Seeing the World

Last Blog Entry

2010-04-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

On April 6 we all went our ways back to home. Now, I sit at home three days later after a three month journey around the world, I can't help but to reflect on everything.

I don't want to bore you all with my little thoughts, but I do want to say that this has been one extraordinary journey. Traveling to nine different countries in three months was crazy. I had to learn to adjust quickly, be flexible, and be observant.

I'm going to miss everyone that I lived and saw 24 hours a day, 7 days and week, for three months, even if we did get on each other nerves every once in a while. I'm ready to head back to my home, but with a more open mind and use the new experience I've gained just to make a few tweaks here and there.

I'm going to keep this short and simple, but this was a fun ride. I learned lots, and I hope to somehow change something maybe someone who can hopefully help change the world someday.

This is the end of the biomes 2010 journey, but this isn't my last adventure. Till then.

This is How Germans Celebrate Easter

2010-04-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

For Good Friday, Saturday, and Easter Sunday we had the days off to wander about, explore, and do more homework.

On Friday, many of the shops were closed so I stayed inside to do some homework. I later went for a run that afternoon with Vince and we found some nifty trails in the woods. The trail led us to the beach, which was really fantastic to see. Running back to the hotel was a bad thing, the trail we took was all downhill so it was all uphill going back. I think I messed up my shins from lack of stretching properly... Oh wells.

Easter Saturday started off with more homework, but at night I discovered Germans do something a little interesting. They like to burn their christmas trees by the rivers and beach and drink by these fires. I headed down to the beach with Becky, and Michelle. We missed the big fire that they started, but according to Vince they had an enormous tree with a dummy hanging on it. HAHA. We saw the what was remaining of the ex-tree. Also, on the way down, we passed a house that was throwing a costume party.

Rows of fire along the beach

Remainings of the ex-tree.

On Easter Sunday, Vince, Jake, Nikki, and I went to the Fischemarket. We left our hotel at 5:30 am, CRAZYYY. It was a really big flea market that sold a lot of flowers, food, clothing, shot glasses, beersteins, and other random nick nacks. There were a few men selling banana's and I don't know what he said in German, but he was screaming and throwing banana's at people. I guess this was his way of advertising. Vince, Nikki, and Jake got their souveniors and I got mine. We eventually split up because they were going to go to mass, and I went to go hang out with drunken Germans at 7 in the morning. The most entertaining thing about this was the band playing during the time. I think they were called Thorpids? But the lead singer was an old man, about in his late 50's early 60's and he started to scream and rip his shirt off and the crowd went crazy and started to jump around. I sat in the distance and watched these people have their fun.

My attempt of a fischemarket picture

Later that day, back to the hotel to do work T_T

Two days from now, I'll be back in good ol Ohio...
I can't believe it!

Hamburg, Germany

2010-04-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

Hello from Hamburg! During our time here, it was mostly spent doing homework and catching up on work, so that's why I haven't been doing this.

But I'll try to summarize what I've been doing.

While in Hamburg, we visited a few churches that were really beautifully decorated. My favorite one has been the St. Michael's church. We got to walk to the top of the building in this church. There were so many stairs...

St. Michael's from outside

Inside the St. Michael church.

Forgot the name of this church, but it was more a gothic medieval style... I think. God, David kill me

On Thursday, I believe, our group went to go see the concentration camp. This is where Anne Frank was at and died, and um... it was a really disturbing and sad to be there. Walking around, you would see these huge mounds and when you walk over you see how many Jewish people were buried there. It would vary anywhere from 500-2,000 people and maybe more. (I didn't look at them all).

Going inside the museum was slightly depressing. They had videos during the time period of the concentration camp and it was really horrifying. They showed you what these people went through, what they looked like when they were dead, how they buried them (they used bulldozers, there were so many dead bodies), and they had interviews with survivors from the camp. I didn't have enough time to look at everything, but boy was I feeling uneasy from it all in the end.

The next three days we have off to experience Easter, German style.

Doggies & Abandon Mines

2010-03-28T01:18:00.000-07:00

Daylight savings happened on the 28th, good thing I woke up earlier than usual or I would of missed DOGSLEDDING!!!!!!

A man came by our hotel and took us to this different area to get suited up into their warmer gear. We looked like astronauts with Russians hats. It was great. The clothing they gave us really was nice and warm.

Swaffie bundled up.

When we arrived at the doggie kettle, we were assigned 2 per dogsled, 6 dogs per sled, and we had to go and get the dogs, put them into their harness and hook them up to the dog sled. Good thing back in high school, I use to work with husky dogs.

Brenna and I were a team. The first dog we grabbed loved to pee on our leg and pee on Sigrid's sled. HAHA. These dogs were so adorable and super hyper. Once we had all four dogs harness up, we were ready to go out into the ice. What exactly did I see, um, lots of snow, but it was absolutely beautiful and spectacular. A rainbow was hanging over us too. When we reached our halfway point, we switched drivers and back to the doggie kettle. Once again, we had to handle to dogs and unharness them, take them back to their doggie house, and then feed them. It was a lot of fun.

Go doggies!

Ice Field

After being out in the ice and hanging with the Alaskan Huskies, it was time to roll back to the hotel and DO WORK!

Next day, the 29th, we were leaving towards Hamburg. We weren't leaving till 1:00 pm, so I decided to take a little stroll and explore this abandon mine that was on top of a mountain. What I thought would be a little stroll, was an awful hike up. It took me FOREVER to climb ... not even half a mile up. It was so steep, so snowy, and icy I had to get on all fours and even claw my hands into the snow to get a grip. The bad part was I went by myself, oops. It was really dangerous, and I could of slipped and fall and hurt myself, but luckily I didn't! The only thing that did get hurt was my camera. :-(

The mine from outside

When I finally reached the mine after about 30 minutes of struggling to climb up, it was really nifty to see all of these broken tools and pieces. I didn't stay too long because it was a little creepy, but it was definitely fun. Good thing coming down the hill was ten times easier. I just slide on my back and made sure to dodge rocks.

Inside the mine

After warming up and getting packing, it was time to hit the rode! Last leg of the trip... TO HAMBURG, GERMANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-20 Degree Weather

2010-03-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

On the 26th, we left for Longyearbyen, Norway... 78 degrees up North. And my golly when we landed it was freezing cold. My three hoodies and coat, and boots was no match to this type of weather. We were in a true Tundra Biome.

