Sustainability

One of the primary reasons I decided to apply for Semester at Sea was the voyage's theme of Sustainability. Every voyage has a theme that relates to traveling around the world, but the potential to learn about so many countries and cultures through the lens of sustainability on this trip really appealed to me. The theme is expressed on the ship primarily through the Global Studies course, in both the lectures and the final project. For the project, Semester at Sea has partnered with the UVA Curry School of Education to work with us to create sustainability curriculum for 12th grade students. Every group will submit a part of what will end up being a comprehensive unit on Sustainability, which has the potential to be implemented in Virginian schools. Our professor, Don Gogniat, has repeatedly stressed the opportunity we have to affect thousands of students with what we learn on our travels abroad. It's exciting.

 

I am working with classmates in my Water for the World class - since there is only seven of us we decided to get together and do something related to water. While it is hard to predict what the eventual outcome of the project will be, I like the people in my group, so it should end up working out.

 

I have wondered about the hypocrisy of the theme - we are, after all, traveling around in a cruise ship that emits untold amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. I learned that 1/5 of our tuition goes directly into fuel costs, and the bill for filling up the tank runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Academic Dean Mark White tried to justify the seemingly blatant contradiction of the theme of sustainability with the reality of our fuel consumption. He said he believed that Human Capital, that is, the ability for humans to reason and make decisions that affect the world, can act as a substitute for the Natural Capital we are using up by burning all of the fossil fuels. In other words, he hopes that what we learn by going on this voyage prompts us to make a positive impact on the world that will far surpass the resources we used on Semester at Sea. While I'm not sure if I completely agree that they are substitutes, I do believe that we should use this experience to improve our world. And I certainly plan to.

 

Honolulu

I woke up Wednesday morning to an announcement of our arrival in Honolulu. There was nowhere near the mad rush to leave the ship as when we docked in Hilo, probably because everyone was still recovering from packed days of travel. I was in no hurry myself because I had a trip organized through Semester at Sea that would take up the morning, a mini-coach tour that would highlight some of Oahu’s attractions, so I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast outside in the perfect weather. It was strange to leave one port and wake up the next morning in a completely new one. I could definitely tell that I was in a different, busier place. For one thing, I think the port in Hilo only had three piers, whereas we were docked at pier 11 in Honolulu.

 

Cousin Shannon showed us around for the car tour. He requested that we call him cousin because in Hawai’i everyone is considered family. He was very talkative, and chatted continuously. We drove a loop that visited the Nu’uanu lookout, then went up to Kailua beach, around to the Halona Blow Hole and Hanauma Bay, up to Diamond Head, and lastly up a winding road to Mt. Tablous, which offered a fantastic panorama of Honolulu and the ocean. My favorite place was probably Hanauma Bay because we could see the reef through the clear blue water. Unfortunately we could not stop to snorkel ourselves, but I did manage to take lots of pictures! At the Diamond Head stop we could see surfers enjoying the waves. I did not make it up to the North Shore of the island, where the famous huge waves are, but I still marveled at the surfers at Diamond Head beach.

 

Another cool thing was the difference between the leeward and windward coasts on the island. The windward coast receives the majority of the island’s precipitation while the leeward coast is much drier. The coasts are separated by a range of incredibly steep mountains. The mountains were shrouded in clouds which made them seem very mystical and mysterious, whereas both sides of the island were warm and sunny. Cousin Shannon explained that the volcanic activity on the big island caused clouds on all of the other islands, which I thought was pretty wild. Our last stop was the King Kamehameha I statue which was plated in gold. King Kamehameha I was the first person to unite the islands under one rule, and seemed to be an omnipresent force in both Hilo and Honolulu.

 

After the tour I ate lunch on the ship and then headed to Waikiki Beach, arguably Hawai’i’s most iconic beach. It is dotted with resorts, including the Royal Hawai’ian which is pink! The beach was pretty crowded when we got there around three, even though it wasn’t particularly warm. We saw several fellow SASers, including some of the faculty and their families. Several people made sand creations, including a hammerhead shark and an Aloha Castle. The street immediately adjacent to the beach had a wide array of shops stretching several blocks, including an International Marketplace which offered a lot of stall shopping amongst trees with loud parrots.

