NEPTUNE DAY

The madness began the day after we got back from Ghana… This traditional day of crossing the equator has us doing insane, down right dirty rituals. Because of this day I was turned into a shellback…a pollywog no longer! Arg Matey! Everyone but the weaklings got fish guts poured on them, then jumped into the pool. The color was still disgusting hours later. After that we kissed dead fish (YUM!) then we paid our dues to the King and Queen of Neptune day… Massive amounts of people shaved there heads, surprisingly LOTS of girls. I’m bald!!! Siiike, our ship looks sickly there’s so many baldies. Great day, can’t wait to share some photos. Can’t believe I’m at the center of the world-0 lat 0 long! How amazing? This week has been pretty hectic with my two Ambassador meetings and being busy planning the Ball. I also joined a small group for a “Life Drawing” class where we have live models so we’ll see if I can improve. We’re in the middle of a storm right now and the ship is rocking like crazy. Hard to concentrate in class when people are leaving to yack.. Anyways can’t wait to see land again and get to South Africa and adventure : ) Love and miss you all dearly xxx Vanessa

GHANA!!!

GHANAAAAAAAA! Where to begin I don’t even know…Our port was actually called Tema so we were about a 45 minute bus ride away from Accra. The first day I was able to get onto the SAS City Tour which basically took 10 hours. Since this is SAS’ first time to ever be in Ghana they underestimated the traffic.. I also think it is amazing that we are the biggest group of Americans to ever enter Ghana at once…talk about a big deal ; ) Anyways we stopped at Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park which was beautiful and we were able to learn about Ghana’s first president. Next was W.E.B. Dubois Memorial Center which was also pretty cool. We stopped at a market and were able to speak with the locals, more importantly barter with them. Strange looking out the window to see women carrying massive amounts of various things on their head (no hands!) for miles, reminded me of The Jungle Book. I really enjoyed eating traditional Ghanaian food, especially the plantains, which are like fried bananas. We were able to visit a gorgeous university and talk with the students there. The people here are so hospitable and generous it’s unbelievable. It’s funny because their e-mail address to them is like their identity…actually I already received an e-mail from one of the students! Haha no worries parental unit, no donations will be made! On our bus ride back I saw a flock of birds-no a flock(?) of BATS..it was so mad, hundreds so close ah who knew? The following day I had another trip the Kakum National Park where I hiked and did Africa’s first canopy walkway! Probably my favorite part of the trip… We were about 100 ft high and the views from the treetops of the rainforest were spectacular. After we ate with crocodiles then we reached our fabulouuuuuss Coconut Grove Resort. Probably THE nicest place I have stayed, and would have never thought I was actually in a third world country (Will Smith and other famous people have stayed there too ooh la la eh). I stayed in a nice sized villa and enjoyed dinner and a bon fire on the beach. Got up early for our Cape Historical Tour of the castles and slave dungeons which were amazing. The Cape Coast Castle was very secluded as well as the Elmina Castle which is Africa’s largest. Both had separate quarters for male and female and the stories we were told is beyond one’s capacity to truly understand what unfortunate things happened to these slaves. Walking into the dungeons you instantly plug your nose, I can’t imagine what the smell would have been like with 5 times the amount of people and what was actually happening inside. Seeing the slave dungeons was truthfully breathtaking, such inhumane things happened in these gorgeous castles that we were able to have a glimpse of. Atop the castle was an amazing view of the floating market as well as the coast with hundreds of flags splashing the landscape with color. There I bought a wonderful wooden lamp a Ghanaian man spent 3 days carving, still unsure how everything is going to actually fit into my bag..my San Diego friends better help me out! We got back pretty late yet decided the night was still young so went out in Accra. It’s amazing how nice the clubs and bars are, probably something you wouldn’t picture. The night was an overall success except for our taxi ride home where we got pulled over because they wanted to scam us into paying seatbelt tickets even though we all had them on- pretty sure they did this to 20 other taxis as well. Anyways we got out of it and spent our last day shopping in Accra. I like how moms carry their babies like backpack, kind of wanted one..I love shopping on the streets, buying fresh sugar cane mmm and the best part was them selling water bags??? Like a wine bag (Purple Katie Carter+ Tahoe crew) I wanted to SLAPIT but realized how crazy I would look haha. I forgot to mention their OBSESSION with Obama..there was a sign every 30 feet with his face on it, T-shirts w/ObamaGhana intertwined and plaques everywhere, it was crazy. My roommate even got Obama Biscuits..seriously? All in all I had a really great time and I’m excited to see Ghana’s tourism grow as they keep becoming more globalized. I LOVE GHANA !!!

