I am so excited for South Africa!!!! Today is day five at sea which means we've spent the past five days in class discussing everything South Africa. The more I learn about this place the more I am determined that I will need to return for an extended period of time. There is so much to do and see and learn about! And the culture sounds absolutely insane! I mean Cape Town, where we are going, is practically a European city by design, and yet apartheid only ended 20 year ago, which means there are still remnants of it everywhere. I've heard countless people who have been there before say that is their favorite place in the world. It is supposed to be incredibly beautiful, and yet there is so much corruption there, and endless violations of human rights. The tourist industry has implemented countless thrills, from safaris and shark cage diving, to bunjee jumping and sand-boarding. And while all that carelessly goes on there are still people living in these Townships, or "makeshift housing," which basically consists of a little metal roof. It is hard to believe that so much wealth and poverty can coexist in such extremes. In fact there is this thing called the "Gini Index," which calculates the difference between the extremely wealthy and the severely impoverished in each country and guess who scores the highest? South Africa. I can tell you now for certain that you will not be hearing from me for the six days that I am there; I don't want to miss a minute!
Life at sea has truly become my home. I love it here. I am living with 600 other students who share in my passion of traveling, and not just share the same desires, but actually turn them into realities. So often we talk about the things we want to do in life and they never happen. We succumb to society's expectations of the lives we should live: go to school, start a career, settle down, support your family. Not that there is anything wrong with that as long as it's what you want. But it's so refreshing to be with this group of people who wanted to travel the world, and made it happen. It's also been really incredible living with and interacting with all of our professors and lifelong learners and staff and crew members in the manner that we have. And this ship has become a safe haven for when the chaos of being in port comes to an end. After near a week of living in the conditions of these third world countries, it is always nice to know there is a hot shower waiting at the end. Of course after experiencing the living conditions that everyone else has to endure, I also feel overwhelmingly spoiled, but it is a luxury that I will not resent in the least.
Every few days at sea we lose an hour as we travel east. It's usually every two days when we are at sea. It is funny because I am used to traveling, and jumping through time zones, and normally you get a good night's sleep and are back on track. Losing an hour, so consistently every couple days though is really beginning to catch up with me. Every two-day time period is 47 hours now instead of 48, and after a while you really begin to feel it. It's also crazy to think that I am now nine hours ahead of Colorado time. I'm getting ready to go to bed and you all are just finishing lunch. Anyway. Goodnight.
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