Johnny and I (Photo taken by Farmer)

 

April 20th, 2009

This morning I woke up ready to go sky diving and hoping the weather would be nice.  When I went outside to meet our shuttle it was still dark out and a sprinkling a little but I was sure it would clear up.  We all got in the shuttle and headed back to the airfield.  When we got there we all signed up and waited in turns to go up and jump.  Three planes went up and everyone jumped then it was our turn. 

 

We had all started writing things on our hands for our pictures in sharpee and it was finally our turn to jump.  I gave one of the girls my video camera and asked her to take a video of me landing.  I first met my tandem Masters’ his name was Johnny and then my photographer Farmer who I had met yesterday and had asked us to go to the beach with him and a few of the guys but we didn’t have any of our things.  He was a real smart ass but a pretty funny guy.  Johnny was really laid back and nice he has done around 10,000 jumps and had already jumped once this morning.  Johnny taught me what I was supposed to do when we jumped and we did one practice.  We were then ready to get in the plane!!! We all climbed in and sat down in one big group there was the five of us girls and then each of our tandem guys and then a few photographers.  One of the girls guys was barefoot, I asked Johnny if that was a good idea, He said I wouldn’t do it but he does that all the time.  The whole way up I just kept looking at how pretty the island was and how blue the water was. We kept rising until we reached 15,000 ft the place we were going to jump from out over the water.   Farmer kept asking if I was nervous and I said no but he said he was.  He then kept opening the door which we were sitting right at and hanging out to take a few pictures then asking again if I was nervous, I still wasn’t.  I wasn’t nervous at all.  I looked down and noticed Johnny and few of the guys had what looked like an air pressure device or something and noticed Farmer didn’t have one.  I asked why not and he said it was a fun meter and he didn’t have fun.  I then said you’re going to need to be a little more excited if you’re going to be jumping with us and taking my pictures. Johnny then strapped me to his harness and we were getting ready to go.  Farmer opened the door and I looked at him and said “I guess I’m a little nervous now!” The next thing I know my feet were dangling from the plane Johnny pushed us out and we did a few rolls.  I was so excited I screamed a little and then just started laughing.  I was looking all around at the water the island and enjoying the free fall.  I then looked up and Farmer took a few photos.  Johnny then spun us around quickly a few times which was such a rush.  Farmer came by one more time to take few more pictures.  After about what felt like a minute Johnny pulled the shoot and we slowed down.  He showed me North Shore, part of the island and where all the rest of the girls were floating about over the water.  We slowly moved our way inland until we were above the ground and ready to land.  We reviewed how to land and then we got closer and closer to the ground.  We landed perfectly with both of us standing.  I was happy to be safe on the ground but wanted to go up and do it ten more times!!! I now understand why these guys do this job.. It looked great a group of friends who all hung out and did what they loved and on days like yesterday when the jumps got cancelled they got the day off and just went to the beach.  The guys reminded me of my dad and his guy friends with all kinds of nick names and cracking jokes the entire time with one another. 

 

After that we all paid and headed back to the ship.  I made it back in time to meet up with Dylan and the girls before they left for the beach.  I ran up and got ready for the beach.  We took the bus to Waikiki again got starbucks to wake ourselves up and went to enjoy the sun, sand and water.  Courntey, Amanda and Jess had all gone on a hike that morning so Abby, Dylan, Anna and I went to the beach while Erika and Kelly went to lunch.  When Erika and Kelly got back from lunch we had been in the sun too long and needed a break, so we got up to walk around a little.  We walked around for a little and then went to Cheeseburger in Paradise, where I

. 

April 19th, 2009

This morning we arrived on Oahu. As we were pulling up on the dock it was funny to see so many people and awake and on their phones because everyone phones finally had service.  I am actually really glad that most people don’t ever have service because then we wouldn’t all be so connected as one big community if we all had access to phones at all times.   At breakfast Courtney, Anna, and Kelly who were going to go sky diving with me today had decided they didn’t want to go.  I was going to meet my shuttle at noon but knew there was shuttle at 10 that I was still going to try and catch and go by myself.  Although I had remember hearing Lauren and Shaena talking about sky diving at 10 the day before in global studies, so I found them at breakfast and made plans to meet with them in Laurens room at 9:15/  When I met up with them I found out Nel and this girl Becca were also coming.  We went outside to find where we would meet the shuttle.  There was a large group of us and we were all afraid we wouldn’t make the shuttle.  So when the first one arrived everyone piled in sitting on each others laps, the driver than said there would be one more shuttle in ten minutes so we waited for the next one.  When it got there we all got in with another group of kids and I feel we had more room than the other van had so I was happy about that.  Some of the other group went to boulder too and I had met a few of them before so that was nice. 

 

When we got the company it wasn’t that reassuring that on the field where the sky divres landed there was a woman on the ground and an ambulance soon showed up to take her away.  I heard rumors that she broke her back but also that she jumped alone.  Even after seeing all of this I was still not nervous at all.  We signed the wavors which on ever page said “YOU MAY DIE!!”  This made Lauren extremely nervous but I still felt fine.  We had watched one group of jumpers land already and were told it would be another hour or so before we jumped because there were so many people ahead of us.  So we went and got a hot dog and chips from a little stand, and enjoyed hanging out in the sun.  45 minutes later a weather watch was in place because winds from the South had become too strong to jump.  I can’t remember how much longer we waited maybe 2 hours for the wind to die down which never happened.  So we made plans to come back tomorrow morning and the company would have a shuttle pick us up from the ship at 6 am.  They told us that our best chance to jump was to go as early as possible because the mornings were almost always calm. 

 

We then took a shuttle back to the ship and got ready to go to Waikiki.  After getting a starbucks lemonade we headed to the beach.  We took a taxi so we could meet up with our friends as fast as possible because the bus would take about 45 minutes.  On our drive to the beach everything began to look really familiar from when I was here in highschool my with water polo team.  When we got the beach I called the girls to meet up with them and hang out.  I got a hold of some of them and met up to  walk around Waikiki strip and grab some lunch.  After hanging out for a bit we went back to the ship to get ready to go out for a nice dinner. 

