One week...

With only one week left until I step foot on the MV Explorer, I figured it was time for a blog update...

Trips. Way back in the middle of December, I had to pre-register for some of the trips I want to do while visiting various countries. We had to register for trips in Hawaii, Japan, and China, as well as any overnight trips we wanted to take while on our voyage. I got confirmation for some of the trips I will be doing, and I am SO excited! Here they are:
Hawaii:
Visit to the Hawai'i Psychiatric Hospital (this one is for a class, but I am so excited)
Japan:
Zen Temple & Meditation Led by Zen Monks: We get to visit a temple and get instructed in Zen Buddhist meditation, as well as enjoy a "Zen" style lunch.
China:
Sleep on the Great Wall: This one isn't done through SAS, but through another reputable company that many friends have used. I am so excited for this trip, although I am not looking forward to freezing while sleeping on the wall. Not only do we get to see the Great Wall, we will complete a 6 mile hike (which I have heard is rather challenging), then we get to zipline off the wall once the hike is over, which is great incentive for me to finish the hike, as I can be a bit of an adrenaline junkie. While the wall is the main highlight of the trip, I also get to visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, as well as the Silk Market. During our time in Beijing, we also get to see the outside of the two Olympic stadiums, the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. I can't wait for this trip!
India:
Taj Majal and Jaipur: On this trip, I get to travel to various places in India, including Delhi, Agra (this always makes me think of Aladdin), and Jaipur. It is going to be a very rigorous three days full of very early mornings, but it should be amazing.
South Africa:
Aquila Game Reserve: A one day safari at a relatively new game reserve. They have many different tyes of animals, including rhino, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffe, and lions. The lions are in an enclosure until the other animals have time to increase their population, and eventually the lions will be released with the rest of the animals. Despite this, I am very excited for this adventure.
These are my trips that I have for now, but I will hopefully be adding some along the way for various other countries. I'm hoping to get into a few community service trips, as well as some visits to some temples and even a circus school in Brazil.

Packing. I have never enjoyed it and I have always put it off until the last minute (which drives both my mom and my boyfriend absolutely nuts), but I always manage to get everything done. When packing for my previous semesters at school, I always had my car to fit an entire semesters worth of stuff into. This semester, packing is proving to be a teensy bit of a challenge. I have to fit everything for three and a half months into two rolling duffle bags and a backpack. This list includes but is not limited to: Clothes (for weather varying from 35-90 degrees), bathroom supplies (shampoo, conditioner, make-up, and every other wacky bathroom thing a girl needs), school supplies, electronics, and other random things one needs for a life onboard a ship. I know I will be able to fit it all right now because my mom is the queen of packing things, but how on earth am I going to be able to get all of it home at the end of my voyage?!?! Not only will I have the stuff I took with me, but souvenirs as well. And I have to pack it all myself. Without my mom. It's little things like this that make me appreciate her presence even more. :-)

And last but not least...
Anticipation. While I did decide to join this program relatively late compared to some of my peers on the voyage (some have been planning for a year!), I am easily just as excited as many of them. Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with traveling and seeing new places. I am rather excited to say that after this trip there will only be two continents in the world I have not set foot in, and they are Australia and Antarctica. I figure I still have a chance at seeing Australia, and Antarctica, well, I'm not too concerned with seeing that one. At this point, after so many months of frantic planning for this trip, I just want to set sail already. I want to be on the ship and meet my roommate, I really want to experience Neptune Day (for those of you who have no idea what this is, you will find out when I post), I want to partake in the Sea Olympics, I can't wait for taco day, and I look forward to trying to find ways to spend my endless time aboard the ship during the long stretches between countries. What I am most looking forward to though, is experiencing other cultures. I've been stuck in a little California bubble for so long, with my Europe experience lasting only three weeks, that I cannot wait to get out of here. I know that I will definitely undergo some culture shock, especially because we are going to so many different places. I also know that I will experience some culture shock when I get home. American culture is so different from other cultures. I noticed this even when I was just in Europe, and I know that it is going to be a hundred times more different in every country that I am going to be visiting. Always being a person who likes to go with the flow of things, I think experiencing new cultures is going to be an absolute blast. I know there will be challenges (communication, perhaps?) but I am looking forward to all of them.
As much as I want to set sail and leave for my semester abroad, I know that I will miss everyone here at home. Talking on the phone won't happen very often, and when it does, most conversation will most likely be relatively short and inconsequential (hi, how are you, what have you been up to, etc.). E-mail will be my main way of keeping in contact with people, and even that will only occur when I am on the ship and can access my e-mail account. This is the one thing I am not looking forward to at all on my trip, as I love keeping in contact with my family, boyfriend, and friends when I can't see them very often. Other than that, I am so looking forward to having adventures in foreign countries. SEVEN DAYS!

My next blog will most likely occur once I am on the ship and settled in, maybe with a few pictures of my teeny tiny room. Until then, tchau! (Bye in Brazilian Portuguese) :-)