First Post

Hi everyone!

As you all know, I am about to head off to Semester at Sea. Internet is limited, and hopefully I am going to be very busy exploring new countries so I wont be able to send out and respond to many emails. I am going to use this blog as both a diary of my trip and a tool to keep in touch with everyone. I will post photos on another website, but I havent figured that out yet. I'm planning to take thousands of photos! (otherwise my dad might disown me) I leave in 10 days. I'm so EXCITED! On January 17th I will be traveling to the Bahamas to begin my trip. My voyage is from January 19th to May 6th. I am traveling to 11 countries:

• Nassau, Bahamas
• Cadiz, Spain
• Casablanca, Morocco
• Walvis Bay, Namibia
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Port Louis, Mauritius
• Chennai, India
• Laem Chabang (Bangkok), Thailand
• Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
• Hong Kong / Shanghai, China
• Kobe / Yokohama, Japan
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
  (Antigua, Guatemala City)
• Transiting of Panama Canal
• Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The ship I am traveling on is the MS Explorer. It is 590 feet long and 84 feet wide. I will be staying in an Outside double cabin. I dont meet my roommate until the day of embarkation. At 6 a.m. Saturday morning I fly out from San Francisco to Nassau, Bahamas. I will be staying at the Wyndam Nassau Grand Resort on Cable Beach for two nights before embarkation Monday morning. The ship sails at 5 p.m., which should mean a beautiful sunset as we head out into the Atlantic.

It takes 9 days to cross the Atlantic, during which I will be attending orientations and my classes. I am taking Global Studies, Geography of the Oceans, Macroeconomics, and Religion and Politics in Islam. All of the details for my Semester at Sea is at the website:

www.semesteratsea.org

You can see my voyage in the Voyages tab, I will be on the Spring 2009 voyage under Upcoming Voyages.