The first day of arrival wasn't very eventful except trying not to get frostbite from a 2K walk to a grocery store and back.

The next day however, we went to another museum where they talked about different things such as the polar bears, seals, whales, coal mines, Northern Lights, and things of that nature. It was really interesting, the only negative thing was I HAD to wear crocs... In Norway a lot of people take their shoes off once they enter a building. I guess this was to keep snow, dirt and whatnots from ruining the carpeting and wood.. But wearing the crocs were awful.

After the museum though, we were able to walk out onto the Arctic Ocean. It was so much fun. A little slippery and cold, but fun. The interestng thing it was frozen salt water so it must have been extremely cold. A group of guy found an ice hole and I was able to touch the water and yeah, its cold. In the water though, I did see a few little fishes and shrimps. After that I had to make a run back to the hotel it was freezing cold.

Next day though... DOGSLEDDING!

Hello From Norway

2010-03-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

We are currently in Tromso, Norway. The best place to see the Northern Lights according to Denny.

The first night we arrived, we took a bus to our hotel and made an awful walk all uphill to our hotel. The uphill part wasn't bad, it was the fact that this was all covered in ice and snow. There was a small section where there was a vertical hill and many of us kept sliding down trying to get up. But once we got settled it was all good.

The next day (25th) we had class, but afterwards we did a mini walk to the Poloria museum. The museum was pretty cool. But the best part of this day was seeing the Lights.

After dinner, around 7:30 - 8:00 a group of us, Clay, Brenna, Liz, Michelle, Swaffie, Caitlin, Matt, Allen, Nate, and I went out in search for this. It was quite a journey. Before we left I went sledding in the streets for bit, not the greatest idea but boy was it fun. We walked towards the dock and saw a glimpse of it. With excitement we started to look for a place that was darker and found an area that was OK. The city lights were really bright, but in just a matter of a few minutes we saw flares of green light showing up. To get a beter view a lot of laid down in the snow. It was absolutely fantastic! It was just like watching the lights on youtube, but ten times better. Every once in awhile, the lights would go away, but then it would come back. It was great. We were outside for a good two hours until I started to become numb so I headed out.

While walking back to the hotel though, I could still see the lights in the sky and in the distance I could hear someone screaming like a girl in glee. I think it was Clay...

Free Day!

2010-03-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

I started off my free day waking up bright and early at 6:30 am! I got into my running gear and hopped on a bus to the palace's garden and I had the most awesome and lovely run! It was a good 2 hour run around the garden, park, and through the city back to the hotel. My favorite part of the run was seeing mohawk squirrel... I named this squirrel that because it really did look like it had a mohawk. I later discovered it was a Fotografische Vorlagen (when I went to the natural history museum, this is tomorrow's entry)... I think its German.

After my run, I was back at the hotel by 9, ate breakfast, showered, and head out into town. I walked around the city by myself, but it was pretty enjoyable. The weather was sunny and warm. I hopped on the bus again and randomly got off at a stop and started walking. I chose my direction by seeing a shiny object in the distance (I really like shiny things). During my walk, I did happen to find a random shopping area and spent a bit of my time in a bookstore. I pretended I knew German and skimmed through the books like I knew what it was saying. I did accidently piss of a german man and 2 german women. Good job Anh for being an ignorant tourist!

For lunch I found a Vietnamese restaurant, which I found to be really entertaining. I thought the place was going to be owned by some Germans, and they were actually Vietnamese people!!! Well Vietnamese Germans, whatever, but it was still cool. I was able to read the menu in Vietnamese and order in Vietnamese. Oh my mother would of been proud. (Vietnamese isn't my first language).

After four hours of wandering the city it was time to stroll off and figure out how to get back to the hotel. When we got back everyone got ready to an orchestra.

We tried to look our best with the limited amount of clothing we had, it worked. The concert was beautiful. I've never enjoyed classical music over the radio or on cd, but seeing it live was an experience and I think I'll be going to more in the future. I just loved how each player put so much passion and love into what they are doing and into the performance. It was too bad that our seats didn't let us see their faces, but you can tell by the way they were playing. One of the flute players was very into it and moved around, she reminded me of Soya (a student back at Hiram)

When the concert was over, we had one more stop, the Holocaust Memorial. It was a very interesting memorial, and I can't explain what type of feeling you get. You just have to walk through this thing yourself. But the structure were these blocks of different sizes. They were suppose to represent tombstones. From far away, it looks like they are all the same size until you walk through it. You start of with these blocks being around ankle high to hip height, and then you walk in further. The blocks start to get taller and taller, till they are as a building. The passage way was narrow and you couldn't see the other side anymore, except for a light.

David said they wanted to create a feeling of discomfort and not knowing what was going to happen, just like how the people in the holocaust felt. It worked. Walking through that passage way was quite scary since we went late at night. Nikki held my hand while we walked, and then she decided to run and make random turns. This made it even more scary for me. When we finally reached the end, I was so glad to be out of that thing.

After a full day of events, it was time to hit the hay sack.

Welcome to Berlin

2010-03-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

WHOO! Here I am in Berlin.

Berlin is a very different from what I'm use to now. I'm not use to:

- NOT having a heavy population
- NO crazy traffic
- Trying to play real life frogger
- Familiar foods

And so much more! It took me a while to readjust to not having to worry about a random person trying to sell me random things, or trying to get me to look in there shops. I do miss haggling for a cheaper price though.

The first day here, we went off to see a memorial, and the Pergamon Museum. The museum was really interesting. The Pergamon museum I thought reminded me of Bergamon in Turkey. It also had information about Egypt... After the museums we tried to visit a second one, but didn't make it in time. So the rest of the day was free for us.

Statue on the way to Pergamon Museum

I did a mini walk around town by myself for a bit and caught up with Kanako to head back to the hotel. But during my mini walk I went into a 1 Euro store and bumped into some Vietnamese tourist. You have no idea how happy I was to speak to someone in my language, but my vietnamese was really bad. But I'm still happy that I was able to help them out :)

The rest of that night I chilled in my room.

