emme.at.sea

a few final thoughts

2005-08-21T00:49:00.000-07:00

It’s my last night on the ship… there’s a dance-turned-toga-party happening two decks above us in the union, but I’m not there and that’s okay with me. While everyone else is energetically storming the halls of the ship and running amuck everytime we catch a glimpse of land (we’re passing the Bahamas at the moment), I just need time to myself. Thinking about earlier today, my last day here, part of me feels stupid for reading and napping most of the day away, but then again, coming home is a lot to process!

People are saying all kinds of things about this voyage… some people are claiming it’s the highpoint of their lives (a bit sad, if you ask me, to cap it at this) while others are labeling it merely a glorified shopping expedition. I guess I fall in between, as probably most people on the ship do. Some of the final words we’ve heard from shipboard community members have been quite dramatic about this whole Semester at Sea “voyage of discovery” theme, and sometimes I get sick of hearing it. But I also don’t feel like this was, by any means, just a cruise or vacation for me.

My classes weren’t as hard or enriching as they tend to be at my home uni (except for global perspectives which I did love), but this is still a truly unique experience regardless – and we are all really fortunate to be able to be a part of it. In every country we’ve visited, people have been awed by the wild concept of the program and wish they had such a thing where they live. Meeting these sorts of people reminded me not to take this experience for granted, as some students seem to (especially those whose parents have been funding their shopping expeditions).

I’ve been away from home for about as long as I am during the school year (a quarter/ten weeks at a time). But somehow this is different. Partially, of course, because I’ve been communicating with everyone I know via my lagging blog, sporadic e-mails, or short phone calls (in the case of my parents). Time passes at home when I’m at school, and I develop as a person away from home – but this summer I think has exaggerated those things. It feels like no time has passed. It feels like when I get home my brother will still be living in Michigan, and my dog Sam will run to greet me at the door. But in reality, time at home didn’t freeze when I joined the voyage… and returning home, and then to Santa Cruz, I know a lot will have happened that I haven’t heard about. Plus Sean will be living close to home (which is awesome!)… but meanwhile, Sam has passed away, though we’ll have a new little puppy in the fall.

There’s also this whole idea of us having changed as people. Again, over dramatized in certain speeches and farewells… and totally dismissed by others. While some people may have totally revamped their personalities and others believe they haven’t changed a bit, I suppose, again, I fall somewhere in between. Today I thought about it and realized that yes, this has changed me, far more than a quarter in Santa Cruz at school. The reasons I’m sure are somewhat obvious, but it’s significant for me to accept since so many people on the ship are insisting this was just a frivolous adventure… for me, it wasn’t. There are things I wish I could have done, would have planned, and risks I wish I’d taken… but despite all of that, I still sought out many things from the perspective of a student – even if half the places I went to were “tourist” spots. With how much we’ve been cramming into our heads in global perspectives, it’s impossible not to consider the history and circumstances behind everywhere that we visit, and consequently impossible to totally feel like a tourist (despite making ditsy tourist goofs at times).

So coming out of this, I’m pleased. I didn’t let it get me down that things were different than I expected. I didn’t let my body dictate how much fun I could have, despite having physical restrictions. I didn’t let it ruin my trip that I lost a loved one. I even eventually got over it when we “accidentally” woke up in France instead of England.

Instead, I now have a better understanding of things… through textbooks, yes. But also through having met students and professors from all over the world, from being taught by them, and by experiencing the places they teach about. I also feel like I have learned about myself… my likes and dislikes, what I think about politics and the world, about the US and where we stand. Plus, performing for a couple of hundred people… and surviving despite fumbling for chords, that was a pretty empowering experience!

So I leave this voyage with a yearning to return to so many places, to see what I didn’t see the first time around – and to venture to other places I’ve never been before. As my mum said, the beautiful thing about not making it everywhere I wanted to go is that now I still have dreams. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll be back on another Semester at Sea voyage in a different role. Time will tell!

grand tour

2005-08-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

It's taken me forever, but I finally have pictures of my cabin! Hopefully I'll have pictures of the rest of the ship up soon...

front part of our cabin

how to put on your life jacket
and run to your lifeboat!

our beds (mine is on the left)...
and the weird minimalist art (right wall) we're stuck with

i fell asleep with my palm pilot one night, so my
steward entrusted my monkey, java, with it when he made my bed

stash of foreign munchies!

binary light switch?

hard to photograph our teeny (but nice) bathroom

another trial...

who throws bottles into their toilet?!

just pictures... words to soon follow

2005-07-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

the festivities surrounding ghent's blue note jazz festvial

metal spiderweb on the castle!

flags of the original merchants in the area

one of the many canals in ghent

picturesque streets of ghent

kids in ghent, playing their violins on the street

yes, guys do actually use these to urinate in public

elaborate cathedral altar

chapel in the crypt of the cathedral

our farewell band in belgium!

just pictures... words to soon follow

2005-07-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

our beloved amsterdam hostel

ornate church tower back in antwerp

amy and i in downtown antwerp

a bar called “boulevard of broken dreams”
(green day, anyone?)

losing another [loved one]

2005-07-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

We woke up (not even excessively early) and had breakfast at our hostel which was amazing – a huge buffet with all sorts of food… totally the opposite of our last hostel in Poland, where they don’t seem too into the breakfast thing. It was kindof like eating in a mini dining hall, less personal, but the food made up for it.

After breakfast, we headed off to Nemo, which is the science center in Amsterdam. It’s, of course, aimed at young folks but it looked pretty high tech and exciting to us. We had to take a tram and then go over a zigzagging floating walkway, but it was well worth it. Nemo was over four floors of high tech interactive fun (with a café on the roof where people hang out when it’s sunny!) Amy and I got to make little digital versions of ourselves that went floating across a huge panoramic screen, plus there was even an interview in the psychology bit that was filmed in Santa Cruz! It looked like a funky ugly metal hunk-of-a-building on the outside, but definitely trumped Carnegie Science Center (in Pittsburgh) on the inside, which is a big statement coming from me since I have always regarded it as the kingdom of science centers.

We next walked a bit to get to the Foam Photo Museum which was pretty cool as well. They had a set of prints that were positives and negatives printed layered atop one another, which made everything appear to have a surreal aura. On the top floor, they had a funny little collection of prints of a woman sticking various parts of herself in and out of shrubbery which was cute (she was in a city and missed the forest!) In the middle of those two exhibits, there was an expansive one called “Mijn Amsterdam” (“My Amsterdam”) where a photographer had spent loads of time photographing (in black&white as well as color) the city and its people. He had a particular fascination with adolescents and their vibrant rebellious spirits, which he captured in many of his photos.

Finally, we were starving and had to find food. Of course, we got distracted on the way by a gargantuan five-story English bookstore (they had an entire floor devoted to sci-fi and fantasy novels!) At the bookstore, I also got this free DVD being distributed (actually made in Santa Barbara, California, strangely enough) about 9/11 and re-opening the case… should be interesting to watch, they really want people here to see all sides of things politically which is really cool.

After a lengthy detour in the direction of the bookstore, we had lunch at the Replay Café nearby. It was our first real sit-down type meal on the trip, since we generally opt for take-away because it’s cheaper… and we didn’t realize what we were in for. We wandered in and figured out we had to seat ourselves. Awhile later, a waitress comes and takes our drink orders. She brings back out drinks and then immediately scurries off despite the fact that we’re closing the menu and have been waiting to order. It took us what seemed like ages to get her to come by again and take our order, and when we were finished we couldn’t even get our check from her so we had to pay at the counter. Everyone definitely takes a little more time than we’re used to when they dine out in Europe! Regardless, the food was really good and we had the cutest little glasses of Heineken with our meals.

In the afternoon, we got the tram situation sorted out and successfully made it to the Anne Frank house (giving directions to other tourists along the way!) When we got there, we were even able to skip the huge queue because our pre-purchased tickets that we got at our hostel allowed us to go straight in through a side door. We walked through the office, the storerooms of the warehouse, and finally up the stairs behind the bookcase… at which point things became much more cramped as everyone walked through the hiding place of the families – it is so difficult to imagine that many people living there for so long, and how they were able to remain so silent and undetected. All of the rooms were unfurnished (something Otto had wanted) but there was a miniature model of the entire house as well as screens in many of the rooms that showed what the rooms would have looked like. The walk from entrance to hiding place is also linked together by quotes from Anne’s diary and interviews with those who were involved. The interviews were so sad to watch and to hear about how Anne had died only one month before her camp was liberated - and how even before her death she never knew her father was still alive. While we were there, I bought a new copy of her diary (the copy I originally read was an old library edition) to reread having visited its actual setting… the new copy apparently had a few pages and extra notes added to it around 1998. They had her diary on display in every language imaginable which was really a sight to see, and it’s sad she will never know the effect she’s had on so many readers of all ages.

After our long day out we came back to the hostel and I was really excited to call home for the first time in awhile… though unfortunately my call was met with really sad news. My dog, Sam, had a massive stroke this morning and my family had to let him go… I feel like this whole voyage I knew it was going to happen and I was so afraid of when I would get the news. I guess I am glad that at least it happened on a day when I coincidentally called home, it would have been so hard to find out any other way or several days afterward… I just can’t believe it; I’m so upset about it but at the same time too much in shock to know how to deal with it. I’m thousands of miles away from home, on the other side of the world and haven’t even really dealt with Lucky passing away last fall (since I wasn’t there when she passed away either)… and the worst part is knowing that for the first time in as long as I can remember (over fifteen years?) I don’t have a dog… my family doesn’t have a dog. I’ve been greeted every time I walk in the door with the unconditional love of Sam and Lucky, always missed them so much at school, and had them to lean on when I was home… and now they’re both gone and I can’t even begin to accept it yet. I talked to my brother, Sean, for awhile which was really nice since he was home… but I know this is going to be really hard for all of us. I’m so weary of losing things that I love.

I eventually got off the phone and checked my e-mail… my dad sent me a really cute picture of Sam in a bomber jacket titled “Samuel the Mamuel: A Prince Among Dogs” that I’m going to fix up (doggy case of red-eye). Meanwhile, my mum e-mailed saying she wasn’t sure if he went to dog heaven to be with Lucky, or if he was hiding out from her there – but either way I like to think they’re together somewhere now.

a boat-hotel (“botel”) near nemo...
we thought this was nuts until we remembered
we live on a floating uni campus.

bridge to nemo

“nemo” = “omen” when the wind blows the wrong way

there were swans everywhere in holland!

trains, trams, and sexmuseums

2005-07-20T23:57:00.000-07:00

We didn’t have a diplomatic briefing today, so we slept in and stayed on the boat until lunch – some much needed rest, especially since we were leaving straight away for Amsterdam! We trekked downtown to the train station (a good 30-45 minute walk) and found out that the trains to Amsterdam actually leave from the other Antwerp train station (the tour agent people on the ship told us there was only one train station in Antwerp… hmm…) Anyhow, we figured it out and had to ride a train for a whopping one whole stop to the proper station where trains left hourly for Amsterdam. The trainride was quite nice, even in second class, though there were constant announcements in Dutch that occasionally sent us into a panic about if our stop had come up yet (turns out, Amsterdam was at the end of the line, phew!)

Having arrived in Amsterdam (which had even a lovely train station), we caught a tram to our hostel which was in the Leidseplein area (good bars/restaurants) overlooking the Vondelpark (full of skaters, live music, etc). We experienced hostelling on a new level – our hostel was enormous! Luckily, it was all spread about several quant cute buildings so it didn’t feel huge, but we got the amenities of a monsterous hostel: internet, bar/restaurant, big breakfast buffet, TV, etc. Something I’ve loved in general as well about European hostels is that instead of sheets and a blanket waiting for you on your bed, they give you a quilt/duvet and a duvet cover! It’s just like my bed at home…

We tried to make it to the Anne Frank museum during their discounted evening hours, but when we finally got on the proper tram we were told that they don’t stop there anymore… tragic. Instead we ended up wandering somewhat aimlessly around downtown (beautifully laced with canals) and decided to go to the Sexmuseum Amsterdam since it was absolutely enormous and only 2.50 euros. Not to worry, it wasn’t anything really lewd! It was actually quite interesting (though strange for obvious reasons), as it had a lot of artwork from all over the world in the form of paintings, sculptures, and so on. They had some funny multimedia bits with moving mannequins (like Marilyn Monroe singing) and also a little recreation of the old red light district which you could walk through. It was definitely more educational than either of us had anticipated!

