Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The trip is now over, we landed in San Diego.
There is no more ocean view dinners, 10 second access to 700 students, personal days because the pool sounded like a better idea then class, no more calling your teachers by the first name in class, then going to dinner with them in foreign countries, and then having them become your friends.
There is no more constant time changes, 5a.m. bedtime, then 8:30 breakfast, rough seas, calm seas, sunsets, friends, the crew, no more looking forward to the next foreign country while looking back on the last one.
It's all over now, a memory, but a memory that will not fade away, a trip of a lifetime, with friends for a lifetime, 1 boat, 100 days, 702 students, 1,000,000 memories. Thank you everyone that was either on the boat or following my trip, it was truly an experience and I encourage anyone to do this.
Im going to miss the boat, miss my friends but someday we will be back together again, once again thank you MOM and DAD, I love you two, thanks for everything along the way.
-Semester at Sea Spring 2007- Patrick Jones
Saturday, April 28, 2007
On Saturday we went to a soocer game. This was surprisingly fun, the crowd was crazy and the stadium was real new. The only bad thing was that it ended in a 0-0 tie. This is our last day in Japan before heading for eight days at sea ubtill we reach Hawaii, which is our last stop before San Diego.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
China- We landed in Hong Kong but since we have a trip we went directly to the airport. So I spent about 20 minutes in Hong Kong which looked like a very fun place.
We got to Beijing and had tours all day long of temples. We went out to some bars because it was one of the kids birthday. They owner of the bar had the band sing happy birthday for him. The next morning we were on our way to the Great Wall, and it lives up to its name. It was really an unbelievable sight. I climbed up about half way and then stayed there for a while before descending. The wall was unbelievable, it is amazing how they built it. We then went to Summer Garden; which is a beautiful temple right on the waters edge. I got left behind here and had to take an hour and a half cab ride back to the hotel, and it is not too fun with the language barrier. (I guess never go the bathroom exceot at a hotel because its easy to get lost) The next day we went to the telecate warrior museum. This was a sight and an even better story why this was made. They made this to protect the kings tomb and also put a layer of mercury in the ground so no one would break in. There were thousands of clay soldiers underground that also protected his tomb. This one is tough to explain, because you really have to see it. It was amazing, they call it the eight wonder of the world. Outside of the museum a Chinese student came over and talked to me for a while, and he loved Yao Ming, but they all love Yao Ming. The last day we went to Tienanmen square and the forbidden city, which were nice but I think everyone was worn out from sightseeing. These things were also huge, it was the biggest public area in the world. After we went to a market and I stayed outside of it and about 20 Chinese girls came over to me to take pictures of me and talk about the USA. They kept saying “you look like a million bucks.” They were very nice and funny, I was going to go to there university but there was not enough time. They all wanted to know who was my favorite pop star. On the last day of port we went to the markets and then to the Tsing Sao brewery. There were probably 50 SAS kids there and it was two kids’ birthdays. After that place closed we went to a bar down the street were a keg cost 100 yaun. This is about 14 dollars. So we all bought 3 of them. Everyone had a lot of fun and then we were on our way to Japan land.
Japan- This is our first developed country that we are visiting and the only one. The first day we walked around looking for Dice-K gear and we finally found some but it was made really cheap so we did not buy any of it. For dinner we went to an awesome Italian Restaurant because a few of us do not like Japanese food and the restaurant was unbelievable, and the cook spoke English so he was a help. I bought a huge Baileys bottle at a bar and when I was leaving the owner came in and he thought I stole it so he made me go back in and once he found out he bought me a drink. Now Japan has the screaming orgasm and everyone was ordering them. The next day we went to the baseball game which was awesome. We took the trains to the game which was very easy to navigate. At the game everyone has noise makers and they have many chants to yell. They seem to go the positive chants instead of negative against the other teams. At the 7th inning and after they won everyone blows up these huge balloons and than they let them fly away and it is really a sight to see. Tons of fans had huge flags and everyone seemed to enjoy us being at their baseball game. The three of us that went all bought jerseys and the guys jersey that I bought never stepped foot on the field so everyone got a good laugh out of that.
