7-31-09 I AM SO LUCKY

Ok so just to fill in from yesterday, yesterday we went and visited the pyramids and some other stuff in Cario which is actually one of the most polluted cities in the world. But so anyway the pyramids were cool but everything around the pryamids is such a joke including the guards, you can bribe them to let you climb onto the pryamid. But so anyway as soon as I got out of the motorcoach, I was bombarded with these Illegal camel guys that try and get you on their camels, well I somehow got on one and the kid is taking my picture with my camera. So then I am telling them to let me down let me down get me to the group, because that is how they also get money out of you; they seclude you from the group and then steal your money and so I get off I snatch my camera and I start walking away from the guys, well 2 are following and telling me to pay them money. I tell them no they said it was free and that is the only reason I agreed in the first place. But so I keep walking and they call over the Boss guy and he grabs my arm and I immediately tell him let go I am not paying and I keep walking and so ultimately I get out of paying and so yeah dont ever fall for this trick. Also do not even approach any of the locals about anything they want money for anything they do for you. After the pryamids we go to the hotel which is super nice and we get a chance to relax for a bit and eat some dinner, and after dinner we go to a light show at the Pryamids and the Sphinx which is equally as awesome, but everything around that area is so commercialized it is like EGYPTs version of disneyland. After the light show at the pyramids which was super cheesy and I am pretty sure the guys voice over was the same guy who did the ride for Indiana Jones at disneylands ride. But after we go to the hotel and a wedding is going on and it was so awesome and so then I go and I skype with Candice for a little bit with Christian too and yeah it was great talking to them. But then we had a like 3 30 wake up call and had to be at the airport at 5 for our 7 o clock flight which was crazy trying to wake up for. But do we flew from Cario to Luxor which I slept most of the way, and our first stop was Valley of the Kings where I almost lost my camera from the security in one of the tombs. It says that you are not suspose to take pictures and I was risking it, it was the last tomb we were going into and I snapped one photo and my camera makes a noise everytime and one girl from S@S looks at me and I go SHH and right then this guard turns the corner and like sees that I just took a picture and so he tells me to turn on my camera, and I do he hits play and sees the photo I just took, he thens starts to remove my camera from me and I am freaking out cause my camera is super ultra expensive. Right at that moment I see my friend Michelle who is from Saudia Arabia and he speaks Arabic and I get him to talk to the guard, the guard tells me to finish looking through the place. I finish in like 2 minutes, and then the guard starts walking up with me and he keeps reaching his hand back like he wants money and I pull out like the first 3 bills I could find. Well he takes them and looks at them and then gives them back to me and says no no no, and I am freaking out he says I am the security and he just gives me my camera, and like deletes all the picture I take from the tombs and tells me to have a good rest of the time in EGYPT. All this is due to my buddy from Saudi Arabia being able to talk to the guard in Arabic ohh my gosh I thought for sure that this guard was going to take my camera for good. But yeah so I was soo overjoyed that I got it back and then we went to Queen Hatshepsut which was awesome, it is even better than I remember it from Art History, but maybe cause I was there and not trying for a grade. Then we went to the hotel for some lunch and some rest time. Ohh yeah and Egypt is super hot and people are seriously trying to sell you stuff everywhere that you go. After lunch and rest we travel to the Temple of the Karnak which is so colosal in its statue it blows the mind away at how they put together such amazing works. The ancient Egyptians would fill the square fortress with sand and then construct these pillars like one meter at a time and then continue filling with sand and constructing the pillars in layers, and then to decorate they would let a little sand out little by little and basically doing the opposite and painting it from top to bottom, but they are so beautiful to look at. After that temple we traveled to the Temple of Luxor which was actually the combination of 2 temples from King Ramsey the 2nd and King Am-something but yeah so those were super cool, and yeah now I am just waiting on dinner miss you all and cannot wait to be home and eatting some good Mezican food hahaha the simple things in life that make you happy.

7-30-09

So we are going to be in Egypt tomorrow woo hoo. Had our every port pre-port which went a little longer than I thought, they went over things like the usual ports like be careful about your drinks that you drink, the people you associate with, and all that good stuff. Then after the pre-port meeting Me and the other Cameron and Dani meet up to reserve our table for the Ambassadors Ball, which is August 20th. We were able to secure the 8pm spot, I figure it was the optimal time to eat dinner, because desert is at 9:30pm. Then I went and packed for my Egypt trip tomorrow I am so excited I get to see the PYRAMIDS. Heck yeah, and did you know you can have the death penalty for selling or transporting drugs how crazy is that. But yeah I hope everything at home is going great. And I will try and write some more tomorrow, Love yah all and miss everyone,
Cam

