4TH Grade!

Hey Guys! Just left Ghana a few days ago and had some catching up to do. Aaron was saying that he wanted to know more about Ghana especially for it's name. Something that I looked up after leaving was that Ghana means "warrior king." In medieval Ghana the kings of the land were named Ghana and later the name became the title of the land. It is a very interesting sounding name and it has a pretty interesting past. Jasmine also talked about how Ghana would be an interesting place and yes it is. Ghana was by far the most enjoyable country to visit so far. One trip that I wish I could have gone on was a drumming and dancing trip. I was on the Volta Eco Adventure so I didn't get a chance to go but on the trip they learned how to drum and dance in traditional styles. The music in Ghana means a lot to their culture and plays many roles in their lives. That would be something interesting to check out if you get a chance; Ghanaian drum and dance music.

Another exciting thing that has happened since Ghana is Neptune Day. Neptune Day is the day that we cross over the equator. If you have not crossed the equator by water before you have to be properly inducted as a "Shellback." This is a notice we received from King Neptune himself.

To all Pollywogs (otherwise known as persons who have never crossed the equator
by sea): You are hereby requested to appear before the ROYAL COURT OF THE
REALM OF NEPTUNE, in the DISTRICT OF EQUATORIUS. It has been brought to
the attention of HIS HIGHNESS, NEPTUNE REX through his trusty SHELLBACKS,
that the good ship MV EXPLORER is about to cross the equator and enter those
waters accompanied by passengers who have not acknowledged the sovereignty of
the RULER OF THE DEEP. THEREFORE be it known to all Slimy Pollywogs that
The Royal King NEPTUNE REX, Supreme Ruler of all citizens of the deep, will with
his Secretary and Royal Court meet in full session on-board the offending ship M.V.
EXPLORER on the 26th day of September AD 2009 at 0900 on Deck 7 Aft to hear
your defense.
Regards,
King Neptune and His Royal Court

It was a pretty fun event. The day of September 26th we were woken up by the "royal court," our crew dressed in toga-like outfits and other crazy garb. They were banging pots, pans, drums and playing horns. They came by our rooms twice. After everyone was woken up we were called to the seventh deck to begin the ceremony. We were out by the pool and two at a time we presented ourselves in front of King Neptune, the Queen, and their royal quart. King Neptune was actually the captain of the Mv Explorer which was pretty funny. He was painted green and had a triton and a royal crown. As we stood in front of them we were christened with the royal waters (colored water and fish trimmings). Then we had to jump into the pool to wash it away. By the time all 500 students and a few crew members all dove into the pool with the royal water on them the pool water had turned black. After the water we kissed a fish and were knighted as shellbacks of the deep. I get a certificate sometime. As one last show of your gratitude to King Neptune people lined up to get their heads shaved by the royal barber (one of the professors aboard). Not everyone did it but quite a few did. There were about 12 girls I would guess and several guys including myself. I am now bald and in debt to King Neptune.

Thanks King Neptune for taking my hair.

Title; Obama's Ghana

Entry:

Ghana was amazing. I had a lot of fun there and hope to go back some day. I would love to go to all these places again but Ghana is first on the list so far. The people were so nice. There are no public jobs so most, if not all of them are venders selling goods to each other and to tourist. So, naturally they all want you to buy whatever they can find and will do anything to get you to buy it. This is pretty typical anywhere we go because most of us stand out as tourist and tourists are there to spend money. But despite them struggling to get anyone to buy something from them they are super friendly. Many people asked for your phone number or email address upon meeting you. They would ask you your name an where you were from and then get your information.

There were also the people who left greater impressions by helping for long periods of time. One girl (Rebecca) I know spent most of a day with her taxi driver. The taxi drivers there all offer to take you around all day. They will drop you off and arrange to meet back with you to take you back or to another destination. In the case of my friend, she went to a theatre because she is studying Drama and Theatre. There wasn't a show going on but they let her go back stage and get a thorough tour. After that, she even went to lunch with her taxi driver. They're just that nice to be with. It's easy to feel safe here but you always keep your guards up.

