SEA OLYMPICS!!!!!

Hi Everyone!!

I am sitting on deck working on a paper (EWWW) watching a beautiful sunset after a very busy day here on the MV Explorer. Today was the Sea Olympics!! Every deck on board is split into Seas. So I was on the Yellow Sea and everyone competed in a bunch of different competitions throughout the day. Obviously we are on a ship so we had to be a little creative with the events we were allowed to do. Today I competed in dodgeball, musical chairs, and the lip synch competition. In dodgeball we got out butts kicked by the faculty!! And unfortunately one of my professors tore his achilles tendon during the game!! He had a minor collision with one of the guys on my team (who is also in my class) and he stepped wrong and completely tore it. Now the poor guy is on crutches for the rest of the voyage and he has to get surgery when he gets back home! So of course when I saw him coming out of the clinic I kindly offered to push back the due date of our paper so he can recover, but unfortunately he says he feels up to the challenge of grading….GREAT!! Luckily he is in good spirits!!

The highlight of my day was the lip synch competition. There were six of us competing with a mash up of songs. But basically the beginning started off with the first part of Don't Stop Believing and me and another kid did a beautiful "duet". It actually turned out really funny and the crowd loved it. My camera died just as we were about the start, but I am trying to track it down from someone else. As soon as I get it I will try to post it here!! 

For now I will just leave you with a beautiful picture of the sunset I took. We now have two more days of classes and then will arrive in Antayla, Turkey on July 3rd. So we will be celebrating the 4th in Turkey! The crew usually puts on a big BBQ with burgers, dogs, and ribs!!! This will be a GREAT change from the pasta and potatoes we eat everyday!! I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe 4th of July!!!   Love, Kelly

   

A Smile is the Same is Every Language

Ok so I know this title is completely corney and it has been ever since you seen the poster with this quote in your second grade classroom, but it is true. I had the unique opportunity to volunteer at the Sidu Moumen Cultural Center in Casablanca. This is a youth center that was created for the children who live in the slums of Casablanca. These kids have no running water, electricity, and they live in the most poverty stricken areas of Morocco. The founder of the center gave us a driving tour of the slums and then we went to the center. We painted two of their portable classrooms and picked up garbage around the building. It was amazing because the kids in the center were working beside us throughout the day. The center serves kids aged 4-18. The center offers music, art, sewing, and English classes. It also has a fitness and cooking class for the mothers of the children that attend the center. During our tour of the center I saw a ton of pictures of U.S. flags and newspaper articles with titles including Chicago. I learned that this center is in a Sister City program with Chicago. Mayor Richard Daley has done a lot of work for the center and there were pictures of him and other Chicago officials throughout the center. I felt very proud to tell the president that I was from that wonderful city.

Now back to the kids. The kids were working alongside us the entire day and we had a ton of fun with them. Most of the older kids spoke English, but many of the younger kids only spoke French and Arabic. When I was painting the outside of the classroom a little boy about 7 years old was painting next to me. I smiled and said hello in Arabic and after that he become my shadow for the day. I asked one of the older kids his name and it is Enmie. Enmie followed me around all day helping me pick up trash, holding open the trash bag, and sitting next to me when I was eating lunch. Enmie did not speak any English and I obviously do not speak French or Arabic, but we were still able to communicate through facial expressions and hand gestures. It was an AMAZING experiences and I am so glad to have spend time with all of the kids. It breaks my heart that they live in the conditions that they do, but I hope the little I did will help Enmie and all of the kids at the cultural center.

Morocco: Camels, Delicious Food, and HOT WEATHER!!

We made it to MOROCCO!!!! We have been in Morocco for 3 days and we leave tomorrow eventing around 7pm. I have had an amazing time here! Things are incedibly different from home, but it has been a great experience,

When we were pulling into Morocco on Sunday morning my roommate Julia and I decided to get up at 6am to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful. We decided that we wanted to do that for every port…..hopefully I'll still be excited about getting up so early! Later that morning I went on a Field Lab. A Field Lab is a required excursion planned by the professor of one of the classes you take. Each class I take has one Field Lab throughout the voyage. So Sunday I got on a bus with my classmates and professor and headed off the Rabat. Rabat is a city about an hour outside of Casablanca. When we got to Rabat we listened to a professor talk about urbanization in different Moroccan cities. After his lecture the professor took us on a tour of the city! That was a lot of fun because we got to see many of the major landmarks. He also took us to this restaurant that used to be a house. The food was amazing!!! After that we came back to Casablanca and I went out to explore the city for about an hour with my roommate.

The next morning I got up with a big group of people and took a train to Marrakech. This city is a 3 hour train ride south of Casablanca and it is HOT. When we stepped off the train at noon it was 104 degrees outside!! My big group broke into a few smaller groups to make it easier to travel in and then we went and found our Riad. This place was gorgeous. It was located on a side street off of the giant central square. The square is lined with markets and restaurants and so are all the side streets. We were able to drop off our stuff and then we ran to meet out camel guy,

Our camel guy drove us about 45 minutes outside of the city to this desert area with only a few huts. There were a group of 10 of us so we each got a camel. The guides took us on a camel trek for about an hour and 45 minutes and then we stopped at one of the huts to have tea. Afterwards we trekked back to where we started. It was so AWESOME to ride the camels!!! It was very hot, but they gave us this cover to wear to protect us from the sun.