7-28-09 Woah Bulgaria is done with and now onto EGYPT

Sorry it has taken me a few days to get this blog up but we were up in the mountains in Bulgaria, and let me tell you how amazing of a time that all was. On 7-24 I traveled to Romania and as you may know I was planning on traveling to transelvania only thing is that we never made it there only due to the fact that it was like 8 hours away and I had to be back on the ship by 4:30am for my trip to Sophia, Bulgaria. We took a taxi from the ship to a bus station and from the bus station Will Bill, Arial, and myself took a taxi to the Bulgarian-Romanian border. Our little group on the way noticed much agricultural land and wind farms and we even found prostitute road in Bulgaria before making it to the Romanian border. Our time in Romania was interesting and we were glad to make it back on the ship. But so anyway I got on the ship at 3am and packed my bags and went and slept in the Union (the U) because that was the meeting place for the 3 day hiking trip to Sophia. I awoke to a bunch of people in the U and they all asked hey Cameron sleep good? I thought it was soo funny but I grab some breakfest and we left for the airport at about 5am and made out way to Sophia on Bulgarian Air. Which happened to be the shantiest plane I had been on thus far, the turbulence from take off was so intense it like would shake and rattle the plane so much I thought I had just purchased the worlds worst back massage chair. Most of the other students in this group feel asleep shortly after take off including myself. But so we land at Sophia, which happens to be a Domestic airport and we find our buses waiting outside and we all pack onto the motor-coaches. The drive from the airport to our destination which is located in the Rila Mountain range in Sophia is around 2 hours, but before making our descent into the mountains we are going for a continental breakfest at a local hotel. Luckily this breakfest happens to be quite enjoyable and we all stuff our faces for the ride which is a good amount of time for rest. Our group loads onto the bus and soon after everyone falls asleep and I am the sleep paparazzi and start taking pictures of pretty much everyone who was sleeping and I was just trying so hard not to laugh. Then me and K-slice start playing cards and play about 2 games and then more people are waking up so we make up a new card game and start playing that; I call it Cameron's Cards. Basically the game is you pull a card and each card represents something goofy that you have to do; for example if you were to attain a queen you would have to walk up and down the isles and shout I am the Queen I am the Queen. This game turned out to be quite the fun game to play on a bus and we ended up just having a blast playing it. So we finally get to our first location and it is beautiful just mountains and trees and beautiful flowers and wow just such an awesome place, and so we hike up this trail and the troop leader tells us that sometimes there are Vipers and that freaks the hell out of me, cause these snakes if they bite you can kill you in a matter of minutes and so my friend Annelise decides to keeps saying ohh cameron watch out for that viper, and she was just being crazy. On this hike though we got to see some of Bulgaria's awesome nature scene. The group gets the the location we were trying to get to and it was called the Rila Monasery which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it was this place where you could write down prayers and wishes that Saint John would grant you. You also had to go through this little cave and climb out the top; but it was said that if you were free of your sins you could pass through this tiny tiny exit without any problems however if you were to not be free from your sins you were not able to pass. Of course I was able to pass but the exit was extremely tiny. After everyone got out from the tiny exit we went to the place where you place where you put your wishes, and I wanted to kind of get mine in an unique place and I decide to start rock climbing. The mountain happened to be a little more mossy than I anticipated and at about 20 feet on a ledge I lost my grip and I almost feel, it pretty much scared the shit out of me and so I decide to come down. Turns out it scared more than me, it got my group leader a little mad at me and he pulled me aside and said I was being unsafe. After that close encounter we got back onto the bus and go to our hotel and check in and stay the night, I was fortunate to get Justin as my roommate he is a Marine who is super cool. So me and Justin stay up a while just talking about life and military service and stuff and then crash out. On my sisters birthday I get the chance to hike the Rila Mountain and observe the Rila Lakes, and by the way Happy Belated Birthday Candice. In the morning we take a vote to hike the trail up instead of taking a chair lift. The hike up was amazing; from the start we got to see a beautiful waterfall and just trudge through the terrain. Then further up the mountain we encounter horses and all of the local flowers and just amazing views, this is before we even get to the spot where we were stopping for lunch. But so we get to the location for lunch and it is just beautiful and the ground is so warm and it just feels amazing, I am in shorts and just a shirt and did not bring anything else besides my camera. Well it starts to get a little cold and I start to get chilly. It was a good thing that we were able to go to the top of the mountain shortly after I started to get cold. But after a short break for lunch hiking is so much harder, because we were resting and then started to hike again and not only that but at that point of elevation the air starts to get thinner so breathing is a bit different. But I am no quitter and I hike all the way to the top only to see one of the most amazing views that I think that you could possibly attain from Bulgaria. Just overlooking a vast amount of open space and a view of all of the lakes on the mountain. Making things even more memorable there was this rock sculpture thing on the top where everyone who gets to the top can add a rock to it. Dont worry I will have some pictures up on facebook soon. As a group on the hike down to the lift we decide not to hike all the way down and do the chair lift. On the chair lift me and Justin had an awesome conversation and he is totally the coolest guy well him and Cameron and WIll bIll have been awesome. We get back to the hotel and shower and rest for about 20 or 30 minutes and then walk a short distance to our Bulrgarian BBQ, where we learned some traditional folk dancing with 60 and 70 year old ladies who liked to bump butts with me, and traditional Bulgarian cooking and then had a rock band that played American songs that they did not know the exact words to. Ohh man was it great. Then some of us would like do this like circle dance where you held hands with everyone and you basically spun around in a circle. After the dancing was over, I knew we had to play a game so I just go up to someone and say tag your it and then go ALEX YOUR IT really loud and then we start a rampid game of tag it was so excellent and the Bulgarian people are just looking at us like we are absolutely crazy. Then right after about an hour or so of tag we decide to paly a huge game of duck duck goose varsity style. It was the greatest night, I hadnt played duck duck goose in such a long time. On the way home we were mentioning scary movies and how it was scary walking home in this group in the total darkness and so I speed ahead and duck down in the bushes and hide, and sit and wait stalking my prey. I hear the first steps of people and I let a little bit of the group pass and then about 10-15 seconds later i pop out and scare the poop out of everyone, ohh man it was hysterical. So we got back to the hotel and went star watching and then there is this howling in the distance and a dog barking, and then the dog goes quite and were all a little concerned and so me and justin go to make sure that the gate on this basketball court we were sitting on was closed when we realized there was no fence on the one side and we all book it for back to the hotel. Anyway that was possibly the coolest trip that I had been on. And so yeah now it is Tuesday and I just got done with class and now I am going to take a little rest before starting on reading and I have a big evening of voyage book, homework, and talking to the global studies teacher about my paper.

