v i e t n a m (end of week two—hanoi and ha long bay)

I have never been to a place more ephemeral than Halong Bay. It felt like a dream the whole time we were there sailing through the water looking up at the magnificent islands surrounded by fog. It is no wonder that this place is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

After a couple days of rest (traveling the world is exhausting! 😉), my friends and I (minus Saherish and Liz who went to Cambodia) flew up to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It was much colder up north (a chilly 70° brrrr).

The French influence was heavy in the architecture and little things I noticed throughout the city. The French gradually extended their control over Vietnam (and nearby Laos and Cambodia) over a period of 350 years ending in the 1950s. There were several bilingual schools that were taught in French and English, not Vietnamese, which I thought was interesting. A lot of buildings had little balconies that felt as though we were in a small French town. There were also several French patisseries and restaurants spread throughout the city. We had fun going to a water puppet show and a cafe that had post it notes people had written and posted all over the walls called "the Note Coffee."

The second day we were in Hanoi we were picked up by our tour guide who took us to Halong Bay! After a four hour bus ride we got onto our boat for our two day cruise around the islands. They had so many activities planned for us—hiking up Ti-Top island, cave exploring, playing soccer with locals, a cooking demonstration, karaoke, and—my favourite—kayaking around the islands. We spent that night on the boat and got up the next morning for a four hour bus ride back to Hanoi!

What an action-packed, beautiful couple days we spent before flying back to Ho Chi Minh to board the ship!

Gosh I can't get over how blessed I am to be on this adventure. What an incredible twelve days in Vietnam. As we head back down the Saigon River tonight on our way to Malaysia I reflect on these experiences and just can't believe this is my life.

Pictured below: the cave we were able to explore, me kayaking, me at the note coffee, me at the top of ti-top island, and a group pic!

v i e t n a m — field program edition! (day 8)

So Semester at Sea (SAS) is awesome. While a majority of my travels have been independent travel without the planning of SAS, they do have field programs we are able to sign up for and enjoy.

(As a side note to explain a little about SAS—we also have things called field classes. Field classes are a mandatory part of each class we take and constitute 20% of our grade. We have one for each class. I have one in South Africa, Ghana, and Morocco—blog posts to come as I experience them! Field programs are optional extra excursions we can pay for and they coordinate everything for us. I had one in Vietnam, a homestay in India, an adventurous day in Mauritius, and a cooking class in Ghana for my field programs.)

So on day 8 in Vietnam, I had a field program called "As the City Wakes." We met at 0615 and went to an early morning tai chi class. We rode on a bus to local park and met with tai chi masters to have them teach us the basics. I love tai chi—if anyone knows where I can practice it in Louisville let me know! It was so fun to learn from the masters.

After tai chi, we went to have a pho breakfast. I got to know some other voyagers and lifelong learners over traditional vietnamese cuisine. I've been eating a vegetarian diet in Vietnam, so it was really cool to see the differences in the beef and chicken pho (Pho Bo and Pho Ga) versus the vegetarian pho I always order.

Then to finish off the morning we walked 30 minutes to a local market and learned more about daily life in Vietnam as the city wakes. The markets are so interesting. They are these large spaces with fabrics, food, toys, and anything you could ever want as a souvenir. It's also fun trying to communicate with the stall owners to talk about their lives in the market and how they provide for their families.

I am so thankful for this cool experience I know I wouldn't have been able to do without Semester at Sea coordinating it! Advice for other future people who may do Semester at Sea—do independent travel unless there's a field program you know you couldn't plan on your own. Field programs can be incredibly overpriced, so if you can do it on your own, do it on your own. But experiences like this (or my homestay in India or cooking class in Ghana) you know you couldn't do without incredible coordination, go through Semester at Sea.

Pictured below: me doing tai chi

v i e t n a m (week one—ho chi minh and hoi an)

What a dream of a country. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend 12 whole days exploring this incredible place. For the first week in Vietnam, I had the opportunity to get to know Ho Chi Minh City and Hoi An.

