ALOHA HAWAII!

I had three more full days at sea before reaching the much-anticipated Hawaiian Islands.  The seas finally got calmer and I was able to get two nights of rest without being woken up by drawers and flying objects.  Classes went on as normal for the three days and all are so much fun.  I met more people and I am starting so know almost everyone. I met a friend named Shanay at trivia night that I have been hanging out with most of the time.  I have started to partake in my activities that all seem like a blast.  Before reaching Hawaii, I had dinner with my extended family.  I have an older man and woman who live in Canada and whose daughter is the councilor on the ship.  They have done the voyage three times already and have stories that are amazing.  Their granddaughter is on the ship as well.  She was adopted from Cambodia.  They are leaving the ship in Vietnam to do their own independent travel around the area.  They are fascinating people and I hope to be as cool as they are when I am older.  They said when they did the extended family before they became very close with a girl from Morocco and even ended up going to her wedding.  I think that is awesome and now want them at mine.  We decided we would meet up after Hawaii again and share our stories of our adventures.  It was only Hawaii and I had no idea how much fun was in store. 

The first day we arrived we had to be up at 5:30AM to go through customs.  I was excited at first to just see land and hoped to see the sun rise, but it was still too early.  I was able to finally call home and it was so comforting to have a working phone and hear a familiar voice.  Customs was a two second process. We got called up to a lounge, got our passports, held them up to a guard to see, and gave them back.  It was now breakfast time and I was too excited to go back to sleep.  When the boat was cleared a huge line gathered to finally take our first steps on land.  I waited on board for a while since I had a scheduled trip at 11:00 and did not have enough time to explore before hand.  I found some other people waiting for trips and we went of the ship together just to pick up some snacks at a convenience store across from the pier.  I was able to tell everyone who was going on my trip because we were all wearing pants and holding jackets despite the gorgeous weather. We were going to an observatory.

The time went fast and our group gathered to pile into 4 fourteen-passenger vans.  Our drivers were big Hawaiian guys with tattoos everywhere and were so friendly and laid back with a great Hawaiian sprit.  Our first stop was to Akaka falls.  We were there for about a half hour and took a long looped trail through beautiful plants and trees to see some huge gorgeous waterfalls.  You could not swim in the waterfalls, only admire their beauty and take pictures of course.  Some of us were done early and watched a man make baskets out of leaves.  He said that they would brown in about 6 months and then last for 12 years.  They were gorgeous.  He said it is part of the Hawaiian culture and he felt it was important to preserve their culture and encouraged his daughters to find some part of their heritage to practice.  (Of course they chose hula.)  After watching for a while I went over to a table by where our guides were hanging out.  They were picking these branches and shaving them with a knife.  We asked what they were doing and said it was sugar cane and we could eat it.  They broke me off a piece and told me to chew it but to be sure not to swallow it.  It was kind of weird and like a candy wood.  Just about everyone on the trip came over and soon everyone was chewing and critiquing this new treat. 

We all piled into the vans to continue on our trip.  We drove for a while along some dried out plantation and trees that were dead from the effects of lava.  We stopped again and walked on some of the spots where there was old lava.  It was pretty cool looking but we were advised not to take any.  The myth says that Paile is the god of the volcanoes and if you take the lava you will have bad luck.  Apparently the post office is filled with packages of lava rocks that people have sent back.   This stop was necessary since we were going up to a very high altitude and had to let our bodies get used to it.  We got back in the vans and drove up a little more to where there were bathrooms and we would have our lunch stop.  It was about 1:30 at this point and we were all starving.  We had turkey sandwiches and some cookies and chips as snacks.  When we were done eating we drove up the rest of the way.  When my van got to the top we headed into where the Keck telescope's bottom was.  It is huge and we saw the bottom rotating.  It was pretty weird looking and not what you picture as a telescope.  We left the inside and just hung out on top of the mountain waiting for the sun to set.  It was pretty cold and we were not looking forward to the sun going down to make it colder.  The top of the mountain where we were lies over 40% of the earth's atmosphere and Hawaii was the last place I would think I would see snow, but I did.  We had been up since 5:30 and we were exhausted so some of us took naps lying on the rocks.  When it was finally sun set the view was incredible.  Some people went down already because they were not feeling well with the thin air.  I stayed up until the last group left.  The telescope finally opened and pointed a huge red laser toward the sky.  It was really cool but hard to capture in a picture.  Our astronomy teacher was still there and pointed out the constellations.  She had binoculars and we were able to look at the moon so clearly it was awesome.  After enjoying it for a while we were pretty much over it and focused our intention on staying warm.  We huddled under an overhead and talked about or favorite shows on Nickelodeon when we were little.  We were up there for a good hour and thought they had forgotten about us.  Two vans eventually pulled up and with our mouths chattering we piled in as quickly as possible.  We stopped a little ways down where the others had set up a smaller telescope.  We were so tired, cold and hungry we did not even look and just wanted to get back to the ship.  We drove an hour or so back to the ship.  We did not have dinner so the dean arranged for us to get free hot dogs or hamburgers on the top deck.  It was the first burger I had eaten on the trip and tasted so delicious.  Many of the students were going out to a bar.  I passed because one I wasn't 21 and we were still in American and two we was just so tired.  We arrived back at the ship at 10 pm and had been up for 17 hours. 


