Letter from Ghana

This post is a gift to me from me. My essay writing has been quite difficult lately, just not flowing and feeling good, and that has had a frustrating, negative impact on my life on the ship. Best case scenario is that I would figure out how to feel better about writing and move to a happily productive place. Well, that's not happening. This upcoming stretch of days at sea, between when we leave Ghana tonight and when we arrive in Cape Town on October 3, is very precious to me because it will be my last ship days of the voyage. Many wonderful things are planned and I want to savor the time and enjoy it to the fullest. So today I'm going to just write to you all, off the top of my head, about my time in Ghana and call it good.

 

The news I'm bursting to tell you is that it FINALLY happened – I had a conversation with the Archbishop and Leah at breakfast this morning! It was not very long because they were already finished when I went to their table but they graciously stayed and talked a while before excusing themselves to go rest in their cabin. Their previous two days had been exciting but exhausting. When I sat down with them, they were recounting the adventures of being taken to Kumasi to meet the king! The Archbishop was receiving a lifetime African achievement award from an NGO here and there was a great celebration put on in his honor including fabulous drumming and dancing. Leah said she had never shaken so many hands and Arch was describing the jewelry –multiple amazing gold bracelets and huge rings – the king wore.

 

I missed most of the story but the Tutus did rave about the five students chosen to accompany them, how nice they looked and behaved, and how excited they were. I know the kids have been asked to tell the story from their perspective to all of us soon and I can't wait to hear that. I saw the stretch limo and police cars of the motorcade leaving the dock yesterday when they returned our esteemed friend to the ship. They had flown by charter to Kumasi then to Accra, the capitol, to meet with the Vice President – the President was reportedly in China. I wonder if they were talking about the recent discovery of oil off the coast near Takoradi where we are in port. Besides the students, David Geis, the academic dean, and Lucille Renwick, the Communications Coordinator who writes the official SAS blog for the voyage, also joined the entourage of officials and journalists on the trip. Both of them are friends so I'm looking forward to their tales as well.

 

Breakfast with the Tutus was really a special treat. After the stories of their adventure, I was able to talk a little and mention again my connections to St Tim's, where their granddaughter just graduated, and also with Arch's personal assistant, Lavinia, who was a shipmate on Spring 2009. Lavinia and I are set to have dinner in Cape Town one night I'm there and I'm looking forward to hearing about her recent work with the Archbishop's foundation's program on HIV/AIDS. I also got to know Pumla Gobodo, a commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, when Swanee brought a group of us together at her ranch so I shared that with him. The most wonderful part of our conversation for me was when I told them that I was getting sad because I was leaving in Cape Town. I explained that I was here because I just could not resist being on at least part of the voyage with the two of them but that having just recently sailed the whole voyage and having obligations at home, I just had to leave. Arch said, with his wonderfully vibrant sincerity: "Oh, no! Isn't there a way we can talk you into staying?" From a man revered by the world and celebrated by kings, that simple question brought me honor I'll remember always.

 

Hard to follow that story but I want to also share just a little about my time here. Having never been to West Africa at all and this being the only port on the itinerary I'd not visited, I was very excited to come to Ghana. My overall impression is that, although there are obvious and extensive challenges economically and socially, the Ghanaians are doing fairly well, especially when compared to other African countries I've visited such as Zambia. Two indicators that stood out for me were the good shape the roads were in and the presence of a middle class. Even though there are many paved roads, reportedly the traffic is horrible in Accra. I was sorry to not get there at all but the difficulties with transportation were the reason SAS chose to port in Takoradi instead, which is quite a distance west. The port is completely industrial and I doubt a cruise ship has ever been here. They are definitely not ready for prime time tourism here but that was kind of nice because the city feels authentic. A number of vendors traveled from Cape Coast and Accra, both cities more accustomed to tourists, and set up their wares right on the wharf. They had local crafts we could not find anywhere in town so that was convenient. I shopped there this morning and bought some strips of Kente cloth, a wooden bowl and some lovely handmade glass beads. One of the Lifelong Learners is a jewelry maker and he brought tools, wire and clasps with him. He offered to help us make things if we bought the beads so that's one thing I'll be doing in the upcoming days at sea.

 

I took three SAS day trips in Ghana. The first was to a hospital in Cape Coast with the Childbirth and Fetal Development class. It was a hard choice between this trip and a simultaneous one to visit a group of Queen Mothers who had gathered from across a whole region to meet with students. From all reports, I probably would have learned more in the second but luckily my colleague from Beyond Our Borders, Karen Yuan from Colorado Springs, did that trip so I'm hoping for a detailed report. Often my health care interests compete with my gender equity interests but that's okay. The hospital was the third level of care, a regional hospital with district hospital and health centers below that. It was well staffed and not over-crowded. As is common here, there were very few disposable supplies and it had mostly low tech equipment. But they did have four operating theaters and seemed to offer a broad range of care. Ghana has national health insurance that sounded comprehensive and only costs $15 per year, quite affordable I thought, even for a developing country.

 

I also visited a village built on stilts on a lake. The two-hour roundtrip boat ride was the best part of the trip. Our canoe held five people plus our boatman, Pont. He poled the canoe with the help of the two of us who were guys. I tried to do my part by bailing as the vessel slowly filled with water. As we went along, I envied my fellow bailers I saw in other canoes because they had plastic scoops and coffee cans while I had a plastic lid much like a Frisbee, definitely not "the proper tool" as my father would say. Talk about bailing out the ocean by teaspoons! While this spoiled American woman grumbled to herself, Pont threw his back into his job, handicapped by the water weight I wasn't able to adequately bail, and entertained us all the while with delightful Ghanaian songs.

