Conversations for the day

While we were standing on the deck, observing the currents:
Tim: I wonder if you have to swim diagonally if you were to jump off the ship so that you don’t get washed off by the currents.
Vi: Wow, are u some kind of physics major?
Tim: No, I major in common sense.


During my architecture class, we talked about the “Triumph of the Name of Jesus” painting at the Il Gesu Church in Rome and this is how it went:
Professor Vincent: Absolutely spectacular painting! It’s one piece of uninterrupted fresco depicted here on the painting.
(Lots of lots of figures meshed together on the painting and you can’t really differentiate what is what…)
Prof: (while pointing towards the painting): What is this?!! What is this?!?
Dramatic pause….. then 2 seconds later
Prof (in hush hush voice): I’m not gonna tell you -_-


Then, we talked about the Barromini’s San Carlo alle Quatre Fontane Church in Rome:
Prof: The structure is so gluely and you have to see it! You will be amazed why it isn’t made out of …. Marshmallows… (REALLY? SERIOUSLY? MARSHMALLOWS?)
Prof: Baroque art makes everything so overwhelming, and if you’re not affected by it at all when you see it, then you are a …. Carrot! (Apparently, carrots are not human, and hence they have no feelings for anything at all).


I am in love with Professor Vincent!! He is on board with Professor Nalbach (my global studies prof) and i think they make such a cute couple!

Gibraltar Rock

Hooray! I just did my Global Studies Midterm Exam. We were allowed to take the exam wherever we wanted… how nice! But this doesn’t mean we can cheat… University of Virginia has this honor code and they expect students to respect that by being honest. That means NO CHEATING. If you’re caught cheating, that’s it manz. You’re out of the ship and banned from UVA forever. I’m kinda surprised to see so many students being honest about it… All of us were just sitting outside our rooms, at the Union Hall, at the Com Lab etc etc to do it. Actually, would you wanna be kicked out of this awesome trip just because you cheated in a minor exam?

I haven’t been blogging for the past two days because everything was happening too fast. First day when we came back from Spain, everyone was trying to adjust back to the normal routine of going to classes and eating the ship food again. There were so many lectures going on in the evening as well, and we had the Global Studies midterm paper due on top of studying for the exam, hence everyone was hiding in their rooms most of the time.

We passed the Gibraltar Straits the other day and we bunkered there for half a day to fuel up the ship… it was way too cool. On our right was Spain mainland, and on our left was Morrocco. We learnt about the geography of the Mediterranean region in class, but I didn’t expect the Gibraltar Straits to be so narrow! While we were sailing in the evening after that, we passed this famous Gibraltar Rock. Apparently, it has been conquered by the British for 300 years before it was given back to the Spain. The lighthouse on that Rock is the southern most point of Europe I think. My professor stopped lecturing and off we went to Deck 7 to take in that spectacular sight! Somehow the wind was really strong at that time, and I swear I could have been blown off if not for the grip I had. Jackets puffed up instantly. Everyone looked kinda pudgy, which was funny!

Anyway, the rock kinda looks like the rock on the Prudential Logo, doesn’t it? Hehe

So today is the day before arrival at Civattevachia, Italy. I can’t wait to go on land again! I wonder how the culture is like in Italy eh? Time to whip our my sundresses you think?

Stay tuned!

Fuel up!

Right now, our ship is travelling at 0.0 knots per hour. We are parked at the Gibraltar Straits, fueling up the ship! No one's allowed to light a cigarette or a lighter. Also, Spain is on our right and Morrocco is on our left. Both countries are so close to each other. I bet you could swim from one shore to the other shore. TOO COOL TO BE TRUE :)

Off to class now!

Adios Spain!

Went to Arcos today with Angie, Heather and Sheiyenn (I still think his name sounds like a girl! =p). After seeing Ronda, I just can’t help but compare Arcos with Ronda… Arcos is a small little town with castles and churches, not as magnificent as those at Ronda, but most of them were close for restoration, so we didn’t really get to explore that much. An hour would be sufficient there, but we had to stay for like 4 hours because the bus only comes then :P We walked around a lot, took some really silly pictures, talked, joked and ate lunch at this small café. Again, it was all good, since we were away from most of the people from SAS :) Btw, the café waiter who took our orders was really nice and patient with our orders… He even encouraged me to read aloud the Spanish words when I tried to get a glass of freshly-made Orange Juice :p According to the cutie guy, my pronunciation was legitimately accurate and I was learning fast! Hehe… I guess I can consider taking Spanish classes eh?

