Salvador/St. Neptune's, Life on the Ship :)

Me steering the boat! just kidding...
me looking cute with my hair the morning of!
another last minute hair photo
the pony tail removed
And lastly, My hair getting removed! yea 10 inches!

The final result :) Its growing on me... not that I have a choice

February 23rd

Day 5 in SALVADOR continued…

Well I woke up bright and early for breakfast with Leslie and Emily and when we looked outside the window it was downpouring. Our hopes of last minute shopping were slightly dashed, so we agreed to regroup at 9:30 and see how the weather was at that point. Still raining. 10am- still raining. 10:30 raining and the crew was in the middle of drills in case of emergencies, so we weren’t allowed to leave. So finally at 11am we decided to get off the ship no matter what (as long as the crew was free to check us off the ship). Thankfully we were, and thankfully it stopped pouring and was only sprinkling. We hung out at the Mercado for a little while and then took the elevator to the upper level of the city (we weren’t allowed to walk up it because it is the 1st place robbers go to attack you) not that we would have wanted to- it was a very long walk! And the elevator makes you sick because it goes up really fast and then suddenly breaks and does the same thing when you go down. So its kind of like that ride at Six Flags, but less interesting and more grungy. Anyway, we walked over to Pelourhino Square to find an internet café and since almost all of the computers were in use we decided to split, Emily and I were going to shopping and Julie and Leslie were going to stay and use the internet. Emily and I left and did our shopping- I’ve been looking for Christmas Ornaments everywhere and despite the fact that Brazil is Christian, I guess they don’t manufacture ornaments because the closest thing I found was in Rio and I couldn’t find them ANYWHERE in Salvador and I was pissed. So At the last few moments I caved and bought “brazil” earrings that is a shell with the Brazilian flag and “brazil” painted on them. Very cheap and very disappointing I had my mind set on the ones I saw before. I bought Patti her Brazilian coffee (which smells amazing!) and I bought a dress to cut up and use for my quilt. I also bought my doll/statue which is also gorgeous and I love it, it has taken the place of the Puerto Rican doll on my night stand and now the PR doll is on the window shelf we have. We ate pizza for lunch and I went onto the internet to post my blog, I hoped to post pictures but if you couldn’t figure it out it didn’t work! The internet is slow so I’m going to hope for better luck at 4 am on the ship when this will hopefully be posted or South Africa. So after checking my email and getting more bad news I was ready to just go back to the ship where I could have my privacy. But first we stopped at the Mercado for Leslie and Emily and I ran into Christina who I was SOO happy to see. We only were able to talk for a few minutes (I was officially broke having used the rest of my money on my souvenirs and she was going to dinner at Pelourhino on the second level of the city.) So I went back to the ship with Leslie, Emily and Julie. I basically hung out in my room until dinner at 6:30pm and wrote in my directing journal. When I got done with my meal I happened to see my professor for directing and asked if I could meet to talk to her after she was done with her meal, she agreed to meet me. So I met with her for about 45 min and discussed everything- family, stage managing, the class, my other classes, the ports, everything that I’ve learned, how I’ve changed so far and I can’t even begin to fathom how much I’m going to continue to change during this journey… that sort of thing. When I returned to my cabin, Christina started to cry and told me that she was so sorry about everything going on with my family but that she was SOO happy to see me because she was so scared that I was going to leave and go back home and how she didn’t know what she was going to do for the rest of the trip without me. And one by one our friends joined in our room- I guess we have the party room because everyone comes to visit us here. Its kind of neat. So we had a big ole party in our room and just talked endlessly and then one by one they all left to do last minute homework and then we started talking and fell asleep.

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
I figured, since I’ve broken down my days in port pretty specifically instead of doing an overall reflection of my trip which could be slightly more interesting, I would take the time to reflect on my experiences in both Salvador and Rio. As I’m really beginning to learn, I really am a part of a privileged society, and I hate to say it but I feel guilty for it. I feel guilty because I am having the time of my life visiting country after country. I think what makes it a million times worse is that instead of acting like adults and making our own beds, cleaning up after ourselves, we have housekeepers and waiters to take our plates when we are done. And then add on the fact that EVERY SINGLE one of them is minority and this ship contains primarily Upper Middle Class white people- it is just really starting to make me sick. Here we sit every single day in a classroom where they preach about how our society is stratified by race and wealth and yet they don’t answer the main question: How can we change it? Nor do they set an example by changing it on this boat- by forcing us as adults to clean up after ourselves- where is the empowerment and the responsibility on our parts? Especially if as a cumulative group we really are the future of our country, how can we find ways to get rid of this stratification, to improve our economy while saving our environment, while improving the nations around us and improving education systems everywhere? Since everything on this ship is playing right into the hierarchy our social system has set up and had for hundreds of years.

Plus, another pretty big issue- we as citizens of the US consistently complain about how if you are coming to live in our country- then YOU should learn OUR language. And even I must admit that I’ve thought it and probably said it at least a half dozen times, but now that I’ve experienced not understanding an entire country- it dawned on me. That is our ignorance getting in the way. I sat next to that French man on the plan and we both tried so hard to communicate on that ride down in hopes of making it go a little faster, but there is only so much one can do. He knew Portuguese, French, and English. And what did I have to bring to the table? Common Spanish words and English, in Europe and most other educated societies; their students are required to learn several languages at the exact same time. They aren’t ignorant to say if you want to do business with me then learn my language. By bowing down a little by learning another language won’t hurt you- you’ll have so many more networks, opportunities open up to you. It’s just aggravating to know that all around the world people are more educated then I am by the simple premise that they know and understand another language other then their native tongue.

And today in class we discussed a noble prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, started setting up organizations to help the poor. There was this woman with a new born begging in the streets in hopes of getting her next meal. He agreed to loan her some money on one condition- she had to use the money to buy something that she could sell on the streets and she had to attend a weekly support group meeting and she would need to pay him back. She agreed and bought some bangles and sold them on the streets. She considered not going to the meeting but figured why not. At the support group they taught her how to handle her money, about health care, they educated her and made her literate. Soon she decided to buy more bangles and go door to door. At one of the homes a women invited her in for tea and showed her the collection of bangles she already had. Well this woman traveled all the way to see this man speak and tugged on his shirt until finally she got his attention. “My son is at the university” He didn’t understand, so she tugged some more and said “My son is at the university. As a begger you passed by me and you made me agree to a few conditions and I want you to know that the baby in my arms who didn’t look like he would make it through the night, made it. And now he has a scholarship to the university.” And of course the man tells the story at almost every conference he goes to in order to strengthen his argument that in order to solve this global issue of “poverty” we need to money, education and birth control. I don’t really know how much I buy into being able to rely on the poor for empowering their own success, but I do think his strategies and theories have a point. In order for any government to be able to help the poor- there needs to be a diverse amount of approaches and a variety of ways to get them on their own feet. Not just throwing money at them or providing certain housing. I know there are several conditions to live in shelters here in the U.S. but what about everywhere else? I don’t know- just another thought to put out there, maybe one day we will get a solution or an answer to the problem. On another note- while driving to and from the airport in Rio, we drove by the favelas, basically the shacks- the thrown together at the last minute hope to last through the night kind of homes. And it was so disgusting to watch how they live. The upper levels barely had full ceilings or walls. Everything was rags and it was just terrible. Not that the US doesn’t have its own set of problems, its just even more shocking to see it in another country- a little more eye opening because you become numb to it in your own country.

