Thanks, Mauritius for a great day!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Mauritius
Thanks, Mauritius for a great day!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Spring Break 2011!!!!!!!!!!!
We just left Mauritius yesterday. We were only there for the day because a previous voyage trashed a bunch of hotels and ruined the city. I hate to say it but our group didn't do much better. One student is hospitalized and almost died from alcohol poisoning. We had a very serious shipboard community meeting tonight about how close he came to death. We are the last voyage to sail to Mauritius…for a reason.
But my time there was quite enjoyable. Spring Break 2011!!!! That’s what my friends and I are calling it. We paid for a catamaran for all of our friends. A bus picked us up and we sailed out to an island for a day full of fun, to say the least. The drinks were unlimited. I asked for wine (of course) and the guy working on the ship asked if I wanted a small glass or a large glass. I said large glass because everyone else was grabbing and drinking like there was no tomorrow and I wanted to make sure that there was going to be enough for people like me…the conservative folks on-board. Then I offered my water bottle as a cup because he seemed to be struggling to find a large glass. He then poured the WHOLE BOTTLE OF WINE into my water bottle. I wasn’t expecting that at all but I can say that I got my money’s worth. We had lunch on-board, went snorkeling, danced to music….the weather was perfect! The day was fantastic. Just think Spring Break MTV style. You know, those shows where everyone is in bathing suits and not caring about life …that was us!
But my time there was quite enjoyable. Spring Break 2011!!!! That’s what my friends and I are calling it. We paid for a catamaran for all of our friends. A bus picked us up and we sailed out to an island for a day full of fun, to say the least. The drinks were unlimited. I asked for wine (of course) and the guy working on the ship asked if I wanted a small glass or a large glass. I said large glass because everyone else was grabbing and drinking like there was no tomorrow and I wanted to make sure that there was going to be enough for people like me…the conservative folks on-board. Then I offered my water bottle as a cup because he seemed to be struggling to find a large glass. He then poured the WHOLE BOTTLE OF WINE into my water bottle. I wasn’t expecting that at all but I can say that I got my money’s worth. We had lunch on-board, went snorkeling, danced to music….the weather was perfect! The day was fantastic. Just think Spring Break MTV style. You know, those shows where everyone is in bathing suits and not caring about life …that was us!
Reflection Day
We had Africa Reflection Day between Cape Town and Mauritius. I don’t know why they have these because everyone does the same thing. Nothing! Those are the best days. We sleep in. Wake up for meals. Then take naps. Some people sit outside on the pool deck. Some play cards. Regardless of what you do, you end up doing nothing. After sleeping away half the day, I woke up and didn’t do a whole lot. At one point I went up to the 7th deck and caught up on my education homework. We have to pick a quote out of the required chapter reading and answer 3 questions about it. The homework is really easy and doesn’t even require that I read the chapter…I just have to do it and email it to my instructor. Since I don’t have the book I used my friend’s to write a sentence/quote from each chapter and then I answer the questions based off of that one sentence. And guess what?? I have yet to earn less than 100%...yes, I am proud of myself! I spent the remainder of the day lounging around and being thankful that I am done with school related stuff until the day after Mauritius.
Recap Time...
Cape Town at a Glance
Day 1
After waiting over 28 hours on the ship, right outside of Cape Town we went through immigration and were free to get off the ship. Boy-oh-boy did it feel liberating! That afternoon I went to a township for an overnight visit. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. We took a walking tour of the township and as we walked we were stopping in everyone’s homes just to say hi and chit chat. The family that I stayed with has a bunch of family that lives in the same township so we stopped by all of their homes, too. It was so nice to see such a close community :). In the morning, told Noma-Africa (Mama Mavis’ daughter) that I wanted to take pictures and videos of their home. She took it a step further and said, “come on…let’s walk and you can video the whole township.” So, we went on a walk around the whole township! It was amazing and I have it all on film. After getting back, I grabbed my stuff and we all walked back to the home of the owner of the company, Mama Zeet’s home. There we played with children and I was able to hand out some coloring sheets that I had bought and brought for them. They all loved the sheets and kept asking for more. Luckily I had plenty for everyone! Then we headed back to the ship.
I had arranged for a guy that was my driver last time I was in South Africa to take some of my friends and I wine tasting. The wineries were the best that I have been to in life! If for nothing else, you and I must go back just to go wine tasting. SO MUCH FUN!!! And the wine is greaattt! That night we went to a big buffet African Food Dinner and out to a bar that’s at the waterfront (where our ship was docked).
