Crossing the Atlantic!

Ahoy!

Location: 42 degrees N, 48 degrees W, Atlantic Ocean

I’m currently sitting in my porthole window looking out at the beautiful clear blue-green water with absolutely no land in sight. It’s GORGEOUS and I can’t believe I’m finally here! All the prep work for this trip was most definitely worth it! I’m enjoying this all so very very much!

I’ll pick up from where I left off last ☺

My flights up to Halifax, Nova Scotia went very smoothly. My family drove me to Columbus, Ohio very early on Wednesday morning to the airport. I got on my connecting flight in NYC and landed safely in Halifax. While boarding in NYC, I scoped out the room wondering whom else might be on SAS and actually met a few! After landing, I talked more with the SASers and ended up hanging out with them for awhile. I was going to stay in a hostel that first night, but a couple of my new friends offered for me to stay with them in a hotel. That sounded more fun and safer, so I did—I got to hang out with them for the night and then slept on a chair! The next morning was check-in for the student workers (that’s me!). 83 of us boarded and moved in our belongings. I met my roommate, Lauren, who is also a senior psychology major. The rest of the day consisted of folding shirts for the campus store for about an hour, and then getting to explore Halifax more! Nova Scotia is beautiful! But I’ll talk more about it in a minute.

Friday was the big day for the rest of the student body to move on. I got to work check-in, which I actually really enjoyed since I got to greet all my peers with a friendly smile. After work finished, we explored Halifax one last time, kissed the ground (not literally lol), and then boarded the ship. At 1700 (I really need to get used to using military time!) we disembarked! HOW EXCITING! We all piled at the rear of the ship on all the deck levels and waved goodbye to the parents. Some bagpipers came to play music on shore as we sailed away. We were finally moving! We ate supper that night slowly watching the shore fall away in the distance and then eventually couldn’t see it at all… and haven’t for 3 days now! Let me tell ya, it’s weird not seeing shore for this long… but the ocean is sooo beautiful! Yesterday consisted of informational orientations all day and today (yes, Sunday) we start classes. I’m actually very ready for classes to start… I’m in the mood to learn again, especially in this worldly campus!

I’ll tell you a little about the ship life. There are 521 students and 900 total people on board. Other than the students, there are crew staff, professors, RAs, and Life-Long Learners. We have students from 15 countries and staff from 27 countries. This means that we have a VERY diverse group, both culture and age-wise. It’s very neat to see everyone come together for the same mission. The ship itself seemed huge at first but now seems much smaller. It’s actually mini-sized compared to those real cruise ships! I was supposed to be on the 2nd deck (the cheapest!) but they moved me up to 4th, which is a lot nicer and more spacious (I got it for the same price though), because we have a smaller student body this semester. They are using the 2nd deck as quarantine in case the Swine Flu breaks out… So that’s a bit of comfort and discomfort at the same time! Everyone is VERY friendly! I’ve met soooo many people and have honestly enjoyed each one! Everyone is just so excited to finally be here! It’s been very easy to make friends because of this.

I’ll now tell you a little about Halifax, Nova Scotia! It’s very beautiful, that’s for sure. A couple of my new friends made comments on how it is very similar to Maine and the other New England states, which makes sense since it’s not far from them! It is a city on hills with an industrial and touristy bay. The food was very similar to the US’s, with maybe a few small differences. I had ice cream (that’s a shocker, right? Haha) that was very unique! It was cold-stone style but they mixed fudge in instead. My choice was mint ice cream with brown sugar fudge… it was very tasty! Night musicians played bag pipes with accompanying drums (well, pots and pans) along the dock, all dressed in kilts too! The Nova Scotians were very friendly as well! I thought that there would be more French-speaking signs and people around, but it seemed predominantly English-speaking instead. The land was beautiful with many many trees and rolling hills. The atmosphere was just very calming, laid-back, and relaxing!

