Everything in short: spain, morocco, and ship

Sorry for everyone who is actually reading this blog. I've been unable until now to finally write about my encounter while on Semester at Sea. This trip is absolutely amazing. Most of my classes are really really good. Global Studies though feels like one of the most pointless classes I have ever taken in my entire life. Oh well. So, I am on the MV Explorer with 514 other students, lifelong learners, and staff/faculty. We traveled for around 7 days across the Atlantic where we did orientation for the ship and classes. For right now, the classes seemt to be pretty chill and understanding that we are traveling the world. After the 7 days crossing the Atlantic. We landed in Cadiz, Spain. For the first day I traveled to Gibraltar, which is a British Colony that is at the southern edge of Spain. It has this gigantic rock that has random apes that steal your food and electronics that came for Morocco way back in the day. Overall, the Gibraltar trip was absolutely amazing. Then I went on an indy trip with a couple of friends I met on the boat to Seville, Spain for 2 days where I saw about 6 bulls die in a bloody bull fight, eat amazing food, and saw Christopher Columbus's tomb in the Catedral de Seville. The night life in Spain was absolutely out of this world. People pretty much don't got to sleep till 3am unless it is a Sunday. I probably ate about 4 lbs of cured ham on the trip as well. Good times. After heading back to Cadiz, I walk around the city by myself and it was probably one of the most relaxing things I could have ever done. Me encanta Spain. After leaving Spain, we ported in Casablanca, Morroco the day after. In Morroco, I did a Camel trek throught the Sahara desert, bartered in the Souks of Marrakech, then got lost in the souks while it poored rain and had to randomly ask a small child how to get out, and bought 2 rugs made my Berber people of the mountains where it takes one woman 2-6 months to make the rugs that I bought by hand. The night life was even crazier in Marrakech compared to Spain. Since it is Ramadan, people do their last prayer after fasting and then party in the town square where endless amounts of things can be seen. Currently, I'm not on the ship heading to Accra, Ghana. Still only have a class project and a habitat for humanity day program planned. Will hopefully write more often to anyone who is interested in this.  Hope all is well for everyone. -Carter

Last Day Before It Begins

Tomorrow I am Leaving for Nova Scotia at around 8am PST and getting to Halifax around 10pm ish. Not too excited for the long flight, but I am really excited about everything after it. Today, I just gathered more stuff I needed to bring including a watch and a small duffel bag just in case my HUGE duffel bag is to heavy for the flight regulations or something ridiculous. Tonight I am saying my goodbyes to my family and my amazing girlfriend. Yesterday, I had a goodbye dinner with a few of my good friends. Pretty much, I'm waiting for this event to start already.
Only 13 hours before I'm up in the air and heading to the sea.

Packing for the Sea

Today I started to gather the crazy amount of stuff I need for the trip. It varied from a new toothbrush, to a huge folding luggage bag, to disposable camera, and the list almost seemed endless. I can't believe that it is only 3 and 1/2 weeks till this amazing trip begins to start. I finally received confirmations on the field programs I chose for the trip. Here they are:

1. Cambodia: Phnom Penh & Angkor Wat - Group A
	2. Dalit Village Overnight
	3. Feria de la Virgen de la Luz - Tarifa
	4. Marrakech & Camel Trek in the Sahara - 4 Days
	5. One-Day Safari: Aquilla Game Reserve
	6. Spanish Coastlines: Beaches to Gibraltar Group B

Yes, it is a lot of field programs but I tried to space them out besides Spain, which I thought it would be a good idea to meet some other people on the ship while doing them. Thankfully, part of my aid money helps me pay for these. Also, I have one Indy trip confirmed, the China trip which travels from Hong Kong to Beijing to the Great Wall to Shanghai. This whole thing is gonna be awesome!! I noticed a couple of days ago that SAS is hosting a departing party thing for people in San Diego. I'm definitely going and my mom and brother might join as well. Actually, this whole process of going to SAS had made my brother consider going as well rather than going to Cambridge in England next year. Finished summer school and now just finishing my work in the lab I'm in. It's very sad that the lab is closing before I come back. My time working there has been unspeakably awesome. Now counting the days for the trip more than I am counting the days til I'm 21.

Visa and Boredom

Soooooo, I just received all my visa stuff and everything looks A-ok. I seem to be having trouble getting my malaria meds b/c the UCSD student health center won't freaking pre-authorize it. FML. As to planned trips, I sent my stuff to my parents so that they and my grandfather can help pay for it. Hopefully, I get all the trips I want and don't get kicked out of a trip by the lottery SAS does when too many people want to do the same trip. If that is the case, I'll just do many indy trips. Also, I just contacted and booked the indy trip in China, so excited. Now I just got to figure out what the heck I am gonna do for a day and a half in Canada. I have absolutely no idea right now. Thankfully, I don't have to fly back or anything when I dock in San Diego. It is gonna be wierd to literally land where I started. Now all that is left is boredom and waiting in a sense. My work is really fun and stuff, but after work I got nothing to do but workout and plan more SAS stuff. Next week, summer school starts and that will begin my 5 weeks of craziness where I'll be in labs for approx. 30+ a week. It's funny how I want for summer to be over before I has fully began yet.