Day 2
I had planned on hiking Table Mountain then ab sailing off of it. Sounds easy enough…I was wrong. That hike was one of the toughest things I have done in life. Everyone estimates that it takes an hour and a half to two hours to do the short hike. Not so bad (I thought). But when you are climbing straight up for an hour and a half reaching 4000ft….ummm you get just a bit tired. I was pooped. My friend forgot her water bottle so we shared mine AND my friend was a bit out of shape. Which made it easier for me because when she needed a break, we took one (allowing me to rest, too). So all in all it was fun and very rewarding!
The down side: when we got to the top we had so little energy left that ab sailing down wasn’t even an option. Ab sailing is repelling, requiring wayyyy to much strength that we didn’t have at that point. So, we decided to go shopping instead. I bought a tank, regular top and a pair of shoes…I was beginning to have withdraws from the lack of freedom to do any sort of shopping (beside the campus store which is the size of my dorm room freshman year). After shopping we found ourselves back out with everyone else. We went to Camps Bay (a nearby beach town)…and bypassed a R100 cover charge (14USD).
Day 3
Two of my friends (Jamie and Lilly) and I went to the Aquarium at the Waterfront. We got in at the South African Student price (my negotiation skills at work) and took a little over an hour to look around. It was really cool. They had sharks, eels, starfish, a touch tank, penguins, tons of fish, etc to look at and a bunch of facts on the walls. After the aquarium we headed to Green Market Square to try our hand at bargaining.
We got there and I realized that I am tired of haggling. It would be so nice to have a set price…to know that the price I am paying is the same price that everyone else is paying. There were a few things that I wanted so I walked around, found the exact item and bargained my way to the price that I wanted. After that we stopped for lunch at a place that had wifi. Let me tell you…I will never ever take the internet for granted after this trip. Super slow internet is better than no internet. Even in port when we go to internet cafés, we still have to pay and are on a time crunch. Some internet places only let you download up to a certain MB and others are just gross. Anyways, after we got back I walked around the waterfront mall (really nice, think South Coast status) then took some pictures out-front.
Jamie has a friend who is studying abroad at UCT. So, we later took a taxi over there with our friend Eric to see her and some of the rugby game. It was great to go back to UCT. I took some pictures on campus and reminisced about studying there. I truly have been blessed to travel the world and experience what I have. I have lived in two of the best places and seen some incredible sights! After the rugby game we walked down to Rondebosch (neighborhood area below the campus) and ate dinner at a little place I hadn’t eaten at before. I loved walking the streets and felt right back at home as though I was living on campus again. I want to go back already! Then that night…yep, you guessed it…we went out again.
Day 4
I still hadn’t uploaded all of my pictures and really needed to catch up on my blog so I spent the morning at the internet café. Then I went to the mall to spend the remaining rand (South African currency) that I had. The last day in port is always a scramble and we have to estimate how much time we need to get back on the ship (we have to go through security to make sure that we don’t have any prohibited items and aren’t drunk, etc). Leaving was sad but I’ll for sure be back…I have said that about half of the countries that we have visited. Looks like I need a big shot and/or a well paying j-o-b!
Day 1
After waiting over 28 hours on the ship, right outside of Cape Town we went through immigration and were free to get off the ship. Boy-oh-boy did it feel liberating! That afternoon I went to a township for an overnight visit. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. We took a walking tour of the township and as we walked we were stopping in everyone’s homes just to say hi and chit chat. The family that I stayed with has a bunch of family that lives in the same township so we stopped by all of their homes, too. It was so nice to see such a close community :). In the morning, told Noma-Africa (Mama Mavis’ daughter) that I wanted to take pictures and videos of their home. She took it a step further and said, “come on…let’s walk and you can video the whole township.” So, we went on a walk around the whole township! It was amazing and I have it all on film. After getting back, I grabbed my stuff and we all walked back to the home of the owner of the company, Mama Zeet’s home. There we played with children and I was able to hand out some coloring sheets that I had bought and brought for them. They all loved the sheets and kept asking for more. Luckily I had plenty for everyone! Then we headed back to the ship.
I had arranged for a guy that was my driver last time I was in South Africa to take some of my friends and I wine tasting. The wineries were the best that I have been to in life! If for nothing else, you and I must go back just to go wine tasting. SO MUCH FUN!!! And the wine is greaattt! That night we went to a big buffet African Food Dinner and out to a bar that’s at the waterfront (where our ship was docked).
