Ghana

Sitting in the Tema port now, waiting to debark into Ghana!

Morocco - Part 1

Sorry for the delay (Mom and Dad!) this ship has a way of keeping you really really busy. I will be walking off the ship into Ghana in literally 8 hours, I dunno how it came up so fast

Morocco So far......

We debarked the ship in Morocco after a quick diplomatic briefing from U.S. officials about the cultural Do’s and Don’ts along with a little history about the country. The itinerary for the day was a 12 hour journey deep into Morocco, past the city of Zagora to a camel trek and desert camp in the Sahara desert.
It was thankfully a small group (6 people) in a large van (12 seats) with a pretty interesting guide (Hassan) so the drive was not as intimidating as that figure alone would indicate. We drove along desert highways recently expanded by King Mohammad the VI as one part in a larger plan to nourish the tourism industry Morocco is so heavily dependent on.

The first stop on our trip was the large tourist city of Marrakech where we had our first meal of the trip.
*Just a prior warning, I will probably dedicate a pretty large portion of my entries to the food I encounter, its what I am most excited about in each port*
I’ll start off by saying that Moroccan food is great and this lunch was the perfect introduction, it consisted of the following, shared family style:
 A Moroccan Salad: in Morocco, the term salad refers to any type of fruit or vegetable, cooked or uncooked in any other term you can think of. What we were served was a collection of dishes; 5 types of olives, potatoes, fresh & cooked dates, pastries, peppers, tomatoes and other unidentifiable but entirely delicious dishes. The crowning achievements were these little entrail-looking & cinnamon-tasting pastries which I hunted down in the Marrakech markets later in the trip (you will be able to see all of these if I am able to upload pictures any time soon.)

3 Tagines (Entrees) Chicken, Lamb and Cous Cous – The chicken was marinated lemon juice and other great stuff, served with olives and potatoes, it is something safe but entirely delicious that I could go back to in a heartbeat

The main course was followed by Almond pastries and a platter (literally a platter as big as my arms around) of apples and grapes and a steaming, frothy, aromatic pot of Mint Tea (consists of fresh mint, a lot of green tea and a fist full of sugar)
  
If you are looking for Moroccan Cuisine: 101, this is it, as basic as it gets with a lot of the staples present and executed extremely well. Mint tea is definitely something I will try to recreate when I make it home.
Another part of the meal that was unique to Morocco was the building that we ate it in. It is called a ‘Riad’ and they are extremely popular in Moroccan cities. Most I encountered were built with an open courtyard in the center and invited an extremely social atmosphere among its inhabitants.  They are truly the Moroccan bed and breakfast, with the top floor being the restaurant we ate at and the others below containing hotel rooms. Another popular feature throughout the Moroccan architecture was the salon ever present at the top of every building which contains long benched couches lining the room in a semicircle and facing each other. It seems as if the entire country was designed to promote conversation and interaction among people.
The next leg of our lengthy drive was up and over the Atlas Mountains; lined by cacti, small villages, and people everywhere. Something that I noticed about the highway in Morocco is that people are very much a part of the landscape. As opposed to driving along the highway for hundreds of miles without seeing a person on the side of the road, drive on a Moroccan highway and you will see children playing soccer, workers collecting cactus fruit, Mothers leading their children or men riding donkeys side saddle.

In the end after the 12 hours of driving we made it to our destination, which turned out to be the side of the road, hours away from civilization with only our headlights to show us that nothing else was around.
“Asalam Alykum! (Greetings!)” our guide yelled into the darkness to no answer
“Asalam Alykum!”  he repeated, again with no answer. At this point, the 5 other students and I looked around the van at each other wondering what was happening. We had stopped unceremoniously in the middle of the desert with no explanation and no camp or camels in sight so we were slightly uneasy.
After no response for the second time in the evening he made a call on his cell phone and after a quick conversation in his Berber language we got back on the road and continued for another few minutes down the road and pulled over to the side of the road where this time the headlights actually revealed camels.

A Unique Style of Learning

Today was an "A" day, the schedule here works based off of two alternating  days of class labeled "A" and "B" days.  I am a busy busy person on A days, as you can see from my schedule below:

 Breakfast \ The Business of food \ Global Studies \ U.S. Ethics and Foreign Policy \ Lunch \ Work-Study  \ Academic Writing Workshop \ Dinner \ Free Time.

Thankfully "B" Looks like this:

Breakfast \ Free Time \ Lunch \ Marine Biology \ Work-Study \ Dinner \ Free Time.

