Honolulu (again)

Apparently the whole post wasn't showing up for some, so I'm reposting Honolulu, the second half of it. If you already got this part then ignore this post.

 

Right now we are just doing classes and random meetings and stuff. Working on planning Japan stuff too and that is a little overwhelming. All in good fun though.

 

Honolulu:

We woke up in the morning to go to Honolulu and got off the ship at about 8 am. We took the bus to Pearl Harbor and got tickets, but had to wait until 11:45 to get in. To kill time we went to a flea market that surrounded the University of Hawaii’s football stadium. It was the most overpriced flea market I’ve ever seen, so I didn’t really buy anything. I did try enough free samples of crackers and sauce though to fill me up. Tolan, one of my roommates, bought a Ukulele for $65 and it seemed to be a good one. By the end of the day he knew probably 7 songs on it, he’s obviously a really talented musician. We went back to Pearl Harbor and saw the Arizona Memorial which I’m glad to have seen, but it wasn’t worth a 3 hour wait. We then waited for about a half hour to catch a city bus to head to the North Shore of the Island which is where Sunset and Pipeline, two of the more famous beaches in the world were. On the way we got off and grabbed some Korean food for lunch. I doubt they will ever read this, but I have to thank my roommates from last year at U.Va, Brian and Ray. I was able to talk to the waitress about all of the legitimate names of the Korean food, and so instead of saying “I want the clear noodle thing” I asked her “Is that Japchea”. She was really almost flattered that I took the time to learn the names of the food instead of just pointing, and I’m really glad to have been at least somewhat culturally sensitive instead of just a tourist. Other words I knew were bibimbap, galbi (which I ordered and was awesome), and mandu. For a really sketchy looking restaurant, the place was a pleasant surprise for all. Anyways we went to the north shore and saw some really big waves. They get up to 60 feet apparently but that day were only 15-20. Still way bigger than I had seen. We watched the sunset on “Shark Cove” which was a rock formation that had some really cool splashes going on. After waiting an hour for the bus, we caught it and rode the 2 hours home. We grabbed dinner really late at a pub that had exceptional burgers, played shuffleboard, and went back to the ship and crashed.

 

                The final day in Hawaii I had no plans, but my friend Simone, from the first day, had an extra ticket to go on the “Oahu Grand Island Tour”. It was a $55 ticket that she gave me for free, and again, I am all about free, so I of course had to go. I had sprained my ankle pretty bad the day before as well, so it was nice to sit on a bus all day instead of walking. We saw a bunch of cool bays, all of the nice beach houses, the mountains, and more sights on the tour. It was like an 8 hour thing and we saw the entire island. We grabbed lunch at a tourist trap place, but I did feel adventurous and tried “Spam Wasubi’ which is basically spam sushi. It looked terrible but tasted really good. We went to Sunset/Pipeline beaches again and the waves were a big bigger. Plus there were surfers out today so we saw them for a bit. We ended with the Dole Pineapple plantation which was the mother of all tourist traps. It had every sort of pineapple paraphernalia you could possibly want, and a maze which they charged to get into. I had a leather necklace carved with the word “Koma” which is my name in Hawaiian, and then called home and talked to my parents for about 30 minutes. We got on the bus, drove back, got on the ship, and took off from Oahu about 2 hours later. I feel like I was REALLY productive in Hawaii and saw all of the sites. If I have any regrets it is not seeing the volcanoes on the big island flowing at night, not legitimately snorkeling at a snorkel place, and not just spending more time at the beach. I loved Hawaii though and would happily go back, it is definitely an awesome place.

 

                So now we have about 11 days at sea with class pretty much every day so that will be a challenge. Reading is intense when you have classes everyday, but I’ll stay caught up somehow. I’ve continued to meet new people about everyday, and have found a lot of fun in playing games at night with the random groups that do so in the piano lounge. We are in the process of planning our trip around Japan, I’ll post something about it sometime between now and when we leave.

 

                Anyways there is so much going on that I could type forever, but I know people can only read so much (probably way less than this), so I’ll let you go. The experience is unbelievable so far, truly a chance of a lifetime.

