Rollercoaster

Life on the boat has been quite a bit more eventful than expected. Last night was an "I love the 80s" dance and I was in awe of how many people showed up sporting their 80s gear. Where did it all come from? I, of course, wore the shorts.

Earlier in the evening, I attended a lecture on how the ship manages waste. I found out some incredible things. Probably the most shocking was the amount of money spent on disposing of waste in port. On the last voyage, the cost of getting rid of waste in Hawaii for a 10 day period was half of a million dollars. Wow.

This morning began with another amazing discussion panel with the archbishop. Three faculty and three students were chosen to each ask a question based off a theme. The questions and response couldn't be any better. You could tell that they were all really from the heart. Even though some of the topics were heavy topics, Tutu kept it light by adding his own little humor. I've come to realize how much I tell about a persons character by the way they laugh. Listening to Tutu's laugh, I can feel the purity and richness that is in his heart.

"Religion is like a knife—it is not good nor bad. If used to cut bread, it is good. If used to stab someone in the gut, it is bad"
—Archbishop Tutu

Following the discussion, Dean John announced some very tragic news. The U.S. government has deemed it unsafe to travel Kenya because of possible terrorist action. Any ship, including all military vessels are being told to avoid the area. Even a military ship that was supposed to dock on the same day as our ship has been redirected. This came to the shock of many students and even though my African safari was one of the trips I looked forward to the most, I understand that the risk would be to great. I know they are making the right decision, because Dean John was in tears when he had to deliver this message to us.

My first inclination was to think that the Myanmar trip was canceled. As I have learned, the situation there is a lot more serious than I thought. The militant government is, among other things, breaking many human rights. The Archbishop even went as far as to express that, had he know that Myanmar was on the itinerary, he would have not joined us on the the voyage to South Africa.

We are not sure where we will stop instead, but hopefully we know soon.

Finally, the ship is really starting to rock and it is only expected to get worse. Its rocking a lot down stairs in my cabin on deck two and when its rocking down here, you know the boat is REALLY rockin'.

Desmund Tutu

Today, the archbishop had a reception with all of the students. Students were given the chance to pose questions. Public speaking is probably one of my greatest fears in life. It is just one of those essential skills that I really haven't developed yet, but I knew in my mind that if I didn't ask a question, I would never live it down for the rest of my life.

The only way I would survive is if I first wrote my question out so that I would feel comfortable when my turn came. I had no paper, but my friend Rob had a napkin, so I started jotting question ideas down. For some reason, I couldn't put words together that expressed exactly what I wanted to ask, but finally I had something down I was satisfied with.

Many of the previous questions had addressed issues of the past, so in mine I asked what issues were central in the mind of archbishop and what he hope to accomplish in regards to these issues. As I asked the question, my heart was racing like mad.

Archbishop Tutu responded by saying that what he was most concerned with was ridding the world of poverty and hunger. He felt the need to inspire us to work towards this cause, because to him, the idea of feeding the world was not a utopian ideal. He said that we as students should not lose our idealism and that if we focus on accomplishing these things, they will happen.

This man, a man who has stare adversity in the face and won, a man who has seen the conditions and tragedies of the world first hand, sincerely believes that we have the power in our lifetime to live in a world without hunger and poverty. His answer to this question, out of all the questions, received applause.

How can I walk away from something like that? How can you even begin to reconsider the balance between what is self-interest and what is for the good of others? Its a lot to handle.

Crossing the Atlantic - Part deux

I left out a major detail regarding our voyage across the Atlantic. A special guest has come on board to speak and discuss with us about state South Africa. This guest is Archbishop Desmund Tutu!! For those of you who don't know, he played a major role in ending Apartheid and was awarded the nobel peace prize. It is really amazing honor to be in the presence of such a influential person. What do you say such a respected man as you pass them in the hall and not just be another student?

On another note, I discovered that 40 people had applied for the four positions of executive co-producer for the onboard TV station, SeaTV(kinda of looks like ResTV... how ironic). Out of those 40, eight were selected for an interview...

Say hello to the new executive co-producer of SeaTV! I guess I'll never escape it.

We've been losing about an hour every day on account of the time change... it's harder than i though!

Crossing the Atlantic

The first day back on the ship I caught this 24 hour flu thats been going around to everyone. I ended up going to bed that night at 8PM and not waking up for 14 hours. I felt a lot better though. Unfortunately, being sick and all, I completely forgot about the time change and so I missed a bit of class. Since my roommate seems to always be asleep, i never really know what time it is. Some days i'll come back to the room multiple times, and each time he'll be sleeping, even on days we are in port!!! I don't understand how people do this. I can barely sleep at all, knowing that I'll only be in these places for a few days.

