thirty-four days until I fly out and begin my adventure

I have a stack of books in my room that are taller than my printer. I still need to order one more, and three will be waiting for me in my room on the ship. I signed up for $465 worth of field programs during the presail sale. I'm participating in the field programs that are necessary for my classes, as well as some service projects and a safari in Africa. I'm really excited for the welcome reception in India and Hiroshima in Japan. I've also decided to join a few other Semester at Sea-ers and take a independent trip through China, in which we get to sleep on The Great Wall of China! Thank you Ashley for putting that together for us! I got my vaccination, and my malaria pills. Basically, all I need to do now is wait patiently, buy a few essential items, and pack!

Jackie and I are having a Bon Voyage party at my house on August 22 (a Saturday). It should be a really good time. I hope a lot of our friends and family show up, because it will be a few months until we see them all again. We are also planning to go to The Castle (a club in Ybor) the Thursday before that (August 20). Then, Jackie and I will have two days to pack, prepare, and rest until we get into our plane on August 25th and spend all day flying to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Jackie and I found a hostel for all three nights for $68 a piece! I heard of a "party" that a club is hosting in Halifax for our departure on the 27th! That should be a really awesome way to meet some of the fellow students!

I'm very excited for this voyage! I have put a lot of time, money and energy into this trip. I can't wait to share it with all of you.

(34)

Classes

I signed up for classes this morning. My schedule looks as follows:

00002 SEMS 1010-2 3 GLOBAL STUDIES (A DAY) WINCHESTER A 0920 - 1035
00051 SEMS 2559-10 3 THE WEST AND THE WORLD HUNT B 0800 - 0915
00053 SEMS 3559-6 3 DIASPORA: THE EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION ON WORLD HISTORY HUNT A 1215 - 1330
00078 SOC 2559-2 3 DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL KOVACH B 1455 - 1610

If anyone is interested in learning about the classes, the course listing is here. I missed out on getting Religious Freedom class! I really wanted it, but oh well!

I still have a lot of planning to do!

(119)

Email posting?

I just logged on to this blog and saw that we can now post from email. Since SAS is hooking us up with a free email account, it looks like I'll be updating a lot more while on my voyage! Excited? I know I am!

I sent out my applications for fin aid yesterday. I get the results back May 9th. Payment is due May 25th.

And Jackie and I just booked our flights to Halifax. We got the tickets for $229 a piece! We're going to leave August 25th, that way we can scope out Halifax before we set sail!

(136)

Changes to the itinerary

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 28 August - Departure
Cadiz, Spain 05 September - 08 September
Casablanca, Morocco 10 September - 14 September
Accra, Ghana 22 September - 25 September
Cape Town, South Africa 03 October - 08 October
Port Louis, Mauritius 15 October - 17 October
Chennai, India 23 October - 27 October
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam 03 November - 08 November
Hong Kong / Shanghai, China 11 November - 16 November
Kobe / Yokohama, Japan 20 November - 24 November
Honolulu / Hilo, Hawaii, USA 04 December - 07 December
San Diego, California, USA Arrive 14 December - Arrival
(new ports are bolded)

I'm upset about losing Egypt. I'm not sure how I feel about being on the ship for my 21st. I guess it would be safer that way, and it will still be a memorable experience. I'm upset about losing Croatia. I wanted to dive there! I am very excited to be on the first voyage to go to Ghana. I'm incredibly stoked to go to Africa! Spain just sounds expensive. I'm VERY VERY happy to be crossing the equator, because now we will have a Neptunes day! We will actually be crossing it twice, so I wonder how that will go. I'm happy that there's a week added, but the cost didn't go up!

Also, I was confirmed to $26,500 room to start - and I was downgraded (along with Jackie) to a Deck 2 Inside, which is a $22,000 room! Yay, for saving money! All applications for financial aid are due on the 17th, and I'm hoping for any kind of aid. It'd would be incredible if they would be like, "hey, you're broke, come on for free." - but I just don't see that happening. :D

Packing List

1. Underwater disposable camera (2 count), for diving.
2. Griptex Wonderliner to keep laptops and other valuables secure on ship.
3. My Cannon Rebel XSi with two memory cards to document my trip.
4. My external hard drive to save my pictures.
5. My laptop, because.
6. Class supplies (pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, highlighters, note cards, sharpies, books, etc.)
7. My Nikon Coolpix S6 to have on me at all times - to take video, and pictures when the Cannon Rebel is not present.
8. Clothing of all types for all occasions. Especially, bathing suit(s), t-shirts, jeans, coat, scarfs. (Rain gear, sunglasses, watch, dresses)
9. My Sanuks for walking around the ship. 
10. Sneakers for hiking.
11. Sandals for laziness.
12. Heels for special occasions.
13. Large towel, because sas towels aren't allowed out of the rooms.
14. Toiletries (deo, shampoo, conditioner, tooth paste, shaving creme, razors, q tips, tampons, face wash, tooth brush, nail clippers, hair brush, little tissue packs, etc.)
15. A small blanket for cold nights.
16. Laundry detergent for cleaning my clothes. 
17. Neosporin, band aids, Aquaphor, sun screen (45+ SPF stick, and 20 SPF lotion), sea sickness medication, bug spray with deet, etc.
18. Alarm clock for waking me and my roomie up!
19. Backpack for carrying things while at port.
20. Magnets for hanging things on the wall.
21. Money! Lots and lots of money!
22. Snacks for snacking!
23. My iPod, for iPod uses. 

More to come...

Accepted to Semester at Sea

I have been accepted to Fall 2009 voyage on Semester at Sea. I've put in my deposit. I'm expecting to be confirmed to a room in the next week. I'll be traveling with my good friend Jackie. I can speak for the both of us and tell you that we are beyond excited. There's so much to plan for, so many scholarships/grants to apply for, so much money to save, etc. I'll be keeping pretty busy for the next 208 days (which is when we set sail)! I still need to apply for my passport, too!

Semester at Sea's 100th Voyage
Voyage Theme: Globalization and The Post American / Flat World
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 28 August - Departure
Casablanca, Morocco 05 September - 09 September
Dubrovnik, Croatia 14 September - 18 September
Istanbul, Turkey 21 September - 25 September
Alexandria / Port Said / Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt 28 September - 03 October
Chennai, India 15 October - 19 October
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam 26 October - 31 October
Hong Kong / Shanghai, China 03 November - 08 November
Kobe / Yokohama, Japan 12 November - 16 November
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA 26 November - 27 November

Hilo, Hawaii, USA 28 November - 30 November

San Diego, California, USA 07 December - Return

I think it's rather ironic that I would be going on a voyage with "flat world" in the title since I was given that question in my profile. Also, I found that cute little comic from a previous voyagers' blog.