Two Degrees South of the Equator

...where the sun will fry you to a crisp, even hidden beneath the deception of cloud covering.

Tomorrow we reach Manaus, and assuming this spectacular burn doesn't become sun poisoning in the middle of the night, I will be spending the next four days sailing along the amazon in a small riverboat, sleeping in hammocks, and gallivanting through the rainforest in pursuit of indigenous peoples, pink dolphins, and piranhas. I will not have my computer with me, so sadly there will be no more updates until Friday night.

Até logo!

(That's Brazilian Portuguese for hasta luego. You learn something new every day.)

Anthropology of Food

Signing up for this class was a terrible idea. Reading endless articles about food, and food tourism, and Brazilian cuisine,and curry, and the globalization of sushi, while being forced to live on a diet of potatoes and pasta is pure torture.

I Never Thought I'd Actually Be Able To Say This But... I'm Sailing Up The Amazon!

And it's the color of mud. It's been really cool watching the water change colors so drastically as we've reached different bodies. The Caribbean in its brilliant Turquoise, the Atlantic was gray, due in part to the fact that the entire time we were on it the weather was cloudy and overcast. The mouth of the amazon was this really funky olive green color, something I have never seen before, and now it appears as though we are sailing through mud.

Seasickness and Malaria Meds

Oh the joys of living at sea and traveling to third world countries. I was lucky enough to avoid any sort of seasickness, but the first time we left Nassau and started moving, I was sitting in the Piano Lounge and just watched as the faces of everyone around me turned the color of parchment. Even though it's been a week I still see people wearing the wristbands and patches. I don't know why it has never affected me.

And just as everyone is finally beginning to get their sea legs, it's time to start taking the infamous malaria meds. I know at least a few people who were sick in bed all day. And I won't deny, they made me feel vaguely nauseous, but I'll consider myself lucky if that's the worst side effect. I've never been a fan of prescription or even over-the-couter medications, but one of our readings for Global Studies was a graphic depiction of malaria, including its history, and I'm pretty sure it scared everyone on board (who read it at least) into not questioning the necessity of being precautions.

Tomorrow is a "Reading Day"

Meaning we don't have class. Thank goodness; I mean it's really about time they gave us a breather. We've already had a staggering four days of classes this semester and that was really pushing us all over the edge.

Also, fun fact: I know that many of you were flabbergasted, as was I, that a ship like this could possibly fit up the Amazon river. Well I learned today that areas of the Amazon are over 50 miles wide. So not only is this entire ship sailing up the Amazon, but I probably won't even be able to see the shore on either side while we are doing so. I still can't decide if that is super cool, or slightly disappointing, as I was looking forward to sailing through the jungle.

It's a Sea Turtle!

Photo credits for this one go to my dive buddy Sean.

Back to School

It was kind of adorable because when we were in Dominica and it was time to head back to the ship, the locals would all start asking, "Are you going back to school?" "Yes, it is time to go back to school." And we would look ahead in the distance and see the ship waiting there and head back to "school".

I've seriously never had this many reading assignments before. It's like the professors are compensating for only having 22 class days by assigning hours upon hours worth of readings. And between not wanting to waste time in port on textbooks and constantly wanting to take a snooze with the rocking of the ship, it's impossible to get anything done. Not to mention reading is kind of toward the bottom of my priority list. And don't criticize me for prioritizing blogging over reading, because my blogs are more for my own personal memories than anything. I mean what would you rather remember, all the amazing things that you experienced? Or the exact dates of when Malaria was first introduced to the Americas? Don't worry i'll get it done eventually.

I have this super awesome picture to post but with so many people clogging up our already feeble internet it would probably take an hour to upload. Actually, no one is up just yet so maybe I could send it now.

I Think I Found Shangri-La

Location: Leaving Dominica

We are Atlantic bound! Or actually probably already on the Atlantic, since the west side of Dominica is the Caribbean and the east side is the Atlantic and it really doesn't take all that long to sail from Roseau to the southern point. I still don't think it's hit me that we are actually sailing the entire world. I was so sad to say goodbye to this unbelievable island as we boarded the ship, and it took me a moment to comprehend that the trip doesn't end here; I'm not going home just yet.

