Hi all, technically I'm supposed to be in meetings...and I kind of am? I'm on the computer in a classroom, somewhat watching the Captain and several other staff talk (which they have been doing since 9am, minus 1 lunch break for an hour, in which I had a work study meeting -_-) Any who, It's been crazy busy, and I'm not seasick at all, in fact the waves and bumps make me rather sleepy, so this semester will be a challenge. Today I signed up for trips Ghana- India...even though we couldn't. (Northern smarts and attitudes get you everything :])

Alright, I should probably listen to all this safety mumbo jumbo. I have all 4 of my classes on A days... which are usually every other day... but not really... And we have class on thanksgiving :[  But we get 2 thanksgivings :]

 

My job is insane, but keeping me busy, we pretty much run all the activities and fun on the ship. Me, Dave and our Super- Grant picked up Marta the other day from the Halifax airport, she's from Spain and staying on the ship with us until we reach Spain (which is 7 days?) Alright, getting to work, The Ambassadors (me and 6 others) are running a fair tonight on the ship- should be interesting :]

 

I'm on the Port side of the ship, and the room is pretty awesome, and my roommate Rachel is completely Crazy/Chill just like me, they paired us well :]

 

Alright kiddos, I'll probably blog Monday.

 

PS.

Lifeboat drills are the major suxor and completely ridiculous!- even though we all looked mad sexy in the orange life vests :p

-Samantha Zerio :]

OH CANADA!!!

Wowzer’s, I have so much to write, and already so little time.

It had been a while since I had been to Canada and I forgot how small things inside of Canada are… Like the randomly placed signs that face the woods on the side of the highway… weird, eh?

The trip was relatively decent, although I burnt through my phone, camera, and iPod battery 4 hours into the trip : /

We got to the hotel around… oh…9ish? Mayhaps. Checked in, and did whatever before bed. We spent the next day poking around Halifax…meaning mom and Reza (her fiancée for those of you who didn’t know- were constantly fighting)…By the way, Reza is an awful driver, worse than my mother… I seriously thought I was going to die before I got to the ship.

Today was the big day. Student workers were to arrive at the Halifax Seaport, Pier 21, Pavilion 23 at 9am for check-in…we got there at 7:30 :p. The MV Explorer arrived about 8, and come 9:30 or so, us work study students and life-long learners got to check in.
Zerio luck would have it that they had to in-depth check my bags…all because of laundry detergent (what the eff). And then I beeped going through the scanner, so the woman pulled out the handheld scanner, and did a full body scan- to which nothing beeped… so They double checked me through the walk-through scanner…it beeped again. This process repeated a few times before she called over a group of people to figure out what was beeping. After assuring them and proving I had nothing in my pockets (because these pants didn’t have pockets…) they let me board.

The ship is awesome. And although my “estate room” isn’t huge (Oh yes So-Ruffians…smaller than Heather and Hil’s room)… It’s actually quite spacious, and a lot of my stuff fit. My roommate isn’t hear yet, but I know her name because I accidentally opened her school book box (sorry :/)

My work study is pretty sweet, there’s 9 Ambassadors, and 2 work directly with Grant (our supervisor) the other seven of us (including me) get to essentially manage and create events on the ship. Tonight we’re picking up Maria Cano- a girl from Spain who will journey with us the next few days until we reach the port of Cadiz, Spain. Me and a few other ambassadors get to pick her up from the airport (all expenses paid) :]

This work study is pretty flippin’ sweet, and I love our group. Not to mention WE get to hire 18 people to work under us :D Hahaha, I’m going to love this job.

I just finish unpacking and putting some final touches on the room to make it feel a little more home-y.

I’m about to explore the ship some more with a few friends before the next few days (we’re going to be crazy busy). Tonight we have dinner, then attend yet another meeting, work the parents’ reception and then head out to the airport, then get to rest a little, and repeat tomorrow…when we check in about 500+ people (craziness).

Alright kids, I’m going to head out. Love and miss you all back in the states <3

I’ll do my best to update my blog, but internet is only free for X amount of minutes.

Adios!

I'm gonna free fall out into nothing...gonna leave this world for a while.

Alright, I figured I should update this because... I'm leaving tomorrow at 5 am for Nova Scotia!!! I can't believe that it's already here. Longwood started their classes today, it feels kind of weird not being there : / I had my last day at all of my jobs Saturday, and it went a lot smoother than I thought, but I'll miss everyone like crazy!

It's almost 7 am and I have yet to start packing...whoops. I alphabetized my packing list and dwindled it down to 7 pages.... so much for being a Vagabond eh?

My sister went in for gallbladder surgery today (Good Luck Jenna- and welcome to not being able to eat anything :]) Which makes it extra hard to pack, because she will be recuperating in my room.

I'm beyond excited for this journey to begin, and I probably won't want it to end... so if I happen to "disappear" in another country... chances are it was purposely :p.

It's already been decided that if I dislike my roommate, she's going overboard (Just kidding, Hahaha- and my apologies in advanced to my super awesome roommate who will be reading this post :p) I'm so excited to meet everyone... in person, instead of just Facebook.

I'll attempt to be on my best behavior, but come on... I am Sam, I can't make any promises. These countries better be on high alert when our ship ports, because their in store for some craziness!

I never thought I could not only pack my life into 2 suitcases and a backpack...but do it in under an hour. :] I have to give myself props on that one. I'm getting amped for this.


Alright, it's time for me to stop procrastinating and get on my game.

Goodbye America, until we meet again...

PS. Welcome to my home for the next few months:

Anticipating Canada

I'm almost positive, that although we'll be on a "ship" and not a "boat"; the chosen theme song has overwhelmingly been "I'm On A Boat".

Also, here are my classes (I really wish we could take 5):

Medical Anthropology A
Global Studies A
The U.S. South A
Crossings and Voyages A


My packing list is legit, ridic. I have to pack my life into about 2 suitcases, not to mention we all know I'm going to go crazy and buy a ridiculous amount of stuff from all of the countries. And there will be LOTS of photos; I'll post some on my blogs, but you won't see a majority of them until I am home :]

Welcome!

As many of you may know, August 28th, 2009 will mark the voyage of a lifetime. I will be leaving the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in order to embark upon the open seas. I was accepted into the Fall 2009 Semester At Sea program, which entails living on a ship (the MV Explorer) and visiting amazing countries abroad. (While taking classes of course). If anyone wants more information you can go to Semester At Sea.

I will be visiting the following countries (in this order):

• Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Where we leave from)
• Cadiz, Spain
  
• Casablanca, Morocco
• Accra, Ghana
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Port Louis, Mauritius
• Chennai, India
• Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
• Hong Kong / Shanghai, China
• Yokohama / Kobe, Japan
• Honolulu / Hilo, Hawaii, USA
• San Diego, California, USA

I will arriving back to the states Mid- December, and will tentatively be home December 15th, 2009.

You're more than welcome to send me mail; however it will take a while to get to me in ports, so I don't really recommend it. I will post mailing addresses at a later date if anybody is really that interested. I will do my best to update this blog as much as I can, but remember, it's still school, and we don't get a huge amount of internet time, plus i'll be sight-seeing like crazy!

As you can guess, I will also be freezing my phone account until I return to the states, so unless I'm dead, nobody is getting calls from me. (I love you guys, but that's a lot of money!).


I'll more likely than not send out postcards, but i'm not going to send one out to everyone, so if you want A post card or two (not one from every country), please let me know, and make sure I have your address. :]

Until then kids, be safe, and have fun!