—played by professor Widdows) were there, and demanded that we show our loyalty to him by 1. Getting dumped in fish guts and then jumping into the freezing cold pool 2. Kissing dead fishes and 3. Getting down on your knees and kissing King Neptune's ring. I did all of this, mmmhmmmm. Then, everyone went to shave heads... Teneya and I cut Caitlin's hair off, and I buzzed it—you can see her skin and everything, it's really cool. She looks good. Then, we went down to shower because we still smelled like fish guts... This whole time I wanted to shave my head, too, but I wouldn't want to do a total buzz cut where you can see my scalp. So, I showered, and then called Alex to see if he would still like me if I did it... The best words I've ever heard him say were in answer to my question, would you still like me?: "I would like you just the same," and if he would still think I am beautiful? He said yes. Just hearing that made me want to do it, to kind of commemorate such awesome words. So, I did. Teneya got first cut and Caitlin and her cut it short enough—then, they used the biggest buzz attachment they have, and now I have a pixie cut! I didn't cry or anything! My hair is much longer than everyone else's—I'm not that hardcore. Anyway, I'm looking forward to wearing lots of scarves—that'll be really cute. As for the rest of the day, I'm going to take a nap, watch a movie, maybe do some homework, and do the "Single's Awareness" thing tonight with Teneya, Caitlin, and a bunch of other girls—may I reiterate that I'm just going for free ice cream cake and cookies, and especially to hang out with my friends—not to pretend that I'm single :-P. Then, we're going to gather some more people (co-ed) for Truth or Dare and Hide-and-Seek. What fun!!! :-D

**Update**:

So, as it turns out, it is very, very difficult to look feminine when one has ridiculously short hair like mine—no amount of makeup, pink, and dresses can remedy it—one just plain and simple looks at least a little like a boy. I think that even if I were to walk around in a bikini people would still be confused :-P Anyway, I've gotten some attention for my haircut, but not nearly as much as those like Caitlin who were hardcore enough to go all out and shave to the scalp. Some people even took a razor to their hair so that they have no hair whatsoever. I am the only person I know of who just used the biggest shaver attachment—everyone either did it all out or didn't at all, which I found surprising. I imagined more people would be more like me, so I'm unique in a unique situation—something I had not envisioned. That's fine, though... I just can't wait to buy a whole bunch of super cute head scarves in South Africa—that will help me not looking very feminine. I've seen some funny looks and heard comments from people (which is ridiculous—you'd think they didn't know why people did it... This ship is small enough for people to realize that), but the majority of people have been kind and encouraging (and not just to me—to Caitlin and everyone else, too). It will be interesting going to class tomorrow—every class is going to be taken up with 15 minutes of talking about the festivities of today, I imagine. We just played Truth or Dare, which was pretty fun, and had awesome ice cream cake and cookies, compliments of Teneya :-D I need to figure out a way to pay her back... hmmm. The ship has been pitching and rolling so badly that I for the first time feel a little bit nauseous, and food was actually sliding across tables at meals today... And I hear that we're headed into a storm, so I made sure to get some seasickness medicine because my vision has been a little confused and I want to be able to get some sleep tonight. Luckily, I don't feel out-of-sorts enough to be physically sick, but who knows how long that could continue... But back to my hair—it's about one inch long and sticks up on its own, and looks kind of odd as far as the color goes because some of my roots had grown out from highlighting, but not entirely in some parts, so it looks a little patched, haha... I put on my hoodie earlier and my hood stayed on, and it felt like it was sticking to my head! What an unusual sensation! But all in all, I don't regret doing it, but I can't wait for my hair to grow back! :-)

Before (Teneya, Caitlin—after head shaving—and me)...

After!...

Much Love,

Michelle

(hopefully those photos show up!)

Yay! A Post, Finally!

February 5, 2008: Day 14

Buom gia!

First of all, today is the three year anniversary of Nicole's accident... but on a lighter note, today has thus far been soooo awesome, and it's not even close to being over. I went with Caitlin and some chick Caitlin knew, of whom I was not particularly fond. Oh well. Anyway, we latched onto this guy in my drawing class and his friend Dave, who ate breakfast with us earlier. As it turns out, we totally didn't need guys during the day—certainly it is vital to have one around at night, especially at night during Carnaval, but anyway... we went into to town to Comercio, where we were docked. As we walked to get to the street, we heard these intense drums, probably something like 15 of them, beating this awesome African rhythm, which got louder and louder and still more loud as we walked closer... it was so exciting!!! Plus, they were doing it right in front of a huge cruise ship, so that made it even louder. When we got really close that it was as loud as it could be, I must admit that tears sprang to my eyes. I thought, "I'm in Brazil! This is unbelievable!!!" I felt an intense connection with the country, at least in that moment, through the music. It was such a neat thing to experience. We got to the main part of town and went to the Mercado Modelo and bought some artwork and I got a linen dress for a special amiga of mine. It was so fun trying to communicate to people almost all on my own and negotiate prices and whatnot. I'm in a foreign country but it doesn't feel hostile or anything in the least. I had read in the book Mom got me, "Behave Yourself," which tells you the etiquette and whatnot of many countries around the world, that you should not speak in Spanish in Brazil unless you want to offend someone. Our interport lecturer, Javier, told me that that wouldn't be a problem at all, so I did it. It was interesting to see all the people walking around, many of the children dressed up in bright little costumes, and many Brazilian women wearing sports bras, basically, for tops. I love that there is such a high percentage of dark-skinned people in Salvador—it adds a nice variety and I think it's beautiful. Some things I've noticed about Brazilians: they stare... wearing a bra is not the highest on Brazilian women's lists... The men love women... Everybody—vendors, men, homeless people—want a piece of you, and will try if you stand still long enough... Don't sit outside to eat because beggars will come right up to you to ask for food... They can be quite friendly and are fun-loving, compassionate people as a general rule... Almost all taxi drivers drive as if they own the road and would make Mom's hair fall out—it's one intense ride.

Well, more later!

