360º

I've traveled completely around the world, completing a journey of a lifetime that i never would have dreamed possible without semester at sea. one chapter of my life has closed and another is about to begin. in which direction it will go, only time will tell. work, grad school, who knows. i just cant wait till i can reunite with everyone and travel around the world again. till then, i'll dream of what life will bring me here in good ol' pittsburgh.

almost complete

its 3pm and i'm resting in the hotel. the ship arrived this morning in San Diego around 6:30am and we docked by 7:30am. i dont have the words to explain how good it feels to be back in the united states. the ship was finally cleared around 10:15am. thats when the 1st 4 people were allowed to get off the ship. Then the Aegean Sea got off at 10:20am. It was almost 11am before the 2nd group was cleared to get off but after that things went pretty smoothly. i was the in the 5th group to get off which was around noon. rumor had it that customs took at least a half hour to go through. now let me tell you about customs: we walked down the ramp and handed customs our customs card. that was it. nothing else. no checking of passports ~ not even for those who weren't US residents. just walked down the ramp and handed what i even believe were just cops our customs card. meanwhile we thought we had to find our luggage and go through customs like you do at the airport. none of that necessary. we werent suppose to bring off food. so of course i got rid of the food that i had left in the cabin. i could have easily packed it and brought it with. stupid american customs. well its time for a nap. i havent slept in days. i will update this again soon as i am staying here for a few nights and the internet is free.

traveling around the world at 20mph

well tomorrow is my last day in japan. i plan on going to the zoo and maybe a maritime museum (for a class). i`m so glad that Japan was our last stop because traveling has gotten to be very exhausting but I am very glad that we stopped in Japan. In the 4 days that I`ve spent here I`ve been around Kobe, gone to a baseball game in Osaka, spent the day in Kyoto, went to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Museum and ended up at a baseball game. Baseball in Japan is like no other baseball game I`ve ever been. It is simply amazing. What else have I done ~ learned how to use the bus system, the subway system, and the JR system; I`ve mastered using a Japanese keyboard for the computer; and I`ve learned that even the people who claim they dont know english, still know enough to help you out and get you where you need to be. These people are so wonderful and the kids are all so respectful. I really think that people everywhere in the world should take a lesson or two from them.
Traveling around the world at 20mph has been the perfect speed. Back in December and January, I thought the day I left Pittsburgh for the Bahamas would never arrive, but finally it did. I`ve made some of the greatest friends I`ve ever had and have enjoyed just about every moment. The time that passed along on this trip has gone at just the right speed. Now I was feeling exhausted from all my traveling from country to country to country and it did feel like things were moving to fast but now that I look back on it, it was all the right speed. As of tomorrow there are only 2 weeks left. It`s going to be an interesting 2 weeks with classes and finals, a day in Hawaii, the Ambassador`s Ball, convocation, and packing, but I`m looking forward to every moment of it and I know that time will past not too slowly and not too quickly but just right, at 20mph while sailing around the world.
Okay, now its nice to walk back to the subway system on the non-scary streets of Kobe to get the subway back to the Portliner which will lead us back to the ship which I havent seen since 6am this morning. Good Night everyone.

Japan

I`m currently in Japan trying to master using a Japanese keyboard. its quite complicated I must say because none ofthe keys are inthe same places and if you hit the wront button then suddenly i:m typing Japanese. so excuse any errors i might have.
Well coming into Japan after my not so wonderful adventures in China, I didnt really have any expectations or desire to really travel anymore. But now that I:m off the ship and wondering around, I truely am enjoying myself. Japan is like no other country I:ve been to so far. Everyone is helpful and no one is trying to sell stuff to me because I speak English. It is a wonderful feeling. I`ve never felt so welcome anywhere before, not even back home. I love it here. More people speak english that we were lead on to believe which is nice and all the signs are in english. Tonight I:m going to try to go to a baseball game because I:ve heard they are something not to miss.
Alright well more to come later. I`ve got to go enjoy my last few days of travel before I return home in 2.5 weeks.

Qingdao

just a quick one...
i'm currently at the apple store using the internet on their display computers because its the only place where we found someone who spoke english and she said we could use their internet. craziness.

Beijing

"He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man." ~ Mao Zedong

Well I climbed the Great Wall today, does that mean I'm now a true man. It was incredible in so many ways. Incredibly windy. Incredibly steep. Incredibly beautiful. Incredbily breaktaking. I must give credit to all those people who built that wall because it truely is magnificent. I think going in April is the perfect time to go ~ its not too hot and its not overly crowded. We could see a part of the wall where it was overly crowded but that where the cable car and tramride took everyone who didnt want to hike it. We decided to 'ascend by foot' as the sign send and I'd have to say that was a much better idea.

We also checked out Tienanmen Square which was exactly that a square. The Mausoleum and 2 museums surrounding it were all closed for renovations and the Great Hall of People had already closed for the day when we got there. Tomorrow we are going to check out the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven and perhaps the Chinese Natural History Museum. And then take an overnight train to Qingdao where we will meet the ship.

I definitely like this place, although the language barrier is a bit of a constraint. The few who know english are constantly trying to sell you something. There have been a couple that have been helpful but not too many. I'll update more later.

Hong Kong

Right now I'm sitting at an internet cafe in Hong Kong. I spent the day in Disneyland Hong Kong which was an opportunity I could not pass up. I added some new blogs that I added in where they should be so you may want to go through everything again. It's the India blogs that I added. Okay well I'm trying to figure out my plans for Beijing tomorrow!