A rainy day in paradise...

...and other random thoughts...


I am currently in the beautiful Bahamas...and it is raining! At least I got a good 30 minutes of tanning in before the clouds rolled in:) Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day but even the storm clouds over the ocean are breathtakingly beautiful. I arrived on the on the islands yesterday with my parents and sister after spending a night en route in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We are staying on Nassau in a beautiful beach condo on a very quiet part of the island. The place is absolutely amazing, probably the most beautiful place I have ever stayed at. All the buildings are very colonial and built with exquisite detail and color. I wish I could post pictures but I have been experiencing some technical difficulties uploading my photos (sorry- when it comes to computers and cameras I am illiterate). If nothing else, I'll have lots and lots of great pictures to show you all when I get home.


Next to our condo there is an adorable adventure dive and sport shop that was built by Universal Studios as a movie set or something. They run snorkeling, scuba, and shark cage adventure diving trips all day. My dad and sister went out on these motorized submarine scuba scooter thingys (I don't think that is the technical term for them) that looked really cool. The ocean here is sooo blue compared to San Diego. The weather is soo nice it is easy to forget that it is only the middle of January.


Already sick before sea...

So I packed an entire case of sea sickness remedies in preparation for the inevitable. The pills, the drops, the candies, the patch, and peptobismol just in case...I got it all. I mean, living on a boat for 100 days shouldn't be taken lightly for someone who feels queasy just sitting in a parked car. I am completely and totally ready for it, bring it on! Yet somehow despite all my preparations I managed to get sick before even boarding the boat! True story... I have spent the last day and a half sicker than a dog in bed on paradise island. I'll spare you the details but lets just say it wasn't pleasant. It was probably the sickest I have been in quite a while. Don't worry, I am feeling 95% better now and am just glad I don't have to get on a boat in such a condition. So I am thinking this is either a bad omen of sickness to come, or my body taking on a little pre-seasickness so that I won't get it later. Whether or not it was food poisoning, or a bad reaction to my yellow fever shot, or just another example of the curse of Amber always getting sick while on vacation we will never know... The important thing is that it is over with and I have high hopes for smooth sailing ahead:)

My thoughts on packing light...

If there were ever two words that do not go together in my vocabulary it would be the words "packing" and "light." Anyone who has ever traveled with me ever knows that my inablility to pack light is one of my fatal flaws. I am going to be living on a boat and going to school on a boat and hanging out on a boat and traveling in 11 countries from a boat for three and a half months. That translates into a lot of books, a lot of clothes, a lot of toiletries, a lot of stuff. It is just A LOT to pack for! All everyone keeps telling me is that I should pack really light. But I mean, you don't want to be stuck on a boat when you are on the other side of the world wishing that you had brought that other pair of shoes! My study abroad advisor at school said that I should lay out everything I think that I absolutely will need while abroad and than put half of it back. Which I did...and than I put it all back again. I'm sorry, I just can't do, I can't pack light. I am missing that gene. I am bringing a lot of stuff and that is the end of it. As for all you other SASers out there who are packing light...good for you...you'll look at lot less goofy dragging your bags on the boat...but I'll be the one with everything thing I need that you come crying to when you run out of clean clothes between laundry days:)

Coming back a different person...

Everyone keeps telling me that I won't be walking off the boat in April the same person that I am today. That life will never be the same after my Semester at Sea. I've heard that when you leave the shell you live in and go out and see how the rest of the world lives, it changes you. They say you will be the same person inside, but your perspective on life changes. This is a scary and exciting thought. I have been reading about and mentally preparing myself for the shock that is ahead. I am taking ecology, art, literature, and global studies classes that all emphasize a global theme and are catered specifically to the countries we are visiting. We are going to many third world impoverished countries, countries with different values, countries of radically different cultures, and countries of completely differing religions...places I could probably never even imagine. I have never been to any of the countries I am heading to and I certainly don't speak any of the languages. (I knew I should have paid more attention in Spanish class) I am literally sailing into the unknown... all I know is that it is going to be one amazing and overwhelming experience after the other. So here's to change... and to new ideas... and to new perspectives... and new friends... and new experiences. Good-bye old Amber and hello world traveler!

So tomorrow is actually the BIG day. It hasn't really hit me yet that I will actually be leaving my family, getting on a big boat, and sailing away. Truth be told, I am pretty nervous. I don't even know who my roommate is yet. The students are from schools all over the country and I am sure that everyone else is feeling just as overwhelmed and anxious about this experience as I am. Afterall, we are all in the same boat (literally - haha I'm so funny). It kind of feels like I'm going off to college for the first time all over again. Sooo much preparation has gone into this trip, I can't believe that it is actually happening!