Happy Birthday Pat and Kevin!
Friday, April 6, 2007
Sorry this took so long, my website would not load
Sunday March 25- India; the place smells, really smells. No one ever thought a fart would be used as an air freshener, (I always did) but in
Everyone should experience the rickshaw. A taxi cab that is a motorized tricycle with or without an engine and they have the nice little back seat to sit in; we squeezed three guys in which was very crowded; they look like clown cars, they are awesome. We leave the dock and jump into a taxi and one minute later he gets pulled over, so we were off to a great start. We then had to go into another cab because he could no longer drive. On the way over I smelt tons of random scents, none remotely close to being good.We went to Spencer’s plaza and shopped all day in a mall that had some nice stuff. We then went to lunch were my new friend Pepto Bismo was taken. The food was very good, not to spicy and very cheap. One US dollar equals to 43 Indian Rupee. We then went back to the boat on the auto rickshaw. Driving in
Day two In
We got to our hotel, and everyone showered and loved it. We then had dinner and went to the streets to buy some gifts. Everyone went to bed early because we had to wake up at 5 to get ready for the TAJ MAHAL at sunrise. Upon our arrival I saw it in the background and it just looked enormous, and it was. It was awesome. The prettiest building I have ever seen and probable ever will see. It is made out of all marble and sits on the bank of a river. When we were leaving me and my friend took a richshaw (not a motorized one, but one you peddle) and the driver wanted us to drive it, so my friend did and as we were going we almost crashed head on to another one and everyone thought we stole it, and we could not stop laughing. After the Taj we went back to the hotel for breakfast and then went to holy temples, which were also fascinating. We went to a Hindu and my friend and I went to a Muslim temple which later we found out we were not supposed to go to because it was dangerous. It was also an awesome place to see. We then went back to the hotel at 12 to eat and check out. We then went to Agra Fort which was incredibly huge. The best part of that was seeing the Taj Mahal in the distance on the river which was a sight to see. After the fort we went back to the Taj for a couple of hours around sunset. The colors that the sun throws off at sunset and sunrise are amazing at the Taj. We went inside the Taj to see the gravestone of the women who it was built for. (there is a good story behind why the Taj was built but it is to long for me to write. So hung out on the Taj for a while then went back. On our walk back to our bus we bought some stuff from the vendors. The big thing that everyone bought was an Indian book called Kama Sutra which is a book on how to have sex and every position possible and what it meant towards their life. We then went back to the hotel, got some Pizza Hut which was nice to get after nonstop Indian food (which is very overrated, it’s the same thing over and over again. Rice and spicy meat) the train was again late, but only 30 minutes. So me and these two girls started reading Kama Sutra out loud to each other which killed time really quickly, except when a little kid tried to come over and read with us and our tour guide had to keep kicking him away.. The train came and we were not done reading so we all sat next to each other on the train and read it. This train was the first class train because they wanted us to experience the rich culture also. It was not to nice according to
After the train ride we checked in to an awesome Indian hotel (and remember it is awesome for
We leaving for
If you want to learn some things come to
We have only 8 class days in April so everyone at school you have fun.
Monday April 2nd Malaysia- We have gotten to
Tuesday- Asia Airlines which is the low cost airfare is the best airlines I have ever been on. They have a cold fog shooting out of the ceiling to cool everyone off, they have leather seats and very good looking stewardesses. On our arrival to KL we took about an hour cab ride, which only cost $40 for seven of us. Jen Jackson (Nichols cousin) and her roommate Brittany also from
Wednesday – We went out around 11 AM and got some lunch and then went to the towers. When we got there all the tickets were sold out for the tour so we walked around its 7 floor mall. (I think it was 7 floors, could be wrong.) Jen and I later went to
Thursday- Nothing to special happened this day. We flew back and went to a mall and then got on the boat and took a long nap. About 200 of the 700 students got dock time for coming back late. Apparently they did not read the notice that said be back by 6:30 because taking the tender boats is a long process.
