Japan

So many things to do in so little time.

Perfect beginning for our voyage. 

The MV Explorer arrived on Monday February 16^th to Yokohama, in the northeast of Japan. From the port we took a bus to the train station; we were a group of seven SAS students and a Japanese friend, Ryo. The bus turned off the engine every time we were waiting at a streetlight, apparently it saves a lot of energy. I am glad we were with Ryo because taking the train from Yokohama to Tokyo was not easy. In Tokyo, we got off the train and walked to our hostel to leave our bags. Then we went to a round Sushi place for lunch and we spent less than thousand Yen per person (less than 10USD) and a couple of blocks away was the Senso-ji temple, which was very nice at day and at night. There were a lot of shops and we had green tea ice cream. We walked around for a while, and then took the train to Shibuya. Right outside of the station is the famous Shibuya intersection. The streets are completely crowded with tall buildings, lots of screens, and advertising of many colors. We wanted to go to a Karaoke so our Japanese friend took us to Karaoke Kan. We sang for half an hour and tried Sake. On our way back to the hostel, at Shibuya station, we ate some really good green tea pancakes with soybean powder filling. Our hostel had technological toilets with lots of buttons, the seats are warm, and some of them play music. The best thing is that they have a sink on top of it so the water we use to wash our hands is then reused to fill up the tank of the toilet. I love Japanese mentality in this kind of things. They think of everything and it is for the best in many aspects. 

Tokyo

Senso-ji Temple- Tokyo

Shibuya Intersection- Tokyo

The next day we woke up at 5am to go to the fish market. We took the train to Tsujiki and walked through the market for hours. Around 9am we had fresh fish for breakfast: tuna, salmon, rice, and an omelet. We also tried sea urchin, which was good, very tender, and more expensive. Then we went to the Tokyo tower, but we did not go up. A few blocks away there was a temple that was open because there was a ceremony, so we watched for a while. And then we went to the Imperial Palace, but we could not go inside because it was necessary to make reservations in advance. Some of the guys went back to Yokohama and Gabi, Isa and I went back to the hostel. We used the computer at the hostel to book the hostels for Hiroshima and Kyoto. At night we took the train from Asakusabachi station to Hinjuku, another very colorful neighborhood. We had dinner and crepes, and we went back to Shibuya train station just to buy more green tea pancakes. 

Taking the train or subway is not hard. We soon learned the name of a lot of stations and knew how to get to many places. Even when someone buys the wrong ticket, it is super easy to go to the security guy, show him them ticket, and pay the missing amount. Barely anyone speaks English, but they are very nice and willing to help at any time.

Beautiful Hakone with lots of snow

Hakone

On day 3, February 28^th we moved a lot from place to place. We left the hostel at 7am and headed to Hakone. To get there we took train, bullet train, slow train, cable car, and bus, a total of 7 trips to get to Owakudani station. We had pancakes and hot milk tea from the vending machines for breakfast. At Owakudani the view was beautiful and it was snowing a lot. The mountains looked very pretty. We hiked for a while, ate hard-boiled eggs with black crust, and black vanilla ice cream. Then we headed back to the train station by bus, and took the bullet train to Hiroshima. At Hiroshima we took the Tram (electrical buses system) and we went to the hostel. The hostel had the typical Japanese style “beds” which are mattresses we set up on the tatami floor and were very comfortable. We went out to eat Okonomiyaki, or “Japanese pizza.” It was made with a thin crepe, cabbage, noodles, an egg, and topped with onions. It was Y980 (about $8.5USD) per person, the most expensive meal so far, but when we were going to pay the waitress, a guy that was sitting next to us said he would pay for our meal. He insisted and he did, even though he did not speak any English nor was trying to talk to us. 

Miyajima Island. Floating Torii Gate.

The next day we also woke up early, took the tram to the Ferry station and went to Miyajima Island. It was all really fast, we were almost running through all the stations, and at the island we walked fast to the floating Tori Gate and went back to take the ferry to go to the train station. The island is very pretty; it has a lot of deers and shops. Then we went to the Peace Park and entered the Peace Museum, which is very overwhelming; we saw the A-bomb dome, and went to the station to take the train to Kyoto.

