No Room at the Inn

I don't even know how to possible explain what my life has been the past 12 hours. But I'll try.

 

First. We wait until our friends get back from their trip to head into Rome. They are too tired to join us. Vanessa, Abby and I continue on because we are suppose to be meeting SAS people for a "Pub Crawl" between 9 and 10 on the Spanish Steps. We don't have anywhere to stay in Rome, but at this point in time, thats ok because we'll be with lots of people and the crawl goes until about 4am at which time the train station opens again.

 

We get on the train and know we'll be cutting it close. We get to Rome at about 9:46. So we have 14 minutes to get to the Spainish Steps. Which is totally doable because the metro is basically in the train station and its super fast.

 

As it turns out, Line A is under maintenance. So now we have to find a bus. The bus is late. We get to the Spanish Step  at 10:11....aka we miss the pub crawl and all of our friends.

 

So we hang out on the Spanish Steps for about 10 minutes until we realize we all need a bathroom. Find a McDs. (On the way I found a cheap souvenir shot glass for my collection yay!) We are hungry / need comfort food so we get fries and burgers excepts I dont get a burger, duh.

 

Then we make the executive decision to go back to the train station and back to the boat since we are no longer with a big group, have no where to go and nothing to do.

 

The bus is late again. We get to the train station 5 minutes after the last train back to Civitaveccia. Crap.

 

Then I find a nice english-speaking guy and ask him what our options are. He is also the owner of some taxi service. He siad that the cheapest taxi we'll be able to find is going to be about 150 euro. It is clear that even if we get mugged, we will not lose 150 euro mostly becuase we don't even HAVE that much on us, so we dont take the cab.  

 

The next train back is not until 6:39.

 

Then we find out that the train station closes in about half hour and McDonalds is the public place that stays open the latest and its only open until 2 am. The train station doesn't open again until 4am. The train station is also in a really bad area.

 

That cab ride starts to sound like a really good option...

 

But then - !!! A group of 5 British (I think) girl college students overhear me trying to speak to an Italiam McDonalds worker. Turns out they are in the same predicament and didn't even realize it! They thought the McD's and station were both open all night. So we all make mugging jokes for a little while. After about 4 minutes of that, it gets old and 2 of the British girls, Vanessa, Abby and I go out to see if we can find any rooms open. The plan is all 8 of us will just split the price and sleep on the floor or whatever because thats gonna be alot safer than the streets of Rome!

 

After about an hour of being told theres "no room at the inn" we stumble upon a 1 star hotel in the Roman hood. The owner feels really bad for us. In Europe you usually have to pay per person but we explained the situation and he agrees that as long as we're out by 4, we can just pay 125 euro total for all 8 and there will be 5 beds - 2 in one room, 3 in another. So the group of 5 gets the 3 bed and we get the 2. Everyone ends up paying about 15 euro - not a bad price for my life! Vanessa, Abby and I push the little beds together in our room that looks a little bit like Aladin's Palace and has a huge window without screens. It actually wasn't too shabby, there was a TV, our own bathroom and shower, but there was a really sketchy pair of tennis shoes in the closet... hahahah I know WHAT!?

 

But other than that, it was fine. After thoroughly examing the room and hysterically laughing because we were so happy we weren't going to get kidnapped, we got to sleep for about 3.5 hours off and on. Then we woke up at 6, walked to the train station and got on our train. Got to Civitaveccia, walked back to the boat - just in time for breakfast!

 

It was an insane  day / night to say the least. The kind of situation that is only funny because nothing bad happened! And we learned our lesson - plan ahead, leave early and always check train times!

 

As for an update on my computer - still broke as a joke. Which will ironically be something my computer and I have in common after I pay for a new laptop. But I have many wonderful friends onboard who have all offered me their computer / iphones to use whenever I need them! Plus we have a computer lab onboard.

 

The next 2 days are class days as we sail to Croatia!

 

 

I hope everyone's night was less eventful than mine! Miss you all <3

Curse You Dell

So in my last post, when I said "watch" in reference to my jeans, I meant "wash." Hehe oops! Good thing this blog isn't graded.