 

The village was a disappointment. We walked through to the end of it and were seated in an open air room, then welcomed and told a short history of the people by the chief. At the end, he asked for donations which we gave, generously I thought. Someone saw him start to count the money before we were even out of the room. Then we walked back to the canoes – a visit of maybe 45 minutes. The adult villagers were beyond jaded, actually rude to me, rarely even making eye contact. We asked the chief how many visitors they got a year, domestic and foreign because apparently Ghanaians visit frequently as well. He proudly said "Twelve thousand!" No wonder the people were totally over the tourists! A steady stream marched back and forth every day, many, I'm sure, trampling on the laundry laid out to dry on the walkways. With a lot of care I managed to avoid that faux pas, but I got a horrible feeling of walking through a popular zoo. I felt embarrassed by my complicity in such a dehumanizing experience, no matter how lucrative it was for the village. In fact, I questioned where all the money was going – the proceeds from their tourist endeavors were nowhere in evidence. The children, as usual, saved the day. They delighted in our stickers and crayons, and enjoyed the bubbles I blew for them. We were told they learn to swim and paddle a canoe by the age of three or four. Several of the other SAS village visits I heard about were much better, with wonderful welcoming celebrations including lots of drumming and dancing. I hope they take this one off the list.

 

The real focus of our stop in Ghana, for me, was going to what are called castles but are actually the dungeons and embarkation points for captives bound for the Middle Passage and slavery in the New World. I prepared myself for an experience similar to going to the Killing Fields in Cambodia or the Peace Museum in Hiroshima. I can't do my experience justice now, not yet. I need to process it and hopefully will be able to write about it later. I'll just share a little.

 

The coast of Ghana was the place where the large majority of slaves were sent from, having been funneled in there from many, many other places in Africa over the four hundred year tragedy that was the slave trade. This history was the subject of several of my classes and I had learned a lot. As some of you may know, Ghana has become the focus of what is called "diaspora tourism" or people of African ancestry, mostly African Americans, coming back here to be in touch with their roots and learn about their history. What a difficult and courageous journey! Being a white Southerner, I didn't know how it would feel to me but I tried to stay open and just take it in. I visited both the castles in Elmina and the one in Cape Coast that President Obama visited in 2009, guided by the same man we were fortunate enough to have leading our group. The stone dungeons themselves and the dark, narrow passageways through which the captives passed to board those unspeakably inhumane ships were – well, I don't know how to finish that sentence. "Unimaginably horrific" doesn't do them justice. But as powerful as the experience of being in those places was, for me it was much worse to be in the Dutch CHURCH built two levels up from the cells and the governor's quarters on the top floor. Sorry, I truly can't go on. There's more but it's not ready to be told yet.

 

We sail tonight for Cape Town and I'm really looking forward to this segment. First, there will be post-port meetings to share our stories of Ghana and there are many I can't wait to hear. Neptune Day is coming up. A fabulous woman from IBM, who has been traveling with us since Morocco and also leaving in Cape Town, has given riveting lectures on sustainability and will be speaking to my Sustainable Communities class. She has kindly invited me to a private dinner the night before we arrive in South Africa so that should be fun. We'll have our first talent show/cabaret night and also Neptune Day. Best of all, we get to focus on the Archbishop's home country and the students will be treated to learning its history from a very special source. In addition to lecturing in Global Studies, he is also scheduled to visit my Global Music class tomorrow – to teach us to dance!

 

So thanks for letting me ramble on in lieu of a more organized essay about Ghana. I've got to go shower off the tropical sweat I just earned doing some hard bargaining with the vendors down on the wharf. At on ship time tonight, I've organized a Lifelong Learner party to use up my supplies of vodka, wine and snacks.  Can't be taking that home - I need the room for my new treasures.

 

 

 

 

Midnight at the Oasis

The crescent moon had grown a little fatter during the two days since its appearance had signaled the end of Ramadan. I watched it dance a slow arc towards the desert horizon with its lovely partner, Venus, who was wearing what my granddaughter Lucy calls her “sparkly dress”. As the celestial couple dipped behind a palm tree classically silhouetted in the foreground, a forty-year old melody showed up in my head to furnish the dance music. Maria Muldaur’s lusty voice crooned: “Midnight at the oasis. Send the camels to bed. Shadows paintin’ our faces. Traces of romance in our heads.” Actual camels had already gone to bed, kneeling on the sand outside the enclosed square created by the brown canvas tents of our nomad camp near Zagora, Morocco. With low snorts and huffs, they settled in for the night. In the morning they would carry all ninety of us in our Semester at Sea group out into the desert for a ride.

Muldaur’s tune looped over and over in my head as the experience of a dream come true sent frissons of excitement in waves through my body. Even after the moon set, the magic continued into the night. A bonfire was lit in a pit in the center of the carpeted square of the enclosure, and its sparks shot up, competing with the countless stars in the black dome of night overhead. I marveled at the colorful rugs I had only seen in tastefully decorated American homes. Here they served their original purpose: an overlapping barrier to the sand, a lovely blue and red carpet for an outdoor living space. A stranger in a strange land, I felt comforted and welcomed by the gracious ambiance created by those rugs. Around the fire, white robed and turbaned dancers, singers and drummers performed their songs, dissonant and foreign to my ears. One woman’s powerful ululation filled the air and we all watched mesmerized as her tongue rapidly vibrated in her open mouth to produce the sound. The drumbeats called insistently for us to join in, and as we clapped and danced, what had been a performance turned into a communal event. In my Global Music class on the ship, Professor Daniel Ferguson had talked about the cultural differences that divide artistic from participatory music. On the edge of the Sahara Desert, I was witnessing then happily joining in the transformation from one to the other.

