And it ends with a THANKS...

Dear Mom and Dad,

How do I even begin to Thank You for giving me the opportunity to travel the world? Words truly cannot express what this journey has meant to me. My hope is that through my blogs, stories, pictures, friends, and somewhere in-between you have seen what an impact this has made on my life.

Semester at Sea has opened up my eyes to the world around me. I have come away with a much stronger sense of who I am and who I want to become.

In Japan, I was immediately drawn to a map hanging on the wall in the hotel lobby. My first instinct was, “why is this map drawn incorrectly.” As I began to take a closer examination, I realized that it was 100% accurate, however it was just drawn from a different point of view. This “aha moment” best summarizes much of my experience on Semester at Sea, I learned that as a world community we all see things through entirely different perspectives, and it is important to appreciate this difference of opinion as this makes us who we are.

Take a closer look at this map... notice anything different?

As I am sure you recall, a major reason I chose to see the world was because of Grandfather. In every country I visited, I felt Grandfather’s presents as I learned about a new culture or tried a customary food--- in some, I could feel his jealousy as I reached a place he had never had the opportunity to explore ;) It just so happens that the “travel bug” appears to be a gene that has been passed down; this is your warning that Semester at Sea is only beginning of my passion to see the world! I can’t wait to continue to travel and know that I can thank Grandfather for sparking this curiosity.

And with that, I present the project that I have worked on throughout my voyage. In each country I took a picture with one word at a significant place that we traveled…

Thanks- Amazon, Brazil 

For- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

Giving- Cape Coast, Ghana

Me- Cape of Good Hope, South Africa 

The- The Taj Mahal, India 

World- Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore 

Now- Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam 

It’s- Hong Kong 

Your- The Great Wall, China  

Turn- Shanghai, China 

To- Philosopher’s Path, Japan 

Explore- Hilo, Hawaii 

Incase you didn’t understand all that, the final product reads: Thanks For Giving Me The World Now It’s Your Turn To Explore. And the final product looks like this: 

Final Post

To my Dearest Where in the World is CK? Fan Club,

I thank you for taking the time to journey around the world with me. My goal for the Blog was to pass along insight on the countries that I visited so that you too could benefit from my travels. I have more than enjoyed receiving your feedback and hope that I kept you mildly entertained during these past few months...  If you actually read the entire blog, you are an All-Star, as I certainly didn’t learn how to write a brief blog post (opps!)

Additionally, I hope I inspired some of you to travel, travel, travel. Remember I am more than willing to help you plan out any future adventure (the only caveat is that you must include me in your travel plans!)

Feel free to ask me any and all questions, as I love talking about my SAS experience to anyone willing to listen. Additionally, pass the word along about Semester at Sea, as it truly is a life changing program, and one that I hope many have the opportunity to participate.

Finally, above you will find my final post, a thank you to yours truly, Mom and Dad…

Love Always,

CK 

Singapore is a FINE City

Thursday March 22^nd

Greetings from the future, or at least that’s what I felt like when traveling in Singapore… My time in Singapore was rather brief, considering we were only there for one day, however it was so much fun!

First: to answer the questions about Singapore from my India blog (opps, sorry for the delay in this postt), I asked the following:

1. What is the law in regards to chewing gum in the country of Singapore? Singapore, is “a fine city” they have fines for just about anything and everything in hopes of keeping it super clean and in order (or so it seems). Apparently the fine for chewing gum is $1000, additional things one can be fined for include: smoking in non-designated smoking areas, j-walking, littering...
2. How wide is the country of Singapore?18 miles wide… that means Carol Braun (aka the Marathon Nut) it would be a piece of cake for you to run the width of the country and then start heading back!

Now for my day in Singapore…

We began the day by taking the subway to get to Orchard Street (a popular shopping area). The subway system in Singapore is absolutely incredible. The trains are so clean that you feel like you could eat right off the floor… unlike the metro or Marta system that we might be used to in the States, the Singapore system runs like clock work! The government strongly encourages the citizens to use the subway as opposed to owning a car because there would be horrible traffic if everyone were to drive. When we talked later in the day with our taxi driver, he explained that the government makes the process to obtain a driver’s license to be extensive and expensive, thus encouraging the use of public transportation.

Here is a picture of the subway… isn’t it clean?