 

                If anyone has any questions or just wants to chat please drop me an email. I’ve loved hearing from everyone, it helps pass the time and I feel connected to home while being around the world.

 

We may run, walk, stumble, drive of fly,

But let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey,

Or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way.

-Gloria Gaither

 

Thomas

Tdmalinowsky@semesteratsea.net

Hawaii!

This is gonna be long, sorry. Maybe read it in two or three parts if you like because I won’t have a whole lot to update for a week or so. J
We pulled into Hilo on Monday and were up bright and early to depart. We had to march up to the faculty lounge at about 6 am to have our passports checked, and then waited until we got the all clear. After the ship was cleared at roughly 8, I met up with Carson and Simone, two girls from South Carolina, and we set out for town. We literally are given no direction which was an interesting surprise. We walk out of the pier and are standing there on a pretty busy and industrial street wondering where we go. We ended up walking about 2 miles until we got into town and then tried to figure out what to do. Hilo is on the big island of Hawaii, yet is actually a pretty small town. It was smaller than where I’m from in Kansas for sure, and way more relaxed. We then went to a surf shop and rented a board for a day. The owner hooked us up with directions to a local cove which turned out to be GORGEOUS. The weather was perfect and the scenery was awesome. Whenever I manage to find an internet café you will see pictures. Anyways the waves died like the second I got in the water, so I didn’t actually get to surf, but I’m happy to say I tried. The other two had a bit better luck, but overall the waves were too small. Probably for the better anyways, I would have embarrassed or hurt myself. We went back to downtown Hilo and returned the board, grabbed lunch as a local ethnic place called “Puka Puka” which was very legit and very delicious. After a bit of shopping around, we went to Rainbow Falls, a waterfall nearby. They were having a couple week drought so it wasn’t falling very hard, but we did find a cool tree to climb! You will have to wait for pictures of that too, it was a monster that was clearly hundreds of years old. After that we made a Wal-Mart run and got ready to go to dinner. We went to a place called Ken’s House of Pancakes for Carson’s 21^st birthday, which got great reviews from everyone, and we all ate a mountain of food. Afterwards some people headed off to a bar, and I tagged along but ended up bailing shortly after arriving because it definitely wasn’t my thing. That night I met up with two of my roommates and we hung out downtown which was fun.
The next day in Hilo a totally different group of people got together and we went to Rainbow Falls again. This turned out to be totally fine because we climbed the awesome tree again, and then hiked back a bit to a lake that was pretty stunning. Despite numerous warnings telling us not to cliff dive, pretty much everyone jumped into the lake off of a ledge that was 15-20 feet high. I wasn’t going to for fear of death, but watched about 20 people do it before me. I went and am definitely glad I did. It was a rush and it was totally free, the best kind of entertainment. Afterwards we went downtown and grabbed some fruit and mexican food which was great. There was a market with several local farmers selling their crops, and everyone bought and tried all kinds of exotic fruits. I had something that looked like an extremely small cantaloupe on the outside, and an eyeball on the inside. It tasted like cantaloupe and I was not a fan. I also had Lychee, which looks kind of like a soft sea urchin. I’ve seen it before at home, but never tried it. It’s meat also looked like an eyeball, but it tasted more like a good grape, so I was a bigger fan of that. Hawaii also has fantastic pineapple which should be noted. We then went to a black sand beach and chilled there for a while. A lifeguard came and talked to us for a while and loaned us a snorkel mask, so we were able to go snorkeling for a couple of minutes. The water there was rocky and filled with coral, so there were some cool fish, but painful on the feet. We also saw WHALES while we were there. Honestly not too far from where we were swimming we started seeing splashes. We kept watching and distinguished the tales of whales slapping the water. Not too long after one came probably ¾ out of the water for a jump and I was pumped. We went back to the ship and took off for Oahu that night.