Today struck me with how different the learning experience is on this floating campus vs. my beloved swamp.  Class  sizes are small, one as small as four students, with world class professors who actually know my name, a feat rarely accomplished at my home institution.  You get the sense that professors are just as excited to be here as the students with one saying "We have been waiting for you (the students), after five days straight of orientation I am excited to finally meet you all." It's happened many a time where professors will mention a country off hand during a lecture, pause for a moment to think, then add on "You can see this for yourself in about a month when we dock in ______________."

In addition to the academics there is a wealth of other experience aboard shared through the SAS version of TED talks titled Explorer  Seminars. We have travels writers aboard (Journey Woman; follow her blog for something a little more eloquent than mine detailing our journey) along with a full time photographer and videographer. The last two were on display this evening and delivered a presentation on how to be an effective photographer while in port. The most important piece of advice for me was this:

"Don't walk around with huge DSLR around your neck, take a day or two to let the culture sink in before you start taking pictures. Taking out that camera immediately changes the dynamic between you and everyone else you meet in port, in many cases, that is a year or even decades worth of their pay dangling around your neck and it speaks loudly.  If you want to prevent that wall from going up between you and your subject than introduce your self first, learn a few phrases in their language and build a relationship before you start snapping away. The pictures you walk away with will be much better in the end."

Again the difference between a traveler and tourist was reiterated.  In photography as well as all aspects of the journey we should participate in the countries we visit instead of snapping a picture, buying a souvenir and then boarding the ship for the next destination.

Embarkation

Embarkation
               
        They released the tethers at almost exactly1700 hours, as you can imagine students were pressed against the side rails and a large cheer rose as the Captain sounded the horn. Most of the students had only been on board for a few hours and were still introducing themselves  to the person next to them while waving their parents goodbye.
              
The Voyage so far

        For the first leg of the Voyage, the MV Explorer has been a social experiment. That are almost 500 hundred college kids
placed in this strange environment where almost no one knows one another. Sure there has been some communication through facebook or a few students who boarded together, but for the vast majority it is a clean slate. There are students from Poland, Kenya, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Venezuela, Canada and about 40 of the 50 states represented on this Voyage. To top that off, there is a crew of almost 70 "Lifelong Learners" and around 30 faculty and their families aboard.  aboard. My first few days were a blur of interactions and orientation.
      
Speaking of orientation, the first two days were filled with it:
      
Life Boat Drills
Floor (Sea) Meetings
Welcome speeches
Safety Lectures
Academic Honesty Lecture
Medical Lectures
Independent Traveling  lectures
              
       You name it, we  heard it, and by the end of the day it was painful. Not because of the content (though that helped) it was mostly that fact that all of us were sitting silently in a room for hours upon hours taking in bit after bit of information when there were still so many introductions to be made. I was stopped many a time in the hall by other students who just wanted to talk to someone they hadn't met. The excitement of embarkation had not worn off in the least and was still buzzing throughout the ship.
               
The Ship
              
         The ship is beautiful! I'd imagine it will become our giant White and blue 25000 ton safety blanket while in other ports of call. My room is in almost the exact center of the ship as I am staying in an inside room on the middle deck towards the center of the deck lengthwise. My room consists of two twin beds, a small tv and refrigerator, desk, storage and a bathroom.
              
        Around the ship there is a gym, pool, spa, pool, library, and computer lab aboard, none of which I have had the opportunity to use. What I have made extremely good use of is the ping pong table. Building on the note I made earlier about the unique social environment here; I witnessed a doubles match consisting of the ships Photographer and the Director of the South African Cape Town Opera/Drama Teacher vs. two fellow students.
              
The Classes
              
         The classes are easily one of the most exciting aspects of this voyage to me. This is the first time in my academic career I have had the option of choosing whichever class interested me with no regard to major requirements. This freedom has left me with an academically confused schedule to say the least:
              
Global Studies (Required for all students)
U.S. Ethics and Foreign Policy
Academic Writing Workshop
The Business of Food
Marine Biology
              
        In addition to primo courses I was able to get, the quality of the professors leading them is incredible. Just take a moment to think about what they are getting in return for their services and you start to see how SAS (Semester at Sea) was able attract such good professors. Each has had extensive international experience as a prerequisite, with mine alone hailing from  Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cornell with  multiple Fulbright scholars and at least a dozen books published between them.