When we walked out of the station we were all in awe of what we saw… the stations in Singapore are all beautiful shopping malls. We were all surprised to find many American, European, and Japanese stores in Singapore--- my friends were most excited about the Starbucks. Other stores we found included: H&M, Forever 21, Zara, UniQlo, Top Shop, and the list just goes on…  We made our way up to the street level to find Orchard Street, which was once again full of stores. Here is a picture of us as we made our way above ground:

Additionally, as we walked by casually a photo shoot was taking place… not sure why they didn’t ask us to model?

After we spent some time shopping, we worked up our appetite for lunch. In Singapore they have Hawker Centers… they are very similar to an eatery in a mall, but instead of being all fast food, these places are good quality food for cheap! Here is a picture of the food we ate:

After lunch, we decided to make our way over to the infamous Raffles Hotel. Why is the Raffles Hotel famous you’re pondering… ahhh yes, why of course this is where the drink the Singapore Sling originated. We of course had to check out the hotel and bar for ourselves and could not help, but to order the Singapore Slings. Talk about a tourist trap, make an educated guess at how much these drinks go for… I bet you didn’t guess that they go for a good $25 a drink!!! Highway Robbery--- that means just from my friends alone, the bar brought in a womping $225 just for drinks! WOW!

Our next stop was to the Marina Sans Hotel. What’s so great about this hotel? Well, on the top level there is an infinity pool that overlooks the entire city. We had heard from past SASers that in order to get to the top level of the hotel you had to either pay $20 per person or else find someone who would take you up to the top. In typical CK fashion, I refused to pay and my friends felt the same way, yet no one was making a plan of action, thus Katie and I took the lead. We made a dash for the elevator upon entering the hotel and made our way up with an Australian couple. I attempted to make conversation with them, telling them my best friend (Jamie Sargent) was studying abroad in Sydney and eventually asked if they could take us to the top floor. Much to our dismay, they pretended not to hear my question and practically ran off the elevator so as not to have to deal with us. Huge Bust! Katie and I decided that we might have just lost our one opportunity, thus rode the elevator to the highest possible floor that we could go (the top floor requires a key) and decided to take a photo shoot up here…

Defeated, Katie and I made our way back down the elevator. Suddenly, the elevator stopped on floor 10 to pick-up, a charming businessman named Bryan. At first we simply said hello to Bryan, but then a thought came to me, ask him! Once again we made chit chat and eventually I popped the question… It just so happened that Bryan was on the way down to the lobby to get his key fixed and was then headed up to the roof-top ;) V-I-C-T-O-R-Y a las!

We followed Bryan through the lobby and immediately spotted all of our friends. I signaled for them to follow me and then as Bryan finished fixing his card, I politely told (rather than asked) him that a “few” of my friends would be joining us as well! Little did he know that by a few of my friends I was referring to a group of 10 of us… Not to worry, us SAS-ers know how to use our manners, and immediately bought Bryan a few drinks as a way to say thank you for bringing us up to an AMAZING view. 

Can you guess which person is my hero Bryan? 

That will probably go down as one of my favorite memories from Semester at Sea and as silly as it sounds it is taught me 2 valuable lessons

1.  Never expect things to be offered on a silver platter, but instead take matters into your own hands.
2. Never be afraid to speak up for yourself or ask questions 

Singapore was a great and necessary port as it allowed for me to be able to relax a little (shocking for SASers to be relaxing when in port). This was the first port where:

• We didn’t have 417479813947 “must sees” places to visit
• We were reminded of the American way of life in the sense that everything was VERY modernized (in fact even more modernized than the US)
• We were able to roam the streets/ stores without being seen as a $ and being asked to buy something 

There is no doubt in my mind that I am forever changed after visiting India, South Africa, Ghana, Brazil, and Dominica yet I will be the first to admit that I appreciated Singapore in the sense that I received somewhat of a travel “break”. It may sound odd, but it is both emotionally and physically exhausting to travel in a third world country, thus Singapore served as the perfect place for me to be able to “rest” and “recover” in order to be able to take on the rest of my journey through Asia!

Well folks, it looks like I have one blog left… I’ll let you in on a little secret, I am dreading having to write this final post, for it means that my journey around the world is actually over (as if I hadn’t already realized that being that I have been home for a good 6 weeks), but nevertheless it makes it so final ;/ ;/ ;/ 

Aloha, from Hawaii

Last Time We Get on the MV Explorer! 

Aloha Aloha to my fan club, where in the world is CK? Well, she has officially made it back to the United States of America and is on the island of Hilo, Hawaii. It’s actually crazy to look at a map and track my journey around the world… I often think I must be dreaming, but then I see the pictures and have the memories as proof that I have in fact traveled the WORLD.

