Finalmente Espana!

Hola de Espana!
Today we arrived in beautiful Barcelona! I wanted to cry when I got here because I couldn’t believe that my dream of coming to Europe was finally coming true. It is so amazing to have not seen land for ten days and then having this beautiful historic place be the first thing I see.
Yesterday we stopped for fuel in Gibraltar. The total process took about 6 hours from the time we stopped to the time we left. The night before we had a cultural preport lecture on Spain which further explained some of the misconceptions and actual ways of living. Last night, we had a logistical preport lecture which focused more on the things to watch out for, traveling in groups, and what today was going to look like.
Danielle and I were so excited that we couldn’t sleep and I think we finally fell asleep somewhere around 4/5am! Today I went to Montserrat and my day started out quite hectic. I woke up at 8am and was very proud of myself that I woke up early enough to go to breakfast, the American consulate lecture, and get ready. Unfortunately, I thought it would be a good idea to watch the lecture on the TV in our room and then decided to take a quick nap since I did not have to leave until 10:45. Apparently in my sleep I decided it was a good idea to change the time my alarm was set for and therefore set it for when I needed to leave. I woke up and realized what time it was and had to frantically run around trying to get myself together. Luckily, there were many people that were running even later than me, so I made it in time...whew!
Once I got to the bus pick up, I found out that I actually knew a couple of the people going so we were able to stick together. The bus ride was a little over an hour long and our tour guide was able to point out little villages to us on the way up the Mountain. Montserrat, for those who do not know, is a Spanish monastery in the gorgeous mountains of spain. There is a monastery for women and a monastery for men. The women's monastery practices complete silence!!
The monastery we went to was the mens monastery in which we did not actually get to see where the monks lived, but rather the beautiful chapel that they worshiped in. Montserrat is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The view of Spain from up there (2,000ft) is simply breath taking and the story that the chapel told with its intricate and delicate designs, beautiful metals and sculptures as well as paintings moved me to tears. So much work and dedication went into the building of it in the late 19th century and the fact that it is still in as magnificent shape as it is, is truly incredible.
When we left the basilica chapel, there was a little market of local farmers selling their cheese, honey and fruit. We were able to try the cheeses and honey and every piece and taste was so amazing. I really wanted a peach but when I realized it was 4 Euros (apx $6) for one peach I had to turn away. I think eventually I will have to get used to the sticker shock if I want to eat.
I found a little ATM/ bank near by and used the ATM machine to get some cash. The ATM gave me 2 50 EU which was unfortunate because I was really hoping for some smaller bills. I then went to the teller (there was only one) and asked him if I could get smaller bills. He could not understand a word that I said. I was a bit hesitant to use my Spanish as much of Spain speaks Catilaian not Spanish, which is much like French. I decided to try anyways and was able to tell him what I wanted and we even had a joke in our conversation. He was trying to see if he could pull one over on me, I think just to see if I knew enough spanish, and asked me if I wanted one 10 back, I laughed and said NO, I want 5! He laughed and gave me the correct amount of change. Every person I have come in contact with here so far has been very friendly and most will even try and practice their English back to you, or are fluent in English.
Tonight Danielle and I are going to the flamenco show and traditional Spanish dinner and afterwards we are meeting up with a big group to go to local bar/dance club called Razmataz. The time of everything is so different here! Dinner is at 8:45 and the clubs do not open until 1am!
Having a great time, will put up pictures when I have a chance to go to an internet cafe, though the pictures will not be able to give justice to the beauty I saw today.

Will write again soon, off to tapas in a bit.

Adios mis amigos!

