Hostel la Vista, Baby

We are leaving Spain. I'm sad. 'Nuff said.

When we arrived on Wednesday I had no expectations, as you know. I didn't have any goals besides try as much food as possible, meet people, and explore.
Wednesday we spent trekking around Cadiz. In Spain, they have “tapas” which means snacks or appetizers. There are so many varieties: meats, cheeses, sauces, seafood and they are all so good. I have never been a food connoisseur but the way I ate in this country made me think I should be one. Hopping from bar to bar eating Tapas (bars in Spain are family places, not like in the US where its filled with crusty old men) is a great experience. It was a beautiful day, and I found myself smiling for no reason at all except because it seemed right.

In Cadiz we walked around aimlessly the whole day, no plans, no destinations, checking things out as we saw them, taking pictures, meeting up with friends, and eating tapas. It truly was an exploration of the unknown. There are different colored lines painted on the sidewalks that lead you to monuments and historical sites. You can't really get lost in Cadiz because it's so small and cute. A very quaint port town. It has a homey feel, and I was actually missing it when we went to...

BARCELONA!

Which is a bustling city, unlike the quaint little port town of Cadiz.

Getting on a flight at 1 PM on Thursday, I realized we were actually flying across the entire country. Our first day in Barcelona can be blocked in out in some classic traveler's crises. We learned some valuable traveler's lessons on this trip.
1.Where are our friends? A note we left on a friend's door never reached them, so they were not aware of our change in time and plans, so as we were all meeting up, we were missing one or two.
2.Which bus? Scrambling off of the ship, there were three or four buses to choose from and we didn't know which one went to the airport.. Once we found the right one, it pulled away.
3.Taxi only fits four, we have five, where are our friends and whose Danny? Another SAS guy named Danny joined our group because he was staying at the same hostel. We really needed our friends to show up so we could split the cab in the cheapest way.
4.Taylor didn't make it on the plane?!? That's right, probably the worst crisis of them all. Taylor accidentally printed out his return ticket, so they wouldn't let him in the plane. Some of us found out on the plane, some found out once we got there. (He came the second day for free).
5.Which train and where is our hostel? Finding which train was no big deal, but we had no clue where our hostel was. We hardly even knew the address and nobody knew the little street that its on. After asking the entire population of Barcelona, we found it.
6.Dinner and exploration...where did we go? I was leading the group and I thought we were heading south but we went east, so we had a hard time finding our way back. But we did.

The airport in Jerez (close to Cadiz) had much less security than any other airport I've ever been it. It was very relaxed and we didn't need to be there hours earlier.

Our hostel was AMAZING! Painted walls, each a different color, a ping pong table, books, games, free breakfast, internet, and a TV. The rooms were cool too, everyone had their own little cubicle except me I shared with Sara Weinberg (whose blog is also featured in the sidebar). We got put together like that randomly. That night we ate Xocolata Suizo (a hot swiss chocolate drink)

Barcelona Day 2
“From 9 to 3”

A long day. A really long day. Woke up and had free breakfast, then got the legendary chocolate con churros, then hit the Picasso museum. It was very inspiring, seeing one man grow and evolve so much over his life. We learned about a painting called “Las Meninas” by a Spanish artist named Velazques, which was reproduced by Picasso in 50 different ways.
Then we had tapas, saw the Gaudi park and the Gaudi Cathedral, had dinner/lunch, then went back to the hostel. During this portion, we stopped every other minute for people in our group to take pictures. Which drove me nuts. All I wanted to do was eat but we had to take more pictures. I learned two things about myself here: I'm cranky when I don't eat in a country where food is always good and always in close proximity and I hate photography. No offense, photographers out there. I respect your art in all its forms, but the effects it had on my personal travel day were far from benign. Anyway, we made it back to the hostel. Where we made some new friends:

In our room were three girls from Australia who we didn't ever really meet but there were four girls from the UK who were very friendly. We hung out with them and went out to a club and danced the night away. We all traded facebook information.