Took siestas on the bus ride… feels so good to take naps again!

Came back to the ship at around 445pm and there was already a long line. Time to be on board was like 6pm and all of us were afraid to get dock time, so most of us were back at around 5pm. Had dinner on board and the food was surprisingly good! I guess that happens after days of not eating on board. The vegetables were greener than usual and they had bananas! They usually only serve bananas on the day we leave port since those kind of fruits can't be kept for too long... I joined the usual gang for dinners and we all had so many funny stories to tell each other...

Apparently, there’s only 3 kinds of channel at Spain. Spanish channels, Michael Jackson’s death, and porn. Everyone in Spain so open, too open sometimes! They way they dress is absolutely revealing, especially the girls. One of my friends who went suntanning at the beach had the most awkward moment of her life. Literally everyone was nude, and you see everything at the nude beach. Lol! So guys, you know where to go next time eh? I was walking around and most cafes and magazine stands had their “Rated” magazines placed right out. The Spanish greet each other with kisses on both sides of the cheeks. My friend, Molly, is gorgeous and the Spanish guys at the bars went a little bit further. They did the normal pecks on both sides of the cheeks and then smooched her on the lips. Not once, not twice, but six times! MY GOD.

Speaking of Michael Jackson… It’s such a pity, though one of my friends said it’s kinda good in a way because she is so sick of hearing about Michael Jackson and his pedophile ways.

Anyway, the ship’s leaving in like a few minutes. It was supposed to leave at 8pm, but it’s like half past 8pm and it’s still at the dock. Oh wells, don’t think im gonna watch the ship leave Cadiz coz I have so much to do and I have so little time… Exam’s in 3 days. UGHH. That happens when u study on the ship! Schedule is tight as hell, and if u’re lagging behind, that’s it!

Overall, Spain is a beautiful place! I would definitely come back. I kinda want to visit Madrid and Barcelona next year when I’m studying abroad in Italy. Ronda would always be on my list!

Bye bye Spain! Adios! I will be back one day.... :)

p/s: 3 more days to Italy!

A taste of Sevilla

Hola people!

I'm enjoying Spain so much and I don't want to leave tomorrow. I kinda wanna take back what I've said yesterday. Not being able to speak Spanish is actually pretty exciting! I got lost again (why am i not surprised? lol) and I wanted to find my way back to the ship. It took me 15 mins to describe where I wanted to go and the dude finally understood me - the Porto and estacion bus! I did a little bit of shopping as well and the lady was laughing at me as I was Charad-ing to her to indicate that I wanted to try on the dress =p

Fun times!

We went to Sevilla today - it's the 4th biggest city in Spain and again it's gorgeous! So many pretty buildings. the Cathedral was our first stop. It is the BIGGEST gothic cathedral in the world and it is simply breathtaking. If this is enough to take my breathe away, I bet Italy would be even better! So a mosque was built at this place originally and when they demolished it to build the cathedral, they kept the tower.

And let me tell u this, I climbed 34 floors (with ramps only, no stairs) to go all the way up and took in Sevilla's city view. Had a good workout!

So when we were there, there was a group of protesters living in the church. They had everything there - beds, water, toilet, food etc etc. These mining workers are protesting for higher wages and the church is the only place where they can't be kicked out since it's a sacred place. Why do I have a feeling that the Spanish protest all the time? lol

Next stop was the Alcazar, the old royal residence. Interesting stuff. The Christians ruled Spain at one point in time, but the entire building was built after the Arabian style... The Quran scriptures are all over the roof, walls, ceilings and floor...

There you go, the sign of Allah on the windows.

And here's something random: how do you tell that a leaf is bitter? it's supposed to have a separate baby leaf attached at the bottom of the bigger leaf.