Enough about that and more on "The Nature Island." I woke up early again this morning to have breakfast and hopefully make it to the dive shop by 0810. I knew I wanted to dive today, and my dive buddy found me in passing yesterday as I was leaving for the organic farm and managed to give me some brochure with the dive they had already booked. I spent last night trying to book it but couldn't figure out how to with no internet or phone. So I figured I would just wing it and show up and hope that a spot was still open. Luckily as I was leaving the dining area to get off the ship, I ran into Sean and another girl named Alexa. So the three of us set off for the dive shop aboard a bus/taxi that we managed to haggle down to $5 apiece.

The dive ended up being another unexpected bargain as all of the rental equipment was included in the price. And then once we were equipped with all of our gear we walked out of the little shack of a shop (it was part of a hotel so it was legit). We found ourselves facing this massive catamaran. I've really only been diving in two places before this: Mexico and Bahamans. in Mexico we were in this standard little motor boat. In the Bahamas I thought the two-decker dive boats that could fit parties of 20 or 30 were huge. But nothing compared to this catamaran; it was absolutely incredible. And better still, there were only two other divers with us so we basically had the entire thing to ourselves.

We sat on the edge of the boat with our feet dangling over the edge and just watched the shoreline of Dominica as we sailed around it. I still can't get over the natural, and unreal beauty of Dominica. There are no white sand beaches since it is a volcanic island, but there are brightly painted shacks lining the rocky shores, and immediately in their backyards is just dense, rainforest-covered mountains. No words or even pictures could describe the scene, you would just have to see it for yourself.

Our first dive was at a spot called The Abyss (or actually the French name for abyss which I have already forgotten). This is because it is a giant reef wall, that drops down indefinitely (not really, but close enough). The reef was just thriving with life and color. Dominica is actually considered one of the top five dive sites in the world. And the water is so warm that our dive instructor wouldn't even let us wear wetsuits. The beauty was unimaginable. But the highlight of the dive was finding this sea turtle swimming along. I swam along with it for a while, close enough to touch it, and then stared heading back when I was getting too far from the wall, and to my delight the turtle followed me back. I swear the thing was playing with us; and he literally looked like he was smiling and laughing at us. I love that turtle.

Our second dive was at Champagne Reef, the reef that Dominica is famous for, although more for snorkeling than for diving. Due to the volcanic activity on the island, this particular reef is mostly dead, but there are bubbles rising up from the rocks, giving it the appearance of champagne and thus the name. I must say that these dives were even more spectacular in the Bahamas if that is possible. I know went on and on about how amazing my dives there were, and here I have written hardly anything, but I have simply run out of words that could ever do justice to what I experienced.

I was really excited too because our dive instructor saw my dive camera and said he had three of them at home. I explained that I had no idea how to use the settings properly and he helped me adjust the speed and focus to where they should be. Maybe some of these pictures will actually turn out!

After our two dives we decided to have lunch at the hotel. At this point our bus/taxi driver found us and asked if we were ready to go back to the ship yet. I should probably mention the public transportation situation here. There are taxis, that rip you off and quote you prices way too high, and there are busses, that charge a normal bus fare, but they don't have routes and will take you wherever you want to go, and so in that way they really are just the same as taxis. So you can go into town by taxi for $15 (or some other outrageous price) like we did yesterday, or you can take the bus for $2 apiece, which is really the exact same thing for a fraction the price. If you run into a driver though, they are very insistent about taking you where you want to go and making sure they get your money for the return trip as well. Yesterday, when we payed $15, our taxi driver, Justin, kept following us around the city and asking if we were ready to go back to the ship yet. This morning when we were looking for a way to get to the dive shop, the driver we ended up using quoted us some ridiculous price and only lowered it to the price of the bus fare when we told him we were taking the bus instead. So there we were, having lunch, and he kept coming to find us to see if we were ready to return yet. We kept brushing him off and never made any implication that we would be returning to the ship. So when we finally left lunch and started walking back, he flew into a rage about how we had made him wait and he was going to call the police. Thank goodness Alexa lived in Cairo once and all kinds of other places with similar transportation issues and knew exactly how to deal with the guy. As soon as he was out of site we waved down a real bus (busses and taxis are all minivans here and look exactly the same) and rode back to town.

It was only about 1500 by this time and so we thought we would inquire around to see how far Emerald Pool was, and perhaps pay a quick visit before we had to be on the bus at 1800. Our bus driver said it was about a 45 minute drive and he would take us there and back to the ship afterwards for $10 apiece. At our uncertainty he reassured us multiple times that he would have us back to the ship in time. This guy was actually really sweet and tried to help us out by explaining how taxi drivers only want your money and how to avoid the numerous scams that we have been running into. I have realized that there a two kinds of people on this island: those who want your money, and those who want to help you out as much as they possibly can. There is no overlap.