Our friendship with them is kind of an incredible thing, poetic, even. We met briefly, learned about each other's cultures, hung out, shared some laughs, and then may never see each other again. In such a short time, two groups of friendly outgoing people formed a friendship. There is something to be said for that. It made me realize that there are so many people who make great friends in the world, I will never be able to meet them all. But it's a comfort to know that you can find friendly people everywhere.

We got back to the hostel, slept from 3 30 to 6 30, which is today, then had xocolata suizo for breakfast and then flew back to Cadiz, where I had my last bit of tapas.

This was our first country, Our first foray into the world of smelly, expensive, problem-frought traveling, and I loved every minute of it. Since this trip was entirely independent, I am excited for my SAS organized trips in Morocco, where we'll be on Monday, which groups of SAS students I don't know as well as my friends from Chapman (or the UK, for that matter). I'm sad to see Spain go, I learned so much about the culture, ate so much of their food, and even picked up important words and phrases for getting around, ordering food, and keeping street vendors off of me. I will miss Spain a lot, but I have my pictures and my memories to hold on to.

Seven Days...

Today is my 7th day of classes in a row.  I've never had so many days of classes in a row in my life.  After five days, it felt like there should have been a weekend, but there wasn't.  On the flipside...

..we arrive in Spain tomorrow morning!  I'm very much excited.  I learned this morning in class that there is a Pablo Picasso museum in Barcelona, which is where I'll be spending about two days, staying at a hostel, eating tapas, seeing architecture, and going out to discos.  But first is Cadiz, which is tomorrow.

I've gotten so used to the rocking back of forth of the ship that it's weird to think about being on land again.  I'm so used to the ground beneath me becoming a mountain or a ramp at a moment's notice that the fidelity of solid ground seems like an innovation.

The last few days went by extremely quickly.  Life on the ship went from discovery to adaptation and finally to status quo, and the days sped up.  I don't want them to.  I've really made this ship my new home.

The first laundry day was really early on in the trip, which is silly to me, so I didn't participate.  The next one is mid-February and I don't have nearly enough clothes to get me through that amount of time.  So I have a few options.  I can handwash some stuff, no big deal, but I think I may find a coin laundromat in Cadiz and wash my stuff there.  I think that my actually be a lot of fun.

A guy named David Geis, a knighted-by-the-king-of-Spain professor and guru on all things Spain (he's seriously like the authority on Spain) has been lecturing us about Spanish food, history, artists, everything.  He's only traveling with us for this small portion, but the knowledge he has given to us I can tell will prove useful.  Another professor spoke extensively about music in Spain, and I think I may pick up a CD or two.

Tomorrow we're arriving in Cadiz, and I'll be sleeping on the ship tomorrow night.  After that, I'm flying to Barcelona so I won't be near my computer for a few days.

We're around 360 nautical miles from Spain now, which is unbelievably close.  I can almost smell it (that's a complete lie).  What smelled good were the french fries I just had for lunch.

Dates in of my travels in Spain:
28 Jan – Cadiz
29-31 – Barcelona


In other news:
There is a drawer in our cabin that always would fly open when the ship rocked, and they came and fixed it today.

Oh, black water, keep on rollin'

Five days in. 

I just went up to deck 7, the uppermost deck, to do some reading.  I looked out on the ocean and thought to myself, as I have for the last few days, that I'm in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, on a ship.  For school.  It's the greatest thing since sliced bread.  I can go and tan while getting my work done.  Or not getting my work done.

There is nothing in sight but ocean.  Absolutely nothing except ocean.  Besides the sun.  I look around every direction and though there is nothing but us on the surface of the sea for who knows how many nautical miles, I don't feel alone.  I don't feel like Spain is 1,800 miles away and the Bahamas around about the same back the other direction.  I feel surrounded by great friends, great friends-to-be, and at one with the ocean.