Field Programs and Stuff

Just saw that field programs can be ordered for SAS tomorrow. After realizing this, I figured out I never made a list of what things I wanted to do in each country, a bucket list for SAS in a sense. So pretty much I spent over 3 hours looking at all the field programs and seeing if any fit into what I want to accomplish while on this journey. I figured out that I want to go to Cambodia for sure. Still firm on the China trip as well, but a little confused why there is a travel gap between both ports. Are there classes between the ports or is it just free travel for people who didn't plan flights beforehand? Hopefully its the latter. Also, I came across the perfect travel idea that SAS sponsors while in Morocco where its a 4 day/3 night travel across the main oases in Morocco, including riding on Camels through the Sahara. Since I had no clue of what to do before then, I realized this was an awesome idea. So that trip looks like its in the bag as well. Hopefully, this is not too many big trips, but I want to do all of them and this is my only chance to do so. Also, I'm just planing to do a simple and cheap trip sponsored by SAS in Spain since I think Spain would be a place best to get to know more of the people who are traveling with me and go on crazy random journeys in cities nearby the port city. I think its the first one on the Spain trip list. While in Ghana, I planing to do some service work by helping either building a house or helping at an orphanage. In addition, I will check out a Health Care Facility to fulfill one of my two trips for on of my classes. After that, I will continue to go on spontaneous adventures in Ghana. Once in South Africa, I want to continue to do service work by doing Habitat for Humanity. Also, I will decide what to do later on for South Africa while at sea. Next, Mauritius will be place where I definitely what to see Volcano Island as well as possibly go snorkeling. After that just chillax, with any other random events that pass me by. Once in India, I've decided to continue to do even more service work by hopefully volunteering at an orphanage as well as going to a health clinic. Maybe I will randomly try to get to see the Taj Mahal in the process or plan stuff while at sea. In Vietnam, I will first do the Cambodia trip hopefully and then spend the final two days doing a bunch of other stuff which including getting a business suit for half the price that it is here in the U.S. China will include the EPIC trip of sleeping on the Great Wall and other amazing things. Japan will be where I'll go to the candy factory, go to downtown Tokyo to experience the nightlife, see mt. Fiji, ride on the bullet train, and eat amazing good food. FINALLY, Hawaii (which sadly I've never been to lol) is where I will go to do more snorkeling, see more volcanoes, surf, and go to Pearl Harbor. Dang this is gonna be a fun time. Hopefully, the classes on the boat won't buzz kill parts of it :P. The classes sound all really interesting. BUT REALLY, besides the big trips, all of my trip is up in the air. Here's to random spontaneous fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gettin Ready for SAS

For the last couple of days, I have been doing stuff that has made me want
to go to SAS. First of all, I started my vaccinations. I'm taking Yellow
Fever, Typhoid, Japanese Enceph., and Rabies. It's a steep price for all
of these but I want to make sure nothing goes wrong on the trip, even if
it feels possibly overkill. Also, it a good thing I'm doing all of these
vaccinations anyways since mosquitoes are EXTREMELY attracted to me. I
have had previous intense encounters where I would have a cloud of them
over me while the rest of my family had nothing. Thank god for Deet. Also,
I have started to cipher down my choices for the big trips I am taking.
The big China trip seems to be locked in already and has an amazing
schedule set up which includes sleeping on the Great Wall of China.
Hopefully, China will have stopped being paranoid over this swine flu BS.
Getting really interested in the Cambodia trip as well that SAS provides.
Right now I'm deciding whether to choose the Cambodia trip or the India
one. My amazingly sweet and generous Grandpa is helping to alleviate the
costs of these trips which makes me so happy. He truly is the nicest and
most generous person I know. But I am seriously stuck on deciding between
those two trips. I really want to see the Taj Mahal but at the same time
I've heard the Cambodia trip is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It feels
like everything that is going to happen on this trip is going to be a once
in a lifetime opportunity. In addition, I have just bought extra stuff for
my travel camera, bought new sunglasses, and hoping to buy new eyeglasses
since the ones I have right now are super worn-out and crooked. I'm
considering on waiting to buy my eyeglasses till I get back in December
since this trip will probably beat them up pretty badly. Finally, this
message is also my test to see if I can post these messages through e-mail
so everyone can enjoy them when I finally get to travel the world.
Hopefully, this works. Oh yeah, forgot to say that summer has started
really well and hope it continues that way even though OChem lab summer
school is pretty much a week away.