The Emerald Pool was spectacular, like everything else here. We hiked a small path up through the rainforest, and came out at an observation deck where you could see the two waterfalls emerging out of the surrounding jungle. Then there was a short hike down the other side that ended at a natural hot spring. And when I say hot spring, I don't mean a manmade pool filled with natural water flowing from a mountain somewhere; everything about it was completely natural to the point that you had to watch where you stepped because the rocky bottom was still the uneven side of the mountain. These pools were everywhere, with jungle breaking them up. There were tunnels in the rock leading downhill to more pools, and then a stream leading to yet another, and just beyond a clump of dense trees and plants there would be more pools. The water felt like you were soaking in a hot tub. It was simply unreal. I keep saying that about everything I see and experience in Dominica: It's just unreal.

After sitting in one of the pools for not nearly enough time, we hiked the short trail back, and before long our bus driver came back for us. He really was a great guy. On the way back he pulled by the side of the road, rolled down the window, and simply reached out to pick these humungous hibiscus-type flowers that he gave to me and Alexa. Further down the road he pulled over again and pointed out the coffee bean trees, picked a few of the beans, and showed us how to peel them and eat them raw. I've never experienced raw coffee bean. They are red on the outside, which is the part you peel away, and then white on the inside, and have a consistency similar to soy beans.

He dropped us of at the ship, true to his word, and just like that we said goodbye to our first port.

A funny note about customs though: they check us as we are boarding the ship to ensure that we are not bringing on any prohibited items. Yesterday when we were dropped off at that view overlooking Roseau, we found a couple trees with all sorts of initials and names carved into them, and decided to carve SAS S12 into the trunk. I kept the rock that I engraved this with and the customs man found it in the bottom of my bag and pulled it out and asked if I needed it. I panicked for a moment, thinking he must be thinking that it wasn't actually a rock, but some drug in disguise, and said no, I definitely didn't need it. "Are you sure? Because you can keep it." "Oh, ok, well then I'll keep it." I have no idea what that was all about.

Mangos and Bananas

Location: Roseau, Dominica

I woke up a 0645 this morning to the sight of green, rainforest-covered mountains outside my window. It was one of those views you see in photos and know it just has to have been photoshopped. Nothing is actually that lush, and vivid, and pristine in real life. But there it was, right outside my window. I ran up to the top deck of the ship to watch as we pulled into port. Sailing into our first port was an experience I am sure I will never forget. The jaw-dropping beauty of it all was something that could only have come out of a dream. If you want to know what Dominica looks like, watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2 or 3. All those scenes that take place in the tropical rainforests? Those were filmed on this island. That was not just a hollywood set.

I met up with my roommate and several of our friends for breakfast while we waited for the ship to clear customs. We made plans to meet up during various parts of the day since we all had FDPs at different times. Trying to coordinate things without the convenience of a quick text or phone call has been a learning experience. What did we ever do before cell phones?

As soon as we were off the ship we were bombarded by taxi cab drivers. At our pre-port meeting last night we had been informed that we are not docking at the dock in town, but rather a ways out of town, and thus were under the impressions that we would in fact need a cab. The $15 ride we were offered seemed like a steal until we reached downtown less than five minutes later. In fact several students who had decided to walk arrived at the same time as us. Thanks for deceiving us pre-port meeting; no more taxi cabs.

The city of Roseau is everything you would expect from the capital of a tiny caribbean island. It is bright and colorful and bursting with life. Even better, it still thrives with the energy of its local people and customs. Despite being a port city, it has not been overtaken and developed into a disneyland of sorts by the tourist industry. Yes, there are little markets with locals who sell their souvenirs, and there are a fair amount of tourists milling about, but that is the extent of it. This place is untouched.

We spent the morning exploring the city, weaving our way in and out of various streets and side roads. We walked around a local cemetery, observed groups of school children, and perused a few of the markets. There was a large fruit market where we bought mangos and bananas, nothing like those you would find back home. Bananas used to be a major export of Dominica before they had to start competing with Chiquita. It really is a shame, the bananas here are like nothing you've ever tasted before.

Around lunch time we found a man on the street with a hot dog stand and quite a crowd of locals surrounding him. We had decided that all we really wanted was street food and so ordered an array of hotdogs, and what he claimed was swordfish for a dollar apiece. I'm still not exactly sure that is was swordfish, it tasted like barbecue, but it was delicious.