After the museum, we continued wandering around and ended up doing some souvenir shopping – the most we’ve done yet in any country, I think! We also finally bought Russia patches, since we’ve both been getting patches in each country yet were unable to find them anywhere in Russia (odd we finally encountered them in Holland, but I can’t complain). I was really excited when I saw lots of Droste chocolate in the stores since we always have it at home, though it’s expensive in the U.S… but turns out it is just as expensive here! We also had some dinner which wasn’t anything special, except that a few Semester at Sea people saw us and recognized us. We found this particularly shocking because we don’t know much of anyone on the ship and furthermore can’t imagine why they all seem to recognize us, but it was sortof funny to bump into them in The Netherlands!

Back at the hostel we went down to the common room to try to play Canasta, which Amy’s been wanting to learn and I managed to get rules off the internet for. Funny though, right when we were sitting down a group of guys starting talking to us and asking us if we were from the states and were saying they didn’t understand where all the Americans were (don’t they realize Americans don’t go hostelling so much?) We talked to them for a few minutes (turns out they are from Philly), but they seemed disappointingly infatuated with drinking and smoking… fitting I guess, since they just graduated high school. Anyhow, we tried to play Canasta but realized before long that we didn’t have the complete or correct rules… so our card game crashed and burned rather quickly and we called it a night.

we came down a total gang-plank!

(our normal gangway was under repair)

beautiful graffitti in an antwerp city park

different spin on catholicism

doggies have to behave themselves inside stores

random orchestra in antwerp city square

streets of amsterdam (note how much they love heineken)

one of amsterdam's lovely canals

leidseplein, near where we were staying

floating outside antwerp

2005-07-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

Well we are just now settling into port in Antwerp, Belgium… quite a bit earlier than anticipated. Our original arrival time was tomorrow at 8:00, but was moved to 23:00 today due to traffic or tides or some sea-related stuff I don’t really understand! It’s a bit taunting because we’re all sitting here looking out on the lights of the city but we aren’t allowed to disembark until morning when customs has cleared us and we’ve had our diplomatic briefing. Ah well, I’ll survive – I need to catch up on sleep and might get ahead on schoolwork, as we’re going to be quite busy while we’re here!

We’re planning to leave for Amsterdam tomorrow and spend two nights at a hostel there and we’ve got loads planned already for our stay (no worries mum, we didn’t overplan). Then we’ll still have a day in Antwerp after we get back, during which I may visit the medieval town of Ghent as well.

Shiplife is getting better, maybe. I’m meeting more people bit by bit and my teachers seem to be tuning into some of the social cliques, and how to encourage students to branch outside of them. Overall, it’s been a busy couple of days… I had a midterm yesterday, another midterm today, and a paper due today – maybe it’s good that I’m already used to the fast pace of the quarter system! Everyone has been in a panic all day because we had a really brutal Global Perspectives exam this morning, plus they apparently did some “random” drug testing today (one guy tested positive, I believe. I’m not rightly sure what they do about that!)

A highlight of my day was going on a bridge tour, where I got to see all of the fancy navigational equipment and setup – it was so impressive! We had the 2nd officer, Ricardo, explain a lot of the engineering features of the ship like our water supply (all comes from the ocean), how we propel all this weight, etc. It was also funny to hear about ship-to-ship communication over the radio. Apparently they always attempt first to communicate in English, but sometimes it doesn’t work out because of accents (or inability to speak English), so they have to find creative ways of conveying information. I also asked about all the noise from the ship’s horn that I heard a week or so ago in the morning during classes, and the officer said “Oh that was just greetings between ships!” Some loud and longwinded greetings, indeed! Overall it was impressive to see all the buttons, nautical maps, and electronic equipment – plus they had giant windshield wipers on the front windows of the ship that were awesome (although Ricardo told us they are very inefficient and not often needed).

Other than that, the past couple of days have been full of alternating class and meetings, though at least logistical preport was entertaining tonight. To start, our executive dean, Les, got up and started talking about how bad it smelled today when he was outside on the side of the ship. He asked everyone what on earth the smell was and some student shouts out “POOP!” So he goes on to talk about how he walked to the other side of the ship and it smelled fine and “how come one side of the ocean smells fine and the other one smells like poop?!” Finally, he said that a crew member told him (upon inquiry) that another ship came up close to us and basically pooped indeed, dropping some sort of stinky load I suppose.

After preport Amy and I proceeded to raid the campus store, since there was rumor that they are running low on hoodies/t-shirts and “there is no helicopter coming to resupply the store”. It was depressing because up until tonight we’ve both had credit in our shipboard accounts from trips we tried to get on that were full already… and now we’re going to actually have to start paying bills (like the rest of the student body has been!)

So finally we are relaxing, watching Bridget Jones’ Diary (the second one). It’s a treat because although there are often movies on, they are often very strange, outdated, class-related, or aimed very much at kids (we love some of the childrens movies, but not Barney and Barbie!) I love approaching port because there is no homework due the next day, no class to wake up for… so I’m going to go pass out, because even without class we do have to get up for our diplomatic briefing bright and early!

the bridge in all its glory

emergency light system

jumbo windshield wipers!

flags for every country

crazy nautical navigational maps

big boat in a little canal

2005-07-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

We’re transiting through the Kiel Canal today (so that means we’re actually sortof in Germany!) We actually got a really intense explanation of all the calculations involved in the journey from one of the officers in Global Perspectives today, and it turns out that it is nearly as costly as going all the way around Denmark (like we did on the way to Russia). We save a lot of mileage this way and consequently a lot of money on fuel, but they have to pay exorbitant amounts to have the German pilots board our ship to navigate as well as having little pilot boats in front of and behind us.

More importantly, it’s really beautiful and has made the whole day seem so laid back within the countryside scenery…

view down the canal

the german countryside

european wind power!

boat traffic station

olympics!

2005-07-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

Today, the tradition of shipboard Olympics was continued, although Amy and I refrained from partaking in much of the ordeal. Amy blew through the new Harry Potter book during the day, while I caught up on a lot of reading for my classes (residual from my late arrival on the ship). It was relaxing to spend half a day (at least) in bed just resting, because everything in our microcosm moves so fast and changes so quickly. We did go to the closing ceremonies, which included a talent show where each “sea” presented two acts: one comical and one more serious in nature. We definitely saw some amazing talent – like one girl, Sarah, who writes beautiful songs for piano and a guy, Itai, who is equally talented in songwriting for guitar. And of course there were the comical acts… some were rather stupid, but there were a few good ones – like the five Japanese adult passengers from different parts of Japan sang a Russian song they all coincidentally learned as children. There was also a performance of “It’s Raining Men” involving a bunch of guys in tight shorts dancing with umbrellas (a strange laugh, for sure). Several funny skits were also performed, poking fun at Mike (“the voice”- our intercom announcer), the faculty, and Global Perspectives class… especially the new event “Choose the Snooze” in which a sleeping student risks being sought out by the A/V crew and woken up while being watched on video by the 400+ person class! It was sweet however, that many of these skits also gave mad props to our staff and crew aboard the ship, who are undoubtedly nothing short of amazing.

Overall, our sea came in 3rd place (though behind a tie for 2nd, so really 4th place). What this means for us is that we’ll be the 4th sea off of the ship when we get back to Ft. Lauderdale at the end of the voyage. Our sea also apparently came in first place in the spirit competition, which I found funny. Our neighbor, Brian, wrote our cheer/chant which is hilarious but annoying as well: “B-E-R-I-N-G, we are the Bering Sea! Rough waters, whoop, whoop!” .. and so on. Everyone was so sick of our sea chanting by the end of the closing ceremonies, especially the “whoop whoop.”

Too bad tomorrow is back-to-reality with early morning class and responsibilities… I miss weekends!

a very important day

2005-07-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

And let me tell you why today is a very important day: the sixth Harry Potter book was released! I’ve had the date on my calendar since the start of the voyage, but was worried we might be unable to find English copies of the book in Poland (if it was even released on time here). Thank goodness for some amazing store called Empik Megastore, where we found our books after all (for 99 zloty/$30, the same it would cost brand new in the states). Plus I was able to pick up a Beethoven double-CD for about $10, which I have desperately been yearning for as background music for studying, since the ship is so chaotic all of the time.

We had also planned to go kayaking today to see the city from water-level, but we had a hard time finding specific information about it and also realized (after we got downtown) that we weren’t properly dressed for it. Instead, we spent the day at leisure in the center of the city. We saw some Intel-sponsored bike marathon go flying by, got to devour more delicious Polish baked goods, and also experienced Polish McDonalds (McDonalds has never tasted so good as it has now, compared to ship food!)

Unfortunately, at the end of our nice afternoon downtown, we missed our bus to the ship (which we had timed perfectly!) We were waiting at the bus stop, when our bus, #106, goes flying by. Me, being naïve, thought for some reason that it was going to halt to a stop at the next small bus turnin near us… so I took off pathetically running to try and catch it. I wondered why Amy wasn’t following me and when I turned back in distress, she was waiting nearly where we were standing initially, as she had realized significantly sooner that the bus was nowhere near braking at a stop (I’m pretty sure she was also engulfed in laughter at this point). A couple of older Polish people noticed my dismay and were really kind in trying to help us sort ourselves out… though eventually we discovered through a kiosk that our bus had already stopped about 20 meters before where we were waiting, hidden behind the KFC (yeah, KFC- phaw!) Of course, we made sure we were waiting at the proper stop for the next bus, since they only come every forty minutes or so.

We walked up the gangway for the last time in Gdansk fairly early in the day, but it gave us time to unwind, settle, and write postcards (the usual pre-sailing routine).

No class tomorrow because of the ship Olympics… totally sweet!

home sweet ship

2005-07-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

Phew, I can’t believe we made it back to the ship! Getting back from Krakow was even more chaotic than getting to Krakow. We initially almost missed our train because a morning tour we were on was running late… so then we got to the train but Randy and Melissa were nowhere to be found. Slightly concerning, but we figured they either missed the train or had come back sooner for some reason. We settled in with our assigned reading on Russia for Global Perspectives and shortly thereafter both conked out, snuggling with out textbooks instead of reading them. Everything was fine until we went through the central station in Warsaw, and a load more of people got on the train. We’re thinking okay, no problem, we paid for reserved seats… of course there was the minor detail that Randy and Melissa had our seat reservation slip with them! People started rushing into our compartment, telling us that they had tickets for our seats even though we were sitting in the numbered seats we had paid for. But considering that the girls had our seating assignment slip, we couldn’t prove the seats were ours (seems like they were double booked, actually) and got kicked out! So for the rest of the train ride (three more hours) to Krakow, we were out in the narrow hallway standing or sitting on our luggage as people dodged us going from carriage to carriage. We got to see a lot of beautiful country scenery out the window though! We also saw a guy, Will, from the ship we recognized (but didn’t really know), who was on the same train… though he had a reserved seat that he wasn’t booted from. It was nice, though, to meet someone (it always is) and we were able to split a cab fare with him on the way back to avoid waiting for the bus and hauling our bags on it. The cab was really cheap (for a change), even though our pier is out in the boonies. Our cabbie almost accidentally drove off with our luggage, another potential disaster, but when he realized it he stopped and was laughing just as hard as we were.

Anyhow, before that whole train debacle, we had a really fun day visiting the Wielzcka Salt Mines! We also had breakfast at out hostel before that, though it isn’t much worth mentioning – they don’t seem too into the breakfast thing in Poland. We ended up heading to a bakery to pick up more substantial food there. Regardless, everyone has just been focused on Auschwitz, so I’m not sure many other folks from the ship went to the mines (but we saw Matthew from the hostel there!) I’ll admit, my first inclination was “why would I want to go see a salt mine?!”, but my mum’s friend highly recommended the mines (and their website looked spectacular). I am so glad we went! I am still glad that we went to Auschwitz, but anyone who didn’t go to the mines really did miss out. The mines are so incredible because they are so vast and elaborate (the two hour tour only covers about 1% of the mines!) There is even a sanatorium inside of the mines, where respiratory and other such illnesses are treated, because the air is such a pleasant quality down there (hmm... maybe my asthma could get me in for a visit?)