Well, I’m sure there will be more of that to come, just thought I would break up the boring verbatim story of what I do all day with my thoughts and reflections on this trip. Hope you enjoyed my thoughts J

The STORIES

So not to scare you all, but 85% of the ships population is rumored to have had some degree of robbery of theft while in Salvador. Within 20 min of us porting in Salvador- one group of girls (there were 3 of them) one of the young ladies was held at rusty knife point for her video camera. Fortunately nothing permanent happened- just the loss of a camera, but scary nevertheless. And while I was in Rio, a few other groups of both men and women were also held up a few times. Fortunately there were zero events that occurred in Rio and I was again fortunately not one of the individuals who were robbed. My only loss was my night guard for grinding my teeth- I have a feeling that is going to be difficult to find too, oh well…! Also fortunately, Salvador is supposed to be the most dangerous of all of the ports, but we will have to see. Rio was definitely amazing and I would love to go back.

BACK ON THE SHIP
So I’ve had 2 days of classes, my first was an A day- Elements of Directing at 8am which was interesting. We did our fun-filled warm-ups today. At least I’ll be comfortable with doing them for when and if I decide to stage manage (or at least we can hope that all of this being wild and silly will help me get comfortable with it) and then we viewed the final 4 projects. That was interesting though- nothing too crazy that you would care about, but interesting nevertheless. Global Studies was alright. I had to run back to my room to take my sea sickness and a Brazilian breakfast bar thing. More lectures on Brazil and the stratification of wealth- the richest 20% have 62% of the national income whereas the poorest 20% have 3% of the income. And this 20% rich is mostly white and the 20% poor is mostly African descendents. Right before Brazil our professor ended a lecture with a crass comment “If you took out all of the African Americans in the USA data for the HDI (Human Development Index) the USA would rank # 1 instead of #8, which means if we get rid of all the blacks we will be number 1” and so most (including myself) took it very offensively as if he was agreeing that blacks were in fact inertly inferior. Yesterday he explained that he had adopted a black child and now he has beautiful grandchildren and all this other stuff and that all he was trying to do was prove to us that even the USA is stratified in how the wealth is distributed according to race. Though not quite apologetically, more matter of factly. I don’t think he personally regretted what he said or that he said it or even the manner that he said it. I think the response from the audience, the students, was exactly was he was looking and going for. I took a nap in between Global Studies and Critical Issues. Critical Issues wasn’t too exciting either. I went back to my room and tried reading for the class. Dinner at 6:30 with “the gang” and at 7 we headed up to the 7th deck where they were doing “rock the hawk” and a bunch of people were pre-shaving their head so they had Mohawks. I decided to wait until St. Neptune Day which would be tomorrow. We actually crossed the Equator last week on Valentine’s day and so because we didn’t “stop to pay homage to him, we will be paying for it tomorrow- so make sure you get plenty of rest”. In other words they will be taking pots and pans and clanging them up and down the hallways at 6 am (supposedly!). Anyways, back to the topic at hand- after watching the Mohawks for a little while I went back to my room and tried to read King Leopold’s Ghost for my Critical Issues class. I put on Casablanca (it was the adult entertainment movie of the night- on the ship we had 6 channels- one that posts and automatically updates our changing position latitude/longitude, one that contains our Dean’s Memo of the day which includes the events and meetings of the day as well as special information. And the other 4 are used starting at 6pm they show 4 movies- two are educational, one is adult entertainment and then one is family entertainment (since the professors brought their families with them) Usually the educational ones are about the places we are going to or coming from. Last night was a movie on Mandela the former president of South Africa. Tonight Beethoven is on the Kids channel. Tomorrow night “around the world in 80 days” is on the adult channel. Anyways.. yea, I ended up passing out during the second showing of Casablanca.

DAY B on the Ship
Today was an alright day. I a lot of interesting stories I guess. Slept in and then started reading for Global Studies. Global Studies was alright, we discussed as I said above the Noble Peace winner and poverty and then the Savanna Desert Climate. This much older lady came over to Christina and I and wanted to know if we already had extended families because we looked like smart girls and she wanted to adopt us if we hadn’t. We told her that we actually already did and then she talked our ears off anyways. She was the cutest thing ever though and we both left with big smiles on our faces. I showered and took some last minute pictures of the hair. Then we had lunch with the group and then headed to the 7th deck to do homework and I started to write this blog but my battery died so I had to plug it in my cabin. I had Energy Technology and Society and it was a pretty interesting class, we played this game “win as much as you can” and there were 4 groups with one spokesman and we had to try to win as much as we could. Well our girl didn’t listen to us at all and made every move in order to screw over all of the other groups instead of working together as a team so we all could win. At the end of the demonstration, the professor let us know that he had planted her and had told her to always do the opposite so not everyone could get points. So the girl and essentially our group looked like the United States and everyone else was the poor countries- neat huh? After class I headed to my room and cleaned up my stuff while chatting with Liz and Christina. I checked at the Shrink’s office to see if she was there, she takes the morning shift though and because of St. Neptune’s Day the other shrink didn’t know if the hours would be the same. Then I stopped at the Purser’s Desk to find out about Locks of Love. The general feeling is that I might be able to do it- but that means I have to do it in the early morning. So I told all my friends- 8am for breakfast, 8:30 I’ll shave my head. Don’t worry lots of pictures, since I’ll probably be posting this after the fact. So I’m very excited. There has also been talk of sleeping out on the deck tonight- we will have to see! Oh and today I booked my hostiles for Japan- I’m being Daring and doing Japan indie (independently) with a huge group of people. I know 8 people already going and I heard there is another 12 that are also doing it- I just don’t actually know them. But basically we arrive in Kobe Japan and go to Hiroshima for a day and a night and then to Nara for the day and Kyoto for two nights and two days and late on the last night we take the bullet train back to Kobe and our last day in port is in Kobe. I’m very excited. And instead of paying 200 dollars for a 10 hour bus ride (5 each way) to Hiroshima and another couple hours to Kyoto, I’m spending about 300 for 3 overnights and a bullet train pass. Not bad right? As I said- uber excited!

Well I’m sure I’ll update more of this tomorrow after St. Neptune’s Day and try to post all of the pictures at 5 am when no one is actually using the internet. Well I love and miss you all. Hope life back home is great/getting better! I think about you all back home all the time!


PART II
ST NEPTUNE’S DAY on the Ship!
Wow… Its 1pm here on the ship and its about 9am back at home! I can’t even believe it! And tonight we move our clocks forward ANOTHER hour and we still have 2 more to go before we hit South Africa! Last night was interesting. Liz called right as I was finishing yesterday and told me to get over to Kaitlyn and Katie’s room, we listened to music from our childhood- and I ended up falling asleep on one of the beds for a little while before finally going to bed. Christina and I talked when we got into our room and then a note was slipped under the door- Deb was trying to contact me, so I went to the purser’s desk and bought a phone card and gave her a call. It was nice to hear her voice, though it just makes me miss home even more. I love being here, but I miss everything that was familiar to me! So I guess you don’t have any worries about whether or not I’m coming home! At 3:30am Christina and I finally fell asleep. My alarm went off at 7am, though I didn’t get out of bed until quarter of. We made our way to breakfast and everyone took last minute pictures of me with my hair. It was crazy. Some boys Leslie and Laura knew didn’t believe I was really going to do it. Well, my head is successfully shaven so I guess they were wrong. I made sure to leave a little bit of fuzz because I wouldn’t want to get sunburned there! There are actually quite a few other ladies that shaved as well, some decided on my final length and others went hardcore bald. I donated 10 inches to Locks of Love- VERY Exciting J So not only did I do what no one thought I would do, but I helped other people in the process J After donating my clean hair I had fish guts dumped on my head and then I had to wade through a very salty pool to kiss two fish and then finally kiss the ring of King Neptune (the captain of the ship). It was a lot of fun, then there were lots of pictures and finally I got in line to get the rest of my hair not donated cut off and finally shaved. I’ve been told it looks pretty good, at the moment its just really weird. I took a beautiful shower and that made my hair feel even weirder because I’ve always had longish hair. Though the towel dry and its ready to go was kind of nice J Christina and I were hoping to each lunch with the gang, but by the time we got there they were finishing up and we were asked to join the Captain instead. So that was pretty cool. And now I’m lounging on the end of the 4th deck, Christina is reading and Liz, Cassie and Kaitlin are sun bathing. I’m in the shade of course J complete with a long sleeve shirt J Well I should get going again. Maybe I’ll write a footnote of the rest of the day. I’m hoping to go online at 4am to post all my pictures and this blog J I hope life at home is improving or is great! I miss and love you all!

