The Dancing Backpacker

One year ago I over packed two large duffel bags, flew to San Diego and hopped on a bus to Mexico to begin one of the best experiences of my life (so far at least ;). It seems like just yesterday that I was drowning in a sea of a paperwork and wondering if the trip was even going to happen, and now I’m a Semester at Sea alumna. That’s really freakin’ weird. I know I look exactly the same but this was before I even boarded the ship, ahh I’m such a baby. Also Axe’ Em Jacks and

So I thought I would talk a little bit more about life on a ship. This will actually be an extension of an article I wrote for the Pine Log- you can download the pdf here (it's on the entertainment page): Semester at Sea: End of Ship Life In this article I talked about the ship and its alter-ego the MS Deutschland, Some of the SAS traditions and events on the ship, and a little bit about what I did on the ship in my free time. It's hard to squeeze a semester's worth of stuff

Even though I am officially caught up on my blogs, I still plan on still writing some about life on a ship, and culture shock and whatnot. But since I am done reflecting on the individual ports I traveled to (at least in blog form), I would like to share this video I made about one of the best experiences of my life. I'm so glad I took a chance and applied for this program, it was 100% worth all of the paperwork! (: #SemesteratSea #Video

Although we ended our voyage in England, the amount of time SASers spent traveling after the voyage varied greatly. I stayed in London for 5 days, although I have friends who have just returned and some that are still traveling now. The day I disembarked felt almost as surreal as the day I boarded The World Odyssey. The day before everything on the ship was closed, and classes ended with a day to spare to allow us to re-pack and walk around the ship like zombies trying not to

Morocco was amazing. I was really excited for the camel trek I signed up for, and it was definitely one of the most interesting adventures I have ever been on... but we'll get there in a minute! The first day I signed up for a "Casablanca City Orientation", which I honestly could have done independently of SAS, but it was still very cool (and hey, I didn't have to worry about transportation!). We walked through a Medina, stopped at the Mohammed V Square (a fountain and public

"What are you Ghana do in Ghana?" asked my brother for the fourth time from the other side of the world through a badly connected phone call. "Ohhhh!" I said, finally understanding through hysterical laughter while explaining to my friends what I was laughing about while they gave me judgmental looks. Well, I thought it was funny! It was a good question though, what was I Ghana do in this remote country in Africa that I initially knew so little about? Well, I basically signed

My adventures in South Africa were possibly some of the most unexpected experiences of my voyage. Because it was so far down on the Itinerary my research really only consisted of looking through some guide books on the ship the day before we docked- which actually led to some fun adventures and surprises! The first day I had a lab for my Global Media class. We went to the University of Cape Town and sat in on a film class and talked to some of the students. The campus felt li

Mauritius was another one day wonder that I wish I could have spent more time at (like Hawaii). The day went by so fast and I saw such a small glimpse of Mauritius that it is still mostly a mystery to me. It was beautiful though, and unlike any of the other countries we visited. View from the ship the morning we arrived in Mauritius. I did a field program called "Scenic South" and we spent the day driving, parking, and walking around some of the country's natural wonders. It

I downloaded some music before I left for my trip and downloaded Spotify while I was in Myanmar due to music withdrawl. Anyway, this here's a link to a playlist I made for music I listened to on Semester at Sea. Some of these songs are more relevant than others, but all of these remind me of SAS in one way or another. In case you need some music while you read about my adventures (: https://open.spotify.com/user/andrea.gallier/playlist/4mAF8uBvQcCpJWmVnKoEIK #SemesteratSea #P

India was beautiful and eye opening. It was a place full of bright colors and spicy food, but also so much more. My first day we walked straight off the ship into a swarm of Tuk-Tuk drivers. I had no plans the first day and neither did some of my friends so we just went with the flow when our drivers offered to take us to notable sites around Kochin (we had to get two Tuk-Tuks to fit us all. See the picture below if you have no idea what that is!). We went to a random meat ma

Mee-ann-mar. Me-er-mar. My-an-mar. Or Burma. These are just some of the ways I've heard this country identified. The story behind the Myanmar/Burma debate is that when the British colonized Myanmar, and discovered that the locals called themselves 'Burmese', they said "Hey, this must be Burma!" and thus Myanmar became Burma to the British and to all the other people that didn't want to bother with pronouncing Myanmar. Generally the locals tend to stick to the original name

Vietnam was beautiful chaos. We arrived a day late due to strong winds that forced us to stay in Hong Kong an extra day (sadly we were not let off the ship even though we were docked there). Even though we arrived late, we had to leave on the same day. That just meant we had to make the best of the time we did have in port! (and like every other place we went to, i'll just have to come back some day) That first day I went on a city tour. My roommate Alyssa and some other frie

Hello! I am alive! Because of unreliable Wifi and massive amounts of schoolwork and other things I have not been able to update this blog as much as I would like. I have decided that I will post about the rest of our ports when I return from my voyage (I'll have some free time before summer classes when I get back!) Sea you then (pun intended!) :D #SemesteratSea

So it has been awhile since I have posted! Since I finally have somewhat reliable Wifi, I will catch you up on China! We rolled up on January 31st and were practically in the middle of the city. View of Shanghai from the Ship! My first adventure was to the water village of Zhujiajiao. After a short bus ride, we walked to the entrance of the water village and got right back in the water on wooden boats. We then rode through the middle of the village. As you float down the tow

I am currently sitting at a Starbucks in Hong Kong, but I thought I would reflect a little on the last port we went to- Japan! For the first part of my time in the land of selfie sticks and shrines, I explored Yokohama. I went to Chinatown with a couple friends, ate something that I can only describe as a delicious meat cloud, got Vietnamese coffee and enjoyed the free Wi-Fi for a little bit (a little ironic, but the ship coffee is not good- I'm not sure it is even coffee- an

Hawaii was amazing! Instead of doing a blog post, I am just going to share the aricle I sent in to 'The Pine Log' for the "Lumberjacks Abroad" series. Here it is: http://www.thepinelog.com/opinion/article_bfe3ac62-c49c-11e5-9068-4744f3edc3d1.html Also, here are a couple pictures from the hike! (: #Hawaii #SemesteratSea

So it has been a little more than a week since I boarded The World Odyssey and it feels like it has been a lot longer (and I mean that in the best way)! The bus ride to Ensenada was rainy and surreal- I was mainly having day-nightmares that I forgot some form and that they would send me back as soon as I got there. The ride was supposed to take two hours, but we broke down about a mile from the place where The World Odyssey was docked. It was up and running in about 30 minute

San Diego was great! We got there on Jan. 2nd, three days before The World Odyssey took off towards the somewhat stormy waters between Ensenada and Hawaii (more on that later). Highlights included taking the ferry to bike around Coronado Island, delicious orange tea, Little Italy, a questionable mummy story, graffiti, and the Torrey Pines hike (which was beautiful but not what it sounds like- the word “Pines” is a little misleading ). -Just look at all those beautiful pine tr

Tomorrow is the day! I can't help feeling like an old time explorer adventuring into the unknown (even though the places I'm going have most definitely been discovered...I'm probably more like the girl from UP pictured below...) Anyway, I'll be getting up super early and heading to the Hilton to help with the shuttle buses to Ensenada (Campus store work study people have to help!) and then I'll be on the last shuttle to the ship. Tonight I'm getting my bags ready to go and ma

A question I forgot to answer in my previous post was, of course, "Where all am I going"? Here is my itinerary for this semester. I am in San Diego right now and I am having fun exploring the city- I'll post more about that soon...ish! #SemesteratSea #Itinerary #SAS