Well, I am heading off to my first day of classes! I hope everything is going well for all of you as you move back to school, start classes, and continue working! Talk to you later ☺

Setting Sail!

My flight on Wednesday went well, and I arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia will all my luggage in hand. I actually met a few girls in the airport who were also doing SAS. They offered me to stay in their hotel room (compared to the Hostel I was originally planning on staying in). So we all went out to dinner in Nova Scotia, and that night I slept in a chair! On Thursday we checked into the ship and after folding T-shirts for my job in the bookstore, a group of us went out and explored Nova Scotia some more!

Yesterday at 17:00 we set sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia and are heading across the Atlantic Ocean to Spain! Below are a few pictures of my room:

Our porthole in our room! Because of "fixing parts of the ship", I got moved from 2nd floor up to 4th floor! This room has more room and a bigger porthole!!! And there's even a ledge before the porthole that could be used as a sorta-bench... AWESOME! That is Halifax in the background.

View of the room looking from the window to the door.

View of the room from the door. My bed is the one on the right. My roommate boarded the ship as well on Thursday. Her name is Lauren, and is actually a psych major too; this is her last semester before graduating.

I'm just REALLY loving this! Like, it's just so cool! And everyone I've met has been friendly... which I just love! I just love what's happening... seeing cultures, studying abroad, surrounded by new ppl, seeing cultures, seeing cultures, being around water 24/7, viewing cities on foot... it's just great!

One last American day

Hey, how's it going?

I depart tomorrow. I depart tomorrow. I depart TOMORROW...

I can't believe that this trip is finally HERE. I have been planning it for a year and a half now, and I can't believe it's TOMORROW already! I've had a wonderful time at home these past few weeks... including a surprise "Happy Birthday / Bon Voyage" party last night from my family and friends. It was absolutely wonderful to have everyone together and see some Bluffton friends whom I hadn't seen much since school let out and won't see for a while longer. But let me tell ya, the "goodbyes" are the hardest part, or as I was corrected last night, the "see you laters." I am completely excited right now. Very very excited, just sad to say "see you later." I have such wonderful family and friends, and they sure make it hard to leave them for a few months! But I am so excited for what is to come as well!

I am planning on doing a few things in each country to be able to compare and get a better idea of the world in its entirety.

• I will take a picture looking out my porthole in each country, with the porthole as a frame.
• I will take a picture of the cuisine.
• I will take note of their bathroom style (sort of gross... but still interesting, eh? lol)
• I will try to find a music gathering and video record part of it. 
• I will use that country's greeting in my blog post (note my American ones so far :) )
• I will ask about how they view people with disabilities. I am wanting to work with this population as a career, and I find it very interesting about how the idea of a "disability" is much more culturally-defined than we realize. I'm excited to be able to compare it across the globe. 
• I will share my adventures and the things I find most interesting!

My sister introduced me to a song while I was in China that explained my feelings during the experience. The song has become my theme song for preparation and as I start my adventures on SAS. It is called "The Perimeters of Me" by Dividing the Plunder (now called Ellery). 

