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Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Finally an update

Aug. 27, 2006

This blog will prob. be very random but it’s late.

So we are officially out to sea and I can definitely feel it. The boat is rocking so bad. I can only imagine what it will be like if we ever hit a storm. Like 8 people threw up during orientation tonight.
I’m on the third floor in the Caribbean Sea (each hall has a sea name). Having an inside room isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It seemed really small when I first walked in but it becomes bigger to me the more I look at it and it actually has quite a bit of storage.
Our TV gets like 4 channels. A channel that shows a map and has our position on it, a channel that shows educational shows on the countries we’re going to, a channel that shows SAS stuff (that isn’t on all the time), and a channel that shows movies (but shows it over and over). I watched “Whale Rider” while I unpacked (which took a while, I took several breaks) so I’ve now seen bits and pieces of the movie from the beginning to the end but never the whole thing in order.
It kinda stunk that I was on the last shuttle down to Ensenada. Everyone who had gotten down here earlier had been able to go out into Ensenada and look around, but we didn’t have time. Since we missed lunch they had lunch for us at three o’clock (making me not hungry for dinner when it came around). Then when we were supposed to have our muster drill a lot of people (including me) still hadn’t gotten their bags so they had to delay it until after we left port.
Tonight I walked out on deck and all you could see was the ocean. It was so surreal. It’s surreal just being here. I really can’t believe I’m on SAS already, and these are the people I’ll be with for the next 3 months.
We get to Hawaii in 5 days. I can’t wait!

Aug. 29, 2006

So today was the first day of classes. If I had classes like this every semester I could totally handle it. They weren’t bad at all. No research papers! None of them seem boring either. I especially like my Asian art and architecture class. The teacher seems interesting; he showed a ton of slides of different buildings and statues. It’s nice to have a class that concerns something I love.
I don’t think I’ll ever be used to getting served meals. We pick up our own food buffet style but then the crew bring us our drinks and pick up after us. I was told we have this service because the food and lodging are part of a “hotel.” I’m not complaining, it’s just not typical college. I also don’t think I’ll be able to get used to the fact that I can always have such great scenery when I eat. I ate both lunch and dinner on the back deck of the ship today. How many people can really eat lunch while watching the Pacific ocean sail by? It was really cool.
We have until Saturday to choose the day trips we want to take up until India and the big trips we want to take after. I feel like it’s so much pressure to soon, like I haven’t made all of my friends yet. Anyway I think I’m going to go on the Cairo/ Luxor trip and Egypt and then I found a big group today that want to do a trip to Ephesus indy in Turkey so that’s hopeful. I still need someone to travel around with in Japan. Hopefully I’ll find some people in the next week and a half.
Tonight was also the first “pub night” but on our voyage it’s being called the “Aft er party,” ( because it’s at the back of the ship). The line was wrapped around pursers square to buy alcohol tickets. My roommate bought 6 tickets (2 for 5:00-6:00 and 4 for 9:00-11:00). I had no desire to buy any. At least today. Then we went to see what it was all about and you can smell the alcohol from around the corner and it was so loud I just wanted to leave.
We get to set out clocks back an hour tonight. I’m so excited to get an extra hour of sleep. It should make tomorrow a good day.
Also, no picks just yet because their taking forever to upload.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Finally!

So I leave tommarow! I can't believe it! I'm so excited to spend time with all my VU friends. I can't believe it's been 3 years since I've seen them, 3 years since I've been in Cali. I'm half packed and I definitely don't feel prepared. I feel like I'm forgetting everything important and there's no going back. I spent about an hour yesterday copying pages out of Lonely planets. I figured lonely planets are so Heavy and expensive so I just copied the pages that had things that interested me on them. It's a lot lighter than having all of the travel guides. The only travel guide I'm going to bring with me is a Lets Go Europe I bought that has both Croatia and Spain in it so I thought it was a good deal.
Then on Sunday the ship leaves!!!! I don't know where I'm going to stay saturday night yet but I do know I'm going to meet a ton of SAS kids for dinner. Buca de Beppos doesn't know what's coming :)

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Hey guys! Write to me!!! Here’s my addresses and the dates they need to be sent by for each port. The best way to send mail overseas is AIRMAIL which is about an 80 cent stamp so I’d really value any letters. Also for anyone who sends me mail I’ll send you a postcard or postcards back, just email or comment me your address.