We started by walking down about 300 steps in a narrow stairway shaft to the third level of the mine, temperature dropping with our descent. From there, we began our walking tour through beautiful large chambers filled with intricately carved sculptures representing famous people, scenes, and spirituality – all made by the miners! There were a few chapels, a couple of saltwater underground lakes, a brass band playing for visitors (that has been doing so for the past hundred years)… it was phenomenal. There were some comical bits as well, such as our guide encouraging us to taste the walls to verify their saltiness (or to taste the salt water flowing out of the mine)… and the two chambers that had song and light shows in them. We walked down through two more levels of the mine, finally ending near their underground restaurant and large ballroom/hall. We then had to wait in line for a good bit for another guide to take us through loads more passageways to get to the lift to take us back up. My mum’s friend had warned me about the lift, and it was about what she described- but I thought it was fun! You’re crammed into a real mining-type lift with several other people, shut in by a rickety door, and then hoisted up through pitch black (with short bouts of light) until you reach the surface again. I suppose I can see how some visitors to the mines might freak out during that part.

I definitely had an absolute ball in Krakow, though it was really nice to come back “home” to the ship, take a nice hot shower, and be back in my room to sleep in my bed tonight... ZzZzZZzzz…..

the brass band playing inside of the mines for us!

salt water, on its way out of the mines (to the surface)

great room inside of the mines, with an altar at the front

in case you didn’t believe me when i mentioned the name of our hostel...!

me, stuck out in the hall on the train

amy, showing equal enthusiasm for our situation

exploring krakow

2005-07-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

Today, thankfully, was a shorter and much smoother day than our last. After waking up quite early (about 6:45) to get off the train in Krakow, we set off to find our hostel (called “Bling Bling Hostel”!) It was supposed to be really close to the train station, however due to construction in the area, it took the assistance of a police officer to get us pointed in the right direction (we had walked a bit out of the way). We did eventually find it and it’s quite close to the center of town as well, which is quite convenient. They have been really accommodating here, and we were able to stow our luggage until check-in, plus sign up for an Auschwitz tour leaving not long after our arrival. In the meantime, we wandered into town and discovered a plethora of delicious things to eat… one bakery in particular was amazing. Baked goods are not only yummy but also cheap here in Poland! I don’t know how these people don’t put on more weight… I think I would risk eating doughnuts, bagels, and pastries every single day for breakfast if I lived here.

We returned to our hostel and met up with the small group to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and it turned out to be a pretty convenient setup. We paid about $30 (99 zloty) for the daytrip which took roughly six hours total.

A driver picked us up (about six or eight or us) from the hostel and the one next door and drove us nearly two hours to Auschwitz. We then were joined with another smaller group of Irish boys who by the end of the excursion proved to be annoying and way too obsessed with their cameras, but we did have a guide in English which was good. It was hard to hear a lot of the time because our total group was of a good size, and most of what our guide said was information that we already knew through our studies… but I am still glad to have gone. It was really hard to walk though a lot of the buildings and see where everything actually happened that we have grown up learning about, especially because a lot of people there were incredibly disrespectful given the nature of the place… poking fun at things or obnoxiously snapping photos inappropriately as others were wiping their tears and experiencing really intense emotions. Amy even saw a father taking pictures of his little girl pretending to be electrocuted when she touched the fences, which I found to be entirely disturbing. There was also a Canadian man in our group, who initially seemed really cool… until he started carving his name into one of the prison walls and videotaping everything in an inconsiderately pushy manner. I guess I was surprised because on the ship we even talked in advance about visiting Auschwitz specifically and I had expected the Americans to be the most obnoxious and disrespectful there… yet I am surprised (but pleased) to say that we weren’t.

When our guide had walked us all the way around the grounds of Auschwitz, we drove a few minutes to Birkenau. Visiting Birkenau was almost more surreal for me because of how much Schindler’s List centered there (or what I remember of having watched it). There were far less people at Birkenau, which made it a bit easier to have a moment and take in just how much had happened there.

After we walked through Birkenau, we were driven back to the hostel and went to find dinner somewhere. We surely didn’t have to walk far, because we found a pierogi place quite close and it was an amazing meal! For the equivalent of a few dollars each, we were able to have fried potato/cheese pierogies, blueberry filled pierogies, and a drink – yum!

Following dinner, we decided to look into the phone situation. We were told that the hostel next to us, Dizzy Daisy, had cheap international calls… but when we went over to investigate, it was just one phone sitting on the reception counter that you had to call from – a little weird. We walked down the street looking for local phonecards (so that we could dial our access numbers) but when we found somewhere selling them, the woman working had no clue what we were trying to buy from her (we thought we used pretty clever gestures, too). We asked around elsewhere, but everyone pointed us back to that same kiosk where we had been unable to successfully communicate what we needed.

We eventually headed back to the hostel, but were excited because we got to do laundry there. We had actually dragged some dirty laundry with us on the train to wash at the hostel, because we were running low on clothes (and we never know laundry day until the day before… if there’s a schedule, I know nothing of it). While our laundry was washing we met some interesting people in the lounge while playing cards – a couple of British girls backpacking together, a guy from Canada traveling solo, and a guy, Matthew, from New Zealand, backpacking solo as well. It’s always so much fun to meet people our age who are adventuring on their own as well!

inside auschwitz

the fences of auschwitz

near a watchtower

ruins at birkenau

chimneys... all that remains of the birkenau crematoriums

again, ruins at birkenau

the traintracks at birknau...

adventures in poland

2005-07-13T23:57:00.000-07:00

Well… today was intense, despite getting to sleep in this morning. We awoke to being berthed in Poland, at Westerplatte Pier (which has significance to the start of World War II – the nearby monument can actually be seen from our ship quite well). When we did get out of bed, we decided we ought to go downtown and get our train tickets earlier in the day since we are so new at this idea of casual train travel. Luckily, our interport university student, Anna, was going to the train station at the same time as us… so she was able to coach us through the busride into town (a long one, about 25 minutes) and the ticketing system. Unlike in the States, where you just pay busfare and you’re set, here you buy bus tickets – but they are meaningless unless you stamp them upon boarding the bus (in little machines). We also found out, on the way into town, that two other guys on the bus were from the ship, heading to Krakow – so we decided to travel together and share a compartment. When we got downtown, it took us forever to find the proper ticketing counter (even with Anna’s aid… we were all just following her), but without her we would have been a complete mess.

Given the exhausting nature of purchasing our tickets, Amy and I decided we needed to go by McDonalds (I know, I know) and get flurries (they’re different because they are made with Lion candybars!) After that we wandered around town, shopped a bit, and came upon an interesting photo gallery called Cyklop. We initially walked by it, thinking we would have to pay to get in, but a few friendly older men on the porch kept yelling for us to come have a look inside at the photography. We went back to look inside, and it was definitely worth the stop. It was a really small gallery, currently filled with rows of faces of soldiers from around the world. Amy started to walk outside when we were done looking around, and they were like “Where are you going?!” and struck up conversation, finding out that we were from the U.S. At this, one of the men ran back into the gallery to fetch me, quite excited that we were from the states because one of the guys on the porch was too (well, he had lived there for several years). We sat down and talked to them for quite awhile, which was really interesting. Amy was talking to a guy named Zbigs, who seemed to be sharing a lot about what Poland was like after the fall of communism. I was talking to another one of the guys, named Christopher, who actually had lived in Pennsylvania for his time in the states! He also seemed really intrigued by the Semester at Sea program (most people we meet react that way – understandable because I find it intriguing too!) They both also impressed us in being at least trilingual in Russian, Polish, and English. After sitting and chatting for the better part of an hour, we had to get going. They had suggested that we go kayaking in Gdansk to see the city from water level, which sounded really cool, so we are going to try and look into when we get back from Krakow. It was really fun to be able to chat with locals. They had such a great sense of humor and were so welcoming to us!

We went back to the ship, packed our things, and met the guys, Dylan and Matt, in purser’s square to get downtown again for the train. Unfortunately they had brought another girl along with them whom we are not too fond of (I don’t know her name, but we refer to her as “Asian Barbie”). We walked to the bus stop and when they saw the bus wasn’t coming for twenty minutes, of course they had to go have a beer or three. When we got downtown by the train station, again they wandered off to have beer… instead of heading to the station (our train was leaving before too long). When we got up to the train platform, Dylan and Matt were nowhere to be found… but we did meet two girls (Randy and Melissa) with which to share a compartment. They ended up being really cool and sharing similar frustrations as us with the voyage and fellow students.

Given that we were all so tired, we started to fall asleep soon after getting on the train (it was at least 23:00 by this point). All of the sleeper car spots were sold out, so we had to take 1st class seats for the overnight trip. We also didn’t realize until getting there that we were on the same train as the huge (~150 people) Semester at Sea trip to Krakow… and I daresay we seemed more organized than they did when it came to getting on the train and settling in.

As we were falling asleep (four of us curled up in a six-seat compartment, pretty tight squeeze for sleeping), our compartment door flew open. A girl came and basically yelled at us telling us that we need to give our seats to Semester at Sea people who paid for them, and didn’t seem to care that we paid for our seats as well. (Also, it seemed absurd to us that people from the ship paid extra to have a seat when they already had a bed on a strictly overnight trainride…) We hadn’t objected to anyone taking our extra seats, because no one had asked/tried to, yet she was completely in our face about it. Turns out, she wasn’t even one of the people who paid extra to have a seat.

We were all really irritated after that, but eventually started dozing off again. However, soon out compartment door was flung open again and an older woman stepped over our luggage (in the total dark) to sit right on top of Amy and Randy’s legs, deliberately, while they were sleeping – without asking to sit there or stirring either of them, in order to take the seat. After that, she proceeded to say that word was spreading that the four of us were terribly rude and so on – totally ridiculous, we were the ones getting yelled at by an uninvolved peer! While she was trying to defend their side, she did tell us that students had kicked a Polish man out of his seat, thinking Semester at Sea had total control over the carriage – how sick and rude is that?! When I am traveling in a foreign country, I never assume that I am right, in control, or have the power to do such a thing as kick someone out of a seat that they rightfully paid for. Anyhow, the woman basically lectured us repeatedly about how we don’t understand the situation and need to be sympathetic of people trying to kick us our of out seats (backward logic, really). Randy couldn’t take it and was going to flip out, so she got up and left… soon followed by Melissa. With just Amy and I there, we couldn’t just get up and leave too, so this woman goes on being in my face for quite some time more. She was saying absurd things, like we should watch out because people (other students) may come in assaulting us because what they’ve heard about us, and we need to watch ourselves. I initially was very calm and polite with her, explaining our side of the situation, that we were traveling independently, and that we had absolute right to our seats despite the misunderstanding. I also said (as she was defending the rude behavior of others towards us), that under no circumstances is it appropriate for people to assault us in any way – discussion is how situations get resolved and we had tried that. Of course, discussion didn’t work with her either… and even as Amy and I were falling asleep again in our seats, she kept lecturing us about ways in which we had never behaved. Finally, I said to her that we would kindly appreciate if we could go back to sleep, as she had interrupted us from sleeping to begin with (and it was after midnight). Ironically, as soon as I said that and conversation ended… she got up and left. Randy and Melissa returned moments later and said the woman actually already had a seat in the cabin next door! Furthermore, there were entire compartments that were empty and several more that had only one or two people in them – yet they got off being in our face about hogging space (absurd because we would have yielded seats to anyone who had paid for one) when we didn’t have a sleeper carriage or anywhere else to sleep like they all did.

The whole wretched experience really just reinforced why we have been pursuing independent travel options instead of going on overpriced Semester at Sea overnight trips…

gdansk, along the water

downtown gdansk

swarms of polish pigeons!

saint mary’s church

beautiful interior of saint mary’s church

stained glass, also inside saint mary’s

bit of a turnaround

2005-07-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

Things aboard the ship have been relatively normal (well, as normal as can be in our abnormal environment), though we are now turning back to sail west for almost the entire rest of the trip. This is exciting because it means that we are gaining sleep tonight (and several other nights) instead of losing it! However, despite having gained some sleep already, I am still tired all the time… I think the constant changes just disorient me in general.