Initially a little shy, the SAS students and adults were urged to join the celebration by a buoyant, thirty-something Moroccan woman dressed in capri jeans and a white blouse with a turquoise scarf around her neck, an outfit identical to those I regularly wear. By her movements throughout the camp and her interactions with the guests and staff, I could tell she was in charge. At one point I saw her sitting off to the side on a low wooden stool. I squatted down beside her, introduced myself and tried to learn a little about her. Her name was Bouchra, which she told me meant “beautiful gift”. Her English was fairly good, and I was thankful because my French was much worse. I learned that she was the manager of not only this nomad camp but also a hotel and several 4x4 and camel excursion outfits, all owned by her father. The idea of a young Muslim woman in a position of authority scraped against the smooth surfaces of my stereotypes of this culture. Even though nepotism undoubtedly played a part in her rise to this position, I appreciated her skills and the opportunity she had to use them. In my work with gender equity issues over the years, I’ve become aware that men who have only daughters are some of the strongest feminists. I didn’t feel comfortable asking but would love to know if she had any brothers.

After our conversation, I went back to the group and sat watching the fire burn down. An uncomfortable feeling began to intrude into my bliss. Suddenly I began to think of Bouchra as the little man behind the great Wizard of Oz. The magical, romantic fantasy I was reveling in morphed a little when I looked at it through her eyes. For her, this was a business, a well crafted show to provide tourists with the experience of being in the Moroccan desert, in what was billed as a nomad camp. There are still nomadic peoples in this country, some Berber and some Arabic. Our guide told us they wear blue robes like the one I noticed was worn by the man who lit our fire. Was he culturally a nomad or just playing a role? The camp itself seemed built for its tourist purpose--no nomads had probably ever slept in these tents with their camels resting nearby. Our Muslim hosts had provided us with a full bar and access to toilets that flushed, most of the time anyway. Were we in a Saharan Disneyland? Should I expect Aladdin to pop out any minute? Looking back, I wonder that these questions about authenticity didn’t completely kill my buzz. As it turned out, my delight had staying power. I went to sleep on my little mattress in the tent with Muldaur’s song still in my head.

In the morning I got up early and climbed to the top of a dune to watch the eastern horizon turn from gray to pink to blazing gold.

I wasn’t that interested in the camel ride portion of our itinerary, having done one in Cairo that resembled a pony ride at a county fair. But for many of the students, the camel ride was the most anticipated part of the trip. They bargained for gauzy scarves at roadside stalls during our rest stops on the long bus ride down to the desert, experimented with various methods of wrapping them into turbans and mugged for each other’s cameras. Our ride the next day was actually quite fun, almost two hours long with six or seven camels tied together and led by their owner, walking past fields and farm families going through their morning routines. The process was very similar to trail rides at a dude ranch in the American west. Riding along, I wondered if Bouchra visited me in Colorado and I took her to one of those ranches, would she enjoy buying a cowboy hat, singing along with a guitar around a campfire, and watching the moon set over the Rockies? Would she care if she slept in a bunkhouse that might never have sheltered a real cowboy? One motivation for travel is dream fulfillment. That’s what a Bucket List is for, isn’t it? If the dream feels fulfilled, as mine so fortunately did, why should we question how?

After we all returned to the ship and set sail for Ghana, I had dinner with my new friends Deena and Jim Behnke. They were brimming over with excitement about their SAS trip and enchanted me with stories of hiking through the Atlas Mountains, sleeping in Berber villages and immersing themselves in the rural Moroccan lifestyle. The places they slept were not tourist accommodations but the flat roofs of Berber houses. The toilets certainly didn’t flush. Jim exclaimed that one village had just gotten electricity the year before. They ate basic Berber food, and the students played soccer with the village children. They seemed to have lived what is widely considered to be the ultimate traveler experience and couldn’t have been more excited about it. Dinner ended before I could take my turn at storytelling which worked out well for me. Again, I was dealing with uncomfortable questions. Had I visited Frontierland while they hiked the Continental Divide?

I’ve written here before about the sort of buyers’ remorse that often comes when shipmates share stories of their travels in port. It’s almost impossible to listen and not compare. No matter how wonderful your own adventure was, someone else’s can sometimes sound even better, and you are left feeling a little envious. I have finally learned to listen to these stories, accepting any envy I may feel, but settling at last into gratitude. Semester at Sea affords me the opportunity to hear fresh, first-hand accounts of amazing experiences from many different perspectives. My voyage is enriched by vicariously enjoying the adventures of literally hundreds of travelers.

(photo by Maria Sakaria)

My felt experience in Morocco was extraordinary, shimmering still inside me. Despite the intrusions of my analytical mind, I am convinced the imprint of those sensations will stay with me always: the sweetness of the scalding mint tea; the welcoming feel of Berber carpets beneath my feet; the ululations, drumbeats and camel noises; the hearty smell of lamb tagine at dinner; the gracious warmth and hospitality of our hostess; and, most of all, the sight of the crescent moon and Venus setting slowly behind the silhouette of a desert palm. I have experienced “Midnight at the Oasis” – the magic of its beauty, the celebration of its music, the excitement of the fulfillment of a dream – and I am left with special memories and deep gratitude.

BEGINNING MISCELLANEY

 

Mornings on the ship are sometimes a little challenging. We've had four, count them, four continuous nights of time changes as we journey across the North Atlantic heading for Cadiz, Spain, with 2 more singly before that. Even though it sounds like the changes are gradual, they are definitely cumulative. This morning I reluctantly left my cozy cot and slogged through my workout, spurred on by the reward of my Starbuck's coffee at the end. The ship coffee is truly nasty and everyone I advised to bring their own French press has thanked me profusely. So I'm hunkered down in the dining room, worshipping the brew, and suddenly one sound completely changes my mood. From a table behind me, what can only be called a giggle, at once deep-throated and high pitched, fills the room: "Hee hee hee hee hee". Arch has joined us for breakfast.

 

Archbishop Tutu's presence among us is a gift that is difficult to describe. He not only honors us with his decision to make this voyage and share his wisdom with us in meetings and classes, he also models in his everyday life the characteristics of humility, an infectious playfulness born of living in the moment and respect for and belief in the essential goodness of people that he speaks about so passionately in public. He and his wife Leah have managed to be among as role models for all to see and emulate but also as real people. They are welcoming and gracious as they meet over 750 students, faculty, staff members and lifelong learners, each of us shy and insecure at first but quickly put at ease by their genuine friendliness. It has a lot to do with that laugh.