Michelle

February 9, 2008: Day 18

Ok. Carnaval... The biggest street party in the world, and I was a part of it on the last night—Fat Tuesday. Michael, the guy I was going to go with (girls should never go without a guy), was too tired to go, so I desperately wandered around looking for people to go with. I first wanted to go with Melissa, but it sounded like they wouldn't be coming back until the wee hours of the morning, which I couldn't do because I had to leave for the airport to go to the Amazon by 11 pm. So, I found Brady, and he let me go with his group of about 30 people. I might as well have not gone because our group was so huge that it was hardly enjoyable, for these reasons: I didn't know everyone quite as well, and I don't dance unless it's someone awesome like Jess who makes it tons of fun and gets me to dance, too. And I love dancing, I'm just really shy about it, especially with relative strangers. So, it was great watching the festivities, but I really wanted to join in. also, it was awful being in a huge group because at one point someone would go off to get a drink or go to the bathroom, and then come back, and then other people would leave again, and we had to stay where we were so they wouldn't get lost and therefore killed or what-have-you, so I was very annoyed at having to stand around in a crowd of nothing going on for 45 minutes... I've learned that it is absolutely best if I stay in much smaller groups when I travel, otherwise I get annoyed at all the different wants and needs of so many people and things don't get resolved for hours it seems... Anyway, I'm glad I got to see things going on, and to learn that at the time I went, it wasn't dangerous hardly at all (probably because it was so early on, and fewer people were drunk). SAS definitely scared us much more than they had to, but I think it's for a very good reason; I'm sure there were people who still treated it cavalierly even after all that talk about safety. So don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got to do it, but now I know that next time I go, I need to have my best friends there with me for a good time, and I want to go to Rio de Janeiro. I'm learning more about myself and this is a good thing. So after the very tame festivities, part of the group went back to the ship together because we were all leaving together for our flight to the Amazon. We jammed 5 people into a very small taxi and zoomed off into the night, Brazilian music blasting in the cool night's air... that was one crazy taxi ride—it was quite an adventure! Anyway, we got there safely (thank God) and checked in. Four connections and one or two stops later, we arrived in Manaus at 11 am. Luckily, our flights worked out just fine and nothing got delayed (told you, Mom! :-P), and we met Carlos, the company owner of Amazon Tours Brazil. Nice guy. He took us by air-conditioned motorcoach (that smelled like sewage... urgh) to our riverboat, which was more rustic than I think we all expected it to be. Plus, it was raining, so I could tell that everyone was like oh god, this is going to be miserable... We had a sandwich of cheese, too, and we were scared we were going to die of starvation, and the cashew juice (yes, from the nut) was, in all honesty, kind of disgusting. Nonetheless, we sailed off and got to see the Meeting of the Waters, where the Rio Negro (the one we stayed on the whole time) and the Rio Solimoes (sp?), which turns into the Amazon River. The former looked like a murky brown, and the latter looked like, as one girl said, coffee with lots of milk in it. The two rivers flow alongside each other for a long ways without mixing because of differences in density, velocity, and temperature, so there is a defined line between the two. It's really neat to see. Then, we went to a hang out place further down the river (yay... Aqueous Transmission!) and went off to fish for piranhas (pronounced peer-ahn-yas)... some people caught catfish, but only our guide caught a piranha. It looked mean. What you do is you hook meat to your... hook... lol and then you smack the top of the water with your pole to attract those mean lookin' little fishies... So, after that, we waited until dark to go caiman (small alligator type animals) hunting. What the guide does is he shines a very bright light into the shallows and banks of the river, and if he sees what basically looks like cat's eyes when light is shined into them, there's a caiman there, and he uses his mad reflexes to scoop the caiman out of the water. The caiman we got was so cute and little, and he/she just hung out in our hands. I was very excited to hold it, and got pictures of me "kissing" it. Fun times. We went back to the boat and got some dinner, and some people began racking up their alcohol bills. One guy, whose name I will not mention because I have plenty of bitter things to say about him, was one of those people and he harassed me the whole trip... he was so rude and I cannot stand him. I hope and pray that this trip will change him and he will become a much, much better person who is not quite so immature and disrespectful. Punch him in the face, world! Anyway, we woke up bright and early the next morning to go on a jungle hike, which basically was four hours of walking around amongst plants with really cool botanical properties... we didn't see any animals :-( but we did see a monkey and a parrot later... Anyway, we saw the giant lily pads, which was cool as well, and that night we had a barbeque with the other American group that was doing the same tour as us. They are Vietnamese-Americans from California and they were all about 25—very nice people, and fun to hang out with. The barbeque was unbelievably delicious... I got really excited, though, because one of the guys from the other tour is a wedding photographer and I did an informal interview with him to see what he thought of the industry, how much he charges, etc. He just started about 6 months ago, so he only charges $1,000 for labor, which is ridiculously cheap. Anyway, that was awesome. We also went swimming in the river, which was wonderfully refreshing (we were all quite disgusting from not having showered in over 24 hours in such a humid climate) and jumped off the back of the boat. It was tons of fun. The next day—the final day—was by far my most favorite. This was yesterday. We went to a village in the Amazon, and the children were bathing in the river when we arrived. They were so precious and I got tons of awesome photos of them. We "toured" their village and it was interesting to see how they lived—it felt authentic, but not, because they wore Havianas (relatively expensive flip-flops) but lived in huts for houses... After that, we went to another village and saw an authentic Native American dance performance: the Indians (as they prefer to be called) were painted up and the women only wore a grass skirt. The men wore what basically looked like speedos and were all decorated. The chief was wonderful to listen to—he switched to Portuguese from his native language and it was so nice to hear how beautiful the language is. These people seem so nice and it was such a wonderful experience to have. At the end of the performance, they invited some people to come up and join in, and I got chosen!!!! It was so meaningful to be a part of it—it made me want to come and live with them for about a month. The funny thing is that they live on the cliffs and they can see Manaus from where they live. Interesting, no? Anyway, the Amazon actually felt a whole lot like home: the humidity was there but it was also kind of cool, like Georgia in the fall... the bugs and frogs sounded similar to the ones I used to hear at night... the jungle was much lusher than the woods in my backyard, but felt very similar nonetheless. It was neat to feel a kind of connection with the place, and I look forward to coming back in a smaller group and with people I know and love. It was interesting how cool it was there, though—we were 3 degrees south of the Equator and yet I was freezing at night. This is because we were there during the rainy season, which is basically their winter. So while everyone in Salvador was sweating their butts off, we were chilled, and we were closer to the Equator than they were! Crazy, huh? Well, I think we're going to have a girls' night tonight, so I want to hurry up and post this before we leave for South Africa, yay!!!! Much love to you all,

Michelle

February 10, 2008: Day 19... On Our Way to South Africa!

