Mauritius in a Blink of an Eye

On March 18 the MV Explorer docked in Mauritius. We were only in this beautiful and small little country for 6 hours! For those of you who have no idea where Mauritius is, it is a small island in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. When the Portuguese first discovered the island, there were no indigenous people living there but what they did discover that lived in Mauritius was the Dodo bird! Unfortunately less than 100 years later the Dodo bird because extinct. What is so unique and amazing about this small island is it is composed of many different ethnicities, mostly people of Indian, African, Chinese and European descent.

            Since there was such little time in Mauritius, my friends and I decided to take a day of relaxation and enjoy the beach. Since I have never really traveled outside the US (beside the Bahamas) I have never really seen a very tropical blue beach until now. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue with sand that was so soft and white. My friends and I ran into the water after a 45 minute cab ride with no A/C. The water was so refreshing and so salty! My friend Claudia was mesmerized with how buoyant she became in the water and pretty much just floated in it for the time we were there. It was so hot at the beach that you couldn't last 10 minutes basking in the sun without being drenched in sweat. We went to a little local restaurant right on the beach where they had various types of food. Since the island is a mix of so many cultures, it had many different Asian foods. I had the Cantonese rice, which was delicious as well as fried egg rolls, which were different than eggs roles I have had in different countries because they were thicker, and the vegetables used inside tasted less like a route and more like shredded vegetables, which I really enjoyed!

            There was a supermarket right near the beach so my friends and I grabbed some much needed snacks to take back on the ship and I finally found rice milk!! I am lactose intolerant and they don't have rice milk and all I have been wanting is cereal and now I can finally enjoy cereal!

            After our adventure in the supermarket we only had an hour left until our cab driver was going to take us back to the ship. So we ran back in the water one last time and soaked up the Mauritian sun and water.

            It was a great break to the 6 days at sea and once we got back on the ship we had a ship barbecue with burgers, BBQ chicken, corn on the cob and much more.

            Next stop is South Africa!! We get there on March 25 and I am so incredibly excited! I have a few things planned like seeing my Little, Vara from my sorority and then what I have been waiting to do all semester…SHARK CAGE DIVING!!! Stay tuned J

From Pollywog to Shellback!

On March 15 the MV Explorer celebrated the ship crossing the Equator with Neptune Day! Those who have previously crossed the equator are known as Shellbacks and those who are to cross the equator for the first time are known as Pollywogs. Pollywogs are to participate in a ceremony that commemorates a person's first crossing of the Equator, by ship.

The ceremony features King Neptune, which was our captain painted all in green with a white wig and triton, Queen Minerva and the court, which included faculty and life long learners.

Everyone was woken up on the ship at 7am by crewmembers banging drums and blowing whistles. We all went up to the 7^th deck and gathered for the ceremonies to start while music was blasting, and everyone was around the pool waiting for King Neptune to arrive.

Once we recited our oath to King Neptune we started in the official process of becoming Shellbacks! I got with my group of friends and crewmembers poured Fish juice or something that smelt disgusting all over us, then we hopped into the pool and when climbing out of the water we had to kiss a fish and King Neptune's ring. Another part of the ceremony is to shave your head! Don't worry I couldn't commit to actually shaving my head but there were a bunch of girls who shaved their heads and others who partially shaved their heads! They get props for taking the full commitment!

I had a lot of fun getting to interact with all of the students and share the experience of becoming Shellbacks together!

They posted some great pictures of Neptune Day on the Semester at Sea website. http://www.semesteratsea.org/2013/03/15/photo-gallery-neptune-day/

Pictures of India and 21st Bday!

India, Check! 21, Check!

I thought a useful time of a study break would be to do a little blog post. A lot has happened within this past week! I finally made it to India, my amazing boyfriend flew to meet me, and it was my 21^st birthday!!! Thank you for everyone who wished me a very happy birthdayJ I unfortunately cant get to Facebook to see them all but I definitely felt the love from the middle of the sea.

