Shanghai, China

As I did in Japan, I got up and went out on the deck at 6:30 AM with my friend Ali as we docked in China (Ali and I have decided that this will be a tradition as we get to each country). As the sun was rising, our close-up view of Shanghai's Pudong skyline was beautiful, with the blues and purples of early morning fading as the first rays of light reflected off the buildings. It was lovely, but extremely COLD, as I knew it would be. Needless to say, we didn't stay outside long. It actually hurt to be outdoors in just my pajamas and a sweatshirt. We went inside and started to get ready for the day.

 

Customs, as usual, took forever, and even though we had been through Cultural Preport the evening before, the entire ship was required to go to yet ANOTHER meeting in the Union so that MORE speakers could get up and talk about things that we had been told over and over again already. I understand that they want us to be as informed and cautious as we can, but when it starts to take away time in the countries, it gets to be very frustrating. My group and I were not able to get off the ship until around 11:30 AM, and we were eager to get walking (out of excitement as well as cold).

 

One of the coolest, yet hardest things about being in China was the fact that we arrived while the country was in the middle of celebrating Chinese New Year (it is now the Year of the Tiger). For a good hour, my group and I wandered around trying to find an ATM or a bank so that we could get yuan, the Chinese currency. Until we did that, we couldn't even get a cab to get where we wanted to go. Strangely enough, many of the stores in Shanghai were closed for the holiday, which was definitely a bummer. I assumed it would be the opposite, and that the city would be more busy and alive with the holiday, not less. Apparently, many people close shop to go home and spend the holiday with family.

 

This small downer was made up in the extreme amount of over-the-top, colorful decorations that were everywhere you looked, as well as the fireworks that went off constantly. And when I say constantly, I mean it was day and night, all the time, you would be hearing explosions coming from everywhere around you. I can now say that I have seen fireworks in the middle of the day. The funniest thing about it was that the SAS students were the only people around who were amazed by the fireworks; everyone else walked around, barely acknowledging the amazing displays going on everywhere around us.

 

The first day, after getting our currency and a quick lunch (we successfully did the point-and-order method at a restaurant and had some delicious Chinese food), we walked around "The Bund" for a little while, which is a famous market in Shanghai. After that, we took a short taxi ride to the Nanjing marketplace, where we spent the afternoon with some sketchy characters, buying knock-off handbags, DVDs, Northface backpacks, and Ugg boots (which I happily bought for myself since I had NOT brought the warm footwear that was necessary for the cold weather).

 

My friends and I went out to dinner that night, and when we walked in, the first thing I noticed was the tanks full of bullfrogs and small turtles, which are delicacies here. Though I was pretty grossed out by that sight, I soon got my appetite back when we ordered 5 or 6 amazing Chinese dishes for our table. One of our friends, Shelly, is actually from China, so she was able to interpret for us and make sure we were getting some great food. At all of the restaurants I went to during my time in China, all of the food is placed in the middle of the table on a glass turn-table, and everyone shares the dishes and samples everything. The best part was that because of the exchange rate, the huge meal came out to about $3 American per person!

 

On the way back to the ship, we saw a group of Chinese people who were trying to send up a paper lantern, which a Chinese New Years tradition. We had been seeing them going up all day, these strange lights scattered all over the sky, so it was cool to watch the tradition in action. It looked much harder than I thought it would be!They had unfolded the large, red lantern and attached the candle beneath it. When we saw them, they had already lit the candle, which was flaming beneath the lantern, exactly like a hot air balloon. They were having some trouble keeping the lantern from catching fire and getting it up in the air because of the wind. After watching them for awhile, we decided to buy our own lantern and try our luck at getting it up in the air, but unfortunately, a police officer came, successfully ending our good time. So we decided to be silly and run with the lanterns flying behind us instead!

 

The following day, I went out with a few friends and did some souvenier shopping around The Bund. We went to a restaurant and ordered what in english said "Chicken Casserole," which turned out to be a hot pot filled with...the entire chicken, with the feet, skin, bones..everything but the head. It was certainly a new cultural experience for me. According to my friend Ben, the reason that the whole chicken is used is because at one time, the country was going through a famine, so they began utilizing every part of the chicken that they could. Overall, not my favorite meal in China, but definitely got a good laugh out of it.

