Sunday, February 24, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
From the middle of the Atlantic
Hey Readers,
Sorry I’ve kept in you suspense since Carnivale – I’ve been busy with classes, friends, sunbathing and yoga. One of the professors on board is a yoga instructor and she teaches a class every night, so I’ve been trying to go at least a couple times a week
Here’s a brief summary of how I spent my last two days in Brazil:
The day after Carnivale I left with a group of friends to spend a few days on Itaparica Island. We ended up taking the wrong ferry and, while we still landed on Itaparica, we were on a strange part of the island. We asked a cab driver to take us to a nice hotel. The first hotel he took us to was decent but our impression of the neighborhood was that it wasn’t very safe. These were some people stumbling around, apparently drunk at 3 in the afternoon, so we kept driving.
30 minutes later we arrived on a better part of the island, where we found a nice hotel in the center of town. We were the only white people we saw the entire time; we were completely surrounded by locals, which was so amazing and gave me a feel for life in a small Brazilian village.
We walked around for awhile, trying to talk to some of the locals. There was a girl in our group who spoke decent Spanish, so with her second language, and with the locals’ second languages, we managed to piece together some understanding.
We ate a restaurant that was written completely in Portuguese, so we decided to take the safe way out and order “Pizza Portuguesa” – a pizza with ham and olives.
After dinner we found a tour guide – a little boy named Willy who was selling peanuts. After showing off his capoeria moves, he led us to an amusement park that had been set up for Carnival. A few of my friends went on the bumpercars, but I hung back and took pictures (which I’ll hopefully be able to post soon).
There were still some people dancing and singing in the streets, so we joined in, partying until about 2 a.m. when we finally went back to our hotel.
The next morning we woke up early and had an authentic Brazilian breakfast at the hotel. There was a lot of amazing fresh fruit, manioc (which I had heard of, but never even seen before, much less eaten), and some doughnut-type things that were ridiculously delicious.
We walked to the beach and spent the entire morning there until it was time to catch the ferry back to the ship.
When I got back, I went out with a few friends to look for souvenirs – I didn’t find much, but I really liked walking about the Merchant’s Mercado, which was full of handmade clothes, paintings, and sculptures. I was tempted to buy a painting because they were beautiful, and incredibly cheap, but it would have been awkward to travel with when I get back to the States.
That night I went out to dinner with a huge group of SASers. The meal was all-you-can-eat for 45 raels per person (about $25 US) and the food was incredible. The guys were blown away by the quality of the steaks, and probably had 5 or 6 a piece. I don’t like steaks but I tried rabbit (it made me sad, but it was really delicious), chicken heart (only a tiny piece – it really just tasted like regular chicken meat), lamb (which I still don’t like) and a number of sausages from parts of animals that I don’t want to think about. In addition to the meat, they had an amazing salad, sushi and seafood bar. My favorite was a squid salad made with vinaigrette.
I had pineapple ice cream for dessert, garnished with papaya.
The next day was our last day in Brazil, so I went out and walked around with friends again and went to the Angolan Capoeria school.
My original impression of Capoeria was that it was very fast, with lots of gymnastics and upper body strength, like breakdancing. But at this school, they were practicing a different method of Capoeria that was much slower and much more controlled.
When I watched them, I thought it looked easy and I was unimpressed by the initial display. I wanted to see some fighting. But then they made us try it, and I realized how incredibly strong you have to be to exert that much control. They were able to roll up into a handstand effortlessly and hold it as long as they wanted – it took me 5 minutes to find my balance before somersaulting forward and nearly breaking my neck. By the end of the hour, I was sweating profusely, and the next day I was sore everywhere.
After the trip, it was time to get back on the ship. Everyone was back on the ship by 2130 so we were able to leave earlier than expected (we were scheduled to leave at 2300).
Now we’re somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where, according to the bridge report, we’re on top of 5,000 meters of water and surrounded by something like 3,000 nautical miles of water in all directions. It’s actually nice feeling being so isolated from the world.
We had our first Global Studies exam yesterday, which was a big ordeal. Everyone was up late studying for it. I haven’t gotten my grade back yet, but I’m fairly confident I made an A.
