Espana!

Oh how good it felt to be on land! I stepped off the ship on June 24th, I can't actually tell you what day of the week it was because I just went by dates, and day 1,2 or 3 of port.  It's such a weird thing to not really know what day of the week it is, because today, as I was told was Sunday, and I had to go to class.  My adventures of Spain were interesting, exciting, thrilling, emotional and many more things I never thought it could be.  We arrived in Cadiz in the morning, and I was supposed to meet Kati for breakfast at 8 so that we could get off the boat immediately, however, I had to go drag her out of bed.  I snapped my first picture of Spain, which included her sleeping, with the port in the background, which I thought was really kind of funny.  After breakfast, they announced that the boat had been cleared and that we could get off the ship and start our adventures.  I didn't really know what to think if Cadiz, I mean I had seen some pictures and stuff, and mapped out the things that I wanted to do, but when I saw what it was actually like, it took my breath away.  It was the most gorgeous city I had ever seen.  Many of the buildings and monuments were very Moorish and beautiful, I had finally realized why I had signed up for this trip in the first place.  I got off the boat and we walked around, not really knowing where we were going, and I got this really excited and nervous feeling in my stomach, and I wasn't really sure why, but soon after it went away.  I think I was really just excited to get off the ship and be on my own to explore a new city that I had never been to. 
        Kati and I walked down to the water where the Old City walls were, which was incredible.  The views were insane, I just wanted to stand there forever and look out.  Well next to these walls, there were really beautiful statues and parks that were beautiful as well.  So we took a ton of pictures and kept walking, not really knowing where we were going.  We were still on the out skirts of the peninsula, and we decided to venture in a little, down the really narrow roads.  Every time a car went by we literally had to lay flat against the walls.  We were really looking for the Central Market, which we had an idea of where it was, but because the roads were all so tiny we had to finally ask for directions.  We realized one main thing about Cadiz, which was against what anyone had told us. People in Cadiz do not really speak any English at all, so I had t whip out my awesome Spanish skills to get us there.  After asking a waiter at a restruant, and a local shop owner, we finally found our way.  The market was huge and bustling with locals.  They had fruits and vegetables that I had never seen, fish and seafood and meat galore, which was kind of nasty looking because the leave everything including the teeth in.  We walked around, being hit on like crazy, I'm not really sure why Spanish men find it cool to do that in the local markets, but we got a few “ah dos mios” which I learned meant “Oh my God”.  So that was an experience in itself.  We decided to eat round 2 of breakfast, and ordered a kilo of these amazing cherries, which we realized soon after was a shit load of cherries.  I think that the guy realized we didn't know how much a kilo actually was (2.2 pounds, as we also found out later) and changed our order to a half of a kilo.  It was a bit ridiculous, but none the less funny.  Well I had neglected to go to the “What to Eat in Spain” lecture, and didn't really learn what I was supposed to eat, but we wanted to eat our cherries and get a drink so we sat down at a little cafe outside the market.  I was being spontaneous, so I asked the waiter for exactly what they were eating at the table next to us.  My dad always said you can't go wrong if you eat what the locals do.  It turned out that I ordered chirros y cafe, which were really really good.  We met up with Judy and a few other boys and walked over to the Cathedral.  We paid to get in, and soon after that, one of the FDPs walked in, so we joined them because they had an English speaking tour guide, so we listened to what she had to say about the cathedral and it was pretty cool.  Apparently it was the 3rd largest cathedral in all of Spain.  We walked around and went down into the crypt, where we saw the corpse of Santa Victoria, which was really weird because they preserved her face and hands with wax.  She was the size of a 7 year old child.  It was really crazy.
        After the cathedral, we walked down some more really little streets into the main square of the city, and decided to get some lunch.  We ordered sangria and sandwiches which were really good.  We learned that the Spanish lifestyle is extremely laid back and slow, which was kind of relaxing and nice.  After the lunch we walked around some more and went to the Museo de Cadiz.  I really wanted to go there because there were these really amazing Phonetician sarcophagi there that I wanted to see.  I took a ton of pictures at the museum because I really loved it a lot.  After that, we found a tapas place, but the streets were eerily quiet, because they weren't joking when they said the Spaniards take a siesta.  All of the stores and most of the restaurants closed for the few hours that everyone was home napping and stuff.  I'm not really quite sure what we ate but it was really really good.  Kati and I had to meet up with our friends at 5 o'clock so we left the others to head back to the ship to get the train to Sevilla.