The next day after class we were off to see a palace. The palace we went to was called Charlottenburg... at least that's what my ticket says. (I'm sorry I'm so bad at this). According to David, the entire palace was bombed and ruined during the war. And while the war was still going on the people of Germany tried to restore it. But they did do a good job at it. In the palace it was really pretty. I really liked the architecture, the chandlers, and the shiny objects... Not many furniture made it through during the bombing, but they had a few that remained. The rooms weren't very big, but boy were they fancy.

Gates of palace

In the palace's garden, picture of palace.

After being in the palace we went for a walk through the garden, which was my favorite part. It wasn't fancy or had exotic plants. It was actually very plain and very control, but this was a very french style garden. (I know this from my garden class freshman year). But I still liked it a lot.

Later that night, since it was St. Patties Day we did what we were suppose to do. Go back to our rooms and study like good students :)

NEXT DAY, FREE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello from Turkey!

2010-03-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

Its been a few days, and I've been doing a bad job of keeping my personal journal updated, so this will be all jumbled up and out of place. SORRY!

Here they call this place Turkiyie, and its a beautiful country. During our stay here, we were on a tour bus for the most part visiting many different sights. I could name them all, but not to sure how interested you are in that.

I'll do it anyways, these are not in order:

-A University (I forgot the name oops)
- Troia
- Izma Bergama
- Bergama Akropolu
- Ayasofya
- Ephesus
- The Blue Mosque
- The Green Mosque (its not green)

And a few more stops that I don't recall the name of. Each one of them were great to see, and David gave us a lot of information about each place.

We hiked to the waterfall one day and that was fun. The most exciting part of that was Swaffie, Nate, and Tim all jumped into the freezing water.

My favorite place about Turkey was going to the Bizarre. The bizzare was like a flea market, but so much more. They had a lot of different things that people were selling, but we didn't have much time to explore the entire place. It was a huge market. I did give in to a few Turkish items. I can't say what I got because most of them are gifts :)
But I really liked this place because they had a lot of shiny objects... for the people that know me, I really love shiny objects. But they had scarves, magnets, jersheys, enhancement pills for certain places (I can't spell the actual word and spell check is failing on me), lights, tea cups, food, instruments, Turkish belly dancing outfits (very sexy), and so much more! I would of really love to explore that area some more.

To be honest, I can't write too much about Turkey and I apologize for that. I'm so bad at this, but our next stop is Berlin, Germany. I PROMISE IT'LL BE BETTER!

TILL THEN!

Levels of and remains of Troia

Replica of the Trojan horse

Waterfall

Part of the Blue Mosque

Ex. Volcanic and Ocean Area

2010-03-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

Today we were off to the Oasis and the Black & White Desert.

The bus ride was quite long and awful because of traffic, but once we hit the land of sand, it empty.

The first day of the oasis we got a tour of the area. Our guide, Husain (might be misspelled) took us to several different areas. My favorite site that day was seeing the naturally made pyramid. According to him, the world's 2nd largest dinosaur was found behind it. Some of the students in the group ran to the top, I only made half way until it was time to go. But it was quite an amazing view. To end the day at the oasis we went up this cliff and watched the sunset.

Driving to the naturally made pyramid

The next day we went to go see the black and white desert. At the black desert, Husain told us it use to be a volcanic area and the black rocks we saw use to be lava, hence the name Black Desert.

The Black Desert

We also found a sand dune and climbed to the top. It was a really tough walk up since the sand was not compact at all. We kept slipping and sliding. I started to get on all four to get up. Eventually we all made it up. The walk down was a different story. I actually have some videos of us walking down, so I might upload those when I figure that out.

The next stop, Crystal Mountain, the start of the White Desert National Park. It really was a white desert, the sand was still sand color, but from afar you would only see white. According to Husain, it looked was because if the small bits of lime stone and chalk laying around. The little chucks on whiteness use to be part of the mushroom valley. The mushroom valley was called this because there were these huge naturally made structures that looked like mushrooms. Some looked like chickens or sea horses though.

The "mushrooms" of the white desert

Seahorse

That night, we camped out in the desert. For a place where its known to cool at night... I did not expect it to be FREEZING! I wasn't able to feel my feet and hands for part of that night until I got by the fire. But besides from almost losing my toes, the sky was absolutely beautiful. I've never seen so many stars out in my life, and I even saw the milkyway! It was FANTASTIC! What made that night even more fun, was listening to David and Sigrid sing and play the harmonica, our guides singing and playing the drums for us, and dancing around the fire. Eventually, it was time for bed. Even with my supposedly -30 degree sleeping bag, hoodie, long sleeve shirts, pants, socks, and an extra blanket, I was still cold that night. Let me note, we were not in tents.

The next morning, I woke up with foot prints next to my sleeping bag meaning a little fox was around us during the night. So cool, and he also, left me a present. I woke up with a piece of his turd next to my head. THANK YOU MR. FOX!

Sunrise at White Desert

It was time to head back to the city of Cairo. During my stay, I truly learned what Denny meant by extreme weather. Next stop, TURKEY!

You Walk Like an Egyptian

2010-03-02T14:02:00.000-08:00

Hello from the land of pyramids, mummies, papyrus paper and more!

The first full day in Egyptian we went to explore the Egyptian Museum. This museum was quite massive, and from the guide book I read it said that they had over 100,000 artifacts. If a person was to spend a minute on each artifact it would take at least 9 months, and a 6-7 hour tour is enough to just get an introduction of the place. It really was a great museum, and looking at the egyptians times was very interesting. It would of been nice to have a guide or more time, but it was nice just to wonder. I did get to see King Tut's mask. Also there was an extra exhibit in the museum that we could of gone into if I paid another $20, but I didn't have that. In that part of the museum they had more mummified mummies. According to Caitlin, it was very much worth it. Oh darn, this just gives me another reason to head back.

Egyptian Museum from hotel

Later that night, we had a mini boat ride on the Nile river and watch the sun set, which was really nice. Also we did some exploration that night. It was a safe enough city for me to walk around by myself, but as a woman, I was bothered a little bit by men. I got the compliment of walking like an Egyptian woman. HA. Anyhoo, I did find some nifty things to stare at, but I was good about saving my money :)

Sunset on Nile River

The next day we were off to see the pyramids in Giza, and see some ancient buildings. These pyramids are INCREDIBLE! I was so happy to see them and was able to climb up on one of them. Well, just a few steps. We also got to climb underneath into one, it was a lot of fun. We had a guide with us and he gave us a lot of historical information that I probably would screw up trying to write it all. We also went to a papyrus shop to see how the paper was made. It was really interesting, but the most interesting part was meeting this guy that spoke 14 different languages fluently.