7-23-09 Bulgaria already

Land Ho I already see land, it is Bulgaria. Apparently it is a lot closer than it appears. Today I missed global studies because I had to write a paper for my advertisement class, and it kinda stinks when you have 3 classes in a row. Also today I had to give a presentation on this article for sustainable communities entitles Waste as a Resource, and I was so nervous all morning cause I finished it last night. On a lighter note, turns out that the World History class is going to be run on a circuit for 24 hours and so I can watch it from my room now. In my sustainable communities I was anxiously awaiting my turn to give my presentation, because my professor Rocky figures that you got to feel a little nervous just like everyone else. For the rest of the classes 3 students give presentations on the readings and it is just a nice and refreshing way to see what other students took from the article and understand a different perspective. And so today it was my moment of torture and I prepared all night for it, and so I get up there and it was not that bad and so I gave my presentation and I had to take off my sandals because I did not want my feet to sweat too much and distract me so I just did it barefoot and I was so comfortable. Then the moment was over and everyone in the class loved my presentation and said that I did a good job, which was such a relief. Like any day we proceeded to lunch, and today it was a pasta, chicken dish, biscuits as always, and today a tuna sanwhich. After lunch it was desert, and todays desert was wonderful Jello squares, everyone loves the squares. Then at my table which had lik 12 people at it dared me to try and get a whole bowl of jello in one bit cause I mentioned it or something like that, and so they were the judges and went and picked out a sufficient bowl of Jello for this competition. Once an acceptable size was found it was up to me to show them that I would be the victor, and like my mind predicted I was successful of eatting a whole Jello bowl in one bite and everyone was very impressed with my abilities. Shortly after my excellent Jello eatting skills my professor rocky came up and said congratulations on my presentation today, and that was such a sigh of relief and took a lot of worries off of my mind. But yeah and then I came back to my room jammed out on my new drum thingy and now am just writing this awesome journal entry, hope your all having a great time.
Cam

7-22-09 Bummed to leave Turkey, but I will be back.

So today marks the end of Turkey, I am taken back and I really loved the Turkish people they were so amazingly nice and very willing to except us as tourist. I think Turkey has been one of the most interesting countries I have been to and perhaps it is the perception that I had about it before going and all of the amazing hospitality that they showed and what I have learned about Turkey as a nation. Turkey is a part of Asia and Europe and so they have an eastern side and a western side that is connected by a bridge. I made some amazing purchases today and wheeled and dealed at the best I could possibly do. Met with Blythe and Amy and Morgan and shopped around with them for a little bit because they did not have a guy accompanying them. Got a chance later today to talk with Blythes mother who is seriously awesome, I met her in halifax and we just had the day of a lifetime. I wore my Turkish shirt today, and let me tell you how much Turkish people love when people do that, they have a lot of pride in their country. I made it out to the Grand Bazzar today and it just amazes me how vast it was and all the different shops that they had and relatively they sell the same thing and you can get a good deal on anything that you want. Lets just say everything except food, because I tried bartering on food and it did not work so well. Their spices in their food are like nothing that I have ever had, and the lamb here is amazing I had it at this one place and it seriously just peeled right off the bone. in Istanbull they will stop you when your walking and just ask you how your day is going, and even if you do not want to eat at a restraunt they want you to come in and have some of their tea. But yeah my time here has been great and I do hope to return one day and visit some of the contacts that I have made here. I hope that your all having an amazing time at home, and Candice or mom if your reading this will you please email me I need to tell yah something.
Love yah all, Cam

