Surf's Up

My second and last day in Portugal was awesome for one reason and one reason alone; I went surfing!!!  I knew before leaving on Semester at Sea that one of my "must-do's" was to go surfing in Spain or Portugal.  So, I picked a surfing school, found friends who also wanted to surf, and spent a day at the beach taking a surf lesson!  Our day started at 10am when we met our instructors, Rui and Yugo, from the Epic Surfing School in Lisbon.  From there, we drove about an hour away to a beach where national and international surfing competitions are held!  After struggling to get into our wetsuits and picking up our surfboards, we headed down to the beach.  Rui wanted to give us the most authentic surfing experience possible, so we weren't allowed to wear any shoes while we climbed our way down this rocky, muddy cliff, to actually get on the beach.  It was a little terrifying!  But once we finally touched down on the beach, I almost lost my breath. 

The beach was the most gorgeous beach I've ever seen.  The water was so clear and so blue, and all around the beach were these beautiful, picturesque Portuguese houses.  The waves were rolling in just right, making for an even better view.  Once all of us got over our initial reaction to being on the beach, our lesson began.  After warming up, Rui and Yugo first taught us how to carry our surfboards, how to sit or lie on the boards, and how to catch a wave. We then got in the water to try it out, but I was not expecting it to be so cold! I was very thankful for my wetsuit because everywhere the wetsuit didn't cover was freezing for the first five minutes or so!  After getting used to the water and the waves, we started to learn how to stand up on the boards.  And let me tell you, surfing is a lot harder than it looks!  Although I was in the water for close to 3 hours, I never managed to completely stand up on the board!  I was able to crouch in a half standing position, but that was the closest I got to actually surfing.  I was all right with that though because I had just as good of a time catching the waves lying down and sitting on my surfboard in the middle of the ocean!  I was having such a good time that I was considering getting dock time (having to stay on the ship for a certain amount of time in the next port) and arriving back at the ship late!  But we decided against that, heading out to eat at an amazing cafe/burger joint that Rui and Yugo took us to, and making it back to the ship around 6pm.  

I honestly can't think of any better way to have spent my last day in Portugal than surfing with Rui, Yugo and my friends, Erin, T'keyah, Melody, and Rebecca.  If I can, I am definitely coming back to Lisbon, Portugal to vacation and surf with Rui and Yugo! 

 
 

 

One Man's Trash

Olá from Portugal!  I am so, so glad Semester at Sea decided to go to here!  Portugal is such a unique and beautiful country, one that is definitely different than the United States, a refreshing sight after most of the other European countries!  The streets here in Portugal are just full of brightly colored buildings, palm trees, painted tiles, and hills.  It seemed like the whole city was built on a hill, which made walking around my workout for the day!  And, because Portugal is such a tropical country, it rained a lot, making walking up cobblestone hills even more difficult!  But my first day of exploration was a lot of fun, most notably in the Alfama quarter.

The Alfama quarter is the oldest neighborhood in Lisbon, having many streets and avenues that can only be seen on foot. Although it is such a cultural place, a lot of the homes, apartments, and buildings are in pretty rough shape, something I wasn't expecting to see while in Portugal.  And, I was told by a cab driver that 70% of Portugal is empty because everyone is leaving.  I'm not sure how accurate of a percentage this is, but it leads well into my story about empty apartment buildings.   

While I was walking around Alfama, my friend Sarah and I came to this little street with apartment buildings.  In a corner, there were a bunch of trash bags and boxes immediately caught my eye because there were beautiful paintings sticking out of the box!  I went over to look and came to the conclusion that someone moving out of their apartment decided not to keep the paintings, leaving them on the side of the road.  So, I may have done just a teensy bit of garbage picking in order to get the paintings since I couldn't let these beautiful paintings go to waste!  They're probably going to be the cheapest and most unique souvenirs of my entire voyage!   And the saying does go, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."  My Portuguese paintings are most definitely a treasure and made for a very memorable first day in Portugal. 