 

I've only had one brief conversation with them and that was our first day, back in Halifax. Les McCabe has just escorted them onto the ship and I was standing near enough to join the group and welcome them. I reminded Arch that I had spoken with him at the St. Timothy School commencement where on of their granddaughters was in the graduating class and I was attending as an alum.  His face lit up and he quickly introduced me to Leah; they both beamed as we connected as grandparents and I complemented their beautiful, smart and accomplished granddaughter. Now I long for a real conversation. They join the LLLs in the lounge for our Happy Hour meetings so hopefully that will happen soon.

 

In other news, my courses are stimulating and diverse. Because I am only going on a third of the voyage, I decided to sit in on a number and not commit to a few as I usually do by doing all the readings and having more of a focus. So far I've been to classes in sustainable communities, global music, travel writing, global societies, family/community/utopia, fetal development and childbirth, the rhetoric of film and the core course everyone takes, global studies. Fascinating! I think I've learned most in the sustainable communities class. The professor states his main thesis as "Enough, for everyone, forever" or economy, equity and ecology. After living around the environmental movement for decades but never really connecting with or committing personally to its goals, beyond simple things like recycling and buying responsible light bulbs, I have finally gotten excited about the social equity piece of it, the "enough for everyone". We've also talked about the locavore or locally grown food movement which I've been interested in for awhile. Rocky Rohwedder, the brilliant and charismatic professor from Sonoma State University, told us about "guerilla gardeners" who were new to me. They dress up in Ninja outfits and, under the cover of night, plant gardens somewhere they do not have permission to use, often a public green space in a low income area. They leave a sign that invites the local residents to take responsibility for the garden and share the harvest among themselves.

 

Regular readers of this blog might remember that on my last voyage I tried to look at quoz, The Other, and my encounters with it. For this voyage, I want to look at what happens in the relationships, the exchanges that I experience with people from another culture. I read Pico Iyer's masterful article "Why We Travel" http://www.salon.com/travel/feature/2000/03/18/why and was struck by his discussion of what American travelers bring to these meetings. I've always been so focused either on what I wanted to learn or on not being disrespectful or culturally insensitive that I have forgotten to honor the give and take of meeting a new person from the point of view of what they might be seeing in me. I'm still a little uncomfortable with the notion because it seems more self-centered than I want to be, and I know I'll always want to focus on openness and respect. But it might be a step towards normalizing these encounters with local people to be aware of or learn about how they see me, what they're curious about, what they might need in that exchange. Iyer suggests that we can bring "a fresh and renewed sense of how special are the warmth and beauty of their country". You can "teach them what they have to celebrate as much as you celebrate what they have to teach you". I remember when my mother visited Denver from Shreveport and we would be driving somewhere, me in my mundane, getting- from-here- to-there groove. I would turn west and she would throw up her hands and gasp at the beauty of the mountains, a vista I ignored on a regular basis. Or she would turn on the tap and say "Oooooh, I just love how cold the water is here." Visitors can bring locals gifts of wonder and fresh senses, not just a casual "Your country is so beautiful" but a specific and appreciative act of seeing, listening, tasting and feeling that I hope to share.

 

My first chance to practice this will be in Spain. We arrive tomorrow in Cadiz and that evening I will go with my fabulous global music professor to an authentic Andalusian flamenco club. Dan Ferguson has taught music at Columbia as well as several universities in California, is a touring professional guitarist and speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese fluently! I've already learned lots about this passionate musical form and am really looking forward to the performance tomorrow night. When I was in Spain before, I never got the chance to go to Grenada and visit the Alhambra, reportedly the most popular site in the country. I struck out finding someone to go with so I'll be traveling solo, either on the bus or train, not sure yet, and staying for two nights in a restored Moorish home that has been converted to a hotel in the old Arabian quarter. I haven't explored on my own in quite a while so this should be great fun.

 

Finally, being on the ship this time has been a little different. If you scroll down to the posts just before this one, you'll see that I shared tips on getting ready for an SAS voyage, just hints I've collected over the years and thought it more efficient to write down somewhere. I posted links on the SAS Fall 2010 Facebook page and apparently lots of future voyagers checked them out. Many students have come up to me to thank me for doing that and to say very nice things about how helpful my advice was. More than a few have said something like "My mom really loved your blogs too and she made me promise to find you and thank you."  In the Lifelong Learner group particularly, I've become the Go To person for questions of every kind. Fortunately, there are many resources now that we're on the ship, including our marvelous LLL coordinator, Betty Waldrin, who has sailed 19 times and two other LLL couples who have sailed 10 times each! The early days of a voyage can be overwhelming so we've all been busy helping everyone get settled and oriented. Those exchanges, coupled with the fact that I'm only going to be on the ship for a short time, have made me feel a little like a staff member instead of a voyager myself. It's been great fun but I also want to shift my focus now to my experiences, my relationships, my writing, etc. It's already going by way to fast and I want to savor it all!

 

 

The Thrill of Transition

One of my very favorite parts of a travel adventure is right on top of us. It's that moment, maybe in the airport after you've said your last goodbye, maybe when you get that first glimpse of the ship, when you realize that it's finally here! After all the months of planning, hard work and excitement, it's really happening, right this minute. But the best part of that feeling is that none of it is over yet, it's all stretched out in front of you! The moment of transition from dream to reality, from anticipation to experience - that feeling, that's what I love!

Health and Wellness on SAS

On to health: the deal here is Be Prepared! No one wants their trip of a lifetime marred by illness but it happens, so the idea is to be ready so that any episodes are as short and mild as possible. There is a full clinic and fabulous staff of doctors, nurses and PAs on board who will help you through any sickness. Use them wisely of course, like during clinic hours whenever possible, as opposed to waking them up in the middle of the night because your stuffy nose is preventing you from sleeping. There are three main types of illnesses that typically strike voyagers and you should plan for each one.