7-21-09 Who thought I would ever go to Turkey

So I am in Turkey right now and I just got back from going to one of Turkeys cities called Cappadocia. Now on the first day of arrival I went out and was trying to find the Grand Bazzar which is the largest outdoor shopping center in the world where you can wheel and deal with anyone and do your best on bargaining, but we never quite made it to the Bazzar, no Cameron Dani and I only made it to the Egyptian Spice Market. In retrospect it was just as fun going there and being with all these turkish people. You could hear the shop keepers yelling out trying to get you to come to their store and if you stopped and looked at something they assumed that you wanted it, and they would ask if you walked away, "How much you want it for?". So it was an interesting expereience bargaining and getting the price that you actually want to pay for it. And in these places you would see a mix of any store you could imagine, from tool stores to spice stores, I think I even saw a gun store. Indeed it was a feast of shops, well worth going and checking out though. When I got back in there was a group of  us who wanted to go and see HP^ which is (Harry Potter 6), and the theater was past the Great Bazzar and just to the left at a place called Movie Max, so we payed our 8.50 Lyra which is about 6 bucks and then we headed down to the theater it was playing, there was no air conditioning in this building so needless to say it was a little hot in the theater. I found it interesting that instead of previews for other movies at the beginning they had commercials instead, but then at the halfway point of the movie they would stop the movie and have intermission. All in all it was a great movie and then we walked the streets of Turkey home. We got home about 1:30am and I had to be up early the next day and when I say early I mean 5:30am, for a trip through Semester at Sea. This trip was to Cappadocia. Now when I woke up it was 5:43am and I freaked out, jumped out of bed, sprung into some clothes, packed a quick backpack and ran up to the Union. Luckily I made it in the nick of time for the trip. Once we all were gathered in the Union we made our departure for the buses, they brought us to the airport which was a short 30 minute drive where we were able to see another side of Istanbull. I almost forgot to tell you, when traveling outside of Istanbull you need to acquire a Visa for any city in Turkey besides Istanbull, I have no idea why that is just the way it is. We get to the airport and when you have 64 people in a group it poses a tough job to rally everyone up and get everyone their boarding passes. After we all attained our boarding passes we jump on this bus that loads us up and we travel to the site on the runway where our plane is. I always find it interesting to load from the ground, but non the less I love it at the same time. We all board onto Turkish Airlines and make our way to Cappadocia. My seat was the very last row too on this plane. Once landed we get off and I swear it was the most awkward smell I think I have ever smelt, it was like a mixture of like cows, gasoline, fresh cut grass, some dirt, and a few other scents, but it really was interesting and I had to take a few deep breaths of it in to really ask myself what am I smelling. Outside the airport in Cappadocia we have 2 buses waiting for us, a short bus and a big yellow bus, well I guess there more of a motorcoach then a bus. Naturally I get on the shorter bus, I just thought that they were funny looking and I wanted to be with my friends Will Bill, Craig, and Nicco and one of my professors sons, who is 3 years old, was on our bus too his name is Ryder and he is pretty awesome. Also on a short note Ryder loves hanging out with me and pretending to be a tiger monster and trying to scare me and he gives some pretty good high fives. On the bus ride we sit there and attempt to listen to our Turkish Tour Guide, who speaks decent English, but it is hard to take in everything that he is saying. One of the first stops was this underground city where people had carved into this sand like stone deep into the depths of the earth homes and churches and wine cellars, and they even had the ingenuity to put in an air duct, which is dug deep into the ground to bring up the cold air from the earth and naturally cool the rooms. For defense they had these giant wheel shaped structures that they could roll in front of a passage and seal themselves off from any intruders and the way they did not suffocate was they had a big hole in the wheel so that air could pass through, it was pretty amazing to look at this stuff and think that someone lived in this places hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Getting through these underground cities was amazing they had these narrow tunnels and passages, which was another means of defense because if someone had a gun or a huge sword they had trouble getting through these doorways at a quick rate. The narrow passage ways were fun to go through and once we were to the top I was just amazed that Christian people who were being prosecuted in earlier times would hide out in these structures for 3-6 months to as far as one year all underground. Outside of these underground cities there were more markets and naturally I was destined to go I bartered with an 8 year old for an item that I got for less than half of what he was asking. We then traveled to what Cappadocia is famous for, these natural wonders that were formed from Volcanic Ash and then when erosion took place it created these cone like stones. Local people in 12th century were able to carve out homes and churches from these marvels and they were able to do so because the settlement that was from the ash had an interesting effect when you would carve out the sand like rock the air would harden the inside, giving you a secure and sturdy inside. The insides were decorated with old Christian art work, which most of the figures had been defaced by the Roman Empire, this was because the Roman Empire basically thought it was God. Making our way through the many different cone churches and alters we made a break for lunch. Will Bill, Craig, Nicco and I did not want to be like the group and all go to the same place where food was most likely over priced so we walked up the road and had an authentic Turksih lunch inside one of those Cone Shaped buildings. For desert Nicco ordered these grotesque dried apricot things in this god awful sauce which I gagged when trying to chew them up and get them down, but we did not want to be rude either so we had to eat 2 whole dried apricots. Possibly one of the most dirtiest things I have ever ate in my life especially for desert. We rushed back to the buses and had a short time to go to a little store and purchase a chocolate ice cream to get that nasty taste out of my mouth. After lunch we got into the buses and went to the valley of the and I do not remember the exact name of the place but we went there and got to explore a little before getting back onto the buses and making our arrival to the hotel. Our hotels name was Dinler and it was half way decent, we had air conditioning it had a pool, a mini golf course, a basketball area, and a soccer area. And the beds were comfortable which was very nice to have a nice comfy bed for once. I had to get up at 4:45am the next day in order to make it to the Hot Air Ballon ride, which I did this time with a little less freaking out and realizing I might be late. We all met in the lobby of Dinler and traveled to the location where the hot air balloons were. This was my first time on a hot air ballon so I was just excited to go, let alone that I was going to be doing this in Turkey. We get up into the air and we see the sun rise and all of the amazing cone shaped buildings in the area and all the vegatation on the ground and the local people working their land, and it was really quite an astonishing thing being up in the air and getting to see all of this. But anyway that is all for now I am meeting Will Bill and this girl Jessica to go and see the Blue Mosque and a Chapel and go the Bazzar but I will tell more later, bye and love you all hope your being safe.
-Cam