We woke up in the morning to go to Honolulu and got off the ship at about 8 am. We took the bus to Pearl Harbor and got tickets, but had to wait until 11:45 to get in. To kill time we went to a flea market that surrounded the University of Hawaii’s football stadium. It was the most overpriced flea market I’ve ever seen, so I didn’t really buy anything. I did try enough free samples of crackers and sauce though to fill me up. Tolan, one of my roommates, bought a Ukulele for $65 and it seemed to be a good one. By the end of the day he knew probably 7 songs on it, he’s obviously a really talented musician. We went back to Pearl Harbor and saw the Arizona Memorial which I’m glad to have seen, but it wasn’t worth a 3 hour wait. We then waited for about a half hour to catch a city bus to head to the North Shore of the Island which is where Sunset and Pipeline, two of the more famous beaches in the world were. On the way we got off and grabbed some Korean food for lunch. I doubt they will ever read this, but I have to thank my roommates from last year at U.Va, Brian and Ray. I was able to talk to the waitress about all of the legitimate names of the Korean food, and so instead of saying “I want the clear noodle thing” I asked her “Is that Japchea”. She was really almost flattered that I took the time to learn the names of the food instead of just pointing, and I’m really glad to have been at least somewhat culturally sensitive instead of just a tourist. Other words I knew were bibimbap, galbi (which I ordered and was awesome), and mandu. For a really sketchy looking restaurant, the place was a pleasant surprise for all. Anyways we went to the north shore and saw some really big waves. They get up to 60 feet apparently but that day were only 15-20. Still way bigger than I had seen. We watched the sunset on “Shark Cove” which was a rock formation that had some really cool splashes going on. After waiting an hour for the bus, we caught it and rode the 2 hours home. We grabbed dinner really late at a pub that had exceptional burgers, played shuffleboard, and went back to the ship and crashed.
The final day in Hawaii I had no plans, but my friend Simone, from the first day, had an extra ticket to go on the “Oahu Grand Island Tour”. It was a $55 ticket that she gave me for free, and again, I am all about free, so I of course had to go. I had sprained my ankle pretty bad the day before as well, so it was nice to sit on a bus all day instead of walking. We saw a bunch of cool bays, all of the nice beach houses, the mountains, and more sights on the tour. It was like an 8 hour thing and we saw the entire island. We grabbed lunch at a tourist trap place, but I did feel adventurous and tried “Spam Wasubi’ which is basically spam sushi. It looked terrible but tasted really good. We went to Sunset/Pipeline beaches again and the waves were a big bigger. Plus there were surfers out today so we saw them for a bit. We ended with the Dole Pineapple plantation which was the mother of all tourist traps. It had every sort of pineapple paraphernalia you could possibly want, and a maze which they charged to get into. I had a leather necklace carved with the word “Koma” which is my name in Hawaiian, and then called home and talked to my parents for about 30 minutes. We got on the bus, drove back, got on the ship, and took off from Oahu about 2 hours later. I feel like I was REALLY productive in Hawaii and saw all of the sites. If I have any regrets it is not seeing the volcanoes on the big island flowing at night, not legitimately snorkeling at a snorkel place, and not just spending more time at the beach. I loved Hawaii though and would happily go back, it is definitely an awesome place.
So now we have about 11 days at sea with class pretty much every day so that will be a challenge. Reading is intense when you have classes everyday, but I’ll stay caught up somehow. I’ve continued to meet new people about everyday, and have found a lot of fun in playing games at night with the random groups that do so in the piano lounge. We are in the process of planning our trip around Japan, I’ll post something about it sometime between now and when we leave.
Anyways there is so much going on that I could type forever, but I know people can only read so much (probably way less than this), so I’ll let you go. The experience is unbelievable so far, truly a chance of a lifetime.
If anyone has any questions or just wants to chat please drop me an email. I’ve loved hearing from everyone, it helps pass the time and I feel connected to home while being around the world.