Nearly everyone worries about seasickness before the voyage and it's my impression that most people deal with it, to one degree or another, sometime during the voyage. There are a lucky few who never feel the least bit queasy but also a very few who just never get it under control. Everyone else deals with it for one to several days but soon gets their sea legs and it's no longer an issue. First, if you've had experience with any kind of motion sickness before, bring whatever worked for you then. I'm a particular fan of Bonine, which is the name brand of meclizine, the generic that is offered for free, along with condoms, in bins outside the clinic. It doesn't make you sleepy and works best if you take it just before the ship sails. BTW, one of the little known symptoms of seasickness is drowsiness so don't always blame it on your medication and be prepared to feel kind of wiped out in the first days of the voyage. If you've had significant trouble with motion sickness before, you might consider getting prescription Scopolamine patches from your doctor. You wear them behind your ear and they are very effective for some people. A word of caution (have I mentioned I'm a retired nurse?): the full dose, a whole circle, is often too much for people, depending on your body weight and drug metabolism. The side effects can be pretty awful so if in doubt or if you're having problems, cut the patches in half or even thirds if you're small. The point is to find the most effective dose without bothersome side effects and it isn't necessarily the standard dose. I'd also discontinue using them sooner rather than later and see how you're doing. But that's just my two cents worth - as always, your doctor can best advise you, or even better, a travel clinic since they specialize in these issues. Wrist bands that use acupressure points are effective for some people so you might start there, if you're into that sort of thing, and move on to drugs if that doesn't do the trick. Ginger in the form of tea, candy or even gingerale is a trusted remedy for mild symptoms. So bring a couple of options to see what works for you and remember that the clinic is there to help. Please do not stay in your cabin for days, not able to keep anything at all down, without asking for help. The medical staff can give you an injection in severe cases so use them if you can't get the seasickness under control yourself.

Few people manage to avoid some sort of respiratory illness during the voyage - it's just one of the side effects of close living in a large community. You can go a LONG way towards avoiding colds by washing your hands often, way more often than you would at home, and using the hand sanitizer dispensers located all throughout the ship. Make it a habit to squirt some sanitizer on before meals in the dining rooms - the machine is right there, just use it! Although you will be amazed at the fabulous and constant job the crew does of keeping the ship clean, you can be smart about where your hands go in the public areas of the ship. For instance, unless the ship is really rocking, I try not to use the handrails on the stairways - that knocks out 10 to 15 opportunities a day to pick up a cold. Again, you will see the crew cleaning those rails every day but I'm just sayin', be aware of keeping your hands as clean as possible. In case you do get a cold, bring from home whatever you've found works best for you - I always bring Tylenol and plain sudaphed, but that's just me.

The dreaded travelers' diarrhea is the last common illness SASers experience. Prevention is key here. The medical staff will advise you over and over in preport meetings before every stop about the food and water safety in that country. Pay attention, folks, and do what they say. It's my opinion that following those precautions will prevent 80 to 85% of stomach problems. As a general rule, I never take ice in my drinks or eat anything that is raw or I haven't peeled myself, including anything that is billed as a salad. I know, after you've soldiered through the limited salad offerings on the ship, those raw veggies and cut-up fruit salads look pretty great. I make exceptions only in really nice hotels and restaurants that cater to international travelers, but it's safest not to. Think about the toilet and hygiene facilities available to the food handlers and bypass that mango the street vendor has just peeled for you with his machete. There are many glorious food options in every country where you can sample and enjoy local cuisine that is thoroughly cooked so be sure to do that, just be smart about it.

Some people take a Pepto tablet before every meal in port, just as a preventative. But be sure to bring some type of over-the-counter diarrhea medicine with you if sickness strikes. Take it at the first sign of a problem. I like Lomotil; it's available in several forms. You might also ask your doctor or travel clinic about bringing a few Cipro tablets with you. This is an antibiotic that you don't have to take for days. If I get the first episode of TD, I take one Lomotil and one Cipro and I've yet to have it go any further, but that's just what works for me. Cipro is a very broad spectrum antibiotic and not to be used lightly or frequently - you may need it later in your life when you have a difficult to treat infection and you don't want to be resistant to it then. But it is my doctor's opinion that you're on a trip of a lifetime and you don't want it spoiled by days of diarrhea so it's appropriate to take the Cipro if necessary. Opinions vary widely about this so you and/or your doctor may disagree with me. Please do whatever makes sense to you and follow the advice you are given by professionals who know you.

A reminder about prescription drugs: You will need a few days more than the maximum three months worth of drugs most insurance plans allow you to buy at once. Check with your pharmacy and make plans for dealing with that well in advance of leaving. Once onboard, you will be asked to put all but a relatively small amount of most prescriptions in its original container in the clinic pharmacy for safekeeping. Please pack those drugs in your backpack when you come to the ship, better yet, in your money belt. The last voyage I volunteered to help send off, a student packed a very unusual and essential medication, one that couldn't be quickly replaced in port, in a small bag that he accidentally left in the taxi when he arrived at the ship the day it was leaving - huge problem. So, the things to be super careful with when you're coming to the ship, and always really: your passport and your prescriptions. Pretty much everything else you can get along without, borrow or buy in port.