Statue of the Great Ramses II in city of Memphis

Pyramids of Giza, I got 2 our of the 3

The famous Sphinx

In the end, we rested up a bit and ready to head off towards the oasis and camping in the black and white desert!!!!!

We Are Going On A Safari

2010-02-28T00:43:00.000-08:00

It's Safari Time!

The time in Tanzania was so AWESOME! We went on a total of three safaris, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire National Park. All of these safaris were amazing and very different from each other.

At the first safaris, rooftops were open so we could stick our heads out and get a better view of our surrounding. The first thing we saw was a Bull Elephant on a top hillside. He was far away, but I didn't care. It was so excited to see an elephant that wasn't at the zoo, but within a few feet ahead there was two elephants this time very close to our vehicles. I think you can figure out how happy I was.

My first wild elephant up close

A very rare sight to see a lion in a tree

The Ngorongoro crater use to be a be volcanic area that erupted some long time ago and created this huge 9 mile crater. When we were in the crater, it was a 9 mile stretch of open field, so we definitely saw a lot of wild life. The numbers of lions, ostriches, zebras, lions, and much more was incredible. I felt a little spoiled. During our lunch however, instead of having seagulls that are common in America to swoop down and try to steal your food during a picnic, we had (Clay is going to get mad for not remember the names) yellow birds, these huge eagle like birds called Black Kites (I think), and 2 other species of bird. So we had to hide in our jeep and eat in there.

In Ngorongoro Crater

Zebra crossing

The last safari we went on, Tarangire had an extremely different type of environment which caused us to see different wildlife. We did had to be aware of these flies. I'm not exactly sure how they spelled, but we called them Tootsie flies, and its equivalent to horse flies, except these can give you river blindess. Not fun. It was a good thing we found a fly swatter in our jeep. We didn't see as many wildlife as the other two safaris, but we saw lots of different types of birds. Because of this safari, I have a better appreciation from them.

A funny story however about the Tarangire safari. During lunch, our guide warned us about the monkeys that will try to steal our food. Well, there was a monkey just chillin around and of course, we all went "Aww, he's so cute, let's take pictures!" As we were distracted with our cameras, the monkeys slowly walked closer to us. We just thought he was being curious and was going to sit there and stare at us. Well, we were wrong. He ran up to the table and tried to steal Michelle's lunch. They played tug a war for a bit, but Michelle won in the end. HAHA. And then on the other side of us, the same thing happened to these couples. Except, the monkey that tried to steal food from this lady got beaten with her box lunch. It was kinda funny.

After three days of safari time, it was back to Arusha. We were in Arusha for 2 more nights before rolling off to Egypt. We were able to roam into town and do some exploration. For the people that have been to India, this was another same repeat except slightly worse. The locals would follow us for a good 2 hours, and if you wanted to haggle it would take a very long time. These people were very stubborn, but they were nice. A lot of them called Denny, Dad and Teacher. I thought it was entertaining.

During my stay in Tanzania, I learned how to sing two Swahili songs, and name random silverware. I'm quite proud of myself and must thank Zypy and Becky for teaching me :)

Next stop, EGYPT!

Mumbai, India

2010-02-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been a little behind on these, but lets get to it.

When we were in Mumbai we stayed at the Darai Mahal. The Darai Mahal is owned by an Hiram Alum and his kids were Hiram Alums too! During our stay, it was our spring break so we didn't have class, which was nice. But we did have to catch up on work.

Darai Mahal

While in Mumbai did a bit of sightseeing which included a place where 5,000 workers hand washed laundry, University of Mumbai, Train Station, Indian Gate, the Taj Mahal Hotel, and the Hanging Garden. All of these were great to see had a lot of history to it, but I rather not bore you with that. Most of these sight seeing was to look at the architecture and sadly I did not take many pictures of them.

5,000 workers hand washing laundry

Indian Gate

Also, during our stay in Mumbai there was a wedding at the Darai Mahal gardens and we were allowed to attend. Most of us were freaking out what to wear because we sent ALL of our clothes to the wash and didn't have "appropriate" clothing, but we were able to pull it off. We got to congrat the bride and groom and also interact with the guests. They were all very nice and excited to talk to us.

Wedding setting up

The Groom and Bride

Our stay at Darai Mahal was short, but very memorable. The son of Max, Harish, gave us a heart warming farewell that was very sincere. I will remember him and his family and forever be grateful of their hospitality. I do hope to visit them sometime in the future.

After saying goodbye and shedding tears, we were off to Tanzania.

Maldives

2010-02-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

We were in the Maldives from February 12 - 17 and what a great week it had been.

When we stayed in the Maldives, we didn't stay on land at all. Well, except for the selected few that decided to stay on the island for bed. We stayed at an atoll called Rashdoo and basically lived on a boat about half a mile away from shore. Everyday I would wake up, walk to the dock to get picked up, and head my way to the main boat.

Not only did the students live on the boat, the dive masters were with us too. Most the kids decided to sleep on the deck instead of their beds, but it was understandable. At night you could see so many stars, and wake up to the sun rise. During one of the days a group of us decided to jump off the boat into the water. It was a lot of fun.

After eating breakfast, having class, it was time to dive. We dived about 2 times a day and snorkeled in between.During the dives, we saw lots of nifty things. Beside from the coral, we got to swim with a school of shark, eagle ray, watch sting rays feed, a napolean fish, and so much more.

During the dives however, I did notice something slightly depressing. Even though I was scuba diving along the coral, there would be patched of where I just saw dead coral. Coral that have been bleached out because of some kind of mishap. Most likely from human impact. And this is why we were at the Maldives.