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Kiss Me, I'm Irish

Without a doubt, my favorite country that I have traveled to while on Semester at Sea is Ireland!  It wasn't the Book of Kells, Trinity College, the Chester Betty Library, Dublin's Culture Night, the Doorway Edible Art Gallery, Dublin Castle, Porterhouse Pub, Blarney Castle, the Blarney Stone, Gino's Gelato, Penney's, St. Patrick's Cathedral, or the Christ Church Cathedral that made my time in Ireland so special.  What did make my stay in Ireland special was the friendly people, sense of community, country pride, family values, and kindness.  Every single person I talked to was so proud of their culture and heritage (which may have had something to do with the championship game Dublin was playing in while I was there) and so willing to stop what they were doing to talk to me about their life and Irish culture.  I became friends with a small Celtic jewelry stand owner named Steve after talking to him every day I was in Dublin.  Steve not only sold me a beautiful Celtic ring, he also gave me a gift to wish me luck on the rest of my voyage.  In fact, my whole time in Ireland was full of similar encounters like this!  After spending such an amazing four days in Ireland, I am so proud to actually be Irish, something I never really thought about before coming to this beautiful country.  Ireland felt like home to me; it was a country I didn't want to leave and a country I would love to come back to in the future. 

           

LOL

So after arriving back to the ship after spending the day in Paris, I
decided to spend the next day in LeHavre, the small town where our ship was ported. I didn't have very many plans; I just needed to find a post office for stamps, find wifi to Skype my boyfriend, and find a library for a class assignment. However, these few and seemingly boring plans caused the most "LOL's" of my entire voyage so far. Here's the stories:

Since I can't read a map to save my life, I decided I would have to ask someone (in French) for verbal directions to the post office. After analyzing my prey, I pounced upon two old ladies who looked kind enough to help me and kind enough not to make fun of my horrible French. I said hello, introduced myself, apologized for bothering them, and then proceeded to ask them where I could find the post office. The only problem was, I couldn't remember the French word for post office. If you know any French, you're probably dying of laughter right now because post office is an extremely easy word to remember in French (Bureau de Poste). But nevertheless, I couldn't remember it, and therefore had to pull out my postcards and point to the place where the stamp would go,
hoping they would understand. Thank goodness one of the ladies knew exactly what I meant, so she fired off directions in rapid French with a few arm gestures towards the streets. I acted like I understood everything she had said and walked off with my friend in the direction of my best guess. We were only walking for about 2 minutes when I hear yelling and someone running behind me. It turned out it was one of old ladies, running after me in her head covering, long skirt, and heels, shouting in French the whole way. When we were reunited she grabbed my arm and proceeded to lead me to the post office...or so I thought. She actually led me to a little souvenir shop that was selling postcards, because that's what she thought I needed, not stamps. Neither myself or my friend Sarah had the heart to break it to her that we weren't looking for anymore postcards. Lol.

After eventually finding the post office, I decided to go find the
"best" wifi. I had heard that this amazing wifi was in...the
McDonald's. So, not only did I walk all the way across the town for
McDonald's, I walked all this way just for wifi and a hot chocolate. It didn't take me very long to realize that no one in McDonald's spoke very much English, and after about 5 minutes of miming and pointing to what I thought was the hot chocolate on the menu, I walked away with a cup of hot milk, 2 sugar packets, and a packet that said "Banana." I was quite disappointed until I opened the banana packet and realized it was chocolate mix! Turns out that hot chocolate is called "Banana" in France and each customer has to mix their own!

But the McDonald's stories don't end there. Halfway during my Skype conversation, I needed to use the bathroom. Public bathrooms in France are very different than the ones back home. Most public bathrooms require a code to get into, including this one. So, I had to ask the cashier for the bathroom code to unlock the door. However, when I tried to get out of the bathroom, the door wouldn't open! I tried almost everything and had to resort to just panicking and banging on the door hoping someone would hear me. I'm a little embarrassed to say this lasted about 5 minutes longer than it should have, since there was a button right next to the door that when pressed, would allow the door to swing back open. Oops.