 

Eight of us ate dinner at Duke’s, which was right on the beach and recommended by Cousin Shannon. There was a bit of a wait for a table, but it couldn’t have been better because we got to watch the sunset from the beach. It was absolutely spectacular and lit up the sky with orange and gold. Not too long after the sunset we sat down to eat, and I had some scrumptious fish tacos and waffle fries. It was one of those meals where after the food was served the table was completely silent.

 

We wandered around the shops again after dinner, which had come alive with the nightfall. Painted mimes came to life with tips, street musicians played steel drums, and artists painted portraits. I also saw someone dressed as Elmo wearing a Hawaiian lei. We happened upon a spray painter street artist, who had a music and light show to go along with his spray painting of two pictures. At first everything seemed random and haphazard, but when he finally lifted up the final work, it was AMAZING. One of the pictures was of dolphins in the ocean with mountains and a beautiful sunset, and the other was of a huge sun, two hills connected by a footbridge, and trees with purple leaves, which apparently exist somewhere on the island.

 

The next morning, my friend Courtney and I left the ship early to visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona monument. We took a bus directly there, and waited less than thirty minutes for our tour, which was great because we heard that sometimes the wait was for several hours. The tour began with a movie that told the story of the attack and had some unbelievable footage of the event. It was amazing to me how the Japanese were able to use the element of surprise as their greatest weapon. We then got on a boat to go the memorial, which was a simple white structure that was erected over the sunken ship. You could still see certain parts of the USS Arizona that were either above the water or slightly below it. On the far end of the monument there were the names of the more than 1,000 men who died in the attack. It was a very sobering experience, and made me want to see Hiroshima, to try and see both sides of the coin, so to speak.

 

After Pearl Harbor, we took a bus to a mall to accomplish some final errands, including solving camera issues and exchanging some American money for Japanese and Chinese currency. The bus ride was quite the trip – we sat next to some school-aged kids who were skipping school to go to the mall (I let them know that this was a bad idea). They were quite talkative and animated, although not necessarily trustworthy, as they told conflicting stories at different stages of the trip.

 

Courtney and I walked back to the ship from the mall, stopping for some delicious frozen yogurt on the way. As we pulled out of Honolulu, we bid a final farewell to the United States, at least until May.

Hilo

It's Thursday night and everyone is back on the ship after their adventures in Hawai'i. We leave port in thirty minutes or so, which will begin our eleven-day trek to Japan. Which makes this a perfect opportunity to tell about my last four days on land! To make it a little less overwhelming, I'll break it into two posts.

 

We woke up around 5:30 on Monday to prepare for customs, which started at 6 and was necessary for the ship to clear. All we really had to do was retrieve our passports (Semester at Sea keeps our passports while we are on board for safekeeping), walk up to the official, hand him our passport to look at, and give our passport back to Semester at Sea. While waiting for the ship to clear, I stood outside on the deck, marveling at the sunrise. It was somewhat cloudy but luckily Mauna Kea, a volcano larger than Everest if you include the ocean depth AND the place where scientists first recorded the increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration (yay environmental science!!!), was completely visible. The sun gradually lit up the moutain, and it really was a spectacular sight.

 

The ship finally cleared around 8:30, which prompted a mad dash to the Gangway exit on the second deck. Of course, once off the ship we loitered around for awhile for friends to disembark. When I stood on the land I felt queasy, and could feel myself rocking involuntarily. I am sad to say that my first stop in Hilo was the Wal-Mart to pick up snacks and supplies. However, after this detour we headed downtown to see what the city of Hilo had to offer.

 

First off, calling Hilo a city is a bit of a stretch. A three story building would be considered tall, most of the action was concentrated in a few blocks, and I witnessed several occasions where two locals walking on the street would recognize each other and start a conversation. Speaking of locals, they certainly realized that there were an unusual number of college-aged folks, and a few of them came up to us to inquire about where we came from. Hilo did have a small but neat Farmer's Market, where I bought a bunch of apple bananas for a dollar. I was tempted by some of the other fruit, like avocados, mangoes, and pineapples, but since I did not have a knife handy I settled with the bananas.