        After walking about 10 minutes with our backpacks on to the train, I had to order all of our tickets in Spanish, and we got on the train with a bunch of other SAS kids, which was really fun.  We had an hour and forty five minute ride through the country side to Sevilla.  We played a few games of cards and watched out the window because there were really pretty views and wind turbines.  We finally got to Sevilla and walked with the other group around to try and find their hostel.  We got really lost and after about an hour of walking, Jessica, Dan and I got in a cab and went to our hotel.  We thought that Cameron, Dan and Kati were right behind us in a cab.  We got to the hotel and talked to the first woman who actually spoke English and she helped us arrange cabs for the morning to the airport.  After about an hour, they still hadn't arrived and me and Jess started to freak out because they were supposed to be behind us.  We tried calling the hostel of the other SAS kids to see if they had seen them, but after about an hour and forty five minutes, they came through the doors of the hotel.  They had rented bikes and biked the way to the hotel.  I was relieved and really really jealous, because I hadn't gotten to see as much of the city as I had wanted.  We all showered and got ready for dinner and took cabs to the bull ring because that was where we said we would meet those other kids.  We ended up at this place we didn't know what it was because the cab driver didn't speak any English.  We looked at a map and found out he had dropped us at the Torro de Oro, a golden monument, instead of the Plaza de Torro.  After another mini adventure, we found the rest of our group and got some dinner.  We sat down at the table and ordered pizzas and drinks, which turned out to be unbelievable.  The waitress tried really hard to understand us, and she was so nice, she brought us out a round of lemoncello.  After dinner, we tried to pay and we left her a tip of about 10 euro which she couldn't understand why we were doing that, but she finally took it and was really appreciative.  That was another lesson we learned, Europeans don't tip.  So we crossed over the bridge to find a bar to get a drink, because we were under the impression that Spaniards didn't go out and start their nights until well after 12, but to our findings, a bunch of the bars had closed at 1.  So we finally found a bar, and Jessica and I asked the bartender to give us something that was popular in Sevilla.  It was like an apple schnapps type thing, but it was really good.  We met this really cool guy who was staying in Sevilla, who was from Staten Island, he was in the military and somehow got a free flight to Spain to visit some friends.  So we hung out with him for a while talking, and then went back to our hotel.  The hotel was called Isla Cartuja and was in the middle of no where.  It ended up being ok though because it was close to the airport.  The rooms were supposed to be doubles, but the beds were pushed together and made like a huge bed that us three girls spooned in for the night. 
        Finally in the morning, we got up to get our flight to Barcelona.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't get a chance to see the Sevilla Cathedral, because I heard it was gorgeous, but logistically I just couldn't fit it in.  We got to the airport and got some breakfast.  Our flight was relatively on time, which I know we were all kind of nervous about, we had to take a bus to it and walk up the stairs on the runway.  That was when Cameron and I decided to start our list of firsts.  The flight wasn't that long, and when we got to the airport I was able to call my parents, which I hadn't spoken to in over a week.  I think that was possibly the longest I have ever gone with out talking to my mom on the phone, I think she was really happy.  We picked up our saving grace, our Barcelona cards, which were really helpful.  We took the bus to the metro and then the metro to the Placa de Catalunya, which was the stop at the end of La Ramblas.  It was extremely crowded and everyone I saw seemed to be grabbing onto their belongings for the lives.  It was actually kind of funny because my parents had warned me about it.  The street performers were absolutely ridiculous and incomparable to those I have always seen in New York City.  We put our stuff in our apartment, which was really really awesome, we had free wifi, which I think everyone was grateful for.  We went out to explore and decided to get some food at another cafe.  We all split some paella, which was delicious and had some sangria.  After that we walked around a bit more and went back to the apartment to get ready and try and get in touch with our other friends who were staying about 5 minutes away.  We ended up going down to the beach where the ice bar that we all wanted to go to was, and we found about 30 clubs down there, which was amazing.  We got into the IceBarcelona, which was really cool, literally.  