So... where to even begin??? I guess I'll start... in the Bahamas.

Alright, well... when we landed in the Bahamas, and picked up our luggage, one of Tram's bags had the zipper ripped all the way off. Her bag was fully open with its contents about to come spewing out. She was soooo pissed at the airline. And then we learned that our friend Rolando had one of his bags left in Orlando. So we complained to Customs before we found a taxi. When we walked outside, we were hunted down by one of the taxi drivers. They were all driving huge vans, so 5 of us, and all of our luggage, fit in one taxi!

Our taxi ride was $60 with tip so each of us paid like $12 I think. Not too terrible considering how expensive everything on the island is. I was shocked. Everything is almost double!

When we arrived to the downtown area (where our hotel was located), our driver told us that the police academy puts on a parade and they were right in the area of our hotel, so he had to drop us off 2 blocks away. The police, men and women, were dressed in these gorgeous white uniforms. There were probably 100 of them all around and they just kind of stared at us as we made our way by them. We had to trek UP A HILL to get to our hotel. Once checked in, which took forever, we took our bags to our room, Room #20. It was on the second floor. The hotel itself wasn't fancy by any means, but I seriously loved it. By the time we left, it felt like home. I was actually really sad to be leaving it. haha

So once in our room we changed and left to get a ferry to Paradise Island, where Rolando and our other friend Idin were staying at a timeshare. We rode on the top of the ferry which was the best part of the entire day! Once on Paradise Island, we tried to figure out where the timeshare was. It took us at least 2 or 3 hours to find. We probably walked over 10 miles if I had to guess. I'll show you on a map sometime where we walked. It felt like we covered the entire island practically. hahaha So on the way to finding Rolando and Idin, Ben and I discovered this resort. I think it was called the One and Only something something resort. :P Can't remember the name, and I can't google it. But anyways... we found this super fancy resort and you can see some pictures of that on my Facebook in the SAS Bahamas 2011 album.

So after we found the guys, we walked across the bridge between Paradise Island and Nassau, and went out searching for food and drinks. We ended up eating at a place that some friends had found a few days earlier called Imperial. I have a picture of some of us posing outside of it. It was this super sketchy looking place, but it had the cheapest food on the island, and it was decent enough to eat. I got a chicken burger and it was actually pretty good. That night a group of us found a random club and danced there.

The next day a group of us went to the beach (called Junkanoo Beach) which was... AMAZING. The water is as clear as bath water. Everyone thought the water was cold, and it wasn't warm, but we still went in waist deep for awhile. My friend, Ben, and I shared a $7 strawberry-mango daiquiri. Daiquiris are really popular in the Bahamas. haha The guy that made the drink worked out of a little tiny hut right there on the sand. He told me that he lived in Long Beach for 8 years and how he misses California. He was Bahamian, and a pretty cool dude actually.

After that we went wandering down the beach and picked up a few other SAS friends that we found on the way. As we walked over to this area called the Fish Fry, we all found a "ghost crab" about the size of my hand. It could walk super fast and it had legs the color and shape of macaroni, so what does Alexa do? She names it Macaroni. haha The guys nicknamed it "C-Mac" for crab-macaroni I guess. :P

We ended up eating at a place called Goldie's. We chose it cause it was the cheapest place at the Fish Fry, which is basically just a long row of restaurants. They gave us free shots of a blue drink called Call the Cab. The people at lunch were: Me, Jamie Murkey, Eric Hatcher, Jojo Luo, Travis (something), Ben Sherman, and Chance Penner. I think that was all of us. I ordered grilled conch. It's the local favorite, apparently. It was pretty good. Tasted a lot like calamari. It comes from conch shells. There's an animal in there! haha

After lunch, Ben, Chance, and I took a cab back to the hotel to meet up with our friend, Kayla Smith. They wanted to rent scooters but the place was closed so they invited me to take the public buses with them. Ben is the photographers assistant so he has SUPER FANCY equipment and he's really good. It was cool. We took the bus inland to the "local" area. No tourists in sight which was nice. When we got back a few hours later we all got ready and went out to Senor Frogs, the main club on the island. There were probably 150 SAS kids there that night.

