User talk:52mmb

Hi everyone, the other page got shut down because were not supposed to use wikipedia as a chatting tool, but hopefuly they wont find this one. We get to China onthe 19th and will be there until the 24th. I am planning on doing some independent travel with some of the other students from the boat. We are going to go to Beijing to see the great wall and the pearl and silk markets and then we are either going to Xi'an or Guilin or maybe both if we have time and then we will meet back up with the ship in Hong Kon. We havn't finalized our plans let but I'll keep all of you updated. Last night the ship was very rocky. The drawers in our cabin kept opening and shuting from the motion. I woke up aroud 4 because I didn't feel good. I had a migraine so I took some medicine and thankfully it went away after 1/2 an hour and I was able to fall back asleep. I will try to get a lot of sleep tomorrow b/c I will probably get very tired while traveling through China. I miss all you guys, and I love you! Happy birthday gette!

Here is what I have learned about typhoid. It is salmonella, a bacteria that you can get from areas in South Asia where sanitation is a problem. It is contracted through contact with contaminated water, foods that are not cooked properly or not kept hot enough, and by contact with people infected with the bacteria. So you should drink bottled water, and not eat foods from street vendors, and not dine where it looks like sanitation is a problem. Washing your hands frequently is also helpful. Symptoms of the disease include high fever, headache, malaise, and a flat rash on the skin that is rose colored. If you develop any of these symptoms you should seek medical attention soon. Typhoid can be treated with antibiotics,the sooner the better. The immunization is not a gaurantee- you can get it and still contract the disease, so the best way to protect yourself is to drink bottled or carbonated beverages and choose your foods carefully. LA

I wont eat any raw food... hopefully I dont get sick. My plan is to go to Beijing tomorrow once we get to Qingdao. Then we will spend the night in Beijing and do the great wall/pearl markets and catch a flight back to qingdao to get on the ship. If we can't make it to Beijing in that short of time we will go indy for a couple days. What that means is that we wont get back on the ship in Qingdao, instead we will travel on land to meet the ship in Hong Kong. We were orignially planning on doing an indy travel anyways but because of the typhoons and language barriers we thought it would end up being easier to get back on the ship. In China I am going to travel with my roomie and our friend Krista and maybe two other boys. I might not be online for a couple of days if we miss the boat so don't get worried if I don't update this for a couple of days. How are things at home, how are billy and tilly... gette how was your b-day? I miss you all tons and I love you. p.s.- mommy the bee pills have worked great, I rotate taking those and the regular vitamins every other night. xoxo

Hey Meg, The weather has been great here lately. It is Wednesday here and it should get to 80 today and similar temps the rest of the week. We closed the pool last weekend and the leaves are starting to change colors. It looks like the Typhoon hit near Shangai, which from what I understand was south of where you were in Qingdao. Has the storm effected your travel plans? We are starting to look at travel plans to meet you when you get back to Florida. Mom was able to get some extra time off, so Mom and Bridgette and I will be comming down either late Wednesday the 5th or early on the 6th. Are you going to want to spend a day in Florida when you get back in or head right back? Love Dad.

Hey Beez so I found a dog that I absolutley fell in love with and Nick agreed that the dog could live with him for the year until I was able to move again into a more dog friendly house/area. So I went to adopt the dog yesterday and I was seriously beat to it by fifteen minuets. Needless to say I was extremely upset, I actually atempted to bribe the adoption agent (which got me nowhere) and I even considered stealing her. Im pretty set on getting one now so when I find another I really like Im just going to do it, so I may have a puppy when you come home. The Dali lama is comming to speak here in a few weeks, tickets sold out within 30 seconds of going on sale and I wanted to go so I asked dad about the standby crew that would be covering it. He said a crew has been requested to stay with him for 72 hours and extensive backround checks had to be run in advance, so I guess I missed the boat on that one. Hopefully it will be webcast so I can at least see it. Other then that school and work have pretty much taken up all of my time. I read some of the guidlines for this website and they are not tolerant of people attacking other academic work. I think all the caps lock from the last one may have raised the flag, so I think if we avoid them this one should be ok. Well Im going to get back to my studying talk to you soon. baboosh

Hey everyone, It was great to talk to all of you the other day, I miss you all so much.My last day in Hong Kong was fun I did an SAS trip which was Tai Chi, Tea, and Dim Sum. The Dim Sum was good excpet that we ate it at 9 in the morning and it isn't something I would consider breakfast food. It was kind of like a sampling of lots of Chines foods. There was rice soup, dumplings, egg roles, rice bars... and other things that I dont know how to describe. After that we went to the water front to practice Tai Chi with three Tai Chi masters. It was a lot of fun and really relaxing/energizing. Then we went Tea tasting which is Hong Kong's equivalent of American wine tasting. We tried lots of differnt kinds of Tea and they showed us the blooming flower tea. When the trip was over I walked around Hong Kong with my roommate and went to dinner at a restaurant on the bay. It was pretty and really good food. I miss you all... love you!

Hey Beezer so Kay had game night last night, awsome! I havent played scatergories in such a long time, it was a lot of fun, and my team would have won if the other team hadent cheated but whatever I'll get over it. I lost my god damn camera! Im pretty upset because theres a bunch of stuff comming up I wanted pics from so I could send you some stuff, so now it looks like im gonna have to buy another one grrrr. Kenz an Gette are commin to nicks halloween party an mom has been requested to come as that ugly manikin that used to make you cry, haha. He asked DJ Mclovin to DJ the party but he'll already be in cyprus. Im tryin to come up with a sweet costume, got any good ideas? Well thats all I got for now but I'll keep you posted. Catch ya later aligator. Court

Hey Court... did you lose your camera at kay's house? Because if you did couldn't you just ask her to look for it? I'll think of a costume idea and get back to you in a little bit. What are Cait and Gette going to be? I didn't even know that Mom still had that manikin mask, i thought I made her throw it out. If mom dresses in the manikin then dad should wear that freaky old man mask... they would make the perfect pair. I'll talk to you soon.

Hey Dad.. just a quick question. What war did did Danny fight in, was it Vietnam? Our boat gets to Vietnam tomorrow morning. I dont have anything specific planned for tomorrow. I think I am just going to tour Ho Chi Minh City and take it easy because I have a trip planned with SAS that leaves at 4:30 in the morning on Friday. I am really excited for my trip because it was the one big one I booked ahead of time. It goes to Hanoi and then Halong Bay which are both supposed to be beautiful places. I will get back from that trip late Sunday night and have Monday to do whatever I want around Ho Chi Minh City. I love you all!

Hey Meg, Danny didn't enter the service until the Vietnam conflict was over. he did end up on a lot of flights over seas and I believe it was the Persian Gulf conflict that he was involved in. We watched your video last night it was very good. It was nice to see the ship and the people you are traveling with. I made some copies of it today and I will share them with all.Chris sent me an email today, he ran a half marathon in Sidney and is scheduled to run the Marine Corps Marathon the end of October. Grammy and Jackie traveled to Connecticut to visit John, it sounds like things are working out well for him. The weather has still been really nice here, it was 90 today. This weekend is the apple harvest festival on the commons, but it sounds like Mom and I might go to Rochester to watch Caitlins softball games.The girls from I.C. have asked me to do the basketball team again, we sill start some time the end of October. Stay in touch, Love Dad.

Beeeeez. Your video was awsome! A lil too awsome perhaps, Gette an i thought you bought it from the ship until we saw pics of you an your captions popin up. I was in awe with the whole thing until you came back for that lil ps at the end, then I wanted to throw something at the tv. Im thinking about attempting my own project if i find the time so you can see everyone here. I may even try to send you some of DJ Mclovins spinnin if I make it to that party. I lost the camera over a week ago so I dont think asking Kay would do me much good. Ive decided to give it another week an if I dont find it by then Im gonna have to get a new one, I dont like being without a camera. Nothing else new yet but i'll let you know if anything exciting comes up. Keep us posted on your avdentures and stay out of chinesse prison! Catch ya later. Court

I am so glad you guys got the dvd. I wanted you to be able to see where I am living and my friends and some of my earliest adventures. The only problem I ran into trying to make it was my lack of music. I only have a couple CDs so I had to be creative with some of my song choices. I sent another copy of the DVD to Greg I figured betweenthe two one would get to Ithaca safely. I havn't heard anything from Greg yet so I don't know if he got it but if he didn't could you make a copy for him to see. Court you should attempt a project to send to me... it's pretty easy to do on a mac and I would love to see everyone. It takes about two weeks for mail to get to the ship. Mom has the address of our ports in countires and suggested dates to send things by. Or you could send a photo of you guys. I only have so many photos in my room and it would be exciting to see a new one. Dad I'm glad you're coaching again, I actually really miss watching football games and seeing sports in general. I'm excited to get home and come watch your games! Today was our first day in Vietnam. I was expecting to experience a country similar to China.. very dirty and mean but Vietnam is differnt. There is lots of poverty but it is much cleaner and friendlier than China. I went to the War museum today and explored the city. The museum was devastating... there were tons of photos and model replicas of what took place. It encridibly powerful to study an event, such as the Vietnam War, and then go and see the where it took place and observe a population that is still effected by it. Tomorrow I leave for Hanoi and Halong Bay, I'll will update this page when I get back on Sunday. Have fun at the apple festival enjoy fall for me. Love you all! p.s. court, I was wearing your syracuse shirt this morning (I woke up a 5 to watch the sunrise as our boat was pulled through the Saigon river up to Ho Chi Minh City... where we docked), anyways one of my friends was admiring my (your shirt). They loved how it is so worn. Don't worry I am taking good care of it