~Jennifer

P.S. Everyone who sent me mail in Brazil- because of Carnival, the post office was closed until our day of departure. Rumor has it the person to go get the mail was “too lazy” but either way we didn’t get our mail. They claim they are going to ship it to South Africa so we will get twice as much mail there! So just to let you know in case any of you were wondering if I got your mail- unfortunately it will have to wait until South Africa! But that’s okay because then I’ll have lots to read on my 8 days in Cape Town since I’m not going on a safari.

Lots of Pictures

My rio Roommate- Becky!
The native boys playing futball on the beach
Jenn, Leslie and Emily drinking "agua de coco" coconut milk!
I love the blue... I had to post :)
My ship :)

At the restaurant in Salvador
Me eating some cheese thing-
my savvy group of friends in the market at salvador
The bathroom filled with rocks and pebbles
Can't go to Rio without posting the Christ Reedemer

Equator- Can you see the big green line???
Spotlight dance/Sea socials- Me and Cassie
V-Day with the Captain- Me, Christina and Cassie
Salvador at 6am!
One of the most beautiful sights of Salvador- can't tell its dangerous!


Sorry this snuck in here so far up- the middle stage of removing my hair :) He is cutting with scissors to make it short
The final stages- the razor :)
And me- looking gorgeous with a trimmed head- and you didn't think I'd go through with it- SHAME ON YOU!
Most of the baldies after a day of celebration!

Most of the Girl Baldies- There are 33 in this picture :)

My extremely supportive friends prior to the chopping of one's hair
One last shot of a full head of hair
The supportive friends after donating 10 inches to Locks of Love
My extended Family for the voyage (my parents, with the fish we had to kiss)
St Neptune and his wife- (the captain and Larry the executive Dean)

Salvador Brazil!

Feb 20th, 2007

**Beginning note, I hope you have a lot of time on your hands because this blog is about 8 pages long in Word… Sorry… I just have a lot to tell all of you! 7 days is a LONG time!***

Wow.. well hello everyone! Sorry about my 7 day hiatus ! I’ve been a VERY busy girl on the ship and then in Brazil! Things are of course AMAZING here! I am definitely feeling myself as it changes, though I don’t know how exactly I am changing, but I can feel my perspective getting altered. I don’t know if that makes sense- but I’m surprised at how different I already feel, I can’t imagine after all 11 ports! Well I guess I should go through my week since I’m sure that’s what you are DYING to hear about J

V-Day! Valentines was quite interesting on the ship. First Christina and I woke up at 6am so we could both post on our blogs without getting interrupted or slowed down by the rush of people who usually are utilizing the internet. After quickly getting online, we went back to bed and naturally woke up JUST in time for Global Studies! In global studies by professor for Energy/Technology (Rocky) started doing Magic in order to capture our attention and it definitely worked. He is an excellent teacher- definitely one of my favorites. Anyways, we were discussing the environmental issues going on in Brazil. For example it is the leader of “saving the planet” It already has switched all new vehicles to flexi gas- meaning it can take oil (like we do) or it can take alcohol (which is produced in its Sugar cane plantations or some can even take natural gas. Oh, not only is methanol (the alcohol for you non-science people) saving the planet because it doesn’t produce have the C2 that oil does, but it is also way cheaper! Imagine that? Its also cheaper in the US- but it is not widely available at the moment and so people like my professor buy straight from the manufacturers. Anyways, after Global Studies I went back to the room and showered and changed into my cute outfit for v-day (the red outfit above) and then went to lunch with Christina. After lunch I hung around the deck- reading for my classes, etc. Then I had energy, technology and society which was another amazing class. Rocky is definitely a bit dramatic but he sets the scene and tells the “story” really well. Very entertaining and eye opening. I guess this experience was one of the first. He took his blow up earth and started with “if you had just happened to pass this by on the side of the road and you stopped to take a look at it, just think- you would be amazed. Here is this round sphere that keeps spinning.” And went through this big speech about how we should treat it as such and then of course when he was done he asked who actually looked at the earth and thought that. Note: I had no idea. And of course it was pretty obvious: Every astronaut who has gone to the moon or have had the opportunity to look at earth in the big picture and especially Armstrong. Then he took the apple and his knife and started breaking down the earth for us. ¾ water, ¼ land. Of which we can only use about 1/3 of that for living on. And of that 1/3 we can only use ¼ of it to actually farm and produce goods through the land. And then started talking about how precious this land was and how all things needed one another and for example, without the rain forest, our climate will be messed up and tons of animals will go extinct. Needless to say the class was amazing and I walked away full of new perspective on our planet earth! After class I went to meet my roommate, we started to watch beat girls which was one of the girl carnival acts and fell asleep. We woke up just in time to sneak up to dinner at 7pmish. After dinner I watched the Corpse Bride and parts of City of God which attempting to write a paper. At about 9:30, we decided to head up to the party to go check it out. The back of the ship was packed with people- all drinking. The party itself was pretty disappointing. It was supposed to be an alternative activity for those who chose not to drink but there weren’t a whole lot of people there and the music was pretty lame. As I said, disappointing. So instead we got invited to go crash the Agean Sea social in the teacher’s lounge. So we went and that was a pretty good time. Hung out up there until 11:30 and headed to the back deck to see if that was still a “hopping place”. It was, but after awhile it was kind of boring watching all the people trying to hookup with each other. So the group of us: Kacy, Christina and myself decided to walk around. So we checked out all the different decks and we saw a massive amount of lights on the starboard side. We decided we must have been near Brazil’s coastline. Well the next day we found out it was just A LOT of fishing boats- how disappointing! After wandering I went to bed. Overall it was an okay Valentine’s Day- after all it could have been much worse.