At 1300 we headed back to the ship because I had a trip to catch for my Anthropology of Food class. We walked the way back and I just barely made it in time. Our professor loaded us onto the two waiting vans and we proceeded across town, and up the winding mountains. Imagine off-roading in a van. Imagine off-roading straight uphill through a rainforest in a van. That's basically what we did. I mean yes, there were roads, but they were narrow, and steep, and unpaved, and might as well have not been there at all. We drove a long ways through the jungle until we came to a stop out in the middle of nowhere quite high up in the dense forest. We were quickly ushered back onto the vans while our drivers apologized for bringing us to the wrong spot. So we backtracked, back down the mountain a mile or so, until we came to our farm.

When I say farm you probably picture a big red barn and fields of corn and dairy cows. This was quite the opposite. It was still jungle, just an ever-so-slightly more cultivated patch of jungle. Out in the middle of all this jungle was a picnic table where the old native who worked there had set out all of his fruits and herbs for us to see. This man who worked there was the kindest, gentlest person I have ever met. He told us about how he started growing organically after college in 1974 and has been doing so ever since. He was able to start his own farm in 2002 and that is where we were. He calmly explained in his soft-spoken way about each and every fruit and herb and all of its medicinal uses. We walked around his gardens for a while, sampling various herbs and edible flowers. Afterwards he served us tea and bananas. The tea he made us was the best tea I have ever had, and I have had my fair share of tea. It was very obviously something he had brewed from scratch, and I tried to ask him how he made it, but all I got was that it was from some sort of cinnamon and basil.

Our two vans divided us up into a group going back to the ship, and a group going into town. I opted for town and we spent the ride down the mountain asking our tour person for the best things to do. She directed the bus driver to drop us off at a certain spot and the eight of us ended up at the top of a hill overlooking all of Roseau. The view was spectacular, like everything here, and after a multitude of pictures were snapped, we began the hike down.

We stopped for dinner at a little local place, and ordered the best fish and chips I have ever had. After dinner we walked back to the ship, and here I am now, bathed in aloe vera because I forgot to put on sunscreen.

I Still Can't Get Over This

I mean I wake up in the morning and look out the window and there is just endless blue sky and painted clouds and rolling waves. And then I have breakfast out on deck 6 in the salty sea air and watch as we pass other cruise liners in the distance. At lunch time we actually passed an island on our starboard side but sadly I have no idea which island it might have been. As I look out my window now, we are passing another island on our port side. It is very bizarre because it is covered in mountains, a landscape I am used to seeing on a daily basis, but the distance separating us is covered by an expanse of ocean. It's all so spectacular and unreal.

I go to bed at night with the constant rocking of the ship lulling me to sleep. It is incredibly peaceful. I have realized though that it is impossible to get any reading accomplished aboard this ship. The repetitive back and forth movement of your eyes across the page combined with the swaying of the boat makes it all too easy to just doze off.

Classes so far have actually been incredibly enriching. It is so cool to learn about Dominica (dome - in - ee - ka) in an academic setting before arriving there. I mean anyone can pick up a guide book and read up on what there is to do and where to stay; but we have been learning about the history, and government, and economy, and culture, and human rights, and ethnography of the native people, the Caribs, and it is all just fascinating!

Every class requires students to sign up for two FDPs over the course of the semester. These "Faculty Directed Practicum" are small day trips that are led by professors and pertain in some way to the course. I'm not really one for guided tourist trips and prefer to explore independently, so I figured I'd get them out of the way as soon as possible. That being said, for my Anthropology of Food class I am visiting an organic farm tomorrow afternoon. Not the first thing I'd choose to do in the tropics, but I guess that's the beauty of this semester, trying things I might never try otherwise and it might end up being the greatest part of my semester!

Yay it's the Weekend! ...I Mean First Day of Classes

Location: 25.90N 27.97W
Speed: 20.0 knots

A day behind schedule and yet we don't even have to go at full speed to make it to Dominica on time. Crazyness. Have I mentioned yet that this is the fastest passenger ship in the world? I was having breakfast outside on the deck this morning and saw one of those monstrous cruise liners off on the horizon, about even with us and heading in roughly the same direction. Half an hour later when I looked over at it again it was way behind in the distance.

