Namibia, here I come...

Hello everyone!

 

I feel like I haven't sent a real update in quite a few days now.  Many of the days have been the same...meetings after meetings (I've done this to myself!), going to class, sleeping, eating, napping, reading... I was really low on energy the past few days and I feel like I slept or napped more than I was awake the last 72 hours.  Loosing an hour of sleep every night definitely isn't conducive to feeling refreshed in the mornings.  Today was different though.  Kind of.  I woke up at 7:15, something I don't chose to do unless I HAVE to normally, to get breakfast with a few friends of mine.  All the students were really happy cause they had Fruit Loops and Cap'n Crunch this morning.  Oh, how I miss being 5...Pleasures like fruity, sugary cereals were something we used to take for granted.  These days, our pallets crave more than we usually have available.  I haven't yet given in to the temptation of the snack bar, and I hope I can maintain my composure.  We all look forward to little treasures such as those sugary cereals, or sweet and sour pork that tastes just like it's from The China Wok down the street, or even lettuce that has some resemblance of the color green rather than white.  How easily excited we are when this happens!

 

After breakfast, I came back to my room and fell back to sleep for 2 and a half hours.  Thankfully my roommate came back into the room at 10:35 because I would have slept right through my class.  I set two alarms and I somehow managed to sleep through both of them!  Maybe it was the fact that I put earplugs in??  Those darn things make sleeping so much easier!  I've come to rely on them, which probably isn't the best thing.  I'm getting this whole rolling out of bed and running to class thing down pat.  Some days I give myself more than 5 minutes and I actually attempt to do my hair, or apply some make up, or even wear jeans and a fitted shirt rather than lounge pants and a long sleeve T.  I'm telling you...the rocking of this ship just keeps you in a constant state of "sleepytime".  It's bittersweet really.

 

Tomorrow, we dock in Namibia!  I've already stepped foot on one Continent I've never stepped foot on (South America when I went to Brazil) and now I'm going to walk on, ride quad bikes on, and kayak on the waters of Africa...Take that in for a moment...AFRICA!  If you told me 14 months ago that I was going to be in Namibia on September 19, 2008, I probably wouldn't have taken you seriously.  I wouldn't have doubted it 100%, because my life has taken me to some awesome places before with little warning, but I still would have looked at you funny!  And now, here I am, a day before that day, sitting in my cabin, rocking to the waves of the ocean- we've been rocking quite a bit this past day- and writing a blog entry.  Insane.  Absolutely insane.  Africa.  Wow.  The more important thing about Namibia is that only one person on this ENTIRE ship has ever been to Namibia.  And she's the hairdresser!  Not even one of our professors who has been to over 150 countries has been to Namibia.  That should tell you something.  Semester at Sea prides itself on the voyage being one of "discovery"...now they're REALLY living up to it.  Expect another long and detailed entry, or a few, in the upcoming days. 

 

I am doing an Independent set of trips set up by Alan Shih...sea kayaking, quad biking on the dunes, a 4x4 tour of the dunes, and sand boarding (think snowboarding but on sand).  I know one girl really well that I am going with (Eilis) and I met two guys (Tom and Ryan) yesterday that are also doing the trips.  We're all really excited for them.  Tomorrow I have a free day so I'm going to get my class field requirements done and out of the way so I don't have to worry about scrambling to do them 5 nights from now.  I'm sleeping on the ship every night too, so that will cut the cost down considerably.  The total cost for all the things I'm doing is about 450 USD, and my budget for Namibia is 500.  Hopefully I can keep it to that!  I have a softspot for African jewlry and art though...

 

It's getting to be dinner time and my stomach is letting me know so.  I'm going to go feast on potatoes and pasta...and white lettuce...and some sort of fish most likely...and maybe even green oranges (now that's an oxymoron!).  It's really not as bad as it sounds...well, not every day.  We always have peanut butter and jelly to fall back on.

 

That's it for now, but check back over the next few days to hear about my Namibian Adventures!

 

-Amanda