The next day I boarded the ship and that was just a rough day! In the morning, Tram told me that she was leaving and it was really upsetting. I was trying to not cry in the lobby after I hugged her goodbye. It just felt so weird that she wasn't coming with us anymore. The entire ship misses her a lot.

Before it was time to board, I had some time to go shopping at a place called the Straw Market. It looks like a swap meet kind of. Long rows with mostly women selling things like jewelry, t-shirts, knock-off designer purses, etc. I bought a shirt for my brother, Wyatt, that has the design of Kalik beer (popular Bahamian beer), a shirt for myself that says Bahamas and other stuff, and then a really cute messenger-style Bahamian material bag. Very happy with my purchases. I even took pictures with the women that sold me my items. I specifically bought from them because they were the friendliest. :D

Once I got back to the hotel, I packed up my bags, and this guy named Tom, helped me carry my bags downstairs and then to the dock. It was a few blocks away but not quite far enough to take a taxi. haha It was sooooo nice of him!

When I got to the dock, I got in the approximately 50 person line. Work study students and Life Long Learners were boarding so it took awhile. I probably waited in THAT line an hour. Once I got to the check in desk, they told me that my name wasn't on the work-study student list, which was probably because I was accepted to it so late. I had to wait for this woman named Jennifer Mowad (to get back from picking up sandwiches) so she could confirm that I am a work study student. As soon as she got back she helped me out and I was able to get into the Security line. That took another half hour or so. Everything went smoothly. They never even opened any of my bags. The security was super lax with the work study kids. I passed thru without them even looking at my bottles, without them looking at my hair straightener, etc. I guess the students who boarded the next day had a much harder time.

So after security I went to a desk where I turned in my Yellow Fever Card and then a desk to turn in my Passport. After that I was free to board! I walked up the gangway on deck 2 and headed to the Pursers desk on deck 5 to get my new ID card, since mine wasn't ready yet because I had been on the wrong list. I got my card and headed back down to deck 2 to my room, #2018. My bags had been brought up for me. I pulled one in and then walked back into the hallway to talk to Rolando. And guess what happened. The door closed behind me and my key was inside. So I had to go BACK up to the Pursers desk to get a temporary key to re-open my room. Ugh. Bad morning. I finally got all my bags into my room. I noticed two cardboard boxes and a manila envelope on the bedside table. One box said "Alexa Rae Johnson", the other said "Tram Bao Tran", and the envelope said "Josie Oliver". I used my big smart brain and realized my new roommate must be named Josie Oliver. Josie isn't a work study student so I had the room to myself for a day. One cool thing is that our cabin has one of the largest portholes on the entire ship. Compared to the other deck 2 cabins, it's one of the biggest for sure!

The boxes contained my textbooks. So I got it open and set those on the shelf. I unpacked a few things and then was overwhelmed with exhaustion, both mentally and physically, so I took a break. I met up with a group of my guy friends and they wanted to see my cabin and then I got to see there's. They live on the deck above me but it's an area usually meant for the crew. Their cabins are seriously the size of my closet/bathroom, and they have a 3rd roommate. haha After that, we wandered out onto the 7th deck where the pool is and sat with some of the other students out there.

That night I got ready to go out, but then found out there was a $10 cover charge for everyone at Senor Frogs (even girls, which is just unheard of)... so I stayed in. I ended up talking with a group of new friends in one of the dining halls until 2am.

The next morning I had to get up at 6am which totally sucked. haha I reported to our supervisors and they assigned me to be the Passport Girl. Little did I know that this would be the best job anyone got. :P

I got to sit at the last check-in spot and collect >500 passports and then file them in numerical order. I got to spend time with some of the important crew members, the photographer, etc. It was an awesome job because I got to experience watching each persons reaction to the ship, since my desk was directly in front of it. I was the last person they spoke to before walking on. So they would walk over to me and just be in awe and be so excited. They were always in a good mood while talking to me cause they were finally done with the process. haha And plus, I got to meet every single student which I would say is pretty cool. :)

I worked from 7am - 2pm with only a 20 minute break for lunch. By the way, the food is even better than I thought it would be!