Fushimi Inari- Kyoto

At Kyoto’s train station we met Andela, who had been with us in Tokyo, and went together to our hostel. We had Okonomiyaki again but it was different, made out of potatoes. The next day we went first to the Kinkakuji Temple, or Golden Pavillion (¥400). It was snowing when we left the hostel and raining all morning. The temple was very pretty, it is next to a lake, and the place is full of trees. Even though it was raining we walked around, had some green tea Kit Kats, some triangle rice things made with tea and filled with cinnamon, and headed back to the bus station. We went to the Philosophers Path and started with the Ginkakuji Temple, the Silver Pavillion (¥500). This one has a lake too and lots of vegetation. Then we walked along the path and saw more small temples and shrines. We took the bus again to the train station and we ended up in a very small restaurant with only one table for four people sitting down in the tatami floor. Then we took the train to Fujimi Inari. It had stopped raining and it was around 4pm. There was no entrance fee and the entrance had big pillars. Then the orange shrines path start. There are more than a thousand. We started hiking and the sun was going down already. After half an hour we were thinking of going back but we met the Geography professor, with his wife and three kids, and we hiked up the whole path altogether. By the time we came down, the sun had gone down it was very scary. The place does not have lights and is ancient with lots of wood and rock shrines and wolfs statues. We headed back to the hostel and on our way there we went to a sushi restaurant, where we ate lots of Temaki.  

Bamboo Forest- Kyoto

On Saturday, the last day, we went to the Bamboo forest in the morning. We traveled by train and when we got there we walked for about two hours. It was snowing a lot although we did not notice it until we got out of the forest because it is thick. It was also very windy and the bamboo made beautiful noises. It was a very peaceful morning. Finally, we headed back to Tokyo station, and took the train to Kobe. Once there we met with a group of SAS students and we took the metro together back to the port where the MV Explorer was.

Hawaii -The Big Island

With my good friend Sasha from Michigan :)

            The ship docked in Hawaii Island, or “The Big Island.” I had a field lab for my Geohazards and Natural Disasters class. On that day, I woke up early to watch the sunrise for the first time on board. At 6:00 I was on deck 6 waiting for the sun to rise up and for the ship to pull into Hawaii. There were a lot of students, faculty and LLL, and we saw a lot of little whales and dolphins jumping around. Then we went to eat breakfast and then we did the immigration process, which was not bad at all. Everyone got ready to debark and I got ready to go to classroom 10 where the class met and we waited there for the bus to come pick us up. After a 40-minute ride we arrived to the Volcanoes National Park, where Kilauea volcano is. Kilauea is the most active volcano on Earth.

We started our tour on the Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory. One of the guides was there when the big volcano eruption occurred in 1959, so he told us about it. The other guide showed us the room where they monitor the volcano, with a lot of seismic and heat detectors, and radars, all monitored in screens in a big room. This observatory is located in the caldera, not too far away from the Haleumauma crater.

The view was spectacular. The caldera and the crater are huge, and there was a lot of volcanic gas rising up from the crater, although the smell was not strong. Afterwards, we went to Iki Lava lake, which formed after the 1959 volcanic eruption. We did a three-hour hike and we started on top of a mountain and descended until we got to the lake. Then we walked throughout all the lake for more than an hour. The lake is basically cold lava, and it looks like solid dark rock but it actually is more like glass. For example, I sat down on the ground and when I touched the rock it hurt, and sometimes while we were walking we would break some big rocks into small pieces. Every time we stepped on these rocks it sounded like breaking class.

One side of the volcano is wet rainforest and the other one is desert. This is because water evaporates and goes away from the volcano when it reaches a certain point, and also this water vapor is contaminated with sulfur, thus creating acid rain which is not good for vegetation or animals. Interesting fact: In that same lake Neil Armstrong and more astronauts trained before going to the moon. The surface of the lake is the same as the surface on Mars, the Moon, and the deep ocean.

Then we hiked up the forest to get to the bus and we went to eat Thai food on our way back to the ship. The next morning the ship docked in Oahu Island, but it was just a refueling stop so we did not get off the ship. Hawaii was a good experience, although too short. It was great to visit something different than beaches.