Girls' night last night didn't really go down—everyone was tired and left early, but we did hang out and paint our toenails (I painted mine red and did a horrible job of it, lol)... Caitlin and Kelly from the Amazon trip came over. I went to bed after reading some Emerson until my eyes could stay open no longer, woke up today, had breakfast alone as usual (doesn't really bug me anymore because I'm so tired that I don't feel like talking anyway), and went to Global Studies alone, but found Alex and Michael and sat with them. The speakers ALWAYS talk way too fast and never write the names of the people they mention in their powerpoints, which is ridiculous, because not all of us are auditory learners. Next time I see Tatjana or Sir Rich (as he likes to be called), I shall let them know that I don't like it. We have our first test in two days... urgh. I constantly have things I need and want to do throughout the day—each day flies by and I don't even have time to do leisure reading or crosswords or whatever else I want to do that doesn't directly involve SAS stuff because I have so much academic junk to do. I have my first paper due in a week, and I have chosen Stonehenge as my subject—should be easy, but it's a paper nonetheless and that's more that I have to do on top of what I do already lol. I've adjusted to stress on board the ship, though, which is fantastic—thus far (I hope I'm not judging too soon), I have been juggling things quite satisfactorily. Teneya two doors down and in my a cappella group invited me to be her date for the Party Animals party on the 13^th, which is awesome—it's going to be fun! I'm going to be a butterfly, and hopefully Tricia will let me use her construction paper :-)... Today I took a nap and I feel so guilty sleeping (which is ridiculous... I shouldn't have to feel guilty about being tired) because I have so much homework and things to do. It's like sleep gets in the way of all the things I have to do. Half of the things I need to do are things like academics, and the other half is literally social stuff (like blogging or writing in my journal or meetings etc) or housekeeping things like sink laundry and figuring out payment and SAS-related stuff like arrival and departure cards, etc. They sure know how to keep us busy. Then, I went to my Transcendentalism class, which I really enjoy because all the things discussed I agree with and believe in, and it's always, always awesome to have a small class in which all we do is discuss! I just submitted some of my photos for the yearbook from Brazil, and I sincerely hope that during this voyage, they choose at least one photo of mine to be put into the yearbook. I went to dinner with Caitlin, and Caitlin told me that she's starting to feel nervous about shaving her head, and I can't blame her... But, she pointed out that it will be a good opportunity to accept herself as she is, and not just what she looks like, and that sounds like something I myself need to do—I think I still need more confidence because I am insecure sometimes about the way I look, and I think this would maybe change that. So, I'm back to thinking about shaving my head again. For those of you who don't know, Neptune Day is occurring on February 14^th this time around, and it happens when we cross the Equator for the first time: everyone gets dumped with fish guts, jumps into the pool, and, if they so desire, shave their heads. It's an initiation process from a pollywog (one who has never sailed over the Equator before) to a whatever you're called when you are a veteran. It's weird, I know, but google or wikipedia it and it will describe it in better detail and why it exists in the first place. We actually already crossed the Equator—I think they're doing it later to help us bear the awfulness of being at sea for 10 straight days. I went over to Michael and Alex's room next door because I heard Alex playing his new guitar and wanted to listen, and I drew in my travel journal (I have to have four drawings per week and it's hard to keep that up with that quota when I already have so many other things to do), which was enjoyable. They helped me figure out one of Ben's riddles, and the answer to "what is it that was given to you, belongs only to you, and yet your friends use it more than you do?" and it's your name! I'm god-awful at riddles because I always go to the most complicated solutions, rather than recognizing that it's just looking for a simple answer. I like pondering them nonetheless, however. We're losing yet another hour tonight and by the time we reach South Africa, we will have lost a total of 5 hours... ick. And Caitlin and I are going to get up for the sunrise when we arrive in port—even more ick! Caitlin and I figure that we can, for the sake of this trip, sleep when we're dead because sleeping gets in the way of seeing really cool stuff... I'm going to be mentally and physically and emotionally drained by the time I get home. Tricia's sister only wanted to sleep by the end of it, and I imagine that I will want to do the same for a few days as well... I have a cappella tomorrow, so that should be fun. It's weird that Max will be leaving in Cape Town—so soon already! It will be even weirder to have a different academic dean... As it turns out, it's relatively costly to send postcards and I spent about $19 this time on 9 postcards plus a package :-(... And I want to send a bazillion every port! Sadness. Oh—one especially important downside to shaving my head would be that I might have trouble getting a job when I get back, because there are people who would judge that negatively, especially in the service business, which is what I want to do—be a server. This makes me very sad and I absolutely MUST have a good paying job when I get back to get myself out of debt, so it's a bit of a risk, so I am very unsure about what I should do about it. I also just want to see if my hair will grow back differently. Oh, as far as friends go and how I feel about being here on this ship—things are getting better, slowly but surely. I hang out mostly with Caitlin, who is really nice and quite fun, and a handful of other people as well, which makes being away from home bearable. I think I'm going to sell my Cape Winelands SAS trip and do it indy with Caitlin, which would be tons of fun. Apparently she's in my safari, which is awesome! Brittany's 21^st birthday is also in South Africa, and she wants to find a jazz club, which would be beyond amazing, so I'm going to go with her to celebrate! :-D I still miss home and you guys will always be #1 in my book, but at least I'm not getting anxiety anymore and I've finally adjusted to my surroundings enough to feel decently comfortable here. Whew! It's a good feeling. Anyway, something I liked about the Amazon trip was that I could separate from the group (wasn't much a part of it, anyway—most people weren't much like me) and do things alongside people but not actually with them (as in, I didn't really have friends on this trip, so I just kind of tagged along), doing my own thing but not feeling left out. It was great to not feel like I HAD to be with a friend constantly because I just floated throughout the group, I guess you could say, because I almost always feel like I need to have someone with me as a friend when I do things, otherwise I feel really self-conscious and upset and I feel like I look like a loner :-( but not this time. But, I feel like these experiences I've been having—all of them—would be much more meaningful to me if I had someone who really meant something to me (a friend, family member, my boyfriend Alex), which is why I feel kind of bad about not being happy about Carnaval because I lacked my friends. I'm just not the type of person who can be satisfied with just seeing something—I have to be able to share it with someone, otherwise its value is not as great as it could be. Perhaps that is not a good trait, but I don't care—it's me and that's too bad if someone thinks that's stupid of me not to be able to enjoy something to its full extent without friends. I know I will want to come back to these places to have an even better experience with the people I love—be prepared for that, oh friends of mine! :-P I hope you guys have money so we can go travel together because I'm going to want to do it constantly. I'm already dreaming of going to Morocco, Egypt, Greece, Spain... haha. I have debt I need to get rid of, but why not enjoy what money I have left over before doing that? You only live once, I firmly believe. Ok, I'm super tired... off to bed for me! I love you all mucho... please send me letters!!! Go here for instructions on how to do so: www.semesteratsea.org/stayintouch .... I would love you guys forever if you did it. Please, please do it—it makes me feel loved, which I need! All the best,

