Through my experiences on Semester at Sea my career plans have not changed, but they have become more defined. I still plan to go into a helping profession. But I know now that I can slow down and get my feet wet before choosing a definitive career. I currently plan on working in a teen home for a few years to experience the field of therapy and helping before choosing a specific therapy to become an expert in. For now, I need to spend time with my friends and work on homework as I am in a normal academic setting where there is a considerable amount of work.

I thank all of you for following me through my voyage of discovery. If you are interested in Semester at Sea go to www.semesteratsea.com and check it out. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me at wpmoeller@noctrl.edu.

Thank you all and I hope to hear from you soon.

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These last days have been great. The sea was rough at the beginning, but that is usual for the Atlantic Ocean. I wish I had more to tell you all, but at this moment I am trying to process what I have been through the past few months. I wish you all could ask questions because that is going to be the best way to help me remember things. The other thing that is going to help me remember things is a little round box that a friend gave me, within which I have saved a token from every country I have been too, and my journal.

I’ll give you all updates as I reflect and go through my memories and as I have more realizations. I know that I am going to have more paradigm shifts when I return to home and I see the USA through new eyes.

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While in Spain I met an American professor that teaches at an American military base in Spain and I had a very difficult time explaining what I have experienced in the past three months to him. To make my conversation with the professor even more troubling he has traveled much more of the world than I have and it was still very difficult to vocalize what I have experienced even though he has probably seen many of the things I have seen. At this moment I feel it is appropriate to apologize to all of you in advance for my inability to give you succinct summary of my experiences. As a warning to all of you who are going to ask the inevitable question, “how was it,” you will likely get a short answer and if you pry for more you may get a longer answer than you wished for.

Anyway, Spain was very nice. I stayed in the port town of Cadiz. There was plenty to see and do. I have found I prefer depth in experiences over breadth. While breadth is great if you want to see a lot, which I have, but after seeing so much you just want to make some deeper connections. The biggest surprise to me, in Spain, was the hours of operation the whole country works on. Most shops do not open until 9 or 10 am and then they close at 2 for Siesta, every day! They do not open again until between 4 and 6 and they stay open until late. The nightlife in Spain is absolutely insane. Most Spanish people will stay out until 4 AM, regardless of age! While in Spain I could think of a few of my friends from North Central that should move to Spain simply because the times when people are working, playing, and sleeping almost identical, but to us American’s seems absurd.

Right now we are headed a bit southward to avoid the rough northern Atlantic seas, as a matter of fact, we are avoiding a few storms. At the moment we have high swells, which is making life on the ship interesting for many people. Tomorrow (11/29) we have the Ambassador Ball, which is the shipboard communities big dance. It has an Indian theme (the official theme is “A night in Bollywood”) and it will be a night to remember. Currently, much of the student body is scampering around attempting to get papers and projects completed in the 3 days of lectures we have left. Since I am used to having heavy workloads at North Central I have managed my time very well and I am enjoying these last few days. For now I am going to enjoy walking around the ship again and savor the last days we have.

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There was one very strange thing that happened while Semester at Sea was in Istanbul. One morning while a group of friends and I were walking to the Tram station and sirens started sounding. At first we didn’t think much of it because we were used to hearing the prayers being belted from the Mosques across town and in the US there are regular air-raid siren tests. But I soon noticed that something was wrong. So I stopped walking for a brief moment to assess the situation. I quickly said “Stop, STOP. Look…” and with that everyone in the group stopped and we quickly realized that EVERYTHING, yes EVERYTHING (from cabs to trains and people on the street), had stopped. No one in Istanbul was moving or talkin, just standing and looking off into the distance. Many thoughts went through all of our minds. Should we run? Should we hide? What do we do? Are they praying? But we realized that they were not facing Mecca, so it wasn’t religious. We figured they would have been running had it been a sign of impending doom. But one minute later, as quickly as it had started the sirens stopped and everyone continued as if nothing happened. It was like a scene out of a movie. Sirens go off and everything stops. It was the eeriest thing I have ever experienced. We later noticed all the flags were at half-staff and found out that the siren was to honor the death of Ataturk, who is a national hero that took Turkey from a corrupt militaristic Islamic state to the modern, democratic, secular state it is today.

I am now headed to Croatia, the second to last port. It is sad to think that this journey is almost done, but it has been amazing. For now I need to get to my schoolwork and the yearbook as it is calling my name. Luckily I have found the workload to be lighter than what I am used to at North Central so it won’t be too difficult.
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What did I do with this great opportunity? I traveled to the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, tour Islamic Cairo, played games with local people, and had tea with a local man to discuss issues in the Middle East. I am unsure of my favorite experience from Egypt, but two stick out: causing a small disturbance (because of my hair and skin color, I think) at the Pyramids and playing ping-pong and backgammon with local people on the streets of Alexandria.