Well anyways... that night we all got adjusted and settled in. Had a big meeting together where the deans spoke to us. They seem AWESOME!!

To be honest, this doesn't even feel real. It's so hard to explain. It feels like I'm living in a dream that I wrote. Like I'm on a movie set. Sometimes I wonder if I've died and if this is my version of heaven. hahaha I'm not even kidding. I've never felt so excited and happy and overjoyed and... I can't even come up with words that fit how this feels. There aren't even words that give this experience the justice it deserves. Seriously.

So yeah. Back to my novel. hahahaha

Oh ok! I haven't told you about Josie yet! I lucked out. She's totally great. haha I was sooooo scared my new roommate was gonna be awful. She's from Minnesota, just like Tram. haha And she's blonde, really sweet, and we get along super well!! We hang out all the time now! :P

You would think that it's been super exciting today but we've been in Orientation ALL day. 9am to 5pm. AND... the rocking of the ship puts everyone to sleep. It's kind of funny. Hundreds of people sitting in the union listening to all these different speakers, and at any given time, more than half of us are asleep. hahaha Walking around has been hilarious as well. It looks like we're all intoxicated because we walk down the hall weaving back and forth as the ship tilts side to side. All day, never stops. :P

During lunch today I ate with Josie and Branden. We had a table inside directly next to a window the size of the entire wall. We watched the ship cut through all of the waves and... it's so unbelievably difficult to explain. That this is our new home, our new life for the next 102 days. The view is only a little part of this experience but it's SO FRICKEN COOL. haha

Tonight at dinner was my favorite moment of this so far. Josie, her friend from home named Molly, and I were sitting outside on the 6th deck eating. Tonight for dinner I had salad, steamed vegetables, pesto fettuccine, roasted chicken, and lemon loaf & coffee for dessert. haha But anyways, back to what happened at dinner. :P

Tonight at dinner, we saw the most beautiful rainbow that I had ever seen. It was the closest, most vibrant, most... unbelievable rainbow. Not even kidding. We were eating dinner outside on the back of the 6th floor deck and it was kinda of misting but not enough to bother us. And it was probably 80 degrees cause we're getting closer to the equator now. It felt more like humidity than mist. The sun was was beginning to set, and I glanced over to my right, away from the sun, and I think to myself... is that a rainbow forming? Within a couple minutes, everyone had abandoned their plates and were lined up all along the starboard side of the ship. It was a full arc. We could see where it went into the water on both ends, completely parallel with the ship, as if it were put there in its perfect position. Unreal.

This was no ordinary rainbow. Not even close. I wish I'd had my camera with me. Some people got pics. I'll see if I can get some copies. This rainbow had to have been barely 50 feet away. SO close. And it was hundreds of feet high. We could see both ends of where the rainbow entered the water. It's length had to have been... at least 200 feet? I'm not sure. We could see the ENTIRE arc. Right in front of our faces. AND... the best part... it was the most vibrant rainbow you could ever imagine. Just picture the most vibrant red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple you've ever seen... and put them side by side... and then put them in an arc in the sky. People were screaming and running around with shocked looks on their faces. Everyone was speechless. There were only about 20 of us out on that part of the deck and it lasted for a total of like 2-3 minutes. Did I mention it was a TRIPLE rainbow? The other two arcs were pretty faint but they were definitely there. It was absolutely beautiful. It honestly felt like the rainbow had been placed right there, for us. It was a very spiritual moment. I think if "Hallelujah" or "I Hope You Dance" had been playing I would've cried. hahaha

Well now I'm just in my cabin. We had an "Involvement Symposium" tonight - kind of like a club fair. I signed up for an "extended family". We get two Life Long Learners as "SAS parents". And we eat dinner with our "family" once a week, etc. I heard it's really fun.

I also signed up for the Photography Club and dance clubs and a community service organization.

