First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOBAH! You’re getting so old I can hardly keep track of it! No really, how old are you? Haha :P I hope you have a wonderful 13th birthday, Glenn, and eat lots of cake for me! I had sherbert at lunch, but that just doesn’t compare.
Today has been both good and bad. It started out very good. We got our second batch of trip sale confirmation this morning. I got the FDPs (FDPs are basically field trips for our classes)that I needed as well as a trip to Robben Island, and I got the Tsinghua University trip in China. (I really feel like I’m copying you now, Thomas!) Apparently I was really lucky to get the Tsinghua trip - my roommate got bumped from it, as well as 35 other people. The other university trips, however, had a good amount of open space in them. The Tsinghua trip has the best itinerary though, in my opinion. We get a day in Hong Kong, where we port, and then we fly to Beijing. While in Beijing we get to see the Great Wall, Beijing Zoo (PANDAS!!), Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Olympic stadiums, and an acrobatic performance. From looking at it, it’s the most jam-packed university trip, and I’m very excited to be able to see all of those places in just 4 days, and then fly to Shanghai for a day there and then boarding the ship again.
The bad came when I realized that I didn’t get the Habitat for Humanity trip in South Africa. Every day but one is booked up, and the one open one conflicts with my Robben Island trip. Both of those trips are the two things I most wanted to do in South Africa, so it’s very disappointing. I think I’ve decided to keep my Robben Island trip instead of doing it indy because there’s a fairly large chance tickets will sell out and I won’t be able to do it. As much as I would like to do a service project (and the Habitat is one of the only ones on this trip where you actually help, not just observe), I have had experiences like that before. As meaningful as they have been and as much as I want more of those experiences, I know that I will have a chance to do Habitat builds in the future (although they might not be in South Africa) but I don’t know when I’ll have another chance to go to Robben Island and I don’t want to miss it. I’m still going to try and buy a Habitat day from somebody or get on the trip the day of if someone doesn’t show up, though.
I am a bit nervous that when everyone is gone on their safaris I won’t have anyone to travel with in South Africa. It’s a bit terrifying at this moment to think of indy traveling, because the people that I have befriended are doing a bunch of SAS trips so I can’t travel with them. I know I still have lots of opportunities to meet people to travel with, but it’s a huge unknown right now, and that’s frightening. Plus adding up the cost of my SAS trips so far is freaking me out; I know I don’t have to pay it all off immediately, but I don’t want to be in debt to my parents forever, and it’s already a pretty big number and I know I’m going to be spending more. Looking at it makes me leery to even pay $1 for a Diet Coke, because that’s a dollar that could go to those trips. It’s been a bit of an overwhelming day, to say the least. It’s the kind of day that I really miss being able to pick up the phone and call home for reassurance :-\
The other day we had to fill out all of our customs forms for every single country; it was absolutely insane. India even made us declare what types of electronics we were bringing into the country, from cameras to iPods. We went through a lot of white-out and a lot of confusion. The best part was hearing multiple guys say “I wish my mom were here to do this for me!” Tomorrow should be better though! No classes and Neptune Day! You’ll hear more about what that’s all about tomorrow (and there’s another birthday wish coming up!) Big big day tomorrow. Tonight, after my one more class that is, they’re showing Pirates of the Caribbean in the Union, so that should be fun too. I’ve been a party pooper a lot of nights because I can’t stay up late when I have class at 9 am. I got too spoiled last semester with no classes before noon.
3 comments:
You better know my age! It's easier to keep up with my low numbers than yours. I ate red velvet cake and it was very good. Thanks for the book :D Have fun! I miss you bunches and bunches :D
I'm jealous of your olympic experience.
too bad our cute boys wont be there! hahah.
stop being a party pooper!
Tsinghua! Haha, you'll love it! I actually didn't make it onto the Tsinghua trip the first time I tried. There were like 50 of us bumped, but I found a guy who was going on Tsinghua whose girlfriend was going to Renmin, so I was able to switch with him because they stuck me in Renmin. And I went to Robben Island too! Funny how that works, isn't it?
As far as South Africa goes, my biggest regret is that I didn't get to go to a township. I don't know if you signed up for one, but if you get the chance to go with Semester at Sea, you should do it! I didn't have much free time in South Africa because I was a safari goer, but if you go to a township I know you won't be disappointed. I also went with some friends to Stellenbasch to do some wine tasting. I'm not a huge wine fan, but it was a good experience. (If you go, try to go to the champaigne vineyard, because the "Le Domaine" champaigne was the best!)
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