The second day in Hawaii we had to be back on the ship by 4.  We heard the beaches were not as good in Hilo and we should wait for Honolulu for the beach.  I decided to go on a trip with 10 other girls to see some of the volcanoes.  We got a guy to take us around in a van for $20 each.  He took us to Akaka falls again.  I did not mind even though I had done it the day before because it was so beautiful.  We went to the volcano's national park and saw the smoke coming out of huge holed craters in the earth.  We went through lava tunnels and really enjoyed the crazy earth forms.  After the volcano’s we went to an orchid garden and got some to put in our hair.  We headed to our last stop which was a macadamia nut farm and got to sample all the different types and got some delicious ice cream.  It was a good day and we got back on the ship without being late and getting dock time in our next port.  Dock time is the three hours you can't get off the ship in the next port if you are a minute late.  For every 15 minutes you are late you get docked 3 hours. 

I hung out on the ship and rested up for Honolulu.  In Honolulu I had plans to meet up with a few of my friends from Disney.  I got a text from one of them early in the morning telling me to wake up because she only had the car until 2:30.  I rushed to get off the ship as soon as possible.  My friend Shanay was coming along for the day too.  Leina is my friend who would be picking us up and taking us to Pearl Harbor first.  She told us she had the "hook up" there and we thought she was crazy because it was free to go to the memorial.  However, little did we know she was not kidding and we got to the Battleship Missouri for free and got a VIP tour from her dad who is head of security at the site.  We first went on a regular tour and we were told the stories about the parts of the ship and the technical stuff about the guns.  We were able to look into a window where the captain's headquarters were and saw where the countries' leaders signed to end the war.  Her dad met us later and asked what we wanted to see.  We told him we wanted to see where they slept.  He took us into the room we had only peered through a window.  We were able to go into the captain’s bedroom.  He said they still held meetings in the headquarters and only the elitist were allowed inside the room.  Well apparently we were elitist for the day.  We went to where the crewmembers slept and kept opening doors that said authorized personnel only.  It was really cool and an experience no one else would be able to have.  It was soon time to catch our boat to see the Arizona Memorial.  It was really touching and I started to tear up looking at the wall of names for the men who gave their lives for us.  You could still see the oil coming up from the ship after all these years.  We headed back to the car after getting some pictures with cute army guys of course.

Leina said our next stop would be a hotel with some dolphins.  We drove by the beach that had all the typical American chain restaurants that sounded so delicious.  We stopped by Diamond Head to take some really nice scenic pictures.  We pasted by one of the richest neighborhoods with some gorgeous houses.  The hotel was beautiful, possibly one of the nicest I have ever seen.  We went to the back to see the dolphins and they were about to put on a show.  We talked to one of the trainers for a while and she helped me so much with a report I would write for oceanography.  The dolphins were so cute and it was fun to watch them play.  When we were leaving the hotel we asked for some of the leis they were giving to guests and we got some beautiful purple and white real flowered leis. 

Leina took us to get some shaved ice.  I thought it would be like an Italian ice but it was different.  It was more of a snow cone with ice cream.  It was delicious.  We went with her to pick her mom up from work.  We went to her house and we were supposed to take her nephew to his canoe practice but he got sick.  So she took us to get some food.  We told her we wanted a real Hawaiian meal so she took us to this place called Yama's.  It was a seafood place and reminded me of a Chinese place at home.  It was the kind that you go to order your food and take it out but had glass cases of things you can order by the pound.  We told the girl it was our first time to Hawaii and we wanted the most Hawaiian dish we could get.  She helped us pick out some things to order that sounded delicious.  While those were being prepared she let us taste literally EVERYTHING else in the store.  Some of the things she would not tell us what it was before we ate it.  It was such a great experience and so much fun.  My other friend Laura, who was my roommate in Disney, met us there.  When our food was ready we took it up to a lookout where we could see so much of the beautiful island and ate it there.  Leina had to go to her Tahitian practice, but told us she would be going out with us later that night.  Laura took us back to the ship and arranged to pick us up in a couple hours to go out to a club. 