Internet time is precious... so I'm not gonna put more pictures up but keep a lookout for more updates tomorrow!

Next up on the list: Acros, Spain.

p/s: leaving spain tomorrow at 6pm!

Getting lost twice in a day

Ronda is a sweet little nice town with touristy-buildings. Most of the people there thought that we were Japanese and started greeting us with Konichiwa, Aligatou etc etc -_- Do we Asians look THAT alike to the foreigners?

Anyway, I really like Ronda a lot! Lots of white houses (that’s why it’s called the White Town), saw the Puento Nuevo (New Bridge), walked through the pretty gardens, took pictures of lots of sceneries, walked around the little alleys a lot, got lost, saw the City Wall, churches and basically more and more sceneries. When we were at the Puento Nuevo, I couldn’t see past the thick walls so Yufei had to take a picture of the scenery down below the bridge so I could take a look at the river and caves and trees that were down there. So much for being a shortie! :P

I have no idea how to go about describing the places that I’ve been to today, but I’m sooooooo glad that I’ve actually taken the trouble to take the 3-hr bus ride to Ronda! Even though both yufei and I were left with only about 4 hrs to walk around the entire town, we did it quick and fast. No time wasted and we didn’t even bother to pay to look at stuff, just walked around, looked at the outdoorish stuff, bought some souvenirs and we covered basically everything!  HOW AWESOME! But nothing beats this most memorable part of the trip: both of us got lost towards the end and we had to run for the last bus that leaves Ronda at 430pm. OMG, I was like freaking out and had to run with flip flops (since I changed out my shoes later) with my bad toe, but nothing was gonna stop me because I had to get back to the ship for tomorrow’s trip. Sounds scary, but I liked it =p

Later in the day, we got back to Cadiz at about 8pm. Though it wasn’t time for dinner, we walked to downtown Cadiz to search for some good food. I have yet to find a restaurant that serves the bull’s testicles and I am highly disappointed :) Had Paella (Spanish Rice) for dinner. I want to say that not being able to speak Spanish makes me wanna bang my head against the wall. I had to take out my purse and point towards it, made the money sign to indicate that I want my bill. And then the waiter would go off babbling something that I didn’t understand at all. Oh wells, shrug. We had our cameras out on the table and the lady sitting beside us was really nice… She spoke Spanish, but she gestured that we should be putting stuff like cameras in the bag because people would just walk past and snatch them. How nice of her :)

After dinner, we walked around a little. The walk back to the ship was meant to last 15 mins, but we got lost again! The Spanish should definitely consider rebuilding their towns in a more structured way. I don’t know if I’m gonna survive in Rome if I were to study abroad there in Spring 2010, but I know I will manage the roads somehow =p anyway, we got lost, and we saw this protest procession against Racism. The guy who was leading at the front saw us (I guess we were Chinese), and he walked up to us, gave us a pamphlet that was in Spanish (like I could read). It says STOP RACISMO (or something like that) and he was pointing towards the date excitedly, as if indicating that we should definitely be there to support this cause. Oh wells, I would love to, but sorry dude, the ship’s leaving way before that date. Then we bumped into a very nice professor who gave us the general directions to walk back. How nice of him to give me his map even though he wants that as a souvenir. Note to self: if I see him at the dining hall, I should give him back his map. I don’t want to be THE ONE who robbed him of his momento from Cadiz =p

Oh did I also mention that I like getting lost in cities. You always stumble across something unexpectedly when you don’t know where you are heading towards.

Next up on the list: Sevilla tomorrow!

Cadiz, Spain

I have thought long about the picture that I want to put up today and I think this would best represent Cadiz, Spain :)

Spain is beautiful! If I were to speak Spanish, I would seriously consider Spain as one of my ideal cities to live in, but nope, that aint' gonna happen. The Spanish hardly speak any English. Thank god I have my friends with me to decipher the uber complicated language. The Spanish lead such luxurious lifestyle. I am so envious! Most businesses are open from 9am-2pm and they close up from 2pm-4pm to have lunch. 4pm-6pm is the Seista Time and dinner comes at about 8pm-10pm. Gosh, I would be asleep by then already! Today, Rachel tried to enter a shop at 159pm and the owner just shut the door right in front of her. It's not like they are rude about it, but 2pm means 2pm and they are serious about the time manz!