MOROCCO: Casablanca, Marrakech, & Zagora

MOROCCO! First day we drove through Casablanca (nothing like the movie fyi) we passed Mosque Hassan II the world’s third largest religious building. It cost about $800 million to make it which was sad to see how the money was distributed when looking across the street into the slums. After 4 hours of driving we got to Marrakech and went to Old Medina where you shop and barter through the hundreds of Souks…absolute chaos. Snake charmers, henna ladies, monkeys, chickens, and children all bombard you at once trying to trick you so they can make some quick cash. The funny thing is that it is just this huge square, no street signs, lights, or anything so people are just driving in and out of people making New York cab drivers look like saints. On our way there our tour guide had mentioned it only rains about 20 days a year there… so as we’re happily shopping through the Souks, next thing I know it is POURING, beyond pouring- I have never experienced a harder rain fall. So here are 100 plus Americans running through the rain with all the Moroccans in their shops cheering and doing the wave for us as we scooted by. Even though we were completely soaked and we waited 45 minutes in the rain for our bus to come I had the best time of my life. We laughed our way to our hotel, then got ready to see the Fantasia Horse show..oh la la. It’s equivalent to a medieval Renaissance festival but in Africa.. Before every meal they would sing and dance to different songs and it was great. After our meal the show had belly dancers, fire-breathers, crazy people doing horse tricks, and fireworks J so incredible. Next morning drove 8 hours to Zagora to ride my camel in the Sahara! Long drive, if you’ve ever seen Babel, that’s the same road I was driving on- CRAZY! When I looked out the window children were riding donkeys and I saw all the women working outside covered from head to toe in the blazing heat. Finally we arrived in the Sahara and we were greeted by hundreds of camels and nomads ahh! My camel was such a badass with his nose pierced and was named Hasheeb..Hungry Hasheeb because he would not stop eating. I don’t know what people were talking about when they said you get over camel riding in 15 minutes..I LOVED it, I could have rode Hasheeb back to Cali. We arrived at our tents in the middle of nowhere, and once again greeted by the nomads singing and dancing as we entered. We had dinner with them, and celebrated around a fire with some wine. Got henna tattooed on my hand and foot and met even more people who went on my trip. I had an amazing night and experienced something so unreal. We woke up a few hours later to watch the sunrise and got on camels again..this ones name was NushaJ only because I promised! Haha we finally got off our camels and back on to the 8 hour death bus with our crazy driver and tour guide. Looking out the window and people watching was insane. These people have nothing and live in pueblo-like shacks yet don’t seem to mind it..or at least they don’t show it, not like we could never even imagine how different growing up is for them. Kept myself busy until we got back into Marrakech…when we got back to the hotel I couldn’t tell if I was more sore from camel riding or from squatting to pee so much ahh. Right now it’s Ramadan so just like siesta in Spain the town pretty much turns off. At night we found a really awesome hookah bar with a retractable ceiling so we were under the stars! True Moroccan hookah experience, more belly dancers and pretty nice people=great night. Next day went back to Old Medina to put my bargaining skills to work and got some awesome things yaaay. Next day was spent wandering in Casablanca, trying to spend the rest of our Dirhams before departure where I met a fantastic Moroccan man, reminded me of an old wise man from a Disney movie and he shared some really unbelievable stories with us. Now WE’re sailing to GHANA and I’m so excited..6 more days until we get there and here’s some fun stats:
We sailed 625 miles since Morocco …2,181 miles more to go until Ghana... avg speed 16 knots.. Sea depth: 2,096 feet random buuuut I’m having an amazing time, miss you all please email me at vrwereda@semesteratsea.net :)