I still love all of my classes, especially Fiction Writing. I wrote a story for the class that I might post on here, if I refine it enough.
By the way, thanks to Steve for posting my pictures of Brazil I can only transfer 50 MB of data or my internet minutes will be automatically cut off.
My luggage never arrived in Salvador, which was a bummer, but fortunately I found someone who has the same type of camera as I do, and he agreed to let me borrow his charger in exchange for a pizza at the snack bar.
Anyway, I have a class in about 30 minutes that I should probably start preparing for (I’m still in my pajamas).
Xoxoxo.
Sorry I’ve kept in you suspense since Carnivale – I’ve been busy with classes, friends, sunbathing and yoga. One of the professors on board is a yoga instructor and she teaches a class every night, so I’ve been trying to go at least a couple times a week
Here’s a brief summary of how I spent my last two days in Brazil:
The day after Carnivale I left with a group of friends to spend a few days on Itaparica Island. We ended up taking the wrong ferry and, while we still landed on Itaparica, we were on a strange part of the island. We asked a cab driver to take us to a nice hotel. The first hotel he took us to was decent but our impression of the neighborhood was that it wasn’t very safe. These were some people stumbling around, apparently drunk at 3 in the afternoon, so we kept driving.
30 minutes later we arrived on a better part of the island, where we found a nice hotel in the center of town. We were the only white people we saw the entire time; we were completely surrounded by locals, which was so amazing and gave me a feel for life in a small Brazilian village.
We walked around for awhile, trying to talk to some of the locals. There was a girl in our group who spoke decent Spanish, so with her second language, and with the locals’ second languages, we managed to piece together some understanding.
We ate a restaurant that was written completely in Portuguese, so we decided to take the safe way out and order “Pizza Portuguesa” – a pizza with ham and olives.
After dinner we found a tour guide – a little boy named Willy who was selling peanuts. After showing off his capoeria moves, he led us to an amusement park that had been set up for Carnival. A few of my friends went on the bumpercars, but I hung back and took pictures (which I’ll hopefully be able to post soon).
There were still some people dancing and singing in the streets, so we joined in, partying until about 2 a.m. when we finally went back to our hotel.
The next morning we woke up early and had an authentic Brazilian breakfast at the hotel. There was a lot of amazing fresh fruit, manioc (which I had heard of, but never even seen before, much less eaten), and some doughnut-type things that were ridiculously delicious.
We walked to the beach and spent the entire morning there until it was time to catch the ferry back to the ship.
When I got back, I went out with a few friends to look for souvenirs – I didn’t find much, but I really liked walking about the Merchant’s Mercado, which was full of handmade clothes, paintings, and sculptures. I was tempted to buy a painting because they were beautiful, and incredibly cheap, but it would have been awkward to travel with when I get back to the States.
That night I went out to dinner with a huge group of SASers. The meal was all-you-can-eat for 45 raels per person (about $25 US) and the food was incredible. The guys were blown away by the quality of the steaks, and probably had 5 or 6 a piece. I don’t like steaks but I tried rabbit (it made me sad, but it was really delicious), chicken heart (only a tiny piece – it really just tasted like regular chicken meat), lamb (which I still don’t like) and a number of sausages from parts of animals that I don’t want to think about. In addition to the meat, they had an amazing salad, sushi and seafood bar. My favorite was a squid salad made with vinaigrette.
I had pineapple ice cream for dessert, garnished with papaya.
The next day was our last day in Brazil, so I went out and walked around with friends again and went to the Angolan Capoeria school.
My original impression of Capoeria was that it was very fast, with lots of gymnastics and upper body strength, like breakdancing. But at this school, they were practicing a different method of Capoeria that was much slower and much more controlled.
When I watched them, I thought it looked easy and I was unimpressed by the initial display. I wanted to see some fighting. But then they made us try it, and I realized how incredibly strong you have to be to exert that much control. They were able to roll up into a handstand effortlessly and hold it as long as they wanted – it took me 5 minutes to find my balance before somersaulting forward and nearly breaking my neck. By the end of the hour, I was sweating profusely, and the next day I was sore everywhere.