Hi again! Vietnam is a beautiful country. It is much different from China. I was suprised to see how nice and happy the people were even though they are quite poor. Hanoi and Halong Bay were both amazing. It was a fun trip because most of the people were faculty and older life-long-learners. It was fun to hang out with a different crowd of people. I spent most of my time with one of my friends and my economics professor and two of the life long learners. One of the life long learners is named Anne, she is in her mid fifties and works with securities somewhere in the south. The other life long learner is named Jeff, he has spent the last 12 years living in Thailand retired. I ate most of my meals and hung out with this group of people. My economics professor reminds me exactly of a mix between lunger and dad. We tried every kind of beer that Vietnam. I learned the proper beer tasting technique and how to evaluate a beer. It was so much fun. Our second day in Hanoi we went on a four hour boat cruise through the bay. We explored caves and admired the limestone lake and gumdrop mountains. At one point the boat anchored in the water. Lots of kids brought their swim suits and jumped in. I didn't because the docotor warned all of us to stay out of the water and listed a hundred or so reasons why. But after seeing tons of kids in the water I figured I would be okay. I walked up to the top of the boat and jumped off the side, completely clothed along with my economic professor and my friend ryan. Someone got a great picture of the three of us mid air. I really loved Vietnam, I would love to go back there someday. Right now we our on our way to Thailand, we will be there tomorrow morning. There is a slight chance that we wont be able to get off the boat because our ship may be quarantined... don't be scared. Apparently a lot of students have infectious diarrhea and when more than 2% of our ships population are sick the CDC is allowed to take over our boat and prohibit us from entering a counrty. Right now 5% of the ships population have infectious diarrhea. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow morning. Either way it will take us a long time to clear customs, but hopefully we are allowed to enter the country. If we are able to enter Thailand tomorrow than I will be doing a service visit at an orphanage. I am really looking forward to it. p.s. don't worry I am very healthy and show no signs of infectious diarrhea :)

Hey Meg it was good to finally hear from you. Hope everything works ok and you can spend some time in Thailand. The weather has still been great here. It is going to stay 75-80 through the rest of the week. The leaves are finally starting to change. We have closed the pool and taken the tents down, so I guess summer is over. We went to Syracuse last Friday night and played "glow golf". It was Mike Lunger, George, Chris Putney and Bruce Derrick and we ended up in 2nd place,which we won a coffee mug for. I have the flight arrangements for you return. Bridgette and mom and I will be arriving in Ft.Lauderdale on December 6th and then we will all fly back out on Sunday December 9th. This gives you a day and a half to veg out in Ft. Lauderdal before we come home. Do you still get any of the emails that are sent to your Cornell email address? We have still been continuing with the painting that you and Greg started. Both stairways have been painted and they should be finished with the truck bay by the end of the week. It should look pretty spiffy by the time you get back. Your colors in the back bedrooms are finally starting to "grow" on the folks. Stay safe and keep in touch. Love Dad.

I love Thailand! We should come back here to visit. I spent the first day at an orphanage which wasn't too sad. It was a very nice facility and the kids were all happy and well taken care of. It was fun to be able to play with them. After the orphanage I took a taxi to Bangkok with 8 other semester at sea kids. It takes about 2.5 hours to get to Bangkok from our ship. Imet up with two of my other friends that night in Bangkok. We met and had dinner at a restaurant called cabbages and condoms. It was really good food and the restaurant was decorated with condoms. Also, when they gave us the bill instead of giving us mints they gave us condoms. After dinner it was about 9 and dark and we weren't sure where we were going to stay. The restaurant we ate at also had three computers with internet so we all got on to check our email and look for a hostel. My friend, Kait checked her email and found out that her grandmother had died. It was really sad. She was crying and shaking... it was hard because we knew there was nothing we could really do. We got a cab and made it to a hostel where Kait was able to call her dad and talk with him for a couple of hours. The next day Kait was in much better spirits... we tried to keep her mind off of her grandmother. We got a bus to Kanchaburi which is about 2.5 hours north of Bangkok. Kanchanaburi was just like the Disney movie the Jungle Book. We stayed in a hostel that was a tree house and had thai massages in our room for an hour our first night (they only cost $4). We walked to the night market. Kanchaburi is a very relaxed town and not crowded, it was a good change fro the cities that we have mostly been seeing. The next day we rented a tour guide that took us to a seven tiered water fall (you walked for 20 mins and come to the first water fall.... walk up for 20 more minutes and come to the second...) the whole waterfall looked fake because it was so beautiful. There were parts where you could slide down it. We swam a lot with big fish that would bite (but it didn't hurt). At the seventh tier we ran into some mokeys (I am not joking when I say I was in the jungle). I though that monkeys were my favorite animals... but this experience may have changed my mind. The monkeys would swing from the vines and come right up to you. They would try to grab stuff from us and hiss and shrieck at us. Once one monkey started all of them would. It was scary because we were surrounded by monkeys that we were scared of and we didn't know what to do (Our guide stayed at the 2nd tier b/c it was a long hike up to the top). We were able to escape the monkeys... they didn't actually hurt anyone they just scared us. The second stop of our tour was to an elephant village, we go to ride elephants for about an hour through the jungle and a river. Then we went for a ride down a river on a bamboo raft. Then went to death railway and explored the town and a cave. Inside the cave was a giant buddah and a space for meditating. There was a monk and some locals mediatting, my friends and I joined in for a while. We then rode on death railway and went to a famous bridge and market. The whole tour lasted from 8-530 and only cost us $30 each. That night we stayed on the same street except we stayed in a bungalow by the river. We watched the sunset in hammocks and went to dinner. The next morning we went back to Bangkok and did a walking tour of the city and then went to a market before catching the bus back to the ship. I had such a great time in Thailand. The food was delicious, the people were kind and the scenery was beautiful. If I would have been able to talk to you at some point it would have made my trip perfect. Today I will probably go for a run around the ship and then start my work. I have four test in the next five days. We don't have school tomorrow which will be a nice break except that I have a lot of work to do that day. I miss you guys, I'll write again soon. Sorry I wasn't able to call you at this stop hopefully I will be able to find an internet cafe in India.

Hey Meg, good to hear from you again. It sounded like a bit of a sketchy trip through Thailand,glad to hear you are back on the ship. It dosen't seem fair, you get to play with monkeys and elephants and I have to deal with skunks and woodchucks in the back yard. Caitlin came home on Saturday night after their football game and they had a movie night @ home. Greg came up and did the cooking for us. Caitlin hadn't seen your DVD yet, so she got a chance to see it. It's Monday the 9th here which is a school holiday, "Columbus Day". Bridgette took her SAT's last Saturday and we are still trying to arrange a couple of college visits. The list keeps changing.Greg had another DJ night on Friday so Courtney and Bridgette went. They took the video camera and got some nice clips. We will try to send you some pictures and video. Be safe, love Dad.

Wow Meg the whole thing sounds absolutely beautiful, I am extremely jealous every time you write about these amazing jungle/waterfall hikes you keep taking; im convinced thats how I would spend all my time if I were in any of the places you've been. I would also like to state for the record that I find it extremely had to believe that you were not bawling when thoes monkeys were "attacking" you especially since you flipped out when I poked you around that bee... I believe you are leaving parts of your adventure out. Like dad said Gette, nick an I went to watch Greg DJ an took some sweet pics an footage, for the most part we sat an mad fun of drunk girls, it was a blast. Next weekend Kenzie is commin home again and a big group of us (including Greg) are heading out to the pumpkin farm. Nick has never been so it should be a lot of fun. I was going to take pics of the leaves for you but since the weather has been so screwy there hasent been much of a change yet, I'll let you know.I really, really, really miss my shirt (I miss you too) and you better be taking care of it. Im going to an emergency planning and weapons of mass destruction conference for three days over break with susan and im really excited about that. Other then that theres not much else going on here. India should be a blasty blast an I cant wait to see all your pics, talk to you soon. Court p.s you told me I would have christmas ideas... I need them asap

Hi again. Today we don't have school which is a very nice break. However, midterms start tomorrow. I have four in the next 5 days and then I'll be in India. I am going to have a lot of work to do before India but I guess I'll just have to deal with it. Tonight some of my friends are doing secret santa again which is very exciting. We started in Vietnam and decided that we would continue throughout the rest of the trip. We pick a name before we get to a country and then spend $1 on that person in the country and trade gifts the day after. It's alot of fun and reminds me of my favorite holiday. I am super jealous of the pumpkin farm, make sure you get a pumpkin for me and carve it too! I'll write again soon!