We had logistical preport tonight for Poland, which was a bit more exciting than usual, partly because we got to meet our new captain. Captain Jeremy just joined us a few days ago in the place of Captain Kritikos, and seems like a really friendly (and British) captain. He introduced himself – it seems like he has done just about everything there is to do in the nautical world – and encouraged everyone to introduce themselves to him, eat with him, etc. Apparently, he was just wrapping up a voyage on our sister ship, the Voyager, when he got the call requesting that he join us. He came straight to join us on the Explorer, and his family soon followed.

We also have a really wonderful interport student, Anna, from Poland who spoke at preport. She was able to run down a lot of logistical things with us (public transport, tri-city sights to see) but also offered us a funny glimpse of the nature of Polish people. The way she described them was rather unlike Americans, who are always chipper (often superficially) when greeting one another. She said Polish people, instead will respond to “How are you?” with something more like “Ehh... the weather is bad… my wife doesn’t love me… “ which was a pretty funny comparison (and dramatization to a degree, I’m sure).

Well, I’m off to get some work done and sleep… I need to rest more, even with this newfound wonder of gaining an hour of sleep every night!

remembering

2005-07-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well, the stories about Russia are coming in and some of them are fairly wild, though I’ve only heard of one person getting pick-pocketed which is impressive considering that half the ship was wearing their concealing neck pouches on the outside of their clothing (did the picture on the box not indicate specifically enough to them that it is to conceal valuables?) Most of the stories just involve people missing the bridges and being stranded on the other side of the river, or receiving dock time in Poland for turning in their passport late.

Today has been long and quite variable as well! First thing today, at the beginning of global perspectives, some professors and the dean put on a little “Russian choral” performance for us which was hilarious (especially at 9:20). We usually have pre-recorded music that we listen to before class that is reflective of our next port, so this was a real treat. They called themselves “The Hard-to-Fathom Boys”, and their harmony was dead on!

For the rest of the morning, there was constant blowing of the ships horn (and there was some other ship responding with its horn as well) and I have no idea what that was all about but it made getting any work done a little challenging! I’ve been telling myself we encountered pirates, but they ran away because our horn was louder and scarier… just for kicks.

Schoolwork has been nonstop between makeup work and now midterms. I have a six page midterm due tomorrow… it was originally supposed to be longer but everyone in the class complained non-stop, so our professor cut it down a bit. The students in general seem to expect not to be doing any work, and when the professors give in and lessen our load I enjoy it by all means, yet I feel almost guilty because I know I should be doing more (despite being bogged down with makeup work still). The professor for this class also talked to us after reading some in-port papers and said that spelling was atrocious and that people were making up facts instead of referencing real sources… it made me feel like I am in middle school. This class (my religion one) has the potential to go so much more in depth, but everyone complains and wastes time asking dumb questions about formatting papers and complaining about workloads… they knew it was an upper-division class when they signed up for it, and I’m still doing less than I would be at summer school in Santa Cruz right now! I really can’t believe that people don’t even use automatic spell-check on their papers… and some of the reflections about our excursions in Russia have been equally disappointing. Many people have complained about the Metro and said they didn’t want to get on it because they were scared (of what?!) and other people complained that the art school I visited was in “the ghetto” (which it wasn’t, by any means… though it wasn’t like Beverly Hills where these people must be from!) It’s getting old fast having to listen to people complain everywhere, constantly, and loudly about cultures we should be respecting and opening our minds to… but I’m getting skilled at tuning it out, because I am having a ball out exploring!

Anyhow… the day was also so long because of meetings and such. There was a memorial service for the captain, then cultural pre-port, then a Bering Sea social (we live on the Bering Sea, it’s like living on a hall in the dorms). We didn’t go to the social because we’re too worn out and have lots of work to do… but we did go to the memorial service, which was really beautiful.

It was harder for me to go to than I had anticipated, I think because some things of the past finally sunk in, in addition to acknowledging the loss of the passionate man who captained our ship. Since I left home for school, I’ve lost several loved ones and haven’t been able to be present following any of their passings… so it was really tough for me to go to a memorial service for the captain because it all felt like it caught up with me… though I think I needed the closure (albeit somewhat indirect). The service was particularly wonderful because it was put together as a celebration of his life. Many people told stories of the captain, some of which were particularly touching… One speaker talked about how back on the first summer voyage offered by Semester at Sea (about five years ago), the ship passed what is now our sister ship, the Voyager. And when this happened, the captain came on the intercom and said everyone needed to rush to the side of the boat (regardless of classes, etc.) and see the ship as we passed it (I believe he had supervised the building of the Voyager as well). Another speaker talked about a time last summer when the ship was on it’s way to Athens, the final port. As the ship was passing an island, the anchor was dropped which left everyone aboard the ship quite puzzled as to what was going on. The captain then announced that this was the Greek island where he was born. Furthermore, he pointed out a white house on a hill and told everyone that his mother was in that house right then, looking back at the ship and he would like to go have lunch with her! After some poetic readings, personal stories, and a lovely song sung by a student who lost her grandfather at sea, there was a sort of flower communion. The captain loved children, so each of the children on the ship and each of the crew members carried a white carnation to the aft (back) part of deck four. The ship sounded its horn in maritime tradition, and then the flowers were offered to the sea in his memory. It is just unbelievably tragic how his life ended so soon, especially because he has a family and children of his own. There were many remarks of fate and destiny regarding how he came to be so involved with Semester at Sea, and how although his life was cut much too short, the captain passed away doing what he loved; sailing the seas…

dasvidaniya russia…

2005-07-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

We are just now drifting away form the coast of Russia and I must say, I am going to miss it. I could have easily spent another week (or two) even just in St. Petersburg because there is so much to see and do. We’ve hardly been on the ship at all, yet we’ve only scratched the surface of such a culturally, historically, and intellectually interesting place.

Just when I thought we were running out of palaces to look at, we spent today on a daytrip to see the summer palaces of Catherine the Great and Paul I (her son). It’s hard to say, but I think I may like her palace best out of those that we have seen (which has been so many by now!) It was different than seeing any of the other palaces because firstly, both of these palaces were about an hour from where we are. Additionally, they were both damaged heavily in the war (particularly Cathetine’s palace) and have since been meticulously reconstructed and refinished – it’s really amazing how they have recreated such intricate metalwork, wooden inlay in the floors, and sculptures adorned with gold leaf. And that’s on top of rebuilding from the basement up, pretty much!

We visited Tsarkoye Selo first, to see Catherine’s palace which was very different from others we have seen because of it’s sprawling layout and beautiful gardens. Unfortunately, much of the original artwork was stolen by the Nazis, who used it as a prison at one point – but in it’s place there are now beautiful pieces that came from The Hermitage. The palace is still actually in the process of being refinished (I believe only 30 rooms are done now). We got to see what seemed like a lot of the palace, however, including the Amber Room where the walls and picture frames are all made of beautiful amber of different shades. It was funny to learn as well that Elton John had thrown a birthday bash at the palace, leaving two grand pianos (Steinways, one black and one white) as gifts – which are still there today.

Next we traveled not far to the town of Pavlovsk to see the palace of Paul I. Our guide told us that Catherine wasn’t keen on living with her son’s family (even in opposite wings of her palace), so she essentially kicked them out by building them their own palace commemorating the birth of their first son… pretty wild! This palace was not as huge or gaudy as Catherine’s, but was interesting to see because the architectural style was so different from that of Catherine’s palace.

I’m not sure that Catherine or Paul’s palaces fell into this category, but we did learn about the origin of “The Hermitage”. Quite simple really, the word comes from the word “hermit” – one who is away and secluded from others. More interesting, however, is that many of the great palaces had a hermitage on the grounds, where there would be no stairways to the second floor – only a lift. This was so that confidential matters could be discussed on the second floor in absolute privacy. They also used complicated and impressive lifts for meals to the second floor, where guests would request food and their piece of the table would rise up from below to serve them within minutes. Pretty cool!

When we got back, we were running late and still wanted to run some errands before on-ship time, so the bus dropped us off near St. Isaac’s downtown. We ran to the Hermitage so that Amy could check out some books, and then rushed around trying to find postage stamps (for our postcards) and browsing things for sale in the stalls. There was a girl (not much older than us) by the stalls, as well, who had a little cub/bear on a chain which was pretty funny – they charged people to have their photo taken with it and it was so cute, playful like a puppy. Unfortunately we have had hell trying to find postage stamps here… no one seems to sell them other than the post office which we haven’t been able to make it to (and it closed earlier today). I’m disappointed because I’ve been sending postcards from every country, plus saving stamps from each country in my journal, but I’ll survive! On the upside, we did buy some other cool stuff… like Amy got a really funny “McLenin’s” shirt (McDonald’s style) and I finally found a genuine lacquered box that I adore.

We took a cab back to the ship, which by the way is a very interesting experience here in Russia. I’m not sure if you’re safer on the sidewalk or in a cab… I think it’s a tossup. The cab drivers drive about ten times more all-over-the-place than they do in New York, and the traffic situation altogether here just seems like a mess. There aren’t lanes marked on the roads in a lot of places, and you’ll see seven lanes spontaneously trying to merge into two lanes before crossing one of the bridges across the river… We also had the same cabbie yesterday and today which was amusing, though we couldn’t understand him half the time. He talked absolutely non-stop (half of it was cursing at other cars on the road - I think he can drop the f-bomb almost as eloquently as Igor’s dad). The rest of his chatter was asking about where we’re from and such. He laughed about Arnold governing California, tried to communicate to us (both days) something about some people on our ship which we didn’t understand, and was swearing in English thinking it was funny when we could understand him. The alternative to taking a cab is a pretty long walk to Nevsky Prospect, the main street… maybe 30-40 minutes, depending. The problem with walking is that the biggest scariest intersections are the ones without crosswalks/lights. Even with crosswalks, you can never be sure that a car isn’t going to fly up onto the sidewalk, and you could be in the middle of crossing a street when a car comes flying through a light and almost hits you. We found the best strategy was to follow the clumps of Russian people who seemed to have better traffic-dodging tactics than us (though they would try to talk to us then and we felt so stupid not being able to respond intelligently in Russian!)

Well I am dead tired, especially after spending so long getting pictures up on my blog (they changed the whole system on me so the html I wrote out in advance no longer is working and I had to redo everything!) They’ve been coming on the intercom constantly for the past two hours, as well, looking for a few people who seem to have not made on-shop time (they’ll suffer consequences of being stuck on the ship at our next port and not allowed to leave)… so I am looking forward to a good night of sleep without any interruptions or announcements on the PA system.

Plus… we gain an hour of sleep tonight!!

catherine’s palace

inside the palace walls, a beautiful lake

ornate gate of catherine’s palace

paul’s palace

one side of paul’s palace, adorned with sculptures

pictures!

2005-07-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

Pictures are UP! Well, for Iceland and 4th of July only, but Norway will be up soon... it's just hard because I have very limited minutes on the ship network. I'm off, so much to do and I've been online for way too long... I hope the pictures show up alright.

"my dogs are barking!"

2005-07-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

… as my mum would say (a.k.a. my feet are sore!) We had an extremely long day today on a Semester at Sea trip called “In Peter’s Footsteps”, where we visited several residences of Peter the Great. It was very long, as previously mentioned, but really nice as well.

We started at Peter and Paul Fortress which was interesting to see since all we have seen everyday until now is the outside walls (which aren’t much to look at). Inside, it’s quite different... several beautiful buildings, a monument to him, another beautiful cathedral, and a wonderful view across the Neva River.

After that we got back on a bus and went to see the original modest log cabin that he had lived in, which has had a gallery built around it to protect it. Interesting as well… we’ve learned about all of these people of power in a political sense, and now we became more acquainted with them on a more personal level.

Next we traveled to his Summer Palace and Garden, where we had an extremely overly educational (interesting, but overboard) tour of the palace. Just as all over the rest of St. Petersburg, I find it curious that there are intimidating looking guards everywhere and yet they don’t do anything when you set off a metal detector (like I did, going into the house). Oh well, maybe their main duty is just to look scary!

