Wednesday in Manaus:
My Faculty Directed Practica today was called Rio Do Sol and Zoo Visit with cancer patients in Manaus.  There is an outbreak of something here right now, though, so the foundation’s doctor did not allow the kids to go to the zoo, due to their highly susceptible immune systems.  Back up plan was just as good though! We went to a home for mentally disabled children.  On our way to the home, our guide (a lady whose name I forgot but is traveling with us to Ghana) told us everything we needed to know.  It was both touching and very sad.  The home consisted of children, ages 0-38 (mind you they have disabilities so they are considered children), all of whom had been abandoned.  That fact hit me hard.  Every one of these people had no home or family, they had been left on the streets for the sole reason of having a disability, mental or physical or both.  The home had a nursery, dorm rooms, kitchen, and a few common areas.  Not big by any means.  After our tour we went to the zoo and they children met us there.  We gave them lunch (hot dogs and coca-cola) and balloons.  Then we walked around the zoo for about an hour.  Before leaving we all sang a song together and many hugs were exchanged.  To us, students, it did not seem like a very eventful or long day.  But to those kids, it was probably the best day of their lives.  They had so much fun and it was incredible to see them smile and how happy a simple hour at the zoo with college students can make someone.  On our way back to the ship the guide reminded us how much she appreciated that we took time out of our trips to do that.  What I thought was amazing was when she explained how traveling is not just visiting places and taking pictures.  Real travelers engage.  They throw their whole selves into an environment, comfortable or not, and experience it.  That is what I did in Manaus, Brazil: travel and experience.

Thursday in Manaus:
I finished up a little shopping and walked around the city again.  The language barrier is very difficult to get around here.  I've met some great people, though, and had experiences I will never forget.  Today I talked to Bill, the service coordinator on the ship about setting up some more service projects in upcoming countries.  I am really happy I got to talk to him because service projects are where you come out with the best stories and meet the greatest people.  I will hopefully have many more stories comparable to my village visit along the Amazon River and my zoo visit with mentally disabled children.

STAY WARM, WISCONSIN!

Hannah

PS It is like 95º here as we leave port

I had an absolutely phenomenal day! A group of 25 SAS students, three faculty, and a dozen students from UFAM (University of Brazil students) took a riverboat trip down the Amazon to an Amazonian Village.  Believe it or not, today was the very first time Americans have visited these people in their community.  Upon arrival, we hiked about 2 miles along the river.  The community of 120 people was spread out along like four or five miles on the shore.  The Amazonians sang, danced, read poetry, and gave up a presentation of their culture as a welcome ceremony.  Then we feasted and learned to dance. The children brought us to their school, which consisted of about 5 rooms and showed us some other areas of the village. Too many interesting stuff to even begin to write it all on here, but I will have tons of stories and information for all of you! We had lunch and did another two mile hike in the other direction, where we were shown how rubber is made from rubber trees.  You make slashes in the tree and the latex pours out, then you roll it into balls over a fire. It was a very long day but more than worth it.  We were all exhausted on the ride back but I did see some river dolphins! It was definitely an experience I would have never had without the Semester at Sea program.
My friends Dan and Ian found a sweet deal and we got fifty people together and rented a houseboat for 4 hours for 20 reais a piece. So I did that from like 9-1am It was a very fun time.:)

“We’re in Brazil!”

Best Party I have ever attended last night! Called “The Samba”. An area of the street was blocked off solely for this festival.  About 500 native Brazilians with every instrument you can drum or shake, dancing and playing in unison in the middle of the street. Beer and the strongest drinks I have ever had.  Danced the night away! It was ridiculously fun! I named this post “We’re in Brazil” because that is what we kept singing as we danced☺

My first two days in Brazil have been great.  It is nothing like I anticipated it being.  Opposite of Dominica except that they are both rainforests.  The city of Manaus is very sketchy/dangerous.  We were warned during our pre-port meeting of this… Do not go anywhere alone, always travel with a male, hold everything in front of you (purses/bags/cameras/etc)…. Its all true.  I don’t want anyone to think I’m in danger. I’m not! I’m having a great time. No worries!