So while everyone back home is enjoying the weekend, here at sea it was our first day of classes. I love that there are only two days of class before we dock in Dominica. All of my professors are promising lots of work and to stay on top of everything because it will be easy to fall behind, and while I understand what they mean, it is also hard to take them serious in a sense when we have so very few class days.

Meeting everyone is like Freshman year in the dorms all over again. Everyone is super excited and in hyper friend-making frenzy mode. And it's crazy to think that with so few of us living in such close proximity, we will most likely all know every person aboard this ship by the end of the semester.

Speaking of meeting people, I don't know if my friend Colin Sorensen (sorry, I can't spell) is reading this, and if not perhaps someone who knows him can pass along the message, I met your friend Adrianna today! She is in my Human Rights class and I recognized her because she mentioned that she studied abroad in New Zealand. I asked if she knew Colin and I've never seen anyone so excited. Small world.

The campus store finally opened today which I was thrilled about because this ship is just as cold as promised and I've been waiting to pick up an extra blanket. I brought my sleeping bag to use as a blanket, but discovered it serves better rolled up as a pillow then the flat pancakes we are provided. It also helps that our room is one of the few with a thermostat. We can keep the temperature at cold instead of frigid.

Time to get some homework done. With nothing but crystal clear blue ocean as far as the eye can see in every direction it is hard to believe reading assignments could possibly be that important, but I suppose it has to be done.

Happy 19th Annie!!!

Annie love, sorry I can't spam your Facebook wall or call you, and I have absolutely no idea which email address you check these days. But...

I love you!

And I hope you had a fantabulous first week of classes!

And I know you will be having a spectacular day.

And I'm sorry I'm not there to celebrate with you, but 19 is kind of a useless year anyway.

And you can laugh at me because today was my first day of classes even though it's Saturday.

Alright, I'll try to find a place to call you once I get to Dominica on Monday... If you email me your phone number.

Love you Chicken!

A Grand Welcome and Farewell

As I keep mentioning, we have been stranded in the Bahamas waiting for all the students who were sent to Florida to retrieve their Brazil visas that they never received. It was really sweet actually, at one of our orientation meetings yesterday, the dean called them on his cell phone in front of the whole shipboard community and they were all gathered on the speaker phone on the other end yelling "Wait for us!" and our entire ship got to yell back "We will!"

At 19:30 today the announcer informed us over the loud speaker that the last ten students had finally arrived. We all rushed out to crowd the decks and watched and cheered as the ten of them came running towards the ship.

Although we technically left earlier to circle port for a few hours, this time we officially left. The ship's horn bellowed, the parents who waited around this long waved from port, and the ship cast off its bowlines as we sailed away.

We are the first voyage to leave Nassau twice, and twice in one day at that. And now we are finally off to see the world!

There and Back Again: Semester at Port

We are finally moving and heading out to sea! But we are turning around and sailing back to Nassau at 17:00 or 18:00 to pick up the remaining students who were stuck in Florida. I'm guessing they needed the dock for another cruise ship.

A Quick Note on Comments

I just realized that I never set up forwarding on the email that all my blog comments get sent to. And going to my blog uses up my internet minutes (I already used 47 minutes out of my 120 trying to set it up yesterday, woohoo). So feel free to comment, but I will not be able to read them until I have free internet access. Instead you can email me unlimitedly at alexa.lister.s12@semesteratsea.org. And thanks to everyone who has already written me! It's great to hear from everyone.

Some Facts

Location: MV Explorer, 4.78N 20.41W

Today was embarkation day for everyone else who wasn't work study. As such it was a long exhausting day filled with registration and orientation and nothing particularly thrilling to write about.

So instead here are some facts about our voyage that you may or may not find interesting, depending on what you consider to be interesting.

About the ship:

Tonnage: 25,000 tons
Length: 590 ft. (180 m)
Beam: 84 ft. (26 m)
Draft: 24 ft. (7 m)
Maximum Cruising Speed: 28 knots
Passenger Decks: 6
Classrooms: 9
Passenger Capacity (double basis): 836

About our Community:

Students: 570
Schools represented: 247
Lifelong learners: 79
Faculty: 38
Staff: 32
Faculty/staff family members: 59
Partial voyagers: 21

Countries Represented:

Austria
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Colombia
Denmark
France
Guatemala
Hong Kong
Italy
India
Mexico
Netherlands
Sweden
Turkey
US Vietnam

Also, a quick update, due to the Brazil visa issue, our departure has again been delayed to tomorrow at noon. We have been assured though that we will still arrive in Dominica on Monday as scheduled.