Anyway, I am better now, except for these rashes I have to find out about. Yesterday was a big day on the ship. Since we crossed the equator, they held a ceremony. It was almost like a right of passage. We were woken up bright an early and marched out to the pool deck. Hundreds of us lined up to have fish guts dumped on us and promptly be pushed into the ice cold pool. After getting out of the pool, we had to make a pledge to the sea gods and kiss a dead fish. The fish guts would NOT come out of hair.

Which brings me to the understanding of the following tradition. About 40 guys and 15 girls lined up to have their heads shaved. I had known about this part of the ceremony, but hadn't decided whether or not I would go through with it. In the heat of the moment, I decided to let it happen. 5 minutes later the hair was gone, thus I went from having my hair as long as it has ever been, to as short as it's ever been.

Luckily, I have a nice shaped head... or so I've been told. So far I've only gotten compliments that seem to be sincere, so I supposed I did the right thing. I kind of enjoyed it myself because it felt very cleansing to have it all shaved off. I don't think I'd ever do it again though. It's also nice to feel lighter, but I'm sure it's going to grown in like a chia pet. I also gotta find a some nice caps to wear... wouldn't want my head to turn bright read form the sun.

Brazil September 13-17

The Amazon was unforgettable. It seems like every little experience on this trip is life changing.

Arriving in Brazil, we couldn't get off the boat til noon because of all the technicalities. We went to this outside cafe place that was super sketchy and no one spoke English or Spanish. After we ate, we visited Marcado Modelo, which is the tourist market. I didn't buy anything, but I practiced my bargaining and got pretty good at it. I learned not to point at things or have any interest in them, or else the vendors would leech onto you.

Salvador is divided into the upper & lower city by a steep bluff. You can get up and down either by this massive elevator or cable cars. My group took the elevators up and wandered around. Got to try this local snack called Carajay. The shrimp in it was gross, but I liked the rest. I also tried the local drink, Kiperinna, which is pretty much a very strong margarita.

Traveling in the towns with other students has been a lot different to living with them on the ship. The living part really isn't that hard because everyone is happy and glad to be on the voyage. Traveling in port with people is a little bit harder. If I'm not on the same level as the people I am with, it hard to figure out what we want to do and make everyone happy. Smaller groups are definitely easier to deal with. Everyone is very nervous about a lot of the place we are going, which is understandable, but they are taking it a little to the extreme. Its also hard when everybody wants to be the leader, especially when I am use to taking that role.

Already there have been a few mishaps from people not being careful:
A girl got her camera stolen right out of here hands while she was walking with a group of 11
Another girl lost her passport, so almost got left in Venezuela... passport is the one thing you can't do without
A couple girls walking alone in the streets got dragged down the ally and had there cameras stolen... one of the girls got a punch off, but the thieves still got away

After wandering the city of Salvador, got on a bus to go to the welcome reception. It was this big party for SASers and it took place in this old abandoned orphanage. It was a really big and cool place. The party was in the middle courtyard. Everyone got to learn this dance called Capoiera that looked like fighting. A youth drumline came out to play and it reminded me of my days in drumline. They were giving out lots of local snack, like cheese on a stick. I drank a lot of this awesome Brazilian soda called Guarana that has 7 times the amount of caffeine as coke!!

A band called Sudaka played and these guys were intense. It was a fusion of traditional Brazilian beats and instruments mixed with electronic samples and guitar, a little bit like Blue Man Group. I got a chance to talk to some of the Brazilian students who were also there. At 12 AM I had to go back to the boat to catch my bus for the Amazon!

The plane to the Amazon left at around 3:40 AM. The airlines was pretty nice and give us lots of snacks. I ended up sleep during practically all the flights... all 4 that is. For some reason, we practically went around in a circle to get to the Amazon. Not to mention our flight was diverted once. I guess it was exciting landing in every major city in Brazil, but 12 hours seemed like a heck of a lot of traveling time to where we were going. On top of that, the airlines played all this Disney music in Portuguese.

The boat we end up living on for the next 2 nights was a lot more luxurious than I expected. It had two floors, the bottom was the kitchen and a place where we ate. Above is where we slept in hammocks and hung out. Our tour guides were really awesome and I think that we got the best of them. They were both name Francisco.

The first thing we did was to take the boats to this place that had giant lilly pads. We walked on this raised wood platform that reminded me of something you'd see in and Indian Jones movie. Afterwards, we went back to the riverside and went fishing for Piranas. Our bate was bloody beef. I caught a few, but they were all pretty tiny.