Some words about general wellness issues. Sleep will likely be a challenge and you need to be as smart about it as possible. "I can sleep when I get home!" is a frequently heard mantra and I totally support the spirit of that. You are on a very special and once in a lifetime experience and you'll want to be there for every moment you can. That said, the voyage is more of a marathon than a sprint and you're going to need to actively manage your time and energy in order to get the most out of it. It's hard to understand before you leave how jam-packed the days of this voyage will be. Classes, homework, planning for the next port, shipboard activities and responsibilities, journaling, editing your photographs, meals, just plain hanging out with your friends and so much more will more than fill every moment on the ship. And then there are the time changes. Every  Spring voyage planned for the immediate future will be sailing west. That means that you will gain 24 hours, usually one hour a night nearly every other day, during the approximately 55 days at sea and then lose them all at once by skipping one day as you cross the International Dateline in the Pacific - I hope it's not your birthday! For those of you on the Fall voyage, it's a little more erratic than that so you'll have to be on your toes and pay attention to the announcements. Trust me, it's embarrassing to drag your half-awake self into a class and realize that you're an hour late. For the ocean sections that go east, losing one hour every other night doesn't sound like much but they add up and, along with everything else going on, can cause you to be very, very tired. My advice is to monitor yourself and go to bed early when you can, rather than watch those full seasons of Game of Thrones DVDs you bought in Vietnam - that you can definitely do when you get home. Also grab naps when you can and pat yourself on the back for getting that economical inside cabin that is darker than dark, day or night.

Exercise can be a challenge but also lots of fun. Like for many other things on SAS, flexibility is key. You will want to stay in good shape to walk, hike, bike and just be up for all the amazing experiences in these countries. There is a workout room with ellipticals, treadmills and bikes but it's very popular and you have to sign up in advance. Please follow the rules for that process so everyone who wants to can get a shot at the machines. There is workout equipment like weights and benches on the seventh deck and that's always a popular option. There's also a netted multipurpose court on the starboard side of the Deck 7 where you can play volleyball, basketball, etc. Teachers of all kinds of exercise like yoga, kick boxing, dance, etc. always turn up on board and will be organizing classes, so you can keep up with your practice or try something new you've been curious about. Running is a challenge either on the treadmills or on the horseshoe shaped "course" on Deck 7, especially in rocky seas or wet weather, but it can be done. Sometimes runners organize runs in port but that comes with its own safety concerns so do that wisely and in groups. Like with many other aspects of SAS, you can keep up with what works for you and challenge yourself to try something different as well - that's what it's all about.

Finally, I want to talk a little about mental health. Whether you realize it or not, your normal views of yourself and of the world and your place in it are about to be majorly challenged. That's the whole point, right? That process is exciting but can also be quite confusing and possibly overwhelming. There are difficult challenges in this SAS experience for everybody, whether it's finding someplace to sleep or eat in a country where you don't know the language or being face-to-face with heartwrenching poverty for the first time. You will be out of your comfort zone and away from your usual support people like parents and boy/girlfriends. Semester at Sea is very aware of your need for support on this voyage and there are many ways to get it. First, you'll rely on your new BFFs, those amazing people you're traveling with and sharing this life altering experience. Then there are the professionals on board who can offer lots of wisdom and guidance: your RD, known on land as resident advisor, and the professional mental health counselors on the ship, two people who are licensed psychologists or social workers. These people are pros with many years experience with college students - please use them. They are there to listen and help you process all that you are seeing and learning about yourself and the world. If you have dealt before with depression or anxiety, be smart about monitoring yourself for these recurring feelings and get help if you need it. I have seen several cases of students who had to leave the voyage because of these mental health issues. If these have been issues for you, it doesn't mean you shouldn't go but it does mean that you need to inform the staff and get help earlier rather than later. I'm a huge fan of Semester at Sea precisely because it does shake people up and ask them to look at the world and themselves in different ways - a very good thing.

It's a journey, as they say, and it's enormously rewarding and exciting. Just be prepared, stay healthy and be sure you get help along the way if you need it.

Happy and Healthy Eating on SAS

The featured speaker at one of our daily get-togethers for Lifelong Learners on Spring 2009 was the Hotel Manager, one of the officers of the ship's crew. One of his areas of responsibility is food service and he was gamely fielding questions from our group, a few of them somewhat negative in tone. He said, "Imagine your very favorite restaurant at home. Now imagine eating breakfast, lunch and dinner there for over 100 days. Don't you think you would get tired of even that food?" Point taken. The food on the MV Explorer doesn't even start as your favorite food so, yes, you can expect to get tired of it.

That said, I think they do a pretty good job of catering to all the preferences and restrictions for 800 people of all ages and backgrounds, especially when you factor in the availability and cost of fresh food in the ports we visit. Many of those passengers are young men who I'm convinced have hollow legs and are virtually impossible to fill up, hence a lot of pasta and potatoes, and the perennial favorite, peanut butter and jelly. The vegetarian and gluten-free options have gotten better and better and are clearly designated with signs on the buffet. On the night before a port, a menu of dishes from the upcoming country is offered. Barbecues on the seventh deck are a special treat and loved by all, as is the famous Taco Day. It boggles my mind to think of provisioning for 800 people (make that around 1000 people with the crew) for 100 days, on a budget that is nowhere near that of a cruise ship. Don't get me started on the ISE budget and what an amazing job they do stretching the dollar to run this program - did you know that one third of your fee goes to fuel alone? It's a nonprofit organization and, trust me, there is nothing leftover to buy more expensive food, especially given the availability and quality issues for fresh food in port.

My recommendation about food is two-fold: 1)make sure you vary your diet using all the options available and 2)bring from home or buy in port (including the city you leave from) some things that will make your tummy happy half way around the world. Many people are on the ship for weeks before they discover, for instance, the soup on a different table from the main buffet - it's often quite tasty and sometimes wonderfully unusual, like a cold fruit soup. The two salad dressings offered that day may not be your favorite but there is always oil and vinegar at the end of the line. Students soon discover how good the smoothies, pizza and burgers are in the snack bar on the pool deck but faculty, staff and LLLs should check those out early in the voyage. The galley crew is really quite talented and can put on an amazing dining experience so consider the option of Special Dining, that often includes menu items like shrimp cocktail, steak and fancy desserts. Just as with the snack bar, it costs extra, about $35 charged to your shipboard account, but definitely worth it for special occasions like a birthday. There's also a late night snack, usually small sandwiches and desserts, put out around 10:00PM, or 2200 ship time, that takes a while for people to discover.