I have decided that in the coming ports I am going to walk the local streets to experience more depth rather than covering more sights. While on my way to the catacombs in Alexandria I noticed a neighborhood that looked particularly intriguing. So instead of taking a cab or horse cart back to downtown Alexandria my friend and I walked. As a result, we ran into a group of children playing ping-pong, which we ended up playing and later played a game of backgammon with some older men to escape the dozen children that were following us through the streets. There was a large language barrier during this whole time, but it was great to share friendly competition with someone regardless of language.

Egypt has been interesting in a number of ways, but I cannot go into great detail. Many of the generalizations about the Middle East do not hold true in Egypt, while there are people in Egypt that are seeking an easy dollar (usually by cheating or lying to tourists). There are also genuine people who just want to talk and meet with people from another countries. One major generalization about the Middle East is that most Muslims are okay with the Taliban and terrorism. This is not true. I found out by talking to a local man over tea (as well as through lectures on the ship) that most of the Muslim community does not like the Taliban and the majority of the Muslim community looks upon terrorism negatively. I have learned a lot about Islam while in Egypt, which has definitely changed my views about the Middle East. I just hope that I will be able to cultivate some of this change in others. But for now I need to look forward as I will be in Turkey in on Tuesday, which means I will have another culture to experience and learn about.

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While in India I went to Delhi, Agra, and the Taj Mahal with a Semester at Sea sponsored trip. The first day, of the three-day trip, was spent traveling to Agra. We started off by leaving the ship at 4:15 a.m. to catch an early flight from Chennai to Delhi. Once in Delhi we caught a train to Agra, which took about 5 hours. The train ride took 5 hours because it was a second-class train. While a number of the students complained about the trains lack of air conditioning, odor, plethora of beggars at every stop, regular vendors, iron barred windows, and lack of cleanliness; I embraced the experience. (It should noted that the return first-class train ride took about 2 hours to go from Agra to Delhi, which was air-conditioned, free from beggars/vendors, and relatively clean.) I was very fortunate to find an India family sitting near where I was sitting and I took advantage of my position and talked with the family for the majority of the train ride. I spoke with the father and played with the boy’s and we had a grand time. The children taught me how to speak some Hindi. I taught the children how to play a few simple games. We talked about school, the caste system, and life in India. It was an amazing experience and I am extremely glad I had the opportunity to meet and speak with the family.

In Global Studies (the class everyone on the ship is required to take), we have been told that there is a difference between a tourist and a traveler. I believe that I understand the difference. I would like to think that I am a traveler. While I am a tourist at times, I also travel. I take opportunities that most people would never think of doing and turn them into experience that people yearn to experience. While I was in Myanmar I was taking pictures of a friend of mine talking with some local people and one thing led to another and next thing I knew it is 7:30 p.m. and I am riding in a pony drawn cart to this families house to have dinner with them. Traveling is more than just seeing the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall, or Angkor Wat. Traveling is about experiencing a culture. Traveling has depth, soul, and heart. Traveling is experiencing a culture and not just seeing it. I do not believe I am some amazing traveler or anything, but I have learned how to experience a culture in a different way and that is how I am a traveler and not just a tourist.

Semester at Sea is like no other experience I know of. You travel around the world in an extremely short period of time. You see so much in such a short period of time. I truly believe that in mid-February I am going to sit down with some friends at North Central and suddenly realize I have traveled the world. I have had the fortunate experience of seeing things that so may people dream of seeing. I hope that when I return to America that I can be a good ambassador of the world and show people what the rest of the world is truly like. Help other people see the world in a new way. Help make the world a much more globally aware society.

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Myanmar is decades behind the rest of the world. I went to an “internet café” with a friend of mine and well the café was a room with an old computer in it and dial up internet. The power was so unreliable and unsteady that the computer was on a major surge protector and an extra power supply. Every few minutes you would hear a few clicks and a beep from one of the many boxes in the room, which indicated that the power had surged or dropped and the computers support system prevented it from being destroyed. There are so many other ways that Myanmar is behind, but it is hard to describe them all. I will just say this…I took a hot air balloon ride early one morning and got into a conversation with the British balloon pilot. He said that occasionally they will land in places were no white people have ever been seen. In these cases the pilot will speak the little Burmese that he knows to assure the villagers that the people in the balloon are not gods or evil beings.

I did not know that my world could be this shaken up. I experienced things in Myanmar that I am going to have a difficult time describing. I have realized the best thing I can do is tell everyone stories and let everyone come to his or her own conclusions. However, I know that telling stories is nowhere near the same as experiencing it, but stories are the best I can do at explaining my experiences.

I have begun to wonder what I will think of everyone and everything when I return to America. I might be getting ahead of myself and I might be worrying about the changes I am going through too much (when I should not worry). But all I know is that the past two ports and the next few ports are really going to change my already changing worldview.