It started to get dark, so started off in our canoes back to the boat. On the way, we went hunting for these alligators called kymins. We found a couple and got to hold them. For dinner we had an amazing feast on board. I can't imagine how they made such good food on a boat so small. It was a lot better than some of the food on the cruise.

The next day we work up bright and early to explore the rain forrest. Supposedly there are giant ants around the places that we explored. The first time they bite, you get severe pains for 24 hours. The second time, you run a fever and possible can fall into a coma. In the forrest, we ran across a giant hairy spider that looked like a tarantula. I don't think I'll ever see a spider bigger than it was... this thing was huge.

At one point, when I was at the back of the group, the guides decided to go a little off trail. They accidentally went towards a wasp nest and as soon as Francisco saw the wasps, he started yelling "run" and ran past everyone else, only to save himself. Luckily, nobody in our group got stung, but the tour guide from the other group got stung all over his back. We ended up at a small waterfall at the end of the trail and a bunch of us, including myself, went swimming. It felt really good getting all the sweat off.

When we got back to the boat, we went to a beach to have lunch and relax a bit. This is when my Brazilian dream was first realized. I got to play soccer with the locals on the beach. It was truely amazing, but it gets even better. We jumped in the Amazon to get cool again... even though it was a bit dirty and there were piranas swimming around.

After a good game of soccer and another wonderful meal, we went to visit this native town along the amazon. We were greated by all the children of the town, who were extatic when we dropped down balloons off of the boat for them. We went up these stairs into the town and got a chance to see how they lived. Then my dream came true for the second time! They set up teams and we played soccer again. USA vs. Brazil and for the first time in history, USA was the victor! We thanked the town for their hospitality and got on the boat in route for another village to compare too.

By the time we arrived there it was already dark and I was just about starving. I got some gifts from the local gift store and learned the history of their town hero and how he fought an anaconda. By the time we left the town, I felt my stomach was going to cave in I was so hungry.

It took another good 45 minutes to make it to the beach where we were having are BBQ, but boy was it a show. On arrival they shot off fireworks. The set up was amazing... our own private beach with 7 tables worth of food surrounded by a giant circle of chairs.

After the feast, everyone got up and danced on the beach. Our boat had a nice sound system, so they blasted music from the boat. The thing is, they only had one CD to play for our entire trip... not only that, but they only played 2 songs from the CD, over, and over, and over again! One of the songs was that Romanian song by Ozone and the other was another techno song I'd never heard off. These songs became to themes songs for our group. I love them and hate them at the same time. Hearing them will forever bring me back.

A few people decided to go skinny dipping in the Amazon. Some guy got bit by a fish or something and that was the end of that. The next morning we woke up to an amazing sunrise. The skies were amazing. We set off to visit another town on our motor canoes, but one of the boats got lost. Eventually they made it and caught up to us. We got to see how they made Manioc, which is this root that they turn into flower and make different things like pancakes. It tasted pretty good!

We went pirana fishing again from our canoes, but had no luck at all. Shows how long we'd survive in the Amazon! After that, we ate aboard the boat and then got relaxation time on the beach. Here's where my dream was realized its third and final time, but this time was even better that all the others. We set up a soccer game on the beach with all the crew and passengers from the boat. 30 minutes later the skies turn gray and suddenly it starts to pour! Nobody even thinks twice about it and the game goes on.

PLAYING SOCCER WITH BRAZILIANS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN AMAZON RAIN STORM

It doesn't get much better than that. After playing our hearts out for a few hours, we got back on the boat depart for the performance at the lodge. On the way there, we had a little mishap. Two of the canoes we were towing somehow tipped over. They started to sink, so the entire crew got out to save them. They miraculously tied them to the other canoes and towed them to shore to tip them back over and get the water out. You have to realize when I saw they took them to shore, this wasn't a short distance. Much of the Amazon seems like an ocean.

We made it the rest of the way to the lodge without any other problems. At the lodge, we were entertain by a native dance and fire blowing performance. They even taught us part of the dance. The dance was intense and really got your blood flowing–a great ending to an unbelievable experience.

The flight back to the real world was just about the same as the flight there. The first two stretches I was dead asleep. 5 hours went by in what seemed to be a few minutes. I guess the amazon really knocked me out. The one hour layover was annoying, but one I was back on the plane, I was happy again.

Arriving in Salvador, we didn't waste anytime before the boat left. We had a nice dinner and then went to search for a super market. The taxi driver totally took advantage of us, but not having any change and the fact that we had to be back at the boat soon, I gave in this time.

I wish I had had a couple more days in Salvador to see the beaches and explore a bit more... but I guess there's always next time?