Michelle <3

February 11, 2008: Day 20

So, I'm sitting here, avoiding properly studying for the Global Studies test tomorrow—I read through the notes, but not quite thoroughly... luckily, I can study last minute and I usually do quite well, so I'll probably just study at breakfast tomorrow. I just can't get motivated to study, and I've been giving myself breaks and whatnot. It's funny that I work like this and yet every semester I make the Dean's List at the least every semester. Anyway, today was just another day... went to breakfast and Global Studies: they showed us a video of the bushmen doing their healing ritual and it was actually kind of scary/creepy to watch... Caitlin and I were mildly disturbed by it. We also learned part of the South African nation anthem, which is in four different languages, and the first part that we learned today is really beautiful. I can't wait to hear the rest of it. After Global Studies, I took a short nap that wasn't as restful as I would have liked it to be... Then, I took care of some drawings and necessities, as usual, and went to lunch last-minute (again, as usual, lol) before my drawing class. Today's class was the most fun we've had yet and what we did is we would draw a shape but not by drawing the outline of it: we'd start off with a dot in the middle of the paper and, using charcoal, we'd draw it as we went, from the inside out. Then, we drew with a heavy pencil the outline of the shape (first, a shoe... I'm so sick of drawing shoes... then, a figurine) and we took our hands and wiped off the charcoal and we could see the shape. It was wonderfully messy (if you've ever worked with charcoal you can imagine how black our hands were), and I gave myself some war paint on my face with it. I really wanted to make like the matchmaker in Mulan and give myself a beard, haha, but I refrained, sadly... Then, I did more homework and took care of ship business, and printed out some articles on Stonehenge for my paper, which is due in less than a week and I haven't started on it yet :-(... Then, I went to dinner with Brittany, her roommate Maggie, and Caitlin, and showed them my Amazon pictures. I also had three pieces of chocolate cake (that had orange filling! Yum!), haha... So healthy. I also hung out shortly with Teneya on the 7^th deck in the sunshine, and we put our feet in the pool, which felt good. Caitlin and I think everyone will think we're lesbians if we both shave our heads because we hang out so much... It's annoying that people change their conception of you if you do something like that—Caitlin's come across a lot of jerk guys who haven't been nice to her when they hear her say she's going to do it... so lame. We're all about looks in this society. Anyway, I'm really excited about Valentine's Day because a. it's Valentine's Day :-D b. it's also Neptune Day=no classes c. Teneya is having a Single's Awareness "meeting" in her room, and she's getting cake and cookies from the dining hall and we're going to watch movies and play Truth or Dare. I'm obviously not single, but I'm going because it's going to be all girls anyway, and it will be lots of fun. I've been dying to play Truth or Dare, and Teneya and I have been meaning to do it for a while. I also really, really want to play Hide-And-Seek... I haven't played that in FOREVER and this ship is 100% perfect for that kind of thing!!! I really want to do it. Also, Teneya, Caitlin, and I are going to do the 3 on 3 tournament for soccer and we're all going to be on a team together! How fun! The ship moves so much, though, that half the time the soccer ball would move of its own accord, haha, so I have no idea how effective it would be. But, it would be fun nonetheless. Tomorrow the Adriatic Sea has an ice cream social, so that will be lots of fun (and who doesn't like ice cream?! Yummy!!!). The party animals party/dance thing is coming up, and I've already made my antennae for my butterfly outfit—they're so pretty! Joseph, my cabin steward, is going to get me some cardboard for my wings, too, which is awesome!!! :-D It's going to be so much fun! I love college, minus the tests and studying (I love the learning part, though!). I've decided that I'm just going to see what a girl's shaved head looks like before I do it myself, because I want to do it but not... oh well. Anyway, that's all for now! Much love to you all!!!

Michelle <3

February 12, 2008: Day 21

The Global Studies test went quite well—I studied enough to have gotten an A for sure. I noticed that I'm getting some bacne! Not good! But, it's probably due to the fact that I ate 3—yes, 3—pieces of chocolate cake last night. Dang it. I won't do that anymore. I was just so hungry! Anyway, I had so much fun last night—Caitlin, Teneya, and I came up with a team name for soccer, but I will not tell you what it is, exactly, because to me it is a naughty name and I don't want it as our name at all (it makes for awkward conversation), but I am overruled. I will tell you the events leading up to it, though, and I'll let you figure it out on your own. Caitlin tried to think of a marine animal, so Teneya was like, "A platypus!," and I was like, "Platypi!" for plural platypusses... and then, Caitlin said our name... *sigh* I laughed until I cried and my face turned sooo red—I haven't laughed like that in a long time, but I didn't want it as our name! We went up for a snack, and whenever I laugh like that it usually releases some serious feel-good hormones and I'm so happy that I'm basically high on life and everyone probably thought I had some alcohol in me, but I didn't... I had such a good time just sitting with them and Michael and Ben and some other people I didn't know. It was great! We're going to play Hide-and-Seek tomorrow after the dance, and I'm super excited about that—it was my idea. Sweetness. Transcendentalism was today... I love learning about that stuff—Alex, you should totally look into it. It's so interesting, and has a wonderful spiritual aspect about it that might interest you. I wish I could explain how it works to you all, but it's so complex that the only way to discuss it is if you've read the materials... But, should you all choose to read it, read his essay the Oversoul or Nature, and I must warn that it's as hard as reading Shakespeare, so be sure there are no distractions whatsoever when reading it—the crazy thing is that he uses modern language and it's just as hard as Shakes. I'm listening to L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole, and I just listened to "Let There Be Love," and I would absolutely LOVE to waltz/ballroom dance with Alex right now to Nat King Cole... that would be so sweet :-) Well, I have a quiz I haven't studied for in 10 minutes—it's a good thing I can easily absorb information last-minute! Love to you all,

Michelle :-D

Brazil Tomorrow!