Also, one of my tour guides left a great impression on me. His name ironically enough was Sam. For most of the time I was in Ghana I was on a trip called Volta Eco Adventure. We toured around the Volta region which is named for Lake Volta, which is one of the largest man made lakes. There was a damn, the Akosombo damn, constructed in 1962 if my memory serves me right (opened in 1965) on the Volta river which created Lake Volta behind it. The damn also serves as the major supply of electricity to Ghana because it is a hydroelectric plant. On the trip we crossed the famous bridge, the Adomi Bridge. It is Ghana's largest suspension bridge. Just past the bridge we visited a small town then moved on to the highest peak in Ghana, Afadjato. After hiking to the top of the peak and back down we left to go to Wli falls in the same day which was not to far from the peak. Wli falls was a nice place to cool off after the intense hike in the heat of Africa. That night, we went to the Chances Hotel in Ho which was nice. It's funny cause the building we stayed in was the Brick House. We couldn't help but sing "She's a brick---HOUSE!"

The next day was the best day by far. When we were on our way to the hike on our first day Sam taught us a traditional song in Ewe (a dialect used in the Volta region). It took us a while to get it down but when we did get it we sang it for the rest of the trip. I still get it stuck in my head. The song came in handy the second day of our trip. We went to a small village to see and feed some monkeys that the locals believe are sacred, Tafi Atome. When we arrived there was a school house of kids just as w got off the bus. We were able to interact with them through the song that Sam taught us. The song is one that all the people in that area know so when we started singing it to them they all came out and started singing with us. It was amazing. The kids all clapped the beat and sang. Some kids even dance a little. I'm so glad Sam taught that to us and he seemed proud of us. He told us at the end that we were his first group to actually learn, sing, and interact in the way that we did. If you ever get a chance or want to go to Ghana I highly recommend going with Sam (elismatoursghana@yahoo.com -ask for Sam).

The monkeys were also pretty darn cool. The guide we were with made a sound kinda like a kiss noise to get the attention of the monkeys. Then we all got a half of a banana to feed to them. You had to hold it firmly in your hand if you wanted them to stick around otherwise they would take of with it. When you held the banana up they would come down to the closest branch and reach out. Then, just like we would peal a banana they would peal down to where your hand stopped the peal and take the small bite and leave. Then you'd get a different grip on the banana and another monkey (or the same one) would come down for another bite. All in all the Volta Eco Adventure was amazing. We even all got a chance to get out of the bus and give it a good shove to get it out of a mud pit we got stuck in.

The last day (and the first day) I shopped around Tema which is where we made port. It was a pretty cool place to be but most people spent most of their time in Accra which is one of the major cities in Ghana.

P.S. The people there loved Obama. They sold shirts with him on it, they made snacks called "Obama biscuits," and there was even and Obama Hotel. So, you can imagine how exciting it was when he came to Ghana recently. I also have some shout outs and another day to talk about (Neptune Day- I shaved my head!) but I am pretty tired and have a bit of a cold. Nothing major but stay tuned!

Title: Center of the World

Entry:

As the Mv Explorer gets closer and closer to Ghana we are becoming closer and closer to the center of the world. In less then a week when we leave Ghana we can actually say that we are at the center of the earth, talking about latitude and longitude of course. The zero degree longitude runs through Ghana near it's east border and zero degrees latitude is roughly seven degrees south of the Ghanaian coast. Which means.....


Neptune Day!


I am that much closer to shaving my head for the Neptune day celebration. Neptune day is the day we cross the equator. To celebrate we get classes off for the day and there are many major events. Most of them are much like the olympics where we compete to win an assortment of games but the one that I am  looking forward to shaving my head. I have been told that when sailors cross the equator they shave their heads as a sacrifice of sorts to Neptune the god of the seas for good passage. However there are a few avid sailors on the ship who have never heard of this but I'm gong to do it anyway. Not that I am superstitious, but I don't want to be the reason why our boat sinks. Not that it would happen anyway.

As of now we are passing Cote D'Ivoire getting ready to make port in Ghana tomorrow. We will be there for four days and then we are back to the sea for seven more days until we get to Cape Town, South Africa.