We got all dressed up in coats and hats and gloves and we went in and everything was made of ice.  With our tickets, we all got a free drink, which was really nice.  After about a half hour, we were all freezing and we decided to leave and check out the other bars that were along the beach.  We went to one called Opium, because we got these cards which let us in for free, which was really awesome.  Dan offered to buy the girls drinks, which was really nice of him, because he was the only on our trip who didn't really seem to fit in, because we had arranged this all before getting on the boat.  It was really fun, we got up and danced a lot, and then there was a gogo show.  We finally left and got back to La Ramblas to find another bar, we all got into this one for free, and the girls got free shots.  The boys weren't too happy because it was about 9 euros for one beers, so we left soon after.  La Ramblas at night is an entirely different scene, there are tons of Indian men outside who try to sell you beers for 1 euro, there are prostitutes galore who are all very aggressive, and go after boys.  When we finally got back to our apartment we were all really tired, so we went to sleep. 
        The next morning, I got everyone up really early because I really wanted to be able to see everything in Barcelona.  We got ready and went out to the Boqueria, which was really amazing, and we got some breakfast there.  After, we got onto the subway, which was super crowded.  I noticed this girl standing next to me, who seemed a little shady, and when I looked down, she had opened my bag, so I yelled at her and turned around to face Cameron.  I couldn't believe that I had almost gotten pick pocketed, which my parents had told me so much about.  I was all nervous and stuff, but I was just glad she didn't take anything from me.  We got to the Picasso Museum and took a tour, which was really amazing.  I never realized that he was such an amazing artist, who had painted so many beautiful things.  I learned that he eventually went crazy, and started painting cubism style paintings, which are the ones that people most know him for.  After that we went back on the subway over to the Sagrada Familia, which was absolutely a gorgeous site.  We took a ton of pictures, but opted not to go in because it was a bit expensive.  We got lunch right out side, which was really good.  I had a ham and cheese sandwich was was so yummy!
        The subway was really our saving grace because we took it everywhere.  We got back on it to head over to Guell Park, and when we got off the train, we ran into some kids from SAS and started talking to them.  I turned around and Kike and Albert were standing there, which I thought was crazy that they were able to find me.  I was so happy to see them because it had been over a year.  They showed us how to get to the park, which was so incredible.  The artwork was spectacular, and we walked up to the top part and we could see the whole city, which was just breath taking.  After a tour of the park, Kike offered to take me back to his house so that I could meet his family, which I thought was really cool.  So Kati and I went back on the subway to his house, which was soo nice, and I met his mother, father, sister and brother, which was really cool.  We couldn't really stay that long because we had to get back to meet up with our friends, but his mom offered us all kinds of drinks and snacks, which was so nice.  Kati and I had a really nice conversation with her, and then headed back to our apartment to get ready.  When we got there, the boys weren't back yet, so we got ready and waited for them.  They finally came back and brought Austin, Colby and Brittany with them, and we were so excited to see them because we had made such an effort to try and find them.  We found a cool restaurant to go to in the Europe book, and headed back to their apartment to get the rest of our friends.  After some pregaming and pictures, we all went out to find the restaurant, but after walking in circles, and getting split up, the rest of us decided to just eat at this other restaurant.  The food was so good, and pretty cheap which made us all really happy.  We had all been drinking a bit, but Austin put on a show for us at dinner, which was hilarious.  We got Dan a cake for dessert because we were never able to properly celebrate his 21st birthday.  So after that we headed back to the beach area to go to the clubs.  It was the weekend at this point, and they were all PACKED.  It was a good time, until we started loosing our friends.  We decided to leave and go home because there was a lot of drama and too many people.  We finally got back to our apartment and got about 2 and a half hours of sleep before we had to wake up for our flight back to Cadiz.
        The whole experience was overall amazing.  There really are no words for it to be honest.  I saw so many things, experienced a lot of new things, and learned a lot of lessons.  I know who I can trust, who I can depend on, and how hard it is going to be to get around in countries that I don't speak a word of their language.  I think that it will be half of the fun though.  So I just spent about an hour writing this, and I really have to go write my paper for Global Studies.  More after Roma :)