February 2, 2008: Day 11

Hey guys. Before I get started I would like to note that I have been losing things and it has been driving me crazy! I've lost thus far two tubes of chapstick, a pen, and the greatest loss has been my international calling card that was compatible for my cell phone. I'm really upset about that because I'm quite sure I won't be able to find another one like it... urgh. Yet another thing to torment me :-P My anxiety has also continued in the form of butterflies and my heart racing, caused by who knows what. I woke up with it this morning. Anyway, as for yesterday—I woke up, had breakfast, took a shower, and went to Global Studies on my own. We learned about economical stuff about Brazil, particularly the oil industry. I must say that I'm really disappointed in Global Studies—I know everyone said it sucked but I thought that it was just because you have to take it and it's so early in the morning. I don't feel like I've learned hardly anything useful that will prepare me for Brazil, with the exception of the talk about Carnaval, and the explanation of candomble (but I don't have time to see it—this time). Anyway, that was unfortunately really boring... Then, I bought my textbooks for my Transcendentalism class, and they didn't even have all of them and I spent $76, which is ridiculous... I hear that they rip you off during buyback, too. I'd sell them online but many of the courses are uniquely through Semester at Sea, so I don't know who would buy them. Then, I went back to my room and drew in charcoal a little bit and took care of my immigration forms, which I turned in. Then, I had my drawing class, where we did modified contour drawings, which are basically when you look at your subject for the majority of the time, but you can look at the paper from time to time to make sure you're going in the right direction and whatnot. Homework: make a modified contour drawing of the same shoe you used last time... blah. That class has thus far been kind of a joke, but I know we have to start from somewhere. It's ok, though, I do really enjoy drawing so far, so I shouldn't complain. I'm 100% sure I won't get credit for it, though. Anyway, I prepared a list for packing for the Amazon and it's really long—I don't know how I will fit all that stuff in my backpack but I certainly will try! After that, I went to dinner with Caitlin, which was really nice. We went to the fancy dining hall (my first time going there) with the beautiful crystal-looking chandeliers and whatnot. They had lime sherbet, too, which was super exciting! It's so funny how I get really excited about certain things because they have become such a commodity. I hear, however, that only staff and faculty get the cream cheese, and I'm not ok with that :-P

Caitlin's decided to shave her head, and hopefully she'll let me do the honors. That would be so much fun. After dinner, we went to our separate meetings (I wanted to do Portuguese for travelers, but it was in the Union and there was a meeting for Vicarious Voyage, so I figured it wasn't happening and didn't go). At 8, the a cappella group met in Max's office and we learned "This Little Light Of Mine." Max intends our group to sound like the Sweet Adelines, a lady's barbershop quartet, so he has us singing that song, as well as "Shine On Me." We harmonize really well when we get going, so it's really cool to hear and be a part of it. We have all decided, though, that once Max is finished filling his duty as deputy dean for our original academic dean (who got into a car crash and broke his arm, so he won't be able to come until South Africa), we're going to do more popular, current songs. I'm ok with that, I suppose—so long as I'm singing, I am happy. So, that went well, and I went back to my room, where Tricia, Kim, and Dante were hanging out. I sat down for a little while and joined in, which was pretty cool, and then Caitlin stopped by. We hung out for a little bit there and then wanted to go up on the 7^th deck aft (where there is a snack bar) to get some frozen yogurt (which wasn't very good—at least the vanilla flavor). Pub Night was going on and it had rained that evening so EVERYONE who was there (it must have been a couple hundred students) was under the awning, so it was suuuuper loud and crowded and hot. We both got our ice creams and it was kind of fun to just sit there and watch everything that was going on... some of it quite funny. This one guy from Texas was really friendly and started talking to us. Then, my acquaintance-friend, Brady (the guy I met in the airport, Mom, remember?) came up and started talking to us after that one guy. It was cool to hear about how he's been working in some restaurant or another for 4 years now. He told me I have to sing for him sometime, lol... I dunno if that will happen, cuz I hate singing in front of people. But then again, I'm trying to get over that, and now is a great time to start. Anyway, Caitlin and I left after our lovely people-watching session to go play a game but got distracted by some music in the Union. My acquaintance-friend Ben was playing his 12 string with a 16 year-old kid named Willy (came with his mom, who is a professor?) and they had an amazing jam session. Willy was unbelievable and did some amazing slide stuff (I don't know guitar lingo...). I got them on tape. It was amazing to be in the Union and the ship wasn't bobbing or pitching or anything. We had incredibly calm waters yesterday, to the point that it hardly felt like we were at sea—it's the same today, thus far, as well. So we hung out there until about 12:30 and talked with some really nice people. It was very enjoyable to hear some live music, and the guitar made me miss my Alex. Then, Caitlin and I went back to my room to talk some more, but she got tired and left, and then I tried to get on the Internet because I knew it would be super fast, as EVERYONE was up at Pub Night, so no one would therefore be using it. Unfortunately, the satellite was "lost," as the Purser's Desk lady said, so I couldn't use it. Perhaps that is better, because I have been using it far too much :-P Then, I headed back to my room, and I saw my neighbor going into his room next to mine, and as it turns out, he was in the Union when I was there, too, so I was like hey! You're my neighbor? And he was like yeah, you were in the Union! (we had met a couple of days earlier very briefly, to the point of not even being able to remember his and his roommates faces if I saw them anywhere else, so it was a pointless meeting), and he introduced his roommate Michael (his name is Alex), and Michael was like, well don't hang out in the doorway! Come in! And so I came in for a little bit and talked, and then they asked about Tricia, so I went and got her, and we all hung out talking until literally 3 in the morning. Alex is from Portland, Oregon (Mom, you would love him lol—liberal to the core) and Michael is from Orange County in California. I will try to paint a picture of what these two guys are like: Michael is a vegetarian and reminds me a whole lot of the kind of guy who would be friends with mi amigo Eric—very laid back and his major is philosophy. I think if he drank coffee (I don't know if he does or not), he'd be a perfect best friend match for Eric lol. Alex is a typical boy and like boy movies. They get along so well, it was really neat to see. We all had a very intelligent discussion about things like global cultures, healthy food and how bad processed food is, why drinking to get drunk is pointless, etc. They sound like my kind of people, right? Tricia and I talked later and we both found it incredibly refreshing to find real, intelligent and global-minded people on this ship full of short-sighted college students. And all along, they were right next door! I look forward to talking to them again. So, things are really starting to look up. I'm feeling relatively better about being in the middle of the ocean with all these strangers, but I still miss my friends just as much as before. I love you all so very much—Mary, Rose, Alex, Jess, Mom, Dad, Nicole, Alex's friends, everybody... You guys are so awesome and I can't wait to see you all again. I want to reiterate the fact that I think of you all constantly and I love hearing about things that are going on in your lives. Don't lose faith, guys—we'll pick up right where we left off when I left. Please, please believe me. Well, we don't have class today, so I have a full day of nothing going on, with the exception of having to get my photo taken and the a cappella group meeting tonight. Now that I have friends I feel a connection with, I am happy to say that today's probably going to be a decent day. One more thing—please don't get upset with me if I take a while to get back in touch with all of you guys individually—it's stressful trying to remember who I've emailed and who I have not, so please try to understand. Keep sending them, though—if you email me, I will email you (only my closest friends, family, and Francie please... I'm sorry guys, but I can't keep up with too many emails). Well, it's off to lunch for me!