Finally we drove for about an hour to get to Peterhof which is a beautiful town on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland, founded by Peter the Great. It was incredibly beautiful as we walked through the gardens and parks (filled with perfectly engineered pump-less fountains). Although Peterhof came under Nazi control during the war, much of it has been very well restored by now; even the massive amounts of trees cut down by the Nazis had all been replanted years ago. We toured Monplaisir while we were there, which was a very modest residence said to be Peter’s favorite at Peterhof. He was obsessed with the sea, and it overlooked the gulf... so I can imagine that was quite a heavenly place for him to live!

I can’t believe we have already been here in Russia for four days and are leaving tomorrow… it feels as if we have just arrived. Especially given that, I have lots of schoolwork to get to as usual, so I’m off!

cathedral inside peter + paul fortress

ornate cathedral dome

inside of cathedral (my camera made it look like a painting)

prohibited activities in the fortress - note the fellow skiing (lower left bit)

in case you forgot how to use a toilet!

main palace at peterhof

peterhof’s view to the gulf of finland

treelike jester fountain - triggered by someone hidden in the bushes

we're in russia?

2005-07-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Amy and I have to constantly remind ourselves (like we did again just now) that we’re actually in Russia… I think it’s going to feel this surreal for the whole voyage!

Anyhow, today was pretty intense, but in a good way. I had a trip planned (through Semester at Sea) to go visit a synagogue and some churches early in the day, which initially I thought I had slept through since the sun is really intense from early morning to late night (the “white nights” here at the time of year, similar to Iceland and Norway… just when I had thought we would be getting earlier sunsets here!) When I got to the bus for the trip, it was definitely interesting to see what people were wearing. We were told to dress conservatively and women needed headscarves to enter the synagogue… yet most of the girls were wearing jeans, flip-flops, small shirts, and just tied a really small bandana barely around their head. Oh well…

The first church we went to was St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, which was really beautiful on the inside. All of the religious icons were adorned and embellished with gold, gold, and more gold. The church is still active, but it is also setup on the inside so that there are many beautiful religious works of art and such around the perimeter of the sanctuary. It was also really nice because people lit candles all over the church on various pedalstools and tables to pray for loved ones, something I have grown up doing in churches of various faith. My tour guide was nice enough to help me buy a candle to light for everyone I have lost in my life over the past year or so… Kelly, Uncle Bill[y], Lucky Marie, Grandmum, and of course Captain Kritikos of our ship. It was comforting to be able to light a flame in the memory of others, even in a country whose language I cannot speak. We were also fortunate enough to see the priest and altar boy come out to a small alter (to the side of the main one) and pray – prayers I recognized by rhythm, even though they were all in Russian. I love seeing how people all over the world celebrate their faith in various gods and values.

Next we took a ride on the city Metro (subway) to get into town. This was mostly exciting because we have continuously been warned not to take the Metro because of gypsies, etc. It was fun though! Not too exciting, because it seemed a lot like subways in most cities like Boston or New York, though most of the students were bewildered because they had somehow avoided public transit their entire lives (a lot of students were even complaining about it, which I thought was really strange – and also rude). The funniest thing about it was that the escalators move really fast compared to ours, so you have to be much more adept at mounting and dismounting them as they are flying down into the ground and back up again. The stations were very beautiful, though usually because of being built under Stalin as a sort of propaganda trying to show that he cared for his people. Stations would have crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, yet most of the people would be living in very poor conditions.

The next place we visited was the St. Petersburg Synagogue, which is where the guys had to wear yamulkes and the women had to wear headscarves. The cantor came and spoke with us very informally, giving us a history of the synagogue and how it managed to survive the war without damage, yet struggles to keep a steadily large congregation. Unlike in Moscow, where there are several synagogues, there is only one in St. Petersburg, so people of all Jewish backgrounds come together there regardless of their differences (which would segregate them in a city like Moscow). One of the faculty members on out trip asked the cantor to sing for us, and I’m so glad she made the request. He turned with his back to us and the most amazing voice filled the entire synagogue (they built the place with amazing acoustics!) When he finished singing, he bowed his head and said farewell to us and that he had the city of London in his thoughts and prayers. Being on a ship, it’s much harder for us to get news on a regular basis… so none of us knew what he was talking about. The faculty on the trip were able to give us a short summary of the bombings, which was just so awful to hear about. Even more upsetting to me was that everyone immediately was whining about whether or not we would still be stopping in London, whilst my first thoughts were of the handful of friends I have there right now – I really do hope you’re all safe.

After leaving the synagogue, we dropped into St. Isaac’s Cathedral which I had previously only seen the outside of (quite beautiful itself). On the inside, it was much more incredible; a huge open space full of ornate architectural features and elaborate artistic depictions of various religious events and figures. We didn’t stay very long, and our stay was agitated a bit by the fact that many students were obnoxiously sneaking past buying a camera permit (so cheap, only about $1.25) which was rude and disrespectful… and unappreciated by our tourguides, of course. We are visitors to another country, and even a camera permit is so cheap… I can’t believe how bratty people have been about buying them (or failing to) in so many places we have been!

Finally, we went to the Tikhvin Cemetery, where we saw the resting place of both Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky, which was more of a sight than I had anticipated. Most of the graves there were beautifully sculpted, but it was especially cool to see Dostoevsky (having read Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground) and of course Tchaikovsky because of my love for music. Being there gave me an even more extended appreciation of how the Russian people honor their writers, artists, and musicians. We could learn a lot from that, I think.

When I got back I was dead tired but it was my only free afternoon so Amy and I went to the Hermitage and really covered a lot of ground in the time we were there! It was so strange to be standing in front of pieces of Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh… many of which I had in various textbooks over time and never expected to see in original form (especially here in St. Pete’s). It was a little chaotic dodging all of the humungous tour groups in all different languages that were stampeding all over the place, but I am so glad we went. The rooms themselves are incredible works of art, then layered with more art hung on the walls and held in cases. Since Amy went there briefly on a tour the other day, she was also able to fill me in and be my personal tour guide for a bit which was quite helpful since the place is so vast and overwhelming!

Finally we got back awhile ago, had some dinner, and both took rather extended naps. We both also had grandiose plans of getting a lot of schoolwork done tonight, but it’s pretty late and we have an early trip tomorrow so I don’t think it’s going to work out… on that note, I better be off to bed to get what rest I can squeeze in before an early wakeup!

outside of st. pete’s synagogue

inside of synagogue

synagogue wedding chapel

st. isaac’s cathedral

resting place of dostoevsky

tchaikovsky’s resting place

the enormous hermitage!

bear cub outside the hermitage...

en route to norway

2005-07-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was my second day at sea, and the ship became an entirely different environment with students, families, and seniors all going between classes and meals. It’s a really strange feeling to be on a huge ship that is constantly rocking back and forth (like a giant cradle actually – I sleep so well!) It’s also lonely in a sense to not see anything but water in all directions… it’s pretty exciting if we see other boats or pass land (though sometimes disruptive to class!)

Sadly, I got really really ill on Monday which has lasted for several days. Not sea sick, just all over sick (with a random ear infection) and so I had to spend a good bit of time going to the health clinic which made catching up in classes even more of a challenge. I slept a lot during the day to feel better, which is a funny situation on a ship because at least once I woke up and saw our cabin steward scampering out of the room because he had realized I was in it (and was about to try and clean). I wish I were feeling better all around so that I could be making a speedier academic come-back while also exploring more of Norway, but then again I am really glad to have made this trip at all, given how sick I was at the end of the school year! It is kind of comforting though, to have a familiar face aboard in the way of one of my nurses (Jane) from UC Santa Cruz. She’s so nice – she had met Amy before I arrived and said she had a surprise for me and she did! I came home from class on Tuesday to find a bag of Marini’s salt-water taffy on my cabin door with a note that just said “From your Santa Cruz connection!” I guess her daughter, Sierra, works at Marini’s and made it as well, yum! Anyhow, I’m just going to try to rest a little more and prioritize what I want to see and do when we’re in port, and I think I will still have a fantastic time roaming Europe.

matryoskha dolls and more

2005-07-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to have a bit of a sleep-in day today before going on a Semester at Sea trip… but that didn’t quite work out. I was awoken initially at maybe 9:00 when there was an announcement that the crew would be doing drills all morning. So for every half hour after that, there would be another announcement (pertaining only to the crew) that woke me up all over again! A little bit of a disappointment, but then again I got a kick out of watching the crew shuffle around on the ship and port – it was pretty cool to watch.

In the afternoon I went on a trip to learn about Russian arts schools and such. There was a major mixup about my trip ticket because they had issued me a ticket for an earlier trip to the same place (not my fault, their error) and the field program woman was pretty much the most unhelpful thing ever. She made the situation really complicated, but another girl just nudged me on the bus with everyone else and it worked out fine. In fact, the trip was really incredible!

First we went to a small museum of art that is also an art academy – so students can go wander the museum to study its pieces and learn about their techniques on an ongoing basis. Every room was done in a different cultural motif, adding a lot of culturally artistic variety to the museum experience. The coolest thing about this place, however, was that when we walked into the main gallery, there were students everywhere painting on canvases. Apparently they were all there because it was their entrance exam for the art academy. They were all painting the same few objects, yet their styles were all very personalized and unique (and amazingly skilled!) The “museum shop” there (if you could call it that) was also very unique because it was mostly student works and canvases stacked everywhere for purchase.

After that, we went to visit a small school of applied arts that was further out of the city. We were greeted by a group of students (of all ages) who were dressed very traditionally and singing to us in Russian, it was really nice! Everyone was so welcoming and motioning for us to come inside and join them. We first spent time following our guide through the small museum shop where she explained a lot of the traditional forms of art – and again, everything for sale was work done by the students. After that, we went into a big room with tables and blank matryoskha dolls (nesting dolls) where we were to paint our own dolls… we were all absolutely clueless as to where to start. Lucky for us, many high school/university-aged girls, along with some older women, came around to our tables and helped us draw our doll’s faces in pencil and then begin painting. Wow, it is so hard! It was incredible to see how these experienced women could just pick up one of our dolls and straight away paint a beautifully precise face onto it. I won’t say mine is by any means a masterpiece, but I didn’t make quite as much of a mess of it as I had anticipated.

Going on the trip was also good because I met another girl from the ship, Nealey, who shares similar sentiment about the student body (and how disappointing most of it is). She and I went out later on in the evening because she hadn’t been downtown yet, and I needed to buy a headscarf for a trip to a synagogue. I had no idea what an adventure going downtown would be, since when I went before it was pretty straightforward (though I was only in an internet café, go figure). We went to this really interesting building that we eventually determined to be a mall, but instead of walking into stores from an inner court, all of the stores just connected to one another in a giant loop. It seemed really efficient, but it was disorienting to be in the middle of a toothpaste aisle and then five steps later be surrounded by plants in a gardening store. I finally found a headscarf which was good, though the transaction was a little rough because the girl kept taking the scarf from me when I was trying to buy it and putting it back on the rack instead of selling it to me! Eventually that was sorted out…

After we made it out of the gargantuan mall-type-place, we headed across Nevsky prospect (the main street) to go to a supermarket which was a whole other adventure. Everything was fine until we were checking out and when Nealey was paying, she got confused so I helped her out and then when she was gone she elbowed me and asked me to thank the cashier in Russian, which I did (thank you Igor and Andrea for the few Russian words I know, they are being put to very good use!) So then when I was being rung up, Nealey was putting my groceries in my bag for me, being polite, when the cashier tore the bag out of her hand and put it back on top of my things – she thought Nealey was trying to steal my groceries! When that happened, I waited to put my stuff in my bag until after I paid, because I was confused as to what was going on, and then the woman picks up the bag, opens it, and looks at me like I am crazy stupid for not bagging my groceries while she is getting my change. It was pretty funny at the time, especially because we determined that the cashier mistook me for being Russian, since I was helping my friend, and so she kept talking to me in a very fast and animated fashion which of course I couldn’t understand a word of.

