Quotes from our deans memo I loved

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.      Confucius

 

Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.         – Cesare Pavese

 

We travel because, no matter how comfortable we are at home, there's a part of us that wants - that needs - to see new vistas, take new tours, obtain new traveler's checks, buy new souvenirs, order new entrees, introduce new bacteria into our intestinal tracts, learn new words for "transfusion," and have all the other travel adventures that make us want to french-kiss our doormats when we finally get home. - Dave Barry

 

 

 

The Night Before Debarkation

 

Tomorrow I leave home. No, not NY, but my shipboard community home. To even try and sum up my semester would take a whole book. I feel like a different person in a lot of ways after this voyage. I have met some amazing people (in country and on the ship), I have seen beautiful sights, I have placed my feet on new continents, countries and soil and I have learned more in 4 months about life, humans and myself then I imagined I would.

Tomorrow I will take my ID card and swipe out one last time.

I am already an Alumni since class is over as well as finals.

I don’t have much time to write but I wanted to get some thoughts out!!

 

For My Family:

Thank you for those who have inspired me and helped me get to where I am. My parents, Aunt Marianne and The Nash Kids. Growing up I always herd of your adventures traveling and It help shape my passion to see and experience the world. My supportive and loving grandfather and my friends who cheered me on and helped me on the days I needed them.

 

For future SASers created by Chelsea, Bridgett, Kim and I:

1)      Get ready for the biggest change in your life so far. Of course you might not believe me now, but it’s coming.

2)      Can you really travel the world and not be changed in some way?

3)      The MV Explorer is more than a cruise ship.  It will truly become home. When coming back from a long trip in a foreign country there is nothing more comforting than the MV’s lights guiding you home.

4)      Go to all pre-ports. Sit in the union!

5)      Get involved. Don’t spend a lot of time in your cabin.

6)      Save money and go economy. I have three roomies and even though at times its crowded they are my best friends. The extra 3,000 for a non-economy cabin can be used in port.

7)      Keep an open mind.

8)      Pack light. Bring a crap load home.

9)      Best shopping is in Morocco and SA

10)   Take a picture of the ocean every day, it’s a special treat.

11)   Commit to sending mail out.

12)   Get a SAS family.

13)   Travel with different people in ports.

14)   Don’t do SAS trips in every port. Only do a few.

15)   Take school seriously. Your classes are important and you learn a lot about the countries you’re going to in some of them.

 

I will reflect after some time has gone by.

 

But for now I am beyond words

 

 

Love

Casey

The Night Before Debarkation

 

Tomorrow I leave home. No, not NY, but my shipboard community home. To even try and sum up my semester would take a whole book. I feel like a different person in a lot of ways after this voyage. I have met some amazing people (in country and on the ship), I have seen beautiful sights, I have placed my feet on new continents, countries and soil and I have learned more in 4 months about life, humans and myself then I imagined I would.

Tomorrow I will take my ID card and swipe out one last time.

I am already an Alumni since class is over as well as finals.

I don’t have much time to write but I wanted to get some thoughts out!!

 

For My Family:

Thank you for those who have inspired me and helped me get to where I am. My parents, Aunt Marianne and The Nash Kids. Growing up I always herd of your adventures traveling and It help shape my passion to see and experience the world. My supportive and loving grandfather and my friends who cheered me on and helped me on the days I needed them.

 

For future SASers created by Chelsea, Bridgett, Kim and I:

1)      Get ready for the biggest change in your life so far. Of course you might not believe me now, but it’s coming.

2)      Can you really travel the world and not be changed in some way?

3)      The MV Explorer is more than a cruise ship.  It will truly become home. When coming back from a long trip in a foreign country there is nothing more comforting than the MV’s lights guiding you home.

4)      Go to all pre-ports. Sit in the union!

5)      Get involved. Don’t spend a lot of time in your cabin.

6)      Save money and go economy. I have three roomies and even though at times its crowded they are my best friends. The extra 3,000 for a non-economy cabin can be used in port.