Yesterday a group of us went to see “Where Two Waters Meet”.  It is were the Amazon River and river water from Columbia come together but do not mix.  We took a boat about 20ft long with ten seats out to the exact spot.  It is really awesome how you can see the line with dark brown colored water on one side and a creamy coffee color on the other.  After that we did a little fishing and shopping on this little store in the middle of the river.  I was loving this part…. Sitting at water level on a boat that goes 30mph tops, put my arm out the side to feel the splash… Mighty Mississippi style right there! We checked out a fish market and headed back to town (where the port is).

We shopped around a market that is only open on Sundays.  I got some goodies there… We visited with some hippie locals for a long time.  My friend Mel speaks fluent Spanish so she pretty much saved our day.  The locals made us rings out of wire, then one made me a flower and asked me to marry him (don’t worry, Mom, I’m not getting married). He did give me one dreadlock though! After having dinner and a shower on the ship we walked to the Opera House where there was a concert outside.  Awesome live music (even though it was in Portuguese).

Today I did a Semester at Sea sponsored trip.  We left at 7am and drove 2 hours to the middle of the rainforest.  We hiked to a cave/waterfall. Our guide was telling us about trees and Indian tribes but I was too far back in the hiking line to hear anything.  After that we hiked to a waterfall reserve and swam for about an hour.  Lunch was held at a little café, amazing Amazonian food followed by a zip-line across a river.  It wasn’t exactly all I expected it to be and I’m sure I could have done the same thing for a lot cheaper than SAS made me pay for the day but I did enjoy myself.

I hung out with Mel on the ship for the night.  Tomorrow I have another early morning/long day.  At 7am I am doing a riverside villages tour.  I’m not sure exactly what it consists of but I’m excited.  Tomorrow night we’re going to go to Buffalo steak house…. I hear it’s pretty delicious.  Wednesday I’m going to the zoo with cancer patients! That’s going to rock. I’m thinking I’m going to finish my Brazil trip with a little more shopping and just exploring more of the city.

The past two days on the ship have been about as eventful as life on a ship can get. Professors and students are getting into the swing of things and we’re all pretty settled in.  My classes yesterday were really great.  I am especially excited about my abnormal psych class. We were put into groups for a case study, project, and paper, and my group’s topic happens to be dementia in Japan!  Perfect to go along with my gerontology minor☺

Last night there was an open mic night followed by a dance.  There are some incredibly talented people on the voyage! Singing, to piano, to fiddle, to opera, to guitar, to slam poetry!
The Amazon River is beautiful.  The sun is ridiculously intense.  Today was what they call a “Reading Day”.  We have a few of them and I guess they are made for us to catch up on our studies…..? Well I was woken by “The Voice” (lady who does announcements) saying, “Good Morning, Sorry for the interruption of your studies…” I am almost positive no one was studying much less reading anything today.  The pool deck was packed all day.  They can call it what they want to though, it was a nice break from classes☺

We arrive in Manaus tomorrow.  There was a pre-port meeting tonight, which did scare me a little… I’m glad I am not going to Rio, the most dangerous city in the world. Manaus is much safer, but everyone still needs to be on their toes.  It should be a wonderful time.  I will be zip lining through the rainforest, hiking to waterfalls and Amazon villages, visiting Two Waters, exploring the city, and visiting the zoo with leukemia patients…. 

I have been on the MV Explorer for ten days.  In the aspect of the people I’ve met… I feel like I’ve known them for a year.  Friendships build so quickly and everyone has such similar dreams.  In the aspect of what I have already done and what lies ahead.  One tenth of this is already over! Dominica was not one country I was particularily excited to go to, but it was absolutely amazing!  And to think that I still have nine tenths of this left! It will go by so fast…. And I know when I look back It will seem like a blink of an eye, but I will take in every single moment.
My favorite place of the ship in the seventh deck in front.  You cannot get out to the exact from like Titanic style, but close.  I was standing out there today and it’s the thought that always comes to my head that gets to me:  I still cannot fathom that I am really here.  I am in the middle of the Amazon.  Almost 2 stops down in my trip around the globe… This is really happening.