Hey everyone! How are things at home? Yesterday we weere bunkered in Singapore for re-fueling all day long. Our boat was anchored about a mile from shore... nobody was able to get off the boat. The day before we got to Singapore our ship had a practice man overboard drill. The crew threw a life jacket overboard as a simulated person. Alarms were sounded and our ship did a figure 8 back towards the life jacket. When we got close a life boat was dropped in the water to rescue the life-jaket. The drill took place at 1030 during my Economics class. My professor was so excited about it that he made the whole class go up to the top deck to watch the entire thing. It took about 30 minutes... it was actually pretty cool to see. Right now we are sailing through the malaca straight, which is the most pirated waters in the world. Yes, pirates actually do exist! There was an article before I left in the National Geographic about pirates in the Malaca Straight, look it up if you don't believe me. I didn't think our ship would be a target since we are so big but apparently pirates often target large cruise ships because they know there will be a lot of loot on them. The captain of our boat said speed is our best defense against them. Our ship has been going very fast ever since we left Singapore. Our ship also has water cannon to shoot away pirates who are trying to come aboard. HAHA, it makes me laugh to write this becasue it souds so crazy. Everyone on the ship has been in study mode for about a week because we all have so many midterms. I have already had a bio and macroeconomics test, both went well. Keep me updated with whats new with all of you! I love you

Hey Meghan, It sounds pretty crazy having to think about pirates. The weather has finally started to change; it was 50 and rainy here today. We are still working on the painting @ the bunkroom. When we were almost done with the painting, I decided to have the floor in the garage redone. It made a real mess when they were sand balsting the floor, there was dust everywhere. Hopefully we will be done with everything by the time you get back. We are going to take Greg out tommorow night; dinner first and then the Common Ground. The Common Ground is having a "Gayly Wed" game and Brad and Rich are going to be one of the couples. It sounds like we may have a whole group going. Be safe. Love Dad

Hi everone! How was the show at the common ground? Are you guys still going to the pumpkin farm this weekend? We finished passing through the malaca straight without any run-ins with pirates. But, my bio teacher did get a picture of a ship with pirates and a cannon on it. I also saw whlaes today in bio class. I havn't really seen any other marine life other than flying fish. I have been a little homesick lately. I have been pretty tired and have had lots of work to do and i miss being able to relax at home. I miss you all!

Hi again! Tomorrow we will be in India and I am very excited for that. For the first three days I will be doing a yoga retreat with SAS. We will be going a a village to practice yoga, breathing, meditation and explore our inner self. I have been very excited for this trip ever since I signed up for it. All the meals are included and they are vegetarian which makes me really happy. I love indian food especially the vegetarian kinds so I know I won't be hungry. The fourth day in India I am hoping to go into the city of Chennai and walk around and maybe go to an internet cafe. Hopefully I will be able to call you guys then. I have another trip planned on the fifth day which is called socioeconomic problems of india. I will be going with SAS to an extremely poor village to observe the daily life of an indian who lives in poverty. I think India will be the most extreme culture shock so far. I have heard very disturbing examples of what I may see. I have tried to prepare myself for it. How is everything at home, how was the show, and what else do you guys have planned for the weekend. I miss you all so much!

Hey darlin, I have been reading your entries right along, but it is difficult to write cause I miss you so much! I'm glad you got our mail. It is about half way through your trip, I am counting down the days. We had Greg here for dinner last night, then went to the Gayly wed thing, it was pretty funny. We came back home and sang to Greg and had Ice cream cake. You know that Syracuse shirt you borrowed from Court has quite a history. Dad bought me that when I was quite pregnant for Courtney. We were in Florida at FSU with Danny and Lance and Florida State was playing against Syracuse. I wore that shirt for years before it was stolen from me. I didn't know it was still around. Be careful in your travels. I love you, Mama

Hey Meg, We filmed the Gayly Wed game last night, it was pretty entertaining. Brad and Rich statred out well, they were in first place after the first round, but when it was all over they came in last place. The other male gay couple beat the lesbian couple in the final round by correctly guessing their final score. We had a crowd their [Bridgette,Caitlin,Courtney,Morgan,Greg,Nick Mom and John Sheridan]supporting Brad and Rich. I got the Cadillac Ambulance out of storage and cleaned this weekend. We were contacted by a group doing filming for the A & E T.V. channel. They are doing a series on Psychic Crime solvers, and one of the events they are filming happened 30 years ago, and they were looking for an old ambulance to use. Love Dad.

Hi! We got to India a couple of hours ago, now we are just waiting for the ship to clear. My yoga group will be the first people off the boat. I am very excited for this trip. The onl thing that stinks is that we have to wear long loose pants and long sleeved shirts. We cant wear typical tight fitting skin showing yoga clothes. Right now it is 90 degrees, I doubt there wil be any air conditioning and since we will be doing 4 hours of yoga a day i imagine I will be very hott. Mom, I didn't realize that the shirt used to be yours... now it is even more special. People always comment on i whenever I wear it. It is such a comfy shirt... i wear it all the time. I have been keeping a countdown going as well, don't worry...i'll be home before you know it! I dont know when I will write next, it may be about three days if there is no interent in my yoga retreat place. But if there isn't I will write you as soon as i get back to the boat on the 17th. i love you all so much!

Hey Meg, how is the nose doing? Did that bump straighten out OK? Also you got a package from american apparell, it was a lite blue tank top. Did you order this? love you, mom

Hey Beez, guess what? I finally did it, I got a puppy! Shes a five month old beagle boxer mix and she has a brindle coat, mostly brown with black and dark brown markings and then she has white paws, a white nose and white chest. Shes awsome and I cant wait to pick her up. Im picking her up friday and I need to have her name picked out by then, so if you get on to update this before then and could shoot me a few ideas that would be awsome. Her name right now is bridgette... which gette loves and think I should keep but I told her there was no way I was keeping my dogs name the same as my sister, thats just weird. Im at the conference now with susan, its really long days but they have this really cool manikan that is 100% interactive. He breathes, has a heart beat, crys, pee's, nose runs, his cords spasm and shut when you try an intubate, he has a pulse and his lung sounds change depending on what biological or chemical agent he's exposed to. We get to run senarios on him tomorrow so Im excited that should be fun. Anyway India sounds like a lot of fun and your yoga days sound really relaxing. Let me know how the rest of it goes and give me name ideas asap. Later dude. Court

Hey everyone! Thanks for the updates. Right now I am back on the ship I have a lot to do these next couple of days with my ship courses and I also am in the process of trying to register for spring courses at cornell. It is very stressfull and I am exhausted! I have so much to tell you about India but I havn't had time to process things yet, as soon as I am able to I will tell you about it. Court, congrats! I can't wait to meet the doggie! Gette suggested I come up with an Indian name, I am still working on it... have you thought of any names yet? The conference you went to sounds really awesome, by the way how big is your doggie and how big will it get? If you couldn't tell I am very excited about that. I'll write here again soon, I miss you all.... have you decorated for halloween yet you should if you havn't already! I love you all!

Hi again! I have had a couple busy days. I had a midterm due today and I have another midterm tomorrow morning. Fortunately after my midterm tomorrow I will have a break for a couple of days. Tonight was my sea social and it was tons of fun. My sea is a group of about 100 students who live in my hall. Once a semester each sea is allowed to have a party in the faculty lounge which is usually closed to students. Our theme was all white since that is our seas color. Other themes have been 80's and hollywood, I thought our theme was kind of lame but it turned out to be pretty cool. There was a dj and chips and salsa (which made the whole thing worth while b/c I havn't had chips and salsa since I left). Tomorrow I am going to relax after my midterm. I will probably watch a movie or something I am excited to have a little, much needed break. Court, I want to hear all about your puppy, damn it! I'll write again soon!

Hey Meg... Im slightly devestated at the moment because I had to give her back to the SPCA today. She bit my room mate last night and attacked the cat and the this morning when I took her out before class she attacked and bit two little kids. It really, really sucks and Im not happy at all but theres to many kids in this area and I work with kids so I had to give her back. Gette was asking if im going to get another one and Im sure I will eventually but I really liked her and dont feel like I can just go grab anoher one tomorrow like she was just a toy. So yea im pretty bummed but maybe when you get back over winter break you guys can all come with me and help pick one out. Good luck with your midterm and I recomend the emporers new groove if you have it. Bye bye beez. Court

Hey Meg, Hope all the testing went well and you had some down time; it sounds like things have been kind of crazy for you. We had a going away cook out for Greg yesterday @ the bunkroom and we made him do the cooking. It was a nice turn out, everyone from here in the office and all the crews that were on came over. Last night was our first night of try outs for the club team. It was a fairly lagre turn out[25 kids]. Greg came over to help out, but he had to leave eary to eary to go over with Bridgette to watch I Love N.Y. It sounds like everyone is getting all geared up for Nick's Haloween party. Caitlin may be comming home with a couple of her roomates to got to the pumpkin farm and then to the party. Things have been out of control down @ I.H.S. There are multiple allegations of racial conflicts and threats of violence. It got so bad last week with a suggestion of violence that the school district let the families know that if they did not feel comfortable sending their kids to school that it would be considered a legal day of absesnce, so last Thursday a reported 700 kids stayed home and then on Friday 500 stayed home. Bridgette was not in school on Thursday as we were in Vermont visiting the college but she decided to go on Friday and she left school after a couple of periods. She said that some of her classes only had a couple of kids in the class. The kids are generally all back to school now with the exception of a group of parents that will not send their kids back until the school district can guarantee their safety. They also just instituted a new policy which is as soon as the class begins they lock all the doors. Be safe Love Dad.

Hi! Court, sorry about the dog. I will look forward to helping you pick out a new one around christmas time, maybe by then I will have a good name for it too! Dad, is Beth playing this year? By the way, how is Deb doing? The high school situation sounds pretty scary... hopefully they get things under control soon. My tests are done with and went well. Today I have been catching up on my journal entries and taking it easy. Tomorrow we have a day off which means no classes. It is also picture day for the yearbook. We have pictures taken with our sea's and also with the other students from our home institution. There are two other girls from Cornell on the ship, I have become friends with one of them but I still dont know who the other girl is, hopefully I can meet her tomorrow. Hope all is well... miss you guys!