Thursday, geez. What a terrible day. I woke up and went to Elements of Directing where we were doing 3 presentations. We go to the first girl’s and she has a scrapbook and all that and so the question of who was in the pictures came up. They are pictures of her and her identical twin sister doing everything together. And my response was of course “no way, I am one too!” and then the class started asking the obvious questions- where is she, etc. After they were done with her presentation by the computer lab we were moving to the piano lounge when the teacher asked me where my twin was. Now while listening to her talk about her twin, it just reminded me of ryan and so I tried to explain that he was in training for the Army and I lost it, my eyes got all red and watery. In the middle of class I just had tears running down my face and- damn. I don’t ever think I could miss that boy so much. And so my director said anytime I wanted to talk she was there and then suggested using that emotion to look at the play and even reflect on it in my journal for her class. I managed to compose my self. The class ended and I went to the union for Global Studies. Barely paid attention because my head was just swirling! After global studies I wrote a 4 page paper on the book Child of the Dark which was interesting. I hope I did well! At noon, I met the student I will be working with in planning the auditions for all of our classes. And then went to lunch and then to study. After studying for a bit I went to Critical Issues and handed in my paper. My professor was in a mood and criticized a few of the students for their view points and opinions on the favelas and the state of the poor in both brazil and the U.S. It was really disappointing because as a historian I would think he would be able to accept that not all view points are shared among everyone. After that class I went back up the deck where I started writing in my journal for directing and again cried- this time a little harder because I just want to protect Ryan and I can’t and that makes me angry, helpless and sad. I was in the middle of writing and I just happened to look up and realized that I was late to meet my extended family. Professor Weil and his wife have adopted me for the voyage as well as 7 other students. So we will be having dinner on the 25th of Feb and then definitely celebrating everyone’s birthdays and hopefully a few other family activities. After that I went to my vicarious voyager packing party and handed in my first Vicarious Voyager packet to my pre-chosen school. I’m really disappointed in that- I have 10-12th graders at a high school in Connecticut. I really wanted the middle schoolers, but what can you do? I guess its good that I don’t have to worry about content as much- age appropriate, etc. Then I went back to the room and told Christina about my terrible day and was in the middle of lamenting about it when we got a knock on our door. A woman is standing there and introduces herself as the ship’s shrink and lets me know that my mother is trying to get a hold of me because my grandfather has taken a turn for the worse. We set up a time to meet at 7:30pm so I could talk to her. When I closed the door, I almost lost it I was just like “Can anything worse happen today” Well of course it did- later on that night I got back to the room to use the bathroom and found out that “that time of the month” had come and I had completely stained my brand new khaki pants. Anyways. I had dinner and then at 7:30 I met her at Purser’s square and I got to talk to my mom. It was really hard to communicate because the line kept going out but most of all because I was trying SO hard not to cry and make it so she couldn’t understand me. As soon as I got off that phone I lost it and then explained to the executive dean and the shrink what a terrible day I had had. They explained that with my permission they would notify my RD and my Rio trip advisors just in case they needed to get in contact with me so these individuals would understand and be at my assistance. She also let me know that she was going to continue to check up on me and my roommate since we are so close that way if my behavior patterns or habits were changing she would be able to notify her just in case it was a sign of depression or anything else. Then I went to the Culture meeting in the union. It was interesting, though again most of it is a blur. Afterwards I took a shower, the shrink came to check up on me and I went to bed!

Friday I had my first Global Studies exam which by the way I did TERRIBLE on. I was a little distracted while I studied and my nerves weren’t very good. I’ll probably find out the actual grade on Thursday. After the test that kicked my butt, I went back to my room to talk to my roommate about the test and compare answers. We both had similar answers. At 11:30am we had lunch and then went to the 7th deck so I could write my letters for home which I will hopefully be sending out tomorrow. Then to Energy- again a super class with lots of eye opening facts, and once again to the deck where Christina and I talked for a good 2 hours straight and then went to dinner. During dinner, they convinced me to join their independent trip in Japan. Basically we go to Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara and possibly Tokyo. The cost for the rooms should be about 100 dollars and then a railroad pass is about 240 in the US but supposedly cheaper in Vietnam and China. Then it was the Logistical Pre-port was a bunch of repetitive advice- don’t go out by yourself. Its dangerous, etc. Basically scared the crap out of everyone. Then the Rio trip was meeting, at the end of that I introduced myself to the trip leaders so they would know who to find incase they got the phone call. After that I went down to Katie and Kaitlynn’s room to hang out. As soon as everyone met there we headed to the 7th deck and I splurged and got cheesecake. It was soo good! Nothing to exciting, just a lot of talking about Brazil and after leaving the deck, I packed my stuff for Rio and talked with Christina for a very long time.


EL SALVADOR and RIO DE JANERIO!

Day 1 in SALVADOR- Saturday- Woke up at 5:30am to get ready for the big day of Salvador. Took a shower and all that and at 6:30 I took pictures of the port. A little grungy, and much different then I imagine. Then breakfast and back to the room to hang for a little while. When they called our sea we made our way to the Faculty Lounge to meet with Immigration, they stamped my passport and instead of giving it back as I usually would, I had to hold on to it because I was going to RIO! Then I headed down to the Union and took a seat. The US Consulate came and talked to us about Brazil- the strengths and negatives about it and how exciting it was to have SAS be here during Carnival. Then we were released and our group met on the 7th deck. After a while we decided to head to the 5th deck so we could get out and explore. The line was HUGE, but we waited anyways. When we finally go out around 11am, we headed over to the big Mercado and the elevator that would bring us to the upper level. The market was pretty neat. I hope to go back tomorrow (which would be Weds. since I’m writing this in prep of the internet café) to get a few things. Christina and a few others headed back to the ship because they had field trips for 1:30, but the rest of us went up the elevator and went towards Pelourino Square. I have a ton of pictures of the decorations and all the other crazy stuff going on. I bought ryan’s St Teresinha which I’m hoping is the Portuguese version of St Teresa, I will be double checking that tomorrow when I get online! And I bought a bunch of ribbons for bracelets. Tradition says you tie 3 knots in a ribbon on your wrist while making 3 wishes. When the bracelet wears off and finally falls off in about 3 to 4 months, your three wishes will come true. Around 2pm we went on a scavenger hunt for food. We couldn’t find a restaurant in our price range at all, so we finally were forced to stop at a Pizzaria (how disappointing) to eat because one person’s blood sugar was running pretty low and everyone was starving! I had my first Brazilian Beer- I took the paper sticker from the bottle for my scrapbook- it was EXCELLENT- I’m not a big beer person but it was pretty awesome. After finishing 2 pizzas that we didn’t actually order (we don’t think they had the ingredients for the ones we asked for) we continued to walk around. I found some Brazillian coffee (though I need to go back to buy it) and my doll for Brazil- I was hoping to find better of both in Rio. At around 4:15 we headed back to the ship because I needed to eat dinner at 5:15 to meet up with my Rio group at 6pm. At 6pm we met in the union and left for the airport. On the plane ride I sat next to an old French man and we attempted to make conversation despite the language barrier (he knew a little English, I know ZERO French) and it was awkward at times, but I’m really glad I did it. He was really nice and was there visiting a Brazilian Family for Carnival. It was pretty neat. The descending though was TERRIBLE, my head was in soo much pain it was terrible and really made me sad. Once I got to the hotel and unpacked a bit, I passed out I was exhausted!