Mucho Amor,

Michelle

February 3, 2008: Day 12

Hello all. Yesterday saw kind of a lapse, yet again, into sadness and frustration. The day started off well, with sleeping in and no class, but things like having already run out of my Internet minutes (250 of them....) and having to buy more because half the time I try to do things like write you guys emails and update this blog the Internet is so slow that it eats up my minutes when I'm not even able to do what I intend to do on the Internet. Sometimes it'll kick me off, too. I think I'll start setting my alarm for 3 am when no one is using the Internet so I can do what I need to do without the anger and frustration—I got really upset that I had already used my minutes, and for what?? Even then, I am barely able to keep in touch with you guys. So, I paid $100 for that... urgh. I feel like every little thing nowadays can set me off into depression and frustration, and it's driving me crazy. I'm so stressed out, and it's because of things like wanting to keep in touch but barely able to, and not just class. I went to dinner with Caitlin and her friend, Sarah, to the fancy Aquamarine dining room, and we had two servings of the dessert ("chocolate mousse" aka chocolate pudding fancied up with whipped cream and whatnot). I've already said how things like that have become such a huge commodity, and because of that, the desserts were gone from the table in less than a minute—no joke. People even waited in line at the dessert table to ensure that they had dibs on one of them when they came next time. The weirdest thing I've experienced so far with myself has been that even though I am more stressed than I have been in my life, and completely out of my element and therefore significantly unhappy, I have not been able to cry. I have even tried to make myself, so I can feel better, and I can succeed but it's never enough. I barely cry when I do, and it's another thing that bothers me because it's taunting me with a promise of relief but then I am tricked and feel no relief whatsoever. Anyway, yesterday I hung out with my neighbor Michael, and the things he says, like, "You can choose to let things bother you," and, "It's your choice to be positive" remind me very much of my daddy, because he says the same stuff. The irony is that they share the same name—otherwise, though, they are nothing alike. I did my homework of drawing a shoe in his room, and we went up on the deck to get our pictures taken for our schools. It was really hot today. Anyway, Michael, I can foresee, will be my on-ship Eric. I miss you, Eric :-( I also got really stressed out about my spending money on the ship—it's inevitable and it upsets me because I don't want to be in even more debt than I am already, but I still want to enjoy myself. I was talking to Caitlin, who has two sisters who have been on SAS before, and they both said that they felt guilty for feeling so miserable at first when it's supposed to be the trip of a lifetime and we're so, so fortunate to be able to do it. I feel the same way—everything that I have been experiencing has been so complicated, so I don't expect you guys to understand, because I know you guys are thinking, "Well, she's so ungrateful and ridiculous for not enjoying herself." Such is not the case. Anyway, I simply ask you not to judge, but to think positively my way for me, because I need support. In some ways this is the only event I have experienced that has been the closest to being as hard as Nicole's accident was for me (if that makes any sense), but in an entirely different way, of course, and I can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was so disheartening yesterday, though, to feel as though things were getting better but to have my hopes torn to pieces again the next day. I just have to keep faith that the higher being I call God will help me through this, and that he intends for me to go through this so that I can be a better person, because that's all I can do. I accept that I have no control over this and that I can only do the best I can. Ok, now for a change in gears: we all have noooooo Global Studies tomorrow!!!! Yay! Sleep in action will occur. Global Studies was actually informative and entertaining today, so I was glad for that. We learned more about the customs of Brazil by our Brazilian students who will be on the ship until we port, and heard the song of a screaming something bird, which was crazy, and learned some current issues with Carnaval floats (apparently one school had a theme that was "Eye Openers" and they did Holocaust victims and a Hitler dancing around—the Jewish community found out about this and took it to court and won. The point of Carnaval is to be shocking and make fun of political stuff sometimes, so this wasn't entirely surprising to hear...). I wanted to call Alex last night, to hear his voice and take comfort in it, but we had no service (we have satellite phone service while at sea). So, I watched my homemade video of all my friends (which I am so glad I made) for the second time, and really enjoyed it. Tricia heard Alex playing guitar and was very impressed :-) He's so good. I miss hearing him live, though. I also went to our a cappella group, and we learned some more songs, all of which are from the mid-1800s lol, because that's all Max has access to. It's fine with me, though—I just want to sing stuff that sounds good. I really wish we had a social dancing group on the ship, though. I would organize it myself if I knew anything to teach, but as I don't remember anything, it wouldn't be a very successful group. I also haven't heard anything from yearbook, so I have no idea how I'm supposed to go to the meetings if I don't know when they meet lol. Ah, my daily playing of "Eye to Eye." Makes me so happy. You guys, I love talking about you anytime someone comes into my room and sees pictures of you all. I know I have the most amazing friends in the whole world and I can't help but brag :-P Well, I have class in about 45 minutes and I need to eat before then, so I'm out my loves.

An Ocean Full of Love,

Michelle

"You've got magic inside your fingertips... It's leaking out all over my skin."

"You'll be in my heart, no matter what they say—yes, you'll be in my heart—always."