----------------
An update on my mortuary studies

I haven't even been gone for a month and I have never been more confident about going into my career of choice, Mortuary Science. I had my doubts before, hints the big change call Semester At Sea. I have met many many people that have knowing and unknowingly helped me debate my foggy future. And become comfortable with the fact that it's still pretty darn foggy. I thought that on this trip I would be able to escape the field a bit to get an outside perspective of what I am doing but I never found that escape and I'm fine with it. I ended up delving into the field further. As we go to each port I have been studying the cultures and how they deal with death. I brought the book "Funeral Customs the World Over" by Habenstein and Lamers and have been able to prepare myself slightly for the port of call. When I am in port I have been trying to find out from tour guides or locals a first hand perspective of the customs. Oddly enough, this small bit of research has already made it's self into my poetry class and continues to find it's way in more areas of the shipboard life. I have been asked to help with a memorial service for a student that went on this trip and died some time after. His mother is with us as a professor and I believe the plan is to scatter the ashes in the Indian Ocean. Also, after a discussion with one of the counseling psychologists aboard we plan to start an Explorer Seminar discussing death traditions and culture around the world. So, even though I went on this trip thinking that there would be no mortuary connection, I have found more then I could have ever imagined. So, wish me luck and I hope to be able to explain more later. 

Title: Three months In

Entry:

We are nearly done with three weeks of our trip and I honestly feel like it's been three months. Everyone on the boat agrees too. There are so many deep connections between people as if we've know each other for months. In fact one of my friends (Madison) made the comment that "each day is so concentrated." And she is so right. So, much goes into one day on this trip whether we are at sea in classes or whether we are in port traveling. I can't even imagine how much history I will have with this trip by the end. Heck we still have about eleven weeks left.

So, for this month, well actually week, we were in Morocco. We made port in Casablanca five days ago. As soon as the ship was cleared the students going on the camel trek (including myself) were able to get on the bus and head to Marrakech. It was about a four hour bus ride. Once we got there we went straight to our first meal. Everyone was hungry because it seems like we always get to food later than normal when we are in port. This place was the perfect first stop. We went to a restaurant that was right around the corner from the Souk (market). This is one of the most exciting areas of town with street performers, food, and all kinds of different little shops. The restaurant was Al Baraka. It was so beautiful with precise and detailed decorations. It seemed like everywhere we went after that never failed to impress us with the decor and ambiance. It was built in the typical style of Moroccan homes in that it had an entrance that led to an outdoor court yard which connected to surrounding rooms. We sat at the tables which were always lower than we are used to but had stools and short couches instead of chairs. The tables always had tons of hand painted dishes that were very colorful and all our glasses and silver wear. Most of the time the dinners were brought out in multiple courses. One big platter of each course was put in the middle of the table and we all shared from the one heaping course. I don't think we ever finished a course between the 5-8 that sat at one table. The first course was usually some mix of cooked or raw vegetables, the second and sometimes third course was usually the meats, and the last course was dessert which was always fruit. And a Moroccan meal wouldn't be complete without mint tea at the end. The tea was always amazing! The most unusual but always delicious part was the course with the meat. It was fun to be surprised and try to work together to figure out what it was. Sometimes it wasn't all that hard because it was beef or chicken but we did have some other interesting ones. The first was a meat that looked green but it turns out that it was lamb/veal that had a green sauce. Another was some kind of sausages. There were two different kinds; one was a patty shaped, beef-looking sausage and the other was red mini sausage links. We never knew what they were unless someone asked because it was a prepared set menu. The last interesting meat caught us by surprise. It looked like chicken kabobs so most of us didn't pay any attention but because we were told about it ahead of time one of the more experienced travels asked what it was. Turns out that the chicken kabob wasn't chicken at all, it was pigeon. Apparently it's common ground in Morocco. That's one way to control the pigeon population. I wonder if New York would ever consider it.

Anyway, after our first meal we headed out to the Souks! We walked around for a bit and got some money (Durhams). A tour guide invited us to go with him through the Souks because it can be pretty intimidating with all the people in skinny alleys, all trying to buy and sell all at once. It's a pretty crazy environment. We walked through a few alleys of Souks then we were led to the pharmacy. The pharmacy being a holistic approach to healing. We walked up a stair well that was full of spices. Everywhere you looked there were jars, troughs, and other containers with all sorts of colors of herbs. We were led into a room that had nothing but shelves all over the wall with not one more space for any other jar. It was a very beautiful sight because of all the different colors. A man began to give us a speech about all the herbs and their assorted cures. Some solved dry skin, some got rid of cold sores, some made you go to sleep, and the list went on and on. Meanwhile, a chain of events was about to cause something exciting.