You will find that any food or snacks you bring on board will be very welcome treats, especially on long stretches of sea days like the two ocean crossings. You can shop in the port you're leaving from after you get there, hopefully a day early to prevent any issues of lost baggage. Depending on where you are in the alphabet, you might be able to get on the ship and then get off again to shop the day the ship leaves but I wouldn't count on it. You can, of course, pack snacks from home and figure that the space used will be replaced with treasures you've bought when you pack to go home. In addition to your favorite granola or meal replacement bar, you might consider nuts, dried fruit and packets of flavoring to add to a water bottle, whatever doesn't spoil and takes up as little space as possible.

If you're shopping in the embarkation port, think about a favorite bottled salad dressing or salsa. There's a small refrigerator in your cabin. The small boxes of granola cereal appear rarely and go fast so you might bring your favorite. If you care about coffee at all, I've got some not great news: although it has recently improved, the ship's coffee ranges from not so good to kinda bad, depending on how picky you are. I'm proud to say that thanks to my daughter-in-law and her team at the corporate office in Seattle, you can now bring Via, instant Starbucks, with you and I highly recommend it - try it, you'll like it and it's perfect for this situation. A number of people bring a small French press and some ground coffee (hot water is always available) to get them started then buy wonderful international coffees in our ports. The supply of sweeteners is variable and doesn't usually include Stevia so if you're devoted to one of those, bring it.

In my earlier post about travel, I recommended that you do your traveling into the country in the early days of our stay and save the last day for exploring the port city. In addition to hitting the Internet cafe for uploading pictures and Skyping and the post office for stamps for all those marvelous postcards you wrote, you'll want to save some time to restock your food supplies. Remember that you can only bring food back onto the ship if it is still sealed in its original packaging so no snacking! And I wouldn't wait until close to on ship time to come through the security line with lots of bags of groceries - try to do it earlier in the day. It's fun to browse the local stores for intriguing brands of cookies, crackers, chips or other snacks - you might find a particular brand of Japanese cracker to be your new favorite and will get so addicted that you really miss it when you get home!

So, make sure you use all the options available on the ship, especially if you find yourself getting kind of tired of the food. And bring from home or buy in port anything that will spark up your daily fare and keep your tummy happy as you sail around the world.

Trip Tips for SAS

If the word for money tips is redundancy (see previous post), the word for trip tips is variety. It usually happens naturally but I strongly recommend that you plan to travel in a variety of ways on this glorious journey of a lifetime.

About two months before your voyage sails, the final version of the Field Program and the Pre-Sale process will be available online. In this pre-sale you will be signing up for overnight trips, usually for the first two-thirds of the voyage. These trips require SAS to book flight and hotel reservations and so are called "manifest" trips, or trips that need your name for a booking. Therefore, once you've signed up you cannot, with only very rare exceptions, change your mind and cancel these trips or sell them to someone else - think restrictions on plane tickets you buy here. You actually can cancel but you'll lose your money :(. These trips are the big ticket, multi-day ones like safaris, the Great Wall, the Taj, etc. Day trips for the first few ports will also be included in this sale.

Please be very sure you are not signing up for a field excursions that conflicts with a Field Lab for one of your classes. You will be required to go on the Lab and will lose the money you paid for a manifest trip. The Lab is just not negotiable so be careful to organize those ports well.

The trips other than manifest trips are to places near the port city and can vary from a few hours to an extremely long day to an overnight using a bus. Some of these trips are fairly standard sightseeing ventures, like orientation tours the first day in a port, and others are service visits or special experiences that SAS has been doing for a long time, like the jazz safari in Cape Town - more about these below.

In this category is a very beloved type of SAS trip, the homestay. You will sign up to go with a family to be part of their life for a day or two. On every voyage, these experiences rank at or near the top for every student who does them. On these and other popular trips, it's first come, first served so do your research well and be ready with the choices you're absolutely dying to do on the day of registration. On the Pre-Sale signup form, you will be asked for second choices if you should not get the trip. Just be sure those second choices don't conflict with any other trips on other days you're signing up for.

An aside on homestays: if you're signed up for one, please don't be a no-show. These families are very excited to meet you and have often gone to tons of trouble with special meals, taking off time from work, etc. Also, for that reason, and just because it's a nice thing to do, please bring a small gift for the family, definitely wrapped if you're in Japan. Many students bring something typical of their home or region like maple sugar candy if you're from New England - it shouldn't be expensive, rather a "just the thought that counts" type of hostess gift.

So that's SAS trips in a nutshell. Obviously there's much more to say about them and you'll be getting lots of info from the field office - use them, those folks are great. I'll say more below about choosing among your options but let's get on to independent travel or "doing it indy" as SASers like to say. The sky's the limit here and your choices and plans will be entirely driven by what your preferences are and what you are comfortable with and/or challenged by, a feeling that will definitely change as the voyage progresses - that's one big reason you're doing this, right? These adventures usually fall into three categories. The first has grown up largely as a result of the use of Facebook before the voyage and so have come to be called "Facebook trips". Some enterprising student who has either known a previous SASer or read lots of blogs will propose a trip that often closely follows a trip offered by SAS. The primary idea is usually to try to do the trip at a lower cost and that's generally possible. Tour operators in countries we always go to like China and India are now onto this market so the student organizer may get pitched by them. Again, I'll offer my views on that below but just know it will be an option if you follow Facebook before your voyage. Secondly, you can put a small trip together with a few of your friends after you get on the ship. These trips can be anything from you and your besties putting together an overnight itinerary to someplace you all think sounds cool and letting the details just happen to a more organized adventure that you've researched either in Lonely Planet or online. Just so you remember, your internet access will be metered and very limited for this type of planning, although Wikitravel is a free site on the ship. Using books to do most of your planning is wise. The Library has large collections of travel guides for every port we go to. A hint: although Lonely Planet is geared for student travel and is certainly tried and true, choosing a recommendation from another guidebook will often yield less crowds and prevent the bar you've picked from being packed with SASers instead of the locals you were hoping to mingle with. The third type of indy trip is the solo (or duo) backpacking/just-striking-out adventure. This is obviously not for everyone but definitely the strongly preferred option for a certain sort of traveler. After we leave each port, there usually is a Post Port Reflections get together in the Union where people can share their adventures. I'm constantly amazed and awed by what happens when students travel this way. I'm sure it's my grandmotherliness coming through, but safety is often not in the top five priorities for these folks and that makes me nervous - but I love hearing their stories.