 

Yesterday I went to Rome and saw the Pyramid (random, I know), the Forum, the Colleseum, the Vatican/Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, etc. All met my expectations! I'm still confused about the pyramid though - its like Ancient Rome KNEW that Semester at Sea was going to cancel the part of our trip to Egypt. Another thing that suprised me was how crowded all of those things are! Our tourguide even said that it was more crowded that ususal because of all of the huge cruise ships that docked in Civitaveccia the same day. (But also, I think she was just trying to make excuses for why she lost like 1/2 the group!!)

 

After all of that, I went to the Pantheon.... BY MYSELF.... WITH ONLY A MAP. to meet up with Vanessa and Abby. The master plan was to find a hostel and stay overnight in Rome. But it ended up being really confusing and a few of the people we were gonna meet up with decided to go tonight instead AND our friends that were on a trip all week  are able to go with us now that we watied until tonight so we decided to just explore a little and then catch a train back to the boat. We wandered around for a little and then took a metro to the train station. (As it turns out, there are a few hostels near the train station but they're sorta in a sketchy area and more expensive than we thought, especially considering the boat is "free")

 

Today we went back into Civitaveccia for a little to do our last minute souvenir shopping and find an internet cafe.

 

THAT is when things turned sour. So we go to the internet cafe and you have to order something to get the password. So I order the cheapest drink on the menu and its 5.50 euro. Wah. Then I turn on my computer. Literally just press the power button. And then up pops a message that includes the phrases "hard drive" "crash" and "imminent failure".....ok. So I try everything. It wont let me do a system restore or anything and we try taking out the battery and starting it up again and nothing happens other than a blank black screen pops up within 2 minutes everytime. So I'm sitting in Italy, crying in an internet cafe with a worthless internet card and a dumb 5.50 euro strawberry daquiri.  Please believe me when I say this is the cheapest drink.

 

So now, not only do I have to worry about having enough money AFTER this trip to pay my sorority dues, the SIFE trip to El Salvador, for a mattress, for paint for my room, and for other rando expenses that will surely come up...now I have to buy a new computer. :( Which is definitly going to be a Mac. I know, I know...they're expensive right? But so is a Dell when you've had it for 2 freakin years, you've put in more than $700 to it, and still the hard drive crashes.

 

So then we go out in search for either shot glasses/mugs/cups anything of the sort that says Italy on it to add to my collection. Apparently people in Civitaveccia are all dehydrated because there were none to be found.

 

And then Vanessa randomly got tested for narcotics when we got back on the boat. HAHAH which was more funny than bad. And the one captain stared at my phone for 3 minutes like it was dangerous while searching through my bag.

 

I'm trying my best to stay positive that my last night in Rome will be filled with a cheap souvenir and a wonderful time on the Spanish Steps with all of my friends that I haven't seen all week.

 

Wish me luck!!!

When in Rome..

Hello! We arrived in the port of Civitavecchia today which is about an hour from Rome. Yesterday in Napless, I went to the archealogical museum which is suppose to have all of the dead bodies from Pompeii along with alot of other cool artifacts and statues from around Italy. Unfortunatly there was a minor strike yesterday so THAT part of the museum was closed. :( But it was still really neat! Then we wandered around the city a little more until it was time for the 4th of July BBQ on the boat. Celebrating your country's independence in another country is very strange. hahah but the BBQ was great. Then there was a sleepout on the boat but there were real extreme forecasts of rain and all I could think about was running down the ridge at kirkwood when a storm would catch us in the middle of the night. hahaha. So that didnt happend. But at some point - yes.

 

Today we got to our next por tand I said goodbye temporarily to my roommate while she meet sup with her mom for the rest of Italy. My friends and I explored the city today, meeting really nice locals, eating good food and getting in some shopping! Turning in early tonight because tomorrow I go to Rome with a Semester at Sea trip to see the Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, etc! Then I'll be signing off the trip to stay in Rome and meet Abby and Vanessa. From there we'll find a hostel - AHHH I'm so excited. And then I'll return to the trip the following day.

 

Wish me luck - I've never staying in a hostel before!