Going out at night is the most surreal thing.  I went out to the starboard (right) side of the ship, where there aren't any floodlights on the ocean.  The wind blew my hair around and ruffled my shirt as I watched the black and white waves crash beneath me.  Here I felt the real sense of nothingness, as I could hardly see anything past where the light from rooms was lightly falling on the water.

The bow of the ship at night is also incredible.  I've been out a few times, especially at night when all you can see are what I assume are the measuring instruments, water made black by the night and the stars in the sky.

We have four or five more days at sea before we arrive in Spain.  Our classes are on an alternating day basis, without weekends.  Today was the third day of classes, or "A2."  Prior to today, you can guess, was A1 and B1.  I'm looking forward to so much, so many adventures to go on, and so many people to meet.

I also look forward to more inspiring moments, staring out at the black water of the night.

Ooo, cake!

I've been on the ship for about two days now.

Yesterday me and Isaiah got on the ship earlier than a lot of other people because his last name starts with A so I boarded with him.  We went through some mild registration some and then saw our room, which is small but awesome.  It's not the size that matters, remember, its how much like home it feels.

Then we explored the ship, from deck 2 to deck 7, checking out the pool, student union, purser's desk, and everything else.  then we left to go take a walk around the Bahamas with Isaiah's parents at 11 AM.  It was easy to see who was a SAS student not only because they were white but because they wore a nametag.

Then we watched as the Bahamas grew smaller and smaller, vanishing over the horizon.  The rest of the day was filled with meeting people and getting used to the constant rocking back and forth.

Which, I may add, is a great way to fall asleep.  It feels like I'm in a giant cradle and mommy is shaking me to sleep.  Isaiah won't sing me a lullaby though.

This morning and all day was Orientation, but its not like Chapman orientation, it was a series of meetings about various safety things, staff introductions, how this works, how that works, and in between were meals and time to meat people.  The main even was Obama's inauguration, which we got on a live feed and was very emphatically received by everyone on the ship.

Tonight is an Inauguration Celebration, with champagne and cake.  Everyone was like "ooo champagne!"  I was like "oooo, cake!"

Bahamian Rhapsody

I took the smallest plane ever to the Bahamas. Seriously, there were 12 people on it. I could see the pilot and everything. There wasn't even a tray. Then I went through customs really easily. They were like "purpose for visit?" and I said "Semester at Sea" and they were like "move along."

Then I took a taxi to the hotel and met up with Isaiah and his family. And now I'm here.

I'm excited now, really, I am. I promise. Isaiah's parents took a tour of the ship and told us all about it. I refuse to look at the pictures that Isaiah's mom took because I want to be surprised. They only had good things to say, and now I'm really looking forward to it. Might not sleep tonight, that's how excited I am.

The gambling age in the Bahamas is 18, but only for tourists. Bahaminas get in trouble with the law and get a fine if they get caught gambling.

Now its time to watch Isaiah lose his money.

John Lockes

I leave tomorrow. For the first time I felt anxious, in a good way. I felt an emotion! I started to jitter in anticipation. It was very short lived but I was so happy to have felt something. It has become so close to reality that I am starting to imagine the trip, still sticking to my rules of goals, not expectations, but positive visualization works too.

I found something out about myself through this experience. I learned that when I am presented with a time where I enter "the unknown" such as studying on a ship (never even been on a big ship) and visiting foreign countries (I've only been to 2 other countries, both to visit friends) I choose not to think about it. Not because I'm scared and want to avoid it, but because I want to avoid making false conclsuions and scare myself and set myself up for unhappiness. I keep it unknown until I get there, giving the unknown a tabula rasa. That way, going on with my metaphor, I can chisel it into any form I want, not thinking it is going to be one shape and then seeing it as another.

I am not scared. I am not really nervous. I'm just starting to get excited. I'm a little sad to be putting my life on hold, because I know I will miss my family and friends. But I know I will see them all when I get back.