OK, that's the summary of the range of options, so here's my two cents on how to choose: PLEASE travel in a variety of ways as you journey around the world. Each type of trip has its own benefits and drawbacks, which you'll never understand unless you try them.

SAS has been doing this for OVER ONE HUNDRED VOYAGES and the value added on their trips cannot be overstated. They have worked with many of these tour companies for decades and know that they can be relied upon to provide guides with excellent English, many of whom have been loved by students for years, and buses that rarely (as opposed to often, for many other tour groups) break down. Their hotels and restaurants are wonderful and you definitely do pay for that. The field office takes care of absolutely every detail, all you do is sign up and pay, then relax and enjoy the journey. Few people realize in advance that traveling on SAS trips is also a fabulous way to meet people outside your usual, tight group of friends. You will probably get to know some faculty and staff, their families, some Lifelong Learners and some students who will become your new favorite friends, especially after you've had the bonding experience of climbing the Great Wall together (with emphasis on the word climb!). One other point is that should your trip run very late getting back to the port, and s**t definitely and regularly happens when you're traveling abroad, the ship will be held for SAS trips and NOT for Facebook or other indy trips. If you are on an independent trip and are late for on-ship time, you will get dock time. If you do not make it back on the ship before the time it is scheduled to sail because of some travel delay (or for any reason actually with the possible exception of a true medical emergency), unless you are on an SAS trip you WILL be left, I promise. So, fair warning: schedule your independent travel to arrive back in the port city the day before the ship sails and do your exploring around the port that last day. All the port cities have fascinating things to do and, besides, you'll probably want to find an Internet cafe to Skype or upload photos, neither of which you'll be able to do from the ship, or buy stamps for your postcards and snacks to re-provision your stash on the ship. Planning to arrive back before noon of the last day may be tolerable, but only in countries with quite reliable and redundant transportation systems, like Spain but absolutely not India, for instance. Cutting it closer than that is a huge risk - did I mention they will leave you? You will arrive back at the dock with a big space where the ship used to be, the port agent with a small bag of your stuff that your roommate packed for you and the feeling in your gut that you are truly on your own now. In recent years, the deans have been considering all the class days that you will miss if you miss the ship and termination from the program is a real possibility.

For me, the biggest advantage to many SAS trips is that they provide opportunities that are impossible or unlikely to replicate on your own. You might be lucky enough to meet a jazz musician in Cape Town and get invited home to jam with him, but the SAS trip guarantees it. How would you like to meet a deaf child at an orphanage in Viet Nam and take her to the zoo? SAS can arrange for you to do that. Sit in the living room of a professor from a university in Chennai and chat with women, from poets to journalists, to learn about writing and the life of women in India. Visit a cosmetics factory in Casablanca and have a fascinating conversation over lunch with its Berber owners and managers. Any time during your life that you travel you can throw on your backpack and head out to meet interesting people and have great adventures - that's always available to you. So seize the unique opportunities of this special journey and let SAS offer you a gateway to experiences you just cannot have on your own. End of commercial.

Independent travel options will probably look more and more appealing as the voyage goes on. You've probably had enough of larger groups on buses and a packed schedule. BTW, while on an SAS trip, you can always opt out of the schedule and just go off on your own. You'll lose what you paid for lunch, for instance, but you may just need a break from the group and some time by yourself. Please feel free to do that, just make absolutely sure you tell your trip leader and be back in time to re-join the trip when you say you will. By the time you get to Japan, for instance, you'll find it very easy to head out on your own or with a small group of friends, probably on a train, and have a fantastic time. Everyone will go at his or her own pace but your independence will blossom - count on that. It's one of the almost universal ways that SAS changes students. So, as you think in advance about what you want to do in each port, you might plan to do more structured trips in the earlier part of the voyage and rely more on seat of the pants travel later on.

A word about budgeting. When you see that huge list from the Field Office, you will likely be pretty much overwhelmed and feel some sticker shock. Take lots of time to read it and see what's on offer. Think about your biggest dreams and schedule them in first, either as an SAS trip or independently. If you absolutely can't imagine going all the way around the world and not seeing the Great Wall, then figure that out first. BTW, another value added for SAS China trips is that many include partnerships with Chinese universities so you get to meet and hang out with students and let them show you their lifestyle. After you've budgeted your "must dos", look at the things you can only do on SAS and plan time for them. You'll want to put together a rough idea for each country of what you want to do but these plans are just an approximation and will change a lot. Don't forget you'll be doing a number of Field Labs so put them on your schedule first. Only those and your manifest trips are set in stone. Other trips can be traded or sold to a friend or through the Buy/Sell notebook on the counter in the Field Office. As a last resort, people who find that they cannot go on a trip they've signed up for can put their tickets in a box on that counter and anyone can claim them for a free trip - a wonderful bonus on a day you find yourself with plans that have just never gelled. That experience you might never have signed up for may turn out to be your favorite of the whole voyage.

The most common regret from voyagers as they look back on their travel decisions is that they signed up for too much in advance, particularly in the pre-sale. So, if you really having trouble deciding on your list, go for a smaller number and see what develops with your friends when you get on the ship.

So, plan for lots of variety and remember to be patient with yourself. Just as you will get your sea legs, you will also get your traveling pants. Don't get overwhelmed, get excited! It's a big, wide, wonderful world out there and you're about to begin the journey of a lifetime.