Week One at Sea..

June 18, 2009
I can't believe how real this has become.  I was sitting outside on deck 6 after my classes trying to do some homework, but I was constantly being distracted by the unbelievable sight in front of me.  The 360 view on the boat and we are completely surrounded by water.  It has been an unreal experience just trying to actually do my homework.
Its day three, but its our second full day at sea.  The waters have calmed down a bit and I wasn't nearly as sick today, which was really great.  I realized that the rocking of the boat has magic powers and can make me fall asleep in a matter of minutes, something I learned today when Sara and I decided to do some more reading.  It going to be really interesting to try to get work done.  I had all of my classes today, and I am taking Global Studies, which everyone on the boat is required to take, Abnormal Psychology, which is going to be really interesting and I am really excited about and a class called Global Access to Education, which I think I will greatly appreciate, given my major.  I am not that excited about taking classes now, because I realized how hard it will be to do the reading in motion, so hopefully I will get used to it. 
The food is already getting repetitive, but I have to thank Nicole for all of her great tips, because I did bring some serious snacks and crystal light. I think after this trip I might turn into a carb.  The water isn't so bad yet, but I can imagine how it will be when we have to fill up in random foreign ports.
Its funny how strange life really is when we are disconnected from the Internet.  I have not even had the urge to get on to Facebook, but I have emailed home a few times.  Life is simpler, I have had more conversations with people I've known for  2 days than with some of my friends at home in the whole time that I have known them, or so it seems.  I think that these people will become some of the best friends I will ever have, simply because of the time that we will spend together, and the things that we will experience.  Its funny, we were all looking all over the place the other night for a board game to play, a deck of cards to play with and someone said, “you know you couldn't pay me to play a board game at home, but here, I am desperate for one.”  It seems so silly that we take life for granted by having our electronic devices surgically attached to us, but I think that I am going to learn how to separate my self from  that world.  I can see what people talk about when they say that Semester at Sea really is a special program.  There is nothing else like it in the world.  Our campus is the world, it's unbelievable.

Halifax

So I arrived in Halifax after a flight on what might be the smallest plane I have ever seen. I was almost scared to get on, because I had to duck my head to get to my seat. The plane was only 16 rows, with 3 seats in each, and I couldn't even bring my carry on on to the plane because they didn't even have space for it. The ride was pretty quick and I got some reading done for one of my classes. When I got off the plane I had to go through customs, and the guy gave me such a hard time, asking me tons of questions about my program, even though Semester at Sea specifically provided us with letters explaining the program. Apparently I look very sketchy so he decided to send me through the random luggage check place, which was way fun. When I finally got out I met Kati and her parents and they drove us back to the hotel to get lunch and stuff. When we got back, we had to take a nap and then we decided to venture in to Halifax for the evening. Little did we know that it was going to be an adventure. The woman at the front desk informed us that we would either have to take 6 buses or 2 buses and a ferry. After about an hour and half we finally got to Halifax and decided to walk around. It was completely not what I expected at all, although I don't think I ever stopped to think about what Halifax would actually be like. We got to meet up with Jessica and we went for a walk to find somewhere to eat. After ordering our dinner, and our first drinks because we are of age in Canada, we hung out at the restaurant on the waterfront which was a bit chilly, but really nice. We had trouble deciding what to do after dinner, but we stopped by the club Taboo because we thought that's where everyone would be, but no one was actually there so we left and went to the casino. After playing the penny slots for about 10 minutes, we each lost our five dollars and decided to get some drinks at the bar. I ordered a girl scout cookie drink which tasted like thin mints, delicious. We left and got back to the hotel to find that our friends had still not arrived :( They had all been traveling all day, and when they finally arrived at around 3 am, about 15 minutes after we had gone to sleep, we learned that they had lost most of their luggage.