Japan:
Amanda Dorough send by Aug. 29
c/o: MV Explorer
September 12
Inchcape Shipping Services
Kenryu Bldg II, Room 303
6, Kaigan-dori, Chou-ku
Kobe-shi, Hyogo-Ken 650-0024
Japan
China:
Amanda Dorough Send by Sept. 5
c/o: MV Explorer
September 19
Penavico Quingdao
21 Wuxia Road
Quingdoa 266002
P.R. China
Hong Kong:
Amanda Dorough Send by Sept. 9
c/o: MV Explorer
September 23
Inchcape Shipping Services (HK) Ltd.
Units 1802-1805, 18th Floor
No 3 Lockhart Road
Wanchai, Hong Kong-CHINA
Vietnam:
Amanda Dorough Send by Sept. 13
c/o: MV Explorer
September 27
General Forwarding Agency
5th Floor Osic Building
8 Nguyen Hue Avenue
D. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Myanmar:
Amanda Dorough Send by Sept. 23
c/o: MV Explorer
October 7
Myanmar Port Authority
Shipping Agency Dept.
Sea Horse Agency
347/1st floor, Mahabandoola Road
Kyauktada, Yangon MYANMAR
India:
Amanda Dorough Send by Oct. 1
c/o: MV Explorer
October 15
J.M. BAXI & CO
52 Rajaji Salai
Channai 600 001 INDIA

Egypt:
Amanda Dorough Send by Oct. 15
c/o: MV Explorer
October 29
WORMS UNITED SHIPPING AGENCY
Palestine and 23 July Street
Sonesta Commercial Center
PO Box 475
42511 Port Said EGYPT
Turkey:
Amanda Dorough Send by Oct. 24
c/o: MV Explorer
November 7
L.T.S. International Travel Services
Buyukdere cad. Kaya Aldogan sok. 12/1
80300 Zincirlikiyu
Istanbul TURKEY
Croatia:
Amanda Dorough Send by October 31
c/o: MV Explorer
November 14
ATLANT SHIPPING & TRAVEL AGENCY
Obala Stjepana Radica 26
PO Box 40
HR- 20000 Dubrovnik CROATIA
Spain:
Amanda Dorough Send by Nov. 9
c/o: MV Explorer
November 23
A. PEREZ Y CIA S.L.
La Perla de Cadiz No 2
11007 Cadiz SPAIN


To take a tour of the ship go to this address:
http://www.semesteratsea.com/campus/flash.html

Less than a week!!!!!

I can't believe it! I leave for Cali in 4 days! And at this time next week I, along with 650 other students will be sailing in the Pacific!!! I'm so excited!!
So, I spent a good hour yesterday ironing $350. Sounds totally random I know, but not all the bills that the bank gave me were in very good condition so I wanted to make them look as nice as possible.
I feel so unprepared. I still have so many things to do and buy. Now that classes and work are over I can devote a lot more time to them. I'm really excited that I'll know at least one person when I get down there. It's always so nerve racking when your completely alone.
I can't wait to actually see what room I have and who my roommate is. I'm kinda regretting signing up for the inside room, I really want a window, but I guess I can always walk outside if I really need to see the sky. That's the good thing about being on a ship.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Less than 2 weeks!!!!!!!!

I got my confirmed trips today up to India. I will be going on the Beijing University Trip staying at Peking University, and in India I will be going on the Jaipur/Agra/ Delhi trip. I’m so excited. Right now I’m really wishing I had signed up for the Angkor trip though. It’s my dream to go there but if I wanted to do things in other countries I wouldn’t be able to afford it. Maybe I’ll get there eventually. I also got my rail pass for Japan in the mail today. The spelled my last name wrong although at a glance you cant really tell the difference. They spelt it Dorugh instead of Dorough.
I can’t believe it’s less than 2 weeks until the ship pulls out! I’m so excited! I keep having these shots of anxiety thought, freaking out that I’m going to forget something really important. I really wish I wasn’t on the 12 o’clock shuttle to Ensenada. It’s the last one of the day. It would have been nice to be on the 10 o’clock shuttle. That’s a nice central time.
I leave for Orange County in 9 days!!!!