Embarkation Day

Location: MV Explorer, 4.78N 20.41W

Our little ship is simply beautiful. I went on a Carnival cruise once and it was all neon and plastic and the cheesiest thing you've ever seen. It gave me a bad taste for ships. The city of Nassau is a port town and therefore bustling with tourists during the day. They are all old and overweight and rich and obviously completely culturally unaware, as the only part of the city they ever actually see is the port area that has been completely stripped of anything authentic and paved with gift shops. I'm sorry; I don't mean to stereotype cruise-goers, I know there are some lovely people amongst you lot, completely the opposite of what I just described. But all the tourists I've seen in the past few days, being herded along onto tour busses (minivans) that merely slow down in front of Bahamian cultural landmarks as a driver says a few words, gave me all the more distaste for cruises in general.

The Explorer is different in every way though. As she should be, after all we keep being reminded that this is not a cruise, but a voyage. She is about a quarter of the size of all these other ships that tower in the background. She is also a state of the art academic campus. And as I said before, she is beautiful! Everything just looks very classy; none of the gaudy neon frills that Carnival boasted. I can't believe I'm actually even comparing the Explorer to that cruise, but that's the only point of reference I have as far as ships go. But this is essentially, a very beautiful, miniature, floating campus, and my home for the next four months.

So this morning I helped myself to the continental toast for the last time and headed to the beach with my roommates. I really need to be more careful in the sun, I was out for merely an hour and am already completely burnt. The Caribbean never fails to be worth every bit of burn though.

For lunch we went to this little local takeout place I discovered last night that serves four-dollar conch burgers. That's another cool thing about the Bahamas: the local cuisine consists of conch and rum cakes. I've been to many a Caribbean island but I've never seen conch on the menu. It's actually really good. I think I'm going to miss it.

From there we headed back to the hotel and checked out. I was glad to get out of there; it was a very charming little hotel and everyone was super nice except for one of the front desk ladies who insisted on calling me over every time she saw me to have a fit about how we had way too many people in our room and would have to pay. That woman had the eyes of a hawk "I saw those other two girls go back into your room and you know you have to pay extra for them right?" This was a daily occurrence. The truth is I made the reservation for as many people as we originally planned, and the other two girls were a last minute addition. Not that it wasn't a blast, the front desk lady just made me super uncomfortable.

Lizzie and I decided to walk to the ship despite all of our luggage since it's only a few blocks away. Somehow we made it, checked in, attended the supervisor meeting, ate dinner out on the deck overlooking Nassau, and now here I am in my room, all unpacked and right at home. Mostly everyone is going back ashore for one last night in Nassau but I am exhausted and looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow we leave for Dominica. Our departure has been delayed though due to a mishap with several students' Brazil visas. They never received them and so were flown out to Florida to pick them up. So due to a good twenty or thirty of our classmates still being stuck in Florida dealing with visa problems, departure has been delayed until the last plane tomorrow night arrives in Nassau.

Also, a small note: since the internet on board is extremely limited, I am typing all of my posts in word document and it may be a while before I actually have the chance to post them online. The dates and times marked are those when I originally wrote them however.

Shark Attack!

Location: Nassau, Bahamas

Sorry, that was a bad joke. I am alive and in one piece.

But I went diving again today and it was hands down, the best experience of my life. If you ever get to the Bahamas, the #1 thing you absolutely must do is go to Stuart Cove's, and go on their Adventure Shark dive. At first I thought the first dive was the most incredible experience of my life; we dove down to yet another wreck and there were reef sharks swimming everywhere. A few got close, but not in an I-want-to-eat-you way. It was move of an excuse-me-you're-right-in-my-direct-line-of-path kind of way. Imagine shipwrecks and sharks all in one dive. It was something so majestic and unreal I can't even begin to describe. And so I'll just leave you with that.

And then as impossible as it seems, the second dive we went on topped it times ten. We dropped down into the water, and there were twice as many sharks as before. The dive masters arranged us in a giant circle on the sand floor and the sharks just circled menacingly around us; waiting for the bait they knew was coming. And then our shark feeder dropped down into the midst of us with a cage of fresh bait. The frenzy that ensued was insane! Forty, even fifty sharks were all rushing in for fresh meat, in and out of our circle without even noticing us. And man were they everywhere! They were quite literally brushing up against us repeatedly in their attempts to beat everyone else to the bait. For nearly an hour I sat there, mesmerized as these gorgeous creatures got right up in my face, staring me down and threatening to swim straight into me. One of the sharks had battle scars; half of her lower jaw was missing, showing off her rows and rows of teeth and her white tongue. She was my favorite.