 

We met around 7:30 to head out for dinner.  Kelly had called a Mexican restaurant and made reservations, we were all so excited to finally eat Mexican food it had been months.  When we sat down we told our waitress exactly that and enjoyed a really long dinner where we all so stuffed afterwards we had to go walk around after to make ourselves feel better.  We again walked around Waikiki and enjoyed the beautiful night, since I wasn’t 21 I decided to head back to the ship because I also had to be up and ready to go sky diving at 6. 

April 18th, 2009

Tomorrow we will arrive in Hawaii!! I am so excited to go sky diving and to be on the beach and off of the ship for a few days.  Tonight after preport Beau, Jessie, Alexa and I all watched Blue Crush to get ready for Hawaii.  I had a hard time falling asleep and don’t think I feel asleep until around 1.  We had to be up at 6 for a face to face inspection, but once I feel asleep I woke up at 4:45 and couldn’t fall back asleep.  Neither could Beau so she got up and went to the gym 15 minutes after she left I was still awake and did the same.  I ended up being really happy I was awake because it was so pretty outside to see the lights of the city as we came into port.  I also got to watch the sunrise as we came in  which was really gorgeous.  

April 15th, 2009

 

Today was just another day on the ship although we did have to sign up for our ambassadors ball dinner table.  At first we were going to make a table with Erika, Kelly, Anna, Courtney, Dylan, Abby, Jeff and myself but by the time we got in line and to the table the big tables were all full.  The line was extremely long and wrapped all the way down the hall.  We stood in line for an hour or so and finally got a table of 6 with Anna, Courtney, Abby, Dylan, Jake and myself.  I am really excited for the night and to wear my dress I had made in Vietnam.  We even go to choose our menu which I thought was nice of SAS.  Other than this I have just been doing school work, eating, working out, and hanging out but tomorrow our sea has a social which I am really excited about.  Brad has set up a social for us in the faculty staff lounge with fruit and chocolate, cookies, small quiches, spring rolls and mini burgers.  The food all doesn’t seem to go together but it should be nice to have some good food because food on the ship has really been going down hill. 

April 10th, 2009

This morning I woke up and got ready to try and get on the SAS Mt. Fuji trip.  It was my last day in Japan and pretty much the end of the trip; I wanted to make sure I had no regrets and saw as much as possible.  It was hot outside yesterday and so I decided to wear shorts and sweatshirt thinking I would be perfect, not thinking that I would be heading up into the mountains.  Either way I was ready to go and had my fingers crossed I would get on the trip.  When I got to the terminal Abby was already with two other girls to get on the trip.  The line slowly grew and I was happy I had gone down when I did.  We all formed a line outside near the buses I think total there was maybe 12 or so of us trying to get on a trip that was supposed to be full.  As the trip was getting to leave they started do a count of all the people and then writing tickets to us waiting in line.  She got to me wrote me a ticket and then looked at Abby and said I need to do a recount.  I waited for Abby on the bus hoping she would get on and she did. While we waited for the trip to leave we noticed that all the people who had waited in line got on the trip.  I was really surprised and happy they made room for everyone because there was clearer empty seats on the buses.  There was one thing though I was slightly worried about because we weren’t listed as being on the trip from the beginning we couldn’t grab one of the lunches that was in the union for the people on the trip.  I also didn’t eat breakfast because I wanted to get down early to wait in line, oh and one more thing I had only about 2 dollars left on me in cash.  I was excited to be on the trip but slightly worried about how I was going to eat for the day but knew that would be figured out somehow. 

 

Most of the day was spent driving to different points so we could see Mt. Fuji from different angles and perspectives.  We did go as close and as far up as possible to the top where there was snow and I was in my shorts and sandals.  Although it really wasn’t that cold because the sun was out, and it was really really pretty outside.  When we made one stop at a visitor center to watch a video and buy some souvenirs Abby and I found some Japanese snacks we weren’t sure what they were but we thought this might be our only food for the day so we bought them.  When we got on the bus for our next long drive we opened them and they were actually really good but I still have no clue what it was.  Later on in the day we also were given everyone’s left overs from their lunches so we were able to eat. 

 

Okay enough about whether or not I got to eat and more about Mt. Fuji.  It was extremely large and very beautiful.  I was really glad Abby and I had made it on the trip because I felt I was spending my last day in Japan seeing something important.  Japan was an extremely clean country and extremely easy to travel.  I loved it and its people. 

 

When we got back to the ship we had to get in a very long line to do our face to face disembarkation.  This was the first time I think I had seen the entire group of 700 students in one room; we were in the terminal of the port.  I had never realized how big 700 people looked and why when we come to a country we will run into SAS kids everywhere or meet people who say oh you are on that ship aren’t you. 

Yokahama Baseball Game

 

Fish Market

 

April 9th, 2009

So I woke up at 5:45 this morning only a little less than three hours sleep but I was excited and ready to see this fish market.  Abby was also awake and she said that we would be meeting Jessica and Amanda downstairs at 6:15.  Dylan, Courtney and Anna decided they needed a little extra sleep and maybe we would meet up with them later.  Jessica and Amanda also decided they needed a little more sleep and so it was Abby and I for the day.  We made plans to meet with the girls back on the ship in Yokohama later in the afternoon before the baseball game.  While I was waiting for Abby to talk to Jess and Amanda in the lobby I met an Australian man who too was going to the fish market.  He said he didn’t have anyone to go with and asked if I minded if he came along.  Of course I said yes, this is what I love about hostels.  The people you meet along the way are some of the best parts.

 

 It took a few different subways to get us to the fish market and when we arrived we were slightly loss and it was 7:30.  I had heard that the best time to be in the market was before 8 so we wanted to find it soon.  We asked a few people and headed down a street where trucks and little scooters were flying by.  It was really fast passed and you had to be careful to not get hit because they weren’t stopping for anything.  We walked back to where we thought it might be and didn’t find much, the Australian man gave up and said he was going to go find some park he had been told was spectacular.  So we separated our ways and Abby and I still walked around.  We were in a very interesting area that looked like a market but we knew this wasn’t exactly what we were supposed to be seeing.  We finally asked some Americans we came across and they headed us in the right direction.  When we got there we felt so bad the Australian man had left because when we were lost earlier were only about another minute away from the fish market. 