That said, I got so frustrated when we sat down at 2pm to have lunch. I am so used to the fast-paced lifestyle back in Singapore and America and I can't stop comparing the services. The waiter took half an hour to serve the drinks, took another half an hour to take the orders and another half hour to serve the food. But it was all good! We had so much fun sitting, relaxing and talking while sipping our punch-like wine (can't remember the name of the Spanish drink). Not gonna lie, this is the first time in my life that I've ever drank in public without having my ID checked :P

Bought a few souvenirs today as well. Sigh, there goes my Euros but I try not to think about money matters while I'm on my trip. I want to have as much fun as possible before I get tied down by my school work again! I found it odd that the el banco officer wanted to see my passport when I attempted to change some money. He kept saying :"paspor, paspor, paspor". So obviously I was an idiot and I got confused for a moment. "Lamento Senor, no entiendo", then it struck me that he wanted my passport, which I didn't have. So I couldnt change anything! Bummer :(

Anyway, the buildings are absolutely gorgeous in Spain! The churches and cathedral are beautiful. I had always approached and visited churches with a half-hearted interest, but (surprisingly!) I have learnt to appreciate the beauty now. The churches are influenced a little by the Greeks and the Romans (prof Vincent would be so proud of me for noticing these elements in the buildings!) The alleys are narrow and are lined with apartments on both sides. Cars and pedestrians share the same path. Because of this, the cars look exceptionally tiny to me!

Saw and experienced the flamenco dance tonight. The dancers have such intense concentration that it was almost scary to look at the lead lady dancer. However, the male dancer was gorgeous! He looked ordinary at first, but after his stunning performance, my heart almost melted. These dancers start training when they are young (about 5 years old). Infact, while walking along the streets, I peeped into the apartments and saw this little girl dancing, flamenco style, while her grandpa clapped his hands to keep the rhythm. This is why I like to travel. There are always so many things to see, learn and take in!

So next stop on the list: Ronda, the famous White Town.

Thank god for sunblock!

Check out the hot babe in the picture! LOL. just jk jk. Did a little bit suntanning today. I applied a ton of sunblock, so I didn't get too tan and dark. My skin is not fried yet, and it's just nice for me to take pretty pictures while I'm at Cadiz! :)

Food for thought

Fact of the day: King Solomon has SEVEN HUNDRED wives and THREE HUNDRED concubines.

MY GOD. I don't think he ever remembered their names. How sad is it to be one of his wives?

Anyway, 21 more hours to Spain! Woohoo! Now we're counting in hours, not days anymore. We dock in at Cadiz port at 8am tomorrow, and I'll be up early tomorrow to watch the sunrise and watch the ship approach the port. Gonna be stocking up on caffeine supply for tomorrow since travelling starts tomorrow! THIS IS LEGIT.

Might or might not be blogging for the next 4 days, since I'll be out and about exploring and making day trips to cities close to Cadiz. The ship's still open for students to come back for meals and for sleeping. But who wants to come back to the dining hall here after eating 8 days of pasta, potatoes, salad, bread? Manz, we got so sick of eating those stuff. Right at the SEA Olmypics committee meeting yesterday, someone suggested that we have Potato Carving competition to get rid of them =p Or maybe have the SEA Olympics theme as Potato Polooza eh? Bring on the Carbs people! We also had a presentation on Spanish food yesterday and Bull's testicles is one of the dishes they have in Spain. I'm all psyched about that! It's disgusting, but I WILL EAT anything that comes my way =p

Buh-bye folks!

We are here to rock the boat

Oppss, we are here to rock the ship, not the boat! It's so funny how the shipboard community keep emphasizing that we are on a ship, not a boat. There's a huge difference, u know?

So yesterday night was "Rock the Boat" Dance party. Haha. That dude in the picture thought it was funny to put on sunglasses in the dark and moustache as well. There were free brownies and cookies. That's why I was there! I danced a little, but I got tired after that, so I went back and read a little before going to bed. Thank god for that. I didn't know that they were filming the entire dance party and have it shown live on everyone's TV in the room. PHEW. How embarrasing would it be to see yourself on tv dancing like an idiot?