Hi again! A few updates since I last wrote. First, the SAS trip I did in India (the yoga/meditation thing) had an outbreak of lice. One of the students came back from our trip with lice and since we all rotated around on different mats with different pillow the lice spread to lots of kids. There were only 30 students on my trip which was good b/c if it was any bigger it would have caused even more problems. Anyways, all the kids from my trip were called to the clinic during dinner the other night. They told us what was going on and then checked all of us. I was in a room with two other girls, both of them had it- luckily I didn't. They told us to keep the situation quite because they didn't want to start a panic on the ship. There were lots of hippies on my trip and two of the boys had dreadlocks. I am assuming one of the boys got the lice because he cut his dreads off yesterday, I felt bad for him. There have also been lots of alcohol related problems with many of the students on board. It has gotten so bad since we left India that the staff revoked all alcohol privilidges until we arrive in Egypt. I am not too bummed but lots of the kids are pretty pised off about it. I am getting very excited about Egypt. I have been doing alot of reading about it and it seems like there is so much to do and see there- it also seems very different from the other countires we have visited. Usually history doesn't interest me that much but Egypts history seems very interesting. There are so many things that I want to do while I am there! I have an SAS trip to the Pyramids. I had a flight booked to Sharm al Shieck to go Scuba diving with some kids but I decided that I didn't want to pay $200 for one day on the beach when there is so many other things to do. I also found out that there are huge historical underwater finds right in Alexandria. Underwater tombs and libraries- I am so excited and Def. planning on trying to Scuba dive while in Alexandria. I am also going to see the Alexandria light house which is one of the 7 wonders of the world (along with the pyramids)... I have never even heard of this light house, I dont know what to expect other than something pretty amazing. Krista and I may also try to take an overnight train to Luxor to see the Valley of the Kings. Man there are just so many awesome historical sites in Egypt, I can't wait! I have been getting caught up with school work and relaxing/hanging out these past couple days. I was originally deading these 12 days of sailing because I got very antsy on the ship during the 9 days it took to get to Japan. But there is so much going on now and it is nice to have a while to recover from all this traveling. I miss you all!

Hi everyone! Thanks for the picures Dad, it was so nice to see them. I had two tests today that went pretty well. We just got to Suez (it's about 8 pm on Monday... I think its Monday). We are anchored a little ways off the shore and tomorrow morning we will be going through the suez canal which should be a cool experience. We dont have classes tomorrow because we have our sea olympics all day. Basically each hall competes with eachother in silly activities. I am doing the scavenger hunt and toilet paper fashion show. Today our boat is celebrating halloween since we will be in Egypt for Halloween. We had an barbeque outside on the top deck tonight for dinner. The food was great- I havn't had a barbeque since the summer. There was also tons of desserts. Little bite size brownies, cookie bars, cakes, pies, tarts.... they also had ice cream, hot fudge, sprinkles, and sherbert. I stayed on the 7th deck for two hours... rotating between groups of friends and eating the entire time (I am completely stuffed b/c my goal was to try everything before dinner was over... of course I succeeded). Right now I am in the union listening to cultural pre-port for Egypt. This goes until 9 and then we have a Halloween party. I don't really have any costume so I think I am going to be a cat. Tonight I am sleeping outside with some freinds, I have wanted to sleep out since we left from Mexico but just havn't gotten around to it yet. It is getting colder so I figured I better sleep out before it gets too cold.Egypt will be our last warm port, I have heard that Turkey through Spain will be jacket weather. I have been very sleepy these last few days so I am going to try to get a good rest tonight and take it easy tomorrow. I was going to callyou guys this weekend but my roommate Dad turned off her phone b/c he had a $900 bill- it scared me and since I will be in Egpyt in two days I figured I would just wait until then to use an internet cafe. I miss you all!

Hey Meg its finally starting to cool down here... alot. I believe we actually may have had frost this morning. Nicks party was a total blast on saturday, and dads costumes were the hit of the party. He started out as a fat stripper and changed to a beer pong reff in the middle of the party. Him and Morgan actually made it to the championship game and lost. Qi an I lost our first game to kenzie an her room mate but we were to drunk at that point to care anyway. Nick did an amazing job decorating the place, he covered every wall with sheets and spray painted them, he had a huge spider wed across the entire ceiling, a fog machine and caution tape all over the place. If you get a chance to play with the internet check out my webshots or myspace, I have all the pics up there. Moving on Egypt sounds like the most interesting place your going to be going, I am very very jealous of all the exploring you get to do. Historically its probably one of the most amazing places on earth, you better take a lot of amazing pictures. Other then that schools become a major pain with all the projects and papers I have however if I make it through this semester, spring will be a cake walk. I only have to take three classes and the rest of the semester will be my internship. Danielle came to the party with caroline and it made me want to go on a cousin adventure really bad. You should do some brainstorming and come up with something fun so I can get the ball rolling on this side and then we can do something over winter break when were all here. P.s I dont think Kenz or Gette ever write in this (sorry cait if Im stealin your news) but Kenz got into the New Zealand program and it looks like she'll be out of the country from februray until june. then we'll have a super awesome family vacation because three of us (hopefully) will have graduated. Keep in touch and have an amazing time in Egypt. Court

Hey Meg, It was good to heard from you today. If you can still get on the internet send a note to Grammy @ some point @ rita.bangs@gmail.com. Mom has started to work on putting the christmas list together. We hope to be able to draw names and get you the information to you. If you see something that you would specifically like to get for someone in the family,we will work the list around it. I am down to 16 kids on the I.C. Team. We had most of the kids return from last year and we picked up a handful of new kids. Brittney did get cut from the Ithaca College team and luckily she did not show up @ our try out. We did have 2 kids that showed up for our last night of try outs after they were cut from the Varsity. They had a nice talent level, but not the best of attitudes, so we did not kep them. They were not very happy; and they let everyone know that they were not very happy with the process. Oh well. Be safe Love Dad.

Hi Dad, I havn't had any luck with the flight. I spent forever on the internet trying to find a local Egypt number for the airline. I only have 30 minutes of internet time left so I can't spend any more time on tonight. I dont think I will be able to speak to anyone this late anyways so I will have to wait until the morning. I have to wake up early for my SAS trip and I am very tired right now... there is nobody on the ship that is awake that I could speak with and I probably shouldn't go off the ship alone this late at night. I will have to wait till the morning to try an figure anything out. I will try to find a phone number tomorrow morning and a pay phone to get my flight cancelled if it hasn't already been. Could you also try calling in the morning hoefully between the two of us we will be able to cancel it. I'll get ahold of you tomorrow.

Hey Meg, I was able to get through to the same spot that my previous email refered on 10/24/2007 Re: the ticket information. They said that they showed the ticket amount $73.50 from Cairo had ben credited, and that they did not show any other charge in there. Not having all of the specific information regarding the trip in front of me, there may be an outside chance that the return flight may have been through a different airline ? but EgyptAir did not show any other charges had gone through for you. The person's name that I talked with @ Egypt Air this morning was Anna. She said that if we asked for her if there were any other questions she would help straighten them out. If the person on your ship that charged this ticket still has a charge on his credit card regarding your flight, just let him know that we will reimburse him and we will deal with Egypt Air. Love Dad. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.58.0.114 (talk) 15:43, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Hwy guys! We are just getting ready to leave Egypt... i loved Egypt! Here are some quick highlights. The first day I walked along the Eastern harbor with some friends. We visited the library and had lunch in a local cafe. Then we stoped in some candy shops and went to an internet cafe. We met up with some other kids and were going to go out to eat for Sarah's birthday. In Egypt dinner time is from 9-10 and then people stay out until all hours of th night. We all met at the internet cafe and by the time we were done which was around 830 kate and krista and I were all very tired so we decided to head back to the ship. Krista and I were hungry but dinner had already ended. Krista had a packet of ramen in her room and some nesquik chocolate milk mix... we shared a bowl of crunchy half cooked ramen and a glass of chocolate milk at 10 pm as our halloween dinner celebration. It was a sad sight and funny sight but it was pretty good after a long day of walking. The next morning I went on an SAS trip to Cairo. The first day we went to a pyramid and old tomb in the desert. Then we went to an all you can eat buffet lunch at a very nice hotel...I ate so much food. Egyptian food is very similar to Greek food and very delicious. Then we went to the Cairo museum and saw all of King Tut's treasures including the solid gold maks and set of caskets he was burried in. It was so cool. Then we went to our hotel, I went for a walk with Kait along the Nile and then we went back to our hotel for our 9pm dinner buffet. After dinner I went to a hooka bar with a couple people... i tried the hooka which was strawberry flavored and pretty good. The next morning we woke up at 430 and saw the sunrise at the pyramids. The pyramids were foggy as we arrived and kind of erie. As the sun rose the tops of the Pyramids appeared one by one (there are three all together... actually nine, but three big ones). After the sun rose I went for a camel ride on a camel named Moses who kept farting. Then I went inside the middle size Pyramid. I climbed through the mazes and made it into the main burial chamber. I laid in the tomb (ahhhh, it was very creepy). We also saw the Sphinx and then headed up to the City of the Dead and a Muhammed Ali's Mosque. We went for a lunch cruise down the Nile and watched some belly dancers and muscians perform. We also stopped at a Bazzar and then went back to th Pyramids for the sound and light show. The show lasted about an hour and lit up the pyramids while it told the history of them and the kinds that were burried there. Towards the end of the light show is when I got sick. I made it back to the bus and was only on the bus for about 5 mins before I started to throw up. I continued to throw up the entire 2 1/2 hour ride back to Alexandria. It was terrible. I got to my cabin showered and crawled into bed. The next morning I was feeling ok. I walked around to the Catacombs and the Roman Amphitheater and Pompey's Pillar (all of which are in Alexandria). I cam back to the ship for a nap and dinner. Then I went back out with Krista to an internet cafe and a supermarket (this was the first suermarket I have seen since Hawaii). I got snack food which I have been craving forever. The supermarket was inside a mall and we didn't get there until 11pm at night but the mall was still hopping. All the stores were open and the mall was still packed. People just seem to stay up much later in Egypt. Today was our last day. I went to a dive shop in the morning and got on a scuba tour at 11. We went on two dives one to the light house (one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world... it fell from an earth quake a couple years ago. most of it is submersed underwater I swam up to it and touched it). Surrounding the lighthouse were tons of ruins from the pharrohs, greeks, and romans. I saw old Sphinx's and pillars... the list goes on. Our second dive was to Cleopatras palace where there was a sunken ship from WWII. It was so cool to be able to swim right up to the underwater sites. I had such a great time and was so happy I was able to dive. We got back from our dives around 5, the dive place fed us fish rice and veggie and gave us a little ceremony. I walked back to the ship and wandered through some markets I bought tons of nuts and pomagranates (a bag of 9 for $1). They are my new favorite fruit. I absolutely loved Egpyt. I was so busy but I enjoyed every minute of it. I only have three countries left which makes me so sad, but at the same time I am very much looking forward to getting back home and seeing all of you. I miss you all, I'll write again soon!