Dinner on the ship tonight was pretty bad, so we had dinner at Sbarro (like in the United States!) It was funny because the sign of course was in Cyrillic but we recognized it regardless. We saw one of the captains from the ship there by himself and invited him to eat with us, but they can’t fraternize with the students so he had to sit a few tables away, by himself… kindof sad. There was also a bit of a mishap in Sbarro when I was trying to find the bathroom and accidentally opened the door to the kitchen instead, but I err.. won’t go into that.

On the walk back to the ship, I got to witness the funny mass of boys gathered by the Hermitage to race their motorbikes which was kindof amusing – looks like something that would happen in California. When we walked past, this boy asked us if he could borrow a pen so, of course, I gave him a pen to use real quick. We stood there waiting for several minutes while he sat in his car (pretty beat up) with two other guys while they conferred over something and scribbled some info down on paper with the pen. He very politely returned it to us and as they were walking away we realized they were definitely on a drug run, a rather amusing realization. When this occurred to us, we looked back and as they were walking away they had stopped and saw us turn back… and were motioning for us to follow them! Nealey, thinking it would be polite, started waving (in the “goodbye” way) to them, which I think confused them… and then we just kindof took off walking before that went anywhere, oy.

On the way back to the ship we ran into a couple of groups of people that Nealey knew which was cool because I got to meet more people with similar interests, which has been really tough to do so far. Phew. Wasn’t technically that long of a day but it definitely feels like one… so much schoolwork I need to be working on, but right now I just have got to pass out and rest!

our welcome at the art school

painting our dolls!

ahoy, russia!

2005-07-06T23:35:00.000-07:00

After three days at sea/in class, we reached Russia this morning – it will be so nice to have a five day break from class, despite having to makeup a lot of work (and write an eight page midterm) during that time. Strangely enough, I woke up at maybe 7:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep because there was fairly loud music… turns out there was a little band outside the ship that was playing to welcome us! It was pretty funny, though at 7:30 all I wanted to do was sleep for once.

At 8:00 or 8:30 we had a diplomatic briefing which usually occurs in every port, though we didn’t have one for Norway. Basically a guy came from the consulate and went over some logistical things, precautions to take, and gave an overview of the current relations between the United States and Russia (not so negative as I had thought). It’s tricky because this is the only port (so far, at least) in which we have to carry our passports with us off the ship, walk through customs, and then be prepared to present documentation to a police officer if randomly requested to do so. Usually our passports are all kept together and we don’t have to deal with them... so everyone has been a little bit nervous about that. We also found out that the bridges going to the island that our ship is berthed at are drawbridges that go up every night from 1:40 until 4:55, so it should be interesting to see which students stay out too late and get stranded on the other side until morning! In all of our pre-port information, we’ve generally been cautioned not to go out at night (especially to drink), but I’m sure people still will so I just hope everyone makes it back to the ship safely. Already there have been a mess of broken bones, at least half of which were result of someone being drunk and tripping/falling/etc… pathetic!

It’s been really fun being here because it’s the first port in which English is not widely spoken. All of the signs are also in Cyrillic characters, so even if we can pronounce words, most of us can’t read them. It makes getting around town a whole lot more interesting! It’s also a sharp contrast to the high quality of living in both Norway and Iceland. While most things seem incredibly cheap to us, a lot of it is because people have far less income here. It’s not uncommon, for example, for multiple families to share one apartment (especially here in St. Petersburg). The really striking thing, however, is that the people here have a lot of pride and dignity in their culture and the arts, which I think is fantastic. Over time, they have given so much as their own lives to preserve places, monuments, or items of historical/cultural value. There are incredibly beautiful buildings in every direction, many of which are theatres and museums.

Today we went on a Semester at Sea sponsored city orientation which was a nice way to sample what there is to see and do (and how to get there). Our guide was incredibly informative; she talked a lot about the artistic significance of places, as well as how they fit into Russian history (especially World War II and the Cold War). Even though we had heard a little bit from the Russian perspective through out interport lecturer and students, it was really fascinating to hear our guide talk so much about how the common people felt about politics and the Cold War. In the United States, history classes teach us that Russia is the “bad guy” and our enemy. While that may be true in terms of clashing international policy, it was interesting to hear how much most people disagreed with rulings but simply did not have the control to change them as we often democratically do in the United States. Even when the city was under siege, schools were still in session, concerts were held in the philharmonic halls, and people still went to work – I can’t imagine the emergence of that sort of strength in the face of crisis in an American city.

Shiplife has also been maybe a little bit better, or at least the weather has been nice enough to go study outside on most days. I went to an open mic last night… it was really nice to finally go to something random with people sharing my interests – so refreshing! I’m still having a hard time getting to know people, and it’s always harder in port when everything is so fragmented… but hopefully there will be more events that I can check out, we’ll see.

Well I’m off to bed, or something like it. I need to be getting more rest!

our welcome band

this ship houses a gym!

church of spilled blood, very beautiful

nevsky prospect, the main street

...independence day...

2005-07-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

The sun is just now setting over the unusually calm waters… it’s quite late at night but only the second sunset we’ve seen since Iceland (somehow I got used to it being light out all night). It has been such a weird day that has felt surreal up to this point of me putting it in words.

All of the students on the ship had our first Global Perspectives exam today, so everyone was up last night in all parts of the ship trying to cram and study. Meanwhile, Amy and I were calm until about midnight when we realized that we didn’t know where the hell Malta was, let alone that it was part of the European Union. Sooo we got on top of that, which was quite interesting finally figuring out exactly where all the teeny countries are and who governed them. (Did you know Luxembourg’s capital is also called Luxembourg? I think that’s cheating on their part!) So this morning we all split up into different classrooms for the exam which I dare say we overstudied for (though I would hardly say we spent much time studying, especially compared to everyone else). But of course there were a lot of curveball questions, so I’m not sure - we’ll see how I do.

Following the exam, classes went on as they normally do (not that going to class on a boat is normal, of course). I made another familiar visit to the health clinic because I’ve still been feeling unwell, and found out there is still some sort of infection hanging out in my body… not the best news, but they put me on Cipro and I should think would kill anything that the past month and a half of antibiotics hasn’t yet!

Because it is the 4th of July, the crew was serving dinner as a barbeque out on the seventh deck by the pool (which as of today has been filled with water)! It was really cute because they had decorated the ship for us and all the kids were running around with their faces painted… plus the food was a feast! The ship food has been good, but it’s pretty much variations on the same thing day after day. Today, however, there were pork ribs, grilled chicken, piles of fresh fruit, and even a dessert buffet. The only drawback was that the put the pig heads on the buffet tables, nicely garnished right next to the rest of the food… made me feel like I was at a Viking feast like we’ve been talking about in class. It also strikes me as a bit funny how we were throwing a bash to celebrate our nation’s independence from Europe… as we are sailing through it.

So now we are two days from Russia, which means that tonight we had to have cultural pre-port, an all-ship meeting in the union where we talk about what to expect culturally. It was pretty amusing as usual, with an interport Russian professor and two interport Russian students… then in the middle of the meeting, there was an announcement regarding a “code blue” (medical emergency – we could only tell because the entire medical staff ran out). Despite the brief interruption, the meeting concluded normally…

Everyone went back to their cabins and a lot of people were getting ready for the 4th of July dance that was in the union right after pre-port (one of the few instances in which alcohol is served aboard the ship – though the lines to buy drink tickets are too long to bother with). Amy and I were just hanging out in our cabin studying and such when there was another announcement calling an immediate meeting, regarding the medical emergency, in the union (where the dance was being held) which everyone had to attend. Everyone gathered there remarkably fast and the mood of the entire room was eerie. Some students were sill dressed up from the dance, sitting and sipping drinks while the rest of us nervously found seats. As soon as the medical staff (joined by some of the crew officers) walked to the front of the room, it became absolutely silent. It remained that way for quite awhile until one of the deans approached the podium and began to speak. He shared with us that the captain had suffered a massive heart attack, and though the medical team spent substantial amounts of time trying to revive him, he passed away… I don’t think any of us could have been prepared for that; it was completely unexpected. They assured us that another officer is taking over who is very qualified, that our safety is in no danger, and that all services will resume normally… though I just can’t get past the shock of losing our captain. The shipboard community has been really somber with students, faculty, staff, and families comforting each other all over the ship. But I really feel for his crew, who was very close to him and have sailed with him for years. Furthermore, I can’t imagine how hard it will be for his family – my thoughts are definitely with them.

It’s quite surreal to reflect upon just how much has happened on this independence day.

who knew our crew was so crafty with melon?

impromptu drum circle

zoom zoom zoom!

very fancy looking tower of fruit

elaborate and delicious buffet

our lovely staff at the pool bistro

all the flags are up and the pool is filled!

appetizing?

some things never change...

2005-07-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

Even on the other side of the world, I am still a klutz. Accentuated by the constant time change, rocking ship, stress of schoolwork… my clumsiness has been in its prime. For example, Amy and I were just eating dinner on the ship out on deck six and while trying to fill my water bottle from the pitcher on the table, I managed to dump the whole pitcher of ice and water all over the table, the deck, and myself. Thank goodness for the amazing crew on this ship – they are so nice whenever I muck anything up! Anyhow, we have been in Norway for a few days now and once again, I have failed to journal on a daily basis… so I am going to have to backdate things again to keep my head on straight as I’m writing. We haven’t been as busy in Iceland, but it gave me time to work on catching up in my three classes which has been a disastrous task! As for today, we decided to spend our last day in Norway wandering museums and collecting information to use in field reports for our classes. First we went to the Hanseatic Museum downtown, which is more or less a reconstruction of what the building would have looked like on the inside when it was inhabited by the German merchants. It’s in a huge row of buildings in an area of town called Bryggen, which encompasses the entire area in which the German merchants used to reside in a segregated community. The row of buildings is architecturally incredible because these buildings all look like little town houses from the front, but are actually warehouses that go back quite a ways (with stairs and passages between warehouses). The buildings are pretty much right on the pier so that ships could pull up to the pier and goods could be immediately transferred to the warehouses – quite impressive! Next we headed down the street to the Bryggens Museum which was about the overall history of Bryggen. They had an interesting exhibit about all of the fires that have destroyed various parts of Bryggen over time, and the archaeological evidence that has been found in reconstructing Bryggen. In the basement, they also had a big model of a Viking ship which was pretty cool (especially since we didn’t make it to Oslo to see the Viking ship burial grounds). They also had some bits about runes and the history of the church in Bergen which hopefully I will be able to incorporate into a paper for one of my classes. Satanists have burned many of the churches to the ground over time, and I had hoped to find more background information about this but didn’t. I also hoped to find more information about the history of trolls in Norway (to write a paper for folklore class), because there are trolls in all forms all over the city! Unfortunately, despite all of the touristy troll knick-knacks, I didn’t find anything about their historical significance. We wandered around a bit again downtown today and I got a couple of things for Sean, Mum and Dad… but that about sums up the day. We got back to the ship really early to avoid the rush to make “on-ship time” which is 21:00 (9pm). For the entire time we’ve been in Burgen, I’ve been dizzy and bumbling around feeling quite “land-sick” (guess I got used to being on the boat pretty quick), and finally today that wore off. Unfortunately we set sail again in just a couple of hours at 23:00 (11pm), so I’m pretty sure I’ll be back to the same routine of stumbling around like a fool... as if I don’t have a hard enough time keeping my clumsiness in check when I’m not on a moving vessel! Ah well that’s it for now… still working on getting my pictures small enough to upload but hopefully (I swear) I will add them in soon. Thanks also to everyone who has e-mailed me – I’m having a tricky time responding to e-mails right now with our dodgy internet situation, but I still enjoy hearing from people and hopefully will get to write back at some point! p.s. Laundry day is finally here (tomorrow) and I am SO excited!

creepy crosswalk sign, yeah?

city square near fish market

central city plaza

look it's our ship! (low center)

catching up on life

2005-07-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Phew, well Amy and I had a nice sleep in day yesterday. We both slept through our alarms until 13:00 or so… but I know that I needed the rest at least. After waking up so late, we decided to stay on the ship awhile since shops would close soon anyway. Amy spent most of this time either feeding her solitaire addiction or reading one of the frivolous books she borrowed from the library. The library closes when we are in port and their system of checking out books is rather sketchy; most of the books done even have anything on them indicating they are part of a library, so she just borrows a book, reads it and returns it the next day- not bad!