I love my architecture professor. Professor Vincent is the best teacher for this class. He is extremely knowledgeable about the buildings in the Mediterranean region and his pictures of the places are just simply amazing! Yesterday, when we were talking about the Acropolis in Greece and the Pantheum in Italy, he yelled a little. He was THAT excited. That has got to be my favorite part of the class =p

I just can't wait to reach the ports and take in those sights in person!

p/s: 2 more days to Spain :) and 8 more days to Midterm. So little time, yet there's so much to do!

Poka Night

Poka Night is kinda like the highlight of my evening. All of us would gather at 9pm sharp, crowd around the tiny table at the piano lounge and dish out our deck of cards. Gosh, I like how we play with such intense concentration - we yell, we scream and we laugh, so much so that the people walking past would stare at us with annoyance.

Here's kinda how my daily schedule looks like:

7am: wake up and medidate/ chant/ gym
7.45am: breakfast
8.15am: get a seat at the union hall, sit and read
9.20am: global studies
10.30am: check and reply emails
11.40am: lunch
12.15pm: Time to get philosophical! - Greek ethics class
1.30pm: Blog/ Studying time
4.15pm: Architecture class
5.30pm: Shower
6.00pm: Dinner with folks
7.00pm: Hang out at the deck/ Check out hot guys at the outdoor gym =p
8.00pm: Talks
9:00pm: Poka Time
10:00pm: Studying again/ Pub Night
12am: Sleep!

God, my life has never been so structured. I go through the same thing EVERY SINGLE DAY... well not when i reach the ports!

p/s: Saw dolphins again today. They are such happy creatures
pp/s: 3 more days till Cadiz, Spain!

Looking on...

I saw dolphins today! They were a family, I think... and they were swimming along at both sides of the ship as we moved forward. We were having dinner at the dining hall, and then everyone stood up, rushed out to the deck and there were awwws and ohhs. I managed to inch my way to the the railing and joined the crowd as well!

Dolphins are such cute creatures. They were even performing stunts for us. The sighting was short, but definitely memorable... I didn't manage to take any pictures of them though. It all happened so quickly!

This is the best day of my trip so far :)

Birthday on the ship!

It was Lauryn's bday yesterday. Like I said, she's cool coz she's from South Africa, and she only hangs out with cool people, so that makes me one of the cool kids on board. lol. jkjk. Lauryn's a really nice person and we originally ordered a cake for her. Surprisingly though, the cake that came out at the dinner table says : HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOVE MOM and DAD. Turns out that her parents pre-ordered a cake for her as well, so we reserved the other cake for today. Wee! We'll have another ice-cream cake for dinner later. Ice-cream cakes are precious here... so much so that the guys dining around us were fighting over the leftovers =p

Yet again, nothing really interesting happened today. All of us are falling into this routine of sleeping, eating, going for classes and then hanging out, but it's an interesting campus. Most of the people I've met so far are so open-minded. I have so much to learn from them! At Global studies today, we learnt about the culture and cults of western civilization, more specifically, those from the Greece and Egpyt. I think there should be more about the other countries tomorrow! psst, over here on board, classes go on as usual even though it's a saturday or a sunday.

Here's something really random. It says on the Dean's memo today that our ship had to change the route a little bit to avoid the iceberg areas. COOL. But we will still be reaching Spain as per scheduled.

p/s: 4 more days to Spain!

Wine on board

This is the size of a cup of wine on board.

USD3.50 and you get CHEAP wine in a PLASTIC cup which has the height of a CARD.

Woohoo! Simply amazing :)

I am a sailor, and I'm enjoying it

It was a beautiful day out yesterday and I'm glad I didn't miss it! Read my Plato book outside on Deck 6 and the wind was soothing. I left when a professor brought her entire drawing class out to the deck and disrupted my concentration =p

Today's Lauren's birthday. We'll be having a birthday celebration for her later :) She ordered an ice-cream cake from the kitchen. Isn't it amazing? We are on board and there are services like that as well! Lauren's pretty cool coz she's from South Africa! Fun fact I learnt from her : South Africa has 11 different National Languages and she speaks 4. WOW.