 

After the market we wandered through some shops. Some of the more exciting discoveries included a Hula dancing work out mix, more ukeleles than I have ever seen in my life, and an incredible restaurant supply store which all types of enchantments from ginormous woks to dozens of spatula varieties. I thought of Uncle Don seeing all of those spatulas.

 

We got hungry around one and found a local cafe. We didn't know we had picked a place with such a quirky owner - he got impatient when we were deciding what to order ("Hurry up already! I don't have all day you know!") and got offended when I didn't use a knife to cut my tomato. To properly demonstrate the error of my ways, he came up behind me, cut my tomato for me, and then fed me the food. I have photographic evidence! (that hopefully I will be posting in Japan?...)

 

Soon after lunch we decided to head back to the ship as we were all supposed to be ready for the Lu'au by 4:30. At the bus stop, a man came up to us with a handful of flowers that he picked from a nearby tree. Hawaiians are big on wearing flowers in their hair, and depending on which ear you place the flower, you can tell whether you are single or taken. If you wear flowers in both ears you are "Taken, but still looking".

 

We boarded the bus for the Lu'au, but as a surprise for all of us, we made a stop at the University of Hawai'i Hilo Campus. It seemed rather unnecessary, but as we were being hosted by the University I suppose they could dictate the itinerary. I don't think I could ever go to school in Hawai'i - I would be constantly distracted by the beautiful weather.

 

After the stop, we made our way to a university agricultural farm. They had a large shelter set up for us with a stage in front with picnic tables to sit. We were each given a tea leaf with which to make our own leis. Mine was a complete failure, I think I will stick to coloring to express my artisticness. They served the food cafeteria style which took awhile for 200 people. They served a pulled pork, chicken with rice noodles, spinach with squid, macaroni salad, rice and poi. Everything was very salty, except the spinach which was oddly sweet and the poi, which is mashed Tarrow (a locally grown starch), and pretty much tastes like glue. Or at least what I would imagine glue to taste like. It also looks like glue, but with just a little purple-gray coloring in it. However, it is an acquired taste that many Hawaiians strangely love.

 

We then saw three cultural presentations put on by university students. The first reminded me of a Maori war dance, it was very aggressive and involved the performers chanting and banging bamboo sticks together and moving in unison. Some of the moves seemed very intricate, and I kept thinking that one of them would accidentally miss their target and hit someone. The second was a traditional hula, which was fun especially at the end because they taught us some moves. Lastly, the Samoan club sang and played percussion instruments, and some of them had incredible voices.

 

After the Lu'au, we returned to the ship. I for one was extremely tired after waking up before dawn, so I went straight to bed.

 

On Tuesday, a group of friends and I decided to hire a tour driver to see some more of the island. Since Hilo is small, public transportation is not really an option, so a driver was definitely the best way to see (and learn) as much as we could. We chose to go with 'Volcano Bill', who was born in Honolulu but had lived in Hilo for 19 years. He had been in the tour business for 42 years, and had 20 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. He was a great guide, and knew a ton of traditional stories as well as facts about all of the places we visited.

 

Our first stop was a famous road called Banyan Drive, where celebrities including Amelia Earhart, Babe Ruth, and Richard Nixon had all planted trees. The trees are actually native to Japan, which is typical of a lot of plant species on Hawai'i because nearly all of the wildlife is not native. At the end of this stretch there was a formal Japanese garden, which was commissioned by one of the Hawaiian queens. It had lovely arching bridges and manicured hedges, and seemed like a great place to relax. But we were off to our next stop, Akaka Waterfalls. On the way, Volcano Bill told us a lot about the history of the big island, including the fact that it used to be the sugar capital of the world until it could no longer compete with countries like those in South America or those in the Philippines. He also told us some interesting tidbits like a gallon of milk in Hawai'i runs about $10, and Ahi Tuna can be sold for 90 cents in the summer but goes up to $50 in the winter to meet demand around New Years.

 

We arrived at Akaka Waterfalls, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was at least a hundred feet tall, and the water fell in sheets to the pool below. We were only able to view the falls from a lookout point, there were no paths to the pool or anything because it was quite steep. The vegetation on the path to the falls was great, with big leafy trees and endless green.