TPA => YUL => SAS

Now that we are smoothly sailing across the North Atlantic with classes started and my work study begun I have finally wrestled some time to myself to send out an update:

TPA => YUL

My Semester at Sea began with my Mom in tow as we flew from Tampa International this  past Sunday with a longer than expected stop in Toronto then finally on to our first port of call of the voyage: Montreal. Packing for the trip was an accomplishment in itself and might warrant it's own post later on.  My two large rolling duffels and travel backpack we filled to the brim with everything from Clothes and school supplies to Nutella and dinosaur stickers.

Canada was my first port-o-call and I wanted to use is as a practice run of sorts before diving into some of the more exotic countries on itinerary this fall.

During our short time there we summited the Olympic stadium, had crepes for breakfast, poutine for dinner, explored the biodome, took in the Notre Dame Basilica, watched Tai Chi in china town, sailed the Lachine Canal and tasted our way through the markets.

More importantly, I was able to withdraw currency, test out my credit card while abroad and navigate using public transportation . I learned the hard way to be a little more prepared when my brand new electronics  and I were caught in a rather spiteful rain storm (don't worry, they survived). 

While I saw all of the required sights in Montreal my favorite experiences by far were the interactions. The slightly  awkward and nervous yet overwhelmingly optimistic first meeting of a small group of semester at sea students on my first night in the city. I was able rendezvous  with  a friend from UF and we went to the other side of the city for some french fries covered in gravy, cheese curds  and whatever else you could think of(Poutine) at restaurant that legitimately appreciated the musical stylings of Rick Astley  (Poutine la Banquise). Most memorably was my last night in port having a traditional French dinner a few hundred feet away from the floating campus that will be my home for the next 100 or so days. I spent my last few hours on land celebrating what it sure to be one of my most memorable birthdays with my mom and sister, then heading back to the hotel to spend another hour skyping with my dad before boarding the MV Explorer.

My Email While Abroad

One important note about this upcoming semester is that for a vast majority of the voyage I will not have access to regular internet (Only academic websites for school research). While this is probably a good thing, it does put a damper on my ability to communicate with friends and family.

 If you would like to get in touch with me for some reason during the voyage you can email me basic text (no pictures or attachments i believe) at rrpasecky@semesteratsea.net.

I hope to hear from at least a few of you guys during my voyage, it'll make the thousands of miles between me and home a little easier to digest.

Driving Home

Welp! My time in the desert of Arizona came to an end recently which means I had to pack up all of my things and hit the ol' dusty trail. I am happy that I got to spend some of my last days in the US participating in one of our most ancient  traditions; the road trip. 

The Arizona Landscape

Fighting dysentery, snakebites and food spoilage my fellow intrepid explorer Stephanie and I fought our way through the south west

Dust Devils along the Highway

Our first stop was in the completely forgettable Van Horn Texas, we had the choice of staying in the "El Capitan hotel" or the Days Inn down the road and chose to go with the known evil.This particular Days Inn had an air conditioner with only two settings, "Off" and "Tundra" which led to a very poor motel experience. Our next stop however will not soon be forgotten.

Austin TX is a wonderful city, I love it, It would love to live there and I still can't believe it's Texas! It's like they saved up all of the awesome in the state and dropped in on one patch of land and called it Austin.

Austin Lake Oasis at Sunset

Dinner at the Oasis

After Austin we drove through a few hundred more mile of Texas, which is scenic in parts, but in the end there is just a little too much of it.

The next stop was good old New Orleans LA. Understandably after our third day straight of driving too much we were lacking motivation to fully commit to the new Orleans experience, instead settling on exploring the city in a lucid state. I was able to grab a fantastic meal from my favorite New Orleans restaurant Bennachin by the skin of my teeth so I came away satisfied. On the other hand, in true New Orleans fashion there were plenty of other vacationers picking up the slack in the alcohol department. Many belligerent arguments, bachelorette parties complete with neon genitalia hair pieces and even an elevator full of hung-over hotel guests with fresh tattoos were witnessed in our short time there. We started the next muggy morning off right with iced coffee and beignets at the always-fantastic Cafe Du Monde and hit the road for the final stretch. 

Walking around the Streets

Souvenirs in New Orleans

The last stretch was uneventful, we were focused on the road and completing the cross country road trip. We stopped in Mobile Alabama are the Dauphin Bicycle Shop for some pretty unique tacos and  a Dairy Queen in the middle of the Pan handle for Blizzards. It was a good day.

What the road looked like by the end of the trip