Global studies is getting more and more interesting. We learnt about the geography at the Mediterranean Sea. I drew a map of that region in class, labeled the different seas, mountains and straits. It looks like a child's drawing. Nevertheless, I'm having lots of fun! Pssttt! I should totally take a picture of it and put it up next time =p

Bough a SAS sweatshirt from the bookstore. It was expensive, but I figured since it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I have to get something that says "Semester at Sea". It was purple. Wee! Another new addition to my colorful wardrobe.

Besides that, nothing really interesting happened today. There's pub night at the pool, Deck 7, every night... I missed the one yesterday so perhaps I should go today eh? Let's see :)

p/s: 5 more days to Spain!

Life feels so surreal

It's been 2 days since we left Halifax, Nova Scotia. Right now we are 6 days away from Spain. Woohoo!

Now that we've all settled in and orientation is over, classes officially begin. I'm taking the Global Studies Course, Philosphy and History to Art class. Doesn't seem like a lot, but there is much to learn just for 20+ class days in total :)

Everyone has to take the Global Studies course, and that includes all staff, faculties and students. So all 800 of us cramped into the Union Hall for this particular lecture. It feels oddly weird to be taking classes with professors and life-long learners who are as old as my grandparents. I can hardly keep up with the pace and I wonder how they can take it at such a fast pace? So weird yet refreshing. The lecturer was awesome! He gave out M&Ms chocolates to the people sitting in front. I should wake up earlier tomorrow, eat my breakfast and rush to the Union Hall tomorrow to get a front seat eh?

Philosophy class was like a ..... lullaby! Not that it's the professor's fault, but the ship was rocking and I could see all of our bodies swaying to the right and left the whole time! I couldn't even tell if people were falling asleep of just rocking according to the ship motion.

Breakfast and lunch was delicious btw. I had this orange which looked like a pear. Perhaps a tiny little odd hybrid... We had Lo Mien for lunch! A good change from the normal potatoes and meaty stuff. Damn, I'm still Asian and I miss my asian food!

Yesterday sleep was good as usual. But I guess the midnight's weather was rough. My drawers were sliding in and out the entire night and I woke up a few times to the sound of stuff falling onto the floor. My water bottle, camera, glasses, Ship ID and ring were no where to be seen this morning. What a way to start the morning! Thank god I found them in one of the drawers. They must have fell into the drawers during the night. Sigh, my ring broke because I think I somehow stepped on it this morning. But I found my chapstick! I thought I lost it yesterday. God, this ship is playing mind tricks with me!

Anyway, today's weather is getting better. I'm glad! Gonna be sitting on the deck while I read my Plato book later. It's sunny out, so it's time to get a tan folks!

~The End~

My room on board

A really tiny picture of my room. My free internet service only permits me to upload pictures of this size. Ahhhhhhhh!

It's just like going to college all over again.... except this was on a ship

Move in was exciting! I was supposed to report at 9am, but kiasuism kicks in and I was there at 8am. I checked in together with my other shipmates. Line was super long but wee moved swiftly and we were in the ship in an hour after going thru custom checks and everything else.

My ID picture looks superb btw. Luckily I sent in a decent picture of myself :P

Anyways, I have only 125 mins of internet time (instead of the original 250 mins) to use while on board for the entire 67 days, so that means 1.5mins of internet time on average per day, and that's not even enough for me to load facebook and my email. but fret not! i have this new email account that i can use for free, no attachments though, only words not exceeding 50kb per email. whoever who wishes to stay connected with me throughout these 2 months, email me at: vho@semesteratsea.net

i have already moved into my room. the ship is pretty sweet. kinda small for 700 students, but we will manage :) there are servers at the dining hall, and they will come collect your plates when u are done with your food... too professional! i feel as if i have to pay for my food at the dining hall =p we have a library, tiny swimming pool, basketball court, piano lounge, bookstore, a few classrooms, 2 dining halls, gym, and even spa services with manicure and pedicure, massage, facial and salon services. The spa is obviously not free. Gosh, this is legitimately a CRUISE.