 

After the waterfalls we went to Volcanoes National Park. As we ascended up the road there were less and less trees, until when we entered the park and we saw nothing but shrubbery. We got to the top of Kiluea and saw a huge torrent of smoke. We couldn't see any lava but Volcano Bill said that if we could it would be the red firey kind. There was a museum at the site, where one of the displays featured the charred clothing remains of a scientist who was studying the volcano and accidently stepped into new lava. It made me think that if a trained scientist couldn't tell the difference between hardened and hot lava, I definitely did not want to be wandering around on the volcano. At another place in the park, we visited a lava tube, which is basically a cave made out of lava rock. It is apparently the biggest lava tube in the world, and was very cool to walk through.

 

Our last two stops with Volcano Bill were an Orchid Plantation and a Macadamia Nut Factory. The Orchid Plantation featured dozens of types of flowers, including one that was selling for $20,000! It was absurd. I learned that the macademia is the hardest nut to crack, so before they had machines they put out all of the nuts on the road and put a board over them and then drove over the nuts with their cars. The best part of factory was definitely the free samples, although I believe that the chocolate covered ones that I tried would be much improved if they used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.

 

Volcano Bill dropped us off back at the ship, a few hours before on ship time which was convenient because if anyone boards the ship past on ship time they are penalized with dock time at the next port. Then we were off to Honolulu!!!... which I will write about tomorrow because I am quite sleepy at the moment. Good night! 

 

 

 

 

The MV Explorer

Now, it's about time I describe my new home, the MV Explorer. The ship is about 600 feet long and 83 feet wide, with seven decks. The first deck is for crew only, and the second, third, and fourth decks are primarily cabins, with the clinic and a couple classrooms on the second deck. The fifth deck has some faculty cabins, as well as the main reception desk, field office desk, and a dining hall, which has an outside deck for seating. The sixth deck houses the computer lab, the library, the Union (the biggest room on the ship where we have our Global Studies class and mandatory meetings), most of the classrooms, a piano bar which has a bunch of seating area, and a second dining hall that also has an outside deck. Finally, the seventh deck has the Wellness Center, with a hair salon, three massage rooms, and a sauna (all for a price, of course), and then a 24-hour workout room which is so tiny you have to sign up for a shift to accomodate everyone. It also has an expansive deck, partially shaded, with a small pool and hot tub, along with a snack bar.

 

When you walk into my cabin, on the third deck, there is a bathroom on the left and closets on the right. Past this, there is a desk on the left, and a small but tall corner dresser that has a TV on the right. The TV is closed circuit with six channels that play movies related to the voyage (for example, Master and Commander and Pearl Harbor). Then there are two beds on either side with a nightstand in the middle. I'm on the right side, and have covered my wall with posters and pictures. The alternative wall has a picture that came with the room. A Semester at Sea tradition is to write words of wisdom on the back of the pictures, and ours definitely came with musings of several voyages.

 

The crew on board are incredible. They clean our rooms daily, take all of our dishes directly from our tables, and keep the ship spotless. Plus, they are all very friendly and have a sense of humor, and it's great getting to know them.

 

Today was a beautiful day, calmer seas, 70 degrees or so, and partly cloudy. I was sitting out on the sixth deck, reading for one of my classes, when I saw an albatross sweep into view. I couldn't believe that a bird would be so far from land, just a tiny speck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Its body seemed tiny compared to its wings, and it never moved except to turn. It reminded my of my mom and Aunt Linda skiing, it moved in wide motions, slowly and under control from one side to the other, trailing the ship. I was transfixed by this motion. Soon, I saw another albatross in the distance, swooping far away. I kept spotting more and more birds until I finally saw FIVE ALBATROSS. It was amazing.

 

Although it's impossible to forget that we're on a ship because of the constant rocking, it is easy to forget that we are alone in the middle of the Pacific because the ship is so well accomodated. Only when I sit out on the deck or look out the window and see nothing but blue waves or sky do I remember, and appreciate the visit of avian friends.