Day 2
I had planned on hiking Table Mountain then ab sailing off of it. Sounds easy enough…I was wrong. That hike was one of the toughest things I have done in life. Everyone estimates that it takes an hour and a half to two hours to do the short hike. Not so bad (I thought). But when you are climbing straight up for an hour and a half reaching 4000ft….ummm you get just a bit tired. I was pooped. My friend forgot her water bottle so we shared mine AND my friend was a bit out of shape. Which made it easier for me because when she needed a break, we took one (allowing me to rest, too). So all in all it was fun and very rewarding!
The down side: when we got to the top we had so little energy left that ab sailing down wasn’t even an option. Ab sailing is repelling, requiring wayyyy to much strength that we didn’t have at that point. So, we decided to go shopping instead. I bought a tank, regular top and a pair of shoes…I was beginning to have withdraws from the lack of freedom to do any sort of shopping (beside the campus store which is the size of my dorm room freshman year). After shopping we found ourselves back out with everyone else. We went to Camps Bay (a nearby beach town)…and bypassed a R100 cover charge (14USD).
Day 3
Two of my friends (Jamie and Lilly) and I went to the Aquarium at the Waterfront. We got in at the South African Student price (my negotiation skills at work) and took a little over an hour to look around. It was really cool. They had sharks, eels, starfish, a touch tank, penguins, tons of fish, etc to look at and a bunch of facts on the walls. After the aquarium we headed to Green Market Square to try our hand at bargaining.
We got there and I realized that I am tired of haggling. It would be so nice to have a set price…to know that the price I am paying is the same price that everyone else is paying. There were a few things that I wanted so I walked around, found the exact item and bargained my way to the price that I wanted. After that we stopped for lunch at a place that had wifi. Let me tell you…I will never ever take the internet for granted after this trip. Super slow internet is better than no internet. Even in port when we go to internet cafés, we still have to pay and are on a time crunch. Some internet places only let you download up to a certain MB and others are just gross. Anyways, after we got back I walked around the waterfront mall (really nice, think South Coast status) then took some pictures out-front.
Jamie has a friend who is studying abroad at UCT. So, we later took a taxi over there with our friend Eric to see her and some of the rugby game. It was great to go back to UCT. I took some pictures on campus and reminisced about studying there. I truly have been blessed to travel the world and experience what I have. I have lived in two of the best places and seen some incredible sights! After the rugby game we walked down to Rondebosch (neighborhood area below the campus) and ate dinner at a little place I hadn’t eaten at before. I loved walking the streets and felt right back at home as though I was living on campus again. I want to go back already! Then that night…yep, you guessed it…we went out again.
Day 4
I still hadn’t uploaded all of my pictures and really needed to catch up on my blog so I spent the morning at the internet café. Then I went to the mall to spend the remaining rand (South African currency) that I had. The last day in port is always a scramble and we have to estimate how much time we need to get back on the ship (we have to go through security to make sure that we don’t have any prohibited items and aren’t drunk, etc). Leaving was sad but I’ll for sure be back…I have said that about half of the countries that we have visited. Looks like I need a big shot and/or a well paying j-o-b!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Valentine's Day
There isn't a lot to do while at sea so any reason to celebrate is a GREAT reason to celebrate! Valentine's Day was a perfecttttt reason to celebrate! Two friends and I organized a ice cream social for our friends and it was so much fun! We ate dinner in the dining area then had our ice cream and an impromptu photo shoot afterwards.
BEST watches on the ship...clearly! (Thanks, Dad)
Kelly and me
All of us ladies
All of the guys
The best waiters we have...Linval and Peter (both from Jamaica and both super nice)!
The Big Delay!
Our trip was cut short by a whole day and this is why...
Thursday was the day that we arrived in South Africa…kinda. Here’s the story…
We got to Cape Town at 8:00am. Great, right? NOTTTTT! I woke up at 7:00am to watch us pull into port and we literally get to Cape Town then turn away and go in circles in the middle of the ocean (still right outside of the port area). The wind was heavy and the waves were so bad that we couldn’t dock. The entrance is very narrow and with the waves that bad (our ship was "rocking and rolling" as they call it), we couldn’t get to the port or the alternate port. So, we were trapped on the ship all day. I felt like a caged animal at the zoo haha But you know me and I'm just chillin like I do most days. However, some people were FREAKING OUT! It was hilarious. Some people are just bitter. I mean...it helps that I've been here before and didn't have any big plans for the day...but seriously. Some people needed to calm down.