 

When we found it I was shocked.  There were dead fish and people everywhere.  The market went forever and I am not sure I can even describe what it was like.  The smell wasn’t terrible but there were buyers and sellers everywhere.  I also was excited because the sushi we had last night was hand picked fresh every morning from the very fish market I was standing in.  This is where most of the restaurants come to get there sushi.  I now understood why you should be there before 8 because that is when all the people come to get their sushi for their restaurants that day.  We walked up and down so many aisles seeing huge fish, octopus, squid, live crab, eel, and so many more I wasn’t even sure what some of it was.  While we were walking down one of the aisles a man who was eating octopus stopped me, cut me a piece off the octopus in front of him and handed it to me.  I was nervous but watched him eat it and thought why not.  I bit into it and it was really good! Perhaps not the best breakfast food but it was really good.  It all happened so fast I wasn’t really sure what I had just done.  Don’t worry though I have all of it on video and walking through the market so you can feel like you were there too. 

 

We finally decided we had experienced the fish market in full and wanted to go grab some real breakfast.  We stopped at a stand to buy a shirt from the fish market but the woman only had one in our size to Abby bought that one and we were going to go look for one for me after  breakfast.  We weren’t sure where to go but headed down the street hoping something would come up.  We walked a few blocks and came across a café where we both had a cinnamon role and something to drink.  It was only 9 o’clock and we weren’t planning on leaving Tokyo until around 12.  We still had a few more hours to site see.  Abby and I decided to walk back through the market and try and find a shirt before getting back on the subway to our next destination.  We never did find a shirt and decided to just get on the subway and keep going. 

 

Next we went to the Tokyo Tower, so we could overlook the city.  We again took a few subway lines and on our way up from the subway to the street the people in front of us made a comment “I hear English”.  So we started talking to them and they were also headed to the Tokyo Tower.  We both only knew what stop to get off at but weren’t really sure where to head once we were on the street.  Abby and I didn’t have a map of streets only a map of the subway with the stops we should get off at for our destinations.  As I got to the street I walked a little ways up the street looked around the next corner and saw the tower! The couple we were walking with to the tower were from Hawaii and were here on vacation.  They were really nice and gave us advice on what beach to go to in Hawaii.  We took each other pictures at the bottom of the tower and then wish each other luck in their travels.  Today was becoming really fun for me because I felt as though I was really backpacking taking my stuff everywhere we went and doing as many things as possible during the day.  We walked around the tower and went to buy our ticket to take us to the top.  There were two stops you could take just like in the Eiffel tower a half way point and then one all the way to the top.  We decided if were going to do it we had to go all the way.  We bought our ticket and first went the midway point.  I hadn’t realized how big the city was until I was looking at all of it.  We then made our way to the top which was amazing.  At the top we actually ran into Wyn, Brittany and Whitney (all on my synchronize swimming team for sea Olympics).  It was really pretty to see the cherry blossoms all over the city.  We had been so lucky to be there when they were in bloom as they only stay like that for a week or two at most.  After enjoying the view of the city Abby and I had one more stop before heading to Yokohama. 

 

Next we headed to Harajuku street, which is famous to its shopping and also now due to Gwen Stefani’s songs.  Again when we got off the subway we went sure we were in the right place, and asked a woman. We asked where Harajuku Street was and she replied we were standing on it.  We felt dumb but were glad we found it easily like everything else that day.  We did a little shopping and even saw a couple Harajuku girls who were dressed in some very interesting outfits. 

 

It was around noon and we had done so much already so we headed back to Yokohama hoping to make it back to the ship for lunch.  We made it back with ten minutes left and ate lunch quickly on the ship.  After taking a quick nap and getting ready for the baseball game I met up with the girls at 3:30 for the baseball game.  The game didn’t start until 6 but we were told to meet at 4 to get our tickets.  We then walked to the stadium which was only a 5 minute walk from the ship.  We slowly started to get annoyed because it seemed semester at sea had ripped us off.  I am usually able to justify the cost of the trips but this one seemed wrong.  Our tickets were 22 dollars but we had paid them 52$.  We did have an English speaking tour guide which I never saw and we did get free pens, but this did not seem to add up to the 52$ we had each paid.  Okay enough complaining about money.

 

We had arrived at the stadium so early we didn’t want to head in just yet.  So we wandered around the outside where we saw some of the most beautiful tulips I have ever seen.  We then went to find some snacks and drinks at a 7 eleven to take in with us to the game.  We also tried to find t-shirts supporting the local time but couldn’t find them in time and went inside to enjoy the game.  It started out like any other game with the players warming up and not much happening.  The fans slowly started to file in and this is what I was excited for.  The game started and it was Yokohama Bay Stars the team I was rooting for (but didn’t know better) against another team called the Giants I am not sure where they were from.  The game started with a small performance by some cheerleaders that reminded me somewhat of the Dallas cowboy cheerleaders but Japanese if that’s makes sense.  Then the fans started in! They had chants and cheers for everything.  Its hard to describe but again I have videos to help you understand.  The game was really fun and we all joined in the chants but the Baystars weren’t the best team and I can’t remember the score but I do remember it wasn’t pretty.  At the game I did get to buy a shirt and eat a hot dog and French fries just like at a normal game.  Although they did also sell some type of deep fried fish, or noodles. 

 

I was pretty exhausted from the lack of sleep and left the game with everyone a few innings early and headed back to the ship for my first full nights rest in a long time.  Although it wouldn’t be that long because Abby and I are waking up at 6:30 to try and get on the SAS Mt. Fuji trip. 

 

April 8th, 2009

At about 8 o’clock this morning we arrived after a very long night on the bus at the Tokyo train station.  I was extremely tired and exhausted as the lack of sleep is catching up with me but I can sleep when I am dead.  So I was ready to start the day after a little star bucks pick me up. 