Hey Beez I went to Buffalo yesterday with Dad an Nick to watch Senator Shumer talk about his new bill for Medicare to reimburse ambulance companies an extra 5%. We took the ambulance up and a few other agencies from around NY did the same thing and the had a press confrerence with him in front of the ambulances and all the different EMT's in the background... which was really akward because I was standing in the front row right next to him... and the guy next to me was either farting the whole time or had really bad bo... so it was kinda hard to keep a straight face. I guess its supposed to be on the Buffalo news but I have no idea what station or when or any of thoes details I'll have to ask Dad. I had my intership meeting and it looks like I will probably be placed up at the emergency room, which Im really excited about. I'll know where Im deffinatley going to be before Thanksgiving break. Other then that school has become a major pain in the ass, I have huge projects and papers in all my classes which are conviently all due around the same time. It's getting done though and after this semester I only have one left... it feels very strange to be graduating for real this time, haha. Anyway I have started thinking about christmas gifts for everyone and I asked you for your damn list weeks ago, I want it asap. I get the whole week off for thanksgiving and Im gonna try and make a dent then so I dont have a lot left durring finals week, which ends december 22nd again.... shity. Other then that nothing new on this side of the world, just working and going to school. I wrote you an e-mail about christmas an a few other things... very important that you get back to me soon, I need to take care of a few things so as soon as you get a chance please, please ,please check that out an get back to me. K thanks keep in touch and stay out of tombs... gross! - Court —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.58.8.59 (talk) 18:48, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Hey guys! I'm in Turkey! We only had two days of sailing before we got to Turkey which was not enough time to recover from Egypt. I basically spent the entire two days curled up in my cabin writing in my journal and writing papers. We left Egypt at 11 pm on the 4th. I sat out on the top deck with some friends waving goodbye to the city of Alexandria, I really loved Egypt and was very sad to leave. Anyways I went to bed that having left the warm 90 degree weaher that I have been living in since I left for this trip. The next morning I woke up to rain, storm, and coldness. It has been rainy and cold ever since. Turkey is about 45-50 degrees and I froze today. I wore long unides, pants, and teeshirt, turtle neck, jacket, and scarf and was still freezing. It is very difficult to try to adjust to this weather after having left the 90 degree desert of Egypt only two days ago. At the same time I am really enjoying this weater because it reminds me of fall. Turkey in general is very European and kind of reminds me of home. There are even colored leaves falling from trees which is so nice to see. Today I had two SAS trips. The first was a trip along the Black Sea coast. We drove through lots of little towns and along the Black Sea. We crossed the bridge the joins Asia with Europe. Turkey is pretty cool because it is the only place in the world where you can cross on foot from one continent to another. After that trip I came back to the ship for a quick dinner and then headed off to m second trip. I went to the Surfi Dervish Ceremony. It was a religious dancing ceremony where guys twirl around continously to reach a state of euphoria. They twirled for about an hour. It was pretty cool to see. Tomorrow I am going to go to a Turkish Bath house with some friends and then walk around the city. I'll let you know how it goes. P.S. will somebody buy me some candy corn and save it for me until I get back (which is exactly one month from today!) Love you all!

Hey Meg, It's Thursday morning here. It has also gotten noticeably cooler here; we just finished taking the air conditioners out of the offices. The Fall sports season has ended and the winter sports have started their try outs. Gil is the new varsity girls coach and Lester is the J.V. coach. They will only hve two seniors this year. Riley opted out of playing basketball; she was just offered a scholarship to play lacrosse @ Binghamton. Bridgette will be confirmed next Thuesday night @ the new church in Lansing. She was the oldest kid by about 10 years. She will have to tell you the name that she picked out. Mom and Bridgette and I are all set to meet you in Florida. We are due to arrive there Thursday morning and then head back with you on Sunday. I may look to change my return flight. As of now we are scheduled to fly in and out of Syracuse, but I have a game scheduled @ the University of Rochester on Sunday afternoon so I may look to fly back via Rochester. I am sure that the SAS people have been advised about the border conflicts with Turkey and Iraq so please be safe. see you soon. Love Dad.

Hey Beez I got your e-mail, totally made my week, im really excited for christmas an everyone to be home again. Cortaca was a blast today, drunk idiots all over the place. IC won the game 40-17 and Lunger was nice enough to remind me that that means you have to shave one of your eyebrows off!! He also pointed out that it would be in your bext intrest to do so now so you at least have a few weeks for it to grow back before you have to face everyone at home. Other then that I dont have much more to talk about, nothing new and exciting on this end yet but I'll keep you posted, get to shaving :) Love ya an see you in a few weeks. Court

Yesterday was our last day in Istanbul. I spent my time with my roomie, krista, and holly. I hadn't seen the Blue Mosque or the Aya Sophia which are two of Istanbuls landmarks so I figured I should do that. Shiree and I went to the Mosques in the morning and then met up with Krista and Holly and some other people at Starbucks at 1230. Krista, Holly, Shiree and myself walked down the the bridge stopping in lots of little stores here and there. We went to get some beers and apple tea in a restaurant under the bridge. I hadn't had a Turkish beer yet and really wanted to try one. Also, the apple tea in Turkey is awesome, it's just like hot apple cider and they serve it to you free of charge after almost every meal- it's great! After that we walked back to the ship to get our computers and then ead to an internet cafe for a few hours before we got back on the ship. We all went to an internet cafe that was really smoky (most of turkey is smokey) and very loud because half of it was like a sports club and a soccer game was on. After about an hour Shiree asked me to come over to her computer. I could tell something was wrong by the sound of her voice so I rushed over. She told me that her heart was beating extremely fast and her arms and legs were numb, she felt like she was going to pass out, she was on the verge of crying and told me that she told she had been drugged. I was really scared so I tried to calm her down and walked with her outside where she eventually did calm down. We headed back to the ship after that since she was still feeling very weird. She hadn't got much sleep the night before and hadn't had much to eat that day. She went to the nurse when we got back to the ship, they hooked her up to a heart rate monitor, which showed that her heart was fine. The nurse said it was just a combination of being dehydrated, tired, hungry, and having too much caffine. She is fine but it was really scarry. My last day in Turkey other than that little episode was wonderful. It was nice to travel with those girls because we all mesh well together. We just had a nice relaxing day enjoying our last hours in Turkey. For those of you who don't know.... My second day in Istanbul I walked around witha a group of friends. We saw he clocktower and the bridges and went to lunch at an awesome little restaurant where I had some great food. On my third day I went with a group of 5 friends to the Princes Island. We took a ferry that takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to the islands. The Island were beautiful and it was a nice day. We walked around and ate lunch in acute restaurant. On Staurday I went with Kate on an SAS trip that went for a 10-mile hike through the countryside of Istanbul. I got to see alot and it was beautiful. I also met a really cool girl named Kelly who talked with me for most of the 5 hour hike. After the hike Kate, Kelly and I went to the Grand Bazaar, which is the biggest in the world and goes for about 3 miles. I got an awesome leather jacket! And maybe some presents for you guys. After about 20 minutes in the Bazzat we all decided that it would be a lot eaiser to get some shopping down if we split up. We decided to meet back at an internet cafe at 8 for dinner and then internet. I was walking back after some serious shopping. It was raining really hard. I looked up to cross the road and saw two SAS students crossing from the other direction. One of the students didn't see the train coming and walked out in front of it by accident. It was the scarriest thing I have ever seen... and I have never ran so fast. Luckily there were a couple other SAS students around who were able to help me help the girl who got hit. She ended up being okay... she was never unconcious or bleeding but she did end up with some bruising and a concussion. I was suprised and very thankful that she asn't hurt a lot worse. Needless to say I have had an eventful couple of days. Today I had an economics test and then I went to the gym. I just got back from lunch and I am going to write some papers and maybe watch a movie bfore dinner. I'll write again soon! I miss you all!