 

Also, I heard about the Casey Anthony trial via Breeanneallen on twitter (SHOUTOUT to my psisssy!) . Ok what the heck. Someone please email me how she got off and explain it to me because I'm considering not coming back to America. I wish Dexter was real right now.

 

But to end on a positive note - I cannot WAIT to see the vatican tomorrow!! And I'm finally gonna wear my jeans that I've been saving to wear so I didnt have to watch them. hAHAh

 

<3

First Italy Post

We made it to Italy (specifically Naples) yesterday!!

 

The first day I went to Pompeii and Herculaneum. CRAZY. THey are both cities that were buried under the wrath of the Mt. Vesuvius (sp?) eruption. They are preserved so well from all of the ash and its so interesting how advanced their plumbing and other technology was. I personally enjoyed Herculaneum more. Less people, smaller/more managable city, more impressive preservation. Ex: there were some rooms where the original wood was still preserved! Holy cow. Then we were so tired that we just ate dinner on the boat, worked on homework (yes, I have to do homework) and got a good night's sleep.

 

Today I went to the island of Capri. First we visited the harbor and took a boat tour around the island. The caves are so neat and the water is beautiful. Then we went up to capri , had some free time to shop (not like I can afford anything there its all prada and d&g, etc. because Capri is a "rich people" vacation spot. Bill Gates goes there every summer according to our tour guide!) and had a really nice lunch. Then we made our way up to Anacapri. Abosolutely breathtaking. We toured a villa with a view of the whole bay  - it was insane and the water was SO BLUE. Its so high up that to get there theres only one bus company that runs up there and you pass over a road called "Mamma  Mia Road" meaning "Oh My God Road" hahahah. Then we got to try lemon chocolate, lemon candies and lemonchello - a lemon vodka made in Italy. All were wonderful.

 

I got back around dinner time so me and my friends went out in search of original-italian-wooden-stove-baked-margarita pizza. We ended up eating at the restaurant that made the first pizza in Naples! It was awesome and there were very talented and adorable old guys playing the guitar and mandolin (!!) and singing. Then we got gelato (italian ice cream) and the guy who served us was hilarious. He would put our ice cream on a cone and then somehow attached 5 other cones to it. HaHa we all looked like fools walking around trying to eat it!! But overall a good night. Naples night life isn't as simple or safe or cost-savvy as Barcelona, so were laying low for the second night in a row. But thats fine by me because I'm already spending more money than I thought I would've and I'm super tired and there are upper respiratory infections going around the ship. :/ ahhhh

 

Tomorrow is out last day in Naples. We are going to the archealogical museum, the cathedral and to look at the shops. Then were gonna plan out our time in Rome (which may include a HOSTEL AH) and celebrate the 4th of July with an on-boat BBQ and sleepout (where we sleep out on the boat!). Yay!!

 

Until Rome,

<3

 

 

Whoops!

Please ignore all of my gramatical errors and typos in my last post. I will fix them when I am not charged for the internet per minute!

Also, the sea olympics was fun - didn't really participate lol but I actively watched!! Part of it was a synchronized swimming contest. We should DEFINITLY do this for Greek week next year.

FYI: We have traveled 4,180 nautical miles total on this trip. The daily water consumption is 149 total liters per person. There have been 507 lbs of food scrapings total wasted on the ship throughout the whole voyage.

 

Tomorrow I go to Italy - specifically Pompeii & Herculaneum! AHH

So I'll leave you with this quote that was in the dean's memo today:

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." - Miriam Beard

Viva Espana

Long live Spain!!

 

Sorry for the long pause in blog updates. Turns out theres alot more to do when you have a whole country to explore and only 3 days to do it! Everynight it was the choice between updating my blog/ checking my email or getting an extra 20 minutes of sleep. (Which when you're getting about 3 hours OR LESS a day, every minute counts!!)