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.

Hello Hello

I woke up this morning for breakfast, which is surprisingly delicious on the ship.  I heard some people would like to know more about the ship…. It is six 7 decks.  The smallest cruise ship ever, sways more than any other so for the people who get sea sick it isn’t too welcoming.  Imagine sitting in class and ten people have to run out to throw up…. The seventh deck is outside, there is a pool, bar area, workout area, basketball court, and of course a tanning deck.  The inside holds a few rooms and a salon thing/treadmills and elypticals.  The sixth deck is where school happens.  The front of the ship is the union, where our global studies course is held, and anything else the whole shipboard community needs to attend (pre port lectures/ orientation/ movies) We can also get whatever goes on in the Union on our tv’s in our room.  Outside of the Union we have a small computer lab on one side and a library on the other.  Then there’s the school store, piano lounge, and cafeteria in the back.  On the sixth deck you are able to eat outside and admire the fact that you’re in the middle of the ocean. It’s amazing.  The fifth deck is the purser’s office and all other offices (field office, dean, etc), some rooms, and another cafeteria.  The fourth, third, and second decks are solely for room.  I’m SO glad I’m on the second and lowest deck.  For one, as you can imagine, we feel the LEAST amount of rocking of the ship… those poor kids on deck five and six!  Second, we get internet connection in my room…. Yes, I am blogging from my bed! Third, the view is just awesome, watching the waves at eye level right outside the window!

So that is the ship.  I sat outside and talked to this kid named Ryan yesterday just about taking this all in.  He was reading a book for a gender and inequality class while sitting around a pool in the middle of the ocean.  I was doing just about the same thing, except for my environmental ethics class.  You would think it’s easy to just sit and read, but we’re in the middle of the ocean, on a ship full of kids that are worth meeting! There’s so much more I want to be doing. It really is an amazing experience…. It is everything it is talked up to be, plus more that can’t even be explained.

But I have class at 9:20 and the walk across campus is pretty rough;)

Dominica Day 2:

Woke up bright and early I couldn’t get enough of this port.  We went to the post office to try to mail my mom my phone bar code (sorry, Mom…. TRIED is the key word) I’ll try again in Brazil.  We got a taxi driver named Juslyn to take us to the best beach about a half hour away in Mero.  On the drive there I immediately noticed all of the stray dogs and skinny cows.  Seriously, nothing like Wisconsin cows☹
The beach was black sand, which I was amazed by because I had never seen it before.  Ray and I spent about an hour collecting rocks and sea glass we can use to make jewelry. Then we had lunch and met a few locals.  Eric and I met a man who calls himself the Mushroom Man of the Rainforest.  Pretty awesome dude.  Had the thickest dreads ever. He and his wife own an organic farm in the rainforest.  They gave us their email and phone number because yes, I am coming back.  What I thought was really cool though, was his wife Christine, who is a registered nurse from Ohio, came to Dominica a while back, fell in love, and never went home.  She was crazy cool too.
After the beach we walked around town for a while and did some shopping, then jumped off the pier with kids before we got back on the ship at 4:30 to make 1800 DOCK TIME (pretty serious stuff). 
As I was sitting at dinner on the deck I talked to Dr. Bill about the medical school I noticed in the middle of town.  He said that his friend in a professor there.  It is very easy to get in to but 1 in 3 students drop out very quickly.  Instead of taking 3 or 4 years of med school like America, students study for 16 months straight 7 days a week! I can see why they drop out but it was interesting…. Might have to take up med school in Dominica!
Leaving Roseau was bitter sweet.  The end of our first port yet the beginning to so many more. Since I began this voyage I don’t think I have stopped smiling.  Everyone is just like me, ready to see the world. It is absolutely unbelievable. People talk about how lucky we are to be doing this but I’m not sure people understand how right that statement is.  This is the trip of a lifetime.  I have met so many great friends and seen so many awesome things already that if it ended tomorrow, it would have been worth every penny and all the trouble to get here.