 

First we went to find our hostel to see if we could place our bags down for the day.  The direction my mom gave me were perfect and we found the hostel by 9 am, it was a piece of cake.  I could already tell the hostel was nicer than hostels I have stayed in before.  There was a full snack/ coffee bar downstairs with computers and tables.  The woman at the front desk showed us where we could place our bags for the day until we could check in.  Once we were all settled and made sure that Jessica and Amanda were able to get a room we headed out for the day.  All the girls yesterday had decided they wanted to go to Tokyo Disneyland.  I was pretty apprehensive but didn’t say anything.  I was honestly hoping it might be too much money and that we would have to find something else to do.  Although the tickets weren’t too expensive and we decided to go, at the beginning of the day I wasn’t too excited because I thought there were other things I was supposed to be seeing doing or people to be meeting.  After the first ride I realized I needed to at least have fun with what we were doing and enjoy my day.  The Disneyland was almost identical to ours with the exception of many things being in English with Japanese underneath it.  Many of the rides songs were partially in English and partially in Japanese which was interesting. We went on all the main rides like Space Mountain, Honey I Shrunk the Audience (that was still really amusing in Japanese), the log ride, it’s a small world (I hate the ride but agreed to go on since we have been going around the world) and finally pirates of the Caribbean.   For some reason I found all the Japanese women dressed up in their costumes were so much more funny than at home, although they were the same silly uniforms.  A few other things that made me laugh was the popcorn with soy sauce and the seafood that was offered at a few of the food courts.  On our way out we were trying to find a shirt that said Disneyland Tokyo, one would think this task would be easy.  But I found it easier to find thousands of pairs of boxers instead of t-shirts.  We never did find the t-shirts and gave up finally heading back to the hostel to check in and get ready for the night. 

 

I was hoping to make it back to the hostel so I could walk to the imperial palace before it close at 5 although we arrived back at the hostel at 4:45.  So we got settled into our room and took a quick nap while others showered.  Once we were all ready we had asked the front desk of a converbelt sushi restaurant near by we could go to.  The restaurant was two blocks away and a very local place.  This was the highlight of my day!! We all sat down and were slightly confused how to order or how it worked.  They didn’t speak much English in the restaurant but we eventually figured it out.  You could pick things up off the belt, and according to which color plate you took that was how much that sushi cost.  For example a blue plate was the cheapest I believe a little more than a dollar, then a green plate about 2 dollars going up to a black plate that would cost 8.  We started off simple ordering some type of salad from the dollar plates.  It was one of the most amazing things I have ever had.  I loved it so much I asked for another.  I then saw Dylan get something made for her in a seaweed hand roll, she said it was even better than salad I just had.  I ordered one of those and completely agreed with Dylan.  We weren’t too sure what we were eating or ordering but new it was amazing.  I then asked our waitress to pick her favorite, again not sure what it was but I trusted her and loved what she ordered me.  I was still slightly hungry and hadn’t even spent ten dollars yet.  So I ordered one more roll of a similar type to what was in our hand roll to finish off my meal.  Courtney and Anna once again went somewhere else for dinner but joined us later and had a little saki.  We convinced Courtney to try the “amazing roll” that’s what I am going to call it since I am not sure what it was.  Courtney looked hesitant but tried it, she loved it!! We knew that if they were able to eat the right kind of sushi they would enjoy it.  Courtney ordered her own roll and I was pleased we were finally able to show them how good sushi was.  That night was the best sushi I have ever had and the cheapest ever.  It was cheaper than any meal I had previous to this one in Japan and tasted better than any of them.  After such a great dinner we were ready to go out and experience Tokyos night life. 

 

We were told that all the young kids go out in a place called Shibaya.  We took the subway there but I knew we would be heading back to late to catch the subway and would need a taxi.  So I had money set aside for the end of the night for the taxi, which is extremely expensive compared to the subway.  When we got off the subway we weren’t sure which way to head but there were so many lights and people everywhere it didn’t look like you make a bad decision.  I was amazed by the lights, and everything going on I thought this might be what it felt like in New York City Time Square.  I will have to make it there one day to make the comparison.  We were determined to find a club to go dancing because that is what we thought we should do.  That turned out to be a much harder task than we thought.  We wandered around for a very long time asking locals and finding out that not many clubs were open because it was a Wednesday.  Also some bars we tried to go into wouldn’t let us in because we were white; other had a cover charge of 10 dollars we weren’t willing to spend.  After some more wandering we met some more locals and asked them where we should go.  There was a very nice man who made me laugh because he had a British accent but was clearly Japenese.  He explained he had studied abroad in England for 5 years and may have picked up the accent, I wasn’t sure I believed it but I went with it.  He looked about 28 and was nice enough to walk us in the right direction of where we thought we might find the club.  He even got on his phone and started looking up clubs and the phone numbers calling them to make sure they were  open.  We walked with him for about ten minutes and didn’t make much progress, the other girls were getting annoyed he didn’t seem to know where he was going.  For some reason I trusted him and thought he knew what he was talking about.  I knew he wasn’t dangerous as there were 7 of us and people everywhere.  He said if we were patient and walked another ten minutes we would find a club.  Although the girls at this point were fed up and decided we just wanted to go to a karaoke bar.  Our tour guide for the night understood and found us a karaoke bar and we parted ways.  We went in and it was I believe a 12 story karaoke place.  We each paid 8 dollars for 30 minutes of a karaoke in a private room and all the drinks we wanted.  We went up in the room and had a blast singing!! I was glad it looked like everyone was finally having a great night.  We stayed in the room until the kicked us out when we ran up our time.  When we were done some of the girls were ready to go back to the hostel because we were going to wake up bright and early to go to the famous fish market!! Anna, Courtney and I decided to stay out a little longer.  Anna had been trying so hard all night asking people where we could find dancing and wasn’t that successful.  Although the last young girl she asked, said “I speak English! You want to have fun come with me!!” and we did just that.  She was heading downstairs into a small bar.  There weren’t too many people but it was the first place we had been in with young kids and were people were actually dancing.  To my surprise there were even a couple of other SAS kids.  We each had one last drink and enjoyed dancing for another hour or so.  Here I also met a kid who is studying abroad in Tokyo but goes to UCSB.  It is instances like that that make me realize how small the world actually is.  We finally made it back to the hostel around 2:30 I think and I was getting up at 5:45 to go to the fish market. 