I spent most of yesterday afternoon doing a lot of catch-up schoolwork, though I am still really behind. I’m hardly caught up in one class, let alone three. Classes are going well though. Global perspectives, which is attended by everyone on the ship (and taught by a professor from Allegheny College like Amy) is really interesting because there are discussions and debates as we learn about each country in the context of the American Dream versus the European Dream. My Myth, Religion, and Symbols class is also really interesting and taught by an awesome professor. We’ve been talking about all sorts of mythical creatures in Iceland and Norway – elves, changelings, trolls, and the “hidden people”. It's interesting how such beings are still integrated into modern culture. For example, in Iceland, roads are built around boulders under the belief that moving boulders (in which the hidden people live) will disturb and anger the creatures residing there. We also discuss a lot of the early pagan religion (and its intersection with politics) as is relevant to the countries we are visiting. My third class, Myth and Folklore, is the only letdown. The material is really awesome; mostly we just read fairytales from various countries (though somehow the reader for the class is $203, so I’ve been struggling to read it all in the library between classes). The bit that’s not so great is the actual class meetings. Given that we have so few class days, it’s extra important that we cover relevant material in our classes, yet in my folklore class it seems like all we do is regurgitate the readings and learn absolutely nothing new, unless we have an interport lecturer do a presentation (interport lecturers are on the ship for the duration of at-sea time as we approach their home country – a great asset!) Regardless, I still am really excited about all of my classes and also the field practica (writing papers for class based on relevant cultural findings).

Anyhow, after we hung out on the ship we eventually went out for dinner and explored a music store which was really fun. So much of the music that I love is really popular here! It’s funny to see The Postal Service, Interpol, The Avalanches, Snow Patrol, Muse, etc. on the bestsellers rack. In sifting through CDs, I bought one by a band called Amerika called “Stay Okay” (also the name of a hostel chain in Europe). It was really cheap, and I thought it’d be cool to hear Norwegian alternative… and it worked out well, it’s a pretty good CD!

out and about in norway

2005-06-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we went on a Semester at Sea trip to see the “Fairytale Home of Ole Bull”, as was described to us when we registered for it. Unfortunately, I don’t know really know where the whole fairytale label came from… but the house was still interesting and beautiful to see. Ole Bull was a famous violinist also known for being quite the ladies’ man and over time became wealthy enough to buy Lysoen island and build a house on it. Perhaps better than the house was the tourguide that we had for the day. She spoke in a very proper-sounding muddled stream of consciousness and inserted really funny comments between thoughts. On the way to Lysoen island, we also got to stop and check out the ruins of a monastery located in what is known as “The Valley of Light” – interesting because “Lysoen” means “Island of Light”. Returning from Lysoen island, our loony tourguide also had us stop at a little Norwegian farm (for a total of seven minutes) on the premise that we could “pick a flower as a souvenir, though it wouldn’t last too long.. hm. hm.” We mostly just peeked around at all of the animals and got to see some cute kids riding Viking horses like the ones we rode in Iceland. After we returned, we went into town to hang out at the fish market, where people sell fish (obviously), fruit, knitted goods, and various crafts. I wish I liked seafood and fish! Nonetheless, it was fun poking through the stalls and picking up postcards and the like. While we were at the fish market, I got to call home to my parents and also check my voicemail (that’s setup through my phone card). Checking my voicemail totally made my day, as Andie had called and left the coolest message ever that was her rapping about me getting better and traveling over summer! I’m sure I looked like a fool laughing so hard on a payphone in the fish market square, but it was definitely worth it. Thanks Andreat0r!! At some point in the day we also went to Xhibition, which is where our tourguide said young people go to shop. We had seen it before and assumed it to be a large department store, but it was actually an entire mall with a target audience of young adults. Quite a sight to see! We were mostly excited because it had an H&M in it, which we thought we wouldn’t get to explore until England. I think I held off on buying anything since it’s all so expensive here, but hopefully our money will be worth more in Russia…

the lush ruins of the monastary

the home of ole bull

around lysoen island

farm... norwegian style!

god morgen bergen!

2005-06-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning I woke up and looked out of our porthole to see beauteous Norway! Houses built all up and down lush green mountains surrounding our harbor… “pretty much amazing”, as Rachelle would say. Amy had woken up at 5am to watch for a few minutes as we pulled into port, which was also rumored to be exceptionally beautiful… but I definitely slept like a rock through that one. Unfortunately, even earlier than that, we all awoke to an announcement that internet and phone services wouldn’t be available at all in Norway, which is mostly a bummer because we had planned on using free internet while we still could (they start charging upon departure from Norway) to make reservations for train travel and hostels in Spain, Holland, and Poland. We did find an internet café in town that we stepped into briefly to check e-mail, but prices were a bit steep (about $4/half-hour with student discount). Through Semester at Sea, we went on a short city tour/orientation of Bergen, which was definitely helpful to get our bearings before running amuck on our own. Thankfully we are much closer to the city here than in Iceland and it’s only a few minutes walk to one of the main squares. Perhaps the feature of the tour was riding the funicular (“incline” as we say in Pittsburgh) up to the top of Mount Floen. At the top, there were hiking trails everywhere (wish we’d had time to explore) and of course an excellent view of Bergen, which is surrounded by seven fjords and seven mountains! Riding the funicular was fun even to us (having ridden inclines before) because their entire system is incredibly modern with reusable tickets that function in a similar way to BART cards (in the California bay area). We went exploring around the city a bit after that, but everyone closes earlier in Europe (to allow people more leisure time), so we still came back to the ship relatively early and called it a day.

amy and i, atop mt. floen

view of bergen from the mountain

view of the hanseatic wharf from across the way

sailing away (like vikings!)

2005-06-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

I’ve been meaning to (and wanting to) post since I got here, but I’ve been out and about doing so much exploring… and when I get home at the end of the day, I pretty much just crash in bed. I wish I would have been posting all along as things were happening, but I’ll try to remember as much as I can at this point! I backdated entries about the past few days, even though I just wrote them... because I'm trying to keep straight in my head what I did which day (which is difficult already and that was only our first port!) Also, I have taken loads of really awesome pictures, which I will try to get up soon. Our wireless internet on the ship has been iffy recently, so I wanted to at least get these words up while I could and pictures will follow when I have more time and the network is up!

Today we decided to go back into the city to see some things we hadn’t caught the first time around. We started off at the Hallgrimskirkja Church, which is a really tall and architecturally interesting building. We paid a few dollars to take the elevator to the top (they call it an “ascent to heaven”) where you have an amazing view of Reykjavik from the bell tower… definitely worth it. After that, we went to this little contemporary museum called Asi, where they had an installation called “El Ruido del Dinero (The Sound of Money)”. It consisted entirely of mostly-empty rooms with speakers playing various sounds of industry and such, and was meant to portray the changes that the fishing industry has brought to Iceland, many times from the perspective of Spanish-speaking immigrants. We then headed into the center of town, where we stepped into a flea market which was really cool to see (because it wasn't so touristy). It was like most flea markets... a glorified yard sale, but for us it was a way to buy some souveniers for a lot less than in the quaint (but pricey) shops on the street.

While walking through one of the main squares in town, we saw a small group of people from Amnesty International doing some sort of demonstration. We walked over to investigate and it turns out they were inviting people to voluntarily sit with their ears, eyes, and mouth covered to experience what the prisioners of Guantanamo Bay go through every day in isolation. It was particularly interesting because the whole demonstration was about how the United States is holding these people under torturous conditions and something needs to be done about it... so I thought that if they knew we were American, they'd be put off by that. But instead, they were really informative and understanding that half our country did not vote for Bush! They were supportive, optimistic, and encouraged us to write directly to our representatives rather than signing their petition (more for Icelandic citizens). I guess the neatest thing to me was to see that they were working on issues so far from them, and won support through discussion and conversation (even with Americans).

Awhile after that we strolled through the Reykjavik art museum to see the three-dimensional map of Iceland, and then onward to the Museum of Photography which had a beautiful exhibit documenting a lot of the conflict in various parts of Africa (like South Africa, Mozambique, and Ethiopia). We ended our day in town with an Icelandic hot dog… hot dogs (often made of lamb) are very popular here, especially late at night when the bars let out.

So now we’re back on the ship, which has just pushed off from Iceland, heading toward Norway where we will arrive in a few days. I’m just now getting to see what the ship is like when everyone is living on it and when all of it’s snack bars, services, and bookstore are open… and tomorrow I’ll have my first day of classes. I’ve got quite a bit of work to do for my classes, so I best tend to that. The captain also notified us that we’re going to be crossing soon through an area currently occupied by a pod of whales, so I’m hoping that we’ll get a glimpse of them!

Goodbye Iceland… I hope I don’t get seasick.

view of reykjavik from the top of hallgrimskirkja church

leifur erikson, looking rather heroic (he settled iceland)

view of the church from down the way

icelandic hotdogs - yum!

an adventurous expedition

2005-06-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had another trip that we were doing through Semester at Sea, this one was to see some of the sights along the coast and inland- more of a nature expedition. It was a much smaller group of people on the trip, and also seemed to be made up of more personable (and less-cliquey) students. After stopping for lunch and “provisions” (as indicated in the description… which for us meant purchasing shampoo) in a town on the way, we went to Seljalandsfoss waterfall, which was mostly just rainy and windy. Not even our “emergency ponchos” (that we had just purchased) could afford us any protection from the elements. The waterfall was beautiful, but we ran back to the bus pretty quickly considering we were already on our way to being sopping wet.

After that, we drove through a lot of rocky rivers (a bumpy and entertaining ride that I somehow slept through) to get to a glacier. It was interesting to see how the ice was flowing down the mountain like a river in slow motion, leaving sandy dunes where ice-topped mountains used to be. After some more river crossings, we made our next stop at an area known as Thor’s woods. It’s a popular place for camping and backpacking, but is unreachable for much of the year, when excessive rainfall makes the rivers impassable. A lot of the people in our group went hiking all the way to the top of one of the mountains with our guide, but given how cold and wet we already were, we opted for the shorter path at the base of the mountain. Our guide gave us vague directions to this path, causing us to get lost and somehow end up on what must have been the wrong path- which we figured out after climbing partway up another mountain on rickety stairs in the ground.

Finally, our last stop was at Stakkholtsgja Canyon, which our guide described as their “grand canyon”. We hiked into the center of the canyon and it was fun to feel so miniscule standing there between enormous moss-covered walls of rock that had been forged over such extended periods of time. We reached a point where to go further, everyone would have to cross a big stream of extremely cold water (glacial runoff!) People started taking their shoes off and crossing the knee-deep water… Amy started to go across and I followed her but had to bail and run back partway because I definitely couldn’t feel my feet! I wish I could have seen the other side- I guess there was a cave and an enclosed area in the canyon with little waterfalls of the glacial runoff, along with a place where the water from the glacier was pure enough to drink! Altogether we saw a lot in that day, though ultimately it would have been a lot more enjoyable if it hadn’t been so rainy (and cold).

When we got back, again it seemed like everyone on the ship was going out on the town for the night. We had actually originally planned to go out for a bit to see what the nightlife was like in Iceland, but it was so cold and wet that we just couldn’t be bothered to venture outside again. From the sounds of it, I think we would have run into a crowd of Semester at Sea students embarrassing Americans anywhere we went, so I’m not sure that we missed out on too much.

seljalandsfoss waterfall

so much for the emergency poncho...

melting glacier, whoa!
self-portrait, the usual

pretty woodsy stairs

realized we took the wrong path...

more of US!

in the stakkholtsgja canyon... i'm so mini

icelandic horses and lagoons

2005-06-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we went on a trip through Semester at Sea that was so much fun. First we drove (by motorcoach) to a small farm outside of the city where we were going to go horseback riding. Upon arriving, they told us we were in for a surprise and escorted us into the barn where an Icelandic woman taught us line dancing! It was absolutely hilarious. We were all tripping over our feet to the sound of techno-electronic-western music.