Our stay at the Maldives was organized by a group of volunteers called Blue Peace. They wanted to help spread the word that the coral reef is dying and something needs to be done. We went to speak to some high school students and they have noticed the change also. What I found so interesting about the Maldives, was on the island they have a trash dump area, like everywhere else, but their trash dump was right by the water. During a high tide the trash could get swept into the water, damaging it. And during low tide, the trash would come back. According to another member in our group, these school boys once were able to jump off from that area and see so many fish right by the water. Of course this isn't happening anymore. The maldives are trying to change by telling the locals to separate out their batteries, recycle as much as they can, and to use less plastic. But, I think we all can do our share of saving the world just by tweaking up some of the small things we do.

Besides from that, we head back to Mumbai, India for our spring break. A little too early right? But its all good, I need to catch up on my journal for Denny, and start my paper for David. So till then!

Taj Mahal & Bird Sanctuary

2010-02-05T19:49:00.001-08:00

Rise and shine for the Taj Mahal! We left hotel at 6:45, it was about a 10 minute walk or so, not bad. When we got there we had to split ourself up between men and women. This place had a few strict rules. No electronics, no food, no bags, no cigs, and much more. Kanako had a small problem getting in because she had an electronic dictionary and the guards didnt know what to do with it. They even wouldn't let her throw it away. Odd.

In the morning there were so many people there to see this place. Of course there were people trying to scam us and I was caught in one of their act. Don't worry, I only gave him 10 rubees. The man that tricked me kind of showed me places where I could get good picture shots of the Taj Mahal, and he was totally right. I tried to escape from him a couple of times, but I just simply fail. After we paid this man, Kanako and I went inside the Taj Mahal. It is such a huge place! I love how its built out of marble and everything kind of has this reflecting effect. As the sun moves across the sky, the Taj Mahal changes colors. Inside we got to see where the Kind and Queen were buried and a man tried to scam me again but I escaped from him! HAHA! He tried to be a guide, but I walked away. Nate and Zippy were not too lucky on this part. But inside this place, there were these really pretty stones built into them. The only one I remember is Jade. I can't give a good description of the place, but it is a definite must to visit.

When we walked back to our hotel we grabbed a late breakfast and it was time to get on the move. I saw Aslum again in the morning and he remembered my name! I was so happy. He wished the crew good luck and off we went to
Bharatpur.

At Bharatpur we started off with lunch and then went to the National Park. At the Bird Sanctuary we wented bikes and a guide. We biked around the place and saw a bunch of different types of birds, saw some jackels, more monkeys, antelopes, peacocks, and much more. Clay was pretty much in heaven (he really loves birds and has a high interest in them). Oh about this bike ride, it was not one of those cute little bike rides you can do around the park. Our bikes were kind of beat up and the trail was not smooth. Liz tried to catch air on turd piles, Michelle's toenail fell off because she injured it, and a monkey almost peed on Clay. Lovely. Overall it was a nice 4 hour bike ride. I saw a lot and learned a bit about the place.

Tomorrow we head off, AGAIN, to Jaipur.

Old is Gold, Never Turns Silver

2010-02-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

From Delhi to Agra was quite an eye opener on the train. Walking to the train station at 5 am was not too bad. No one bothered us and there were very few people on the streets until we arrived. It didn't take us long to get to the station or find out what platform we needed to be on. A few beggars did come by.

On the station however, looking through the window was not a pretty picture and I don't want to go into too much details about it. But I will say, it was a little eye opener and a little reminder to myself of how lucky I am. When we arrived in Agra, it was the same old dealio. Kids and adults pestering us for money, rickshaws asking us to follow us... we eventually found our ride and jammed our luggage and ourselves into them. My rickshaw driver to the place we were staying and for the rest of the day was Aslum. Aslum was quite the character. He talked to Swaffie (Andrew) on the way to the hotel since he was in the front and not buried by luggage. I won't say much about him, but I will say he was very entertaining, very happy, a good man, and someone I will not forgot.

The place we were staying at was not fancy at all. I got to sleep on a cot... I think that's what its called and the bathroom was kinda scary looking. But when you go on the roof top, was an incredible view you get. You can see the Taj Mahal from the top of this place! It was really exciting! We got lunch and it was time to see Agra.

The first stop we made was a place called The Red Fort. I'm not too familiar with the history of it. All I know is, its a big red fort that was built to protect something (I wish I could tell you more). It was a nice place to walk around and explore, but I do wish we had more than just an hour to walk the place. A group of Indian guys asked to take a picture with me, which was slightly awkward but whatever.

The second stop we made was at a little shopping center for people to get souvenirs. And again, Aslum tricked me to go into another carpet making area... Thank you Aslum.

Third stop was to see the Baby Taj Mahal where the queen was held temporarily until the Taj Mahal was built. The last place we went to was to see the Taj Mahal from the river while the sunset. It was really nice to see the place change colors as the sun went down. On our way there though Aslum forced Tim to learn how to drive the rickshaw... I approve.

The day of sight seeing in Agra was fun. The poverty here was not as bad as Delhi, but this time they were more persistant and a few of them kept shoving things in my face. Its starting to get tiring. Tomorrow, its off to see the Taj Mahal during sunrise and off to Bharatpur. ALSO DENNY COMES BACK! YAY!

Wait, That's Not Fog?

2010-02-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

Hello from Delhi, India! When we arrived in India and left the airport to load up into these vans, I looked at the sky and thought the weather was foggy. David told me it was definitely not fog, it was smog.

The ride to our hotel was a lot of fun, for me at least. Every inch of the streets was covered with cars, you could touch the cars in front of you, behind you, next to you without even trying. There were lines on the road, but none of drivers stayed in their lanes. They would zip in and zip out with no warning. If there was the slightest opening between you and the car in front, you can bet another car will be trying to squeeze in. And they don't care if you are not going to let them in, they will get in. If you didn't move, were too slow, not letting them cut you, you were cutting them, or in there way, they will honk their car horn like no other.

When we arrived at our hotel, we passed out... or tried to (it was EXTREMELY noisy). The next day, the group split up to do some exploring of the city. The group I was in consisted of Vince, Jacob, John, Allen, Nate, Nikki, Kanako, Becky, and Michelle. We started off eating breakfast at a small place called The Rooftop. The owner of this shop was quite young and very nice. He offered to show us how to get to The Circle, but we turned down the offer to take Vince back to the hotel since he was feeling ill. I didn't get this man's name, but I do remember he likes WWE and John Cena is his favorite wrestler. Also, he has the hots for an actress I do not remember the name to.