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Vietnam was the first port where I actually had to slow down to process things and it made a much more profound experience. The voyage has just become even harder to explain, but I can share some of my realizations and how those realizations came about. The Vietnam war became much more vivid in my life because of my stop in Vietnam. What brought about this change was seeing the Cu Chi Tunnels, the traps the Vietnamese created, the non-American biased presentation on the war, the Zippo lighters being sold to tourists, the dog tags being sold to the tourists, and the American soldiers class rings being sold to tourists. Also, wondering how my peers could be so fixated on shooting an AK-47 at the Cu Chi Tunnels made the Vietnam War more salient. While I was at the Cu Chi tunnels all I could think about is how 30 years ago if I were in that very same location I would fear for my life. The guns shots I was hearing would strike fear in my every step. I would be concerned about a Vietnamese soldier appearing out of the tunnels and killing me or me stepping into one of the horrendous traps the Vietnamese created. War is scary. War is real. And War is hard to comprehend when you through a television, a newspaper, or a textbook. Seeing the burn victims ask for money or the amputees asking for money across Vietnam and Cambodia made war more real to me. The honeymoon ended in Vietnam and my world was turned upside-down in Cambodia.

Despite the fact that the voyage is going to become even more “eye-opening” the people in these places are happy. While we might look at them and think about how bad we would feel to live as they do, we need to remember that we are looking at it through our cultural lenses. They are often times very happy. Maybe we are the people that need help. Maybe we are the deprived ones. We are the ones that are unhappy and we have everything at our feet. Maybe instead of trying to help them we should try and help ourselves learn to be happy with less material items. Maybe we should learn from them to be happy. Maybe it’s a Buddhist perspective, but they all seem to be fairly happy in Vietnam.

One a happier note my birthday passed while I was in Cambodia. Though I toured a genocide museum and the killing fields on my birthday having my birthday in Cambodia on SAS was unforgettable and receiving cards from friends and family was amazing. Not everyone can say that they had a birthday like I did; however, it was kind of depressing to be where I was on my birthday. But sometimes your birthdays aren’t the happiest day ever. But I know one this for sure. I will not forget my birthday few quite a while.

But for now I am going to enjoy my time on this ship. Take in the scenery, the people, and learn to be happier with what I have.

Oh and on a departing note…crossing the street in Vietnam was almost as thrilling, if not more thrilling, than skydiving in Hawaii.

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China was interesting. I did not think that China was going to be as different from Japan as it is, but they are very different. If I were to describe Japan in a few words it would be clean, efficient, generous, and safe. However, if I were to describe China in a few words it would be dirty, wasteful, and requires travelers to be cautious. China is not a bad place, but when compared with Japan the difference is great. It is somewhat eye opening to see China because it gave me some insight. We were told in a lecture that if China were to consume natural resources as fast as the US does the world would be unable to handle the demand. Global warming would accelerate at an exponential rate, the seas would rise, pollution would destroy our eco-system, and humanity would need to rally to save itself before it destroyed itself. It is frightening to think that China is a developing world power because there is wide spread poverty, their governmental control, and how they are nowhere near as efficient as the Japanese. It is important to remember that the United States is not a gleaming example. If anything the US should learn a few lessons from the Japanese. But seeing China has defiantly opened my eyes to pollution and the problems of the world.

I believe that I have this cold from the pollution in Hong Kong. We were ported in Hong Kong, but I spent much of my time in Beijing. Even though they are the same country the 100 year lease of Hong Kong to Britain as really made its mark on the area. Hong Kong is “European China,” but you can see how the Chinese culture, politics, and ideas have flooded Hong Kong since 1997 when the lease ended. I believe the scariest thing about China was the amount of waste and pollution. It has definitely left me thinking about how I can do my part in keeping pollution and waste down. The scariest realization I have had lately is the fact that the countries are not going to get any safer, cleaner, or more hospitable. I feel like I am seeing with new eyes, but I believe it is going to change even more before I get back to the US.

I’ll be in Vietnam tomorrow where I am sure my world is going to get rocked again. I am going to see Phenom Phen and Angkor Wat in Cambodia as well. It is exciting, but I hope I get over this cold before I get there.

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I am going to be in Hong Kong tomorrow (Thursday, September 21). I cannot wait. It is going to be very exciting. I will be going to the Great Wall, Tian’amenn Square, the Forbidden City, and I am staying with a group of SAS students at Tsinghou University. I am way more excited about playing volleyball and interacting with the Chinese university students than seeing the Great Wall or anything else. One thing I learned through a friend of mine and by taking one of the Verandah classes at North Central is to go to the “off-beat” places. Go to the hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Be a tourist and try and try to be a local. By going to the unusual places and off-beat locations you really get to experience a culture. You get to see the side of a place that isn’t inundated by tourist attractions. But it is very important to be safe when doing the off-beat things.

But for now I am going to go work on the yearbook and get some rest because I don’t think I am going to be sleeping much while I am in China and we only have two days after china before we get to Vietnam.

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