For the rest of the evening we walked around the square and went out to eat. Once the sun went down the square was absolutley mobbed with people. I kid you not there had to be about 30,000 people there. We decided to head back to the Riad for the night. The next morning we finished up shopping and then we headed back on the train to Casablanca.

These past few days have been incredible and I still have one more day in Morocco to go. Tomorrow I will be gone all day on a service visit. I am going to a neighborhood to do some charity work. 

Got to give a shout out to my parents who videotaped the Blackhawks receiving the Stanley Cup last night!!! Go Hawks!! Even from thousands of miles away I'm still proud of my 2013 Stanley Cup Champs!!!! 

Talk to you all soon,

Kelly

Fwd: Life at Sea

Hi everyone! I am starting to get into a nice routine here on the MV Explorer. I am taking three classes so I am pretty busy throughout the day. I am usually getting up with my roommate around 7:15am every morning and we go to breakfast and then to work out. The cardio room on the ship is SUPER small so everyone has to go sign up for the equipment the night before around 5pm. You are only allowed to stay on a machine for 30 minutes, but this works out for me because I have a class at 9:20am. After class I usually hang out on deck for a little bit and then I go down to read with my reading buddy at 11am. There are several kids of faculty members on board so I signed up to do a bunch of activities with them. My reading buddy is named Hannah and she is going into Kindergarten in the fall.

After reading with Hannah I grab some lunch and then I go to class at 12:30pm. After class i will usually just do homework in one of the lounges and then I have my third class at 3:20.

My day after that is usually up in the air. My roommate Julia and I have been spending a lot of time together. So we will either do some studying or do one of the activities the ship offers. Within the next few days we have meetings about being safe in Morocco and the other countries we are traveling to.

We will be docked in Morocco for 4 days and I am busy all 4 of these days. The first day I will be going on a Field Lab with one of my classes. Every class has one Field Lab in one of the countries, so my class will be going to a lecture and to get a tour of the city of Rabat. The next day I am jumping on a train with a few other people from the ship to go to Marrakech to stay in a hostel for the night and ride a camel. I will travel back to the ship on the 3rd day and on the 4th day I am going on a service visit. We are going to a local village to do some gardening and painting work. I am really looking forward to this visit because it gives me a chance to interact with the locals and hopefully hang out with some of the kids too!!!

Well that is all for now. I will report back after Morocco with a lot of stories for you!!

Love,
Kelly

Fwd: I Made It!!

Begin forwarded message:

Well everyone I made it to the ship! It has been a crazy past few days, but it has been very exciting.

I got into London on Sunday at 10am (London time). I got on the bus to my hotel and then quickly discovered I was on the wrong bus. So I got a nice tour of the hotels around Heathrow Airport. I rode the bus back to the airport and then got on the right bus. I made it to the hotel and met the three girls I was staying with. We dropped off our stuff and headed straight to the Tube (subway) station. We took the Tube to Westminster!! We saw Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and the London Eye. There was a ton of walking around and we had basically not slept for 24 hours so we crashed as soon as we got back to the hotel.

The next morning we boarded buses to go to the ship. We got there around 2:30pm. It was really awesome to meet all of the people aboard. My roommate is from Virginia and she is super cool. So the past few days have basically been meeting people and going through orientation meetings.

We found out yesterday that there is going to be a change in our itinerary. We are skipping Istanbul, Turkey because there have recently been a lot of violent protests there and Semester at Sea does not feel like it is a safe environment. So we will be going to Crete, Greece and Kusadasi, Turkey. So these new ports should be very exciting!!

Our first port of call is Morocco on June 23rd. I have a Field Lab (trip with my professor) on the first day and the next two days I will be traveling with a group of other students to Marrakech to ride a camel!!!! And then I will be doing a service visit on the last day! I will try to post some pictures soon!!!

Talk to you soon,
Kelly

Counting Down the Days!!!!

Well it is almost here! I leave in 5 days for London and the ship leaves in 6 days. If you have talked to me at all in the past 10 years I am sure you have heard me talk about Semester at Sea. This has been one of my biggest dreams and I cannot believe it is actually happening. I still have so much packing to do, but I am ready for Saturday to come so I can get on the plane. I will try to update this blog every few days to keep everyone posted on my adventures. 

Here is my basic itinerary: 

Southampton, England

Casablanca, Morocco

Antalya, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey

Athens, Greece

Livorno, Italy

Civitavecchia, Italy

Valetta, Malta

Marseille, France

Barcelona, Spain

Cadiz, Spain

Lisbon, Portugal

I cannot thank my parents enough for supporting me throughout this whole process, I could not have done this without you guys. I also want to thank all of my friends and family who have supported me and listened to my constant talk about this trip. 

My next post will be aboard the MV Explorer on my way to Morocco!!

Love,

Kelly