 

That night, I went with a big group to a Go-Kart bar. Yes, a bar where you can LEGALLY drink and drive. It. Was. AMAZING, sooo much fun. We stayed there a couple of hours, then decided to go to a different club. On our way out, as we were walking down the driveway from the bar, I looked around and asked out loud, "Is that dynamite on the ground??" As soon as we were across the street, a HUGE firework display started going off right at the end of the driveway, directly over our heads. We all got so excited, we just started dancing in the street! Looking up and behind the bar, I saw apartment buildings, and people were setting off fireworks from their balconies! It was complete insanity, and in that moment, I could not feel more lucky that I got to be in China for Chinese New Year.

 

We went to a club called Zappatos, which was packed with mostly European people, and they played almost all American songs. We drank some more and danced the night away. Unfortunately I had to leave a little early (around 2 AM) because I had to be in the Union at 6 AM to go on my Hike of the Great Wall trip. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.

 

So that just about sums up my 2 days in Shanghai. I'll write again soon to tell you about my time in Beijing and Hong Kong.

Japan - Part Deux

So as I said, I, along with 150 or so other students/faculty, sailed with the ship from Yokohama to Kobe, which took away a day in Japan, but I am not sorry I decided to do it. First of all, I needed a day off from the travelling, I was more tired than I can say. Second of all, it poured. All day. At sea, and apparently, on land. Plus, since so few people sailed, we had this amazing 5 course dinner in the main dining hall, and my friends and I got all dressed up for it. It was fun!

 

We got into the Port of Kobe at 7 AM the next morning. Thankfully, customs was a breeze since we'd already been through the whole process in Kobe, so my group and I slept in a little and got off the ship at our leisure. We exchanged some money, got a map of the area and subway system, and hopped on a subway to go immediately to Kyoto. Once there, we got on a bus and went to the Kiyomizu Temple, which is this beautiful, expansive temple built on a steep hillside. To get to it, we had to walk up a a steep road, lined with little shops, which was a little touristy, but had some cool stuff. We walked around there for a long time despite the cold, just taking in the view both around and below up (we were high up and could see much of Kyoto). There were people lighting incense and putting them in this big potlike thing and it smelled amazing, and there were several beautiful buddah statues which I watched many people touch and bow to. There were also some beautiful fountains with long ladles laying across them that people used to pour water on their hands before entering the temple. On the way out of the temple we saw a geisha from far away, but we couldn't approach her because she was with a tour. Luckily, as we walked back down the road, we saw two walking the opposite way, and they let us take pictures with them! I was so excited, they were beautiful.

 

After a lunch of ramen noodles (can't seem to get enough of them!), we wandered around for a few hours, up and down some interesting streets, and in doing so, we were able to get away from the touristy areas and see the way Japanese people live. Going up the narrow, brick side roads, there are many people who own small shops that they live above. One thing I noticed that was different about Kyoto was that many people, women especially, walk around wearing traditional Japanese clothing, such as kimonos and the socks with wedge sandles, their hair up in buns. There is a much larger connection to their cultural history here than in Tokyo, which is much more modern and trendy.

 

After awhile, we headed back to Kobe and got on the ship to get ready to go out that night. We were on a misson to try the imfamous Kobe beef. Apparently, what they do is feed the cows beer and massage them, which makes the meat taste a certain way. It is carmelized and very fatty, and evidentally, DELICIOUS...but predictably expensive. Eventually we opted out of Kobe beef and went into a cool restaurant where we had to take our shoes off before we sat down. Since the menu was only in Japanese, but it had pictures, we had to do the "hmm, that looks interesting, I wonder what it is," point-and-order method, which we had done several times during our time in Japan. It's a hit or miss method, and that night, for my friend Bailey and I, it was miss. We ordered what looked like popcorn chicken, and turned out to be what tasted like the cartilege part of a chicken wing, the part that most people don't eat. We laughed it off and ordered other things, along with plenty of sapporo. Hey, it's part of the experience!

 

After dinner, we went to this tiny bar that comfortably fit the 7 of us, the bartender, one other patron, and that's pretty much it. It was a great, tequila/darts/dance party kind of night, and that's pretty much all I have to say about it.