On the way to The Circle we got pestered by everyone and getting stared at. I've never had to say no and no thanks so many times until I arrived here. When we reached The Circle and was scoping the area, a man came to us and tried to show us how to get to the mall. He promised us he wanted no money from us, he just wanted to help. We took his words and his directions to this "mall". Along the way though, another man showed us how to get there. When we finally arrived, it was like the owners of this place were expecting us. They took us down to a room, sat us down, and a man showed us how carpets were made. These carpets were very beautiful, and each one was one of a kind and unique. What started out as a nice story telling/history of these carpets quickly turned into an advertisement, and then into a man who tried to sell these to us.... we got scammed. We quickly left the place.

When we thought about, it made a lot of sense. The original guy who gave us directions was on his cellphone the entire time he was walking down this street with us. When we crossed the street, another guy knew exactly where we were trying to go and guided us the rest of the way, and finally when arriving at the place we fell into the trap. The original man called the owner probably to let him know that he found a bunch of foreigners... lovely.

After this whole shenanigans, we went into the market area. We found a place for scarfs... Becky was in heaven. We had lunch and went back towards The Circle to scope out the area. It was a very interesting shopping center. They had stores like Reebok, Adidas. computer shops, a gallery, and things of that nature. Towards the end of the day, a few people got a little stressed with random people following us, scamming us, asking us for money, and simply bothering us... it ended with someone being a little angry and me in tears. We headed back to the hotel being a little grumpy, but we eventually made up :)

By the end of the night everyone exchanged stories of their days. Nate, who was with us had his ears clean by some random dude and wanted 500 rupees ($11). Matt had a guy throw poop on his shoe so he would be FORCED to get it cleaned by the guy who threw it. The man wanted 750 rupees, Matt gave him 50 and 21 baht (Thai money) and ran off. Liz stepped on a dead rat. And I got pooped on by a pigeon... damn those birds!

The next day, have to be up and ready by 4:45 am, off to Agra, India by train. This is going to be fun.

Kaeng Krachan National Park

2010-01-30T05:25:00.000-08:00

The hike started by waking up at 4:30 in the morning and hoping onto these truck like vehicles, sitting on the bed. The ride up to the hiking area was not a pleasant ride. In the back of the truck we were so cold and freezing with the wind blowing in your face for about 2 hours straight. It felt awful.

When we finally arrived at the area, the forest was a lot different from what we thought it would be. Denny told us it would be a dry tropical forest, which it was, but I was expecting something similar to Haleakala. The area was very green and lush. The canopy was completely covered with maybe 2%-3% of light coming through. I saw so many different types of palms, and oddly shaped vines. We also heard monkey calls from far away, and caught glimpse of them as they were swinging through. We also saw lots of elephant poop. but no elephant.

The hike was a lot easier than Haleakala, but still had it difficult moments. There was barely a trail that we had to follow. Our guide had to cut a lot of branches out of the way to reach our destination. Also, we had to cross the river several time. For me to cross the river, I made it a point to keep my shoes and socks dry. I hate the feeling of wearing wet shoes/socks. So every time we got into the stream, I'd ripped them off my feet and quickly got across and throw them back off when we reach the other side. Well when were stumbling through this one area and had to cross the river again, I did what I did the previous times. I took off my shoe, my socks, and rolled my pant leg up and walked into the water. Only difference this time was when I got into the water I felt a burning, stinging sensation on my left arm and leg.

I brushed it off like it was nothing and continued to walk upstream. Eventually within seconds the burning and stinging feeling got stronger and worse. I couldn't stand the pain and just gave up on trying to keep my shoe dry and threw them on and tried walking through the water faster. I caught up with Denny and told him my leg and arm burned and it was painful. Denny told me I probably brushed my skin against some plant and was having a reaction and that I would be fine. Within a few seconds, I was in tears. The pain was so unbearable. It felt like I had 1,000 needles that were on fire just piercing my body constantly, but I made it up the stream and to the waterfall. After maybe 15 minutes of crying, the pain went from a 10 to a 5 and then down to a 2. I stopped crying and saw how beautiful the area was.

The waterfall was nice and cool and helped with the burning/stinging feeling when I sat in it. A group of the kids jumped in and went for a swim. There were lots of fishes in the water and nibbled on us a bit. The walk back to the car was slightly difficult due to my burns, but I made it.

The hike was a little over 6 hours long. My burning spots are kind of better now, but it really hurts when something touches it. Even a simple wind blow against the area will make me scream, but hopefully it will get better sooner. Was the hike worth it even though I got attacked by evilness? Totally.

Tomorrow morning we head back to Bangkok for a day. This day will be spent doing homework and working on projects. BLAH! But it needs to be done. Feb. 1 we head to India and I'm totally excited! So till then!!!!!

Events in Thailand

2010-01-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

Hello from Thailand!

So far Thailand has been great! While I was in Bangkok, I felt like I was at home. The way the city looked, how everything smelled, and taste reminded me of Vietnam. But it wasn't.

When we finally arrived in Chinatown of Bangkok and was fully rested and ready to go the next day, we did a lot of site seeing, mainly seeing temples. I've been to many temples in my life, and non of them can compare to what I saw. These temples were huge and designed so beautifully. The Reclining Buddha was our first stop. I don't think this is the biggest buddha statue in the world, but this thing was huge. I walked around the entire thing and went back to pray in front of it and then gave a donation to drop coins into these buckets. I've prayed so much here in Thailand its ridiculous, my mum would be proud.

When we went to go get lunch, Kanako and I were familiar with all the foods so it was easy for us to get what we wanted. For the others, they were a little nervous to try some of the food, but ended up liking them. I also go to speak to one of the people selling food in Teochew (a chinese dialect). It was a son and mother selling noodles for a livjng. Our conversation was short, but it was a nice feeling for me to be able to talk to the locals. I even got to talk to the one of the workers at the hotel we were staying at. It was an interesting way of speaking. I spoke Teochew and she spoke Cantonese, but she understood Teochew and I understood Cantonese. So thats our conversation went.