NEXT STOP SOUTH AFRICA

Back on Board

So one night I walked in to the student union (where they keep all the music instruments I discovered) hoping to find some people to jam with. To my amazement, there were people setting up the drumset and guitars already. This had never happened before and I was so lucky and excited. We ended up jamming for the next 3 or so hours. Its great, because even though some of the instruments are a bit run down, they have a huge ethnic variety, especially drums.

By the time we were done it was already 12:30 AM and I had class at 8 AM, so I decided to go to bed... then I realized that the time was changing and it was ACTUALLY 1:30 AM... oops. The next morning I ended up having 5 glasses of the watered down coffee they give us on the ship.

Oh and I'm really excited because I'm going to get to help build a house in South Africa with Habitat for Humanity... how cool is that!?

One of the last nights I went on deck at like 1 AM and sat down to watch the sea. Its actually kind of spooky at night when its dark and no one is around. There is such a feeling of emptiness and helplessness looking out into the dark ocean. While I was out there, some lightning was striking way off in the distance. It lit up tiny portions of the sky and make the clouds glow, almost like a firefly would light up the night.

Venezuela!!

Photos to come soon!!

By the time we arrived at port I was really ready to get off. Three days being cramped up in a boat was harder than I realized. I can't be caged like that. I'm afraid to know what it will be like on the times we are at sea for 6 and 8 days!! But on to Venezuela...

Que país bellísimo! It turned about to be a lot like Colombia, which I adore, so it was perfect. My friend Paul, who I met before the trip and is Colombian, had an acquaintance in Venezuela. It was the parents of a girl he had met at a club in Colombia once for a few hours. He had never met the family and it turned out that the girl was actually vacationing in Europe, so it was only the parents that could meet us. They picked us up from the airport and took us out to eat some amazing venezuelan food. Arepas, cachapas, juice, plantains. It was just like Colombian food, so it brought back some amazing memories. Venezuela in general, was a lot like Colombia.

I was so happy being able to speak Spanish. I was able to speak a lot better than I thought I would be able to. I spoke a lot with the family that showed us around. They were really amazing people. None of us had ever met them before, yet they were treating us like family and within a few hours, we were already joking around. We took a gondola up to Mount Avila and got a spectacular view of the town. Also, driving around town I got to see some amazing street art. There are murals on all the walls and they are filled with bright primary colors that made me happy. Even the subway had bright colored stripes along it's side.

Later on, we checked into our hotel downtown. The area we were in was pretty sketchy, so we couldn't really go outside and just wander around. The room next door was making a lot of noise so we went to see what was going on. The door was open and a bunch of Venezuelans were singing, dancing, and drinking. They invited us in and we found out that they were all part of the Venezuelan reality show similar to American Idol. It was a pretty intense experience and I was even given a private serenade. They were sad when we had to leave to go out, but experiences like that seem to be stronger when they don't last very long.

We went out to this club called Azucar, which means sugar, to dance salsa and merengue. It took me a little bit to get back into it, but after a few cervezas and some practice, it all came back to me. Some of the dancers there blew my mind. I would go into a trance, watching their bodies move as if they were possessed by some dancing spirit. What I would give to have even half that ability. It really runs in their blood. A live band also played this fusion of rock and salsa that I really enjoyed.

The next day we visited this German colony called colonia de Tovar. Even in the places that were out of the way, we somehow would run into lots of SASers. We also went to this mall, Sambil, which is the largest mall in all of South America. I mean, this mall was MASSIVE. 3 movie theaters, at least 20 different restaurants, more than a 100 stores, and a BOWLING ALLY. Later that evening, we watched the Colombia vs. Uruguay futbol game, but sadly Colombia lost, which I think means they wont be in the world cup. Que triste!

That night, we went out to this place called Centro San Ignasio, which supposedly was the place hang out. They had a bunch of bars, clubs, and restaurants there. A lot of the places even had outside seating with super nice looking couches. I never seen anything like it! They were so clean, too. I don't know how they did it. There was this big crowd gathering by one of the clubs, so we went over to check it out. It ended up they were have open bar college night at this place called the "Ronería". For those of you who don't know Español, that means the place were you get rum. We got in and the place was packed with locals. We plowed our way to the bar and got a few rum and cokes(though there wasn't much coke). The open bar only lasted until 11PM so one of the SAS guys gave the bar tender $15 to have him make our drinks faster. The DJ did some awesome mixes of North and South American music. We danced and danced until about 2 in the morning. After we left we found this place to eat, since none of us had eaten since lunch (which probably wasn't the best idea). We went back to the hotel in the most run down vehicle you could ever imagine. I didn't think we'd make it back.