Day 2 in RIO

Oh my God- Rio is AMAZING. Definitely an awesome place to go- It was very urban and touristy and the part that I liked best was that no one was harmed or robbed that we know of while being there in our group. So Becky (my Rio Roommate) and I woke up at 7:30 and ate breakfast at 8am with the group. Everyone’s basic feeling was to go to Ipanema Beach (as in “The girl from Ipanema”) which would have been a 15 min walk from the hotel, but because we didn’t have a lot of time- we took a cab- cost 15 reals which would be 7.50 US for all 4 of us. (actually there were 8 – but we were in 2 cabs). Ipanema was beautiful! Hilary (another new friend) and I decided we didn’t want to hang out at the beach and took off for the “ipanema fair” which is basically like a market or bazaar. We left the group around 10 and agreed to be back at quarter to 12. When we found it we went nuts! It was awesome. Of course I didn’t buy everything that I would have loved to buy- there were these gorgeous paintings of good size- I’m pretty sure that would be difficult to bring home. I ended up stopping at an atm and took out lots of money J and headed back. I bought a handmade bowl about the size of a candy dish and it has a ring of pictures- a church, a hammock all very brazillian images. I also bought 3 necklaces made of glass. They are also homemade and gorgeous. I’m very excited about getting the opportunity to wear them! And the I also found the Santa Teresinha pendant for a necklace for Ryan which I’m also VERY excited about. I just hope that it is what I’m looking for which I really don’t think it is but that would mean I have no shot of getting it. And then we quickly ran back to the beach. The beach by then was CROWDED- all we saw were the umbrellas for miles. I had no idea where we were going to find all of our friends. By pure luck we ended up finding them because they had moved to the top area. So we took taxis back to the hotel, this time it cost 10 reals. I put on more sunscreen and waited for Becky to be done showering; I readjusted my budget for Rio. The entire group met downstairs in the lobby and were bussed to this really great restaurant. I don’t have the name of it near me but it was the COOLEST place everywhere because of its eclectic decoration and the food was just awesome. The room we ate in had wooden things that looked like boots hanging everywhere from the ceiling. There was the “Last Supper” hanging on the wall and the walls were painted bright green and blue. It was just wild. The other rooms had other things hanging like lobster cages and just wild stuff. The main source of food was from a buffet which was clearly upscale, delicious and most likely expensive (we had already paid as a part of coming, the only thing we paid for was our drinks- which I had another beer which was again- excellent). So after everyone is settling in and digging away at their buffet meals, the waiters start coming around with slabs of meat to shave off and give to you. It was delicious, I don’t remember everything I ate- but it was all delicious. At the end of the meal I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and then of course germ x them and I found the coolest bathroom ever! The bathroom didn’t have tiles or wooden floors- no it had ROCKS, tiny pebbles covered the entire floor, the sinks, the top of the stalls had these candle things. I didn’t actually get to take pictures because the ladies room was soo packed, but I convinced a guy to take pictures, he included one of the men’s urinals for good measure. Regardless though- the best bathroom I think in this world. Just simply amazing. Dessert was mango pudding or something along those lines. It was pretty good but I was so stuffed I didn’t eat a whole lot of the pudding. Then back to the busses for some good ole carnival in the streets of Rio! We went to the bloco party which was pure chaos. Basically this truck with a stage on top SLOWLY makes its way down the street while thousands of people dance around it. A group of us actually made it to the front so in a strange way we were leading this crazy parade for a little while. Then since we finished early we jumped in the Ipanema water which was again- amazing. We took turns watching each other’s stuff. Becky even convinced me to go to the deep side and “ride the waves” it was crazy but good fun! We started to dry off and then we had to head back to the bus. We ran into parts of our groups, some wanted to stay at the beach and others had gotten ice cream instead of swimming. Back onto the bus and back to the hotel. Hilary and I decided we were going to find a grocery store but first I had to let Becky into our room and Hilary needed to find information out on the Samba parade. Since I was in my room I figured I would rinse my feet off so it got rid of the sand. Well I guess I was trying to get too much water out of the bottom and the shower head turned on and I was SOAKED, so I had to change and then I met her downstairs. The samba parade was 200 US dollars to get in for an okay seat. Basically it is the carnival crazy version of the ending point in the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade. They have stands that everyone sits on and the parade goes through. I passed on it because I didn’t want to ruin my budget this early in my trip- Though it would have been a cool experience, I had just as good of a time walking around Rio. The grocery store was crappy, so we decided to try again the next day and headed back. Becky and a bunch of people were going to the ATM and since I didn’t need to I stayed back. When they got back a bunch of us went to the market- I bought a bracelet and a bag to carry all of my souvenirs back to Salvador. Then we met up with more SAS people who didn’t go to the Samba and we went to some restaurant for dinner. It was terrible service, the food was okay but they gave me a plate that already had remnants of someone else’s food on it. I was disgusted. After leaving there I went to the hotel and had some milk and baileys- very disappointing but in a strange way it hit the spot. Terone, Becky and I decided to head up to our rooms and then to the pool. Becky came back to me and told me it was closed. So instead we got ready to go to bed. Terone calls and asks if we want to hang out in his room and that there were a couple people already there. I quickly took a shower, becky decided not to come and so I went down. They were drunk, maybe not wasted but definitely drunk and they were going to go out and I told them I didn’t have any money and so I couldn’t go out. They woke Becky’s butt up and told her to come down to go out too. So there was a group of 6 of us that went out. We started walking along the main street and stopped at a bar- one of the boys got me a can of beer. I think most of the rest of the night is probably another story for another day because it was just that interesting of a night. But the bottom line was that we danced a lot, drank a little (at least I only had 2 drinks! The rest of them were trashed) and 4 of them went swimming in their boxers and underwear. (I was not one of those individuals) I was watching our stuff and making sure it didn’t get wet or stolen by the half a dozen poor people laying on the beach or the prostitutes who were clearly working it. I had one of the boys walk me back to my room at 4 am. The rest stayed out until 5:30 and then crashed for 45 min before having to be up.

Day 3 in RIO
Woke up, went to breakfast for 8am and had to meet the group downstairs at 8:20. We got into our jeeps to head up to the Christ Redeemer statue. It was pretty amazing. The ride itself was a neat experience and then to see this massive statue was really awesome too. The statue is the equivalent to our Statue of Liberty and it was pretty neat. Other then seeing it, I can’t remember anything anyone else would care to know. That and I’m getting rushed on time. Anyways, back to the jeeps and back to the hotel to check out and then a big group of us headed to some restaurant. Lunch was alright. Not exactly great- another buffet- pay according to weight. After that I headed to the grocery store with Hilary and another Jennifer. I bought a lot of stuff, oh and Bob- if you are reading this- I found you your first Pez- written in Portuguese! It has the coolest pez candy wrappings ever! Hilary and I decided to stop at the bazaar outside the hotel to pick up some Rio postcards. As a group we went to Sugar Loaf mountain which was pretty neat. We had to take cable cars up the mountain which was scary! But the mountain itself was neat. For all of you Football lovers Tony Gonzalez (I have no idea who this is but all the guys knew) and his girl were there, about to take a helicopter ride. After this exciting adventure the bus voted to go to the local mall- which turned out to be a bad idea because its Carnival and everything was closed but the food court. After sitting around for an hour and a half we headed to the airport. I tried to sleep on the ride back but I just couldn’t do it. When I got back to the ship- I had another disaster to deal with. My light was leaking in my cabin. I let purser’s desk know and they sent someone to fix it. It took 2 hours. After it was finally fixed around 1:30am I had to unpack and shower and get to bed which took another hour and a half. I was EXHAUSTED- happy and thankful, but very tired. J

Day 4 in SALVADOR/ITAPARICA ISLAND.