After the trip, it was time to get back on the ship. Everyone was back on the ship by 2130 so we were able to leave earlier than expected (we were scheduled to leave at 2300).
Now we’re somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where, according to the bridge report, we’re on top of 5,000 meters of water and surrounded by something like 3,000 nautical miles of water in all directions. It’s actually nice feeling being so isolated from the world.
We had our first Global Studies exam yesterday, which was a big ordeal. Everyone was up late studying for it. I haven’t gotten my grade back yet, but I’m fairly confident I made an A.
I still love all of my classes, especially Fiction Writing. I wrote a story for the class that I might post on here, if I refine it enough.
By the way, thanks to Steve for posting my pictures of Brazil I can only transfer 50 MB of data or my internet minutes will be automatically cut off.
My luggage never arrived in Salvador, which was a bummer, but fortunately I found someone who has the same type of camera as I do, and he agreed to let me borrow his charger in exchange for a pizza at the snack bar.
Anyway, I have a class in about 30 minutes that I should probably start preparing for (I’m still in my pajamas).
Xoxoxo.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Salvador, Brazil
02/05
Hoy from Salvador, Brasil!
Today has been such an amazing day, and I haven’t even experienced the craziness of Carnaval yet!
I woke up this morning at 5:15 a.m. (2:15 a.m. EST) to watch the ship pull into the dock. The sun coming up behind the city skyline was phenomenal – I took a lot of pictures but I won’t be able to upload them until I find an internet café, and for the next few days that’s going to be next to impossible because everything is closed for the celebration.
We got off the ship at about 9 a.m. I was with a big group of friends, six guys and five girls.
There were women with ribbons waiting as we loaded off the ship. In Carnaval tradition, someone ties a colored ribbon to your wrist and you make a wish. Then you can’t untie or cut the ribbon – it has to come off naturally. When it does, your wish comes true. My lady triple-knotted my ribbon, so I have feeling I’ll decide my wish isn’t worth it (I wished for a pair of Christian Louboutin stilettos) and cut it off or else I’ll be stuck with it indefinitely.
The heat was stifling – I was wearing shorts and a tank top and I felt dizzy from the heat. I finished off my bottle of water within a few minutes of stepping off the ship. Before disembarking, I had loaded up on sunscreen, but the tip of my nose got a little burned anyway.
We separated into three groups and each group was supposed to take a cab to a part of town called Barra, which is supposed to have good restaurants and shopping. Our cab driver misunderstood us, however, and we ended up about a mile and half away from our other group members (he took us to the Shopping Barra – the mall, which was closed). It was a nice part of town, though, and we walked around for a little while, checking out the locals in their preparation for Carnaval. Ironically, the other half of our group, who we’d been separated from, was walking in our direction, and we ended up meeting again on the street by coincidence.
All together, we visited a lighthouse that overlooks the ocean, took a few pictures, and briefly walked on the beach. Then around noon we found a small café for lunch. We shared a few Portuguese pizzas – ham, egg, olives and basil – and the tab ended up being about 8 raels each, or about $5.50 per person, including drinks (Stol beer).
After lunch we wandered around for awhile, looking for some places to shop, but most of the stores were closed. We took a taxi back to the center of town, and went up the famous Elevador Lacerda to the higher level of the city. Up there, the streets were brimming with activity – there were literally hundreds of street vendors selling coconuts with straws poked into them, drinks, and small crafts.
A Capoeria group was showing off in the middle of the street so we stopped to watch them and got a few pictures. It reassured me that there were a lot of police officers stationed around busy streets – the Dean gave a lecture last night about the frequency of robberies and fights that tended to break out on the street.
We walked for about 4 or 5 miles, looping around the inner part of Salvador. As before, very few shops were open, but I did manage to find some postcards and a small souvenir for someone. We bumped into a lot of SAS students doing the same thing we were doing, and by the time we started walking back we had a much larger group than we started with.
At around 4:30 p.m., we decided we needed a break after almost eight hours of exploration, and walked back to the ship.