On the way back to the port, one of the guys wanted to stop at a liquor store to get drinks. They don't allow you to bring any kind of open bottles or alcohol back on the ship, so the only way was to sneak it on. This guy came up with the idea to get a pack of water that was partially wrapped in plastic, take a couple bottles out, fill them with vodka, and put them back inside the plastic packaging to make them look like nothing had ever been open. His idea ended up working... boy the alcoholics on the ship really go through a lot.

As for me, I have been avoiding the party scene while on the ship and instead celebrate in the countries of port. I enjoy my time meeting new people, playing the piano, and reading for my classes. I went to the SAS student groups fair and ended up overcommitting myself like usual, signing up to for the ship TV station, website designer, Hip-hop class, students of service (volunteer group), and sports. I guess sitting around just isn't my thing.

I saw the most amazing thing today. The ship photographer came out side and said there were flying fish outside. Everyone rushed out to see them. They were tiny little grey things and looked like rocks skipping across the water.

Next stop... BRAZIL!

MAJOR UPDATE

I haven't updated in a while, so this may be a little overwhelming...
Also, as a side note, SAS means semester at sea and SASers are students in the program.

To see more photos, click on the location: New York | Bahamas | The Ship
Next update will be Venezuela! ENJOY

August 31 - September 2nd The trip so far...
My room is tiny!!! Good thing I spend all my time in the lounge. Everything is so beautiful in the ship. I think it's the most luxurious place I've ever lived. I go out onto the top deck and look out over the ocean. People just sit out there and hang out or go in the pool. It's kinda like a dream world.

The crew and staff are amazingly nice. Its kind of weird being served drinks and having our dishes taken to get cleaned for us though. They even make our bed and clean the bathroom everyday. I'd prefer to do it myself, but hey, i can't complain. Its definitely going to be a big contrast to being at port. The stewards are great too, always joking around and all. The guy at the bar, Manny, knows me pretty well because I keep coming to get ginger-ale. I really need to stock up on ginger-ale in Venezuela because it makes my stomach feel nice.

So far I haven't gotten sea sick, but it's pretty funny watching people weave down the halls like drunkards on account of the rocking ship. I wonder what it's gunna be like when people ACTUALLY get drunk. I heard that being drunk compensates for the rocking so you walk normally... we'll see. We get pub nights every so often, but we're only allowed 4 drinks. People have tried to bring drinks on board. Some have made it, but others got their alcohol poured out in front of them. They even open water bottles and smell them to check.

The food is unbelievable which is great because I didn't have very high expectations. All the other kids are great, I meet at least 10 new people every day. So many from California, but still there's a wide range of where they come from. My floor is great and I know practically everyone on it so far. There are two baby grand pianos, which has made me incredibly happy. I also heard a rumor that there is a drum set on board somewhere. It's hard to listen to music now because it reminds me so much of everyone at home.

We have professional R.A.s and it just so happens that my R.A. is going to be the one in charge of the on ship TV programming. I'm for sure going to be a part of that. It ended up that this girl, Alicia, that I work with at the UCLA TV station is on the voyage too. Weird coincidence!!

I went to my first classes and the professors are really great. All three are so unique and exciting in their own way. Its pretty funny, since we are living with our professors, so we see them around all the time. We can just eat and chat with them when ever we want. My anthropology of food class also goes over alcohol and drugs, which should be interesting.

The other night I was woken to this bizarre smell of sulfur. I haven't figured out what it is yet, but at first I thought it was my roommate.

The other night we played Outburst, but it was a version from the early '90s so it was a bit outdated. Almost everyone was playing board games the other night. WILD!

They had there first drinking night, but the lines to buy drink tickets were ridiculous, so I decided against. Plus, it was like $2.50 a drink with a 4 drink max. I'll just wait til in port at Venezuela where the real party begins. I'm really excited about dancing salsa and merengue again. I went to the ship drinking hour and some friends and I watched everyone drinking on the bar deck from the deck above. My roommates already hooking up and its only the third night...


August 30th
This was it! Departure time! Getting on the boat was pretty quick and easy. A bunch of people tried to sneak alcohol on, but got it dumped out in front of their face. HA! I unpacked and explored for a while. The gym, the spa, the workout room, the pool, the basketball court... they have EVERYTHING. My roommate is Colin, who's kinda quite, but a cool guy. As we were leaving, one of the SASers mom jet skied out by the boat to wave goodbye. Quite an emotional moment for everyone!