 

I got up far too early after the interesting night I had, and went to Himeji with two other girls to go to the Himeji Castle. The castle is, of course, huge, and all white. The architecture was incredibly detailed, I took several pictures of the roof shingles, which all had interesting designs on them. I took a picture with a man dressed as a real ninja, which made my day, and he let me hold a ninja star while my two friends held swords. After seeing the castle, we went to the Hemeji garden, which was so peaceful and gorgeous I didn't want to leave. The sun had come out by this time, and the trees and little waterfalls were lovely. There was also a pond with literally hundreds of coy, which were HUGE and so diversely colored. We got to watch them get fed, and it was a feeding frenzy! So cool.

 

We got back on the subway and got closer to the ship, and walked around just to use up the rest of our yen before getting back on the ship. This included going into pastry shops, which had some delicious junk food, and buying myself a warm hat, which I am DEFINITELY going to need when I am on the Great Wall of China. BRRR. We got back to the ship just half an hour before dock time, whew!

 

A couple hours later, we sailed away from Japan, which was bittersweet. I had an incredible time. The people, the food, the music, the CULTURE.  Amazing. I would love to go back again if I ever get the chance.

Yokohama & Toko, Japan

I know I said I would post a blog about my time spent in Hilo and Honolulu, but as you can probably tell, I am very bad at writing promptly. I would like to change that right now by jumping immediately into Yokohama & Tokyo, Japan while it is fresh in my mind. I will post about Hawai'i at a later date. However, if you really are interested in hearing about Hawai'i, you can email me about it! anschiralli@semesteratsea.net. I would love to hear from you!

 

I got up and went out to the deck at 6:30 AM on Tuesday, Feb 9 with my friend Ali, because that is when we were told we would be able to see land. We were not disappointed! On the starboard side of the ship, we looked out and saw the most incredible sunrise over the low mountains directly in front of us. Ahead we could see several small buildings in the distance through the morning fog, and looking up, I noticed that we were flying the Japanese flag.

 

Although I knew we still had several hours before we could get off the ship, I couldn't go to sleep when I got back to my cabin. So I got up, showered, and started packing my backpack, as my group and I planned on spending the night in Tokyo. Going through customs was, as we were promised, incredibly slow, deliberate, and organized to the T (I would soon realize that this is a trait that is consistent in almost everything that the Japanese do). Students were let off the ship according to what "sea" they belonged to. On the ship, students are grouped according to deck number as well as what side they live on and whether they are toward the bow or the stern, and are assiened a Sea, such as the Yellow Sea, the Carribean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, etc. I myself am a proud member of the Bering Sea! Anyway, I found myself standing around with most of the other students, waiting for my sea to be announced. It took so long that the crew began serving lunch at 11:30 am. I was just about to get food, of course, when my sea was finally called, so I grabbed my things and rushed to deck 5 to disembark.

 

I swiped my ID card at ship security and made my way down the gangway. I was given my passport, was fingerprinted and photographed by Japan customs, and finally let into the country. I found my group of 5 other students waiting for me, as all of their seas had been called before mine, and we immediately set out because we were already off to such a late start.

 

We made our way down the street in Yokohama, taking in the beautiful day! Although Japan is in the middle of winter right now, the sky was clear, it was sunny and very warm. We got in on the perfect day for walking around. As we searched for the train station to take us into Toyko, we were talking and laughing excitedly...which is when I realized that we were the only people around making any sound at all. Although Yokohama is a city, it was almost eerily quiet out on the streets. The people keep to themselves and walk in silence, the only noise really coming from passing cars. Suddenly I felt like that loud, obnoxious American that I had been warned not to become while in port, and I understood what exactly that meant.

 

We stopped at an ATM to get Japanese currency and made our way down to the subway, which at first could not be more confusing to us. Luckily, we were armed with our simple Japanese phrase sheets so we would ask a local for directions, which we did...often. One thing I can say about the Japanese is that they are almost always happy to help a lost foreigner, especially if you attempt to speak the language. Generally our encounters involved saying hello in Japanese ("Konichiwa!"), a lot of pointing at maps, and saying thank you ("Arigatou," a phrase I found myself saying a LOT). We hopped on the subway, which was just as quiet as the streets above us. Although many of the trains we took between the two days we spent in Tokyo were packed, hardly anyone says a word. I couldn't help but think of New York City, and how different my train experiences had been up until this point.