Pre-port was filled with the normal fun—language, culture, and history. I learned more about the Vietnam War than I ever have before, we learned customs around bargaining for lower prices, and we learned some basic Vietnamese—
Hello—Xin chao
Goodbye—Tam beit
Thank you—Cam on
it's too expensive—Dat qua
Excuse me/sorry—Xin loi
What we did learn, much too late, is that if you pronounce thank you as "cahm" on, rhyming with the first syllable in comedy (the wrong way) vs "cam" on, as in camera (the right way), you are telling someone to shut up rather than thank you. This provided many odd stares and awkward laughs at the end of each cab/bus/plane ride.

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Day One:
We got up early to watch the ship go up the Saigon River. It took us until around noon to pull into the port. We entered Ho Chi Minh, and our first lesson was to learn how to cross the street. If you've never seen what it's like to cross the street in Vietnam, I encourage you to google it if you want. The pedestrians never have the right of way and it's a bit of a free for all—and so incredibly fun. We walked to the post office (a beautiful yellow building) in the city center and found Book Street (a street filled with bookshops—my actual dream street). My friends and I ate dinner at a Thai restaurant (continuing the tradition of rarely eating the cuisine of the country we're in—don't worry, we've eaten a lot of pho since that first night). We finished the night by walking around the different parks and being interviewed by a Vietnamese newspaper about the coronavirus.

HCMC Day Two:
Today Meriel, Sean, and I gave did a self-guided walking tour. We found an adorable craft store (and I picked up some stickers for my water bottle), walked around the university, the reunification palace, and found a botanical garden. For lunch we ate at a Vietnamese vegetarian cult restaurant called "the Loving Hut." It was great. Right next to the restaurant was this great park. We played on the playground, worked out at the outdoor open gym, and watched some guys practice boxing. We finished the day with a $13 hour long foot massage. We love Vietnam.

HCMC/Hoi An:
On day three of our vietnamese venture, we packed up and flew to Hoi An. I adore this town. After being surrounded in the hustle of Ho Chi Minh City, this small town was a dream. We flew in the day before they celebrated the lunar new year with a lantern festival, so it was a bit crowded, but it was so lovely. We checked in to our resort hotel and went down to the pool. We sat poolside with drinks sharing our favourite moments of the trip so far and things we're looking forward to. That night we all ordered room service and watched Marvel movies.

Hoi An Day Two:
Lantern festival day!
This morning we all went to a spa for massages and facials. They were different than what I expected they would be, but definitely a memory I'll keep. We spent most of that day in the market bargaining for elephant pants and tank tops. When the average temperature is 88°, you need to make sure you've got clothes to battle the heat. Before the festival we sat outside an Irish pub and listened to live music. As the sun began to set the boats came out filled with lanterns. The river lit up with colours and traditional music—it was mesmerizing. My friend Saherish paid for us to get into a boat and travel up and down the river for a while. It felt like I was in Tangled during the scene where there are hundreds of lanterns surrounding them in the boat. After all of that beauty, I got to play soccer with some kiddos on the street—the cherry on top of a lovely day.

Hoi An Day Three:
My friend Liz had found a basket boat for all of us to do this morning. We rode with local guides around coconut island and learned more about the land and local culture of Hoi An. One man was doing tricks in his boat and dancing to Gangnam Style. We got to get into his boat and he would rock it to make us spin around—it was so fun. We ate lunch at a Banh Mi (baguette filled with veggies and assorted proteins of your choice) place Anthony Bourdain claimed was the best banh mi he ever had. The rest of the day we spent relaxing enjoying Hoi An. I could happily see myself coming back to this place.

(The next morning we flew back to Ho Chi Minh and spent the next couple days staying on/near the ship catching back up on sleep).

Pictured below: My friends (from left to right) Sean, Angie, Kendall, Saherish, Meriel, me, Liz, and Kali outside the post office in Ho Chi Minh; the boat ride at the lantern festival, me on the basket boat tour with my rice hat

j a p a n (tokyo)

For the rest of our trip (three days), we toured Tokyo! Our airbnb was so adorably tiny and traditional. I slept on a Tatami mat which is made of blonde bamboo. Since we got in so late from the bullet train, we slept in a little the first morning. We booked our flights and hotels for the extra week in Vietnam and I am sooooo excited. Since we are spending an extra week there, we will get to go to the lantern festival in a small town called Hoi An! It's all working out so wonderfully. I'm so thankful for being able to go on this adventure.