August 29th
I had to do laundry, so I took up cab deep into the ghettos because that was the only place with a laundry mat(doing it at the Atlantis was $5 a shirt). It was a pretty sketchy place and I felt a bit out of place being the only white person there. After I was done, I caught a bus to the local market to try out some fruit. Some taxi driver walked around with me because we wanted me to have him take me back to the hotel. I finally gave in.

When I got back, I went to the beach again and met some other SASers again. We wanted to go down the water slide, but we ended up waiting an hour in line and never going down because the water pipes were broken. Later that night, a bunch of the SASers met up in the lobby again and partied at the free casino club. We got pretty hot in there so a bunch of us went to the pools and slid down the slides at like 1 AM. It was a fun night, but I had to get up the next morning at 6:30 AM...

August 28th
Today we went on a trip to rose island. This is a smaller island and no one was on it but our group. The day was super relaxing. We got to go snorkeling and kayaking too. The lunch was probably the best food I've had in a while and the rum punch was included. We tried to fit the whole family in one of those bike paddle boats, but we ended up just sinking.

When we got back to Atlantis I went to the beach and met some new SASers. Later, we ended up going to this club called senior frogs. That was a wild place... there was a Jamaican MC who started a congo line and had us learning all these reggae dance moves. Later that night, there were about 20 people dancing on the bar (including me) and other people who jumped into the ocean (the club opened up over the ocean).

August 27th
So I set out to begin my plan of building a sand castle. The family came with and we went to claim a spot. I started clearing out, but no matter what I did, people kept stepping over my area. It was tricky business trying to keep people away. But finally I got some walls up and people went around. One lady went by and actually started yelling at me because she had to go around. I just laughed at her, but that was probably a dangerous idea... I almost had to fight her away from my sand city.

Later on some 3 year old kids came by and I helped them make sand castles. They were more interested in tearing them down, but they were awesome anyway. I finally finished my little sand city at like 6 PM... after 5 hours. It had a tunnel system and all. A girl came by and wanted to take a picture with me and my castle.

Afterwards I went to dinner with the family and saw some dancing and fire-throwing. Then it was time to meet up with more SASers. I went to the lobby and they were ALL over the place


August 26th
So today is sunny!!! Yayyyy. We got a free brunch this morning because my parents went on this tour of time time shares. Free food tastes especially good, but I knew that already. The sister and I went to the pools. The lines for the slides were crazy since it was the first sunny day all week. Around 4 the sister and I decided to go to town to pick up some goodies. We took a taxi out there and headed for the market. Didn't have much time though.

The towns closes down around 6 or 7, because they like to get the partying going early. (Or at least that's what I was told). So far I've been offered pretty much any drug you can think of on the street. Had dinner with the parents and then took a cab back to Paradise island. I decided to go for a run on the beach. By now it was dark, but running on an empty beach was awesome, especially with the humid air. On my way back i found a bunch of buckets and a shovel. These really made my day. I'm so going to make a sandcastle tomorrow.

When I got back, these girls, who I had randomly called(found out there room number from the semester at sea message board) had called me back and we were to meet. I got down to the casino and we wandered for a big. They seemed pretty cool. We explored the "Dig" which is a bunch of aquariums and is supposed to be a recreation of Atlantis.


August 25th
Woke up and went to find a place to eat. The first place we went to stopped serving. The Atlantis is ridiculous... you have to pay for EVERYTHING. $10 for internet for a day. $15 to work out at the gym per day.

After breakfast we took the ferry to town. On the way, I saw the ship, which was completely unbelievable. it was dwarfed compared to ours, but I think ours is the most beautiful. Its hard to get use to the fact that it will be my home for 3 months. Once we got to town, it was raining intensely, but we still wandered around and got soaked. We ended up talking to this guy at a fruit stand for a while and he was real chill... AND he was a designer for some newspaper.

We got a ride to a restaurant from this random lady who worked for the newspaper. We ate conch, which is actually pronounced CONK as I now know. After we ate we went to the grocery store to get food, but it was closed and some guy said he'd take us to another one that was a few minutes away. I ended up getting separated from the family and walking around this guy for more than a half hour. On the way, a bunch of guys kept asking us if we wanted to "Party". After walking around in the ghettos and realizing I actually didn't HAVE any money for groceries, we ended up back in town and found the family... luckily.

Back at the atlantis we when to the water-slides at night. They were supposed to be closed, but we climbed up them an slid back down. After getting kicked out, we found this elevator that would take us to the 24th floor. You needed a special card to get up, but we got lucky and some employee happened to be in the elevator with us and swiped us. At the top floor, we found this hatch to the roof. The view from the roof was spectacular and a great way to top off the night. We played chutes an ladders for a while in the lobby, but it was IMPOSSIBLE for any of us to win so we gave up. I don't know how I had the patience for that game when I was younger.