7)      Keep an open mind.

8)      Pack light. Bring a crap load home.

9)      Best shopping is in Morocco and SA

10)   Take a picture of the ocean every day, it’s a special treat.

11)   Commit to sending mail out.

12)   Get a SAS family.

13)   Travel with different people in ports.

14)   Don’t do SAS trips in every port. Only do a few.

15)   Take school seriously. Your classes are important and you learn a lot about the countries you’re going to in some of them.

 

I will reflect after some time has gone by.

 

But for now I am beyond words

 

 

Love

Casey

wow...

I am now officially an alumni from SAS. Finals are done and we had our Alumni Ball tonight

 

I am forever changed.

Forever going to look at our world differently.

Forever going to work to keep bettering myself and help those in need.

Forever going to remember this once and a lifetime experience I was SO blessed to have.

 

Hopefully more reflection tomorrow…

 

Casey

 

Time has flown

I am sad I haven’t had time to blog about SA, Ghana and Morocco but hopefully I will be able to blog about it while in Italy and on the cruise!

 

My last final is tomorrow.

 

I will hopefully have time to really sit and reflect over the voyage. I want to do one the night before and one a week after.

 

Yesterday we walked up the steps and swiped into the ship for the last time. It was sad realizing that this ship that has been my home for 4 months and I’ve changed and grown so much on this ship and in a few days I say goodbye.

 

Anywhoo, I wish I had more time to walk but unfortunately I have a final to study for and a paper to write!

 

Love

Casey

 

 

South Africa Day 1

This entry I wrote some before Ghana and finished the rest now.

 

Tonight we had our pre-port meeting. Then star gazing! It was a perfect night for it, once the lights were turned off it turned into a planetarium. You could see stars almost over the horizon. Now I am going to attempting to write about 1-2 days about Africa and watch a movie before bed. (which never happened lol)

 

March 25^th

My  day started by being one of the first off of the ship because I had a field lab. Immediately when I get off of the ship we were cheered on by parents of students who were getting off of the ship. SAS does a parent vacation plan for parents to meet students in SA for a package deal. So a large crowd awaited students getting off of the ship. it was really exciting to see all of the parents anxiously awaiting their children. My friend who was on my field lab with me had her parents in SA so it was so sweet to see her family who was so excited to see her. But their reunion was not long because we were already late for our lab. (she would meet back up later).

The start of our field lab was to visit the commissioner of Gender Equality in SA. He spoke to us for about 45 minutes about laws and changes to their constitution that are being implemented for not only women but there are general equality right laws being brought into action. It was good in a lot of ways that we were able to hear from him because without that talk I would have wondered what is being done to help those being treated unequally in SA. Especially because once we actually went out and into the township, inequality became very obvious. These people were removed from their homes in Cape Town during the Apartied and even though it has ended cannot afford land so they continue to live here. We were welcomed into their homes of which 5-6 people lived in a room smaller then a dorm and we played with the children who’s playground was their neighborhood yard with a cardboard box. A family let us come into their home and try some traditional beer which they brewed for us. it was passed around in a large bucket and we all shared it. It was a very low alcohol content, and was very thick. We visited their museum they made for themselves to remember their struggles and then headed back to the ship.

My friends all went out together for the day so I ate dinner and reaxed until they came back and we got ready to go out on the town. We found a nice Irish bar which had a really cute guy singing lots of great covers. So we enjoyed drinks, danced and had a blast before heading back to the ship. our taxi driver tried to rip us off and almost drove away with us, but we quickly got out and left him a fair amount of money for the distance he drove us. I packed and got ready for bed because the next day we had our Safari!

Laptop.

The ship has been pretty rough on my laptop and so it doesn’t seem to want to work well. On top of that my charger also is acting up and so I am borring other peoples charger to get  it to work.

 

First final is tomorrow!

 

Morocco in 4 days

 

Spain in 12

 

Italy  with mom in 11

 

Crazy!

 

Hope to write again soon with details on SA. School comes first though.