KL was a very nice city, and definitely a place to go see. Now we are on our way to
Ryan thanks for helping me with my classes back in
Thursday, March 22, 2007
March 19- We had the Sea Olympics which our team came in second place so we get off the boat second in
March 21st- I got electrocuted at Pub Night that was a lot of fun. A few more days till
We are planning big things for Malaysia
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Day 3- I had a plane to catch at 6:30, then had a three hour plane ride to Kruger; which is where our safari was at
Day 4- Getting up early was a lot of fun. We then had a six hour safari with an hour breakfast. Then later in the afternoon you got on a three hour safari. It was my teacher’s birthday so we bought him a lot of shots and beers, So he had a good birthday. 4th and
Final day of Safari- We got to pet the elephants on our last day and be around them for a while which was awesome. We then hopped on our plane to go back and I started a party on our plane with vodka and then our tour guide cut us off on the plane because we were not supposed to drink on the way back. Later that night me and some girl went back to Mortons and had dinner because everywhere else you needed reservations. But it was awesome again. Then it was party time again.
Last day in S. Africa- We went to the Wine lands which were awesome. We sampled champagne, wine, and then Brandi. The wine lands were huge and looked amazing. Then here comes the bad part. We went to some dumb museum and then the bus decided to leave without me. I then found out it left ten minutes early. So I thought I was about ten minutes away from
March 9- We are still in Cape Town because it was too windy, so we left at around 5 Pm and we are on our way to Mauritius where a bunch of us rented a cottage on the beach for a couple of days which should be a lot of fun. We had our first karaoke night on the boat and they had no songs at all. It was disappointing, but a bunch of us sang Piano Man and had a good time.
March 10- For some reason we did not have class today, and everyone is just hanging out. I will write after we leave
If anyone has a chance to go on this, do it. You get to see the world and have a spring break every other week and meet some awseome people and somehow get college credit....
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Feb 18th- We went Walking the around the streets then went to a restaurant that Hilary Clinton ate at. (Man was I honored) The beers they have are Skol, Nova schin and Brahma; all are good and only a dollar. Later we went out to carnival and it was the beginning of my bday party. And it was awesome; we did some more dance moves. (fishing, lawn mower, sprinkler, and the worm) then later some one translated to a local that it was my birthday at 12 so they all picked me up and I was crowd surfing and they were throwing me in the air and singing happy birthday in Portuguese, it was awesome and something I will never forget. We had a lot of laughs there until one of our friends got jumped by some kids. (On the boat we are spreading the word he got jumped by a bunch of 12 yr old girls.) He was fine, lost 20 bucks and got a dirty shirt. He was going the bathroom off the cliff and got jumped with one of our other friends and the vendors were yelling to some one else who then tapped me on the shoulder to go help him, once we ran over they were all gone and nothing major happened, we then went home. But this night was awesome; trading off dance moves and just watching the never ending parade go bye with trucks that have 30 foot speakers and a band playing on the roof; it is something that’s fun to see.
Feb 19 (Birthday time)- Awesome day; we went to the beach, beautiful beach and the cab ride was 10 bucks a person and they waited for us all day; another day of drinking and fun times. And of course the pit stop on the highway so the girls can pee. (which was funny because I had to hold a towel to cover them and Everyone on the highway was slowing down and trying to look
Birthday dinner at a Brazilian steak house. We ate like Kings. The only thing that I can say is awesome. If you ever go to
Feb 20- Today I got waken up by another knock on the door and phone call. This one kid has a list of about 30 kids and he just calls everyone when he wakes up. We went back into the city and bought some stuff at the markets. Another steak house; another awesome dinner, it was just as good as last nights. For the first time I tried sushi, and it’s pretty good. These restaurants are awesome. Then we went to the bar after and had a good time. When we got back some went back in