Now for Terry O'Quinn's version of the mind behind tabula rasa, I will be missing as well. LOST is a show that transformed the way I viewed television and was a key player in making me want to write for televsion. I will be missing what is promised to be an explosive season 5, and I hope it puts LOST back on the map for some Emmys. And yes, its Emmys not Emmies. Proof.

Three days of the Conflor(ida)

I hope the play on words in the title of this blog isn't too obscure.

I arrived in Florida this morning at 5 AM Florida time, 2 AM my time. I took a giant nap when we got back, pretty much the whole afternoon.

I also got my textbooks (all but 1, which is being sent to the ship) today. Three books on Islam and one on Marine Biology. We sent them here, to my grandparents' apartment, but failed to tell my grandpa about it. So, when he received the first book on Islam, their reaction was "how did somebody get our name? How DARE they! Send it back!" I guess I would be a little confused if a book on Islam showed up on my doorstep. Luckily, we called later that day and everything got to where it needed to go.

For dinner tonight I spent three hours at a French restaurant. We were the last to leave. I lost interest in the conversation when it switched to Medicaid.

I'll be in Florida until Sunday evening, when I fly to the Bahamas and meet up with Isaiah. Until then, I'll be seeing lots of my relatives, ranging from the ages of 75 to 100,000. I will be gathering as much comic material as possible from them, going into a document on my phone called "3 days in florida" and will probably have more stuff in it than any document on there already.

I've got my two suitcases full of everyting I'll need, which really, isn't too much. About 13 shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 1 cargo pants (With lots of pockets) all my art supplies, 4 warm shirts, a nice shirt, slacks, socks, underwear, some shoes, toiletries, rummikub in a bag, my melodica, and some Ben Folds sheet music. My sister was like "that's all?" and I was like "uh, ya."

Oh, and if you didn't get the joke in the title, it's a play on words of this.

I'm all ready, already.

Everything is laid out and ready to go. My two suitcases and my backpack, and a litter of clothing, and art supplies. I bought a lot of art supplies. I bought over 90 dollars worth of art supplies. This better be a good class. I think it will be. It will be cool to take home all the art that I drew while I was around the world.

Last night I had a bunch of dreams about the ship. They didn't really make much sense, but at least I'm thinking about it now, albeit subconsciously. That's right, I used albeit.

There isn't too much left for me to do. I need to buy one more art supply, one they had to special order. I need to get my Epi-pen from the pharmacy. I need to buy body wash. And that's about it.

I also bought a camera. I'm really happy with it, so now I can document my journey with words and with pictures.

My flight leaves at 9 30, or twenty one and a half o clock. Then its off to Florida to visit relatives. And then Sunday night I'm meeting up with Isaiah in the Bahamas before boarding on Monday.

What I can't believe is how the last month plus a little more has gone by so fast. I did some writing, I did some reading, watched some TV, slept a lot, snowboarding, and saw friends. But it went by so fast. It's hard to believe I'm leaving already. But I am, I believe it, and I accept it as truth.

I'm not nervous, I'm not worried, and I'm not overly excited. I'm just ready.

The Procrastination Station

I even put off writing this, that's how much I've procrastinated. I've had since December 15th to get all my stuff together and say my goodbyes, and I've hardly done anything. I think it's because I refuse to believe I am leaving until the last possible moment, when I can do a slipshod job of throwing everything together.

I haven't bought all the supplies I need for my drawing class. I haven't started packing. I haven't started laying out my clothes. I don't even know what luggage I'm taking. I don't even have pens or pencils or notebooks for all my other classes.

But I work better under pressure. I sometimes prefer to marinate in my thoughts and plans, making lists when I feel like it, and then kicking into high gear when time is running out. Maybe that's why television writing is a good place for me, because there is always another deadline, and looking deadlines seem to be my best motivation for getting things done.

