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Saturday, July 29, 2006

Less than a month to go!

I can't believe I have less than a month to go. It's becoming more and more real everyday. I have my shots and my visas both taken care of. I got all of the classes I wanted which is very good news. It's going to be hard taking 15 credits, but hey, you do what you have to do.
I got my backpack today which was one of my top priorities. I admit that I like to buy brand name things when I can (who doesn't), although it really isn't that important. That said I really wanted to buy a Jansport backpack (a Northface one being much to expensive) but the Jansport ones were just, NOT THAT NICE. I ended up getting an off brand but it was so much better than the Jansport ones. It has a padded back and shoulder straps, a stomach strap, and tons of space to pack stuff on overnights. I was really happy with it. Now my "messenger bag" travel purse was less than I expected. I ordered it online so I didn't get to see anything other than a picture before I bought it. The bag is really cute so I still love it. It's just a lot smaller than I thought it would be so that was disappointing.
I also bought my digital camera the other day which was another one of my top priorities, being that it is my goal to photograph the world. After a lot of research I decided on a Cannon Digital Elph SD600. I ordered it off of Amazon.com so I haven't gotten it get but I can't wait to play with it! I also got an extra battery and 1 gig memory so it will hold up during the long in port trips. I figure that if both batteries die or I run out of space on my memory card I can just use my old digital camera (which I will also be bringing).

Hopefully I should be hearing back about the shore excursions I requested (up to India) sometime soon. It was really hard for me to decide what I wanted to do in each port because I wanted to do so much. This is what I've settled on so far:

Hawaii: Indy, I'm not to worried about it.

Japan: Indy, I'm getting a rail pass so I can see as much as possible. I want to go to Himeji, Kyoto, and Hiroshima for sure. I'd also like to go to Tokyo if time permits.

China: Spending a day in Quindao and then going on a University sponsored trip to Beijing where we'll get to see the great wall, Forbidden City (which is unfortunately under renovation), and many other sites.

Hong Kong: I'll have about a day here after Beijing. I haven't really decided what I want to do yet but I would like to go to Victoria Peak.

Vietnam: I wanted to go on the Cambodia trip so bad but I decided financially I just couldn't so I'm going to go to the Chu Chi Tunnels, Mekong Delta, do some shopping, and take part in whatever random things come up.

Burma: I have no idea what I'm going to do in this country. I wanted to go to Inle Lake but again money wouldn't allow. Maybe Indy??? At least I'll be going to Yangoon.

India: SAS trip to Delhi/Agra/Jaipur. Most people I've read are going to go on the Agra/Varnassi trip which I heard was life changing but for some reason Jaipur fascinates me so I decided to go there instead and saved $200.

Egypt: SAS to Cairo, haven't decided which one yet. Considering taking a train down to Luxor for some exploration and then going up to Alexandria and seeing the sites.

Turkey: Spend some time in Istanbul. I really want to see Ephesus.

Croatia: Island of Korcula. I haven't' really decided what else yet.

Spain: hopefully go to Seville and maybe Barcelona.

I can't wait to get on the ship and make some friends to really get this figured out.

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