August 24th
It was a big day today... had to head out early to catch the plane. I had some good double layered pizza at the airport and slept through the whole flight. It was pouring at the atlantis. By the night time it had stopped, so the sister and I went to the beach and swam in the 80° water... mmm was that nice.

August 23rd
Today was to be our museum day. We took the subway to Museum Mile and saw the Cooper-Hewit Design Museum, but it ended up being somewhat of a disappointment. We went in the Guggenheim and the Met, but didn't actually see the exhibits... maybe next time. After we went to check out NYU, which was pretty cool, but no UCLA.

At night, Kristel and I went to see Wicked with the family. It was pretty intense—so much green and the dialogue was pretty corny that it was hard not to laugh. When we met up with Donnie again, we went on a mission to find this Italian restaurant we had seen in Times Square the other night.

After about an hour of searching, we finally found it and it turned out to be Mama Sbarros!! It had a pasta bar and they charged you by the pound. Definitely tasty. Since it was my last day, we wanted to chat out on the terrace at the hostel, but it was closed. We devised a scheme to sneak past the evil guy at the front desk and get out and enjoyed the few last hours in the nice New York air.


August 22nd
I got in contact with this old friend, Alex Hoff, who's now living in NY. Kristel and I decided to meet him for lunch. After lunch we got a private tour of the HBO building. Afterwards we went the Penguin store and oh was that fun, but I didn't get anything... yet.

We went to Brooklyn and found the most amazing museum... PS1. It was like a student version of the MoMA and a lot of the stuff was really original. After we finished exploring there, we went across the street to this place that was covered in graffiti.

A guy who lived there said we could go up to the roof. It was crazy!! Everywhere around was tagging!! After we took about a million photos, we headed to L.E.S. to meet Donnie. We found this nice health food place that had chai. The guy didn't know how to make it blended, so we had to teach him. He was scared he was doing it wrong and gave us a bunch extra.

We went upstairs and they had a patio on the roof, so we watched the sunset. After meeting up with Donnie, we searched around for a place to eat and ended up at a Asian tapas place. Later on, we took the ferry to Statin Island and saw the statue from a distance. It was pretty tiny.


August 21st
I had brunch with the family and then took the sister to go shopping downtown. Later we went back to get ready for Kristel's birthday dinner. We went down to SOHO and found this gallery that hadn't been opened yet. The artists were inside hanging out and we went in to talk with them.

After, we ate dinner at this amazing Malaysian restaurant. We really cleaned off the plates. To make the night perfect, we went over to a Brazilian restaurant where they had music. We had some delicious coffee and this chocolate dessert that was unbelievable. This girl started dancing to the music and she was pretty good.


August 20th
So I finally was fed up with my hair being in my eyes all the time. Especially since it's extremely humid and the hair was really weighting me down. I decided it needed to be cut and Kristel volunteer for the task. I figured she'd trim the front so I could see and then just shape the rest. An hour later and a pound lighter, I found myself with short hair again. Definitely a change, as you can see. By that time, we were pretty much starved, so we headed over to the local deli once again. They didn't have the tortellini special, so I got their amazing lasagna like the day before. We went to the grocery market, which are a lot different from in LA. It's impossible to find anything and half the stuff is above you. We decided to take the subway over to Williamsburg, since we heard it was the hip place to be and plus there was supposed to be some festival going on.

As soon as we walk out of the subway station, some guy hands us a flier for the festival we wanted to go to and gives us exact directions. HOW CONVENIENT! We have an hour to kill before it starts, so we wander around the town. Almost every wall is filled graffiti... and this isn't just the quick and dirty stuff, this is serious graffiti. Some of the artists styles are even recognizable. The colors are really amazing because there is such a broad range and interesting combination. We head down to the festival and there is some folksy type group playing as well as artists painting a wall.

After a bit, we continue on down to the waterside and check out manhattan from across the canal. The town is really relaxing and much different from down town. Everyone is out walking their dog or just enjoying themselves.

We search out this thrift store that Kristel knew about called "Beacons Closet". It turns out to be a really amazing place. I mean, normal thrift stores have a pretty limited selection and all the good stuff is always the wrong size. But this place had some really great stuff that actually fit. I ended up getting a cool pair of vans, cause they were just to nice to pass up. Kristel and I both got vanilla chais at this nice place and that got us pretty wired. It was just the boost I needed to keep me going.

After that we went to this gallery opening party that we had heard about. When we got inside it was at least 100 degrees in this tiny room. You could barely breathe and the place was packed. When we went outside there was this guy who wanted us to take his picture, so I did... he was a bit drunk though. We headed over to Little Italy, but it seemed like China Town had taken it over. We had dinner with the parents and then went back.


