July 6th & 7th
On the 6th we had a day at sea, so besides classes not much was accomplished. I do not understand why I get so extra sleepy in Global studies it is so extra weird. I go to breakfast and am wide awake then in global studies comes an I CAN NOT keep my eyes open. I had dinner with my extended family as well. An extended family is the “family” you have on board. You are chosen by a family and basically they comfort you and are there for you to speak with whenever you may need them. Shaun who is an assistant student dean is my “daddy” his wife Kelly is my “mommy” and her mom phyllis is my “grannie” or nana as she prefers and I have two “sisters” Amiah and Aubrey. This family is actually African American so I am happy to be a part of it. Shaun actually sailed on a previous voyage so he understands the struggles a as well.
On the 7th we got of the boat for Croatia. This is the BEST country we have been at by far. This country is FULL of beautiful beaches and I hardly saw any pollution. I had a Semester At Sea Trip called City Orientation, Churches, Maritime Museum and Aquarium. This trip was nice we basically took the coach bus to the city walls, which was put into place to protect the city when it was at war. If you stand at the top of the walls you can literally see the whole city and even more. All of the houses in the city have the same beautiful red roof so the view is spectacular. After the tour we all came back to the boat and walked around the city trying to get a feel for it. At about 9pm half of the entire city went to a club called EASTWEST. I can honestly say this may have been the most beautiful club I have been too. It surpassed what I felt about LOVE In DC. When you walked in it was completely white and you walked into a restaurant lounge area but everything was basically hoisted to be outside then when you walked through they had a red/orange theme room and a bluish/purple room, it was just something you have to see for yourself, as you continued to walk through you came to the private beach with cabanas. We all had a great time on the beach and it was just amazing on how much these countries pride their appearance. A few of us decided to go jump in the water just for the fun of it and it was beyond warm. Further down on the rock a few people also went topless because it was a nude private beach :-)…..
That night was just a perfect first night because we were all together having fun and it just proved that as my mom always points out times have changed. The music was diverse the people partying together was diverse and everyone was happy being together in a foreign country I am so willing and ready to experience the next 40+ days that we have left.
July 8th
Today I finally slept in, oh how good that felt!!!! When ii say my body is drained I am drained especially since we had not got in from the night before until 4am and I did not go to bed till 7am. A big group of us decided to go to the island of Lopud. Never ever did I imagine that I would be island hopping. When we arrived to the island we saw plenty of familiar faces and they told us of a beautiful beach on the opposite side of the island. We trekked and trekked and trekked and about 45 minutes and we were finally there, never was I so happier to see a beach! This beach was EXTRA salty and the waves were extremely strong it definitely pushed me over multiple times. We chilled on the beach until it was basically time to just leave to make a quick stop for some Croatian food even though we only ended up getting pizza and to make the last shuttle back to the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. I do not know how the rest of you feel but after swallowing so much salt it made me beyond sleepy. The group of about 40 SAS’ers were on the shuttle back and we made it back around 9pm and the majority of my group wanted to party but I decided to stay behind and do my homework so that in Greece I will not have to do any homework and I can keep up on my blog! Hehehe
July 9th
Today at 8am (another reason I decided to skip the party last night) I had a SAS trip to the children’s orphanage of Dubrovnik and hospital. This trip was nice but the orphanage only had 13 children which was a bittersweet thing. Bitter because the trip had about 30 students so for a good majority of time most of us just sat around and talked and drew because we did not want to overwhelm the children by having 5 adults towering over them especially when we had complete language barriers. The sweet part of the deal, was that this was an orphanage for children who are not treated correctly by their parents, so this shows that the number of reported abused children in the city was extra low because last year at this time is was an approximate 70 children. After the orphanage we went to the hospital and it was the same deal except there were only 9 children. Once again a bittersweet trip.
When we got back to the boat I decided to take a nap but that idea was ruined because NONE of my friends believe in taking naps while in port so Courtney and I decided to go to old town to go shopping. She and I had never hung out one on one, so this was really nice to hang out with someone new. We just got lost in the markets and even found a bar with free internet connection if you bought anything! The markets in old city are so relaxing, they way of life in these countries is all together relaxed. It is amazing how one in these countries I am just relaxed and feel as If I have no worries in the world. I hardly see anyone on their blackberries, I hardly see anyone arguing in the streets. People here are just so into the moment. When we got tired we eventually just went back to the boat and because majority of everyone was on the beach I got my nap until dinner. Yay!!!
Later on that night a group of about 20 of us decided to party it up again but only 8 of us went and got dinner. This was the best dinner I got from all of the restaurants I have been to. Everyone had something different I got a caprese salad (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and a basil sauce.) This was literally the best caprese salad I have had even better then papa razzi. For my dinner I had a quarto formagi (I know I spelled that wrong) pizza. If you know me you know I love my cheese. After dinner there was a festival show in the town center of the old city and even though it wasn’t in our language we still enkoyed the opera and action scenes. When that got old to us we went to SkyBar and I had some liquor that was 140 proof, but it take like licorice so it was weird but even an hour left with only an amaretto sour I didn’t feel anything so maybe that was a good thing. As we had decided to leave we ran into a guy named Dahani Jones, hopefully I spelled his name correctly. We met him at EASTWEST the first day and did not think we would ever happen to see him again in a country like Croatia He was an NFL player and now he has his own television show on the travel channel, and he bought a bottle of Jagermeister for us to enjoy. We had multiple shots then decided to go because we were all beyond tired. I can say this was one of the best nights so far.
July 10th
I slept in today but not for much because by 11am I was off to SkyBar to get on the free internet, so if you have facebook make sure to check out my pictures. I took care of bank business and school things, having no internet lets me know how much I appreciate having it at my leisure at home and at school. After about three hours too many on the internet Tia and I decided to do the ONE thing Semester At Sea said don’t do. CLIFF JUMP! It was the greatest. I hate roller coasters especially how they feel when going down. But I was the first to go and TIa actually got me on video I will post it in Greece. It was so exhilarating. After Tia and I jumped we waited for nexus to jump and to our surprise Dhani was there and he winded up jumping too with the travel channel camera following him. They got Tia and Nexus not too sure if they got me as well. The water felt marvelous after I hit it from the 35 foot cliff. I would definitely do it again under the right circumstances. After that we came back to the ship so we would not be a part of the late comer running like the “dickens” to the ship. We made it back only 30mins before 6 which to me was actually pushing it. At 5:58 I went to the deck and a bunch of us yelled and screamed for the late comers to run and make it before they got dock time. This was a nearly perfect trip and I will definitely come back to Croatia, it is a must to do on my list.
July 11th
It is a sea day, nothing too exciting. Today I didn’t do much but tomorrow is another sea day BUT it is also Sea Olympics. I am beyond ready for it too. Nothing starts until 12pm and no classes all day oh the life! I love it love it love it
P.S. tomorrow i will tell you what events im doing. Im ooh sooo excited!!!!
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