Tokyo Day One:
As we set out from our airbnb, our first stop was the teamLab borderless art museum. Wow is it the most incredible art museum I've ever been to. The art comes from projectors and moves all over the walls, floors, and ceilings. There were walls of sunflowers and forests of lamps. I jumped on a trampoline and created supernovas, laid down on a floating nest, rock climbed and made music, floated with butterflies, and watched the rain fall from thousands of LED string lights. My favourite rooms were the forest of lamps and the crystal world. The entire museum was just simply captivating and brilliant. We were there four hours and still didn't see everything. It was magical.
Afterward we went to Shibuya–the Times Square of Tokyo. Every time the crosswalk turns over 2,000 people cross the street—and we were some of them once! We ate conveyor belt sushi that comes right out to your seat. While the rest of our group went to the Robot Restaurant after sushi, Sean and I found the cutest little Irish pub. When the robot restaurant show was over, we all went to karaoke. We rented a private room and sang our hearts out. And then to finish off the night we caught the very last train back to our airbnb and tried (to no avail) to figure out the hot water.

Tokyo Day Two:
We got a bit of an early start this morning with breakfast at Happy Pancake. Imagine gigantic, fluffy pancakes covered in chocolate sauce and granola—I know, I know. Afterward we ate lunch at the Kawaii Monster Cafe. Kawaii is such a cool concept in Japan. Its a rebellion against the objectification of women by dressing cutesy and adorable. Afterward, Sean and I accompanied our good friend Meriel to look for her phone which she had left on a subway the day before. And as a testament to the kindness and politeness of the country of Japan—someone actually turned in her phone when she left it on the subway. We couldn't believe it. We spent a couple hours adventuring the subway systems of Japan and finally got her phone back—it was an awesome moment. After our adventure we went back to the airbnb to eat gummy bears and watch the Secret Life of Walter Mitty (aka my perfect evening).

Tokyo Day Three:
We got up early and rode the bullet train back to Kobe. We stopped again in Chinatown to soak up what we could and then went back to the ship!

Japan was so incredibly amazing. The culture and the people are so kind, the history is incredible, and the sushi can't be beat!

Some lessons I'm taking home:
- Taking my shoes off when I come in the house—it makes so much sense! You never lose them and it keeps your home clean.
- Wearing a mask. Now, this was much more prevalent because of the coronavirus, but I also kinda like the concept of wearing a mask when you're in close quarters with people (like on a plane or train). No, it doesn't protect you from much, but it does make you feel cleaner.
- Being quiet on the subway train. It was eerily quiet every time we got on the subway because people here just respect each other and are considerate with their voice level in public areas. My friends and I were often the loudest people in the room.
- Plans are made to be changed. I've learned not to be so strict with the plans I make in each country and that the best places you go to are usually the ones you find accidentally.

Sayonara,
Lar

Check out the video my friend Angie made of our travels in Japan! (I come in around Japan.) Just copt and paste the link to get to youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LrdU0I14AQ

Pictured below: Sean, Meriel, and me at a vegan ramen restaurant; me in the crystal world at teamLab borderless; and our group at the Kawaii Monster Cafe

j a p a n (kobe and kyoto)

What an absolutely beautiful country—I feel so blessed to have spent 5 days there. My friends and I were able to explore Kobe, Kyoto, and Tokyo over those five days and experienced so many great things.

The night before we enter each port, we have a pre-port meeting to learn some culture, history, and bits of the language. It was so so much fun. One of our professors has lived in Japan for 19 years and he had us all dancing learning how to say hello, good morning, good evening, and goodnight. For all of those curious:
Konnichiwa = hello
Ohayo (pronounced like Ohio) = good morning
Konbanwa = good evening
Oyasumi = good night
We also learned a phrase that I think is the most important thing to learn in every language—Sorry/excuse me (Sumimasen).
These pre-port meetings make me SO EXCITED to finally get into the country!

Another thing that's been so sweet has been my ship family. We are assigned to families on the ship and mine always leave me notes telling me they hope I have a good time in country and they're just so adorable I love them. I love Semester at Sea.

