My skin in getting darker and classes are getting more in depth, that’s about all that is new on the MV Explorer though…. Had pasta and potatoes again for lunch (and every other meal) It’s not really that bad… Again, I can’t complain when I’m traveling the world! We entered the Amazon River last night around 11pm. We were told to secure all of our belongings hold on because they were bringing in the stabilizers in order to enter shallow waters.  So a ton of kids went up to the 7th deck for the exciting moment…. Which never happened. This is the first time Semester at Sea has every gone into the Amazon so they weren’t really sure what was going to happen. It’s smoother than ever before.  Everyone is grossed out by going from clear blue oceans to brown water… I on the other hand find it similar in color to the Mississippi.

Yesterday in Global Studies we had a speaker named Jeffery Kottler.  He began an organization ten years ago called Empowering Nepal Girls.  He first took interest in the topic when a med student of his named Kerin became an obstetrician and was incredibly interested in why Nepal has the highest rate of maternal death in the world. Kerin and Jeffery went to Nepal.  The trip took plane rides from L.A. to Bangkok to Katmandu to Nepal, then an hour bus ride, then a few days hike to the village.  As they spent time in villages in schools in Nepal, Jeffery noticed that girls were consistently disappearing.  He asked the principle why girls keep disappearing.  The principle responded, “You see that girl over there? Her name is Inu.  She is 12 years old. Her dad is an alcoholic.  She has two older brothers and one older sister. She will be the next to disappear.”  In Nepal it cost approximately 50 dollars to go to school for one year, every year after third grade. Inu’s family could not afford to send her to school after third grade, and could not afford to take care of the rest of the family to begin with.  She would be sold as a sex slave at age 12.  Girls in Nepal were more often than not sold into sex slavery, brought to brothels and raped sometimes 50 times a day.  They continued this slavery until the day they became too ill to have sex and usually died.  So Jeffery gave the principle the money to put Inu through school for a year, and promised to come back to Nepal every single year after to make sure she is still in school.  Now, Inu goes to a University of a full ride scholarship.  She is majoring in television production.  Other girls in Nepal have dreams of becoming doctors, nurses, teachers, pilots, but mostly to help those less fortunate like themselves.  Incredibly moving story and I wanted to share it with all of you. 

We will get to Manaus, Brazil on Sunday.  I am really excited.  My first three days are filled with FDP’s (Faculty Directed Practica).  The first day I am going to a waterfall reserve and zip-lining (which has been on my bucket-list for quite some time), the second day I am hiking the rainforest with my psych class and visiting 5 different villages along the way, and the third day I am going to Rio Do Sol Foundation and Zoo visit with children who have leukemia and other cancers.  The next two days/night I have no idea…. But I am confident I will find something amazing to do.  Lilli, Ray, Mel, and I were talking about getting an Eco-Hotel.  I also want some swimsuits from Brazil (preferably a sweet one-piece!)

That’s all the news I have for you… but more to come.  Loving life.

Listen to “Set Sail” by The Movement.