And finally, in the smallest and least busiest town I've been to while on Semester at Sea, I almost became road kill. It was raining pretty heavily, so my friend Sarah decided we should just cross the road without a crosswalk so we could get out of the rain and the wind quickly. Neither of us noticed that the road we were crossing looped around behind a tree, so when the car came around the curve, we were already in the middle of the road. But don't worry, I'm clearly still alive since I'm writing this blog. But I don't think I will be crossing roads without crosswalks for a long, long time.

So, I hope my LeHavre stories made you "LOL" as much as I did! Stay tuned for all the upcoming stories about my time in Ireland!

P.S. I'm sorry there are no pictures for this post. For some reason, I
barely took any pictures while in LeHavre, and none are relevant to this post.

Paris in a Day

It's been a little while since I updated my blog, so I apologize!  But, I want to update you on my time in France! Our ship was ported in this tiny town called LeHavre, so for my first day in France, I headed to Paris with a Semester at Sea trip! After taking 5 years of French and hearing how great Paris was, I was pretty excited to explore French's capital.  However, after spending the day there, I honestly have to say that Paris is not that great.  Now, I'm not saying that I didn't have a great time, but the city certainly did not live up to my expectations. Here's why:

1) Paris is first and foremost, a city. It's big, crowded, and dirty.  Most of the people there are tourists, so the city is geared toward tourists.  It was almost impossible to get to know locals because the only people around were tourists!

2) The city is expensive!  Restaurant and shop owners know that their customers will mainly be tourists, so prices are jacked up even more. 

3) A good majority of the shops are chintzy little tourist shops selling souvenirs that lose their charm an hour after buying them.  However, it did look like there are some awesome clothing stores around, but since I was there on a Sunday, none of them were open.  Great planning, Semester at Sea. 

However, there were still many aspects of Paris that I loved!  Here they are:

1) The Eiffel Tower.  I mean, how could I not love it?!  It's this beautiful, romantic monument that every single girl loves!  One of the girls on Semester at Sea even took someone's engagement photos in front on the Eiffel Tower.  How cool is that?!

2) The crepes.  I ordered mine off a street vendor with just sugar on it, and it was one of the most delicious things I have ever tried.  I definitely do not regret my small stomach ache after finishing the whole thing.  You haven't lived until you've tried a French crepe. 

3) The lock bridge!   If you haven't heard of a lock bridge, this is a bridge where couples write their names/initials on a lock, put it on the bridge, and then throw away the key (usually in the water), signifying their love will never die and that they will always be together.  I think this is just the cutest thing, so it was fun to see all the couples putting their locks on the beautiful, sparkling bridge!  However, it's got to be pretty awkward when some of these couples break up and they think back to the fact that they and their ex have a lock on a bridge in one of the most romantic cities in the world!

So overall, while Paris may not have lived up to my expectations, I still enjoyed the short amount of time I had in the city!

Chocolate, Waffles, and Thrift Stores

Before starting my Semester at Sea voyage, I wasn't that excited to be traveling to Belgium.  My original plan was to actually skip right over Belgium and spend all the time we were given for Belgium and France in Paris because there wasn't really anything I wanted to see outside of France's capital.  However, this plan didn't work out, so I ended up with 2.5 days in Belgium.  Before arriving in Belgium, I thought the only things Belgium was known for is chocolate and waffles.  First of all, this is definitely true.   It seemed like everywhere I looked in Antwerp had a chocolate shop or a cafe advertising their waffles!  So of course, I tried both.  Belgian waffles are actually quite different than the waffles in the United States.  In