SPAIN : Cadiz, Sevilla, & Cordoba

Dear readers, please forgive from my absence from blogging, I’ve been extremely busy! I don’t even know where to begin…Seeing land for the first time was amazing I was starting to get shipfever! The first day off the ship I wandered around beautiful Cadiz with some friends with no idea what to do. So naturally, we shopped and ate J We also took a double decker bus to tour the city more efficiently and went to an awesome beach to catch some Spanish rays. My diet consists of ice cream and the best sangria you could ever imagine. Day two I had a SAS trip planned and went to Sevilla y Cordoba! Sevilla was unbelievable, gorgeous tile, art, and scenery everywhere you looked. I went to the Plaza de Espana, Cathedrals ,and up 37 floors (worse than the stairs up to the Arc de Triumph in Paris, did you think that was possible Jax & Mom?) to the top of a tower for a panoramic view which was well worth it. Our group ate at a really nice restaurant with delicious TAPAS(!) and wine. Next we took the bus to Cordoba, set our stuff down at our hotel and went out for drinks…fell in love with Strong Bow but no Spaniards :(dammit! Woke up to explore Cordoba with the gang, first stop was Cathedral de Cordoba, which actually started off as a mosque so its architecture looked very Egyptian-like with its arches and unique style which was better than any cathedral I’ve ever been to. A guy in our group is Muslim and he really wanted to pray while we were in the building so we looked out for him because I basically just wanted to watch him do his thing. One big problem is 98% of Spain is Catholic, even though only 20% actually practice it. But that’s beside the point, and there was a pretty big confrontation and too much Spanish yelling so we ended up leaving the madness. This really showed me how lucky we are to live in a free country with amendments that protect us and where there is so much more tolerance towards people and their religion. We headed back to Cadiz and the great food didn’t stop so we went out once again for our last night in Espana ay yi yiii! The next day I was finally able to use the internet and uploaded some pictures on facebook which made me feel better haha media fasting is oh so bittersweet. We departed Cadiz with everyone out on the deck and headed to Morocco! The following day was “Morocco Day” and out on the deck we could see Spain, Gibraltar, and Africa all at once and it was awesome :) went to pre-port briefing to prepare for Morocco but I don’t think anyone or anything could prepare me for what I experienced there!

I'm alive!

It’s been SUCH a hassle to get my computer to work out here in the Atlantic! I swear it might end up overboard. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. I wake up and go to sleep looking out my porthole at the ocean everyday. Still have 4 more days until we get to Spain. The ship is gorgeous and everyone is really nice. My roommate is from MinnesOOOta but goes to USD and is awesome. There is 521 students, we represent all 50 states and 12 other countries. The foreign students are my favorite. This guy from Serbia refers to country music as “exotic” haha. Last night was Pub Night where we drink outside at the bar of the boat, which was really fun. People walk to class like they’re drunk all the time but everyone is just getting use to their sea legs. It’s really hard to take showers- I fear I might accidentally shave off my eyebrows ahhhh. Other then that classes are going well I have some pretty cool teachers. I was going to drop my Econ of Tourism class until my teacher had the best Australian accent ever  Miss all my friends and family dearly and when I get to port hopefully I can find an internet café so I don’t waste my minutes/time on my computer card! Love love love V

Canada Bound Tomorrow!

Maine has been great despite gaining 10 lbs before my trip! Great food here, as well as company. Brian is doing well in the Coast Guard here and so is his baby kitten Ninja! Tomorrow I leave for Halifax, Canada. I'm extremely excited to get on that ship- it will be really REALLY good for my brain. My family thinks my roommate will have to be some sort of war veteran or something to deal with me but I think we'll do just fine ;) plus I brought enough beauty products for us both (maybe even my entire deck) so she will have to love me haha! Anyways can't wait for my first stop to ESPANA! I'm not sure how much internet access I will be having aboard but I will try my best! Hope all is well in the real world xxx V

Today I look at my bags and say...

"I WILL CONQUER YOU."

Leaving for the East Coast 3:30 am ...That is if my flight plans don't change for the 100th time. Oh the perks of being a United standby passenger for life. Writing this blog in hopes of adding to my procrastination and last minute pressure, ya know..the usual. SAS's advice: pack your bag, then take out half. HA, I'm screwed..not going to happen. I need every random piece of clothing I own. What the hell do you wear on a camel trek? Hmmm, will be attempting to back ALL day. Goodbye San Ramon bubble, you've been good to me!