I woke up at 7:34 and had to be upstairs in the union for ten of 8. I RUSHED through getting dressed, grabbed a breakfast bar and headed up. We had to walk along the pier to get to our boat that was going to take us to 2 islands. I don’t actually know the first island’s name, but it was a secluded beach, the only people there had private boats, lived on the island or were selling stuff- bracelets, etc. Leslie and I set up our towels and sat down and this native guy comes up and starts telling me about how I’m beautiful and that he loves my green eyes and so he loves me. He spoke very little English, but we managed to communicate through English, Spanish and a little bit of Portuguese. He gave Leslie and I bracelets and rings because he liked us. The gist of the conversation was that he wanted to come home with me and I laughed and said no and he wanted to know why and I started listing the reasons and he didn’t understand me so I had to simplify it. I drew a ship in the sand and a world and tried to say I wasn’t going home that I was going around the world and he wasn’t allowed to come. Then he asked if I was married and had a ring and I tried to explain although I wasn’t married I had a boy I was interested in back home and he didn’t understand that, and so I told him it was complicated and he didn’t understand that so I gave up. And he kept letting me know that he could carry me into the water and I was like.. uh no thanks! It was…well... interesting to say the least. Leslie was laughing the entire time. And she took pictures so she could show our friends back on the ship what a catch he was. lol and so then I could show all my Mohegan Sun friends so then they can make fun of me some more J its alright, I love you guys anyways! He finally went away and so I moved to sit in a chair while Emily and Leslie went into the water. The Capoeria dancers came to perform for us, and of course asked for money. I went into the water and then we packed up and left. Another 2 hour ride and we were at the Itaparica Island where we had a buffet lunch that was surprisingly good. I tried the coconut dessert and the banana dessert. Neither looked appetizing and after eating it I decided they were definitely acquired tastes and that I would need to be force fed it for awhile before I would willing eat a bunch of it. Then Leslie, Emily and I walked around the historical area- I have pictures of the “fountain of youth” and some really cool buildings and fences and then we completed our walk with some “agua de coco” or coconut water. That was again an acquired taste, and definitely worth the 50 cents (US) that I paid for it because I can at least say I drank some of it and took pictures with it. Then we headed for the boat to take us back. Another 2 hour boat ride to get back but this time the water was gorgeous it was this turquoise color. It was in that moment that I realized that designing for the stage completely changed how I look at things. Not only do I appreciate things for their beauty but I’ve been taking a lot of architecture and detailed photos of things I like- the fish gate or the star window cutouts as well as interesting layouts and now I had the opportunity to take a picture of a beautiful color. And so that is included in this blog as well. So Bob- as if my email didn’t say it enough, here is proof that the theatre classes have changed my life J Another fact I probably wouldn’t have known if I didn’t go on this trip. Towards the end of the boat ride I took some pictures of our ship, as you can see since they are included in this as well. The night was pretty boring- just dinner, cleaned up my room and started writing this and finally went to bed around 10:15pm. I decided against going out because I was already exhausted from the past few days and judging from what last week of classes was like, I probably won’t have time to catch up and so I chose sleep over one last night in Carnival. I got sunburned really bad on my left shoulder/back area despite putting on sunscreen several time- I must have missed that area at some point? I just don’t understand how it managed to get as bad as it did. But I didn’t feel it until after I had showered which was really weird. So I put on a pound of aloe last night and kept reapplying while writing this.

Day 5 in SALVADOR

So let me just say this, last night was the worst night ever. I woke up several times in the night- 11:30, 1:30, and at around 2:30/3am the drunk people that had gone out for Carnival came back and were running and banging on EVERY door in my hall and scared the shit out of me. They continued for a good 15 min before my exhaustion took over and I fell back asleep. At 4 am I woke up and I couldn’t move. Not like I was paralyzed, like I must have gotten really hot while sleeping and my aloe fused my skin to the sheets. I was hysterical- Christina is in Rio so I have no one in my room with me, I couldn’t move and peeling my skin off hurt so much. I finally (somehow) managed to get myself free and went into the bathroom. It looked terrible. I sobbed (because of course I’m exhausted beyond belief and add on the pain- it just wasn’t a good combination). I put more aloe on because I thought more moisture might be what my skin needed. And then I went to bed on my stomach and then I had a fitful sleep because I constantly woke up in fear that I was fused to my bed again (only slightly once) but I had to keep making sure I was on my stomach. When I woke up this morning it looked like my burn had gone away I was shocked. But then I rinsed off because it was all peely looking and the red instantly came back. So I’ve already put aloe on twice this morning and I’m about to do it a third time, exciting right? I already had breakfast and now I’m about to save this to my flash drive and Leslie, Emily and I are heading into town to do some last minute shopping, go to an internet café and pick up a few phone cards because I’m dying to talk to Ryan and let him know that I love him and miss him dearly. And since I doubt he reads this- please let him know that I dedicated almost this entire entry to him and I don’t like this not being able to hear from him or know what he is doing. And last but not least I hate the fact that I am extremely helpless in the middle of the ocean and not being able to help him. And then hopefully come back for lunch and pick up Christina (I’m dying to tell her about my amazing few days! And tell her about how she isn’t allowed to leave me again because when she is gone I have the wackiest experiences!) And heading back out for a few more hours until we get back onto the ship and we leave for Cape Town South Africa!! Very exciting J

I hope life back home is pretty interesting and exciting and I hope it is going well. I love and miss each one of you! But as you can tell I’m having quite the experience! I hope you enjoyed the blog and it wasn’t too detailed or planned out, I wish I could make it more story-like or thought provoking but I’m usually rushed when I’m doing this and I can’t make them eloquent!

I’ll save all of the bad stories for my next blog that way you don’t worry about me for the rest of the day! Enjoy!!

~Jennifer

Feb 14th- Happy V-Day, Pre-port Brazil

More Puerto Rico
Pictures that the prisoners of San Cristobal drew during their stay
A really cool Lizard

February 13, 2007

Hello Everyone! Just thought I would post this on Valentine’s Day- I hope everyone has a magnificent day!! I love and miss you all! Life on the ship is going alright, though my seasickness has definitely made a turn for the worse. The sea isn’t as calm because now we actually have ocean and let me tell you- it is rocking!! (Before we were naturally in the Caribbean and the water was calm and smooth) Now not only do we rock, but we jump! In my cabin we are constantly hearing the bottom of the boat smack into the water. Its like a roller coaster 24/7 and is definitely getting to my stomach. I can only imagine what it is going to be like when we cross the Atlantic next week to get to South Africa! So in order to protect myself from that, I’m saving the Dramamine for when we cross the big waters and I’m taking the free pills the pursers office have. So far it is okay, I still don’t feel very well, but I’ve been sitting on the top deck by the pool ( I know- how tragic) and I’ve managed to be quite productive. I put on my I-pod and listen to my music and drown out all the rowdy sun tanners. I’m glad I get to enjoy this beautiful atmosphere. I’ll try and take a picture of me relaxing with the pool to the right and the ocean to the left, but we will have to see!

Lets see, I think I last updated on the morning of the Kayaking experience. Kayaking was great. I met another Jennifer who is also signed up to go on the first Rio de Janerio trip to carnival. I actually met her through the friend Ashley, whom I will unfortunately go into more detail in later. We were on the bus ride to the Kayaking beach and I sat next to this girl and we started talking interests, stage managing, etc and Jennifer was like “Oh so you’re the famous stage manager” and I said “what” and then she started telling me about how the professor talked about me in her two other classes and all that. So I thought that would be interesting to share. Kayaking was fun, though Ashley drove me nuts the entire time. I’ve lost entire respect for the girl for several reasons. 1.) We went to the dragonfly our last night and they told us 30 min wait, we said that’s fine lets go for a walk. Walked around and came back they said no one had left, its looking more like another 30 min wait. So we decided to stand there for a bit. Well time is passing, Ashley starts to complain about she is hungry. At first it was just to Christina and I but then she starts to get louder and soon she is complaining to the hostess. After 30 min, the hostess, sick of listening to Ashley sends us inside to find the other hostess. The other hostess shows us the table with two older ladies who are finishing their desserts and lets us know that as soon as the ladies are finished, we will be seated there. Ashley hovers at their table and informs them that as soon as they are done we will be getting their table. I don’t think I have EVER been that mortified in my entire life. And you WONDER where Americans get such horrible names!?!?! 2.) On our way back that night she proceeds to inform us that because all of the girls are going back out in sundresses and flip flops that Americans are going to get the reputation of being loose and that this attire is unacceptable in other countries. My response? None- I had NO words. I would rather be loose then arrogant- at least your likable in someone’s eyes. Not to mention she had no right to make that observation when she was making a spectacle and an embarrassment out of the rest of us. 3.) After writing in the blog last Thursday ?- days seem to mix up with one another, we agreed to be in starbucks for about an hour before leaving to go do errands and to wal-greens. She stays and extra 40 min at Starbucks and of course I can’t ditch her because then I would be walking Old San Juan by myself. That meant we had 20 min left in the city to walk to the other side and do shopping plus go to the post office (so she could send a t-shirt and key ring to her boyfriend- as if she couldn’t wait to get back to the U.S. to do that?) and the bank. We finally make it to Wal-greens when we should have been leaving Old San Juan to walk back to the ship. She rushes me through all of my errands and then when we go to leave Wal-Greens, loudly announces that yet again we are stuck on the slow side of the sidewalk. Everyone in front moved over to the side in order to let her (us) pass by. Again- MORTIFIED. So needless to say, I have learned my lesson and no longer associate myself with her. She continues to knock and call our room but most of the time we tell her we are busy or have plans. I’m hoping to have the opportunity to let her know (in a gentle-ish way) that she is an embarrassment and that I would prefer not to be looked at as a “rude” American. Well I have to go to class so I will probably write more later!