we had a lifeboat drill today. it's so amazing how they can fit all 800 plus of us into 6 boats. i saw most of the crew members during the drill. most of them were wearing the sailor outfits, even the girls! and they looks gorgeous, especially the head captains. haha =p

i have 2 other roomates. they seem nice people. one girl is from new hampshire and the other is from new york. i arrived early, so i took the lower bunk! I'm lucky, otherwise i would have start climbing beds everyday. every room has an attached bathroom so its convenient. some of the faculties brought their family members and kids along as well, so it's a really cool community. oldest being 93 years old, youngest are like kids. most of the crew members are not from america, i think they are from europe, latin america or south america. I'm not sure though as they all have different accents.

The guy to girls ratio is 1:3. 23% guys, the rest girls. But I ain't complaining! =p I'm not here for the guys. lol. diversity is ok. i met a guy from phillipines, a guy from germany, 2 girls from china so far. apparently, there's also someone from singapore and some other random countries. malaysian- only me... 3% international student in total.   psstt, there are so many couples on the ship. they actually came with their boyfriends and girlfriends. i dont think i would do that coz i dont want to go about worrying if i have done anything wrong if i make new opposite sex friends. i eavesdropped on a conversation and one girl actually said "i want my money back, i can't believe there's only like 23% guys. well apparently some of us are here for that!"

anyway, right now everyone is just settling in. i need to explore more to get used to this ship. meanwhile, i popped my first sea sickness pill yesterday and it put me right to bed! we are at the atlantic ocean right now and it really sucks coz the waters are rough, and we are near the titanic iceberg area. we kinda banged into high waves a few times and the entire ship is bobbing up and down. it's kinda like taking a never ending roller coaster ride and i have to get used to it like pronto! ALL of us are not walking straight. we are walking in a zig zag manner. you don't even have to drink to walk like a drunk person while on board! this constant rocking motion has been putting me to sleep during the orientation talks :/ i don't know how i am gonna survive during my classes. according to the captain, this rough waters is abnormal. so if i can survive this, i will be fine for the rest of the trip!

That's about it from me folks! will be updating soon again :)

p/s: half the student population did not turn up for orientation talks due to motion sickness. Surprisingly though, I am more than fine after popping my first pill yesterday night. HENG AH. Looks like I don't need my Suan Mei and sweets after all :P

halifax 2

I missed breakfast this morning. They were out of food by the time I went to the dining hall. So Whitney and Spencer decided to make pancakes for the 3 of us. That is why I'm friends with them. lol =p

Pancake-making team.
After breakfast, we went out and about to check out the ship. This is the closest picture I can take of it, since we couldn't go pass the immigration checkpoint. Sweet cruise! Looks like a baby ship to me. Some of the student employees who had to check in this morning came back telling us about the ship: Think small. Everything is on a microscale. Die lor, how to squeeze with everyone?

Also, students traditionally get seasick on their first day on board. Hmmm, should I be popping 2 pills instead of 1?

Here's a little video clip to show the storm watch that the past voyages had experienced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DBGhXI586k

FREAKY! 2 drunk kids actually fell off the ship before... and it generally takes the ship 40 mins to stop before turning back. Lol. I've just got to make sure my grip is steady on board =p

Nevertheless, I'm still psyched for tomorrow!

p/s: 18 hrs to boarding.

Test test

Test test. I didn't know I can email my blog contents to blogger.com and have it automatically upload my blog entry... woohoo! if it works, I will still be able to blog about my experiences on board :) Test test test. One Two Three Wow. Can change font size and colour somemore. Cool.

Halifax

I'm making friends here in Halifax... turns out that many other SAS students are also staying at this hostel that I'm at right now. woohoo!

Here are some random pictures that I've taken so far... I'm only allowed 250 mins (about 4 hrs) of internet time for the entire 67 days. DIE LOR. like that cannot facebook already, that's why I should put up as many pictures as I can right now.

International Youth Hostel that I'm staying at :) I have 5 other roomies.