I hope this has been enough detail for you. :P

If you have any questions feel free to ask them. You can email me at ARJohnson@semesteratsea.net. It's a lot easier to answer questions than it is to just talk about this all. It's very overwhelming, in a good way. But that makes it hard to just... talk about. It's like... where do I start?!?! haha

I didn't get any postcards out in the Bahamas but that'll be on my TO Do list in Dominica. We arrive there on Sunday!!

I would love to hear from all of you soon. P.s. We're 4 hours ahead of California now. We lost an hour last night. So it's 12:05am on Friday here.

Goodnight everyone!

<3

Alexa Rae

January 8, 2011

Written at: 9:28 (Orlando time)

Where: Lobby of the condo in Orlando, FL, USA :)

I'm tired... since I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night... but... in short... today was amazing. No really, it seriously was. I had so much fun at Universal Studios/Islands or whatever the heck they're called. haha More details to come in the blog post tomorrow that I'll write on the plane to the Bahamas.

We finished up the day with a "last night in the USA" dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and then spent sometime in the heated pool/hot tub at the condo's property. It was great. :)

Goodnight everyone. Love and miss you all!

xoxo

Alexa Rae

January 7, 2011

Written at: 6:08pm (Dallas time)

Location: Dallas Fort Worth airport, TX, USA

So both of my flights today have been delayed… what luck!

First, my flight from Ontario to Dallas was delayed an hour. So I had to be given a new flight out of Dallas to Orlando. Originally, I was supposed to land in Orlando at approximately 8:50pm. After the first delay, it was moved to 10:00pm. Now… 11:30pm.

I’m in the Dallas airport. And my second flight is delayed an hour and a half. I feel bad for my roommate, Tram, who is driving to the airport to pick up me and our friend, Jojo. I feel a little better that Jojo’s flight out of NYC was delayed from 8:30 to 10:30. At least I’m not the only one dealing with an inconvenience. :\

Well anyways, now I’m sitting at the gate’s charging station. My cell phone was almost dead as I was running off my first flight (details below), and my camera died before I could even take a single picture today!

My first flight… that was an interesting experience. The story begins with me ordering my iced coffee at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. As I’m putting my soy milk in my coffee, this guy (reading the Canadian jacket I’m wearing), asks if I’m from Canada. I laugh and say no, explain that family is, and then kind of awkwardly walk back to the gate.

Well guess who I’m sitting next to… yeah, you probably guessed right, it was Mr. Are You From Canada. His name was Mike**, works at an ice rink at a university in Virginia. WELL. This guy believed we were star-crossed lovers. He talked for at least 2 hours about his relationship with God and the importance of religion before I was given the chance to sleep. By the end of the flight I was being called pet names and he was talking about fate & destiny. Oh goodness gracious.

As soon as we landed I tried to get the heck out of there, as politely as I could. :P

Besides the flights being delayed, and dealing with Mr. Are You From Canada (what a classic pick-up line)… my day hasn’t been too terrible. Not exactly overjoyed that the DFW doesn’t offer free WiFi though. What the heck.. Really?! 2011 and you can’t give a girl some internet for anything less than $10/hour?? Oh well.

I honestly can’t complain. I’m traveling the world for 4 months. This is just one little bump in the long, beautiful road.

And one last thing… HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I LOVE YOU!

**Names have been changed to protect people’s privacy. hahaha

Feel free to send me a letter, a postcard, pictures, anything! :) I LOVE mail!

Here's how you address the envelope:

MV Explorer - Spring 2011 Voyage
ATTN: Alexa Rae Johnson
Port Agent Address (from list below)

In the port agent address, put one of the below addresses. Just make sure you send the mail in time! Semester at Sea recommends sending all mail via courier mail with a guaranteed delivery date and a tracking number. Also, please refrain from sending packages (apparently it's just too difficult).

So these are the duffel bags I purchased from WalMart a couple months back. After doing a fair amount of research online, I decided that these were perfect!

I just bought this oversized ultra-soft beach towel for the trip! It's SO pretty! I love the colors/design. Can't wait to get it. :)

Dominica: January 16 - 17

Sunday, Jan 16: Bumpiing Tour from 9:30 am - 2:00 pm.
Monday, Jan 17: Free day to explore the island.