7/16/09 A day of classes

Just had some time this morning to write a few things down. So last night I did all my readings today for class super proud of that, and now were on our way to Turkey. This saturday will mark the half way point of this voyage, I cannot believe I have been gone now for over 5 weeks, it just blows my mind that I am just traveling all around. I also feel that when I get home I will try and take more public transportation, because not only is it free but it would be convienent to do homework or something on a bus. I have also gotten used to living in a very confined space, but I will be happy to be back in my room with a good sized bed where I do not have the danger of rolling out onto the ground. But yeah that is all right now I will write again at another point but I have class right now I will talk to you all later, bye Cam

7-16-09 Greek Living

Ok so I just got back from roaming around Piraeus by myself which I have to say was rather interesting and got to do things on my own and find my own way and it was really fun. I also figured out how to get the iternet to work, I had to go to 2 starbucks and then this place called 4thconnect or something like that and then purchase an internet card and from there I had 20 hours of internet, so I used my 2 hours that my computer battery had and yeah life was good. But so anyway my time in Greece has been nothing less than what I imagined, I got to see ancient temples which were marvelous I got to see where the first olympic games were held in 1886, which was phenomenal and tried some pretty awesome food, got to go to a greek island, talk with authentic Greek people. Like today I went out and bought 2 shirts for myself because I am low on shirts and I sturck up a conversation with the shop owner about the Greek economy and he asked me how the U.S. economy was doing and if it was bouncing back, it was really cool and so we chatted for about 15 minutes would have been shorter if I knew Greek but since I dont I had to interpret some broken up english and piece things together. When we were on the island of San Trini I witnessed one of the most amazing sunsets I think that I have ever seen. I cannot say certain things that I did for liability reasons, but be sure and ask about San Trini sometime and I will let you know what I cannot yet disperse. Also I went to one of my first Black Sand beaches and we also went to a winery on the island which won the best winery of Europe in 2008 so needless to say that the wine was anything but amazing. Another first was being able to stay in a hostel which was a lot nice than I had ever imagined, we were staying at Tony's Villa in case anyone of you reading this might ever wonder out to San Trini, which was great ohh and I was skyping with my sister really late in Greece but really early back in the states and this Irish guy comes out in his boxers and tells me that I need to be quite cause other people are trying to sleep. But yeah it was a great time. Thank you again everyone for this amazing once in a lifetime experience. So tonight we are headed off to Turkey and I will let you know how that goes, bye love you all
- Cam