August 19th
Got up way to late today, but now I'm pretty rested. I went outside to go on my laptop and it started pouring like MAD. After a little bit, it stopped and we went to this amazing italian deli. The lasagna was huge and awesome. Then, we walked down to the Chelsea District. We found this little park, but then this guy came and told us we weren't supposed to be there if we didn't have kids. Out of nowhere, this lady (who has a kid) yells "they're friends of ours". We just kinda play along and find out that we might have gotten a citation. Good thing we had went in the gate that had the list of rules.

We walked on the pier for a bit and saw this game of dodge ball. It was a bunch of little kids, but there were a couple older, councilor looking teens. One of them was playing and he would nail the kids with the ball whenever he got it. It was pretty intense. Afterwards, Kristel road the electric pony and relived her childhood. I was a pretty big moment for her, I'd have to say.

We wondered through some of the galleries for a bit, but most of them were closed until September. In one, there was this awesome musical instrument made out of a Epson Dot-matrix printer. I really want one. After the galleries, we ran over to the MOMA because they had this special thing where it was free on fridays. There were about a million other people there though.

They had a lot of cool stuff there, especially architectural and design stuff. It was really neat to see so many of the things I study about. There was some really good photography there also. By the time we got out it was past 8, so we went to find dinner. We finally settled on sushi. Then we decided to go up the empire state building.

On the way there, we came upon this family of three. First, the girl "drops" her cell phone, even though it looked more like she threw it to the ground. Next, the dad some how steps on this box and gets his foot stuck in it. And finally, some drunk, laughing guy totally runs into the mom. To top it all off, they asked me for directions and I think I told them the wrong way. Well, they're never coming back, that's for sure.

When we got to the ESB, we spent a good 15 minutes or so just standing there and finally decided it was too expensive. Instead we took the subway to what we thought was going to be NYU, but somehow we ended up across the Brooklyn Bridge and half way to Coney Island. At that point we decided it was just best to head home for the night. Note: the subway tunnels are like being in hell.


August 18th
So I got to the airport and waited for the kids for two hours. We ended up taking the airtram + train to get to our hostel. On the way, I saw some amazing graffiti, but it went by so fast, I couldn't take a picture. We got to the hostel and had to go wonder around because our room wasn't ready. We headed up 8th and checked out shops on the way.

We end up in central park and decide to look around for the concert venue for the Death Cab show that night. The park is enormous though, I would've never imagined it that big. There was a lot of construction going on, which was too bad, but we got around it. We finally ran into the concert venue (very lucky). They were still setting up, so we just hung out for a while. Then we wondered some more to the motor boat lake, turtle pond, and castle.

New York is actually a surprisingly clean place, at least the parts we were in. A lot more so that lots of L.A. Some of the buildings are really amazing too. Even though everyone seemed to be in a rush, for us, time was going really slow. Maybe it's just the mindset of being on vacation. After the park we went back to the room and put our stuff away. Then we went out in search of pizza. We went to over 5 different places (which isn't difficult since they're on every corner. Finally, we decided on one of them. After ordering the pizza, we took the subway back to the concert.

The line to actually get it was enormous!!! Good thing we didn't have tickets. A bunch of cool people were sitting on this giant rock so we went up there with them and ate our pizza. I think some of them wanted some though. We could kinda see the stage from the rock, but not really. I was pretty tired, so i feel asleep. It's amazing how comfortable rocks are when you're tired. When I woke up the concert had started.

The Stars were the first band playing. They are really amazing and I loved them by far the best. The crowd inside was really bad, so I'm glad we were outside with the cool people. The Decemberists and Death Cab for Cutie weren't that great, but I didn't expect to much from them anyway.

After the show, we wandered down to times square somehow. We just kinda ended up there, I don't really remember how we got there. It was really intense with all the lights. Then we got a Jamba Juice. Of all the places in all of Times Square that we decide to stop at, it's JAMBA JUICE. Well I can't say it was bad though. Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel and crashed because everyone else in our room was already asleep.


August 17th
Getting packed yesterday got pretty wild. Just the thought of packing for 4 months is a lot to handle. Going to UCLA, I have never really had to worry about going without things for extended periods of time, since I could just come home on the weekend.

The fact that I will be gone for so long still hasn't hit me though. I don't even know how to think about being away. And it sure doesn't seem like I will be going back to school. It's going to be interesting seeing how everything has change when I return home. We will be back in the Flores home. I feel like a lots going through my head right now, especially about people i will miss.