May 3, 2007

This is the start of Day 5 before Hawaii. And it’s been a tough week for sleep and other things. We’ve had to turn our clocks ahead an hour every night except one, so I’ve been losing an hour of sleep every night for four nights. My body and mind can’t seem to agree on a proper time to be tired, so once night time hits, my body is a little ready to go to bed, while my mind continues to stir and think of things, keeping me awake up until 3-4 AM. This sucks because I have class at 8 AM one day, and then our mandatory Global Studies every day at 9:20. Once that alarm goes off, I’m usually confused and angry because my body and mind are both deep in sleep, and not ready to get up. So then I take a nap in the afternoon because 1. I can’t function, so I might as well just sleep and not function and 2. there’s nothing to do on the ship.-- It’s time to get off. We’re all ready, lets just skip the last days of classes and finals and speed ourselves home. The boat is rocking so much also, the most it has the entire voyage. We have swells of 2.5 meters, which is pretty big compared to what we’re use to. We’re a passenger liner, and the fastest in the world at that, but we do not handle waves like big cruise ships do. So many people are sea-sick and can’t make it to class- teachers included. It’s pretty entertaining to just watch people walk down around the ship, because we’re all falling. If you can walk a straight line for 10 steps, you should be treated to a fine bottle of wine. It’s impossible. And, it’s cold outside so every girl on the ship is basically freaking out because she can’t work on her tan, and we’ve still got 4 days until Hawaii.

Every student on the ship has to take Global Studies 101. We have 4 exams and that’s all our grade is. We take a multiple choice exam that tests our knowledge of what we paid attention to at 9:20 every day while at sea. People don’t do very well on these tests, and there’s not much motivation. Not everyone goes because its so boring. They can’t fit everyone is one classroom obviously, so we have satellite rooms all over the shit, and you watch it on a screen. We also have it every day and am still getting the same amount of credit as our other classes, and the tests are not easy. It’s a 101 course, and as a whole, our ship is majority Juniors and Seniors. We should all be getting As! Dan Christie, our ‘professor’ for this course is a Psychologist and really doesn’t know how to teach to 702 students from satellite classrooms. It’s very difficult to keep us all engaged, but they need to think of a new tactic. Now, as our fourth and final exam approaches, they had to figure out a way to give us something to boost our grades. So they created this ‘UVA Honor’ thing, and for 6 days you can either go to class or not, but for every day that you do, you get 10 points added to your exam. The thing with this is that you just fill out a paper you have and check ‘present,’ and write a sentence about the days class. It’s a guaranteed 60%. I’m psyched about it because I haven’t been doing well in the class, but it’s just a way for them to make our grades higher and make them look a little more in control. If they had half the students with Cs and Ds, that would look a little sour.

We’ve also been breaking up into groups to discuss what lies ahead for us at home. A lot of people are concerned, including myself, about the transition that we face. I didn’t realize how big of an affect this trip was going to have on me and everyone on the ship, but it definitely changes you. I don’t think its one of those things you’ll be able to see until you’re put in a position to discuss it or question it, but we’re all feeling strange about going back. Many people are concerned about their old friends and old habits, and if they’ll still have anything in common with them. We’ve seen a lot as a community, and we’re all very close, so going home and not having anyone to relate your feelings and experiences with is going to be hard. I know everyone will get sick of my stories, but it’s been my life for the past 3 ½ months and transition is never easy. I’m thankful that I’ll be in Africa this summer, so I’ll be able to share that with Will instead of sitting at home working at the golf course and not enjoying myself. I’m very excited to be doing that.

I took a nap today and am not sure how tonight is going to work out. I’m sure I’ll be up late, doing nothing, but soon I’ll be in Hawaii and I can’t wait for that one day of relaxation off the ship. I haven’t even been outside for more than 60 seconds in the past 4 days. It should be nice. And I could use a good cheeseburger. We’ve got the Ambassador’s Ball tomorrow which will be great- I’ve got a steak dinner coming my way. Ohhhh, yeah! Party!

May 2, 2007

JAPAN!!