Hi again! Right now I am in the union listening to cultural pre-port.... two nights before we get to a country we have cultural pre-port where someone talks about the country we are going to. They tell us some brief history and then let us know about the culture and wrap up with some suggestions for things that we can do. I am listening to our interport student who is from Croatia. From what I have heard there is not that much to do in Croatia. It is going to be colder than it was in Turkey and there are no major sites other than the city walls (the entire city is supposedly enclosed by brick walls). There are ferries to bordering islands and some churchs. It is mainly a relaxing stop for our ship. Originally Krista and I were going to try and get to Italy, which is just across the water from Croatia but that doesn't look like its going to work out b/c it would be a lot of time traveling. I am going to probably go to some islands and eat food, drink Croatian beer, and hang out with my friends. I am going to Barcelona in Spain so I will probably be pretty busy so I really just want to spend time with my other friends. Before dinner Krista and Sherri and I were very bored so we borrowed Holly's work out tapes and locked ourselves in a classroom and did 8 minute buns of steele, and two 10 minute dance/kickboxing workouts. We were a sad sight because none of us have any rythm and we were trying to manuver around the chairs and tables in the classroom, but it was a lot of fun.Tonight we passed through the Adriatic Sea which is the name of my "sea" (group of students that live around me). Our Resident director had an ice cream cake for all of us... yum. I am going to watch a movie tonight and I get an extra hour of sleep b/c we get to retard our clocks tonight (I am reall going to miss all this clock retardation when I get home!) I'll write again soon!

Hi! The night that I wrote that last  message was not a very good night for me. The boat was so rocky. I went to bed around 2330 and around 100 I woke up to crashing waves and almost falling out of my bed. My cabin is towards the front of the ship and I could feel our boat going air bourne. I dont have any windows in my rooms so I couldn't see outside but the girls across the hall said the waves were covering their window. I usually like the rocking but that night it got so bad I thought our boat was gonig to tip over. I couldn't fall asleep because I was so scarred and it was so noisey (the waves were crashing and stuff was falling off our night stand and our drawers kept opening then slamming shut). Luckily I didn't get sea sick. I did clench my flashlight the entire night because I thought that the boat would tip over and the lights would go out and then I wouldn't be able to see my way out of the ship. I survived though, I napped the entire next day though. Today was our first day in Croatia. Croatia is beautiful if you google it you can get a feel for what I am seeing. There is one part of Dubrovnik called the old city that is an area that is entirly enclosed by white brick walls. It was left over from Croatia's civil war, which only ended 12 years ago. Inside the walls there is an entire functioning city; shops, restaurants, bars.... We spent most of the day inside the old city. We went to a great pizzeria where I had Croatian beer and pizza (yum) and then got gelato (even though it was freezing outside) The we went to a cafe and got hot chocolate and coffee and shots of cherry brandy. We walked around a little a took lots of pictures. There really is not much to do in Dubrovnik. Basically there are churches, the city walls, and some islands. Croatia is one of the number one tourist destinations, however we came during the off season. It is cold, rainy, and basically everything is closed except for the restaurants and shops. It's nice though, I am enjoying not having tons of sights and running around to do. I am going to try and get to the Islands one day if the weather is okay. I am going to go to a play and dinner with a group of girls Saturday night and then I am going to go to Church (Mommy you would be proud) on Sunday. I also have a trip planned on Sunday afternoon, which takes a group of students to a rural village to eat bread, cheese, and smoked bacon and drink wine.... haha, I chose that trip b/c it sounded very Croatian. I love and miss you all, I'll write again soon... pray for some sunshine for me!

Croatia was awesome even though everything was closed. The second day was sunny so we decided it would be a good day to do the wall. Krista and I had discovered a grocery store (a normal, american-sized grocery store) on our first day so we decided to go to the grocery store to buy some wine to drink on the wall since that's what we had done in China on the great wall. I walked the wall with Krista, Shiree, Sera, Andy and Chloe. It took us about 2 hours to walk around the entire wall b/c we stopped every couple of minutes to take pictures. We all went to tea after the wall. Then we walked around the old city and did some shopping. Krista and I went to a bakery and finished the wine we had from earlier with some fresh bread. We all went back t the ship for dinner and then watched a movie together. The next day we woke up early to catch the bus to a hiking trail outside of the city. We somehow missed the actual trail and ended up climbing up the side of a mountain. We had a picnic at the top. It was a great hike. The hike was in the middle of no where so we walked along the road until we came to a town called Cavat (it was supposed to be a cute little town).... it was a cute little town but it was completely deserted. The hotel was closed, all the restaurants and shops were closed. We couldn't find anything to do in the town so we walked to the bus station to wait for the bus. We went back to the ship to get cleaned up and go out to dinner. Krista, Molly and I ate at a little Italian restaurant where I had the best pasta. It was bow-tie shapped things with cheese sauce and tomatoe sauce. We went to a bar after wards and hung out for a while. Shiree and Sera were supposed to meet us for dinner but they never showed up. Later that night Molly, Krista and I watched a scarry movie. Shiree still wasn't back when the movie was over and I was scared so I slept with the lights on thinking that Shiree would turn them off when she came in. i woke up at 645 and the lights were still on and Shiree still wasn't back. I was a little worried b/c Shiree usually leaves me a note if she isn't planning on coming home. I went to the gangway to check and see if Shiree had checked in to the ship (I was thinking she may have just slept in another persons room) Her and Sera had never checked back on. I felt a little better knowing they were together. I found out later that some SAS kids had rented an apartment and threw a party and Sera and Shiree spent the night there. Krista and I were planning on going to the old city in the morning but it was pouring rain, freezing cold, thundering and lightning. We decided to do some buns of steele workout videos until the rain let up. We got off the ship around 1130 and went to the old city with Molly. We walked around, went to an internet cafe, and got some coffee. After a couple hours in the old city we came back to the ship to get cleaned up. We met up with Shiree, Sera, Britt, and Haley to go to a play in the old city. The play was good but it was in Croatian.... we had fun making up what was going on since we couldn't understand it. We went to a pizzeria after the play then out to a bar. As you can see there is a trend here, there is nothing to do in Croatia in the off season other than eat and drink. The following day I woke up and went to the old city with Molly to go to mass. Again the service was in Croatian but it followed the same schedule as church at home so I knew what was going on and knew what prayers were being said. I enjoyed it. There was a little farmers market set up outside the church that we walked around for a while. We met up with the other girls for coffee at 11. I walked back to the ship afterwards b/c I had an SAS trip. My trip was awesome. A group of about 25 students went to a moutain village. We were greeted with dried figs and shots of brandy. We went to a persons house where we saw some tradaitonal music and dance performed. The dancing consisted of jumping up and down with your arms over your head and spinning in a circle... there was absolutely so grace involved so everyone joined in. All of us danced for about 5 minutes. The we were given sticks and plates of uncooked bacon, cheese, and bread were brought out. There were two fire pits. Everyone sat around the fires roasting the bacon then making sandwitches. We were also given wine and potatoe wedges. The food was amazing.... I have never had bacon that tasted so delicious. We stayed for a couple hours chatting and eating and drinking before heading back to the ship. I had a lot of fun in Croatia even though I didn' do much other than eat and drink. I'll write again soon!

A few quick ship updates.... There are some students on the ship who are causing lots of trouble. They drink way to much, then are mean and destructive to the crew, staff and ship property. At this point everybody else is fed up with them. Kids have been being sent home for various alcohol violations. A few kids stole alchol from the captains stash and others broke in to the kitchen to steal beer. The kids who stole were supposed to be sent home in Egypt but at the last minute somehow they were allowed to stay (there are rumors that the kids parents threatened to sue the ship). The doctors on board have had to put up with a lot of alcholol abuse b/c whenever a student is assumed to be drunk they are sent to the doctor to be breathalized. Some students have harrased the doctors during this process. There a rumors that one of the doctors is going to press charges once they get home. Our first day in Croatia there was a lot of tension on the boat while we waited to be cleared. Teachers we walking around and whispering to eachother and there was an announcement for a faculty meeting that night at 9 (meetings are never scheduled while in port). Anyways some of the kids who were supposed to be sent home in Egypt got completely drunk the first day and were acting ridiculosly in the Old City. I think some of those kids did finally get sent home but I am not sure. I also found out the the academic dean left for good in Croatia. I have heard a lot of rumors of why he left but I don't know which are true. I also dont know if he left on his own b/c he was so fed up or if he was fired. I'll keep you guys updated on what happens and don't worry I am not one of the ship's trouble makers! Hi Meggie beezer, It was great to talk to you and Greg over the weekend. I hid your Halloween candy again- hopefully it will be safe until you return home. Gette helped me color my hair last night and it started turning purple! She thought it was hilarious. I was scared to death, but it turned out OK. I changed to a different color (less red in it) and it actually has purple in this shade. Grampa Don's birthday is wed, so everyone in my family is coming here for dinner that night. Grammy got your card and was thrilled. She was worried about you and those "European Men". I sent Greg a care package today. I got his address from David, I hope he gets it. Only 18 more days Beez,I can't wait to hug and squeeze you. Love you lots, Mama

hey beez! so today i had school and like noone was there because its almost thanksgiving break and we only have a 2 day week so im just not going to go tomorrow and start my break off early. its just about 8:56 and monday night and you know that that means... i loove new york 2 @ 9:00..me and mom and dad are all sitting on the couch about to watch it. i heard that you dont want any clothes for xmass so i mean of you could give me some ideas court and i are gooing shopping on friday so let me know! i love you a million rem m&m'! -gette