Well Back from class, I can’t say it was really all that enjoyable.. and I just noticed- not a lot of battery left in the computer, so I only have like 20 min to work on this… then I’ll have to start on the mound of homework… well mostly reading, though now I have a 4-5 page paper due on Thursday for the class I was just in. Hense why class wasn’t all that great. Oh and we lose another hour tonight which puts us 3 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zoners (is that better then my broad statement the last time??) I can’t do the math for the rest of you- hell I can barely keep the time, day of the week for me, never mind the rest of you! Speaking of which, so the other day we moved the clocks forward, but my roommate and I were so tired that we completely forgot. 8:27am I turn to my roommate and I asked if Breakfast ends at 8:30am and she answered yes, so I asked if she thought I had time to run up and get a box of cereal to sneak out and she kind of just shrugged and then it dawned on me and I was like shit. No, actually we are 10 min late for Global Studies. We jump out of bed grab our crap, change shirts and run upstairs. Thankfully they usually wait until 9:30am to start the lecture otherwise we would have been screwed. All we missed was the professor saying that our sample test was now available on the intranet and that it would not occur during out class time. And another occurrence was yesterday when I thought my class started at 2:15 (which is today’s) and went to the other side of the ship to get my stuff, almost hurled from the rocking of the stairs and realized I went down to the room for nothing because I had an hour and a half before my class. So I gave up and went back to the pool area and continued reading.

Anyways, on with what I’ve been doing. Kayaking was cool, we went to the seven seas beach which is called the seven seas because there are seven ecosystems surviving there- coral reefs, lagoon, rocky mountain, palms, seaweed, sand, and the organisms that do the bioluminescence, which by the way was the number one trip to go on according to the “sea feud” we had in the union on Sunday. So we kayaked out, though unfortunately I was partnered with Ashley who couldn’t row for the life of her. And then we went to the beach for a little while and then our science lesson. Oh and we are the first tourists to visit the beach, it’s a secret for the natives. After we returned from our trip I hung around the ship, other people went out to the bars for one last drink- but considering its still US territory- I chose not to bother. Nothing all that special, chatted with my roomie about what a terrible experience Ashley is and all that. Saturday of course we had classes, first set of B classes, so my new class was Energy Technology and Society. It seems like it will be okay, a lot will be over my head but the professor seems really nice- a little dorky but still really nice. At night we had the activities fair, so we signed up for clubs we would be interested in. I signed up for Ambassador’s Club, Pilates and Extended Family. Again, very relaxing- lots of reading for classes. Sunday was day a classes, I had my directing class again, and that was pretty interesting, I did my self-portrait for the class and that went pretty well. I split my items into three piles- personality, fetishes and activities. So I had my stage manager kit, history book, my favorite book and my girl scout water bottle J and then I had chocolate, i-pod, Kleenex/germ X and gloves (because I like to come prepared) and then I brought my glasses, sunglasses (because I like to look at the world in different lenses) and then a camera (because I like to observe) I located my project back stage of the union because I don’t like to be in the limelight but I don’t like to just be an audience member which is why back stage interests me. Oh and my back pack was next to my display which had a mess of stuff in it because all though I look extremely organized, my head is a mess and I try to conceal that. Either way I got an A for effort J. The Global Studies which made me sea-sick. So after that I went to my room and passed out trying to read several times. I got myself out of bed for Critical Issues and then passed out again. After dinner we had our sea meetings (instead of halls, we have seas! We are the Mediterranean Sea) which was followed by the Sea Feud (like Family Feud, only Semester At Sea style!) Both were quite exciting. We will be randomly chosen for cabin searches and drug testing…. Good thing I left all my paraphernalia at home huh? Just kidding! And the Sea Feud was cute. I took my laptop with me and quickly copied all my emails on to my hard drive so if you were paying attention, I went on that day but didn’t post- Sorry! Monday was our 2^nd day B and that was alright. We lost an hour and ended up being 10 min late for Global Studies because we forgot about the time change. We didn’t miss anything though because they give us 15 min to settle down and to allow for technical difficulties in the satellite rooms (the union only fits a couple hundred, the rest have to sit in the adjacent classrooms and watch on the tv screens. Your lucky if you get a seat though –many sit on the floor. I spent most of the day outside on the pool deck which turned out to be MUCH nicer then in my cabin so that will probably be a ritual for the rest of the trip. When I’m in my cabin I feel every move whereas on the deck- you don’t really feel anything. In Energy, Technology and Society we played a game in Pursers Square with everyone watching.. that was interesting. I will admit though it was fun. Spent the rest of the evening on the deck and then went to bed massively early- 10pm. Today was alright, again A day, directing first thing, watched 3 other self-portraits, only 7 more to go. Then Global Studies, which wasn’t too bad. My Energy Professor was one of the guest speakers today and he did magic tricks with it. We are currently discussing how important the environment is and how the Amazon is slowly getting killed and what this means for us. Very exciting. We have also talked about how dangerous Brazil is. So If you hear from me at the end of next week, at least you will know that I’m safe. Brazil is pretty sketchy and I’ve been told a million times- no purses, no jewelry, no watches, no anything. Bring as little as possible because they will snatch it from you (this includes earrings) and will probably leave you hurt and very shocked. So needless to say, here comes 6 days with nothing at all. After Global Studies I hung out in my room for a little bit and then went to the deck because I couldn’t handle the waves anymore. Lunch and dinner were okay meals, it was a little surprising. The majority of the meals I have are not usually that good. Critical Issues was really boring, I almost fell asleep. Oh well, I guess even in the middle of an ocean classes don’t change that much. And this afternoon I did my first installment of laundry. I hope it was good enough cuz otherwise I won’t have the option of doing it through the school for awhile. I just now have to wait for it to dry. I’m pretty sure it is going to take awhile. Oh well.

Lol I don’t know what else you guys want to know about, so at this point I’m pretty much rambling. Let me know if you have any questions that I haven’t answered yet. I’ve written so many journals and emails that I can’t remember what I’ve included or not included!

Before I forget, My Mohegan Suners! First, Thank you Nicole and Ken for your comments. I had a big smile when I realized the sun wasn’t getting left out J I think I said this before, but in case I didn’t- I talk about the sun and the good times we have all the time over here. Of course most people just want to know about the shows. I hope the shows are going well. I hope Dancing with the Stars went well. Let Josh Groban know I said hi ;) Enjoy your V-day with each other (last thing I knew you would be working….) I miss you all. Tell the “A” Team I said hi!! And naturally pass these blogs on to them please! I can’t remember any of the other shows or I would put some more personal antidote in relation to whose is coming! “A” Team- The Ashley story was for you. I hope you enjoyed it. Not a whole lot of other stories for you- Though I’ve got a lot of really good rumor stories for you J Don’t worry I’ll be writing those down and saving them for when I come back- I can’t tell you everything otherwise you won’t need me when I come back J Also, alas I have yet to find anyone who is apt at ringtoss, though honestly I’m not really looking all that hard. Well hope that was good for a laugh. Enjoy your time at the Sun, I miss you all!! Nicole- I’d also like to apologize because I can’t make your life seem better than mine, sitting by the pool and watching the cuties (without shirts of course!) flirt with other girls, it just isn’t all that bad.