I feel like I've already experienced the thrills of a lifetime; I can't believe I'm looking at an entire semester of this. Tomorrow we board the MV Explorer.

Parrots and Facebook Celebrities

This is my new friend Max. Max's favorite word is hello, but he only talks to people he likes ( he thinks he's people too, and very important people at that). Max got very angry at me yesterday for eating a granola bar without sharing. We made up though. I think Max has a hangover this morning; he keeps wrapping his foot around his head.

About half of our fellow SASers arrived yesterday and we all took over Señor Frog's. It's so great to finally meet all these people that I have spent the last year stalking on Facebook. That would normally be a very creepy thing to say but we've all been doing it. This guy came up to me all excited and was like "You're Lexi Lister!" And I replied "You're so-and-so!" (replacing so-and-so with his name of course). Ok, I take it back, it is kind of weird. But I was amazed at just how many people knew exactly who I was; I didn't realize I'd made a memorable impression. It's a little terrifying.

A Day in the Life of a Dive Bum

Location: Nassau, Bahamas

(And a note to my mother: you should probably skip the first paragraph)

I woke up at 6:30 this morning to make sure I had time to figure out breakfast and find the bus stop to get to the opposite side of the island for diving. Breakfast consisted of a couple slices of bread because that's what the hotel's continental breakfast had and I needed a free meal (I've come to the sad realization that 90% of my money will likely be spent on food and tips). The bus was to pick me up by the Government Building, which is conveniently half a block away. There is no bus stop there. There is a busy street with minivans (The Bahamians' version of busses) rushing by driving people to work. There is also a two-square-foot patch of sidewalk in front of the gate leading up to the government building. The rest of the building is surrounded by wall followed immediately by crazy island traffic. So I wedged myself on the two-square-foot patch of sidewalk and wondered what was supposed to happen. I watched in terror as minivans slowed down just enough for the people on them to jump off and hurry on to their daily business. And then the Stuart's Cove bus (minivan) rounded the corner and I waved at it and it slowed down and I jumped on and thank goodness they had been expecting me because I felt like such a sketch person jumping onto a minivan that hadn't even come to a complete stop for me.

The lines on the roads here are zig-zags quite literally. I have yet to see straight road lines. The driving is just as chaotic. They drive on the opposite side of the road and there are no speed limits or traffic lights and if someone if front of you is going slower than your driver's liking, they swerve into incoming traffic to go around. This is how we drove around the entire coast to the opposite side of the island.

As I was standing in line to check in for my dive, the girl behind me tugged on the yellow bandana tied to my bag and asked if I was also with Semester at Sea. I replied excitedly that I was and she introduced herself and another girl. Once on the dive boat I found that there was a fourth SAS girl with us as well.

I was all set to go diving save for a strap for my underwater camera. The gift shop was no help but there was a camera center for tourists wishing to purchase pictures of themselves on their grand adventures. I walked in and the boy working the front desk was kind enough to dig up a lanyard for me. Everyone here is so friendly and helpful. And it's not just in hopes of making some sort of profit off of naïve tourists either. I tried to tip the guy for his help and he refused to accept it.

The boat driver, photographer, instructor, dive master, and everyone else were all gorgeous Australian dive bums. Perfect bodies. Heartbreaking accents. Carefree personalities. I want to be a dive bum when I grow up.

Our first site was the Pumpkin Patch. The Pumpkin Patch is a wall. There is a reef that drops thousands of feet to the depths of the ocean floors. Completely spectacular. The only thing I remember about it though is the shark. Swimming along, out past the wall, was a reef shark, minding his own business and refusing to come say hello. To everyone who told me I was going to get eaten by a shark, you were sorely mistaken. I apparently am not very tempting bait. The shark didn't even notice us but just kept swimming along, out beyond the wall.

The second sight was that of the two wrecks used to film the James Bond movies. The first, an artificial airplane built to look like a wreck, was used in Thunderball, and the second, a shipwreck, was used in Never Say Never Again. There's something really haunting about wrecks; I swore I could here some eerie music playing in the background, but when I stopped to listen, the only thing there was the sound of my own breathing. Inhale. Exhale.