UPDATE!: :-D There are seagull-type birds fishing outside right now! We still have 600 + nautical miles to go until Salvador, but we're still off the coast of Brazil, so it's nice to see them—a promise of what's to come. There were also two ships in the distance. The birds were beautiful—white graceful things with black-tipped wings. Minus the black accents on their bodies, it reminded me of the Albatross from Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner—they seemed like a good omen to me, and that kind of lifted my spirits. Anyway, that's all! Off to Transcendentalism for me! :-D

Muchisimas Amor a Ustedes,

Michelle

February 4, 2008: Day 13

Tomorrow we will arrive in Salvador, Brazil!!! I'm so, so excited about it. Last night we could see land, and it was a beautiful sight to see. Let's see... yesterday was good all throughout the day—the first time I have had a good day in what seems like weeks. I went to lunch, as usual, by myself... It's starting to get really old having to go by myself. I'm sick of meeting new people I'm not going to connect with lol but whatever. I had Transcendentalism and Art and Architecture yesterday, and in Transcendentalism, we had a really good conversation about experiencing what it is to be nothing, and a "transparent eyeball." Here's an example I experienced recently as being nothing in a social aspect: I went with Caitlin the other night to the 7^th deck aft for some ice cream at the bar, and it was also Pub Night (as is every day at sea... some people go every night)... Caitlin and I sat at the bar, eating our ice cream, and it was so crowded that no one gave us any attention whatsoever, so we could simply observe, not participate, and not interfere with anything. That's what it means to be "nothing." We discussed other things about being nothing, like having to suspend all judgment, and rather than feeling like a anti-social wallflower, to simply feel like you're not entirely there at all, and all you are is, again, a "transparent eyeball." Anyway, so that was a good discussion, and I can tell I'm going to love the class because I adore discussions and philosophies and sharing and hearing life stories and how they tie into what we're learning. I should be a philosophy or psych major because of this, but I don't feel like I would want to anything career-wise with that. Perhaps a minor? Anyway, after that I went to dinner and met up with Brittany there, which was cool, and then I went back to my room to get stuff done until the pre-port briefing. I ran into Alex next door in the hallway and him and his friend Alex, who lives two doors down, were going to watch a movie and he invited me to join. So, I did, and we watched Blow halfway through and then went to pre-port. (So many Alexes and not even the one I want here with me...). Then, I got ready really quickly for our sea's social event that night. We were supposed to dress up like pirates but the majority of us had the sense not to bring any pirate gear with us on this journey lol... So, I drew on Alex (the guy who's friends with the guy next door... so confusing, I know) a skull and crossbones, and I must say, it looked really good :-P I drew one on my ankle for practice. It looks awesome. Anyway, we went to the social in the staff and faculty lounge (nicest on the ship, of course) and we had some cookies and food and other people got alcohol. We donned makeshift construction paper eye patches... The lounge has a dance floor in the middle—something that came in handy later on in the evening. Once the alcohol kicked in for some people, the dance floor gradually filled up with people. Teneya, a girl who lives two doors down and is in my a cappella group, is really, really fun as it turns out, and she dragged me up to the dance floor and her, me, and Caitlin danced like a bunch of dorks the whole night. It was so. much. fun. And we were completely sober! :-D Anyway, we danced with our interport lecturer, Javier, who's so so nice, and we even dragged our executive dean up on the floor for one song, and we danced with Max, the temporary academic dean (the one who is also teaching us in the a cappella group) and one teacher even imitated this one girl who was getting down on a pole... no joke. The teacher was a dude and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen, considering that he was no spring chicken! They played a bunch of Carnaval songs, which was soooo amazing, and we all just had an amazing time. I got tons of pictures. Caitlin, Teneya, and I were completely deaf by the end of it all and were kind of yelling at each other because we couldn't hear very well—it was hilarious. We hung out after that and French braided each other's hair and talked about our boyfriends and a bunch of things in general. It was such a fun evening. Before that, though, I took pictures of those awesome birds I had mentioned earlier and my battery ran out... when it did, I was like, well, I'll just stick around for a little while longer and watch them. As soon as I thought that, I got pooped on! Urgh!!!! It was so funny and nasty at the same time... I just found it so ironic. So, I ran back to my room and took care of it. I suppose admiring nature can have its downsides sometimes, lol... I'm going to pack tonight for the Amazon... I cannot wait to go!!! Oh, by the way, the Internet has been down for the past two days, so I am sorry for taking so long on this. I must admit, though, that it was kind of nice to take a break from getting stressed out about the Internet being so slow. I also have no phone service, consequently, so I would have called some of you but was unable to. I drew a totally cool detail of a piano yesterday, of which I am quite proud. I'm really enjoying drawing. I have yet to finalize Carnaval plans—I'm considering persuading Michael to come with me, and I think Teneya's roommate Katherine wants to go, so hopefully that'll work out. Well, I have to go to drawing class now. Much love to you all, and I hope everything is going well for you my dears!

Michelle

Lalalala

Hey guys. I'm in Global Studies... ehh. I've got drawing today, though, which should be fun. Love you all!