 

Of course, this was not the only difference between American and Japanese cities. Not only are the people friendly and approachable. but the entire country, everywhere you looked, was immaculate. The city streets, the subway, the public bathrooms, were all spotless, not one piece of garbage to be found anywhere...which was strange, considering you were hardpressed to find a trash bin anywhere. Wanting to be respectful, I kept stuffing any garbage I had into my jacket pockets until I found find a garbage can, which was not until we got to the hotel where we were staying in Toyko.

 

A little on the hotel...we stayed the night at the Ritz Carlton. The mother of one of my friends, Briana, has a friend who works at the hotel named Linda, who gave us an amazing discount. We got two rooms, one for the 3 girls and one for the 3 guys, on the 50th floor (out of 53). According to Linda, the Ritz is the tallest building in the city, which was apparent when we looked out our windows and could see all of Tokyo. The view was breathtaking.

 

Linda showed us around the galleria on the first floor of the building, directed us on where to go to do karaoke, then took us to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant to get a late lunch of real Ramen noodles, where she left us. Afterwards we got on another subway and went to the Senso-Ji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo's oldest temple, which was beautiful. The temple is set back from the street, and to get to it, we had to walk down a long alley lined with shops filled with all sorts of souveniers, fans, kimonos, Japanese dishes, electronics, Japanese food and candy, etc. After seeing the temple, we wandered around the shops for awhile before heading back to the hotel to get ready for a night out.

 

On the way back to the Ritz, we stopped to get some champagne to celebrate our first night in a different country! When we clicked our glasses together, we said "Kung-pie!" (which means "Cheers!" in Japanese). Then we headed out to a karaoke bar to see  what the Japanese love so much about it. We rented out a room for an hour and had an absolute blast. After that we went to a real bar and got our dance on with some really awesome locals.

 

Even though we didn't get back to the Ritz until about 2 AM, we were up at 4:45 AM to go to Tokyo's world-famous fish market to see the tuna auction. Well, 4 of us managed to get up and go to it anyway. In my opinion, it was by far the coolest thing we had done in Japan. Not only was the auction interesting (the tuna were HUGE!! I got plenty of pictures and a few videos of it), but there was every kind of fish you could imagine there, many of them still alive to keep them as fresh as possible. There were buckets of squid, crabs, lobsters, mussels, tanks full of pufferfish, sea cucumbers, salmon and flounder and sundry other fish on ice...it was incredible. Even though it was freezing at 6 in the morning and I was quite underdressed, I didn't want to leave because it was so fascinating. It's hard to believe that this fish market goes on every day except one day out of each month, with that amount of fish.

 

After the fish market we got a quick breakfast of, you guessed it, Ramen noodles, then went back to the hotel to go back to sleep for a couple hours. Around 11:30 AM we finally checked out and went to the Imperial Palace, which is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It's a spacious, parklike place surounded by high walls and a moat. We saw buildings where the samuri once stayed, and the famous cherry blossom trees that Japan is famous for (which was lucky because they are not supposed to bloom until April). It was a beautiful place.

 

The last place we went before returning to the ship was called "Electric City." As soon as I stepped out of the subway, I was bombarded by what seemed like a million different lights and sounds coming from all of the different electronics shops. It was anime galore and the air was filled with a genre of music known as J Pop. After walking around for awhile, we went into a conveyor belt sushi place to get some lunch, which was really cool. What you do is sit at the bar and the sushi comes around on a little conveyor belt with 2 pieces on each plate.

 

By that time, it was starting to get dark, cold and rainy, so we decided it was time to head back to the ship. It's funny, after the two days of taking subways to get everywhere, the subway system, which at first was impossibly confusing, now seemed second nature to us. We got back to Yokohama with no problem at all! Once we were all warm and dry, we went back to one of the cabins and started exchanging pictures, which was great because my camera battery died right after the Imperial Palace.

 

Anyway, right now I am sailing from Yokohama to Kobe with just 152 other passengers because many of the students decided to travel independently and meet the ship at the next port. Since there are so few of us sailing with the ship, there is a special dinner for us tonight and a few other special activities going on. I'm glad I decided to come back. After all the walking and lack of sleep from the last two days, I was absolutely exhaused! We should be getting to Kobe around 7 AM tomorrow, and I will be ready to do some more exploring. I'll post again and let you know how it went! Overall, it was a great first experience in a new country. I could not be happier, or more tired.