Perimeter of Me 

Your wind is mighty - it bends the backs of trees

Moves among the fields along these Pennsylvania streets

We've come to know as highways - they can take us anywhere

But all we know is where we're going

And how fast we're getting there

Well, the world outside my window is shaming me again

With the things I haven't seen cause I've been writing about them

The sky's a waiting witness to the truth I would possess

But I've forgotten all its mystery in my quest for second best

And I want to live with wider eyes,

There's far too much to see

To think of nothing else

But where I've been and where I'll be

I've been longing for the freedom

That is waiting silently

In the life that's just beyond the small

Perimeter of me

Your rain is mighty, it weathers mountainsides

It raises the Ohio 'til it looks a mile wide

And I think that I have crossed it on this bridge a thousand times

And haven't even seen Your river from the corner of my eyes

Well, I'm frightened by how easy it can be to live so long

Going from one thing to the next thing,

To the next 'til months have gone

And you realize you have really not done anything at all -

At night you fall asleep believing

You've just climbed so you could fall…

And I want to live with wider eyes,

There's far too much to see

To think of nothing else

But where I've been and where I'll be

I've been longing for the freedom

That is waiting silently

In the life that's just beyond the small 

Perimeter of me

And I don't believe that who I am 

Is something I can find

It's whatever I create

With what I do with all my time

It's who I choose to love

With all my heart and strength and mind -

And whether I believe that what I have

Is really mine…

And I want to live with wider eyes,

There's far too much to see

To think of nothing else

But where I've been and where I'll be

I've been longing for the freedom

That is waiting silently

In the life that's just beyond the small 

Perimeter of me

I'm ready to widen my eyes... to see beyond the small perimeters of me... 

Here I go :)

Countdown: 2 weeks!

Hello!

I officially depart for Canada in 2 weeks from today to board the MV Explorer! I can't even believe the time is about here! I'm filled with so many different emotions, but mostly positive ones... like a whole lot of excitement! For my first post, I would like to give you a little more basic information on what exactly I am doing and how to keep in touch. 

Semester at Sea (http://www.semesteratsea.org/) is an academic program that combines studying and traveling around the world. This style of education is unique: "a life-changing study abroad experience allowing one to explore the world's fascinating cultures while learning in an academic environment." 521 students along with professors and crew workers will live together on a ship. While it is traveling from port to port, I will take classes that will transfer back to Bluffton. When we arrive in each port, we get to go explore! Exploration opportunities are offered through SAS, but a large portion is done independently (but in groups of course, Dad). I have a quickly-growing interest to engage in other cultures after spending this past May in China. I left China really wanting more, so it's too perfect that I'm spending a semester embracing quite a few cultures!

We will be visiting 11 countries in 109 days... Wow! This is what our route will look like: 

On August 26th, I will be flying to Halifax, Novia Scotia. I, and all other workers, will board the MV Explorer the morning of the 27th and I'll start my job in the campus bookstore. On the 28th, everyone else will board and we will disembark that evening!

1st stop: Cadiz, Spain - Sept. 5-9

On the 5th, I will be attending an event called "Flamenco Night," which includes bull-fighting, cow taming, and a horse and flamenco spectacle! After that show, there is a second show which lets audience members participate in Flamenco dancing (you know I'll be down there!)

Independent possibilities in Spain include going to Gibraltar, sites in Cadiz, Bajo de Guia, and learning how to surf!

2nd stop: Casablanca, Morocco - Sept. 10-14 

From the 10th-13th, I will be taking a trip called "Marrakech & Camel Trek in the Sahara." It consists of exploring the city of Marrakech, seeing a folklore show and horse fantasia, viewing the dunes and mud villages of the Sahara, eating dinner with nomads, tenting out in the Sahara Desert, and camel trekking through the Sahara (Whoa! I'm really pumped for this!).

On the 14th I will attend an event called "I Love Hip-Hop Morocco," which is required for a class but also sounds interesting!

3rd stop: Accra, Ghana - Sept. 22-25

From the 23rd-24th, I will be going on a "Cultural Immersion" trip. We will spend time in the African village of Torgorme, in which we will see and participate in traditional drumming and dancing, see pottery-making, hear folktales and stories, be given names, stay with a family (I'm really a fan of homestays and being immersed in a culture rather than only being a tourist and not taking time to learn and understand a culture), view Ghana's sacred monkeys, climb Afadjato Mountain, walk through a rainforest, and having a picnic lunch at the Tagbo Falls.

Other Possibilities include: visiting a school and attending a drumming and dance workshop.