As we had been walking around the Souks we noticed that a storm was coming in. We all enjoyed it because the dark clouds surround the mosque in the background of the Souk made for some very cool pictures. While we were listening to the speech that the man was giving to us to storm broke loose. The wind started to blow pretty hard and we were about to find out. None of us really noticed it but there were windows behind some of the jars that were on the shelves behinds us. One time the wind was just strong enough to suddenly knock a few jars off that nearly drop on a girls head and fell to the floor with a big crash. Naturally, it scared the beejeesus out of us. Luckily the jars missed the girl though and she wasn't hurt. Plus, it made for some more really cool pictures because like I said they were all sorts of colors. For the most part the ones that fell were red so someone made the comment that it looked like a crime scene. They fell in just a perfect way that it made a cool pattern so I have some cool pictures to show you when I can. After that the storm cleared up pretty fast and we set back out for the bus to our hotel.

The next day we left for our seven hour bus ride through the Atlas mountains to the Sahara mountains where we got to ride the camels. It was a pretty touristy trip but I still had a lot of fun. The camels were tied together in links of about five or six and a local nomad led it through the edges of the Sahara. Unfortunately, there weren't enough camels for everyone so we either had to get of and let our partner go or ride together on the camel. The trek only ended up being about an hour and a half one way which wasn't very far at all from our buses. The next day we took the same path back and got about another hour and a half ride.

We did stay the night in a nomad camp though! It was a nomad camp for a king. It had an outdoor WC, three huge dining tents, sleeping tents, and a large common area with a fire pit. Every inch of the camp had Berber carpets covering the ground and they even had blankets that sort of fenced in the camp. They also had electric lighting. So, to say the least, it was still touristy but we had a great time. We had another traditional Moroccan meal in the dining tents and had time to socialize and wonder out into the Sahara. Some friends and I wondered out and layed on the dunes and watched the stars. I have never seen so many bright stars in my life. It was so dark out there in the middle of no where that it seemed like you could see twice as deep into the sky. The Milky Way has never been so clear and we even saw several shooting stars. That night we could sleep anywhere we wanted; out on the dunes, in our sleeping tents, in the dining tents, or even on the carpeted common area by the fire. I chose to sleep in the dining area on the really comfortable couch seating. But at about 3a.m. it was so cold! That was enough to keep you awake.

After the camel trek we had another night in the hotel and another chance to go to the Souk and shop. Then, back to Casablanca!

That brings us to today. I just got back in from watching Casablanca get further and further away. Most people usually go out to the decks to watch the disembarkation. My favorite spot is the observation deck which is at the bow of the ship. We are now out at sea for another seven days of classes. Then, Ghana!

Also, there were a few people from the fourth grade class that I wish I would have mentioned last time. Austin said he wanted to learn Spanish and I can't agree with you more now that I have been to Spain. It would have been really useful and would have made a lot of things easier but you can't learn every language. I really love French and hope to pick it back up when I get to school. So, stick with Spanish Austin. It takes a ton of practice but it will be worth it when you get a chance to travel. I also wanted to tell Jacob that you should try paella. You said you like spanish rice then this is the dish for you. It's rice that is cooked i a big frying pan with different sauces and some kind of meat, usually seafood. If you ever see paella on a menu somewhere I highly recommend it. And if you ever go to Spain you need to seek it out. I also have a little story for Cody. You know I never thought I would say this but here it goes. I had eaten so much Moroccan food which is so delicious and really good for you. But it is so light that it was hard to feel fulfilled for long so the last night I was in Marrakech I had to get some good ol' food from the States. We went to McDonalds which is everywhere. I don't think there will be a place that doesn't have one. When we went I got the best thing on the menu, a Big Mac with fries and a coke. And then I went all out and got ice cream. I figured you would appreciate this Cody since your favorite food was a Big Mac. That should hold me off for a while though.

Well, until next time...

Title: I don't know where to begin

Post:

A couple days ago I went on a hike in some Spanish Mountains. This was in the Grazalema Natural Park which surrounds the White Town of Grazalema. (A "White Town" is a town that is completely white. All the buildings are white washed regularly by the lady of the house. It was/is tradition for the women to take on the huge task because the men were out farming the lands. Our guide mentioned how it sets up the scene in a comical way. She describe how the women are out in there work clothes with brushes attached to very long poles that stretch to the tops of the sometimes 2-4 story buildings. She also said that it's impressive because they take on the task within a day or so.) Anyway, on this hike a few of us that happened to be close to each other started talking about writing in our journals. We all agreed that when you really want to write in your journal about something there is so much going on that you don't have time to write but when you have time to write there is not much going on and it's hard to remember what to write. And I'm pretty sure that most other people on this hike would have agreed but you could only talk to a few people that were close to you because we had to walk single file so that you wouldn't fall off the narrow path. The vertical drop some 200 feet or more would not be pleasant.