We may run, walk, stumble, drive of fly,

But let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey,

Or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way.

-Gloria Gaither

Thomas
Tdmalinowsky@semesteratsea.net

Hawaii Tomorrow!

Hey all, here's a quick update.

 

Tomorrow morning at 6 am we pull into Hilo, Hawaii. My time is pretty free, but I have some good ideas of things that I want to do, so I'll be sure to post again and let everyone know about what happens. Everyone is really excited to get off the ship though. It's only been 7 days, but it feels like we have been on for weeks.

 

A couple of other things from my week:

 

1. If anyone who reads this does Yoga consistently then I have a great deal of respect for you. I tried it the other day in a "beginners" class (like 100 people showed up), and it nearly killed me.

 

2. It continues to amaze me how many different ways people find to fill their time when pretty much all aspects of "home" are pulled from them. It's really cool that conversations, games, and homework has pretty much taken 100% of the time filled by computers, TV, phones, video games, and work and pretty much no one complains.

 

3. Found out we aren't allowed to go skydiving or we face punishment. I was planning on it but will live without.

 

4. All of my roommates are awesome. It's neat how we are all pretty much opposites, but get along so well.

 

5. Everyone deserves the chance to live in a community filled with people who are 110% open to making new friends. It is a shame how back home we get caught up in routines and miss out on literally dozens of potential friendships that could start with a simple "Mind if I sit here"

 

Hope everyone has a good week, I'll be in Hawaii until Thursday so look for an update after that. As always, keep in touch!

 

Thomas

Tdmalinowsky@semesteratsea.net

First Few Classes and The High Seas

So since I last posted something here classes have started and we have traveled probably 1200 miles at sea. We are more than halfway to Hawaii, but they have slowed the ship down to almost half its speed, but more on that in a bit.

 

So classes. I'll give a rundown of the four I'm taking and my opinions thus far.

 

Anthropology of Stuff: This is a class that talks about how different cultures value objects and commodities differently. The professor is very interesting, and seems to be a genuinely nice guy. He made the effort to learn every one of our names before we had ever seen him. I think the subject matter will be interesting, but it has the makings of a class that will turn out to be way more difficult than originally anticipated (U.Va has like 10 million of those). The worst part is that it's at 8 am.

 

Global Studies: Everyone on the ship takes this class. It's a way to give a broad history and overview of the countries we are visiting as well as integrate the voyage's theme, sustainability. The main professor is old and eccentric but everyone loves him. Judging by the first 3 days of class, it will be a pretty interesting one. Mr. White, a teacher I've had at U.Va for two other classes, also pipes in, so it is nice to hear a familiar voice.

 

International Business: The professor is a nice, soft spoken woman with a sharp British accent. The classroom is in the area of the ship that rocks the most, which will be a challenge, but the subject matter is familiar and should be interesting.

 

Small Group and Team Communications: While I'm not sure what we will be talking about in the actual class sessions, I know I will enjoy this class. It has a focus on the dynamics of working in groups, which is extremely applicable, and as one of the main deliverables we have to plan and execute a service project in one of the countries we are visiting. At this point I'm leaning toward helping with a Habitat for Humanity build in Ghana.

 

We have "A" days and "B" days everyday at sea, and so we are in any given class every other day. (Exception of global studies which is daily) We have no weekends, but plenty of non class days due to all of the ports where we don't have any scheduled classes.

 

 

The community on the ship continues to be a good one. People are still meeting new faces all the time. I've made it a point to sit down and join a random group of people every meal that is possible. Plenty of others do the same and I hope it doesn't stop.

 

The biggest challenge has been finding ways to occupy time. We are all coming from home with access to phones, tv, internet, jobs, movies, sports, bowling, etc, and it has all pretty much disappeared. So in these first few days of little to no homework, and only 12 hours of class, there is a ton of free time. They have the occasional seminar, and there are various groups of people that get together and play games randomly in one of the lounges, but there still remains a lot of free time. I'm sure that once some clubs and homework get into full gear, not to mention planning for ports, and once everyone is more familiar with each other and able to spend more time just talking, time will fly by.

 

Finally the boat speed. So the first couple of days we were going 19-22 knots, which is something like 35-40 mph I think, don't quote me on that. I believe we were doing it to avoid the mother of all storms that hit San Diego this week, but once we were away from that system we were apparently ahead of schedule and the boat slowed down A TON. We are now going along at about 10-11 knots, meaning 18-20 mph. The two theories are that they need to squeeze more time for classes and arrive at the port at the scheduled time, and that the boat doesn't have enough fuel so they are making it last. Let's hope it's the class one :)

 

Anyways, because we are going so slow, the waves are effecting the boat a lot. We are rocking enough that when you look straight out of the window it goes from only being able to see ocean, all the way to only being able to see the sky. It's quite a ride. It makes sleeping and classes an adventure because things fly off our shelves and our drawers fly open constantly.