Mostly people only do two-tank dives and so we headed back to the shop to drop everyone off and switch out boats. I had 45 minutes to grab lunch and then found my way onto the next boat. On this trip there were no Semester at Sea people. In fact it was all guys. In fact two girls passing by the boat stopped to tell me how brave I was for going scuba diving… My third site of the day was the plane wreck and ship wreck Hollywood sunk to film the movie Into The Blue. (I actually watched this before leaving and it was pretty stupid. But I do recommend seeing it purely for the sake of seeing how spectacular the Bahamian waters really are).

Our last dive site was supposed to be another shipwreck. Apparently the buoy marking the site disappeared though and we accidentally ended up at some unknown reef instead. It was a beautiful find though. I literally saw fish of every color of the rainbow and then some.

I borrowed my uncle's dive camera before leaving and everyone I ran into, staff and visitors, kept commenting on what a cool camera it was. Everything is digital these days, and people who have dive cameras really just have dive cases for their digital cameras. Not that there is anything wrong with this. But everyone seemed enthralled by the concept of film and thought this was the coolest camera ever. By the end of the day everyone was calling me photographer. I never used the thing before this morning and would not be surprised if the pictures all come out black (due to my photographer skills, not because of the camera). It was still fun though.

Aruba, Jamaica, Oooh I Wanna Take Ya to Bermuda, BAHAMAS!!!

Location: Nassau, Bahamas

Lizzie and I arrived safely in the Bahamas; no luggage was lost but we did almost miss our connecting flight from Miami to Nassau (we were sitting there at the gate for two hours and suddenly heard "last boarding call for Lister and Szoke" ...don't know how we missed that one), saw the MV Explorer! She is here, but leaving for Florida to pick up our professors, then returning for us later this week. Made our way to Senor Frog's where all the Semester at Sea alumni were celebrating their reunion voyage. Partied with them. Flirted with the bouncer for free tickets to the night club on Tuesday night. Tomorrow is scuba diving day. More updates to come!

Dear World,

I'm all packed and ready to go!

Five Days to Go

...and yet this still doesn't seem real. At all in fact. I can comprehend entirely that I am going to the Bahamas and get to bum around on the beach for a few days, do some scuba diving, hopefully visit the shipwrecks that Hollywood sunk for the James Bond movies, swim with the sharks,... And I am completely ecstatic with even just a few days of sand and sun. Everything from boarding the ship onward though seems like some insane dream, far too outrageous to be true. Surely this is all just some made-up fantasy in my head. Right?

My Life Stuffed Into Two Suitcases

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Unknown

As marvelous as that advice is, being stranded in the middle of the ocean requires much more packing than just clothes, and unfortunately I'm already bringing every penny I have. So I seem to be doing just the opposite.

The past weeks, yes weeks, have been spent compiling lists of everything I could possibly need in a semester, clothing, shoes, toiletries, school supplies, vitamins, money, documents, books, electronics, etc, etc, etc, and then trying in vain to cut out as much as possible so as to squish everything into the two suitcases I am allowed. Or one suitcase and my backpacking pack to be precise. If I get desperate I will count my backpack as the carry-on that is actually is and bring a second suitcase, but I have learned that too much luggage is nothing but a major pain.

He who would travel happily must travel light. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This sounds easy at first, throw some clothes, money, and my passport into a backpack and be done with it.

Not quite. I guess there's a slight difference between packing to live on a boat, and packing to travel in port. This is school, believe it or not, so I do have to lug around school supplies and textbooks. Thank goodness for the invention of ebooks. I can bring one iPad instead of the 15+ textbooks I need for all of my classes.

And there's also toiletries to think about. The campus store is apparently way overpriced and who knows what's available in the countries where I am going. Ok, I'm sure I could find mostly everything I need, but living in this country, I have been brainwashed into believing that I need a very certain brand of razor blades. It's silly, yes, but would you really want to trust being able to find normal toothpaste in the middle of Africa? Actually I just looked it up and Ghana, surprisingly, has the highest per capita consumption of toothpaste, but I'd rather not spend my precious hours in port searching around for toiletries.

Then there's also medicine and vitamins. I hear that the food aboard the M.V. Explorer consists mostly of potatoes and pasta, so multi-vitamins are a must, as well as protein powder. I care way to much about my health to live on a completely carb diet for an entire semester.

And of course these considerations go on and on but I won't bore you any more. For the benefit of anyone planning on living on a ship for four months though, I wrote my complete packing list on a separate page. I know everyone who posted their packing lists on Facebook in the past weeks was a huge help.