Belgium, the waffles are VERY crispy, like pretty hard to cut crispy.  I had my waffle with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice (vanilla ice-cream).  It was SO good.  I also tried Belgian chocolate, in the form of hot chocolate.  Hot chocolate throughout Europe is also very different than American hot chocolate.  In Europe, hot chocolate is literally melted chocolate with extra sugar.  It's delicious, but it fills you up VERY fast!  While these foods define the country of Belgium, Belgium is also known for its fashion!  There is a huge shopping street in Antwerp that reminded me exactly of New York City.  It was AWESOME!  My friends and I also searched out a few thrift stores, recommended to us by a Belgian student on-board the ship.  One of the stores we shopped at, Think Twice, had a sale where everything in the store was 3 Euro (4 USD)!  Needless to say, I bought a few things.  It was also at Think Twice that I realized you should always carry your own shopping bags in Belgium because a good amount of the stores do not have them!  I had to carry around my clothes purchases in my hand for a good portion of the day!  (Although I didn't really mind since I had gotten such great deals)

 

                                                                       

















Belgium is also a country full of rich history.  The first day I was in Belgium, I had a field lab to different World War I sites for my World Literature class.   I saw the In Flanders Field Museum, the Menin Gate (a memorial to soldiers whose graves are unknown), the Tyne Cot Cemetery (a World War I cemetery with many graves marked only with "a soldier known by God"), and the Trench of Death (a trench from World War I).  At the Trench of Death, I was able to actually walk through some of the trenches used in the war.   Something I didn't know before is that the majority of the trenches had something called a mouse trap.  The mouse trap was part of the trench that had tiny peepholes in which a bomb could be thrown through if the enemy soldiers broke into the trench.  While this is definitely sad to think about, I also found it to be a pretty ingenious idea used during warfare.  I definitely did not expect for Belgium to be a country with such a long history, so it was enlightening to learn about Belgium's part in World War I.  Overall, I am SO glad I spent time in Belgium instead of skipping over it just to get to Paris! 

Fun Facts:
People in Belgium don't wear open toed shoes
If you wear any clothing besides jeans in Belgium, people will think you are French, not American

German State Fair

Before I left on Semester at Sea, I was VERY disappointed I would be missing the New York State Fair.   It's one of my favorite things to do over the summer because of the 25 cent chocolate milk, butter sculpture, endless stands of shopping, the rabbit building, I Got It, apple dumplings, and the time I get to spend with family.  But I missed it this year...by ONE day.  So I was a little more than upset.  BUT, while I was in Germany, I learned that there's a German version of the New York State Fair.  It's called... the Fish Market.  Imagine waking up around 5am, joining a crowd of people all walking in the same direction past street musicians and down a staircase, to join mass chaos where all you can hear is German shouting, all you can smell is fish, all you can see is flying bananas, all you can touch is scarves, and all you can taste is breakfast pastries.  That's the German Fish Market.  And it was awesome. 

I'm sure you're a least a little bit curious about everything I just said, so I'll try to explain.  The Fish Market did originally start as just a small market where Germans could buy fresh fish and other foods, such as fresh fruit and freshly baked pastries.  However, it has expanded since then to include multiple flea market like stands.  The fish is still a main attraction, and it was amazing to see how many locals just came into the market to buy their fish and then left.  The fishermen were CRAZY too.  I had no idea what they were shouting, but it had to be interesting enough to gather whole crowds of people to just watch them pick up different fish, slap them into paper very loudly, and then pass them out to buyers.  The fruit stand owners were crazy too!  One stand in particular attracted customers by throwing out individual free bananas to the crowds that would gather.   I wasn't skilled enough to catch one of these bananas, but it was still really cool to watch!  However, the flea market stands were my favorite part, considering I love to shop.   Almost every single stand I saw was selling scarves, and a LOT of them!  If you know me, you'll know it's a miracle I only walked out of the market after only buying one scarf (as well as a handmade winter hat)!  It was also interesting that although it was a German market, a few of the stands were selling things from other countries.   There was an India stand, Morocco stand, France stand etc.  In addition, since it was so early in the morning, stands selling breakfast food were very popular.  You could buy fresh donuts, danishes, and a ton of other pastries for a very low cost.  I bought this huge, fresh pastry for only .80 Euro and my friends Morgan and Liz bought 10 mini donuts for 3 Euro!  All in all, the whole market was VERY affordable and a fun, cultural experience to have early on a Sunday morning! 