Brazil: January 23 - 27

Sunday, Jan 23: MNS02 SERVICE VISIT: MONTE SALEM ORPHANAGE & SCHOOL – GROUP A
Sunday night to Monday morning: Flight to Sao Paolo, Brazil with Tram and Lilly!
Monday, Jan 24: Sao Paolo
Tuesday, Jan 25: Sao Paolo
Wednesday, Jan 26: Flight from Sao Paolo back to Manaus (very late at night)
Thursday, Jan 27: Free day to explore Manaus

Ghana: February 6 - 10

Sunday, Feb 6: Exploring Takoradi. Do some shopping in the street markets.
Monday, Feb 7: TAK16 COMMUNITY SERVICE VILLAGE PROJECT: ATOMKWA
Tuesday, Feb 8: (same as Feb 7)
Wednesday, Feb 9: KAKUM NATIONAL PARK WITH CANOPY WALKWAY w/ roomie TRAM!!
Thursday, Feb 10: TAK24 DRUMMING AND DANCE WORKSHOP – GROUP B

South Africa: February 17 - 22

Thursday, Feb 17: Horseback riding on the beach in the evening.
Friday, Feb 18: Cape Peninsula, Cape Point, Boulders Beach with roomie and other friends. :)
Saturday, Feb 19: CAP36 TOWNSHIP HOMESTAY – GROUP B
Sunday, Feb 20: Arrive back from homestay at 10 am. Leave for wine tasting (Stellenbosch) and Table Mountain gondola ride with friends.
Monday, Feb 21: CAP44 FOOTSTEPS TO FREEDOM AND TOWNSHIP
Tuesday, Feb 22: CAP56 OPERATION HUNGER - GROUP C

Mauritius: February 27

Sunday, Feb 27: Get a catamaran with friends!

India: March 6 - 11

Sunday, Mar 6: CHE02 YOGA DEMONSTRATION
CHE09 AGRA & VARANASI – GROUP A - FOUR DAYS/THREE NIGHTS
Monday, Mar 7: Same as above
Tuesday, Mar 8: Same as above
Wednesday, Mar 9: Same as above
Thursday, Mar 10: Same as above
Friday, Mar 11: CHE42 SERVICE VISIT: BALA MANDIR ORPHANAGE

Singapore: March 16

Wednesday, Mar 16: Explore Singapore!

Vietnam & Cambodia: March 19 - 23

Saturday, Mar 19: HCM05 CAMBODIA: PHNOM PENH & ANGKOR WAT – GROUP A
Sunday, Mar 20: Same as above
Monday, Mar 21: Same as above
Tuesday, Mar 22: Explore Saigon (HCM City), beach possibly, Spa Day with Tram and Lilly!
Wednesday, Mar 23: HCM31 MEKONG DELTA DAY TRIP - GROUP C (maybe)

Hong Kong/Beijing/Shanghai: March 26 - April 1

Saturday, Mar 26: Visit Lantau Island and explore Hong Kong indy
Sunday, Mar 27: More Hong Kong exploration?
Monday, Mar 28: Travel with friends to Beijing for Great Wall Trip
Tuesday, Mar 29: Sleeping on the Great Wall?
Wednesday, Mar 30: Exploring the city of Beijing?
Thursday, Mar 31: Exploring Shanghai?
Wednesday, Apr 1: More Shanghai?
(China plans are all very tentative)

Kobe/Yokohama: April 4 - 8

Monday, Apr 4: Explore Kobe
Tuesday, Apr 5: Travel by rail pass to Kyoto
Wednesday, Apr 6: Travel by rail pass to Tokyo
Thursday, Apr 7: YOK06 ZEN TEMPLE & MEDITATION LED BY ZEN MONKS
Friday, Apr 8: Explore Yokohama

Hilo, Hawai'i: April 17 - 18

Sunday, Apr 17:HIL05 HAWAI’IAN EXPERIENCE (during the day - planning to just explore the island)
Monday, Apr 18: More exploration of the Big Island!