On the 24th, we left for Koh Tao. During our little stay at the train station, Kanako and I wandered off on our own for a bit. While having dinner there were these French couples having a beer and I wished I could talk to them and see what they were doing in Thailand. There was a cat just hanging around the place and I tried to lure it with a piece of shrimp that I didn't eat. The cat didn't take the bait and the French woman said, "She doesn't fancy it" or something like that. That's how our long conversation started. They were going to travel through Thailand, to Laos, and Cambodia. It was so cool! I'm really glad that I talked to them. I think they will keep me inspired to continue traveling after this trip.

Koh Tao is a very tourist area, and I thought I wouldn't like it at first. Actually, it was kind nice. The rest of the day was spent doing homework, relaxing after being on a crazy train ride, playing on the beach and snorkeling. The next day was so much fun. We went scuba diving in the after noon. The first place we dived at, I don't remember the name very well, but it was something like Shark Bait Pinnacle? When it was time to jump in my BCD and regulator weren't cooperating. When it FINALLY did start to work and I jumped in, my mask fell off and I had to swim for it. I'm a terrible swimmer and it took me a long time to get it also, I forgot the part to fill up my BCD too, which probably would have helped. Ooops.

Anyways, going down was really neat! I was really nervous at first since I'm not a big fan of the water so I held Nikki's hand. Thanks, Nikki! We saw lots of neato fish that I have yet classified, gotta get on that, and we saw at least 4 bull sharks. All within about 4-5 feet of us. It was quite a sight. At the next diving area Green Rock, I had no issues except my mask kept fogging up and I had to do a full mask flood to fill it... Not a pleasant feeling for your eyes. But we did see 2 Trigger Fish. One of them was defending its territory against the other. Also it tried to attack our Dive Master. We also got to play with Christmas tree worms. Its so funny when you wave your hands in front of them and they retract back in. It's even cooler when you can hear them go in.

After our dive we showered up and head out to town for our last night. Not too much can be mentioned about our night out, but it was a very good night. Also I will say we met a Canadian friend named Eric that hung out with us. He's going to be traveling all across Thailand for 3 months. Neato!

Our next stop was to this National Park. I can't really spell it out right now, but it was a long traveling day to get there. A few of the group members got sick including me for a bit. But my chinese did come in handy when we were at the train station. I was able to negotiate a bus ride to see a cave and for them to take us to this beach where we would be staying at. The first night at the park wasnt too eventful. I got attacked by mosquitoes and almost ripped off my legs from them. We did hang out on the beach and found lots of hermit crabs and crabs. Later that night we had a long class discussion about it.

In the morning, today, at 6, a group of us walked out to see this cavern. The cavern was an amazing sight. When we first arrived there it was dark, but it was nice to wait until there was enough light to come in from the hole in the top. You could see all of these trees that were growing only where the sun was shining. On the way back from the walk, we saw lots of Dusky monkeys that weren't far from us either. Cute little bugers.

Then it was time to pack up and go. Right now, I'm staying somewhere in Thailand waiting for dinner and then bed. We have a long hike to do tomorrow through a jungle/tropical dry forest kind of dealio at 4:30 am. This should be pretty interesting.

Till then :)

Aloha from Hawaii

2010-01-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!

Sorry I haven't been updating, I've been so distracted by this beautiful place! But since today is my free day, I'll do a little update for you!

Jan. 15, 2010

First day in Hawaii. The morning was pretty much free for us and we agreed to get together for lunch. In the morning Kanako and I went for a walk around our condo. Nice place. Then we wandered off into town for a little bit. Discovered the beach isn't far away and its a nice area.

Later in the day, we went snorkeling! It was my first time snorkeling and I was bit nervous, but I think I did okay. Saw lots of great things! Lots of different types of fish. When I was with Vince, we went out pretty far and saw 3 sea turtles! We were really close to them too. We also saw a puffer fish and Vince tried to make it puff up, but ended up scaring it away. Back on land we waited for everyone to get back. In the evening we had dinner at the Co-Ed condo which consisted of Matt, Mike, Allen, Nate, Caitlin, and Becky. They made spaghetti and meat balls which was really yummy. AFter dinner everyone went their ways and had the rest of the night to rest for the next day.

Jan. 16, 2010

Class in session! We had class in the morning and made lunch for the day. After class, we did more snorkeling. We went to this place that is a lava like field. It was pretty sweet. The water was a crystal blue and the weather was great! The hike looking for a good snorkeling spot wasn't that great though. HAHA. But we did get to see some wild goats and get a hike of this area. Failing at finding a snorkeling spot here, we went to this beach and snorkeled there. Most of the group wanted to lay out and just play in the water. Denny, Mike, John, Michelle, (Clay maybe?), and I went snorkeling.

I only snorkeled for about not even 30 minutes when my foot started to cramp like crazy. I started to swim back to shore, but on the way back accidently smacked my leg into some coral or rocks, not sure. But when I was finally on shore, I took of my fin and to my surprise my heel was bleeding. When I smacked my foot against the coral or rocks, I hit a sea urchin and the spine was in me. Well a piece of it. Michelle helped carry me back and the rest of the girls in my condo helped me get rid of the spine.

Dinner was delicious again. The all boys condo made dinner... its vegetables, fruits, and meat on a stick grilled. I have no idea how to spell the word I am thinking, but I think you can figure it out.

Jan. 17, 2010

Agenda for the day: Snorkeling at Black Rock, and Whale watching!

Let's say getting a parking spot at Black Rock was extremely lucky on our part.
At Black Rock, there is this cliff that you aren't allowed to jump off of, but of course people do. A few of the locals did it and a few of the guys in our group did it too.

When I snorkeled with Swaffie (Andrew), Liz, and Tim we saw lots of cool fishy. Schools of them! Just swimming around us not really caring what was going on. We also saw cuttle fish. So cute and delicious looking (kidding). I also heard whales singing underwater. It was pretty amazing.

After getting out of the water we were wave surfing for a bit. Then it was off to go whale watching. Whale watching was super! At first I was getting disappointed in not being able to capture any whales breaching and decided just to take the joy of actually seeing them so close, but then the whales were seriously a few feets in front of us! It was great. We had to turn off the engine of the boat because of how close they were. I finally got some good shots then :D

Jan. 18, 2010

Today's goal, Climbing out of Haleakala alive.