Hi Everyone! Gette I hope I love New York will have a marathon on after I get home, I really want to see it. Have fun skipping school, I only have 4 more class days left (2 before we arrive in Spain and 2 after Spain). Then we have some study days and then our finals. I am going to try and get caught up on my work today so that I can relax a little on Thanksgiving. As for Christmas ideas I would like some clothes. I told Court that I could use some blouses and sweaters. I am not looking for anything specific but just some dressy shirts ( I already have tons of button downs but I could use some dress blouses and sweaters). I could also use some new yoga cothes (lycra pants-black, and maybe a jacket and tanktop to match). Dont laugh but I really would like a "g" gold pendant and a cross pendant (I already have a chain to put them on so I would only need the pendent). Neither too big, maybe about the size of a nickle or quarter. I need some BROWN mascara and some blue eyeliner (NOT the liquid kind... just any shade of blue eye pencil). I would also like a pair of earings, it is kind of hard to explain but if you show this to mom she may know what I am talking about. The earings I want are the same the Princess Diana used to wear all the time. They are oval shapped saphire stone surrounded by diamonds. You can probably google Princess Diana engagement earings (I think thats what she got them for, and you should be able to see a picture of them). I dont want a real sapphire and diamond earings just something that looks like saphire and diamond.

Hey Meg, It's Thursday morning here,Thanksgiving day. The weather is kind of uchy here today[gray,damp,rainy,and cold].Yesterday it was so nice[65]that we had a cook out @ the bunkroom. Ralph cooked chicken breast and hamburgs.His wife[Liz] came over. It was her last day of work as she is "due" some time in the next week or two.Last night we had grampa Don and the whole family over. It was Grampa Don's birthday. They got talking about the white house in Lansing, so mom and Caitlin are over there now doing a walk through.I guess Caitlin forgot what it looked like. When they get back they will need to get going on the food. Rita, Patty and Nick are all comming up for dinner. Nick is working today so we are going to eat @ 5:00 when his shift is over. It sounds like everyone is making something. Patty her green bean caserole,Grammy the fruit salad,Nick the cranberrys,and it looks like your sisters all made pies. We are doing two turkeys,one in the oven and I am going to fry one. If all of this talk about Thanksgiving and food is making you home sick;it's ment to. It's two weeks from today that we head out to meet you. Enjoy your last two weeks there and we will see you soon. Love Dad.

Hi Everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksiving just wasn't the same without you guys. We did have a Turkey dinner on the ship that was pretty good. No green bean casserole or fruit salad and only pumpkin pie for desert. The mashed potatoes were sweet mashed potatoes... I didn't like them. Right now we are bunkered in Gilbralter (I have no idea how to spell that but I tried). I was really homesick today because I kept thinking about all the things I was missing out on today. I miss the smell of cooking and being with everyone and going to he movies after dinner. We will be in Spain tomorrow and then before too long I will be home, I can't wait. Only two weeks from tomorrow our ship will be in Miami :) I miss you all so much. I love you!

Hi again! In am in Barcelona right now and quite tired. Our first day in Spain I spent in Cadiz (where our boat is docked). We walked around the city and saw some churches and went to a bakery and many candy stores (they have great candy stores all over Spain). Later that night I went to a bull fight and a flamenco dance ceremony where we were severed sangria,wine, and tapas while we enjoyed the dancing. At the end of the show most kids got up and danced with the performers... it was really fun. The next day I got on a bus to Sevilla with Christen, Mia, and Krista. We went to an awesome Cathedral where Christopher Colombus´ tomb is. We also went to a nice spanish restaurant. We walked around the inner city of Sevilla for most of the day it was such a cute place, i took lots of pictures. Later that night we got on our plane to Barcelona. We got to Barcelona around 11 and walked around Las Ramblas (a street with never ending bars, restaurants and clubs) then we came to our hostel to put on stuff down. We went out again after that because we still hadn´t had dinner. I went to bed around 230 and got up at 8 this morning to get showered and get breakfast before church. I went to Church in a beautiful Catherdral with Tal, Mia, and Jason. It was really cool to see a service performed in such an interesting church. After mass we went back to the hostel to meet up with Christen and Krista. We all spent the day seeing the sights of Barcelona (Gaudi´s architecture houses, the seguirada familia (another cathedral) and a park where you can climb a hill to see the whole city. We came back to our hostel around 5 to take a nap. Right now it is about 7. We are meeting in the lobby of our hostel at 9 to go get dinner and then go out. I have a feeling tonight will be a very late night. Tomorrow we are going to finish seeing the sights of Barcelona and then we fly back to Sevilla at 10pm. Spain is awesome, I am having a great time and trying to live it up in our last port! I´ll write again soon, I miss you all!

Hey Meg, It sounds like all is going weel so far for your stop in Spain. Everyone is getting back to their normal routines after the holiday,Caitlin headed back to school this afternoon and Courtney is working tonight and she starts back tomorrow. Bridgette is finishing her college list that is due soon. All the girls went shopping on "black friday",Courtney and Bridgette got up @ 4:30am and went to the Carousel Mall and Caitlin stayed in town and went to Kohls which opened up in October. They all went to the movies last night with Daniele,Casey and John and then I met tehm after the movie for dinner @ Applebees. After dinner we all [Courtney,Caitlin,Bridgette,Nick, Morgan and Mom and I] went over to George and Lindsey for 'game night'. Jim, Kay and Sarah Rice were also there. It sounds like they do a "game night" a couple of times a month where they all get together a someone's house and play board games. We played scattergories. I think Kay and Lindsey were the winners. Enjoy your last night there. Greg called here on Saturday and we let him know that we have tickets for Syracuse basketball on saturday the 22nd. Enjoy your last night there. Love Dad.

Hi Beezer, I was so sad that our connection today was so poor. I had a lot of questions for you, but just on your trip in general. I guess I can wait 8 more days, I can't wait to see you. Randy and his family all say hi, Tami and her new boyfriend (Ted) came over to Grammy and Grampy's on Sunday. They were in Rochester where Ted's family lives for Thanksgiving. We all went to Grammys to see them. Tami looks great- she has lost weight and is quite thin. Ted seems nice. He works for a Nascar driver also, I think it's Jimmy Johnson. I'll fill you in when I see you. Good luck on your finals angel. Love you lots, Mama

Hi everyone, right now I am sailing back home! I can't believe I am saing that, these past months have gone by way too fast. Spain turned out to be an amazing last port. Our second night in Barcelona Krista and I went to a grocery store after ciesta (nap time) and bought some booze (b/c they are much cheper in grocery stores than in bars and restaurants). We drank in the lobby of our hostel with tal and jason while we waited for christen and mis to get up. Around 8 we all headed out to dinner. Spain has lots of sandwitch shops. We ended up eating at a cute little sandwitch place that night. The sandwitches here are really yummy. They are usually meat and cheese or potatoe patties on baguettes then toasted. On the train ride back to Cadiz we were all counting how many sandwitches we had... realized that I had 6 ham and cheese baguettes while in Spain, hehe I guess I liked them! After we ate dinner we went to the fountains and then back to las ramblas to party for a while. We got back to our hostel around 3. Our hostel was pretty nice, we were in a dorm style room with 16 beds. There was a group of guys from Europe who were in our room and were hysterical except they would tell jokes (in there english accents, which made the jokes 10 times funnier) untill 5 or 6 in the morning. I would fall in and out of sleep during that time. I really didn't get much sleep once we got to Barcelona. Our last day in Barcelona we woke up and rented bikes for 5 hours. We rode all around the city visiting the art museum, the pier, a castle, and a park. It was such a nice day, sunny and about 60. The bikes were a really great way to see the city b/c Barcelona is flat which made it easy o pedal around. After we returned the bikes we went to a sandwitch place and then went to see the Barcelona soccer stadium. Tal and Jason didn't want to go to the stadium so we split up and decided we would meet at the airport. Krista had a flight at 7 so she left for the airport after we visited the stadium. Christen and Mia and I went back to a pier to go to a mall then went back to las ramblas to kill time until we headed to the airport. Our flight left at 1050 and we got to the airport at 1010. We watched workers close the ticket counter for our flight and they wouldn't open it back up for us even though we were there the 40 mintues before our flight. It was so frustuating b/c we spent those 40 minutes at the airport trying to convince them to let us through and knowing that our plane was still on the ground. The workers were extremely un-helpfull and rude and I am going to call the airline and complain when I get back. Anyways... we ended up having to book a flight for the next morning at 830. We didn't want to spend more money on a hostel so we decided to sleep in the airport. We shared a bottle of wine at the cafe then found a dark corner to curl up in. All the floors were cement and freezing and I only packed one outfit so I didn't have anything to cover the cold ground. I only fell asleep fr about an hour. I woke up and walked around to try and get warm. I was suprised to see how many travelers sleep in the airport, there were about 100 throughout the airport. There were also homeless people sleeping in the airport. I felt like a homeless person myself. I went back to the cafe and fell asleep with my head on the table b/c it was much warmer by the cafe. There was constructing going on within the airport. The jack-hammers made it even harder to fall asleep. None of us slept much at all. We got on the flight at 8making sure we were through security 2 hours before hand. Once we got to Sevilla we took a bus to the rain station then a train to Cadiz. We got to Cadiz around 230. I went to the ship briefly to drop off my stuff and get cleaned up. Then I went into the city to do some shopping and call you guys and greg. I met up with Krista, Holly, Shiree and her boyfriend (he came to visit her in Spain) and we walked around for the last few hours together. We went to a grocery store and got some boxed Sangria and walked the streets drinking it. We wanted to go out to dinner but all restaurants were closed for ciesta and they wouldn't be opened until 8. We found one bakery that was open and got chocolate churros. We made some stops at the candy shops (my favorite place) and a grocery store before heading back to the ship. I was exhausted once I got back but I wanted to stay up to watch us pull out of port for the last time. Lots of kids were on the top decks and I got pretty sad. It was cold outside so we were all cuddle up with each other and watched as they threw off the bow lines and slowly pulled out. The next time I see land it will be America and I can't wait. I only have four days left for classes then two days of studying and two days of finals then days for packing and ceremonies. I am so full of emotions right now... everyone is. I am so excited to be coming home for christmas, I am anxious to see everyone, I am also very sad though. I have made become very close with so many people who I wont be able to see anymore. I am going to miss so many things about this trip but I am definitely ready to come home. I'll write again soon! I miss you all and I cant wait!