Salvador is a very pretty city – most of the buildings are on the top of the hill overlooking the water, which is bright blue. The buildings are very colorful – bright blue and bright pink most often. The downtown area is nice, with fountains and places to sit.
There is a lot of trash lying around, which discouraged us from wanting to swim at the beach because we weren’t sure what kind of things were in the water. It seems like people also frequently use the streets as a bathroom, but that could just be because of Carnaval. The smell was pretty foul.
A lot of young children came up to us asking us for raels in exchange for a picture (some of them were so cute we took them up on it).
I was very suspicious at first about the honesty of the taxi-drivers and merchants, but when I didn’t notice that I had dropped a 2 rael bill inside a shop, the shop-owner picked it up and gave it back to me. All of our cab rides were fairly priced – usually 10 rael (about 6 USD) for a group of four for a 10 or 15 minute ride. By comparison, in Puerto Rico it was usually $4 per person just for a quick drive into Old San Juan.
The festivities begin tonight when the sun goes down – more to come soon!
02/06
Carnaval was just unbelievable! It was such an amazing party – thousands and thousands of people dancing in the streets; I had an awesome time and took some great pictures.
I was very nervous when we first stepped into the crowd of people, and I was clutching my bag (even though my money was tucked into my shoes, my bra, and my money-belt) and watching carefully for anyone who came too close. I had bought a disposable camera because the Dean said digital cameras were often stolen. I was on my guard the whole night but after being led into the crowd by two teenaged dancing girls, I loosened up a little when I saw they didn’t want money – they just wanted me to dance and were trying to show me how.
I was with a huge group, probably fifteen of us, with lots of guys, so I felt very safe within my group. Locals would dance with us, wanting to talk to the gringos, and we met a lot of natives who jumped in our pictures with us, especially one 16 year-old kid named Gilvan who thought we were really cool and wanted to learn everyone’s name.
In Carnaval, huge buses drive slowly around the loop of upper Salvador, blasting music while singers and dancers ride on top, revving up the crowd. Each time one of the buses went by, every 30 minutes or so, it was accompanied by hundreds of costumed dancers in the street, who would give out high-fives and beads as they danced by. A singer would ask a question in Portuguese and the entire crowd - all six thousand of them -- would cheer in response.
The Dean had said that sometimes Brazilian men would harass women by grabbing them or kissing them, so I had my guard up about that as well, but besides a few blown kisses, no one tried anything inappropriate. The men who danced with us just wanted to shake our hands and pat our shoulders – I think they understood that we would be uncomfortable with anything else.
We’d gone out around 7:30 p.m. and stayed out until about 1 a.m. The original group was still together: no one had been robbed or hurt, no one had had too much to drink, and everyone was exhausted from dancing and laughing so much. It was a great success!
Hoy from Salvador, Brasil!
Today has been such an amazing day, and I haven’t even experienced the craziness of Carnaval yet!
I woke up this morning at 5:15 a.m. (2:15 a.m. EST) to watch the ship pull into the dock. The sun coming up behind the city skyline was phenomenal – I took a lot of pictures but I won’t be able to upload them until I find an internet café, and for the next few days that’s going to be next to impossible because everything is closed for the celebration.
We got off the ship at about 9 a.m. I was with a big group of friends, six guys and five girls.
There were women with ribbons waiting as we loaded off the ship. In Carnaval tradition, someone ties a colored ribbon to your wrist and you make a wish. Then you can’t untie or cut the ribbon – it has to come off naturally. When it does, your wish comes true. My lady triple-knotted my ribbon, so I have feeling I’ll decide my wish isn’t worth it (I wished for a pair of Christian Louboutin stilettos) and cut it off or else I’ll be stuck with it indefinitely.
The heat was stifling – I was wearing shorts and a tank top and I felt dizzy from the heat. I finished off my bottle of water within a few minutes of stepping off the ship. Before disembarking, I had loaded up on sunscreen, but the tip of my nose got a little burned anyway.
We separated into three groups and each group was supposed to take a cab to a part of town called Barra, which is supposed to have good restaurants and shopping. Our cab driver misunderstood us, however, and we ended up about a mile and half away from our other group members (he took us to the Shopping Barra – the mall, which was closed). It was a nice part of town, though, and we walked around for a little while, checking out the locals in their preparation for Carnaval. Ironically, the other half of our group, who we’d been separated from, was walking in our direction, and we ended up meeting again on the street by coincidence.