Rocky Seas

I’m wrapping up my fifth day traveling on the ship, and it has been a rough ride so far. The captain told us we went 300 miles out of our way to avoid a storm that pummeled the West Coast, but even with this detour we are still experiencing lots of turbulence. The closest analogy I can think of is one of those Pirate Ship rides at Amusement Parks, rocking back and forth. As I mentioned in a previous post, some of the waves have been so powerful to knock people out of their chairs. In one of my classes today, all of unoccupied metal chairs ended up falling, and all of us students decided to sit cross-legged on the floor because it was too much of an effort to keep in our chairs. Last night was particularly bad—our desk chair fell backwards, our drawers opened and slammed every so often, and everything on our nightstand slid off shortly after we put it there. However, we were one of the lucky ones, since our room is located in the middle of the ship. Some people’s nightstands and beds broke away from the wall, where they were supposedly securely attached. Due to the clamor of doors crashing, many people did not sleep well last night, but as usual I slept through it all obliviously (although apparently I now talk about computers in my sleep?...) Fortunately, we have heard that conditions will improve tonight, and we should have smoother sailing to Hawaii. TWO DAYS!!!

Classes

Yes, I am taking classes on my voyage around the world. Not a full 15 credit load, but 12 credits that directly transfer to UVA. Twenty percent of the class time is allocated to field work, which can be accomplished by faculty directed practica (FDP's). For example, I will be visiting a dam in Ghana as part of my Water for the World class.

 

Since I used that as an example, I'll talk about my Water for the World class first. Professor Sprau (rhymes with WOW), a retired public health professor from East Carolina University, teaches the class. Only seven people signed up, which will make it my smallest college class I've taken BY FAR. Today when I was in class the waves rocked the ship particularly forcefully and toppled several chairs, including one with a life-long learner (an older individual who takes classes aboard the ship along with us). After helping Bob up from the floor, we continued on our way.

 

My Global Environmental History Class should be fun, the professor (Dr. Hill, from Utah) admitted that this was his favorite class to teach. Today we went over why Environmental History was important - mainly, because it kept records that even the best historians could not uncover. He stressed that you can learn a lot about a culture from how they interact with their environment.

 

My Comparative Environmental Politics in Global Perspective, which I took yesterday, was also interesting. She laid out three globalization stages - first with Colombus, then with industrialization, and lastly with the internet. All of my classes, and this one in particular, will probably reinforce what I learn in my global studies class, with some exceptions of course. In Global Studies we will have to take a picture that "captures the essence" of the country we are visiting. He showed us several examples, including Muslims praying in Egypt, mom's with double strollers in Norway, and graffiti in Canada that read "I <3 MY GRANDMA." He said this one was appropriate because even their graffiti was nice!

 

That about sums up my classes. It should be a lot more reading than I am used to, since I have not taken a history or politics class so far, but everything is stuff that I am SUPER interested in, so it will be great.

 

On an unrelated note, it is quite difficult to type on a rocking ship. The end.

Arriving and Orienting

As you probably gathered from my lack of recent postings, I have not had much free time these past few days. Right after I arrived in Ensenada (BEAUTIFUL coastal drive, complete with a huge Jesus statue and gigantic Mexican flags) I started working with other work study students, greeting new participants and directing them to their rooms. Which was tricky because we didn’t even know where everything was located. That small detail aside, I enjoyed bonding with the other work study kids. I also met my boss and his assistant, and I think that I have not shown any computer weakness yet, thank goodness.

 

At 4, we all donned our life jackets for a boat drill. It reminded me of that game Sardines, we were so packed together. It would’ve been a perfect opportunity to get to know more people except for the sign reading “MANDATORY RULE #1: NO TALKING”. I never did pick up on any other mandatory rules.

 

Then unpacking! Which is much more fun than packing, if you ask me. I met my roommate, Brittany, who is a human development major and very easygoing. After dinner we went to the Welcoming Address by the Deans and Captain. They seem like a great bunch. Then I had a meeting with my LLC (living learning coordinator) who is in charge of our “Sea”, which just refers to a particular hall. I am part of the Mediterranean Sea, whose color is green (hooray!). It also happens to be the best Sea, of course. Because would you really want to be part of the Yellow Sea or the Baltic Sea? Exactly.

 

We experienced some rough waters the first night, and I saw several people dash to the bathroom in the middle of the welcome. Luckily I was wearing some Voodoo Anti Seasickness Bracelets so I avoided the nausea. However, it was pretty disconcerting to look out the window, seeing only ocean, and then two seconds later seeing only sky.  Besides the seasickness, we were also warned about protecting our phalanges. Apparently on ONE voyage SEVEN FINGERS were lost because the heavy ship doors slammed on them. Eek.