Today was quite adventurous however, we got to explore Halifax a bit more, and we met up with some more SAS kids. Colby, Kati, Sara, Kyle and I took the adventure bus ride to the ferry, where we waited for almost an hour we finally hopped in cab and got to the ferry. We grabbed a quick lunch at the Pita Pit because we were all starving, and headed to Keith Alexander's brewery for the tour. We met up with about 10 other kids, which was really fun. The tour was unexpectedly funny and animated, where the people were dressed up in 1800's attire and sang songs and gave us the history of the brewery. I think being with all of these people, the ones who I had just met, it was so funny. I think for the most part, we all got along really well, and had a lot of fun. After the tour we decided to go back to the hotel where most of the other people are staying, and from there we went to a pub called Maxwell's Plum, which is apparently famous for its 60 beers on draft. I had some delicious drinks called liquid caramel, and a sex on the beach, which had banana schnapps in it, was sooo good. I made a new best friend named Thomas, but I think that he's the only one who actually thinks that were best friends. Anywayy, after some drinks we decided to go back to our hotel, with the intention to go see the movie the Hangover. We have a really large retail outlet next to our hotel and right next to it is a movie theater. Its a really cute little location with a bunch of restaurants too. Since the movie didn't work out, we went in the pool that the hotel has, which has an amazing slide, like you would find at an amusement park. It was really fun. We also needed to go to Walmart after, which was about a mile walk, but as always we made it an adventure. Of course there were pictures taken at each location of the day, to be put in an album I will make some day.

This trip has made me even more excited to get on the ship, even though it hasn't hit me that I will really be living on a boat for the next 11 weeks. It also hasn't hit me that I will have to do school. Its crazy to think that after all of this time of waiting, and talking to people on Facebook, that we are finally getting to meet each other. Everyone seems so nice and friendly so far, and I am excited to meet all the other people who are going on the voyage. I'll update soon!

So close..

It's unbelievable how quickly time has passed. I remember sitting in the SAC with Nicole talking about her upcoming trip in the Spring. Well that has come and gone, and so has my 114 day count down, and I'm sitting here 3 days away from leaving for Semester at Sea. SAS is a study abroad program, sponsored by the University of Virginia. In the Spring and Fall, the ship travels around the world, and in the Summer it travels to the Mediterranean and African ports. My trip is 67 days long and includes 9 ports: Cadiz, Spain, Civiteveccia/Naples, Italy, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Athens, Greece, Varna, Bulgaria, Istanbul, Turkey, Alexandria, Egypt and Casablanca Morocco. I have been researching and trying to plan the most exciting trips in each port, and it has been exhausting. So far, I have a really exciting trip planned for Spain and the ports in Italy :)

I think I'm just about all packed, but I keep opening things and rearranging so that my bags can all be checked at under 50 pounds. I am so excited, words don't even describe. In the last few months, thanks to the amazing Facebook group, I have met several people who are also going on this trip, which made put me at ease, because I could meet and talk to these people before I left. I am doing this all by myself, but that shouldn't really come as a shock, as I like to do things like this. I decided to go to Temple University, simply because there was not a single person from my high school that went there. I like the adventure of meeting new people, and I think that this experience will give me just that. There will be about 725 other students right along with me, embarking on one of the best experiences I think is possible.

I always knew that I wanted to go abroad. I absolutely love to travel, and have been doing so since I've been allowed to fly on my own. I looked into the Temple Rome program, but realized that it was silly because I could only really take 4 art credits, and I had already completed my art requirement. With SAS I am able to fulfill one of my cores and one of my classes for my psychology minor. I am also taking a class called Global Access to Education, which I think will be really interesting, given my major, Elementary and Special Education. SAS was not only able to offer me the credits I really needed, but I am also able to travel to 9 countries that I have never been to.

I have heard so many amazing things about Semester at Sea and how it has changed people's lives, how it has made them think about their lives, and where they are headed. Semester at Sea has also been known to change people's outlook on life and redirect them to paths they never though possible. I am hoping to have a similar life changing experience, where I am able to take in everything around me and cherish every moment. I want to learn as much as I can. I want to see as much as I can. I want to take more pictures than humanly possible. I want to make sure I document the entire trip, so I never forget any of it. I want to make new friends. I want to overcome some of my fears, and try new things. I want to step out side the box. I want to watch the sun rise in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. I want to climb an active volcano. I want to see the wonders of the world. I want to keep this blog, so other people can share in my adventures.

I will miss all of my friends, my cell phone and most of all the Internet. Its all part of the experience, I guess. Please keep in touch and email me: nagordan@semesteratsea.net! And if anyone gets a call from a random or blocked number, it's probably me, because I downloaded Skype to my iTouch :) See you in August!