Sexy and We Know It

Bright and early on Saturday morning, I woke up to volunteer at a foster care farm in the countryside of Dollerup, Germany.  On the ride there, I learned the foster care system in Germany is very different than the foster care system in the United States.  In Germany, foster care is more of a permanent solution instead of a temporary stopping point for children.  For example, some children are placed in German foster care when their parents die and they have no other family to take care of them.  The foster farm I went to had 7 children, ranging from 12 years old to 20 years old, living on the farm.  I learned during introductions that there were 3 girls and 4 boys, and the oldest boy had lived on the farm for 8 years. 

My group's task for the day was to complete 2 service projects, build a wooden soccer goal and paint a mural on a barn wall, and then spend time playing with the kids.  I chose to join the painting group (having flashbacks to painting the girls' walls at the Miracle Garden Orphanage in India the whole time) and had a blast!  While painting the rainbow mural, I was able to talk and bond with Dilan and Alina, 2 of the girls living in the foster home.  These 2 girls were the cutest and most hilarious pre-teens ever!  We had to wear plastic paint suits so we didn't get any paint on our clothes, and Dilan and Alina kept saying how sexy we all looked!  And once one of the other girls started singing the "I'm sexy and I know it" song, they proceeded to sing that song for the rest of the time we painted!        
        When we finished our mural, we headed out to the soccer field to play a game of soccer.  Actually, I should say that most of my group played soccer.   I actually sat on the sidelines with Dilan and Alina to take pictures and swing on this really cool rope swing!  I was really impressed with how high the kids could swing on the rope because you'll see in the picture how high (or more accurately, how low) I was able to get on the rope.  When the soccer game was over, it was time to leave.  Even though we only spent a few short hours at the farm and had a pretty significant language barrier, the kids were SO sad to see us leave.  Dilan must have hugged me 15 times before I got on the bus and kept saying "I love you, I miss you!" And, Dilan and another boy, Jonas, kept climbing onto the bus to tell us not to leave.  If that's not heart wrenching enough, when the bus started driving away, all the kids joined hands and blocked the bus from leaving.  Some even laid down in the middle of the driveway!  It was beyond adorable.  While driving away, I couldn't help but be amazed at how much of an impression we made on the kids in such a short time!  We only built a soccer net and painted a mural, but it made the kids SO happy.   And while we were painting the mural, the kids wanted all of us to paint our hand prints and our names on the wall so they wouldn't forget us.  Not only will the kids at the foster farm never forget us, I know I will never forget the kids.  After all, Dilan and Alina wrote their names on my arm so I would never forget to add them as friends on Facebook! 


                   

Neuengamme

The second day I was in Germany, I decided to do something a little less "touristy" and a little more significant.  I wanted to do something that would mean more to me than just exploring a city with friends.  I decided to go to Neuengamme.   If you have no clue what I'm talking about, don't worry, I had no clue what Neuengamme was either until one of my professors strongly suggested I travel there while in Germany.  So, Neuengamme was a concentration camp located around 15 kilometers outside of Hamburg during the Holocaust.   Today, Neuengamme acts as a memorial for all the Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, a memorial for the survivors, and a historical site for those wanting to learn more about what took place at Neuengamme during the Holocaust.  When I decided to go to Neuengamme with my friends Liz and Kacey, none of us knew what to expect.  We had all learned about the Holocaust in school and knew how horrible the concentration camps were, but none of that really sunk in for us until we stepped foot into Neuengamme, a real concentration camp where real Jewish prisoners worked and were killed.  I had been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. before, but until I stepped on the same ground where Jewish prisoners stepped during the Holocaust, the Holocaust was almost just a story to me.  I couldn't really connect to what I had learned about the Holocaust until I was literally in a concentration camp and in the buildings where the Jews were kept as prisoners.  I was able to see remains of the prison wall, the German watch tower, the building where the Jews were forced to make bricks, the basement of a building where the Jews were kept when there were raids on the camp, and the names of all the Jews who died while in Neuengamme.  It was one of the most saddening, yet most moving moments I have ever had in my life.  However, I am so thankful I was able to spend the day at Neuengamme.  It gave me the chance to learn the history of a small concentration camp while giving me a whole new perspective on the Holocaust and Germany. 