 

Monday was chock full of orientation, with no day off to celebrate MLK. However, the kids on the boat who are dependents of the faculty got on the intercom and sang happy birthday. We heard about Honor, the Global Studies class (I can now spout off the ten most populated countries in the world), the field program, health, safety, and community standards. After orientation finally came to a close, we had an activities fair where I, true to form, probably signed up for too many things to do. After the activities fair we played trivia! I am very proud to say that I remembered that Morgan Freeman replaced Walter Cronkite’s voice on the news, but not too proud that I didn’t remember that insulin was produced in the pancreas.

 

That’s about it for orientation, I’ll post about my classes when I’ve had the rest of them tomorrow. OH and my room number is 3058 and my SAS email is ewebb@semesteratsea.net, although if you send something to my UVA email (edw5b@virginia.edu) it should go through. Now I have to share a quote from Mr. White to wrap this up. He said that he wanted us to tell him at the end of the voyage , “Thank you Mr. White, my brain is full. Thank you Semester at Sea, my heart is full.”

Leaving KY

I'm off! Leaving Lexington at 1:20 and landing in San Diego 4:45 pacific time. Then heading to Ensenada, Mexico to board the boat at 7 am the next morning!

Keeping in Touch

EMAIL EMAIL EMAIL!!!

Although I will not have much regular internet access while on board, SAS has set up a free email account for all participants. I am not sure of my address yet, but I will be forwarding all of my email from my UVA account to this new address. So send me an email at edw5b@virginia.edu! Just text though, the email service does not support attachments.

If you would like to send traditional mail to my ports of call, the addresses for these places can be found on the following link:

http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/spring-2010/spring-2010-staying-in-touch.php

This site also describes the telephone service on the ship, where you could call me for $3.95/minute.

As evidenced by my introduction, I think that email seems the best way to keep in touch. But however you choose, I will be thrilled to hear from you!

Also, leave a comment (or email me) with your address so I can send you a postcard! I have already written down a number of addresses, but if you want to insure you'll get one just let me know!

Lists

Anyone who really knows me is familiar with my affinity for lists. Lists for school, lists for shopping, lists for chores... unsurprisingly, the list goes on. I must say, however, that the list I have created for my trip at Semester at Sea is truly unparalleled. It spans four pages, front and back, often with multiple columns on a page. It includes everything I'm going to pack, addresses I'm taking on the boat for postcard purposes, and of course a list of things that really really need to get done before I leave, like make sure I have transportation back to KY on May 5 when I end my voyage. It is certainly my "planning for SAS" bible, and I just hope I didn't forget anything. Because if it's not on the list, it's not happening. So now that I can check "Begin Blogging" off my list, I should move on to the aforementioned things I really really need to get done before I leave. Like packing.

Thanks

I think it is appropriate to start off this Semester at Sea blog by thanking everyone who has made it possible. I literally cannot believe that in five days I will be boarding a ship that will take me around the world. I know that this blog will in no way completely compensate for everything everyone has done, but I hope that by sharing my experiences you can follow what I'm up to and know that I am able to do everything because of you.

Thank you Mom and Dad, for not balking about this scheme, and continuing to financially and emotionally support all of my academic endeavors.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, and all of my Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins, for your enthusiasm and contribution to my trip fund.

Thank you Reed for being awesome.

Thank you Libby, Morgan, Diane, MC, and Lauren for accepting that I will not return to Lambeth for a second semester, and for being fantastic friends in general. (on a tangental note, I'm not sure that MMELLD works without a vowel...)

Thank you everyone in APO for allowing me to defer pledging until the spring (when it will be AMAZING)

Thank you Institute of Shipboard Education for the scholarships, although we'll see if I will be a productive presence working in the Computer Lab...

Thank you Mr. White for encouraging me to sign up for this program.

and lastly,

Thank you in advance everyone who will at some point listen to me tell about my SAS experience. I'm sure that I will talk your ears off about it, so I thank you for your patience.

Sincerely,

Erin Webb