Hello from the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

I suppose I should start off this blog by apologizing for not posting sooner. It has been a crazy, wonderful first couple of weeks on the MV Explorer, and such an overwhemling amount of things have happened, I'm going to have some trouble sorting it all out. All I can say is that I've never felt so out of my comfort zone, yet so excited and exhilerated about the things I'm doing. This really is turning out to be an experience of a lifetime, and it has only just begun.

I'll give you just a quick overview of the boring details so I can catch you up on the much more interesting things I've been up to. I flew to San Diego from Islip, which took 9 and a half hours, ugh. Spent the night at the Sheroden, and hopped on a coach bus with a bunch of other students to make our way down to the Port of Ensenada, Mexico. The first time I saw the ship in the distance, I nearly jumped out of my seat. I couldn't wait to get off that bus and get this trip started.

The first couple of days on the ship were jampacked with things that all of the students were required to do. Orientation...worst day ever. basically we sit in the Union (big circular room with a bunch of chairs and a stage thing where my Global Studies classes are held) and listen to person after person go over safety rules and each person repeats what the last speaker just said. I was so happy when classes began the next day.

I'm actually glad that I'm only taking 4 classes this semester, because they've been pretty rigorous so far. My global studies class especially has been very eye-opening in the way we are informed about the economic and environmental states of each country we are visiting. The hunger and poverty rates, infant mortality rates, the number of people without access to clean water, the list goes on. I'm not even going to touch on all of the environmental issues that humans are responsible for. After every class, I ask myself "what can I possibly do to help us turn it all around?" I won't go into all the details, but I will say that if things don't change soon, we will be in some serious trouble within the next few years.

Aside from global, I'm really enjoying my drawing class. I'm finding that I'm not completely horrible at sketching, and I actually find it very fun and relaxing. Whenever I want to avoid doing the reading for my english or oceanography classes, I will just draw a picture instead! It's real work, I swear!

Except for the classes and the food, the ship does not resemble college life at all. I spend most of my time just getting to know people, sitting around on the decks, soaking up the sun, doing yoga, reading, sketching, and doing a LOT of planning for the countries we will be going to. In Hawai'i, my friends and I all invested in walkie-talkies, which is probably the best idea we've ever had. Once we left Honolulu, our cellphones became completely useless, so now the walkie-talkies will be our main mode of communication. We're already having a little too much fun with them on the ship; we all have code names based on random, funny things that we've said. Not going to tell you my name, as it's a tad inappropriate.

On a side note, I LOVE all of the people I've been meeting so far. One of the coolest things about this program is that there are students from not only all over the United States, but from many other countries as well. I have a couple of friends from Canada, a friend from Puerto Rico, a friend from London, etc. Once this trip is over, I'm going to have friends from all over the world, which is a pretty amazing concept.

I often find myself wondering what kind of person I will be when this voyage is over. One of my biggest concerns is that I don't leave after this program as ignorant about the world as I was when I came here. I hope that this trip will not just become a conversation enhancer, but that I will actually take something meaningful away from this experience and become a more aware, knowledgeable and compassionate person. The world is in serious need of more people like this, because in many ways, I feel like we are all obsessed with our own comfort, our own individual lives. We have become jaded, apathetic to worldly issues, even though they indirectly affect us all. My point is, I don't want to be ingorant anymore. I'm going into this experience with an open mind and an open heart.

We left Hawai'i a few days ago, and we are now slowly making our way toward Japan. I will not be on US soil for over three months, which is a strange/scary/exciting feeling. This voyage is definitely going to be a test of my independence. I've already surprised myself with how much I've been able to handle. For example, I've come on this trip with just 2 suitcases, a minimal amount of clothes, jewlelry, makeup, etc. I thought this major downsizing was going to be very difficult for me, but I'm surprised at how little I'm missing these material comforts. The other day, I washed my clothes in the sink because the laundry service is so expensive. HAHA. It's so strange, I really don't mind this at all.

Well, that's the general overview of my life here on the ship. I will post soon about my experiences in Hilo and Honolulu. MAHALO!