I was just like to reiterate how much I love my roommate, we are frequently with each other at night and for meals, though usually we have opposite class times. Its nice to know that I’ll always have someone to hang out with. We have a few trips that are the same, but there are a lot that I won’t know anyone.

Well, I’m watching Office Space and I should go, Hope everyone’s V-day was amazing and I’ll write next week after BRAZIL! Have a great week

~Jennifer

Feb 9th- Day 3 of Puerto Rico

Hi Everyone!

I know a miracle, two days in a row! But its my last day of Starbucks free wireless internet access, so since my trip for the day (kayaking.. i know what a rough life!) isn't until 1 and its about 10:15, i thought I would take advantage of it. My friend Ashley and I are going to Walgreens to pick up snack food because we only have meals 7-9am, 11:30-1:30, 5:30-7:30pm, but let me tell you I may be on a cruise ship but it is definitely not gourmet good. Our breakfast is almost the same everyday- wet scrambled eggs, potatoes, fruit salad, juice, a choice of 3 cereals and then either pancakes, french toast or toast. And lunch and dinner are ALWAYS one potato, a pasta, salad, a meat and rolls. I'm going to be sick of all of those foods by the end of this- so make sure there is lots of french fries and pizza around for me!! So anyways, because all of our food is the same and the food is basically watered down so instead of having a really strong flavor its more of a hint of taste of what its supposed to be. For example the juice looks like juice, dark red cranberry juice and then when you go to drink it, it barely tastes like cranberry juice. So i don't know that would be why we are getting snacks, so if the food is really terrible one day I can always rely on my snacks in my room!

Anyways, after walgreens, i think we might stop at a linen store so Ashley can get some cloth for a quilt and we might look to see if I can find my st. teresa but we think Brazil might be even more religious and try there if I don't succeed here! At 1pm we go Kayaking and get back around 7pm and then our shipboard time is 9pm so we are just going to go onto the deck and chill after kayaking because at 11pm we depart from San Juan and will then journey to Brazil!! Very exciting!

Oh and I don't know if I mentioned it before but the possible shaving will be Feb 24th, so keep posted the week after, I'll try to get one last shot of my full head of hair and then take during and after shots, I'll try to post on ship but its kind of slow during the day!

FYI- the pictures above. so instead of having chess tables like they do in New York and all that they have Dominos tables. Isn't that AWESOME. There are dominos everywhere!

Well I have some emails I want to send out to some people that i'm not sure if they are keeping up with this, so I guess you will have to wait for another day to hear from me. I hope this was enough!

Love and Miss you All like crazy!

~Jennifer

Feb 8th, Gabriella's Birthday!

My room that would be a porthole in the back!

Me and the Waterfall at El Yonque Rain Forest

Saint Teresa, Patron Saint of the Soldiers in honor of Ryan!
El Morro while our ship passes it at 6:30 am
Me and my roommate on the ship as we leave the Bahamas!
My Turtle tattoo (don't worry its fake!)

February 8^th

Well I’m just about the luckiest girl ever! I realized that Starbucks has their free wireless internet café and managed to get my butt to one of the 4 that we passed on our route around Old San Juan. So here I am, blogging on Gabriella’s Birthday! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gabriella!!! Something tells me though, my day was a little bit more exciting then yours!

So first yesterday, my goodness! I did a walking tour of Old San Juan. We were dropped off at San Cristobal Fort/Castle on one side of Old San Juan and then toured that and then toured El Morro Fort on the other side of Old San Juan. Both were really really neat, and provided that my internet here is somewhat good I will have pictures of everything for you! So first off, woke up at 6am to post to the internet and to take pictures of us going into San Juan. So one of the pictures from above is El Morro as we passed in the dawn light! After that I went to breakfast and went to the Student Union for our sort of Diplomatic Meeting. I say sort of because it implies that we need a diplomat and since Puerto Rico is USA territory, it wasn’t actually a diplomat. The governor himself came on and gave us a lengthy speech about how proud he is to be a part of the United States but about how it was difficult because we wanted them to assimilate and they basically said “no way!” and that would be why their culture is so incredibly important to them! So anyways, after meeting him (my pictures weren’t as good so I didn’t post them!), the first 3 trips were allowed off (including my own!) So we left got on a bus and went to San Cristobal Fort. We passed by the Capital building and the National Guard Building which I REALLY want to take a picture of but I can’t find it again L it has like a castle tower-ish thing on the corner. Oh, I just thought that would be perfect for Dad! Anyways, walked around San Cristobal, took a picture of a lizard. Paid respects to Saint Barbara the patron saint of the artillery. Left there and walked to El Morro (about a mile walk) where I got to see a picture of Saint Teresa, the patron saint of soldiers. So I have that picture posted up there for Ryan in hopes that will bring him some luck. I’m also on a hunt for a Saint Teresa medallion so that I can send that to ryan, hopefully get a chain for it so he can either wear it or at the minimum keep it on him. I want my baby bro to be safe! So after visiting El Morro we went to this other building that in 1868 in the Spanish-American War a corner of it was blown up. It turns out that this building is also famous for holding Marc Anthony’s first wedding reception to Miss Universe (also from Puerto Rico) awhile back (obviously before he got involved with J.Lo!) And after that we visited this 500 year monument. Every hundred years since Christopher Columbus found Puerto Rico they have added another layer. Its basically just a platform with two metal poles that stick up to show the 2 stars that he followed to get there. Then 10 steps and the 2^nd platform, another 2 layers of that and then as a 500 year commemorative, they put a big pole with objects that they found in the fort when digging. That signified the end of the tour and most of us broke off to shop and eat in Old San Juan. (Our alternative would have been to go on the tour bus back to the ship…. Boring!) So we ate at La Fonda El Jibarito and I spent LOTS of money but managed to get all of my needed souvenirs expect postcards for the rainforest and ryan’s pendent. I’ve decided that I’m going to make a quilt from fabric from each country, a doll from each country, a postcard for the scrapbook and then I’ll eventually inherit my Christmas ornaments back! After shopping we walked back to the ship (about 3 miles), at which point I was exhausted (and sun burnt L I applied sunscreen ALL day, my friends couldn’t believe it because we constantly had to stop for me!). And I basically put my things in order and went to bed.

This morning I woke up at 6:30am, got ready and went to breakfast. I met up with the Rain Forest tour at 8am. The rainforest was BEAUTIFUL! I have tons of pictures. There was one cool waterfall. It wasn’t as extravagant as I would have thought that it would be, but it was still pretty! So that would be me above at the waterfall! One cool thing I learned was there is a specific tree (and of course it’s in Spanish and couldn’t remember its name) that has male and female leaves. The male is identified by its gold backing and the female by its silver, so I have a picture of that, I don’t know how good it is, but I thought it was pretty cool. We got to wade in the waterfall area, and then the tour guide drew the turtle on my stomach. She used rocks found in the water to do it. I thought it was really neat and at least worth putting in here! After the rainforest went back to the ship to see if I had gotten mail and how that works and I don’t think they really understood me and so the answer was no- no mail L. Then Christina (my roommate) and Ashley (a girl we met on the Old San Juan tour) walked back over to here so they could do some more shopping. So now here I sit in Starbucks updating for Ms. Gabriella who I hope is having a WONDERFUL day, at least as good as mine is!

Well I guess I should go, the day is young and we have lots to do! I love and miss you all. And Gabriella when (and hopefully if this gets added in time) I hope you are having a wonderful 18, 21^st, whatever birthday it may be! You are truly blessed! And I hope you make the most of every opportunity that comes by you because if there is one thing I have learned in this amazing trip, You have to do everything you can to continue to expand your boundaries, even if it means doing things you may be scared to do- like leaving everyone and everything you love behind!

Love Always

Jennifer