7-12-09 Sea Olympics

So today we did not have any classes due to the festivities that were going on all throughout the day. The boat was divided up into sea according to your floor and which side of the boat you were on, our sea is the Baltic Sea. A few days prior to the games I found out that we did not have a sea captain and so I stepped up and volunteered to be the sea captain. So we came up with a chant, a banner, and a routine for the synchronized swim. Today the games were held our team did not win but gosh dangit was it a fun day. I competed in 2 events; the synchronized swim (which everyone pretty much got a video of) and the sea makeover (which I am pretty sure everyone also got a video of). The synchronized swim was awesome and I felt we should have got more points then we actually did we had a 5 guy team and 3 of us had on speedo's and mine was the bikini one, and I think everyone loved it. And for the makeover we had 20 minutes to make me over into a pretty person, so the two girls from our floor who were the make up artist decided to shave my legs and make me a pink princess, needless to say it was hysterical. Only upon shaving my legs one of the girls gashed my leg and it stung a little bit, but I guess the saying is true beauty hurts. They did my makeup and put on a pink headband thingy, and then finished it off with this skimpy tight hot pink dress with black high heels. Ohh yes it is true ohh and they painted my nails hot pink too all in 20 minutes. The other seas contestants were nothing close to my superior hotness. But gosh dangit they were soo funny, one guy got turned into a black gypsy ohh man was that funny. All in all even though we had lost it was soo fun. Tomorrow we will be in Greece, where I will be going to the Acropolis with Cameron, Dani, Dan, Kevin, and Andrea from there we will be going to the island of San Tourini or however you spell it for 2 days. Cameron found this winery that we are going to go to and also this place where we are all going to scuba dive. Ohh and I am also super happy cause someone sent me an amazingly awesome picture which totally made my day like 1000000 times better =). Anyway hope your all having a great day love yah
Cam

7-9-09 The days pass quickly in Croatia

So I dont know if I mentioned this in a previous post but I got crapped on by a bird in Croatia, kind of funny. But yeah so anyay yesterdays I went to Montengro which is totally a seperate country from Croatia, they were all part of former Yugoslovia. But yeah so it was really nice and apparently at one of the islands it was where they filmed the new 007. I petted a wild cow out in the middle of some farm out in Croatia, that was the highlight of my day. Dad and Mom I bought my first speedo too, it is mroe of a way of fitting in with the culture, it was really weird but hey I look at it like this at least my tan lines will be improved. Mopntenegro was cool but on the tour that we did it was mostly just a bunch of driving around in a bus. Ohh and at this fort that we stopped at we were bombarded bby Gypsy's, it is weird I didn't picture Gypsy's to be like that I will try and get a picture but then all they want is money, they hold out there hands and beg for money, and they are usually kids and then the mom is in the background smoking a cigarette. Ohh and this fort that we went to yesterday we climbed almost all the way to the top cause we went off the beaten path and left the tour group and did our own thing. But we were sweating like crazy it was soo hott and humid and we got barked at by a rabbid dog that scared the living daylights out of me and my friend Craig. Then last night everyone went out, but I didn't feel like being out super late like everyone does so cameron, dani, andrea, kevin, and I stayed in and we played Phase 10, I took second this time. Anywho I am going to go to an internet cafe now with cameron and dani, I will talk with you all later. Bye.

cam

7-8-09 Transformers

Ok so in croatia we watched transformer 2 in the open area of dubrovnick and it was seriously amazing just thought I would jot it down before I go to bed. Night

7-8-09 Croatia just doesnt like Cameron Dani and I

So our plans to go to Bosnia fell through and then today we were suppose to go kayaking and snorkeling and the water was too rough. Needless to say that our thing got canceled and we were stuck to find something else. We quickly made our way back to the ship to change into our bathing suits and traveled on down to the beach. Although we did stop at this place and had an amazing 15 Kuna (3 dollar) calzone filled with Ham and Cheese. After that we made our way down to the lovely East West beach in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Now this beach was different then the beaches back home; they are filled with these tiny little pebbles and also you can go topless if you want. It was an interesting experience, and I made the joke, well at least you can know when they're cold. There was this barge that was out in the water that you could jump off of or just hang out on it. Well Cameron, Dani, Cori, and I all go out and we have a who can swim farther in one breath competition, a back dive contest, flipped around a bit, and then me and Cameron decide to just start wrestling and trying to get the other person in the water. Tons of fun, and then we get some of the local Croatian guys to come out and were wrestling with them playing king of the Barge, it was a great time. After the beach we all have to pack onto this bus that was seriously packed like a can of sardines. Once we got off of the bus we made our way to our tendering station, tendering is where they bring you to the boat by those little rescue boat cause you cant be docked. Anyway our tendering boat was soo jammed with people you could smell one another and it was just crazy. And right now we are going to be docking the boat, I have an essay to write, then dinner with Cam and Danni and then go hangout at a Croatian park with some people. Love yah all bye.