 

Monday - Day 1 in Barcelona: Our boat docked at about 9:30 / 10 but I didn't get off right away because I had a field excursion (they're called FDPs here) at 11. I went to Montserrat - a monastery up on a BEAUTIFUL mountain that is also a shrine. The view was unbelievable and the moutain looks like a bunch of fingers. It also kinda looked like the "drippy" sand castles you make at the beach! The monastery was really impressive but there was so many people waiting in line to see the black virgin statue that was discovered there that we didnt get to see it. :( It was a really neat place tho and lots of people still go there on religious pilgimages! I got home around 4. We were suppose to go see a boys choir but that part of the trip got cancelled cause the boys werent coming til a few days later... Hahaha poor planning I guess!! And then me and my friends laid out and read (PS shoutout to Becca cause I'm reading the Hunger Games and shoutout to Catherine for the Kate Voegele cd - some of the songs are appropriately  nautical too! haha) until Amanda got back form her FDP. Then we got dinner on the boat to save money and then went out on the town to see what Barcelona night life was all about! My friend Melpat has been studying in Barcelona for a month, so she took us out to the spots where all the locals go. We went to a pub called the Black Sheep where you can get towers of Sangria and Beer for about 20euro. We don't have anything like it (that I've ever heard at least) in America, but they're very similar to El Salvadorian "torres." Ok, befor I continue there is something you should all know about Spain. They are about 4 hours later than us on everything. You dont eat lunch until 2 or 3. You don't eat dinner until 11. You don't go out to bars until 12. And the clubs dont even open until 1:30 or 2. So after The Black Sheep, we went to a club on Las Ramblas (the main street of Barcelona). It was so fun! When we got home, the sun was coming up. This is partially because it probably took us an hour to walk home! Our ship is about a 25 minute brisk walk to the Christopher Columbus statue which is at the foot of Las Ramblas and then the club is further up on the street and we had some straglers in heels. But the walk was very safe - really well lit and we were in a 7 person group too.

 

Tuesday - Day 2 in Barcelona: We slept in til about 10, got lunch on the boat to save money and then explored the city / took a bus

to the beach! (which by the by people here are very open and there were lots of exposed private parts - including a naked man which was the scariest thing I saw in Barcelona) We met Melpat there and we went to a place for Tapas (which are basically appetizers) I got these potato things with sauce on them (I cant remember the exact name). And they were good! Then we went back to the boat to hydrate with water (water in expensive in the city and we all ran out of the water we brought). We got ready early and went out to dinner to a really nice restaraunt. This euro exchange rate is killing me. We got a nice dinner - Vegetable Paella, and Cava  - basically Spanish champagne for 25 euro..which is almost 40 dollars! Ah.Then we walked around the marina until we got to the beach club area. A club promoter on the beach got us on VIP for a few of the clubs so we went to them because we A) didnt have to pay B) alot of other S.A.S.ers were going. Had another amazing time. Spaniards know how to dance and enjoy themselves (responsibly!) This time we got a taxi home because we were probably 4 or 5 miles from the boat.

 

Wednesday - Day 3 in Barcelona: After getting 1.5 hours of sleep.... me and Amanda got up and went to our Medieval Templar and Castle FDP. Ok. I'm unsure if this trip was worth whatever amount of money we paid. We drove 2.5 hours (ended up being 3 cause the bus driver got lost...nice) to a castle that our guide that we weren't even allowed into. Later on we went in anyway. It was really confusing and I feel like he just told us alot of random stuff and didnt seem to know much about the castle or its significance. That being said it was really secluded and the courtyard was really pretty. Then we drove another 1/2 hour and went to a castle that had brand new wooden floors so I'm almost positive it was not historically significant and also it was bascially just one big brick rectangle. From there they made us put on costumes and participate in a medieval roleplay. This consisted of everyone helping this kid put on a Knight's outfit and taking pictures of him. My "outfit" was a money pouch...But then we had a really nice 3 course meal for lunch so THAT was nice! I think that the trip was really strange because they changed the itinerary 3 times since I got on the MV Explorer. I understand that conflicts arrive and they do the best they can but everything I went to was not even close to what the original description was! This was the trip that was suppose to have castles involving the Da Vinci code. Wah. And then we got back from our trip about 1.5 hours late. So I tried to nap until it was Spanish time for dinner. We got dinner on the move  - a baqette cheese sandwich, I promise it was worth 3 euro. Then we met up with Melpat again and headed back over the beach club area that we were at the night before. We went to a concert of DJ Kaskade at a venue called Opium. I was very tired so after about 3 hours of dancing, I was ready to relax. A few of the girls and I hung out on the beach (which is sorta still part of the club, its hard to explain)  until everyone was ready to go. We all bought these bright flashing rings and set up a meeting place and time so that we found each other when the concert ended. It worked really well - best euro I've ever spent! Again, took a cab home.