January 30, 2008: Day 8

Hello all! Ok, last night: I signed up for yearbook, but only because I want to learn as much as I can from the ship's photographer, who has promised to teach us as much as he can. I wish I could pick his brain and find out more about the industry... hopefully that will happen sometime during this voyage for me. It could be a really great opportunity for referrals as well. Anyway, I'm really excited about contributing my photos to something awesome like the yearbook. I'd be so proud if some of my photos were selected for it. Now for my day today: I woke up at 7 am to get in line for drop/add. Drop/add is entirely by a deli line take-a-number process... So, even though I got there at 7:20 am (20 minutes after the registrar's office opened), I got number 121. Ouch. Apparently some people literally camped out but got kicked out at 1 am. So, it took all day (fifteen minutes before 7 pm, when the office closed) for me to finally be able to request my classes. I got transcendentalism, but what I really want is the history class, because I know for sure that that would transfer and count for credit, which would be awesome!!! So, I took another number: 361, which is ridiculous. I'm told by Marie, the registrar, that this is by far the most hectic drop/add in SAS history—usually the max is about 200 people wanting to change classes. It appears that this voyage is a record breaker in some areas: 732 students (total of 800 plus bodies on the ship) is a record, and the drop/add is much larger than usual. Anyway, I enjoyed a chocolate croissant and fresh fruit as usual on the aft deck 6 outside for breakfast... it was very nice weather. It's been significantly breezier at night lately, though, so no one sits on the outer part of the deck because rolls and napkins go flying everywhere. After breakfast I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't, then showered, and went to Global Studies. We learned about the slave trade because there is a significantly large population of African-descent Salvadorians so it's important to know how they got there and what contributions they made to society (which are major). We learned about candomble, the local religion which is a fusion of Catholicism and whatever African religion it was the slaves brought over with them. I've heard of it before, and that it is a very interesting event to witness. I wish I had more time to do it this time (I have no doubts I will come back again to visit sometime in the future), but as I am doing Carnaval the first night and leaving that night for the Amazon and won't get back until the day that we leave, I don't have my hopes up that I will have a chance to do it this time. I really want to make shopping a priority in this port because I really, really need clothes and the things that they have to offer there are going to be amazing. Anyway, I went to my drawing class and we did contour drawings, which are basically drawings where you don't look at the paper at all and follow the lines of whatever it is you're drawing with your eyes and hand at the same time. It's an exercise to help hand-eye coordination. Before that class, though, I started feeling anxious at lunch for no reason at all, so I decided that I was probably really stressed (I often keep myself so busy that I don't realize I'm stressed—go figure :-P), so I went to the counselor. She informed me that I have anxiety and told me how to get over it... I first have to accept that I have it, and I do. So, that's a good start. I feel better now, though, that I talked with her, because we're trying to figure out why it is that I have no connection with anybody else, it seems, and the only thing we can identify that makes me especially different from everyone else is that I am not a partier. That should hardly be something that would prevent me from being friends with people and feeling a connection with them, so I dunno. I've done everything I can to inspire friendships, so I realize that this is a test of patience. Being an impatient person, I am unwilling to wait for things to start happening. Anyway, I called Alex, and it was great to hear his voice :-) I've decided that because I have been thus far pretty cut off from everyone, I don't care if I use up my internet minutes, and (sorry Mom) I don't care if I use a few minutes on my cell phone while on roaming if it means that I can feel like I am in decent connection with my friends and life back home, which makes me happy. I just want to be happy... I also signed up for an a cappella group that our dean has organized, his specialty being music. I'm pretty excited about it, minus the a cappella part, because I get lost so easily when there isn't any music to back me up—especially if there are many different singing parts than my own. But, it's a challenge, and I love challenges because they make me better, so why not do it? It's worth a try, at any rate, and maybe I could be even better at singing by the time I come home, which would be super cool. Well, the ship has gotten back to its regular amount of pitching and rolling—I knew that walking down the hall in a straight line wouldn't last long :-P Right now we are off the coast of Suriname (granted, we're very far away from it, but it's the closest country to us at the moment), and I would also like to point out that this is at least the third time I have heard A Goofy Movie's "Eye to Eye" today. I absolutely love this song. Well, I've come up with an amazing Valentine's Day gift for Alex—I won't disclose it just yet, of course, but I really hope it works out, because I really want to do it right. I appreciate everyone's emailing, messaging, and commenting me—it makes me feel loved :-)... I also just met up with my Amazon group, and we're going to leave the ship at 11:00 pm on the last night of Carnaval, which really sucks. Our flight doesn't leave until 2:30 am... urgh. Well, it'll be worth it, I'm sure, and maybe someday I'll come back for a full week of Carnaval to make it up to myself :-P I'm also quite excited because I'm getting my very first massage EVER tomorrow—the Jade Spa is offering relax packages (just what I need!) for $20, and the one I am doing is a scalp, neck, and shoulder massage for 25 minutes, which is an incredible deal, so I'm reeeeeeeaally looking forward to it. Then, after that, I have time for a nice nap, so that will be great. Well, that's all for now. Much love to you all,

Michelley :-D

January 31, 2008: Day 9

So, we are now off the coast of Brazil, which is awesome, but we still have a long while until we get to Salvador—not until February 5^th will we arrive. But, in case you were wondering, we are at: 6 degrees latitude and 47 degrees longitude. I woke up late today and missed breakfast :-( Sadness. I do love those chocolate-filled croissants... I really hope I don't gain weight on this trip, but you will be proud of me to hear the fact that I eat a salad with lunch and dinner every day (otherwise I would never get filled up :-P). I haven't worked out since Puerto Rico, but oh well. I just sang for an hour—that burns some calories, I hear. So anyway—I'm trying to be more positive for you guys in these posts of mine, so I hope you're happy, haha. I'm sure not as much as I would like to be, but whatever. Half of Global Studies today was taken up by this guy who literally talked about this hallucinogenic plant found in the Amazon and the culture that surrounds it for 45 minutes... it was god-awful boring. But, our interport lecturer from Brazil, Javier, made it much more interesting after that because he talked to us about Carnaval. I'm kind of regretting not having gotten a space in the blocos or camarotes because I'm probably going to get beaten up or harassed. Yaaaay. Apparently in Salvador the big thing is to kiss everyone—sometimes French kissing lol. I shall guard my mouth and avoid eye contact with everyone... urgh. I don't want the "herps," as Tricia says, in my mouth, nor anywhere else, thank you very much. Anyway, I just have to find a guy to come with me to protect me... uhhh yeah. If I can't even get myself a friend then how am I supposed to get a guy to come with me?! *sigh* I'm pretty darn sick of this and almost on the verge of wanting to come home. I will not come home under any circumstances (except for obvious stuff like family issues or whatever), but I still almost wish I could. Well anyway, I succeeded in dropping my arts administration class, and I added Transcendentalism. It's going to be cool, but lately I haven't wanted to go to any of my classes thanks to feeling very apathetic about everything around me, so I'm as excited about it as you can expect me to be in this situation (not very). My massage this morning was wonderful. The a cappella group met in our dean Max's office and we sound pretty good for having only learned and practiced the song together for an hour. I have the melody line with another girl, which is the most important part, but I'm so bad about losing my note! I don't mind, though—I know I'll get better. It seems like the girl I'm doing it with really doesn't like the idea of the group, though, so I might end up doing the melody line on my own lol... I really want to try, I really, really do. I want to be a better singer and I think this would help me to become one. Anyway, I see people around me getting hugs, and I'm really jealous of them. I miss getting and giving hugs, very much—I'm so used to getting so many each day that I've realized how much I enjoyed and relied on that human contact... Well, I need to go to the yearbook meeting. Much love to you all!

Michelle