We got ready on the ship and told everyone to go to the club called Zanzibar.  We got ready and went to Laura's house to pre-game.  Since I would not be able to drink in the club I had to pre-game hard.  When we got to the club we realized almost everyone was from the Semester at Sea.  It was really fun and I loved being with my friends from Disney after not seeing them for a few months.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to the ship.  The next morning it was a little difficult to get up but I knew we had to hit a beach before leaving Hawaii.  I got Shanay and dragged her out of bed to go lay on the sand for a while.  She was not enthusiastic but I certainly was.  The beach was very touristy but beautiful and relaxing.  I of course got some sunburn.  We ate our last delicious American burger at the snack stand and went to an ABC store to get some last minute toiletries before heading back to the ship.

I called my parents for the last time for a few months.  It was pretty depressing, but I am so excited for the rest of the journey.  We have ten days at sea before arriving in Japan.  Our classes have started again and our clubs are meeting more.  I am part of the celebrations committee and was just put in charge of the St. Patrick's Day celebration.  I may be doing a lesson in Irish dance and have to arrange some fun activities.  (Unfortunately still having our limited access to alcohol.)   I still meet new people on the ship everyday but I am able to walk anywhere and know someone.  It is such a great experience and I am so excited to write about the future adventures.  Again I love hearing from anyone at home so please feel free to email me! 

IM ON A BOAT!

Finally!  I have begun my journey around the world.  I arrived 5 days ago on the ship that I will call home for the next for months. 

After spending a couple of days in San Diego with my mom in a beautiful hotel overlooking the marina, the buses were loaded to send us away on what is expected to be the trip of a lifetime.  I kissed my mom goodbye and filed in not knowing how I was going going to be changed by this voyage, when on the voyage I would be changed, why I would be changed, or where I would experience the change, but knowing that I would come back a different person.  I knew this from the stories of alumnae voyagers and from the desire I had to be changed by the people I would soon encounter around the world. 

We drove 2.5 hours to Ensanada, Mexico to get on the ship.  On the way there conversation flowed easily on the bus as kids were eager to make friends and share the enthusiasm with their fellow adventurers.  We came to realize that they must have split the buses up by region since everyone was either from New York or New Jersey.  We had trouble at the boarder with a petite blonde girl who apparently had sent in her passport copy that was too light and had to be rephotocopied.  We were there for about 45 min and were entertained my a Mexican who came to play La Bamba on the guitar on the bus.  He had us all clapping until he was done and asked for tips.  Once we finally crossed the boarder we took a nice scenic route to the ship.  Everyone cheered as we pulled up to the MV Explorer's Semester at Sea ship.

We lined up and waited anxiously to board.  Our global studies teacher greeted us all.  He is a professor from Penn State and will be teaching the core required class.  He saw my Penn State jacket and told me I had to work hard to make Joe Pa proud.  Once we got on the ship we had to go through about 8 stations to check-in.  Then I headed to my room.  I saw that most people had 2 in a room but I had four.  I walked in to see the bathroom on the right and two beds.  It seemed really small and I was trying to look up to see if there was some kind of pop out bunk.  I then realized there was a connecting door to another room with two beds and dressers and closets.  It is a lot bigger than I expected.  The girl I share my room with is Abbie.  She is from upstate and goes go SUNY Ferdonia. Courtney is in the other room and is from Georgia and goes to University of GA.  Caitlin is the third roommate and is from the Philly area and goes to Pitt.  They are all easy to get along with and I do not think we will have any problems. 

The first day we all just tried to meet as many people as possible.  We all gathered on the back of the ship during dinner to watch the ship pull out and cheered to be finally on our way to our first destination: Hawaii.