2 Days Until Spain

Hello Everyone!
I am now 8 hours ahead of you all and tomorrow we are done advancing the clocks forward for a while, landing on 9 hours ahead of Cali... YAY! The past couple of days have been pretty busy and they are about to get even busier so I hope I will be able to keep up to date on my blogs.
Lets start from wednesday... Our ship had an amazing race competition that involved finding different checkpoints based on clues which were word scrambles, riddles, anagrams etc. My team was made up of three guys in our hall and 5 girls. We had a lot of fun trying to figure everything out and running around the ship well, not running, speed walking :) Unfortunately we did not win (there were 80 teams!) but we had a lot of fun in the process.
Two of the people in my hall had birthdays in the last two days so we had two different birthday party dinners followed by birthday cake that their families ordered. It was fun to be a part of celebrating their birthdays and was a great opportunity for some bonding.
Yesterday was a very interesting day. I was so tired from all of the time changes that I almost fell asleep in all of my classes. As soon as they were over I came back to my room and took a nap. I then woke up....5 hours later! Needless to say I felt very refreshed and was able to take on the rest of the day easily. Due to too much sleep however, I was not tired at night and Danielle and I proceeded to stay up talking until 4am. It was pretty hard waking up this morning but we had a nice room mate bonding night.
Tomorrow we stop in the Gibraltar straight for gas, it will be the first time I see land in 9 days! I also have a test tomorrow in my global studies class and have another test on Sunday. As of Sunday we will have completed 1/3 of classes.
Tonight I had dinner with my extended family that I signed up for. My “mom” is the dean of students so I plan to get in good with her :) She seems really nice and we had a great conversation over dinner. After dinner with the “family” I rushed off to a photography seminar so I could learn about interesting ways to take pictures and how to get a different perspective of the world. Right after that I went to a seminar on independent travel in Countries where a panel of people that have traveled a lot answered questions and told stories about their experiences.
We will be arriving in Spain in two days!!! I am so exhausted, excited, and stir crazy so I can’t wait to get off the ship and explore.
Off to study for my tests, miss and love you all,
Lauren

Still in the Ocean....

Ahoy Matees!
Surprisingly there is not much to report on when you are in the middle of the ocean. I am happy to report that I am feeling much better! Today was my last day of antibiotic and I am now down to just a cough.
We are advancing another hour tonight so I will be 6 hours ahead of you west coasters beginning tomorrow. My days begin at 8am with breakfast and after that I have class from 9:20-12pm. I then have a break from 12-1:35pm where I have been napping since we seem to lose an hour every night. Then we have global studies from 1:35-3:00pm so the days are pretty busy, especially since I have already been assigned a ton of reading, have two midterms on Sunday, and even had my first quiz today... fingers crossed that I did well on that :)
Last night was pub night, so I went to that and it was a lot of fun even though I did not drink it was a nice atmosphere to meet a bunch of people out on the main deck by the pool. The boat was rocking a lot though which made it pretty entertaining because the people that had a little to drink seemed like they had a lot more.
I just got back from an informational seminar on the food and drink of Spain. Chocolate con churros are highly recommended, apparently they are dough coated in butter, lard and sugar, then fried; after this process you dip it in chocolate....sounds deliciously healthy. Bars are the place to go to get all of your meals. I found this very interesting since in the U.S. typically bars only serve alcohol. Lunch isn’t served until 2pm in Spain because before that tapas are served. Lunch will take approximately 2 hours because the Spanish are about enjoying your food and having time to enjoy the company you are with. Dinner is not served until 9:30/10pm at the earliest because the lunches go for so long, however if you are hungry tapas are served again from 9-10pm. Because the Spanish have lunch for so long the work days are longer and end at 8pm. One of my favorite things I learned from tonights seminar were the best types of white wines... The Spanish believe that “the best type of white wine is red wine”.
Well, off to do some reading, I need to get a chunk out of it and some point so in the middle of the ocean is probably the best time. If anyone would like to contact me I have access to free email at lrpruett@semesteratsea.net. Love you all!

In the Middle of the Ocean!