This 12 miles of crazyness was crazy! At first I thought it would be a simple and easy task with very few difficulties because of how much I can run. Boy was I wrong. The first few miles was all done hill. Easy sounding right? WRONG! The ground was all sandy with a few occasional rocks and you had to be really careful of slipping and falling. But what a view it was seeing the terrain change as you walked down. After the sandy walk down, the mountain we had a flat walk towards an awful almost vertical steep hill. It was an half mile walk up that thing and that wasn't fun at all. HAHA. After walking the god horrible hill we had a 2 mile walk to a cabin where we were going to take our break. During this walk you could see the vegetation changing. At first there were a few plants but as we got closer to these clouds, it got greener and greener and less sandy. When we finally reached the cabin we had a lunch break. We needed another 4-5 miles to go to get back to the van. The first mile and a half was not bad at all. The last bit was pretty bad. It was all up hill under this beating hot sun going through a lot of switch backs. Fun... Most of us started to get dehydrated and some of us had quite of bit of water to share to others. That was nice. When I finally reached the top of the climb I started to scream in excitement and run around. You have no idea how happy I was. I drank my last bit of water as a gift for doing such a good job.

Jan. 19, 2010

Free day in Hawaii.

It has mainly been a lazy day. Catching up on reading, homework, and this blog. I did go out today, but nothing too exciting. Tomorrow we will go get a talk from a man that helps save whales that get entangled in fishing lines and go for a small walk. After that, I will be in Thailand.

Sorry if this was all in a crazy nutshell. But I'll try to keep this more updated and nicer. Till then!!!!

Alaska Part 2

2010-01-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

Posting from the Anchorage Airport:

After leaving from the last time I blogged, the University of Alaska library, not too much has happened. Alaska has been quite snowy lately and we've been doing much of random things to keep us entertained. On Tuesday most of us went whale hunting and were successful. This time we saw more then just the whale blows! It was really cool! Also later in the evening we played hide and go seek in the dark. It was pretty epic. From listening to the stories, Jake got attacked by a mink or squirrel. Allen was skinny enough to hide behind a tree and not get found. Kanako and Nikki hide underneath some pine trees and were completely soaked after the game.

On Wednesday, the last night in Alaska, we went to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). A Hiram Alum named Sharron put a lot of time to show us around and put our little visit together. We got lots of nice lectures about climate changes from different scientist and what their research was. After a few speakers, we got a tour of the lab. It was my favorite part of the NOAA visit. The guy who showed us around, I forgot his name and feel awful, took us into this room called the wet lab. They all of these different types of fishes in there and he had us put our fingers into a tank to feel fishes nibbling on our finger. It was pretty nifty. Afterwards, we had a few more talks and was suppose to play with a giant science sphere, but the power went out.

And now I am currently sitting in the dining room area listening and watching Matt, Jake, and Andrew make the salad for dinner.

Our flight leaves tomorrow at 7:25 am to Hawaii, so we need to be up and ready to leave by 5! WHOO!

Till then!

p.s. After dinner we heard whale's blows right outside the Shrine, it was so exciting!

Alaska!

2010-01-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hello from Alaska! We arrived here Thursday night at around 11 pm Alaskan time (I dont know the proper time zone name). We had a few difficulties trying to get to Alaska. First our flight to Chicago was delayed for a bit. It was the only one out of 3 that wasn't cancelled. Also, when trying to get into Juneau, our plane was the first one that was able to land in two days! We were pretty lucky.

We are staying at a place called the Shrine of St. Therese. its a cozy little place and the water is right outside of the cabin! It's really exciting. So far, we've been to a wetland, and saw the Mendahall glaciers. The glaciers were absolutely beautiful! Its kind of depressing that we couldn't get too close because of how slippery the side walk was, but we might go back when the weather clears up. Also in Alaska, we visit the State of Alaska Museum, had a trip around the town, and now I'm at the University of Alaska Library. Nifty little place.

I don't really have much to say, but this is a really beautiful place. If you can deal with the icy roads and crazy snow fall. Other then that I'm really enjoying myself here and the rest of the group is having fun.

I'll upload some pictures sooner or later. Till then!

p.s. 3 days till Hawaii!

Introduction

2009-12-27T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hi!

So to start things off, for those who do not know me, my name is Anh. I will be going on a study abroad trip titled Biomes Around the World starting January 7 and coming back sometime in early April. This little blog here is just a place for my friends, family, and other people that are currently reading (you), to know what I am doing and that I am still alive.

I'm not going to lie, I will randomly start typing nonsense since my mind doesn't like to focus onto one thought for a long time, so I apologize for that. Also, if I offend anyone with one of my silly remarks then I am also sorry for that. ANDDD I don't care too much about my grammar structure, so if you hate me for that, I will be okay with it. But do comment, share your ideas, or even ask me questions! I can't promise that I will reply back right away since I will have limited internet access, but I will try :D

Now that I got most of the introduction part done let me go on about how this will work.

There are a total of 21 people on this trip. I'm going to list them just incase you guys are curious and so you kinda have an idea of who is who when I start mentioning names. I'll probably put pictures of them up if they are okay with it.

The 3 adults:
- Denny Taylor
- David Anderson
- Sigrid Anderson.

The Hiram Students:
- Liz Arps
- John Buchenic
- Michelle Crow
- Allen Garland
- Kanako Goto
- Vince Jimenez
- Nicole King
- Zippy Kirubi
- Michael Lipkin
- Tim Luttermoser
- Jacob Palof
- Nate Straffon
- Brenna Taylor
- Matt Young

And 3 Students from Different Schools:
- Caitlin Contag
- Andrew Swafford
- Rebecca Walter

And here is the list of the places we will be at. They are listed in order of what is first, but I might be off on one or two.

Traveling To:
1. Alaska
2. Hawaii
3. Thailand
4. Maldives
5. India
6. Egypt
7. Tanzania
8. Turkey
9. Norway
10. Germany

Anyways, I can't really say much about the trip right now since it hasn't started yet. But our first stop will be Alaska. I'll have more of an update when we are there. So till then.

If you want to know more about the trip visit this website ->Biomes of The World

ALSOOOOOO, here is another blog written by Caitlin. Check it out!
Caitlin's Around The World Blog