We arrived in Japan on April 23 and what a great port to finish on. South Africa, Vietnam and Japan were the ports I was most excited about and they turned out to be my favorite places. This is probably because I was very optimistic upon entering the cities, but still, I loved them. We ported in Kobe and, unlike a few of our port cities, it offered a lot just in that city as well as around it. There’s about 1.5 million people there so it’s a busy area with a lot going on. There are A LOT of people in Japan- 174 million and it’s only a little bigger than California, who has 35 million residents. Every crosswalk is always full, the metro and subway are always busy, and the strips are always full of wanderers.

I spent my first day in Kobe. I didn’t know what was available for us in port and neither did anyone else, so we just found a map, picked a couple places to go, and we left. The trouble with traveling is that a lot of people like to travel in groups, and that never works. You’re never going to find 8 people who want to do the same thing, so after about an hour and a half we had some people at internet cafes, a couple at the ATM, and then Jenny and I who were just waiting for everyone to finish up. We got tired of waiting, so we just headed out and figured we’d explore the city ourselves. I have no sense of direction and apparently Jenny doesn’t either, so we never made it to the shrine we were hoping to see, but just spent the day traveling around the city and finding a lot of cool and random stuff. It’s always exciting to be in a new, bustling place because it gets you pumped about what you could see. We wandered for a few hours and came upon another shrine, walked through a park that we designated as the nicest homeless man’s park ever (we walked up some steps and found guys sleeping in the park, with clothes hanging everywhere, but it was so pretty), found a residential area of Kobe and checked out the living facilities, and walked through a busy restaurant area where we met an Italian chef that spoke perfect Japanese and English. We were looking for Tempura, so he took us around the corner to another restaurant to introduce us to the employees. They didn’t have tempura unfortunately, but the restaurant across the street did. The Italian man was very funny – he was like “They should have tempura, but I’m sorry, I don’t know them. I can’t introduce you.” It was really funny because we weren’t expecting to meet any restaurant employees, but he was so kind about it. After we didn’t find tempura, we headed back to the ship and had some dinner there. I was leaving for Hiroshima at 6 AM the next morning, so we opted for an easier evening. Jenny and I decided to travel to Mt. Rocco and take the cable car up so we could see the Osaka skyline at night. I was so excited- we’d be able to see Kobe, Osaka and Osaka Bay all lit up. But being in a new city and having no idea where to go, we managed to take the longest and most expensive route there and arrived about 2 minutes after the last cable car went up. We looked at the Japanese conductors (psh, cable-car conductors) and gave this look of ‘please, can we go up?’ and apparently in Japan when they mean no, they cross their arms in front of their chest and make a big ‘X,’ meaning, NO. That was sad. Luckily there was a bus stop right in front of the little area and we managed to get back to Sannomiya, our major station in Kobe. We were a little upset so we treated ourselves to some Haagen-Dazs, watched some Japanese street performers, and headed back.

Day two started around 5:15 when my alarm went off. I was headed to Hiroshima on a Semester at Sea trip because I waited all semester to write this paper for my psych class, and I needed to go to Hiroshima to do it. We left at 6 AM and traveled for about 5 hours. I brought my pillow with me and James and I headed to the back of the bus so we could sprawl out and just sleep, and that’s exactly what we did. You know you’re tired when you make drool spots on your pillow. We got to Hiroshima and the city is very calm and simple. It’s a more industrial area, so people go there to work and travel. The area that we were in was not meant for night life or city life, but perhaps good for an afternoon stroll. It was an absolutely beautiful day—the weather in Japan was just fantastic all week. We spent a couple hours in the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which was great. If you had any questions about the A-Bomb attack, it could be answered in the museum. So we did the museum and then headed over to this Peace Garden, which was my first garden visit since being in Japan. It was so pretty and I want a Japanese Garden in my backyard…or I just want a house in Japan that I can travel to for a month out of the year when I need to relax and just enjoy nature. Yeah, that sounds nice. So we did those two things and then headed back. We stopped at a place and got dinner off the highway. And basically what you do is go up to a vending machine, put in your money, and choose what meal you want. Then they give you a ticket, you wait in line, and they conjure up this delicious meal that cost you roughly $5. The American dollar is worth about 118 Yen, so, finally, calculating the price of things was pretty simple. I didn’t have to divide by 43 like in India, or 14,000 like in Vietnam. Everyone was traveling a lot in Japan so we didn’t get to see our friends every night on the ship. People were doing home-stays, traveling to Tokyo, traveling to Nagano to go skiing and basically just doing whatever was possible and enjoyable for those few days. So my nights never consisted of much, except dinner and exploring the city, but that’s always fun. James and I checked out some arcades after spending the day in Hiroshima, but wow, you’re money just kind of disappears in Japan. I know that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world, but is Japan the most expensive country? We’d spent a couple dollars here and a couple there just to get around, but before you knew it, you had to head back to the bank. And there are no ATMs that take American cards. Citibank was the only available place, and then the post office in Kyoto, which I was at twice. I’m hoping I spent less than I think. I didn’t even buy souvenirs, but just used money for food and travel. Oh Japan. I think we were just spoiled by our previous countries. I was thinking about the States and spending $7 at my sandwich place at home…that just sounds ridiculous!