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God..."
Romans 3:23

                                                                                                         

Stairs, Stairs, And More Stairs

Germany is one of the coolest countries in the world.  I just spent 4 days in Hamburg, Germany, and I don't even know where to begin retelling my stories.  There's so much that I did and so much that I want to write about, that my time in Germany is probably going to be split up into a few different blog posts!  I hope you don't mind!  So, my first day in Germany was spent exploring (on foot) the city of Hamburg with Nicole, Morgan, Andrew, Tommy, Lyle, and Sean, all people I've met and become friends with on Semester at Sea!  Our first stop was St. Michael's Church, where you could go to the very top of the church to see out over the whole city.  For some reason, I thought it would be really cool to take the stairs all the way to the top, instead of taking the convenient and comfortable lift.  Why?  I'm not really sure.  Maybe I wanted the "full experience" or maybe I thought that the 462 STAIRS wasn't going to be that bad.  Either way, I was wrong.  I was sweating the whole way up those stairs...but I am VERY proud to say that I did, in fact, make it all the way to the top without giving in and taking the lift.  I'd also like you to know that I climbed each and every one of those 462 stairs in boots.  I know you're all impressed.  And even though I thought I was going to die the whole way up, climbing up the stairs was definitely worth it when I reached the top and could see over all of Hamburg. 

After our morning exercise, we then headed to a local German restaurant for lunch.  Naturally, I chose to order dessert.  I REALLY love German desserts.  My meal was a delicious pancake rolled up with warm fruit inside and topped with ice-cream and powdered sugar.  I'm 100% confident it was better than the burgers and beer that everyone else had!  After lunch, we headed to a nearby park, found this huge statue that had to be important and played a card game on the statue stairs.  Let's just say this card game included jumping over hedges and dog poop stuck on shoes.  Enough said. We then checked out a small German grocery store, which was strangely very similar to an American grocery store, and headed back to the ship for dinner. 

Around 8pm, I headed back out in search of a light/water

show that would be taking place in a nearby park with a few other girls.  The show didn't start until 9:30pm, so we figured we had enough time to get there.  Well, the park ended up being HUGE and after getting lost multiple times, it took us almost an hour and a half to reach the show.  And, the show had started at 9pm, not 9:30pm, so after walking all that way, all we got to see was the 2 minute finale!  But hey, finales are always the best part, right?!  And the night ended up being pretty fun, since we were all lost on an adventure together.  However, if you're ever in Germany, I recommend not to walk through the Planten un Blomen Park in the middle of the night, especially if you don't speak German and don't know where you are going.

Fun Facts:
-The designated bike lanes on EVERY road and sidewalk in Germany are no joke.  If you're walking in them, bicyclists will run you over.
-If you have to go to the bathroom while walking around Germany, expect to pay about 1.5 Euros to use a glorified porta potty that may get you wet with automatic cleansing solution used on the floors and walls when you've finished
         
         








 

City of Dolls

For the past 4 days, I've been hanging out in St. Petersburg, Russia!  I visited the Hermitage Museum (the world's largest art gallery from what I've been told) and the Winter Palace, saw the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (the most beautiful church I've ever seen), checked out a famous monument (of which I can't remember the name), ate in a couple Russian cafes, walked in a Russian park, visited a local grocery store, and shopped at a small market.  With that being said, before arriving in Russia, I had no idea what to expect.  But after 4 days of walking, observing, and exploring Russia, I think I've learned quite a bit about the culture of St. Petersburg.  

1) The city is FULL of Russian nesting dolls.  There are HUNDREDS of these dolls at every street stand and every gift shop in St. Petersburg.  I don't know if Russians think all tourists want to buy one or if they simply like them because they brighten up a store, but they are literally everywhere.  Not only are they everywhere, they're expensive too!  Most of the dolls I saw were going for $35-80!  You've been warned.