My first stop at Halifax - the waterfront

My second stop for today - Citadel with the fort. My tourguide

Hoisted flag got stuck.

And hence the gentlemen tried to loosen the flag.

And that's it! I think I should call it a day, since I've been travelling for close to 30 hours and sleeping erractically at odd hours.

p/s: 39 hours to boarding time!

Vi-Zanne is tired

Hello! I'm in Halifax right now...

I was so tempted to update my status on facebook upon arrival here, but I decided against it. I'm sure 787 of my friends on facebook wouldn't be that invested in my life anyway. Blah =p

My flight was delayed because of the weather in the east coast, but anyway, I'm safe and sound here in Halifax. Gotta catch up on my sleep now before I go out and about exploring places.

I thought my arrival was early, but looks like I'm not alone! Saw a bunch of kids who came in together with me, but didn't say hi to them. Didn't feel like it. They were in a group already! Ahhhhhh.

2 more days to boarding...

My Last Lap in Kuala Lumpur

Yesterday was fun!

Neway Karoake + Buffet + Chit Chat + Soya Coffee + Ginger Lemon Tea + Kaya Toast + Shopping for my pink dress + Pharmacy Run + "Exploring" Sungei Wang Plaza for 10 mins.... Pui Khuan, it's more than what we used to do as roomies back in Nanyang Boarding! Whatever happened to our youth? We wasted such precious time together last time!

Pui Khuan and I

As per promised, I didn't put up other unglam pictures hor...
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Evening was a mad impromptu rush as well... Bought a new watch, dinner with parents, Supper with Stef, Tim, Justin and Boon Tat. On our way back home, I casually commented that I wanted to play mahjong, so we went to Justin's place for midnite Mahjong madness. I won on average 15 out of 20 rounds! Justin was fuming mad coz he didn't get to "Eat" a single round until the last one. Lol. Thanks for all the last minute activities together! I really appreciate it :) Poor Justin had to wake up at 8am somemore...

Once again, bye bye Malaysia! I will be back someday...

MV Explorer/ Canada, here I come. Bring all the adventure on! I'm psyched :) Might be MIA-ing for a few weeks folks. Tata!

This is my....

This is my... sister? nah, this pretty lady here is my mama!

Happy advanced bday mummy! I'm sorry I'm sailing off on your bday, but have a blast in Hangzhou :)

We are true blue Malaysians

When you live in a certain country, you tend to put off visits to famous places, just like my parents. My parents are born and bred in Kuala Lumpur, but they have yet to set foot on the famous Petronas Twin Towers Bridge. So today, I decided to pay it a visit. It's free anyway! They give out 1000 free tickets daily. If I do not go now, when will I ever fork out the time to visit it? Anyway, I had a very good friend with me today to join the line with me! :)

I woke up at 5:30am, caught the train to KLCC stop, and made my way to the counter. My my, so early also got people lining up already. I always thought only Singaporeans can be kiasu, I didn't think Malaysians also like that one! :P

The crowd at about 7:45am

Chris and I at the waiting room :) We were one of the early risers, so we got the FIRST BATCH tickets to get onto the bridge! muahahaha! Fresh start eh?

In the video room with cool glasses.

So many lift buttons!

Chris and I - proud owners of our tickets! We waited 1.5 hrs for them ok?

I didn't know Malaysia has such beautiful scenery. lol.

Looking on with my hopes and aspirations =p

And finally, I am proud to be a Malaysian!

Wart, wart, go away!

Ahhhhh, I've been meaning to get rid of this annoying wart on my toe since last month, but circumstances did not allow me to do so. First it was exam week, I was afraid I couldn't walk to school, then it was travelling home, then to Singapore, then the doctor told me my skin isn't healthy enough to operate on. Finally, today, I got it removed through cauterization! Yeay :)

The remnants of my burnt skin. Injection was darn painful, but after that it was painless. My skin smelled like bbq skin though o_0

Bandaged toe... Poor feet. Now it's all bloody. I shan't scare you with gory pictures. I want a speedy recovery asap! I'm sailing in 2 weeks :)

For You

Hi there, your little one is a happy boy =)