Flight and Stuff

Just got my flight to Halifax for $355 and leave on Aug. 26th early in the morning. Also, I planned to stay at the Westin Hotel while I chill around Halifax for a day. (Probably will hit a bar just for the fun of it). I feel like I'm behind on planning for the trips for SAS but I can't really plan anyways right now since Final exams are on the way. I forgot on my last message as well to list the classes I will be taking while out at sea:

Global Studies (A) 920-1035
Making Business Work A 1045-1200
Parasitology and World Health B 1215-1330
Introduction to Creative Nonfiction B 1335-1450

Pretty excited for these classes but of course WAAYYY more excited for the overall experience and the countries we are going to. Hopefully these classes won't be too demanding b/c that would be a total buzz kill for the trip. Also, its going to feel a bit funny switching for a class room size of 350-400 students to a class of 10-30 students. Still contemplating whether I'm going to shave my head on Neptune Day when we cross the equator. I'll probably at least buzz cut my head when it come to that day. But, I just realized though that I'm looking way to forward into the future. Also, I realized how lame it is that going in inter-nation waters means nothing b/c I'm turning 21 on August 8th. Oh well :p.

Before the Summer and Sea

To those who may know me and to those who have yet to know who I am,

This is my first blog entry into a journey which will hopefully define and re-defined my life in many ways, shapes, and forms. My name is Carter English. I am a third year college student at University of California- San Diego. I am majoring in Human Biology with the into for Pre-Med. I am a native of California and lived most of my life within the suburbs of Los Angeles in the City of Calabasas. Currently my parents have sold our house in Calabasas after their divorce and I am now residing in a crappy, broken down town house with my two great roommates and friends (Mike and Noah) near the UCSD campus. To those who may know me from High School or Middle School, you might have know me for being the kid who studied too much or may be the guy who was really nice. A lot has changed from those times, but I ironically still over study to a large extreme and still am nice when people don't immediately judge me by first impressions. But enough with that stuff, lets get to the core of why I am doing this blog in the first place. Back when I was just a wee little kid around the age of 8 years old, my father told me how he went on a journey abroad in college that forever changed his life and his outlook on the world. He told me how he will never forget the experiences and friends he made during his journey and how his time abroad truly defined the best times of his college years. This journey he made was Semester at Sea. Ever since he told me about this program, I have been interested in going abroad when in college, whether it was SAS or another program. I received a taste of the travel bug when I went on a family trip across Greece, Italy, and England through the Stanford Family Program during my sophomore year of high school. It was experience which in the end made me want to experience more of the world. When I began college, I was suddenly shocked to discover the difficulty of going abroad as a student whose dream is to become a successful doctor who will hopefully make an impact with the people he meets. In the process of going pre-med, I got lost in the competitive nature of the UCSD biology curriculum and began to forget my dreams to go around the world while I was in college. While cramming for exams and focusing only on grades during my first year in college, I almost forgot the true nature of why I went to college: to make a difference in this world and help/make an impact for those who are in need and learn as much as possible to get there. (I know it sounds a bit cliche and idealistic, but I still believe in this today). While I still was doing well in school during my sophomore year, I began to realize there was something missing to this "whole" college experience I was expecting to have. I realized there was many things at UCSD I wanted to do, but the academic atmosphere kind of bound me to focus deeply on my studies. That was until the end of my sophomore year in college when I re-found my love, hope, and aspirations to travel the world and hopefully make a difference so way or another on the way. I finally found what I was lacking during my entire time at college, that experience my Dad had talked about almost crazily years and years ago. I wanted something that re-defined myself into a more global, caring, and better human being. I wanted something that I could be proud of that was aside from academics and social experiences within UCSD. I wanted something that would truly change my life and my outlook on the world. I wanted to see how I can realistically make a difference in this world in accordance to my dream of becoming an M.D. I needed to go on Semester at Sea. Personally, I don't give a damn if it costs a crap load or that I might not finish college in 4 years or that I am taking a year off from school before I hopefully go to Med. school. This experience is important to give up. It's an offer I can't refuse (I know very cheesy but I had to say it...lol). So, that is how I came to go on Semester at Sea in Fall 09. This year has been a tough one for me for many reasons that are too cumbersome to talk on this page and a lot has changed in my life this year as well. But really, it can all go on the back burner. No regrets and no worries anymore. I'm friggin GOING ON SEMESTER AT SEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited right now. Here are the locations that I am going on

Fall 2009 Voyage Ports:
- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Cadiz, Spain
- Casablanca, Morocco
- Accra, Ghana
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Port Louis, Mauritius
- Chennai, India
- Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
- Hong Kong
- Shanghai, China
- Kobe / Yokohama, Japan
- Honolulu / Hilo, Hawaii
- San Diego, CA (So cool how I don't have to fly back home lol)

I am already hoping to plan on going to Barcelona while in Spain, Sleep on the Great Wall of China, Go Shark Diving, Go to Cambodia and get three classy business suits for dirt cheap in Vietnam, and hopefully find service opportunities for many of the countries in my spare time at port. I know I may have to cut it down a bit. But I can wait during summer.

This Summer after school ends, I am intending to take OChem Lab in Summer School in hopes to possibly still finish in four, finish a research paper in a lab I will have been working in for over a year, learn how to scuba dive, workout at the gym to regain the muscle mass I have lost from an intense academic year,and plan as much as possible while on SAS that's within my budget.

Late August is when the journey really starts to begin.......