Hello everyone! It is much harder than I had imagined to get on here to blog everyday. Lets start where I last left off.... I met my roommate, Danielle, Wednesday after I blogged. She is really nice and we hit it off just as well as I imagined. We decided to stay in that night to save on money, and since we had the sting ray adventure the next day. We woke up bright and early for our 8:30 departure time to blackbeards cay. We took the bus in to town to meet the bus only to discover that since we were the only two people signed up for the 8:30 time, they decided to have us go with the 10:30 group. Apparently, in the Bahamas, everything is on Island time, so you can be up to an hour late and still be considered on time.
We went to the straw market while we waited which is basically a flea market mixed with canal street in NYC. There were fake purses all over the place, along with souvenirs of all realms, and each item was “specially priced” for us. Our boat soon arrived for the sting ray adventure and we discovered we were on a boat with a school field trip. The boat ride was fun because we got to see the island from a distance and take some pictures. Once we arrived at Blackbeard Cay, they let us know since we were the only two tourists we could come in and out of the sting ray area as we wished, as well as they let us go in before all the school children, so we got our own private session! There were about 15 sting rays in the water and they would run in to our legs which was slightly unnerving. Danielle was afraid so I got to feed them all the food. When feeding the stingrays I had to hold the food in between my fingers and then hold it under water for them to swim over. Once they were over me they sucked it up, which basically felt like someone put a suction cup on me. We then got to hold them, which was really neat. After our experience, we got to lay out on the beach for the rest of the day.
The next morning was the day I boarded the boat! Since my last name starts with a “P” I was one of the last people to board and therefore waited in line, out in the hot humid sun, pulling two huge duffels and a backpack, for almost two hours. All I could keep thinking was “best experience of my life after this”. I was so excited to get on the ship! I found my room which is a decent sized room for being on a ship, and each room has its own bathroom. The only problem I could find was that I was STILL sick! My newest symptom was having blood shot eyes. I finally decided it was time to go to the Doctor. She put me on an antibiotic and I am just now starting to feel a little bit better. The rest of that day, and the next, was filled by informational orientations and introductions of staff on the ship.
Today I started classes, and so far so good. I think I am going to enjoy my psychology teacher, which is good because I have him for two classes. We have our first exams this Sunday and already have plenty assigned readings. I can’t forget that this is also a school experience :).
I have met many nice people and can’t wait to see which friendships end up developing in to more.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, especially in regards to my health (after 7 days of being sick, I am ready to be better)

Email me if you would like at lrpruett@semesteratsea.net and I will be able to respond.
Love to all,
Lauren

Nassau, Bahamas

Hello everyone,

Sorry I have not been very diligent on my blog thus far. Not only is this whole thing new to me, but I have been sick for the past three days :( The weather here is beautiful, about 80 degrees every day with a nice breeze down by the Ocean. The town house I rented is really quaint and gives us a less touristy view of the country. All of the girls I am staying with have made it, and we are all getting along well.

The first day, after we unloaded our stuff, the owner of the townhouse offered to take us to the grocery store. We graciously accepted, however, when we got to the store we suffered from sticker shock. A frozen pizza was $12, a small can of soup was $4, and a gallon of milk was $10! I have no idea how the people make it here!

After recovering, we went to a local restaurant to get some dinner, as recommended by the owners of the townhouse. When we walked in, every one got really quiet and just stared at us, we felt like it was a scene out of a movie. I then walked right up to the bar tender and asked if we seat ourselves, which we did.

The pace of the Bahamas is very slow, everyone likes to take their time and enjoy their company and surroundings, which is very different to me, as I am used to schedules and planning, and getting things accomplished. It took an hour to get our food, and then another hour before we could get our check. The food here is quite interesting as well. All of the local Bahamian restaurants seem to offer the same meal options with the same sides: Spicy Mac and cheese, lettuce and tomato and potato salad. My meal was just as "interesting" as these side options... I ordered fish....and received the entire fish! Head, tail and all, including eyeballs, teeth and lips! By night we were at Senior frogs to catch the touristy scene, and we all had a great night.

The people of the Bahamas are very friendly, the owner of the townhouse brought us all mangos off her tree to try, which were delicious. The men are VERY forward they seem to feel the need to tell you "just how beautiful you are" and then they get a bit more graphic from there... One man even free style rapped a song for a few of us.

We went to the daiquiri shack the second day, which I had read online had the best daiquiris and we were not disappointed. They used all fresh ingredients and even topped us off after we had a little.

Yesterday we went to a little secluded beach and swam out to a sandbar. It was so pretty and peaceful. Everywhere around you could see to the bottom of the ocean.

The rest of the days have been filled with laying by the beach or sleeping when I was sick. I am feeling a bit better now, not perfect but well enough to go out, so hopefully I will be better by the day we board the ship!

Tomorrow is my sting ray snorkeling expedition!!!

Itinerary

Hello Friends & Family,
I have created this blog so I can share my experiences with you all every step of the way. I am going on a Semester At Sea study abroad program which is a "floating university" I will be attending classes and studying while the ship travels from country to country, then while in port, will be able to explore.
I will be traveling to:
Nassau, Bahamas
Ibiza & Barcelona, Spain
Venice, Verona, Naples, Rome, Florence and Siena, Italy (where my Mom will meet me)
Dubrovnik, Split & Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
Athens & Mykonos, Greece
Varna, Bulgaria
Istanbul & Cappadoccia Turkey
Casablanca & Marrakech, Morocco
I will miss everyone very much and hope this will be a great way to stay close to everyone throughout my incredible journey!