The administration was kind enough to plan some last minute activities for us. They showed some movies in the Union (large lecture hall/common space with nice chairs) and on the TV loop in our cabin’s and they had an impromptu Open Mic night….these are always a hit. There is one girl that my friends and I call “Ping Ping” and she never fails to steal the show. She reminds me of Jennifer Lopez except her clothes are too tight, her hair is greasy, she talks like she is super Latina, she’s from the Bronx and pretends she is a diva. Last Open Mic she asked that the lights be dimmed and then put back on at specific times during her performance to a Lady Gaga song...enough said. And for this performance she did much of the same and it was just as funny.
All in all, the whole day was spent on the ship as opposed to in the city. I like to think of it as another Reading Day.
The pictures (previous post) show some of what I did while in port.
Day 1:
Township Homestay
Day 2:
Return from Township Homestay
Wine Tasting
Day 3:
Hike Table Mountain
Century City Mall
Day 4:
Aquarium
Shopping at Green Market Square
Day 5:
Internet Café
Grocery Shopping (because every once in a while it’s nice to treat yourself to a snack without breaking your bank at the pool bar)
Relax at the port…possible Camps Bay Beach
Thursday was the day that we arrived in South Africa…kinda. Here’s the story…
We got to Cape Town at 8:00am. Great, right? NOTTTTT! I woke up at 7:00am to watch us pull into port and we literally get to Cape Town then turn away and go in circles in the middle of the ocean (still right outside of the port area). The wind was heavy and the waves were so bad that we couldn’t dock. The entrance is very narrow and with the waves that bad (our ship was "rocking and rolling" as they call it), we couldn’t get to the port or the alternate port. So, we were trapped on the ship all day. I felt like a caged animal at the zoo haha But you know me and I'm just chillin like I do most days. However, some people were FREAKING OUT! It was hilarious. Some people are just bitter. I mean...it helps that I've been here before and didn't have any big plans for the day...but seriously. Some people needed to calm down.
The administration was kind enough to plan some last minute activities for us. They showed some movies in the Union (large lecture hall/common space with nice chairs) and on the TV loop in our cabin’s and they had an impromptu Open Mic night….these are always a hit. There is one girl that my friends and I call “Ping Ping” and she never fails to steal the show. She reminds me of Jennifer Lopez except her clothes are too tight, her hair is greasy, she talks like she is super Latina, she’s from the Bronx and pretends she is a diva. Last Open Mic she asked that the lights be dimmed and then put back on at specific times during her performance to a Lady Gaga song...enough said. And for this performance she did much of the same and it was just as funny.
All in all, the whole day was spent on the ship as opposed to in the city. I like to think of it as another Reading Day.
The pictures (previous post) show some of what I did while in port.
Day 1:
Township Homestay
Day 2:
Return from Township Homestay
Wine Tasting
Day 3:
Hike Table Mountain
Century City Mall
Day 4:
Aquarium
Shopping at Green Market Square
Day 5:
Internet Café
Grocery Shopping (because every once in a while it’s nice to treat yourself to a snack without breaking your bank at the pool bar)
Relax at the port…possible Camps Bay Beach
The place I adore...Cape Town, South Africa!
Cape Town is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I LOVE IT! Enjoy the pictures :)
View from the Ship right after we finally docked
Having lunch on-board at the Waterfront
Kids of Tambo Township in Cape Town
Mama Mavis and granddaughter (My host Mama)
Some of my Township Family and their cousins
She is only 1 1/2 but wears a robe and slippers like it's nobody's business...soooo cute!
Adorable little boys
Wine Tasting
Asara Winery had gorgeous views!
Love this country!
Spier Winery...where we pet Cheetahs
THANKS Al for driving me and my friends to all of the BEST Winery's around (Al was one of the driver's for my study abroad program that I was with last time I studied abroad here)
The Africa Cafe dinner
Hiking Table Mountain...4000ft up...enough said
Sooooo high and a bit challenging...but the view is SOOOO worth it
running the "stiarway to heaven" (the last little bit THAT I RAN because I was so happy to finally be at the top of the mountain)
The view
after the hike
this picture is dedicated to Kristen, the one who loves donuts more than anyone else I know
a night out in Camps Bay
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