The first day we came into Kobe was cold and awesome. You never really realize how much you love land until you haven't seen it in twelve days. And after twelve straight days of class, we were ready for a break, too. After we finished customs and immigration (and got our first new passport stamps!), my friends and I decided to lay low and walk around the city. We got rolled ice cream (because it's never too cold for ice cream) and toured the History of Kobe museum. We learned about how since Kobe had a port it was able to grow into a prosperous city. Twelve miles later and several hours later, we made it back to the ship to meet up with our friends who had field classes.

We also spent a big chunk of our day in Chinatown. While in Chinatown, we learned we were no longer going to go to China due to the Coronavirus and instead going to Vietnam for a whole extra week! So, naturally, we ate our weight in steamed buns and lots of Chinese sweets to make up for the fact we were no longer going to visit. It was so beautiful at night. They had all of the lights strung around the buildings to celebrate Chinese New Year. Even though we won't be able to go to China, it still felt like we got our own special little corner of it.

The next morning we got up really early to take the train to Kyoto. We visited the bamboo forest, which the Ministry of Environment says is the "soundscape of Japan." It was such a serene place. I love how quiet Japan is everywhere. We also went to the Golden Pavilion. It's a gorgeous Zen temple that's over 600 years old. Afterward we hung out in the little marketplace and ate Indian food for lunch (we've formed a habit of eating food not from the country we're in). That evening we got on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to head to Tokyo! This train goes about 130mph and got us to Tokyo in just a couple hours! We got into our airbnb and are so excited for the rest of this adventure!

I loved both Kobe and Kyoto. If I were to go back to Japan, I would definitely spend more time in both of these places.

Pictured below: my group at the Bamboo Forest, my friend Sean and I on the ship by the Welcome to Kobe sign, and my group at the Golden Pavilion

what i learned in boating school is... (part 1)

Life on a ship is actually insane, and I’m absolutely in love with it. Here are some things I’ve learned in my first few weeks at sea—

• Always go to the top deck to watch the sunrise, even if the sunrise is cloudy 
• Peanut butter is a delicacy—never take it for granted
• Hawaiian pineapple is quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever tasted (especially after 8 days of pasta and potatoes at each meal)
• Talking to the crew is so special (and can get you ice in your water when ice isn't readily available!) 
• If something interests you, do it 
• Remember to take time to care for yourself—even if you feel as though you're missing out, if you don't feel well it’s not worth it. Take the seasickness medication, go to your cabin and sleep, take a break from studying and read a book that interests you
• Deck 7 is always less crowded than Lido—it makes a great place to study 
• Doing laundry in your sink really isn't that hard, but without access to any moving air it is a pain to dry 
• The best time to go to the gym is with your lovely roommate in a torrential downpour—riding the stationary bikes made us feel like we had a constant breezy mist in our faces 
• Having class outside is really cool. It’s less cool when the reason you have class outside is because everyone is seasick. 
• All of those times wishing for an extra hour of sleep as a kid are granted as you travel west circumnavigating the globe—and it’s every bit as glorious as I imagined it would be 
• Going and doing the touristy things will indeed make you feel like a tourist—go and find the hole in the wall places; you’ll enjoy them more 

And now for some things I actually have been learning in class: 

• Poverty was cut by 25% by the current administration in the past year, which means there are thousands of people who are not being cared for the way they have been cared for in the past 
• There is a giant patch of micro plastics floating in the Pacific called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is filled mostly with nets and bottles that have been broken down by the UV rays from the sun and are so small we can’t see them. These plastics are ingested by animals, and then humans ingest the animals. Due to our negligence in keeping the planet clean, we actually in turn are hurting ourselves by ingesting the plastic we throw out (not to mention all of the animals in the ocean). 
• Overconsumption doesn't make us happier. Not too far after having our basic needs met (with a little fun thrown in) consuming more material goods does not give our lives any more satisfaction. We are constantly in this race to consume and consume and consume and to what avail? Our overconsumption leads to lack of resources for others around the world and does little to improve our lives in any way. 
• Happiness is driven 40% by the way we respond to our circumstances (which only dictate 10% of our happiness levels, the other 50% is genetic). You can choose to be happy (which is a choice that hasn't been too hard to make every day on the ship!)

Life on the ship is absolutely beautiful. Thank you all for reading these each time I post and following along with me on my journey! Check back in soon for my recap of Japan!