My flight is Thursday night, something like 10 or 10 30 in the evening, which is 22 00 or 22 30 for all those people out there who prefer "twenty two o'clock." Which means I have three full days left to see everyone I promised to see and buy everything I need to buy. And pack. At least today I got some editing done on my screenplay.

So now I stay up late watching this after telling myself I'd try to go to sleep early. However, I have a clear vision of what I need to do tomorrow: stop procrastinating.

Revealing Feeling

A lot of people have been asking me if I am excited, or if I'm getting pumped, or telling me I must be sooooo excited. I am really quite excited, I'm thrilled to have this opportunity. But I think that my excitement is a dormant monster lurking in the bowels of my mind.

For instance, last year I went to Israel for 21 days and was not excited until the eve of my departure when I said to myself "Oh man, I'm getting on a plane and going to Israel in five hours."

Thus, I imagine my excitement for Semester at Sea is a similar thing, appearing when I get on the plane to go to Florida on Thursday and when I get on the plane to go to the Bahamas and when reality smacks me in the face as I see the M.V. Explorer, docked, beckoning my name through its smokestacks.

I also feel that I have enough happening in my life right now to distract me from getting excited. I have a list of things I need to do before I leave on Thursday. Granted, most of it is packing and buying things from Target (which will probably further the reality of my departure), but some of it is saying goodbye to people or doing a little more reading.

Or maybe I am simply avoiding the reality of putting my world on pause and putting the rest of the world on play. I hope it doesn't go by like a fast forward, because I know I can't rewind.

Or maybe it is because a wise man once told me never to set expectations, only to set goals. So while I choose to set goals and dodge expectations, I don't imagine what I am expecting the trip to be like, I just make a list of things I want to do. Rather than expecting to sit on the deck and lounge in a chair sipping sweet lemonade and bronzing my body, I make it a goal to remember to have some relaxation time. Therefore, I evade imagining the trip, possibly contributing to my lack of external excitement.

Regardless, I am looking forward to my journey and I am sure an invisible hand (not this one) will give me a good, hard, slap in the face when I place my last vestment in my luggage, and I can't wait to be jumping out of my skin with excitement.

Hello Goodbye

Hello to all of you, my faithful readers.

Goodbye to all of you, my faithful readers. I won't see you until I've been to all of these places:

• Nassau, Bahamas
• Cadiz, Spain
• Casablanca, Morocco
• Walvis Bay, Namibia
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Port Louis, Mauritius
• Chennai, India
• Laem Chabang (Bangkok), Thailand
• Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
• Hong Kong / Shanghai, China
• Kobe / Yokohama, Japan
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
  (Antigua, Guatemala City)
• Transiting of Panama Canal
• Fort Lauderdale, Florida

That's the plan. That's where I'll be. Some excursions I have planned include a safari, a seal and dolphin encounter, star gazing and camping in the desert, and various hikes and museums. And that's just scratching the surface.

My classes:

Intro to drawing
Marine Biology
Classical Islam
Global Studies-the required class everyone takes.

Some goals:

• Interact with, observe, and learn about other cultures.
  
• Increase my understanding of the human condition.
• Find commonalities between all peoples on Earth, besides shelter, food, clothing, sex, and smiling.
• See with my own two eyes some of the worlds greatest geological features, fauna, and flora.
  
• Develop my sense of global citizenship.
• Enrich the lives of others.
• Have others enrich my life.
  
• Make lifelong friends.

Some things I don't want to do (the "Grandma's Worries" List):

• Get seasick
• Get weird diseases
• Run out of money
• Be really homesick
• Have bad allergies
• Need to use my Epi-pen
• Vomit in front of an indigenous people if by accident their indigenous food disagrees with me.

The opportunities for personal growth and enrichment are endless. I intend on taking full advantage of every single one, as they say, an opportunity to travel around the world on a ship visiting 10 countries and interacting with different people around the world and visiting historical sites and eating new types of food and making lifelong friends and having a lot of fun is a terrible thing to waste.

Don't worry, Grandma(s) I'll be fine.