My third day was spent in Osaka. It was one of those things where we planned to wake up early and get going, but we didn’t actually leave Kobe until about 12-12:30, after stopping at McDonald’s to see what the Japanese version was like. It’s very similar to ours. Actually, it’s the same. Except they have Teriyaki chicken burgers, which were pretty scrumptious. We stopped at the JR (Japanese Railway), got tickets for Osaka and headed out. It only took about 15 minutes to get there. We (James and I) headed to this large business building that advertises a ‘floating garden.’ The architecture of the building is very cool so that was neat to see, and at the base of the building there’s a little garden to just hang out in and relax, but we wanted to get to the top. So we got tickets and flew about 35 stories in the elevator and were then able to see the entire city. It’s one of those things that would have been awesome at night with the city all lit up, but it was still cool to see the whole city. AND, there was no floating garden. I don’t know what they were talking about, because the garden at the base of the building was not floating. It was a little confusing, but so is listening to a Japanese person who can’t speak English very well, so I didn’t want to ask what happened to the floating garden. After that, we took a walk back to the train station, grabbed drinks out of the random vending machines that are everywhere, and decided to go see the Osaka Castle Museum. The thing about the vending machines though is that their in the most random areas because people get thirsty at the most random times. So even when you’re walking by a flower shop or a bicycle rental place, you’ll be able to grab a drink as well. And the bottles they come in are cooler than in America. But anyways, we went Castle and it’s so cool how they create a city around something so historical. While they have the bustling city around it, they have this very large and impressive castle that just represents the culture of Japan. I’m sure it’s a great tourist attraction too (obviously, because I went there) but it’s just very cool to have that there. And as we walked around it, we noticed elementary and junior high students everywhere. Then we saw the schools right across the street from the castle…could you imagine looking out your window every day and see the Osaka castle during pre-algebra? They were having gym class about the time we were there, and that basically consisted of running laps around the property of the castle, which is also pretty sweet. The little Japanese students look so cute in their uniforms. They wear their blazers and the little boys wear the shortest shorts with their high white socks. It’s very cute and always fun to see when they travel in groups.

We came back that night and met up for dinner. Caitlin, Sarah, Jenny and I went to this little carnival thing that was in Harborland, an area only 2-metro stops away. It was a funny situation because the place was pretty much abandoned except for the 4 American students and 4 Japanese girls. We got our picture taken with them because they were very excited to do that. We also spent 8 Yen to go up the slowest Ferris Wheel in the world, but we were able to see the whole area that we were staying in from a pretty sweet view. After our Ferris Wheel adventure, we went on the little rollercoaster and wow, six flags has nothing on Harborland. Ok, I’m totally lying. But we just spent the night walking around and hanging out. Port time takes a lot out of us because we spend so much time walking during the day, so usually when 10 PM hits your body is screaming at you to just stop.