All together, we visited a lighthouse that overlooks the ocean, took a few pictures, and briefly walked on the beach. Then around noon we found a small café for lunch. We shared a few Portuguese pizzas – ham, egg, olives and basil – and the tab ended up being about 8 raels each, or about $5.50 per person, including drinks (Stol beer).
After lunch we wandered around for awhile, looking for some places to shop, but most of the stores were closed. We took a taxi back to the center of town, and went up the famous Elevador Lacerda to the higher level of the city. Up there, the streets were brimming with activity – there were literally hundreds of street vendors selling coconuts with straws poked into them, drinks, and small crafts.
A Capoeria group was showing off in the middle of the street so we stopped to watch them and got a few pictures. It reassured me that there were a lot of police officers stationed around busy streets – the Dean gave a lecture last night about the frequency of robberies and fights that tended to break out on the street.
We walked for about 4 or 5 miles, looping around the inner part of Salvador. As before, very few shops were open, but I did manage to find some postcards and a small souvenir for someone. We bumped into a lot of SAS students doing the same thing we were doing, and by the time we started walking back we had a much larger group than we started with.
At around 4:30 p.m., we decided we needed a break after almost eight hours of exploration, and walked back to the ship.
Salvador is a very pretty city – most of the buildings are on the top of the hill overlooking the water, which is bright blue. The buildings are very colorful – bright blue and bright pink most often. The downtown area is nice, with fountains and places to sit.
There is a lot of trash lying around, which discouraged us from wanting to swim at the beach because we weren’t sure what kind of things were in the water. It seems like people also frequently use the streets as a bathroom, but that could just be because of Carnaval. The smell was pretty foul.
A lot of young children came up to us asking us for raels in exchange for a picture (some of them were so cute we took them up on it).
I was very suspicious at first about the honesty of the taxi-drivers and merchants, but when I didn’t notice that I had dropped a 2 rael bill inside a shop, the shop-owner picked it up and gave it back to me. All of our cab rides were fairly priced – usually 10 rael (about 6 USD) for a group of four for a 10 or 15 minute ride. By comparison, in Puerto Rico it was usually $4 per person just for a quick drive into Old San Juan.
The festivities begin tonight when the sun goes down – more to come soon!
02/06
Carnaval was just unbelievable! It was such an amazing party – thousands and thousands of people dancing in the streets; I had an awesome time and took some great pictures.
I was very nervous when we first stepped into the crowd of people, and I was clutching my bag (even though my money was tucked into my shoes, my bra, and my money-belt) and watching carefully for anyone who came too close. I had bought a disposable camera because the Dean said digital cameras were often stolen. I was on my guard the whole night but after being led into the crowd by two teenaged dancing girls, I loosened up a little when I saw they didn’t want money – they just wanted me to dance and were trying to show me how.
I was with a huge group, probably fifteen of us, with lots of guys, so I felt very safe within my group. Locals would dance with us, wanting to talk to the gringos, and we met a lot of natives who jumped in our pictures with us, especially one 16 year-old kid named Gilvan who thought we were really cool and wanted to learn everyone’s name.
In Carnaval, huge buses drive slowly around the loop of upper Salvador, blasting music while singers and dancers ride on top, revving up the crowd. Each time one of the buses went by, every 30 minutes or so, it was accompanied by hundreds of costumed dancers in the street, who would give out high-fives and beads as they danced by. A singer would ask a question in Portuguese and the entire crowd - all six thousand of them -- would cheer in response.
The Dean had said that sometimes Brazilian men would harass women by grabbing them or kissing them, so I had my guard up about that as well, but besides a few blown kisses, no one tried anything inappropriate. The men who danced with us just wanted to shake our hands and pat our shoulders – I think they understood that we would be uncomfortable with anything else.
We’d gone out around 7:30 p.m. and stayed out until about 1 a.m. The original group was still together: no one had been robbed or hurt, no one had had too much to drink, and everyone was exhausted from dancing and laughing so much. It was a great success!