 

 

April 7th, 2009

This morning we woke up at 7:30 to eat breakfast on the ship and then catch a train to Kyoto.  We were all tired from lack of sleep the night before so the 45 minute train to Kyoto was a nice nap. When we arrived in Kyoto we found Kelsey Kiley waiting for some friends.  She had been waiting for a quite some time and decided to hang out with us for the day, instead of continuing to wait at the train station. 

 

We first found lockers to put our backpacks in for the day so we wouldn’t have to carry them around.  We then went to lunch which took us a while to find a restaurant we all were happy with, although it eventually did happen.  After that we went to a ticket office to get Jessica and Amanda tickets to the baseball game that we were going to in Yokahama.  After that we ran into some other SAS kids who had been told to catch a bus to a certain park where we would find amazing cherry blossoms.  As a group we got on the bus and off at the park together.  We were at a busy part of town where people were everywhere.  When we arrived at the park we first entered and found a market where people were selling trinkets, food and candy.  I was annoyed it seemed we had ended up at another market I feel as though a lot of my time in these countries have been spent in markets.  As we made our way through we came across geisha’s and other Chinese buildings that seemed to have a ritualistic or were of religious importance.  I loved looking at the architecture, symbols and colors of things.  We finally made our way up the path and found the cherry blossoms.  They were amazing and everywhere!!! So were people the park was packed with people taking pictures of al the many trees and sitting under the trees enjoying lunch on such a beautiful day.  We did the same for quite some time until we had to head back to the train station to get our backpacks out of the lockers. 

 

Earlier in the day we had made reservations at a restaurant for dinner near the train station. So we wandered around a near by mall until it was time for our reservation.  When we entered the restaurant I was surprised by how nice it was Amanad and Jessica had been inside earlier at lunch and it was so crowded they said we should go there for dinner so we knew what we were doing.  I agreed and hadn’t thought much of it.  We were led upstairs where we were then asked to take our shoes off and place them in lockers.  We were then led by a woman in a kimono to a small room I thought once again we were being hidden off in some room, although this time we had our own private room with setting on the floor with a very small table.  It seemed very traditional and we all got extremely excited.  We sat down and looked at the menus that were given to us, our waitress came in sat on her knees and took our order when she left the room she shuffled her way out backwards and then bowed.  We then sat looking at the menu for the longest time and our waitress never came back, we were confused and hungry so Amanda went to go find her.  Courtney and Anna had gone somewhere else for dinner and met up with us because they didn’t like sushi.  When they sat down at the table we made a comment about it taking a long time order, and Anna says why didn’t you press this button that says “press for service”.  We all just laughed at ourselves for not seeing the button.  We once again had amazing sushi that didn’t seem all the expensive for the amount of food we were getting and the private room we were sitting in.  We enjoyed the food and the room until the restaurant was about to close.  We then sat and waited in the train station until our bus was to come.  We were taking an overnight bus to Tokyo to save money.  While waiting for the bus we ran into Beau, Alexa, Jessie, Kendall, and Carly who all had the same idea.  They weren’t on our same bus but left about ten minutes before us.  When the bus arrived at midnight we all got on and found our seats.  We immediately started playing with all the gadgets and levers.  The bus was nicer than I expected with blanket and slippers.  The chairs reclined pretty far back and had a foot rest.  There was a man I didn’t know behind me so I didn’t recline the seat to far back.  I put my ipod in and attempted to fall asleep as best and for as long as possible. 

Astro Boy (Japanese Animation Character)

We found him at the ticket office.

First Sushi Meal in Japan

 

April 6th, 2009

This morning we arrived in Kobe, JAPAN! The girls and I got off the ship ready to explore for the day.  The first thing we had in mind was to make sure we had a ticket for an overnight bus to Tokyo.  Courtney, Anna, Abby, Dyland, Jessica,Amanda (they are both from Boulder and Chi Omega’s) and I would all be traveling together.  When we stepped off the ship the first thing you walked into was the subway.  We took the train a few stops down to where we were told we could find a bus stop.  It took us a while to figure out which bus system to take and what had the best deal but we figure it out and had tickets for a bus leaving Kyoto the following day at midnight.  After dealing with our tickets we were all ready to find some sushi.  All the restaurants we came across didn’t have menus outside but they did have displays of the food they served inside.  We found some items we thought looked okay and went into a restaurant.  When we got inside Les McCabe and his family were sitting down and eating.  This made my stomach settle and I figured the food would be good.  Jake was also in the restaurant and we asked him how they ordered because the waitress didn’t speak any English, and the menu wasn’t in English either.  He told us to just pick a picture and point to it.  So we did just that.  Most of the restaurant we walked by didn’t have sushi rolls like you would imagine at home but they were mostly sashimi and a side of noodles.  The food was great and I was pleased with whatever type of fish I was eating.  Anna and Courtney had never had sushi before and I felt bad because if you had never had it I wasn’t sure this is where you should start but I also thought we may not find sushi like we think of it at all here.  We kept trying to tell them they would like rolls but I don’t think they really believed us. 

 

After lunch we decided to do a little exploring of the city.  While we were walking someone spotted a giant bowling pin on top of a building and suggested we go bowling.  We all thought it was silly but headed in anyways.  I was so glad we went in because what we found was an 8 story arcade game center.  We had already seen small gaming centers throughout the street with people playing videos games inside but here I think we found the jack pot.  The games were unlike games I have ever seen, they even had the “claw” games where you try and reach for something with a claw and grab it.  But here guess what you grabbing for things like Pringles, Ritz, and all kinds of food.  We ended up not going bowling and instead exploring the city a little more.  We walked through an indoor/outdoor mall and continued to see gaming centers throughout.  Before taking the subway back to the ship to get ready for the night we came across a place that sold waffles in the shapes of fish that were filled with warm chocolate/pudding.  They also had them filled with different types of meat almost like a type of sandwich. 