 

Thursday - Day 4 in Barcelona: Woke up at 10 and went to the Boqueria (a huge market - even better than York's central market!) and got fruit for breakfast. SO GOOD - no wonder people in Spain are so healthy! (also because I'm pretty sure everyone walks 50 miles a day in Barcelona haha) Then we figured out the metro and took it to Sagrada Familia - the church that is still being built b/c the famous architect Gaudi was hit by a bus when it started construction. The church was incredible from the outside but in the interest of saving money and what little time we had left, we did not go in. We explored that area of Barcelona for a little - they have the most incredible buildings there! Then we met our friend at McDonalds - not to eat but because theres pretty much only 1 on Las Ramblas. I felt like such an American asking "Donde esta McDonalds?" hahaha. From there, we went to get in all of our last minute shopping. We also got churros con chocolate at a Tapas bar. Yummm. Then after one last falafel from "Pita Hut" we made our way back to the ship. After we got on, I took a nap until dinner and then met my extended family for dinner again as a reall ynice way to end the time in Spain.

 

Spain set the bar pretty high! We completed 15/26 things on our bucketlist and started making one from Italy (where we'll be in TWO DAYS). I didn't get pickpocketed - Yay! But its still definitly a dangerous place. I heard one of the prof's little boys talking to another little boy about how they got robbed so theres no more ipod, iphone, etc. And one of my friends got mugged last night after she took a wrong turn home from the concert. She's ok tho and not too much was stolen. So thats good but definitly lesson learned - never go anywhere alone or take a cab.

 

Tomorrow we only have our 2 hour global studies class about Italy and then the "Sea Olympics"

 

 

Cya Spain!  

Cabin Fever

All is well on the MV Explorer but I'm ready for land!

Last night we met our "Extended Families." Its a really neat program you can sign up for that connects you with a couple other students and either a life long learner, staff or faculty and you sorta make your own family group out of it! It was really nice and I'm meeting with them again for dinner befor we get off the boat in Barcelona.

The boat however was not so nice yesterday. After dinner I had to take a bonine (motion sickness tablet) and I wore those pressure point bracelets. I ended up passing out about half hour after taking them at 7:30. Hahaha good thing there were no madatory meetings last night!! I slept for 9 and 1/2 hours last night. Totally didn't even study for my midterm which I had this morning because I just fell asleep. OoOopsiesS! But no worries Mome and Dad the test wasn't bad at all and allegedly there's a curve. Yay

But then after my test, I slept for another 1 and 1/2 hours, went to lunch and then slept for 3 more hours!! So I've got about 14 hours under my belt right now, though most of them were probably to make up for lost time and also because of the bonine.

Supposedly the boat has been extra dicey because we were so close to the opening of the Mediterranean. All of the water bottlenecks in the strait of Gibralter and gushes out, creating fast choppy waves.

Speaking of the strait of Gibralter - we are there now! Refueling for about 4 more hours right under the rock. Pretty exciting to not be moving right now. And even more exciting SPAIN IS IN 2 DAYS!

I'm a little nervous for Spain tho because they have the worst pick pockets in the world - even worse than Naples (they're 2nd worst...so happy to be going to the 2 top pick pocketing cities on earth). According to my one Professor, last year when SAS made this trip, 10% of the students were pickpocketed THE FIRST DAY. Whatttttt. And he said he personally saw a girl get thrown onto the street when a thief on a motorcoach grabbed her purse (that was around her shoulder) and yanked it off her - taking her face first into the pavement... Ummmmmm. So basically I'm just gonna cry and put everything in my underwear or the bottom of my shoe or that super akward money belt I bought.

As for an update on the rash - it has spread to my stomach, but is less severe overall. So yay!

Wish me luck & I hope all is well in the US - specifically BelleVernon, York and of course Lansdale.