So, that's how the story goes, I had so much going on in the last five or six days that it's hard to come up with one chronological story. But I have a few highlights.

The first two are the schedule trips that I signed up for; the churches of Cadiz and the hike at Grazalema. The church tour was pretty interesting because not only did we get to see some beautiful churches we also got a quick tour of the small city. The first thing bout the city that you learn is that it is much like a hand and an arm. If you were to raise your hand in the air your hand would be the old part of Cadiz, Spain and the arm would be the new part. The old part had several cathedrals, a newly discovered Roman Theatre, the old cigarette factory, our port, the train station, and many buildings made of sea rock that was harvested from the shores of Cadiz. The rock was particularly interesting because you could see fossils and shells within these blocks that made up these amazing building. However, it is now illegal to harvest this rock so the new part of cadiz looks much more westernized with cement and metal buildings. Also, because of the destruction of Cadiz in war, the city added a wall and watch towers to protect them. So, the old part of the city and the new part of the city are separated by a grand wall at the "wrist." The other trip was the hike that I was talking about. To my surprise the hike ended up being a pretty vigorous one up a fairly steep mountain during the hottest part of the day. The temperature was near 90 degrees F. but luckily there was a strong breeze. The guides even told us that it would be tough because they usually start the hike early in the morning at about 8am considering the typical hot weather but we were starting it at about 1pm. We took a few short breaks to enjoy the views and they were amazing. Unfortunately, my camera died on the way to the hike. However, there is one picture of me looking out over the land that does exist. It will probably be one I get on facebook though. Once we had hiked about 2 1/2 miles we stopped for lunch in the shade and then hiked the same path back. It was very gratifying.

We also got a chance to eat a ton of Spanish foods. We had Tapas and Paella for the most part which were both excellent. The different atmospheres of each of the places we ate made the food that much better.

There is some more but it so hard to cover it all. However you can email me any time (scperry@semesteratsea.net) to ask me anything. I would especially like to hear from Sarah, Max, Tiffany, Kyrsten and Britni because you guys are the fourth graders that wanted to know more about Spain. Hopefully I can answer some questions for you if you have any. I will answer any emails as soon as I can but tomorrow I leave for a camel trek! So, it might take a little while to get back to you but don't be discouraged.

Here I come Morocco!

Title: A Day Aboard the MV Explorer

Entry:
While we are at sea we are in school mode. We have two different days labeled "A" day and "B" day. I am going to take you through my first "A" day.

The first day of class after advancing our clocks by one hour (which is pretty typical every day as we cross the Atlantic), I woke up to my watch beeping at 5:45 our time. I had slept in my running shorts and shirt so that when I got up all I had to do was put on my hat and running shoes before going to the gym. The gym/spa here aboard the Mv Explorer is up on the seventh floor and I live on the third floor. Once you get up to the gym it's a small room about the size of an average bedroom. They have tredmills, elipticals, stairmasters, and some other equipment of that nature. I prefer just to run. I had to sign up the day before in order to get a thirty minute session. As you can imagine running on a treadmill on a constantly moving ship is very interesting. Your trying to to run a straight path so that you do not fall off but the ship rocks back and forth. I had to catch myself a couple times against the wall so I wouldn't trip and get shot off.

After running, I went back to my room to take a shower. We do have our own bathrooms which I share with my roommate. It's very nice but about the size of an average bathroom stall and has everything we need; toilet, sink, shower, and some room for storage. It's amazing how efficient the little thing is and the water is great! We have very hot water. It's kind of funny to take a shower too. With the rocking of the boat the water in the bottom of the shower sloshes from side to side and sometimes you can lose your balance. We even had to take some of our stuff off the shower rack because it continued to fall off. My roommate told me one time he came in to find his body wash fallen to the floor and the cap had broken which then was all over the floor. So much for trying to conserve soap.