The next day was a long boring orientation.  We had to learn about safety on the ship and the honor code.  The day was packed with boring lectures that most students slept through.  Our global studies teacher was the only interesting speaker.  He had us all memorize the top 10 most populated countries in about 10 minutes.  He told us to think of a bat as a single unit, think of a Chinese person doing something crazy with a bat - they are the 1st most populated country in the world.  Think of a plug with the two things that go into wall, now think of someone from India plugging something in and getting electracuted and the turban flying off - India is the second most populated country.  And he went on and one until we were picturing geishas and sumo wrestlers in Japan bowling. 

After the one interesting speech and all the boring speeches of the day we were able to head to dinner.  It is hard to get used to having such set times for meals.  After dinner they had a club sign up.  I of course wanted to sign up for everything.  I am going to be partaking in something called the Vicarious Voyage.  Basically you get assigned an elementary school class in the US and send them emails and photos and packages that the teacher will incorporate into the classroom lessons.  I also signed up for the Catholic Sunday service.   There are a lot of kids on board with us.  They are children of professors or some of the life long learner's kids.  I signed up to help babysit them.  The life long learners are mostly older people out of college who signed up for the trip just for the experience.   Many of them are very well traveled and have had many experiences I am eager to learn about as the trip progresses.  I signed up for the extended family to take advantage of having such knowledgeable people on board.  In this you get a group of students and life long learners together and they are your family for your trip.  Basically you have dinner once in a while to just talk and learn from each other.  It was the one club that everyone signed up to do. 

The next day classes started.  We have A days and B days.  I only have global studies on A days so most of my day was spent just hanging around.  The ship is pretty ruff and many people have already been sick.  Unlike the many cruises I have been on, you constantly feel the movement.  It looks like a Saturday night in State College in the hall way with everyone walking back and forth trying to get their sea legs.  I have luckily not been sick.  My first day of global studies was exciting.  He is a very good teacher and keeps you engaged.  We learned about why the theme of our trip is sustainability and he told us a piece of advice that I thought was great.  He told us to never let your age exceed the number of countries you have visited.  I have been lucky enough to have been able to say that since I was 12 and hope to live by it for the rest of my life. 

The rest of the day was pretty chill and it was the first night we were able to drink.  My first $52 was spent of alcohol.  Shocking.  We have to buy a voucher for 15 drinks.  They only serve beer and wine and you are limited to 2 drinks at dinner and 3 at night.  No one really drinks at dinner and they only have a couple at night.  We are waiting for the ports where it will be much cheeper and better.  Nevertheless, it was the first night and packed.  Almost everyone was on the top deck socializing and many having their first legal sips of alcohol.  It was pretty crazy to think we were having this fun somewhat of a party in the middle of the ocean with nothing else remotely in sight. 

Yesterday was my first B day of classes.  I started off with global studies again and loved it just as much.  The ship has been rocky but is getting to be normal.  Holding on to plates as they slide across the table is common.  Last night we woke up to see everything that was on our night stands flown across the room and you constantly hear the drawers opening and closing.  One girl even fell over in her seat during our class.  I had my other three classes yesterday too.  My global studies class is pretty awesome.  Unlike many of the other teachers, it is his first time doing this trip and you can tell he is just as excited as we are.  He took us out on deck for about a half hour.  I some how managed to get burned and now have a ridiculous necklace tan line.  I had my art class shortly after.  It is a drawing class and that is all we did.  The teacher is really sweet and the class seems pretty easy.  Astronomy shortly followed and seemed like the hardest class.  It was a bit dry but should pick up soon.  We were told that the captain may turn off all the lights one night so we can do observations from the top deck which seems really neat. 

They have nightly seminars on ship and I attended for the first time last night.  It was about the hula and reminded me so much of working in the Polynesian.  I was impressed with how much I actually knew just from teaching the little kids and from things my Hawaiian friends taught me.  I knew the difference in Tahitian and Hawaiian dancing, and the movements for parts of the story in the hula, and that pow meant done, even if we usually used pow to mean I was done drinking instead of a bow in a dance. 

It is finally seeming less surreal to be on this trip.  I still stare at the ocean and get lost in my thoughts about what an amazing trip this is going to be.  In some ways I am going to be so in touch with the world and be immersed in cultures that are so foreign and in other ways I feel so cut off from the world.  I will come home not knowing the latest celebrity gossip, or who is in a relationship on facebook, or what is the new hit song.  So please keep me updated with life at home and I will keep you updated with life around the globe.  My email is now cmmcconeghy@semesteratsea.net.  I do not have access to my other emails, facebook, skype, or basically anything other than this email, wikipedia, and cnn.com.  I would love to hear from you all.