 

Anyways that turned out longer than I thought it would be again, but that's alright, there's a lot to talk about. If you have any questions or want to keep in touch please drop me an email at tdmalinowsky@semesteratsea.net . It has been AWESOME hearing from everyone so far, I really appreciate it.

 

I see my path, but I don't know where it leads.

Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it.

-Rosalia de Castro

The first two days

Hello All,

 

These first two days have been pretty hectic, but I'll give you a rundown of what we have done.

 

On Sunday I left San Diego on a shuttle ride to Ensenada, Mexico at about 9 am. We were stuck at the Mexican border for probably about an hour but had no idea what for. They never came on and checked our passports or anything. After we got into Mexico we had about a 2 hour drive which was interesting. This portion of Mexico had beautiful landscape, our drive was within 500 yards of the coast the whole time and dipped in and out of valleys and rock formations. Despite the views it was clearly very poor, with over 50% of the houses seemingly abandoned during construction or lived in unfinished. We finally arrived in Ensenada and pulled right up to the ship. On the way we passed a number of legit looking Mexican restaurants which we were unfortunately not allowed to go out and try. Our ship was docked right next to the "Carnival Elation" which was probably 4 times the size, but nonetheless everyone was happy to see our new home. After passing security we boarded the ship and filled out some paperwork before heading to check out rooms. Mine is a "Quad" by their old system (It's just called economy now), which means there are 4 of us in 2 conjoining rooms sharing a bathroom. I was fortunate enough to get a bed in the room with a window which is fantastic. We are in the room right next to the engine room literally. It didn't bother any of us though, probably because we were so tired. I can sleep through anything as well, so the extra noise probably helped. So did the rocking boat. Everyone on the ship has been great so far. Most people here know no one and are open and eager to meet new people.

 

After two meals(the food is great, might get repetitive, but a definite plus so far) and unpacking the ship departed at roughly 7 pm and everyone was on the deck and excited to see the voyage takeoff. We then went to an orientation meeting which lasted a while. By the end of it probably two thirds of us were seasick. I went and picked up some free medicine they have and felt better. The ship rocks a lot more than I figured it would, but i'll get used to it.

 

Overall the ship is fantastic. It is still in great condition and could pass for a legitimate cruise ship if not for the 600 college kids on board. The staff is all nice and helpful. The consensus was that we almost felt bad when they came and took our plates and constantly refilled our drinks. No one really expected to be waited on. Our cabin steward apparently makes our beds and cleans our rooms everyday as well. That will be nice.

 

Today, the 18th, we have sat in orientation meetings all day. They are incredibly dry but I assume necessary for liability reasons. The consensus seems to be "Don't be an idiot" but it unfortunately takes 7 hours of meetings to tell us that. Only one meeting left, the activity fair, and that is one I'm actually looking forward to.

 

Tomorrow starts classes and such. I'll give a rundown of what I'm taking and how I think it's going to go after a couple of days in. I also have some awesome travel quotes I'll try and include with my entries, but I left the sheet in my room.

 

Anyways if anyone wants to contact me, I have free email here on the ship at Tdmalinowsky@semesteratsea.net

 

Thanks for reading and I apologize if this is lengthy. It might always be that way, there is a lot going on this semester, but I'll do my best to be concise.

 

Thomas

And I'm Off...

I'm testing out the ability to add a blog post by email, and I also wanted to get something written here so that when people see it for the first time it doesn't say "There are no posts".

 

I'm leaving tomorrow morning and right now I am a giant mixture of excitement, fear, and stress. No matter how hard I tried to prepare little by little so this day didn't catch up on me it didn't work out, and I'm left in a frenzy with less than 12 hours until I set off for the airport.

 

I'm definitely looking forward to the chance to leave my comfort zone and see the world. It is nerve racking not to know anyone on the voyage, but everyone else is in the same boat, literally (haha). I'm sure the voyage will turn out to be an amazing experience and I couldn't be more excited.

 

Going to try and keep this updated as much as possible, but for now, it's packing time.

 

The next time I write, I will be on the ship and hopefully will already have some great stories to tell :)

 

Thomas