Eco Lips Balm 

International Students

Shipboard Life

Before coming, I thought I was going to be the only Colombian citizen; but we are three. We are 629 students from all around the world, and 84 of us are international students, from 46 different countries, the highest number of international students for any Semester at Sea voyage! That is exciting. Traveling with us there are also 40 faculty members, 30 staff members, 42 Lifelong Learners, and 84 family members.

http://www.semesteratsea.org/2015/01/21/spring-2015-by-the-numbers/

http://www.semesteratsea.org/2015/01/19/a-students-perspective-international-student-orientation/

 

My schedule is not bad at all. I have one class on A days and three classes on B days. I can't decide which is my favorite class. Every single class I learn new things and get to know better the other students. The lens course, Global Environmental Challenges has three professors and 73 students. Environmental challenges are viewed from the perspectives of a Biologist, an Economist, and a Political Science professor. At first I thought there were very few students interested in the Environment, but we started a club and it seems like we are going to be able to create a little community of students concerned about sustainability on board and who want to learn how to have a positive impact on the environment; we call it SEAS: Sustainability and Environmental Awareness Society.

Every night there are seminars, and professors from all areas talk about different topics such as astronomy, oceanography, videography, etc. Before every port, we will have cultural nights, where we learn a little bit about the history, economy, music, religion, and many other things of the country we will visit next. There are also movies and documentaries going on on the rooms' TVs and sometimes in classrooms, and several clubs all day long every single day. Some of my favorites are the 7 minute work out, Salsa dance, service club, and of course SEAS. We have a church service on Sundays.

The ship has been rocking a lot lately. Since we left Hawaii we have been avoiding a storm in the north, so traveled west and now we are going north, instead of traveling diagonally. Therefore, the ship was speeding up, the waves have been up to six meters high and sometimes things can get crazy. Sometimes it feels like someone is pushing me down to the floor and sometimes I feel like flying, and often things start flying around in my room at night. We have had five time changes that give us one more hour of sleep every time, which is great, although every time we change time zone, the next day everyone is tired one hour earlier. On January 18^th we had an experience very few people have had. We crossed the International Date Line so on the 18^th at midnight we change our calendars to January 20^th instead of January 19^th. January 19^th basically did not exist for us.

            I enjoy being outside in deck 6 or deck 7, just sitting there, watching the waves on the ocean and enjoying the sun. The weather has been beautiful. On deck 7 there is a small pool, a small court, an outside gym, a snack bar, and a ping pong table. I brought my racket and several balls, but I have only played a couple of times with some kids, family members of faculty, staff, or lifelong learners. But there are always a lot of students that want to play, and they run a small tournament. I am getting excited for the Sea Olympics and I will have to practice before playing that. Go Bering Sea!

Lonely Planet and Forbes travel guides can be used for two-hour periods to plan the trips, so we have been using them a lot for Japan, but we have not made many decisions yet. Many people are going to Tokyo the first day; we will stay at a hostel and see how everything goes. Also, since when we come back from Japan we only have two class days until we get to China, we are also figuring out what to do there. We already know where we want to go and my dad has been helping us a lot because the only resource here, besides the book guides, are email and Wikipedia.

             

Goodbye San Diego

To reach a port we must set sail; to reach a dream we must set goals.

In a few hours I will set sail. I am in San Diego and I will say goodbye to everyone at 9:45am, right before I take the bus to Ensenada, México, to embark the MV Explorer. After I checked in at the hotel earlier today and I got the tags for my bags, I could find out who my roommate is going to be but I have not met her yet. We are very excited to meet each other tomorrow. After the check-in process on the ship we will have some free time to get settled, we will all participate in a Lifeboat Drill, and at 1950 we will have an Opening Ceremony.

I was in Washington D.C. because I needed to get one more visa. In 2014 I got six (6) visas for; Japan, China, India, South Africa, Morocco, and United Kingdom; and I still needed the Namibian one, so I went personally to DC and in less than three hours the embassy called me to tell me that my visa was ready to be picked up. The other two visas Colombian citizens need to get are Viet Nam and Myanmar, but I will get them upon arrival to the country.

I am (and know most of the people are) extremely excited about spending 112 days without Internet connection, (somewhat) disconnected from all what we already know. In other words I would say this is the best way to be connected with the present, with what we are living and what we are learning; in a whole, the world as we are going to uncover. This is the time when we will be focused on what is going on around us, not on the other side of the screen; when all we hear are present time voices and not ringtones, beeps or low battery noises; and when from the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep, you can delight with the sounds of nature and the beautiful sight of the ocean.

As I just said, I am glad we won't have much Internet access but I can keep posting stories here on my blog and hopefully you will like them. See you soon, I will be exploring around, adventuring myself to new things and enhancing my knowledge through several different experiences. The Earth needs us to be better citizens of the world and I am hoping to find some tips and share with you how we can altogether create a better world.