7-7-09 WOW my tailbone hurts

Ok so yesterday we ended up not going to Bosnia, because the next bus to Mozart or whatever town it was left at 1pm and the bus ride is 3  hours meaning that we would get there at 4pm, and the last bus home was at 5pm so it was not even worth it. But no worries we came back on the ship had a free lunch and then boot scoot and boogied our way out. Ohh and Croatias currency is called a Kuna, they are not quite a full member of the EU because Sloviania I guess owns them and isn't going to give up Croatia until they are ready, so long story short they have their own currency but are pretty much close to members of the EU. Anyway we took a taxi from the ship to a beach, which was 60 Kuna-roughly 10 US dollars (5 kunas=1 dollar). And this beach was soo cool there were some locals and stuff but like no one from semester at sea, which is good cause we like to stray away from the large large pacts of people and kind of do our own thing. I mean we as in me the other Cameron Paul and his girlfriend Dani, we had lunch right on the water then went into the water. There was a small cave at this beach where as you swam closer to it the water turned colder and colder. Also there was a large group of young boys who were jumping from the cliffs and I was soo intrigued that I wanted to join. So I did the first jump which was about 15-20 feet and it was not bad at all in fact I later did a flip from that same jump; now the other jump I only did once and that is cause it was about 45 feet and right before I hit the water I for some reason brought my legs up and ohh gosh totally hit the tailbone. Today it hurts to sit down and stand up from a searted position. Ohh well you only live once right? And I would much rather be doing what the locals are doing rather than waste my day away doing something else. While at the beach we met these two girls from Oxford, which is an ivy league school and we decided to meet up later for dinner. When at dinner we were talking and the whole time I felt kind of dumb because these girls knew sooo much stuff it was crazy but I guess it was an informative dinner for me. So yeah today we are going kayaking and snorkling so hopefully that will be good and that the kayak doesnt hurt my ASS too much cause the tailbone hurts. I hope that everyone is having a very special day and I will ttyl

 

Love you alll even from across the planet,

Cam

7-6-09 Going to Bosnia

Me the other Cameron Paul, Dani, and myself decided last night that we are going to add another country to the list of countries that we are going to. And while it is our fist day in Croatia we are pleased to inform all of you that we will be traveling to Bosnia later today. It is going to be interesting but I am sure that it will be a good time. We might even possibly stay the night.

7-6-09 I didn't do so hot on my first paper

Dang I thought I did better I am waiting on getting back my paper but I already know that I didn't do so hot on it. But it was sort of balanced out because I did really well on my test and they were worth the same amount of points. Today has been long, although the week altogether has blown by like the kind of howling wind that you get from Nascar. Tonight I am so busy, we have the inter port student speaking at 7:30, pre-port at 8:30, then at 10 I have to work the Voyage Book thing and yeah just stressed like no other. Luckily I am just relaxing in my room right now thinking about everything I have got to do. Today we had our test number one in sustainable communities and wow how hard it was, when we get back from Croatia we have to turn in our mid-term essay, so when I am in Croatia I will have to take a day off and be working on my essay and advertising readings. Oh and today I did another batch of laundry inside the sink, I am going to be glad to use a wash machine again. Yeah I hope everyone today is having a good time, love yahall and I will chat at yah later.

7-5-09 4th of July Blast in italy

Well it was a day late but right before leaving Italy we had a 4th of July BBQ on the back of the boat before saying Bon Voyage to Italy. Italy was a lot different then I had pictured it and perhaps that is where I went wrong; by going in with some assumption that was based on pre-concieved notions through images from movies and pictures. But on a lighter note Italy had deffenately opened my eyes up in a lot of new areas that I did not know existed. Like the Island of Capri so beautiful, like we got to go into this thing called the Blue Grotto which used to be the bath of one of the Emperors of ancient Rome and it was called Lions Head cause there is a rock on the inside that looks like a lions head. But so you go in through this tiny tiny entrance and you have a Row Boat with the leader and he makes you like lay your head back as your entering into this thing and like it is soo intense I though for sure that with the tide that I was going to have my face hit like right on the rock of the entrance, and then you enter into this pitch black room and then the guy says ok now look back and you look back and just this breath taking light through the water is what you see, and it is unlike any other color ocean water you have ever seen. So that was super fun and then after that we took a taxi to this location to get to the top of Capri. The taxi in themselves were wonders. So anyway back to the story so the only way to get to the top of Capri is through this chair lift, it sits one person at a time and you have to face foreward and then this chair comes up behind you and scoops you into it. The whole time up your just thinking how amazing is this, views that you wouldnt believe, wind blowing right by your face gently cooling you down, looking down and realizing that you are on the island of Capri, and just saying a prayer thanking god for such an amazing experience and how fortunate you can be to be able to see such amazing things. So you get to the top of Capri and you realize that there is another side that is just as equally amazing, like you could spend hours and hours just gazing into the horizon line and just sitting back and relaxing and just taking it all in. But to top it all off you have your choice of purchasing a tasty Gelato or a fresh glass of Italian Wine, I went with the Gelato it was a hot day and I needed some sugar. Also I was with the other Cameron Paul and Danni who have really turned into my really good close friends, like we talk about everything and like when we get rich someday the boat that we are going to buy and sail back and go scuba diving. He is a really great person. After going to the top of Capri we want to go back down and finally enjoy some lunch and get to swim in this island. For lunch I had this amazing sandwhich with the freshest bread and Cameron and My new favorite drink a Bacardi Cooler that seriously taste like Orange Soda, we take our lunch down to the beach which is unlike any California beach, because instead of sand it is all rocks but these grey oval shapped rocks. After finishing lunch we go into the ocean and I am like a little kid in a candy shop just splashing and enjoying the water. When I realize that there are these kids jumping off the rocks into the water and I decide to join them. We have an awesome time. Then we come in for a little bit and then I realize another group of Italian people playing this game where they throw the rock as far as they can into the ocean, I immediately go over and ask if I can play. They say ci and I end up becoming really good friends with these italian kids aged from 16-18 and they said they were going to facebook me so I am really looking foreward to being able to understand everything that they say this time. Ohh and give me a high five in Italian is Domme Elle Chinqua. We go back to Naples where are ship is docked get changed and head out to dinner at the place that started it all. The originator of Pizza, a little place called Brandi's which was amazing and I highly reccommend that you all go there. But yeah amazing night, I ggot to go beat Cam and Danni at Phase 10 and I will tell you about Naples tomorrow night