After I had gotten dressed and ready I headed up to one of the two dining areas for breakfast. The one that I prefer to go to (along with most evreyone else) is the Garden Lounge which has an inside dining area and an outside dining are on the deck. I like going outside because you have the endless view of the ocean to stare at. When you get to the dinning all everyone is supposed to sanitize their hands using the automated hand sanitizer at the entrance of the dining hall. This is to help control sicknesses in our small and contained community. Then, you hop in line to grab something from the buffet. On my first day I met two girls in line (pretty common to meet people while waiting for food) and I ended up sitting with them (Emma and her roommate I believe). We, of course, ate outside because it was a very nice day. The food is pretty normal. I think I had yogurt, eggs, and pancakes that day. I have yet to wake up early enough for another breakfast to see if it is any diffe
rent.

When breakfast was over it was to the first class of the day, Global Studies. Everyone has to take Global Studies as part of our trip. It is a class that gives us a heads up so we know what to expect before we get to each country. It also discusses topics such as "the world is flat" meaning the countries of our world are becoming interconnected through the advancements in technology. We even read that a McDonald's in Cape Girardeau (a town about 45 minutes from my college which I have been to a few times) has an interesting way of taking your order. When you go through the drive-thru a person from Colorado Springs, which is more than 900 miles away, is the person that takes your order. This class is in the Union which is the largest class room on the ship. It's much like a lecture hall or auditorium.

From Global Studies I go to a smaller class, Jazz. This class is roughly a 12' x 12' room with a couch that raps around the back and a few small table tops with chairs in the middle. At the from of the class is a screen with a projector and a podium; a typical college classroom except it's got an ocean view blocked by life boats. This class is a jazz music appreciation class. We are starting with the fundamentals of music and I assume we will delve into the history of Jazz.

Then, off to the dining hall again for lunch. Most of the lunches and dinners consist of salad, some kind of pasta, some kind of meat, and any form of potatoes. There is only so much variation possible when you have to store and save food for a week or so at a time. And of course before entering and as you leave you must sanitize your hands.

After lunch I headed out of the dining hall to the deck, where you can also eat. On the deck there are stairs that lead to the seventh floor deck, which is also the pool deck. From there you have the best view of the ocean. Most all of the deck is open except for about a fourth of it which has a canopy cover that shades the snack bar area. You can get almost anything at the snack bar; chips, cookies, drink, and pizza. ( I know Ryan, James, Victor, Kyrsten, Britni, Jordan, and Michael would like that. You guys said pizza was your favorite food.) And as for the pool, ( listen up Jalen and Mackenzie I bet this pool is smaller than yours but at least there is one!) it is probably about 5' x 14' and has shallow areas on either side that allows the water to filter in an out to keep it from sloshing out. I was impressed by this smart design but I was told it is pretty typical on cruise ships.

This was a pretty warm day and I would have liked to get my swim suit on and gone into the pool but I had class soon after. So, instead I read my book under the canopy. As I was reading, one of the crew members yelled out that there was an animal swimming by. We all went to the side and saw a couple dolphins jumping in and out of the water. I suspect they were following the cargo ship that had just past by. They seem to like to follow things. This was a big day for seeing things in the ocean! Hardly ever do you get to see anything. Most of the time it's open water as far as you can see.

After the excitement of spotting other life at the sea, I got a chance to listen to some music with a friend (Didi) on the "chill" dock, meaning it's a nice quite place to be. It's at the bow of the ship. This is my favorite view. It's everything that comes ahead of us... more ocean and pretty soon Spain!

Last but not least I have a poetry class. This class is in a similar classroom as my Jazz class. It's pretty self explanatory; we read poetry and discuss it.

My only other class is Non-Profit Leadership, which is on "B" day. This is a class about organizations that make no profit but raise money to help people in many different ways. Some that you might know are Habitat for Humanity, The Red Cross, and, surprisingly, Semester At Sea.

In the evening after classes there are plenty of things to do. There is dinner and snack time (Yes! snack time late in the evening). But also there are many groups you can join. They could be anything from exercising to spirituality or career help and being adopted by the Lifelong Learners. Lifelong Learners are the older students here that are usually no longer in college. They adopt various students to be their mentors. This has become a very popular part of SAS. Over 400 people applied to be a Lifelong Learner and their are less than 100 aboard. Their ages range anywhere from late twenties to eighties.

Then, at the end of the day, exhausted from all that has been done, I was rocked to sleep like a little baby.


P.S. I just attached my SAS email (scperry@semesteratsea.net) to my blog so that I can update more often. We have limited internet that I have to use sparingly but this email is free to use. So email me anytime at this address. Plus, no I just email my entries to my blog and they should automatically update. We'll see how it works.