 

Once we got back to the ship we ate a quick dinner on the ship to save money, and got ready for the night.  We went back out to the subway where these guys were passing out flyers for a club called “second chance” where it was 15$ at the door and all you could drink.  That sounded like a great deal since I think drinks were 5 dollars a piece anywhere else we were going to go.  When we got off the subway in downtown to head towards the bars or clubs we asked a man if he knew where the club second chance was.  He was a pilot and was in town on business but asked locals for instructions and walked us the entire way to the club.  I had heard this was happened but was still very shocked and impressed that he walked block and blocks out of his way to get complete strangers to where they wanted to be.  We spent the night at second chance dancing the night away and finally headed back to the ship. 

 

 

 

The Great Wall

 

April 3rd, 2009

At about 7 am our train arrived in Shangai.  A large number of us had paid our tour company to take us by bus to the ship so we wouldn’t have to deal with taxis and finding the ship.  We hadn’t realized that there would be 120 of us trying to get on the ship that morning and it may take a very long time.  So it was a race to the finish  pushing our way to the front of the group to get on the first bus and be closest to the front of the bus.  Some people who had even paid for the bus thought it might be faster to take a taxi and took off running for the cabs.  We all pushed our way to the first bus and luckily Kelly got on the bus first and saved the first four seats.  On our way to the port we even had a tour guide who taught us a little about Shangai, and how to count with our fingers in Chinese so we could impress people if were going to bargain for things.  Our bus was the first one gone and the first to the ship.  I think I was in line tenth and was so glad to not have to wait in a long line.  We even made it in time to eat breakfast on the ship.  We all met upstairs and had breakfast, then met up with the Abby, Dylan and Anna to see what they were doing for the day.  Courtney and I had still wanted to do a little shopping and find some postcards, and the other girls had done plenty of shopping the days before way more than me or Courtney had. 

 

So Courtney and I took off in a taxi and just pointed to a street on a map where he had heard there was some markets.  When the taxi stopped we got out to find a major shopping mall area with shops such as prada.  We walked down the long street hoping to come across cheaper stores or some type of market.  When we were stopped by a man who asked us if we wanted to buy some dvds.  We at first were a little creeped out and told him we had to exchange money at the bank, he said he would wait outside for some reason we went with it and trusted him.  We told him we wanted to go to some markets and he said it was about a ten or 15 minute walk from here but he had a shop in this area and would walk us there.  His name was Victor and he was very nice.  We talked and got to see different parts of the city as we walked with him.  When we entered the market he stayed with us and walked us from shop to shop.  It was slightly awkward and we didn’t know how to shop with him watching us so we told him we would be okay and thanks for your help.  He tried to tell us that if he was with us everyone would leave us alone but that if we walked alone we would be followed by ten people, we didn’t really believe him or get it and still decided to walk on our own.  After a few minutes Victor was right and we were being followed by ten or so men trying to help us.  One man was very persistent and we would go in stores he would wait outside, we would dodge and run through stores and he would come out the other hand.  It started to get a little strange and shopping was no longer fun but luckily we ran into Victor where he looked at us and laughed as we ran to him saying sorry for not trusting him.  He then said he would walk us around again but the man who had been following us was really angry and Victor and they yelled at each other for a good five minutes while we were in a store until the old man finally gave up and walked away.  We did a little more shopping but didn’t find too many things we were hoping the market would be more like the one in Beijing but this market was full of more junk then things I wanted to buy.  Victor then had to leave but took us down to an area in the market where all the shoes were and nobody would follow us around.  Again I found many shoes I loved and was probably looking at the most shoes I have ever seen in my life but once again my feet were too big.  I couldn’t find a single pair of shoes to buy.  But I did find a woman who was making personalized jewelry.  I got to pick out my stones and design and she made me a very beautiful anklet with a red string and green stones. 

 

We then made our way back to the ship after a tiring frustrating day at the market and were ready to rest from our very long but exciting and spectacular days in China.  At this point the constant traveling for the past month has started to take a tole on me but every time we arrive in a new port the excitement and newness of everything gives me the energy to keep going and do as many things as possible. 

April 2nd, 2009

This morning we woke up and baked our bags ready to leave Beijing, although not before a full day of activities.  We first woke up and were taken to a certain area of town where we were driven around on rickshaws and shown some of the sites.  We learned about the entrance ways to home and buildings and how you can tell who lives there by how high the threshold is and how many pillars the door has.

 

We were then taken to a traditional Chinese home, which is separated into different buildings where different members of the family live, with a courtyard in the middle.  Not many of these homes still stand as it has become more modern and all generations of the family no longer live together, many have moved into apartments in the cities.  We met the man who grew up in the house we were standing in and whose father still lived there.  We even learned that this house was very famous because of this mans grandfather being a famous general.  The man also said that when the Beijing Olympics took place that Michael Phelps and his team members had also visited this very house.  I had now been standing in two places where Michael Phelps and other amazing American athletes had been standing I thought this was pretty neat. 

 

After visiting the home we were taken to a bell tower that over looked the city. When leaving the bell tower I again saw a group of people playing the hacky sack game.  There was a group of one business woman, a cop, two men and a young girl all playing together. After this we were taken to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City was neat to finally see what I thought of as classical Chinese architecture.  After visiting these sites we were next taken to a Kindergarten.  When we walked in I first felt as though the children were on display because another tour group of older British people were leaving as we were entering.  We went into the playground where none of the children seemed fazed that we were there, they didn’t look at us want to play with us or anything.  So we all slowly made our way over and attempted to play with the kids.  It took a while to get them involved but we finally did it.  Courtney and I had the best luck with some of the even younger kids.  I sat and played ball with a little girl who wore glasses for about 10 or 15 minutes.  It was then time for the kids to go back inside and time for us to leave.  Next we went to lunch which we were all ready for.  It had been a long busy morning and many of us were starving. Although luckily the meals were like all the others and full of food, we even had duck!!