2) Russian culture is very different from American culture.  In Russia, people don't smile often.  For example, when you check out of a store in Russia, the clerk does not smile at you.  And if you smile at clerks or strangers, they look almost uncomfortable!  I've heard multiple different explanations for this, so I'm not going to try and speculate why this is.  But, all in all, Russia is not a very "warm" country. 

3) But Russia IS a beautiful country.  No matter where you look, there are beautiful, pastel colored buildings.  There are beautiful, ornate churches all around St. Petersburg too, including the churches that are not tourist sites.  I don't know why, but Russia is just a much more aesthetic country than the United States. 

4) The Russian military is everywhere.  I feel like I saw military personnel every single time I walked around the city.   At first, it was such a shock because the only time I see the American military in the United States is when the troops are traveling home.  But eventually, I got used to seeing the military every day and it seems like their presence is just part of Russian daily culture. 

5) The family dynamic in St. Petersburg seems to be different than in America.  For example, when I saw children here in Russia, they were almost always with their mothers or the elderly.  I almost never saw children with their fathers.  I don't know if this was just a coincidence, but I thought it was worth noting.

6) Couples don't hold hands in St. Petersburg (or at least I didn't see any that did).  However, it's a very common thing for females (friends or family members) to hold hands or to link elbows while walking.  Even though this isn't a huge cultural difference from America, it was still pretty cool to observe. 

7) It's true; Russia has a cold climate.  Even though it's still summer here, it was still too cold to wear shorts and a t-shirt!  I was a little disappointed. 

8) Religion is a big part of Russian culture, specifically Christian Orthodox.  My last day in Russia was on a Sunday, and I'm pretty sure I saw almost every resident who lives near the port make their way to church.   I also noticed that whenever females entered an orthodox church, they had to put on a head scarf to cover their head and hair.  I wish I had brought a bigger scarf with me while walking around on a Sunday morning because I would have loved to attend a church service, but I didn't.  However, I am still glad I got to observe the part that religion plays in the Russian culture. 

9) Russians have a strong opinion or perception of Americans.  In a Russian cafe, I was reading the English menu pages.  Under each food item, the menu would describe what the food was in English.  All the food items had a typical description except for the french fries.   The description for French Fries read, "This you know well."  I feel like that sums up pretty well how Russians view Americans!

So after finishing this post, I've realized that I still have many questions about the things I've "learned" while in Russia!  However, in the 3 days of classes I have before arriving in Germany, we will be discussing our experiences in Russia, so hopefully I will get answers to some of my questions!  But overall, I really enjoyed the time I spent exploring St. Petersburg, Russia!  

 

Strength

I know, I haven't written a blog post in a while. This is partly
because I haven't had time and partly because being on the ship is...
difficult. To be honest with you all, ship life is really hard. I'm
not going to go into details right now because I've made a promise to
myself and God that I'm only going to focus on the good things for the
next couple weeks, but I would really appreciate it if you all kept me
in your prayers. Living on the MV Explorer is going to take a LONG
period of adjustment, but I know that I can make it through with God's
strength. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me." Even though I've gone through rough times before
now, I can honestly say that studying abroad on Semester at Sea is the
hardest thing I have ever gone through. This is the first time I've had
to actually make an effort to believe in the promise that I can do
anything with the help and strength of Christ. But I'm there. God had
a reason for putting me on this ship and in this study abroad program.
Even though I may not understand His purpose for having me here yet, I'm
strengthened by the fact that He does have a purpose for me being on
Semester at Sea. And as soon as I figure out that reason, you'll be
some of the first to know! But until that time, stay tuned for a blog
post about my experiences in Russia! It was pretty cool.

P.S. I'd like to thank my parents, Nick, Gale, Jody, Carrie, Sumi, and
my grandpa for helping me through these last couple of days. I
wouldn't have reached the feeling of peace being on the ship without all
your help. So, thank you all for being willing to help me through my
rough patch. I couldn't have done it without you.