4th stop: Cape Town, South Africa - Oct. 3-8

Possibilities include: hiking Table Mountain, working for Habitat for Humanity for a day or two, visit Operation Hunger (learn about feeding programs, visit squatter camps, and talk with the children of farm workers), and "!Khwa Ttu Route" which visits the San village and views the beautiful mountains around it. I'm also interested in some bigger adventures... We'll see :)

5th stop: Port Louis, Mauritius - Oct. 15-17

Possibilities include: going to a park and zip-lining across the tree-top canopy, visiting a children's village (literal village- few "moms" in charge of many abandoned children), serving at a children's center, and visiting Pamplemousses Garden.

6th stop: Chennai, India - Oct. 23-27

From 24th-25th, I will be attending "Child Labor in Rural India: Overnight Village Stay." It will teach us about the RIDE program that helps children leave the silk-weaving industry and provides mothers with more stable and good jobs. We will also get to view temples and talk with the people this program has impacted.

Other possibilities include a (free!) yoga demonstration (India is where Yoga all started!), visiting Missionaries of Charity Orphanage (which Mother Teresa founded and worked at for many many many years!), and visiting a Disable Children's Home. 

7th stop: Ho Chi Mihn City, Viet Nam - Nov. 3-7

Possibilities include: visiting a school for disabled, squeezing through the Cu Chi Tunnels and seeing the Cao Dai Temple, exploring the Mekong Delta, and going to the Hy Vong 8 School for the deaf and taking them to the zoo!

8th stop: Honk Kong, China - Nov. 11-12

On the 11th, I will attend "Asian Culture and Mental Health." After visiting China this past May and seeing all the pressure that is put on children and the high suicide rate, this topic really interests me! Oh, and it's also required for a class... But I'd go to it anyway!

Other possibilities include: visiting the Hong Kong Museum of Art and going to some markets. Many of the SAS students will take off to other parts of China to see Beijing, Xi'an, and the Great Wall, but I will stay on the ship since I just saw these sites a few months ago :)

9th stop: Shanghai, China - Nov. 15-16

Possibilities included: visiting Yu Garden, Suzhou, Zhujiajiao, and seeing an acrobatic performance. 

10th stop: Yokohama, Japan - Nov. 20-21

Possibilities include: a Japanese home visit, climbing Mount Fuji and Hakone, going to Landmark Tower, Harbor View Park, Sankeien Garden, and even Tokyo. 

11th stop: Kobe, Japan - Nov. 23-24

On the 23rd-24th, I will be doing an overnight homestay with a Japanese family. I'm excited to be able to first-hand compare the Chinese and Japanese cultures since I'll have had close interactions with families in both countries. 

Other possibilities include a Japanese students' reception, and seeing Todaiji and Kiyomizu Temple. 

12th stop: Honolulu, Hawaii - Dec. 4-5

Possibilities include: seeing Diamond Head, hiking through a rainforest, doing a hula workshop (oh yeah!), and snorkeling.

13th stop: Hilo, Hawaii - Dec. 6-7

Possibilities include: hiking through the Wailuku River State Park, Akaka Falls State Park, surfing, and a few other adventures... :)

14th stop: San Diego, California - Dec. 14

It's SAS's final stop... I'll get to fly to home and see the people I will have missed for so long!

My classes are: 

• World Music
• Controversial Issues in Psychology
• Sociology of Marriage and Family
• Global Studes

COMMUNICATION:

Although we only get 2 hours of free internet access the entire semester, they also give us FREE email back and forth to home. That means that we can still chat! As long as the email does not exceed 50 KB and has no attachments, my probable email for the semester will be:

kjsmith@semesteratsea.net

Send me an email! I'd love to keep in contact with you, hear about your life, and share in my adventures!

I have also had a few people ask me about air-mail. Here is a link that will explain when and where to send mail:

sending air-mail

Well, I think that about summarizes everything... for now at least! If you have any questions or comments, leave them on this post or shoot me an email at smikja@bluffton.edu (this email is for the next 2 weeks, then it will switch to the other one). I hope you are having a great summer and soaking in the sun!

Kels