 

Once we were done with lunch we drove a few hours to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace involved many stairs once again but was very pretty with water ways, rock paths, and small shrines or temples.  As we made our way down the backside of the palace we went down to an area that overlooked a pretty bay.  We all kept laughing that we were visiting the Summer Palace in winter and wondered how much hotter it would be during the summer.  Before getting back on the bus to head to the train station the entire group of us had all bought some hacky sack things along the way and we stopped to play a few games. 

 

Finally we arrived at the train station where we would take an overnight train to Shangai.  Jeff, Erika, Kelly, Courtney and I ran to get some McDonalds to take on the train for dinner.  I think I have had McDonalds on this trip more times than I have ever had it in the U.S.  We then said by to our tour guide Jane and entered the train station.  The train station was the biggest I have ever seen and even reminded me of an airport with the way security was run with x-ray machines and so forth.  Courtney, Erika, Kelly and I found our car and our room.  The room was what I thought it would be very small with bunk beds and a small table.  The entire group of 120 of us were on this train and it was like a fun sleep over hopping from room to room hanging out with one another on the 13 hour train ride.  The beds on the train were just as hard as the beds in the hotel and almost as hard as the great wall.  By the end of the trip my body was pretty sure I had spent four nights on the great wall not just the one because of how hard the beds were.

April 1st, 2009

We woke up to the sunrise and then cleaned up our area and rolled up our sleeping backs before starting on our six mile hike.  This hike was harder than I had imagined.  Some of the stairs are so high they reach about my knee and go up for a long ways.  Courtney and I timed ourselves coming down from one of the towers and it took us a total of four minutes to come so I don’t know want to remember or think about how long it took us to get up the other side.  The hike took us a total of four hours and was very exhausting but rewarding and beautiful.  As we started hiking the lack of sleep and the amount of clothes I was wearing started to get to me.  I shed my layers and pushed through because it was an amazing experience.  Courtney, Hadley and I stuck together and made stops when necessary to breath, take picture, or just enjoy the scenery.  We finally were in sights of the river and area where we would be zip lining off the wall.  We first crossed a kind of Rope Bridge and then were ready to zipline.   Courtney and I decided to go together.  We stepped up the woman hooked us to the line and before we knew it we were off heading down over the river.  It was a great way to end the tiring four hour hike we just did.  When we got to the bottom we waited for Hadley and Austin to come behind us before going to grab some lunch. 

 

We then headed back towards Beijing to see the “Birds Nest” “Water Cube” and the areas of the Olympics.  We only had thirty minutes here but it was really cool to look around at the buildings I had just so recently seen on TV.  We took pictures and walked around the facility.  We also tried to get inside the water cube and look around but couldn’t figure it out in time and had to be back to the bus.  Next we went to the silk market, it is a 7 story indoor building with tons and tons of little booths selling things from northfaces, designer bags, converse, vans, suitcases, clothes, and even perfumes.  I first knew I wanted to get a silk robe so I headed to level 5 where I looked through a hundred or so robes before deciding and after about 10 minutes of bargaining with her.  I think she originally wanted me to be 80$ for each robe and if I remember correctly I talked her down to ten dollars each.  Later on as I was shopping around for a few purses a woman stopped me. She too had a silk robe shop and asked me how much I spent I told her and she looked surprised.  Apparently I had gotten a really good price and she said she wouldn’t have sold it to me for that cheap.  Next I went to go look at shoes naturally, I found something I liked.  They were a basic pair of white sandals and the price I insisted upon I think 7$ the woman told me I was crazy and to leave.  I went a few booths down where I saw the same sandals again I stuck to my original price and the woman without hesitating said okay. 

 

After about an hour at the market it was time to finally head back to the hotel.  We got to the hotel and were all exhausted and in need of food and a shower.  Courtney and I quickly showered and were going to meet Tally and some others in the lobby to go out for dinner.  We met in the lobby around 8:30 and went to dinner with Tally, Hadley, Austin, Jeff and Jake.  After searching for a taxi for about 30 minutes that understood where we wanted to go.  We finally hoped in two cabs and got one driver to follow the other so we didn’t get separated.  We were dropped off outside a club called Banana we had asked to be taken to , there we found a restaurant close by where we ate sushi, noodles, and teriyaki chicken.  It was a really nice dinner and once again we were hidden in a room behind a curtain.  After dinner Austin, Courtney and I were so tired we went back to the hotel to go to sleep, while the rest of the group went to club banana. 

 

March 31st, 2009

This morning we woke up packed up our bags and were ready to see the great wall.  After breakfast the 120 or so kids that were on this trip met in the parking lot of the hotel.  We were told to split into group of 30 and those would be our groups for the rest of the trip.  So Jeff, Kelly, Erika, Courtney, Tally, Katie, Hadley, Jake and some other kids formed a group.  I was really excited to finally travel with Tally and Katie and especially to be seeing something as magnificent as the great wall with them. 

 

We all hoped on the bus and were off heading towards the great wall.  We drove for a short while and went to see some ancient tombs.  I didn’t really get to much information about the place but it was gorgeous and the long walk way we walked down with tombs on each side of us was a really cool site to see.  We then continued our way on to another ancient site where we walked around enjoying the sties.  After visiting these tombs, monuments and sacred sites we made a stop for lunch.  I wish we had learned more about the sacred sites although our tour guide spoke English she talked fast and it was hard to follow her.  I read signs here and there that were in English to learn things but got frustrated and decided to just take in the architecture and nature around me. 

 

We had lunch in a small restaurant where we were taken upstairs.  The only reason I mention this is because I have noticed in most restaurants I have been to while in Asia we tend to get taken up to rooms in the back or upstairs and are hidden away.  I cant tell if they are giving us special treatment in a good way or bad way but from what I can take I feel like we are hidden away from locals.  Either way we have been getting to eat local food and it was amazing.  Just like in Vietnam we received many many courses and I am not sure what some of it was but for the most part I enjoyed it all.  Although the food was similar to Chinese food we eat in the states like the names the taste was quite different but I still very much enjoyed it.