Day four was spent in Kyoto, my favorite place we visited in Japan. Marlaena, Caitlin, James and Nick headed out—earlier than we did for Osaka—and traveled the 45 minutes to Kyoto. The city is so cute, with lots of shrines and temples, and not as many people as the bigger cities, or so it seemed. We arrived at the train station, and it had to be the most impressive metro stop I’ve ever seen. It was huge and clean and very accessible to foreigners such as ourselves. I also got to exchange some of my Chinese Yuan ($11!) so that was great. Always good to know that I’m not throwing away money. But we got to Kyoto around noon and immediately the rain clouds began to gather. I’m in a skirt and was concerned that I’d be spending the day shivering and regretful, but after our bus ride and some rain, we got out at the Kinkakuji temple, which is also known as the Golden Palace. It was very pretty, but apparently an angry monk burned down the original and the new one was constructed 50 years ago. It was still very cool to see, even if its not that ancient. After that we traveled to the Ryoanji temple which was my favorite of the two. All these places are beautiful with large gardens and lakes surrounding beautiful temples. It’s so calming and peaceful, and you can’t not enjoy it. I really wanted to make it to the Heian shrine, but we ran out of time and the buses are a little slow in getting around during rush hour. Oh well, it gives me a reason to head back. I’m so happy we were able to go to Japan during April versus February. It’s really perfect how we hit all of these places at just the right time of the year so the weather would be ideal. Japan was cool, but all you’d need to do was grab a sweatshirt at night and you’d be good to go.

Early on in the voyage you realize that it doesn’t matter what you wear. You see the same people every day and wearing pajamas all day is fine, because its so much nicer to be comfortable vs. trying to impress people. I think my roommate actually wears the same sweatshirt and pajama pants every day, and its great. She doesn’t care at all as long as she’s comfortable.

But anyways, Kyoto was fantastic. We came back that night and tried to go out to a Jazz Club that our Academic Dean, Mike Maniates told us about, but it didn’t work out. He gave us crappy directions. But we ventured out – in the cold and in a dress might I add—and journeyed through ShinKobe, never finding the club. We did find a ‘Queen Hotel,’ though. We ventured in to see if they’d be able to give us directions to a jazz club (by the way, we didn’t even know the name of the place) and instead of a concierge, we saw what seemed to be a vending wall, where you could put in money, press a button and pick a room to stay in for the night. Sketchy? A little bit. We figured there was some irregular activity going on in the building, so we got out of there. So that was my last night in the city.

Day Five was spent in Kobe. I hadn’t had a day to myself in such a long time, so I made a sweet playlist on my ipod and headed out. I brought my computer with me just in case I found a place with free wifi, and sure enough, after walking around for a while I found a Starbucks and tried to find some sort of free networking. I think I managed to just ‘borrow’ someone’s internet that was living nearby, because the Starbucks itself didn’t have a free wifi connection. But it was so great and I was able to do a lot of stuff online that I hadn’t been able to do in a while. Japan doesn’t allow for foreign connections to enter the country because it interferes with their advanced technology. Our cell phones didn’t work and our ship wasn’t able to connect or have satellite while we were ported in Kobe. But it’s all good. It was good to stay away from the computer for 5 days, even though my email in box was overloaded with junk-mail and all sorts of random stuff. I did get to download a new song off of itunes- and it’s the first new song I’ve heard in 3 ½ months. Timberland and Justin Timberlake’s “Release.” I heard it at Tower Records and thought it was very catchy.

I spent the rest of the day wandering and doing a little shopping. I went back to Harborland during the day and instead of taking the Metro, which I found to be too confusing, I decided to walk and get lots of exercise. It turned out to be a great decision because it was so beautiful out and I got to see a part of the city that I hadn’t before. So I found a mall and did some shopping, and I found a pair of green converse for only 2000 Yen, which is a little less than $20. In the states, they’re $40 or so. I was pretty excited. I got back to the ship around 5 and then James had about 4000 Yen left over, so we went to this amazing little dumpling place we had eaten at before. We walk in and there’s a lot of HELLO!!!! And yelling in Japanese. The people are so friendly and so nice, and anything you order something they go, ‘OK! Very good!’ and start cooking. We ate a lot and were very satisfied with our last meal in Japan. It’s the kind of place you’re happy is far away, but if it were closer you’d end up spending all your money there. Japanese dumplings, I’ve found, are quite delicious and I personally think they’re tastier than Chinese dumplings. But that’s my Japanese adventure. It’s hard to get it all down in writing, but I did the best I could. It’s one of those places you need to experience on your own so you can really see what its like. I loved it and am so excited to go back someday.