Taking our first steps on land felt wonderful, incase you forgot, we have been cooped up on the ship for 12 days... to add insult to injury, the last 12 days have been stressful in terms of school work, can you believe that the professors actually have to teach us in class and require us to compose essays? What nerve! Needless to say, everyone was in dire need of a day off and some space to spread out ;)

My friend Amanda takes her first steps on LAND!

We were only in Hawaii for one day, so there really wasn’t too much we could do. Additionally, we were sadly docked on the “rainy side of the island” thus we were somewhat guaranteed that the rain would welcome us at some point during the day… grrrr! That being said, my friends and I got off the boat and immediately headed into town. We wanted to talk to locals to find out if there was anything that they recommended as “must see” or “must do” adventures in our short window of time.

Lucky for us, we were docked in Hilo on a Wednesday, this just so happens to be the day of the week the market is open for business. The vendors at the market sold all sorts of delicious fresh food! Yum yum yum! We ended up hearing over and over again that there really wasn’t too much to do in Hilo, some people suggested the beaches, but we had heard from friends (who went to the beach immediately after getting off the ship) that it wasn’t actually worth the trek, so instead we decided to just kill the rest of the day in town.

We went in and out of a lot of stores and then, as predicted it began to rain… and by rain I mean down pour! At this point, we used what we learned from Japan and that is when it rains, mind as well go find some good food. We found a Mexican restaurant that more than satisfied everyone’s chips and salsa craving (think about how many months it has been since we have eaten some good ol’ American Mexican food!) so we decided to eat lunch here. The other fabulous part about going to the Mexican restaurant is that after 21 years and 42 days a las Caryn Alyse Klein could use her ID to purchase her first legal drink in the United States of America! HIP HIP HOOOOORAY!

For the second half of the day, my friends were in rebellious mode… by this I mean that they were all determined to freak their parents out by either piercing their ear/nose or else adding a little piazza to their hair by coloring the tips! Not to worry, after getting back on the ship, this behavior appeared to be rather normal because when SASers don’t have enough time to adventure a country, then why not become a little adventuresome on the body? Aside from the piercings and colored hair, people came back with tattoos, the most interesting place being the inside or the lower lip with the phrase “YOLO” (You Only Live Once--- so appropriate for any Semester at Sea student). Have no fear, CK was simply the photographer for the afternoon, as I was not letting anyone die my hair nor pierce my body ;)

There are 2 individuals that I met throughout my time in Hawaii that without knowing it, provided such valuable life lessons…

The first lesson came from the salsa lady, after purchasing delicious salsa, we began talking, one thing led to another and before I knew it she was recounting how her and her husband had moved from Iowa to Hilo 4 years ago. She explained that 7 years ago her husband was in a bad car accident, leaving him in a wheel chair… the doctors told him that he would never walk again, but he wasn’t willing to listen to this diagnosis. Against all odds, her husband re-trained his body to walk and he never looked back! After the car accident the couple realized how precious life really is and chose to relocate to Hawaii as they were bored with Iowa and needed a change of pace…

From the salsa lady, I learned the power of perseverance (well really from her husband). Additionally, I learned the importance of embracing new opportunities as they come before you.

The second lesson came from the hairdresser. As we were talking with her, she asked us all where we were from and how old we were… we all explained that, “yipppeee we were 21, but that after this year’s birthday we no longer looked forward to our birthdays!” She then replied, “Are you kidding girls? Let me let you in on a little secret, as long as you stay healthy, life just gets better as you get older! I’m 50 years old and honestly can say that each year of my life has just gotten better!”

I am sure some of you will role your eyes at this life lesson, but it was reassuring to hear that the best is yet to come!

Hawaii, served as an excellent transition port to prepare me for returning to the American way of life. I found myself being reminded that upon returning home people will speak English, I will no longer have to convert prices in my head, and most of all, although I am a now a changed person, who has “seen the world first hand” I will NEVER be too wise to continue to learn from my “fellow Americans.”

Getting on the MV Explorer for the LAST time ;/--- not sure why I am smiling? 

The overall atmosphere on the ship is rather bitter sweet, some people are more than ready to go back home, but not me, I feel the fun has just begun. The hardest part about now is staying in the present and not thinking, “oooo we only have ___ days left”, but rather making the most of these final days on the MV Explorer and with my amazing new friends.

Yikes for my readers, only 2 more posts to go… got to fill you all in on Singapore and then my culminating post! Stay tuned ;)