 

After lunch we drove for a few more hours until we had finally arrived at the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!!!!!! At this point it was pretty cold outside and I was wearing a tank top, thermal, sweatshirt, beanie and gloves.  When we got out of the bus we were once again greeted by people selling us things.  Although this time everyone needed more clothes to be able to stay warm tonight on the great wall.  Courtney bought two sweatshirts as did a lot of people, gloves, and hats.  I had seen a quick glance of the wall from the bus but was ready to be on the wall.  We walked aways up a road then up a set of stairs and we were finally on the wall.  We walked up to one of the towers to watch the sunset and lookout over the hills and hills the wall went up and down.  I took picture after picture and couldn’t believe where I was standing and how long and tall the wall was it it just seemed to go forever.  We walked up to the next few towers and then made our way back to the original tower to watch the sunset.  The only people on the section of the wall was the group of about 100 of us, I sat trying to take in every moment I could and I still couldn’t truly grasp where I was and what I was seeing.  Once the sun was almost down we walked back down the way we came up to head down a ways where the entire group of us would eat dinner.  Dinner was like every other meal a lot of food and really good.  Once dinner was over were given instructions to go back to the bus put on our clothes for the night and stuff we would need for the next day.  The group of us all found our bus and put on everything we brought with us.  It looked like a competition to who could put on the most clothes.  I had two pairs of pants, a tank top, thermal, sweatshirt, northface, gloves, scarves, and a beanie.  I wasn’t too cold but I know people who put on many more layers than I did.  I think we tore apart the bus getting dressed and then we all hoped off after we were driven to the tower we would be sleeping in.  Each group of thirty had their own tower with sleeping bags, mats, and food.  We headed up the stairs to our tower where we each grabbed a mat, sleeping bag and walked a little ways from the tower to claim our spot to sleep.  A small group of about 15 of us all decided to sleep together and enjoy the night.  Earlier in the day we had bought some wiskey to drink while on the wall to keep ourselves warm.  Also in our tower were a few cases of beer, and snacks for us.  The sleeping bags were brand new and really nice I was really pleased with all of our accommodations.  After settling down our mats and sleeping bags I looked up at the sky and couldn’t believe how many stars I could see it was truly incredible.  For I don’t know how many hours we sat in a huddle with our sleeping bags talking and playing a game called Zoomie Zoomie.  Just so you can get a feel of what a night on the great wall was like; you might ask where doe one pee while they are sleeping on the great wall, well to answer that we had a “pee bucket” yes a pee bucket! Sorry for the random side note. 

 

I am not sure exactly when we fell asleep or if we ever did, but the night was really fun and cold.  It was probably just as cold as when I slept in the villages in Morocco so it was terrible.  We woke up to the sunrise and then cleaned up our area and rolled up our sleeping backs before starting on our six mile hike.  This hike was harder than I had imagined.  Some of the stairs are so high they reach about my knee and go up for a long ways.  Courtney and I timed ourselves coming down from one of the towers and it took us a total of four minutes to come so I don’t know want to remember or think about how long it took us to get up the other side.  The hike took us a total of four hours and was very exhausting but rewarding and beautiful.  As we started hiking the lack of sleep and the amount of clothes I was wearing started to get to me.  I shed my layers and pushed through because it was an amazing experience.  Courtney, Hadley and I stuck together and made stops when necessary to breath, take picture, or just enjoy the scenery.  We finally were in sights of the river and area where we would be zip lining off the wall.  We first crossed a kind of Rope Bridge and then were ready to zipline.   Courtney and I decided to go together.  We stepped up the woman hooked us to the line and before we knew it we were off heading down over the river.  It was a great way to end the tiring four hour hike we just did.  When we got to the bottom we waited for Hadley and Austin to come behind us before going to grab some lunch.  We then headed back towards Beijing to see the “Birds Nest” “Water Cube” and the areas of the Olympics.  We only had thirty minutes here but it was really cool to look around at the buildings I had just so recently seen on TV.  We took pictures and walked around the facility.  We also tried to get inside the water cube and look around but couldn’t figure it out in time and had to be back to the bus.  Next we went to the silk market, it is a 7 story indoor building with tons and tons of little booths selling things from northfaces, designer bags, converse, vans, suitcases, clothes, and even perfumes.  I first knew I wanted to get a silk robe so I headed to level 5 where I looked through a hundred or so robes before deciding and after about 10 minutes of bargaining with her.  I think she originally wanted me to be 80$ for each robe and if I remember correctly I talked her down to ten dollars each.  Later on as I was shopping around for a few purses a woman stopped me. She too had a silk robe shop and asked me how much I spent I told her and she looked surprised.  Apparently I had gotten a really good price and she said she wouldn’t have sold it to me for that cheap.  Next I went to go look at shoes naturally, I found something I liked.  They were a basic pair of white sandals and the price I insisted upon I think 7$ the woman told me I was crazy and to leave.  I went a few booths down where I saw the same sandals again I stuck to my original price and the woman without hesitating said okay.  After about an hour at the market it was time to finally head back to the hotel.  We got to the hotel and were all exhausted and in need of food and a shower.  Courtney and I quickly showered and were going to meet Tally and some others in the lobby to go out for dinner.  We met in the lobby around 8:30 and went to dinner with Tally, Hadley, Austin, Jeff and Jake.  After searching for a taxi for about 30 minutes that understood where we wanted to go.  We finally hoped in two cabs and got one driver to follow the other so we didn’t get separated.  We were dropped off outside a club called Banana we had asked to be taken to , there we found a restaurant close by where we ate sushi, noodles, and teriyaki chicken.  It was a really nice dinner and once again we were hidden in a room behind a curtain.  After dinner Austin, Courtney and I were so tired we went back to the hotel to go to sleep, while the rest of the group went to club banana.