your age is not a deadline

Came across this blog and the post was exactly what I needed to read. Your age is not a deadline to a specific accomplishment that needs to happen. Everyone travels through life at different paces, there is no need to speed up your life to fit with what is expected or what seems to be normal at a particular age.

Read, Think, Enjoy

http://todaywasmeaningful.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/because-im-a-twentysomething/

Day under water

We only had a day in Mauritius so how was I going to make it the best day possible? Scuba diving! My friend Kendall and I went to a dive shop and had the most amazing time. They took us out on a boat and we went diving at a spot called the cathedral. Our dive was around 50 feet deep and it was crystal clear! Some of the people with us went to 100 feet and we could see them at the bottom that’s how clear it was. There were schools of angel fish, and a school of massive puffer fish! We also saw giant lobster, a few lion fish (very poisonous), two eels, and many other species of fish. That was my first dive ever after being certified and it was better than I ever imagined. I took pictures and videos with my GoPro and you can hear me breathing and laughing underwater. When the dive ended we boated back in and got some lunch. The spot was about 30 minutes away so by the time we got back to the ship it was time to leave. It was an amazing day and a gorgeous island. It was fun being under the water all day rather than on top of it.

We've got some talent on board

We had two talent shows that took place on the ship. The crew talent show and the shipboard talent show.
Over the span of the voyage the crew becomes your family also, you get to know their personalities, their stories and make great friends with them. ( shout out to Darwin and Ledford! Love you guys.) they put on a talent show on for the ship and it was great! There was dancing and a lot of singing, songs we could sing along with and songs from their home country. our crew is talented and this show allowed them to show off their skills and we got to see them in a new way. No uniforms, just them being their selves.  The crew is amazing, they work so hard to make everything perfect. They are the hardest working people and always have smiles on. I will always see them as family.

The shipboard talent show was unbelievable. It was right at the end of the voyage. And some how I was able to score front row seats, almost impossible. There is so much more talent on the ship than you could imagine. This is the time where you can show your new friends what you can do and what you are interested in back home.
We had amazing hip-hop dancers, tap dancers, salsa dancers. we had musical people that blew our minds, unbelievable singers-people you would never think sang all the sudden knew how to hit every note. A few slam poetry- Stephen who made the entire audience bust into tears because his words about he voyage were so spot on. And Indigo wowing the ship with her amazing ability to hula-hoop.
There was a mix of everything and every act blew my mind. I had been living with these people for so long and just now being able to see some of their amazing skills. We had a wide variety of people on our voyage all unique yet all having the same dream- travel the world.

"Ghana" be amazing...

It's is a country that is a little hard for me to describe, and harder for me to write about. I had no expectations of what anything was going to look like and it sure did surprise me. I went on a trip through "can do land tours" and it was the best thing I have ever done. The company was started by a guy named Fredrick and he came along with us on our journey. He is all smiles and the greatest person to be around. Our trip took us way out into Ghana where most of the roads were dirt and the houses were built out of whatever was around. The village we stayed in had one paved road in the area, it wasn't used with in the village, it was just there as a pass by road to get to other towns and places.

When we unloaded the bus there was a massive group of kids anxiously waiting to see us. We all immediately had at least 5 children trying to hold our hands. The tours are for semester at sea participants and around 15 of us went. We were given various host families and the homes were all different. My family did not speak any English, but there were two little boys who understood a few words. The house I stayed in was actually pretty nice, it was one made out of cement. No electricity or pluming but that was no problem at all.
      -funny story: the little boys were showing us where the bathrooms were and there was a language barrier confusion that happened. They pointed to two rooms: boys and girls. When I looked inside there was only a drain and nothing else. I thought that was strange because usually the bathrooms at least have a hole in the ground. After using the room a few times a bathroom for a day and a half I found out that in the room over there was actually a toilet....... I had been going in their shower! Luckily it was one # 1 the whole time but when I found out I was laughing so hard. Oopsss.

Through out the trip we met lots of people, played many games, and shared lots of laughter. Just because we don't speak the same language doesn't mean we don't know common things like dancing, soccer, and laughing at funny faces. We found out that the money for the trip actually went to the village, with the money we were able to build them water tank system! The women no longer have to work to pump their water.

When the last day came it was hard to leave. I did not want to leave my new family, or the children I met. I did not want to leave the village that gave me a new outlook on living. We even got to meet the village elders which was a great pleasure.

I did not realize how much of an impact Ghana had made on me until I was back on the ship feeling guilty for everything I owned and for everything I have been able to do. Before I knew it I was crying so hard that air was hard to take in. I was sad because I did not want to leave where I just came from, and frustrated that I can't help with what I saw. But how would I even help a place that doesn't think anything is bad? Where would one begin, and would the people even want it? They are very loving people and everyone is considered family.  Where for me, back home i barely know my neighbors, and two doors down I couldn't even give you a description of their face, but here in Ghana all doors are always open and neighbors and friends come and go as if it were their own house. There is no selfishness or whining about who owns what or where one property starts and the next one ends. If you are hungry you will eat and if you need help it is given.

No wifi struggles

So my trip has ended and I have yet to post about all the countries..... Why is that? Well during the dtip there was extremely limited wifi!! So I had a hard time posting then, when I got to Spain it was better for a while, my two weeks in Campo de Criptana I had wifi on a regular basis. Very cool, and something I was not use to. It was exciting. Now I am living in Valencia Spain for my summer classes and the host mother I am living with does not have wifi in her apartment. No problem, nothing I haven't dealt with before, but because of this I will fall behind again on my blog posts (farther behind than I already am... Sighh). Very unfortunate. But just so you know, I am not neglecting you, I just only have wifi once a day for about 30 minutes to check my emails and get plans situated for the night.

Red sea for the bronze medal

Sea Olympics! Never heard of it? It is a day during Semester at Sea where the shipboard community participates in a variety of fun games. The ship is broken up into about 8 different seas and on this day we all compete against each other.  I lived in the Red Sea. There was a ping pong tournament, a blind doge-ball, who can do the most pull ups, melt an ice block to put on the t-shirt inside, synchronized swimming (but it was too rocky so we did that inside which was even better!), Ship-wave-captain, standup comedy, trivia, and soooo much more. The day was action packed with events going on and they were happening in every part of the ship. I participated in Ship, wave, captain (version of rock paper scissor shoot) and we took home the gold! I also participated in the leap frog portion of the ship relay, blind doge ball, and a few other small events.

                The whole day we were in first until we scored zero points in one of the events. We ended the day with Bronze and were more than pleased. At the end of the day it is not about points or score boards, it was about if you had fun and made new friends doing some of the ridiculous tasks. Did you meet someone that you had never seen before, did you go out of your comfort zone, and did you feel completely happy about where you are in life.

                We were in the middle of the ocean where only the sea could hear our laughs and our loud chants. Sea Olympics is a day where the whole ship is out of their cabins and all interacting like a true family. At dinner the cafeterias are loud with laughs and everyone is talking about their favorite Olympic game. Everyone is full of energy and the whole ship is glowing with pride. We are in the middle of the ocean and we are having the best time of our lives. 

India Fun