Friday, February 1, 2008
3 more days until Brazil
I know I don’t have the right to complain about anything, but I have to write a blog about this: the Add/Drop system on Semester at Sea is ridiculously disorganized.
The Registrar, a 28 year-old SAS alumna named Laura, made an announcement on the first day of classes that students typically camped out in front of her office the night before Add/Drop, which opens at 7 a.m. because it’s first-come-first-serve.
I showed up at 10:30 p.m. the night before with a pillow and blanket and there were already three students in front of me who had been there since 9:30. Within the hour, the line of students was into the hall and down the stairs. We sat around, dozing or playing cards, until about 2 a.m., at which time security came and tried to kick us out because we were a fire hazard, or something.
We protested, knowing that if we were to leave we’d lose our spots, and most of us had been waiting for hours. We made an official list and the dean actually woke up and signed off on it. We went back to our cabins. The next morning, I showed up at 6:30 a.m. and there was already a flood of students outside the Registrar’s office. Fortunately, the list held and I retained my spot in line, but 100 other students who had been outside the door since 4 a.m. were not too happy that they had missed out on the list and were now at the end of the line.
Fortunately, I got the classes I wanted – Fiction Writing and Sociology of Religion. By 9 p.m. that night the Registrar had only served 75 students, with over 200 students waiting to add or drop a class.
Most of the students who were #20 or beyond didn’t get the classes they wanted, and weren’t able to add a fifth class. A few students will have to graduate late because they weren’t able to get the classes they wanted on board.
It was messy.
Anyway, I really like my new classes, especially Sociology of Religion. Today we talked about the origins of shamanism, what healing rituals consist of, and different individuals’ propensity toward hypnotism. At the end of class, the professor hypnotized two students and asked them to go to heaven while they were in their trance. When they woke up, they each described different visions of heaven. One student said heaven was a cosmic island surrounded by stars, and the other said he had been at the gates but was not permitted to enter them. It was kind of unnerving, but very interesting. I don’t think I’m very susceptible to hypnotism because I tend to overanalyze everything, but I kind of wish I were, just to see what it’s like.
I like my Hinduism class a lot too. We’re learning about different gods and legends, and how images and symbolism are very important parts of the religion. We read an abbreviated version of “Ramayana,” which is a story about a demon who tries to overpower the world.
I had my first Fiction Writing class yesterday, and our assignment was to make a list of words or phrases that describe a place we’ve seen so far on the trip. I wrote about an alley in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, using phrases like “broken pavement,” “glowing beer signs,” and “stumbling locals.”
Tomorrow is Neptune Day – meaning we cross the equator! We actually cross the equator four times throughout the course of the trip, but this is the first time, so I guess it is the most relevant. Traditionally, everyone gets “baptized” with “fish guts” (I’ve heard it’s just jello) and women are supposed to shave their heads. I know a few girls who are really thinking about shaving their heads, and kudos to them, but there is absolutely no way I’m participating!
The water was really bumpy yesterday and a lot of people were getting thrown around as they walked through the hallways. Today it seems to be a little calmer, but it looks like it is going to storm tonight, so I have a feeling the calm won’t last. Scopolamine has been making me really drowsy – I slept all afternoon yesterday – so I decided to rough it without the patches. We’ll see how long I last.
I signed up for a few small trips for our next ports. Most excitingly, I’m going to a Capoeria school in Brazil. The students will put on a short presentation for us and maybe even teach us some moves. If you don’t know what Capoeria is, you should look it up on YouTube and find some examples. It’s a really amazing martial art form from which breakdancing was derived.
I also got a trip to Beijing, and I plan to go to the Great Wall. I know a group of students is planning to sleep on the Great Wall one night, and I’d really like to do that. How many opportunities will I have in my life to say that I slept on an ancient national landmark?
I also signed up for a trip called “Managing Schizophrenia” in India. I’m not sure what it entails but I have a feeling it’s going to be very sad. Part of me is nervous about being exposed to the horrors of extreme poverty in India, but I feel like I need to gain that exposure and gain some understanding of what life is like outside of the safety blanket that is the United States.