After over an hour of that, we went riding on Icelandic Viking horses through the countryside. The horses were so incredibly cute- short like ponies (though you get scolded for calling them that), but stocky and loaded with personality. My horse, for example, decided to breakaway and go galloping off at random times to the next cluster of horses… which made conversing with the person on the horse next to you quite difficult, as the conversation could end suddenly at any moment. The only downside of horseback riding was that all of the clothes we were wearing (which was a lot because it was cold) smelled awful afterward… and while we tried to handwash them, most of them are going to have to wait for our next laundry day.

We next drove another hour or so to Blue Lagoon, which is a geothermal spa. In Iceland, there is a huge supply of naturally heated water that is used in public swimming pools, geothermal spas like Blue Lagoon, and also as a general heat source. Blue Lagoon was so nice, especially after riding a horse all afternoon. It’s this big naturally heated lagoon, which is indeed blue in color due to the minerals in the water. They also have pots of a silica compound that everyone puts on their faces because it is a natural exfoliant- so the lagoon is full of white-faced funny looking people! When we got back that night, we stayed in to get rest before our next daytrip, and it felt like we were the only students on the ship who weren't out getting trashed… kind of sad. I also got a note from the registrar, who personally stopped by my cabin to give me information on the makeup work I need to complete for me classes- like I said, the faculty and staff really do go above and beyond for us!

who knew that linedancing was so popular in iceland...

me and my emme-sized horse

hungry horse!

countryside view while riding

entering the blue lagoon - that's lava on our sides!

they're not kidding, it really is blue

hallo reykjavik!

2005-06-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

My flight over was absolutely awesome. Well, not the USAir one, but the IcelandAir one. Before my flight, I got to relax in the Chesapeake Lounge at the airport in Baltimore (much quieter than the terminal… and with food!) On the flight, they pampered me with a nice wool blanket, personal DVD player, and a three-course meal (including an appetizer of err… reindeer loins, not so tasty.) Because they did so much for us, I wasn’t able to fall asleep until quite late and only got a mere two hours of shuteye before arriving in Iceland.

When I got here on Thursday, a really friendly guy from the Semester at Sea affiliated travel/tourism agency came to pick me up. We drove for about forty five minutes toward the city through really beautiful fields of Alaskan lupine that has grown over aged lava and volcanic ash, it wasn’t nearly as barren as I had imagined Iceland to be (although most of the inland area is uninhabitable). When I got to the harbor, around 8:00, I was told I’d have to wait just a few minutes until customs cleared the ship and the gangway was setup. Unfortunately, that few minutes turned into about an hour and a half! For that whole period of waiting, I sat in a really cold little hut in the harbor with these two guys (who worked there) who I was certain couldn’t speak English. About five minutes before I got on the boat, they started chatting to me in ENGLISH. Ahh, how frustrating- we could have been talking or something for all that time instead of struggling to stay awake! Little did I know at the time that pretty much everyone here (in Reykjavik at least) speaks really good English.

So finally I got on the boat (after the U.S. Embassy people got on, and after a whole trip of students got off). I met up with Amy and my RD (like an RA) right away who got me setup with my ID card and such. I unpacked in my cabin, which is really nice and cozy and has plenty more space than we had expected. The whole ship is really really nice- kind of too nice; definitely nicer than I thought, and uncomfortably nice for a floating campus. The dining halls feel more like restaurants. Things are served buffet style, but then the staff will take your tray or plate and personally seat you at a table and pour your drink(s) for you. Everyday we also have a steward come into our cabin (Dolphi - though I am probably misspelling his name) who makes our beds, gives us any needed clean towels, and makes sure things are in order. He’s extremely nice, and it’s so cute how he makes my bed with my blanket and my little stuffed monkey on top of it! But altogether, it’s just weird. I guess most people would love being catered to this much, but it’s just so foreign to me. I’m used to cooking for myself, cleaning on my own, and doing my own laundry- and I think I prefer it that way. Generally speaking, things are pristine, and although the cruise ship has been converted into a university, it still feels very much like a cruise ship. For example, our library is in what was formerly a casino (signs still indicate so), and classrooms have been made out of such places as a smoking room and a card room. I’ll try to put some pictures up of the ship soon, though I haven’t gotten around to taking any yet!

The student body is quite a disappointment. I knew that there would be a lot of people who were here for the wrong reasons, at the expense of their mommy and daddy… but I didn’t think it would be this many. At meals in the dining halls, everyone is constantly telling stories at full volume about their drunken adventures from the previous night, or how they hate Icelandic people because they are so mean (for asking the American students to behave more appropriately in bars!) All of the girls seem to be mistaking the trip for a fashion show, as Amy put it. They’ve all brought an arsenal of makeup, miniskirts, and stilettos to romp around in which is particularly absurd considering how cold it is here (and will be for a few ports). It seems like all anyone wants to do is go out at night and get drunk- which is a feat considering that in Iceland a beer will cost you about $9! Everyone is calling home to warn their daddies that the credit card bill will be a bit higher than expected… I can’t even believe that these students’ parents are footing their bar bills. There was even one girl who left her group of Semester at Sea friends the other night at a bar to go out with a group of Icelandic boys. When she never came home, of course people started to worry… her roommate was in a panic and word spread to keep an eye out for her. Today I was at a bus stop and we ran into her- she was incredibly nonchalant about the whole thing; she seemed to think it should be no big deal that she was out until 9am partying and hadn’t been in contact with anyone! We don’t have a curfew, but security is pretty strict- we have to swipe our ID cards and have our bags searched every time we get off or on the ship… so when someone has been missing for 12+ hours, it is a big deal.

Luckily, there are a few cool students we’ve met to hang out with on the ship and in port. There are also a number of older adults doing the seniors/continuing education program and they are all tremendously sweet (and tolerant of being around airhead young adults!) They come and eat with us at meals or have us run errands for them in downtown Reykjavik… it’s nice to have them aboard with their desire to learn, valuable wisdom, and wonderful company. There are also lots of children (including one girl who lives in a Snow White costume) who are here because their mum or dad is on staff/faculty. Having families here also makes the ship feel a bit more diverse, though I am also impressed (and surprised) with how casually the children all explore the ship- mostly because I doubt that most of the university students conduct themselves appropriately in their presence.

Phew. So onto what we’ve actually been doing…

After I unpacked and so on, Amy and I ventured downtown. We somehow had the wrong idea and thought we were in the main harbor, which is only a few blocks from downtown. After walking for what seemed like ages, we finally realized where we were- we had just appeared on the far side of the Reykjavik city map and that means we must be docked in the second harbor on the complete other side of the city! At this point, we didn’t really have any choice but to keep walking, so we walked all the way into town which must have taken awhile because it is at least a couple of miles. Exhausted, we finally arrived in the city center, which was very cute and quaint. We eventually found this little sandwich place to eat called Nonnabutti, which our Europe guidebooks had recommended as the cheapest place to get a decent bite to eat. We spent $8 each for a simple grilled sandwich (things are pricey here in general), but it was fun to see a little local hole-in-the-wall. All of the sandwiches here seem to be really big on pepperoni and ham. They also must fancy paprika quite a bit, because our french fries were seasoned with it and they also sell paprika flavored Pringles in the grocery stores.

After that we had a short stroll around town and bought a few things, including Icelandic wool yarn and knitting needles to make ourselves scarves. We trekked back to the harbor, on foot, which definitely seemed longer on the way back! The surreal bit is that by the time we got home, it was 22:00 (10:00pm), but still entirely lightly outside because it’s the time of year where Iceland has sun nearly around-the-clock to make up for the period of continual darkness experienced in the middle of winter. The sun sets very late (maybe midnight or 1:00?) and rises again only a few hours later. It’s been too cloudy to full enjoy the beautiful midnight sunsets, but it’s still been an experience regardless.

they eat a lot of ice cream in iceland (with my name in it!)

viking troll!

my head has gone from green to red!

2005-06-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

What a looong day. I've been getting all of my final stuff together which basically involved lots of details and bits of paper I'd rather not deal with, but must.

I finally got my phonecard all setup for when I'm abroad... and people can leave me voicemail (for free!) SO if you feel so compelled to give me a ring and leave me a funny message (though I'm not sure I'd be able to return the call, depending), dial 1.888.579.0208, press 2, enter my account number (7211218988139), and press # to leave a voicemail!

Or if you're feeling even more ambitious, you can send me mail in port at the addresses here. (No worries, I don't expect to be flooded with mail- I know it's a pain to mail a letter so far in advance as well as overseas!)

In the midst of all of these preparations, I had a bit of a mishap today with some henna. I put it in my hair like I have in the past, since it is so nutrient-rich (and my hair is dead after antibiotics/anesthesia/etc.) Apparantly, that was a big mistake as it turned my hair a dark sickly green because of the state it was in! So my only option at that point was to attack it with red to neutralize it (and in turn also make my hair reasonably red). I suppose it's a change of pace...

alas, i am not yet seaworthy

2005-06-19T00:22:00.000-07:00

The M.V. Explorer may have been declared seaworthy (despite the recent controversy with University of Pittsburgh), but it seems I've got another week to reach that point. I was slated to have my stint removed Tuesday, but when my doctor (whom I hadn't met yet) caught wind that I was in the emergency room last weekend with more fluid in my abdomen, she opted to reschedule me for Wednesday... for more surgery. Bad news because I am sick of anesthesia, monster antibiotics, oversized hospital gowns, IVs, and so on, but good news because she wanted to get to the bottom of things once and for all. Despite my nerves, the procedure went exceedingly well - being treated at a specialty women's hospital was such a treat after everything I went through out in California! Unfortunately, when she removed my stint, it was evident that I needed even more healing time... so I have another stint for eight more weeks (oy!) Luckily, she is letting me distract myself for these next two months by joining the Semester @ Sea crowd in Iceland after I rest at home for a week. I was really hoping to have my stint removed for good and make the departure with everyone else, but given the circumstances, things could definitely be much worse!

I'm a little nervous because I'll be joining everyone after orientation and classes starting - and also, I can't say a single word in Icelandic (one language I haven't explored yet), but I'm going to be sooo glad to see Amy! Everything is a little bit up in the air about our field studies, independent travel plans, and how I am going to make up the missed coursework, but the Semester @ Sea folks have been amazingly helpful and accommodating so I am sure it will all work out. I was heartbroken to find out that I was going to be stranded on soil for an extra week, but I'm trying to make the best of it. I'm getting to spend more time with my parents and Sam (both the boy and the dog), I'll make it to Three Rivers Arts Festival, Dad is treating Mum and I to a day at the spa (to recuperate after five weeks of my kidneys declaring mutiny on our lives), and of course my body really needed the rest so I've been catching up on moviewatching.

I only have three whole days until I depart for the other side of the world- I should feel prepared with all this extra time, and yet I feel even more disastrous (in regard to packing) than I did when I thought I was departing on time. Guess that means I should get some sleep, góða nótt!

an ending, a beginning

2005-06-12T00:21:00.000-07:00

After intense deliberation I finally decided to throw my summer blog up here (it was stressful evaluating how to go about this, especially when it comes to sharing photos!) Regardless, hopefully this will be a way for me to journal my way through summer adventures and share photos with family and friends as well. Read it never or always, it matters not to me!

So much has been going on, I haven't had a chance to catch my breath! Leaving Santa Cruz was surreal, since I have been sick for the past three weeks. It was a bummer not to wrap up the year with everyone else, but at this point I am glad to be home safely. Staying in Santa Cruz was like being caught in the twilight zone... my kidney stones, then surgery, then infection, then more surgery (requiring mum to fly out twice at this point), having my wallet stolen in the hospital, finding out my travel agency messed up my flights to Nova Scotia this week... oy! I feel like I barely made it out of my flat (thanks to mum and g-fresh for the help) and hardly got to squeeze in any goodbyes. So I tell myself this is just a vacation, a measly three months and then we'll all be back in Santa Cruz like before- so I shouldn't fuss over leaving.

I miss the palm trees, the ocean, the redwoods, and a few close friends... but it feels so good to be home. I've even been greeted by thunderstorms, which is so nice- I miss those when I am on the west coast. It's great to see my parents and my dog and really just to be back on the east coast in general. But no time to think about that. I leave for sea in just about five days and I have so much to do to prepare!