Ahhh Beez I cant believe your on your way home, seems like you just left and at the same time it feels like its been forever. I have christmas fever like WHOA... i cant concentrate on anything I just want everyone home and I want to go party and play football and watch the little kids kick you an casey... although marshall isnt comming this year so perhaps there will be no kicking. I still have two weeks of classes left before we even get to finals but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Syracuse is doing really well so far (even though there season is really easy up until jan 2nd it counts damnit!) Im really excited to make the trip up to watch the game the day after my last final. Nick an I are going to buffalo the day you guys fly back to go to a bills game, my first pro game im excited. Anyway I cant wait to see you and catch up soon everyone will be home and life will be crazy again the way its supposed to. Good luck with your finals and see you soon!!. Court

Hi Everyone! Yikes my butterflies keep getting worse everyday. Today was our last global studies class... I cried... a lot. Our main teacher made a speech about the class and our overall journey. He spoke about how special our community has become and how precious this trip has been. He also talked alot about the changes all of us have gone through. Dr. Mac is our main teacher for global he is the one who begins every class period as well as ends every class period. He is an older man who has been teaching at various universities for 43 years. Today was his last class he will ever teach b/c he is retiring after this semester. He got really choked up throughtout his speech, which made me cry. He ended by telling everyone he loves as he held back his tears. It was so sweet and I couldn't help but think how special and different semester at sea is compared to any other learning institution. Being able to live, eat, and learn with all of my professors has helped us develop a bond that you wont find at any other institution. I have never had any other teacher tell me he loves me and I don't think I ever will. On another note.... at his speech we filled out evaulations about global studies and the trip in general. I have an F in global studies right now which I am very dissapointed about because that grade in no way reflects how hard I worked and how much I learned. We only get evaluated on four tests in global studies and most students struggled with them. I felt like the tests required prior knowledge on the countires we visited and I did not have that. I didn't matter how much I sudied or how well I knew the material, I still ended up failing the tests. My other classes I have A's in and gloabl cannot count towards anything at Cornell so the grade doesn't really matter. I just dont like knowing that I will have an F on my transcript from the University of Virginia. Tomorrow is a study day for gloabl and then the next day is the last global test and the last day of regular classes. That night we have our Ambassadors ball where everone gets dressed up and has a sit down dinner then goes to a dance. It should be a lot of fun. The next day is a study day then we have our first day of finals then another study day and our second day of finals then one day for packing and the convocationceremony and then I will be home! I am so excited! Court I too have Christmas fever. Yesterday Krista and Sherri and I made Christams decorations for 2 hours. Then Sherri and I made hot chocolate and watched Elf. Then I went to Molly's room where we had our last secret santa gift giving party. It was a night full of Christmas spirit. I cant wait to get home and see the decorations and bake cookies and wrap all the presents I have accumulated for you guys :) I am so excited to get home. Dad, I talked to Sherri and Holly and Krista and we all thought that an early dinner around the Miami area would work best. Could you look up restaurants in Miami (something very American!) and let me know so we can all decide on one? Thanks! I love you all! I cant wait

Only one more week! I am so excited. Dad, we all decided that Olive Garden would be a delicious choice, is there one in Miami? Hope you all arn't going insane with the anticipation of my homecoming (hehe) I love you all very much!

Hey Meg, I had posted a note a couple of days ago,but it must have been deleted. We had our first game Wednesday night against Elmira College J.V. team. Beth won the game for us in last couple of seconds of the game from the free throw line[41-38]. Last night we played Colgate and Cornell here @ Cornell. We beat Colgate by 12, but lost to Cornell by 16. After the Game we went to meet Patty and Chris for dinner @ the boat yard. Chris is in town for a couple of days. He just found out a week ago that he has to ship off again to Baghdad for a year. I received an email via SAS from Kerri Morrison[who I think is one of the mom's], she is hosting a cocktails reception on Thursday night so I think we will try to stop over. If I find a restaurant to make reservations at, how many should I plan on[4 from our family + how many others]?? It's Sunday morning here and winter has finally hit. It got really cold and we woke up to 4-6" on the ground. Bridgette, mom and I are looking forward to spending a couple of days down south with you. See you soon. Love Dad.

Hi Dad, There will be 5 others (sherri, her dad, krista, holly, and holly's mom). Sherri is a vegetarian which is why we though olive garden would be a good place. We planned on eating around 4 because everyone is flying out early next morning. I hope there is still snow on the ground when I get home. I can't wait to see everyone in a couple of days. I have finished classes and have only a couple of finals left before I am all done with work. I have started packing... all my souvenirs are packed and most of the clothes that I dont plan on wearing anymore are also packed. We bought some garbage bags in Spain so I will be able to get my clothing off the ship. If you guys could bring the big blue suitcase for me as well as one pair of socks that would be great... I had originally asked mom to bring me some clothes but I will be fine with what I have. I'll write again soon!Love you

Hey Meg was it Friday night or Saturday night that you wanted to go to dinner? Dad

7 days and you'll be home!! I still have two weeks left of classes before we even start finals week, boo. So I got bored last night at Nicks and his room mates girlfriend was dying her hair and asked me to help and then said I should dye mine too.... so I did.... my hair is now strawberry blonde. I like it. It was really busy at work today with the first real snowfall... when I left we had had six car accidents (all minor). Good luck on the rest of your finals, this time next week you will be at home sleeping in your own bed!- Court

Hi everyone! Dad, the dinner will be on Friday b/c people leave saturday morning. Court, I can't wait to see your hair. My hair has gotten so long I'll need to do something with it after I get home maybe we can dye it some cool color. I am really hoping that there wil be snow when I get home, I have really missed snowy cold ithaca. Today I finished up the first two of my finals. I have one take home final and one in class final on wednesday. It's noon right now and I have the rest of the day to study along with tomorrow. It's weird packing things up and having things wind down. Today the boat is the rockiest it has ever been. People are falling all over the place and things keep tipping over. Some times the rocking scares me a little but at leasT I dont get sea sick. I took my two finals this morning with the boat rocking which made them really fun. Because whenever there was a big wave all our calculators would fall off the desks in unison then my professor would make some joke about the rocking... that happened every 3 minutes or so, which made it even funnier. I was suprised nobody in the class got sick but I guess were all used to it by now. I can't wait to get home! AHHHHHH!

Hi Dad, Could you look up the address for the Cheesecake Factory in Miami, mabe look up the address for The Olive Garden and Red Lobster as well. Thanks!

Hey Meg, I can do that. Do you know where the other kids are staying in Miami? We are staing in Fort Lauderdale because that is where we are flying in and out of. It's an easy trip for us comming in from Fort Lauderdale. Today was a snow day for Bridgette,so we are really looking forward to the warm weather. Love Dad

Hey Dad, I think everyone else is actually staying in Ft. Lauderdale b/c thats where they leave from Saturday morning. Today was a really nice day on the ship, I spent most of the morning laying out and studying. My arms got a little burned but they are okay. I finished my last final at 230. It's weird being done with classes. Usually I am very busy on the ship but once I finished finals I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't want to pack because it made me sad to have to think about taking things off our walls and stuff. Yesterday was cookie gram day. People pre-purchased cookies with little notes tied to them that were sent to people cabins. I got 5 cookies,all of mine were white chocolate macademia nut and Sherri got all Oatmeal Raisin so we traded some. I also had my last shipboard family dinner yesterday. Our "mom" ordered us an ice cream cake that we had after dinner. Tonight my friends and I celebrated un-birthdays (we celebrated everyons birthday that didn't happen on the ship). We got dressed up and went to dinner then went to the top pool bar at eight to get soft serve. We played cards and hung out for a while after that. Tomorrow at one I have to have all my bags packed except for one carry-off b/c all the bags are taken somewhere in order to prepare for customs. It will be very strange to have nothing in our room after one tomorrow. I am going to go watch a movie with Sherri now. I hope you guys have a good flight tomorrow... I can't wait to see you. I'll call you Friday morning. I love you all!