This has ended up being a pretty long entry. I’ll update more when I have time.
-E
The Registrar, a 28 year-old SAS alumna named Laura, made an announcement on the first day of classes that students typically camped out in front of her office the night before Add/Drop, which opens at 7 a.m. because it’s first-come-first-serve.
I showed up at 10:30 p.m. the night before with a pillow and blanket and there were already three students in front of me who had been there since 9:30. Within the hour, the line of students was into the hall and down the stairs. We sat around, dozing or playing cards, until about 2 a.m., at which time security came and tried to kick us out because we were a fire hazard, or something.
We protested, knowing that if we were to leave we’d lose our spots, and most of us had been waiting for hours. We made an official list and the dean actually woke up and signed off on it. We went back to our cabins. The next morning, I showed up at 6:30 a.m. and there was already a flood of students outside the Registrar’s office. Fortunately, the list held and I retained my spot in line, but 100 other students who had been outside the door since 4 a.m. were not too happy that they had missed out on the list and were now at the end of the line.
Fortunately, I got the classes I wanted – Fiction Writing and Sociology of Religion. By 9 p.m. that night the Registrar had only served 75 students, with over 200 students waiting to add or drop a class.
Most of the students who were #20 or beyond didn’t get the classes they wanted, and weren’t able to add a fifth class. A few students will have to graduate late because they weren’t able to get the classes they wanted on board.
It was messy.
Anyway, I really like my new classes, especially Sociology of Religion. Today we talked about the origins of shamanism, what healing rituals consist of, and different individuals’ propensity toward hypnotism. At the end of class, the professor hypnotized two students and asked them to go to heaven while they were in their trance. When they woke up, they each described different visions of heaven. One student said heaven was a cosmic island surrounded by stars, and the other said he had been at the gates but was not permitted to enter them. It was kind of unnerving, but very interesting. I don’t think I’m very susceptible to hypnotism because I tend to overanalyze everything, but I kind of wish I were, just to see what it’s like.
I like my Hinduism class a lot too. We’re learning about different gods and legends, and how images and symbolism are very important parts of the religion. We read an abbreviated version of “Ramayana,” which is a story about a demon who tries to overpower the world.
I had my first Fiction Writing class yesterday, and our assignment was to make a list of words or phrases that describe a place we’ve seen so far on the trip. I wrote about an alley in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, using phrases like “broken pavement,” “glowing beer signs,” and “stumbling locals.”
Tomorrow is Neptune Day – meaning we cross the equator! We actually cross the equator four times throughout the course of the trip, but this is the first time, so I guess it is the most relevant. Traditionally, everyone gets “baptized” with “fish guts” (I’ve heard it’s just jello) and women are supposed to shave their heads. I know a few girls who are really thinking about shaving their heads, and kudos to them, but there is absolutely no way I’m participating!
The water was really bumpy yesterday and a lot of people were getting thrown around as they walked through the hallways. Today it seems to be a little calmer, but it looks like it is going to storm tonight, so I have a feeling the calm won’t last. Scopolamine has been making me really drowsy – I slept all afternoon yesterday – so I decided to rough it without the patches. We’ll see how long I last.
I signed up for a few small trips for our next ports. Most excitingly, I’m going to a Capoeria school in Brazil. The students will put on a short presentation for us and maybe even teach us some moves. If you don’t know what Capoeria is, you should look it up on YouTube and find some examples. It’s a really amazing martial art form from which breakdancing was derived.
I also got a trip to Beijing, and I plan to go to the Great Wall. I know a group of students is planning to sleep on the Great Wall one night, and I’d really like to do that. How many opportunities will I have in my life to say that I slept on an ancient national landmark?
I also signed up for a trip called “Managing Schizophrenia” in India. I’m not sure what it entails but I have a feeling it’s going to be very sad. Part of me is nervous about being exposed to the horrors of extreme poverty in India, but I feel like I need to gain that exposure and gain some understanding of what life is like outside of the safety blanket that is the United States.
This has ended up being a pretty long entry. I’ll update more when I have time.
-E
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