Love you all
Cam

7-3-09 Italy was fun now were going to Naples

So yesterday I got a chance to skype with everyone, and I was honestly a little upset with Rome but today I have another opinon about Italy; cause today I went to these Renasiance Gardens and those were quite amazing like just wow beautiful. Vattican City was pretty amazing too and ohh my gosh everyone you have go to go visit the Pantheon in Rome, holy crap that was just the coolest thing I have ever seen. Also while in Rome on both the days that I was there I got to witness the sporatic thunder storms that occured the first day I was at the Colleseum and that made it soo worth going there and the second we got stuck in this Plaza and we rushed into a shoe store with the other Cameron and his girlfriend Dani, who I just found out tomorrow I will be going to Capri with. Capri is a little Island off the coast of naples, Italy. The pizza here was fantastic, but Italian Pizza is totally different then anything else, it is a flat crust with hardly any sauce. Today on our trip to the gardens I had some anchoivies or however you spell that like I ate the whole thing even with the head. It was fun though. We got this breath taking view of a city in Italy however I do not recall the name it started with a B. When we were in Rome we took the subway sooo many times. Ohh my gosh and In Italy I found another teetar tater and this time it was a duck sea saw ohh man sooo much funnn. This one was sooo much fun, like when you cwould go down the other person would seriously like bounce up like soo high off the sea saw it was hysterical and it was a lot of fun. Things are just going by soo fast now and like the rest that you are able to get is sooo limited and it is crazy I have gone off of 11 hours of sleep for 3 days and it has just been one heck of a ride. I also was venturing in this little town today in Italy by myself away from the group and I used some of the Italian that they provided us with to buy a delicious fruit/ vegtable beverage, I said to the big burly man Quante Costa, and he said something back to me but I didnt understand and then he wrote it down and I was like heck yeah he understood me. Ohh man speaking of buying food, do not ever buy Gelato in the heat it melts super fast and it gets all over your clothes hahahha. I had Chocolate gelato all over myself, it was stinkin helirious. Well we are going down to Naples tonight but I will talk to youalll late bye bye bye.

7-1-09 ITALY

SO we made it into Italy today, and like in the very beginning I went upstairs trying to get my passport and some girl got to meet the pope, at least that was what she told the 3 of us that were upstairs in the boat at 8am. So we get off and like I was on Highlights of Rome and our first stop was Vataccain City, and like it was crazy it was a long ride from our port to Rome, but once we got there it was seriously amazing. Like a little dirty though and luckily I did not get pick pocketed. So anyway we got to go through all the crazy art museums and like the Sistine Chapel and like Saint Peters Square, and then the Collaseum. Ohh and when we were at the collaseum like it was thundering like crazy and raining it was amazing and I was suspose to meet up with some peopl but I never did. Then I got with a group of other friends put my stuff in their friends room. Went out with them, meet up with Cameron and his girlfriend Dani and Corey and we all jetted before we got stuck in some bar crawl and yah had an authentic Italian dinner and yeah then got our way back into the hotel room by saying I was Dave Hannah and my room was 424 and like I left my key in my room and all that jazz and it worked, got a key and got ourselves into the room grabbed our stuff and Cameron and Danni are letting us crash here. It was a much longer and crazier story than that but it is 1:30am and I am tired. Ask me about it hahahha. Love yah all and Abbster I miss yah sooo much. Countdown 1 Month 3 Weeks and 3 Days =P