India was absolutely amazing!! As you saw I participated in the cooking demonstration, I went on a boat ride through the backwaters of Kerala which were beautiful and so relaxing, visited a Mother Teresa Orphanage for severely mentally and physically disabled people which was very eye opening. And then I got to fly to Mumbai to meet Will, my amazing boyfriend and his dad. He is the craziest guy in the world for traveling all of that time across the world for a little over 48 hours of time with me. But I am so grateful and thankful that he was able to make the trip and help celebrate my 21^st birthday and make this birthday a very memorable and special dayJ

The first day in Mumbai we took a tour of the city. Visited a few churches as well as a temple. We saw where the washmen work and clean the clothes, which is their livelihood. I visited one of Gandhi's house, which was made into a museum as well as visited the slums of Mumbai, which was a place where I definitely felt out of place and out of my comfort zone. I was so uncomfortable and felt very humbled to be there and to be fortunate for the life I have. But I the great thing is that I got to interact with a group of boys who loved saying hello, how are you, asked my name and then I would ask what their name was and they were obsessed with that! I got a picture with them and then showed them the picture on my camera and their faces just lit up!

I learned so much about India and was trying to absorb everything that I was learning because I am so fascinated with the country. Within India there are I believe 28 different states and within each state they speak a different native language and have completely different food and customs and no matter where you go you see a different India.

Begging was much greater in India than in any other country I have been to thus far. The beggars were also much more aggressive. I was walking in one area and a woman grabs my wrist to tie a flower bracelet and I was resisting and then she said "no money, no money" so I let her put the flower on but then she wanted me to buy her things for here baby, tricking me with the whole no money statement. I tried to give her money to just leave me alone but she refused so thankfully I got out of the situation. But when the beggars ask someone to get them items, once the beggar receives the item, they return them to the store and get the money back. It's a whole system these people have which was fascinating to learn about.

At first I was really upset that this was my first birthday that I wasn't celebrating with my friends and family at home with. But then I realized how thankful I am to be on this journey and to have the extremely supportive people in my life. Plus I have met an amazing group of friends on this ship that I really and truly believe I will be able to continue a great friendship with them. They decorated my door, which I have never had done before at college because I never lived in a normal dorm setting. We also went to Special Dining on the ship where I got to have my favorite meal, Salmon!! My friends, family, and boyfriend really made this birthday so special, THANK YOU!!!

I am now going to get back to studying for my exam that I have tomorrow. School on the ship is not easy because it is hard to make a routine for yourself with going in and out of countries and plus your focus is really taking the opportunity of the traveling and school really does come second. I will be pulling an all nighter tonight…

Kerala Cuisine Deomonstration

Sorry it has been so long since I have written on the blog but here is a little of what I did today in India!!

Today I got the opportunity to have a cooking demonstration on the local Kerala Cuisine of India. Kerala is on of the many states within India. In India, each state has its own language and style of food. I will be traveling to Mumbai on Friday and I am sure I will be having a whole new experience with their local food.

We went to a local woman's house that offers cooking classes and demonstrations, her name was Nalini Verma. She showed us a few dishes and then at the end we were able to have a traditional Kerala dinner. Kerala food is known to be quite similar to Sri Lanka food because they both use a lot of coconut in their dishes.

The first dish she demonstrated was called Fish Mappas. This is a fish curry dish that is prepared all over Kerala and served with plain boiled rice. Some of the ingredients included red chilly powered, pepper powder, Coriander powder, turmeric powder, ginger, garlic, green chilies, coconut milk and Seer fish. She also said that you could use any kind of seafood since Seer fish is not very common outside of India.

            The other dish she demonstrated was called Cabbage Thoran. Thorans are dry dishes made with vegetables. All varieties of beans, carrot, beetroot, ladyfinger, can be cut very finely and made into Thoran. This dish included finely chopped cabbage, grated coconut, green chilies, cumin seed, mustard seed, Urad dal, Chana dal (dal is another word for lentils), whole red chilies and curry leaf.

            Once she finished demonstrating how to make these two dishes we got to then try them! Nalini also prepared other dishes so we were able to have a full traditional Kerala meal. For special occasions like weddings, childbirths, and festivals, the local people eat on banana leaves instead of plates. Another unique thing is that when eating on banana leave they do not use utensils, although they did provide them to us if we did not want to use our hands. I ate with my hands for most of the meal and it was definitely a new experience when you are told to not eat with your hands back at home. In India your left hand is seen as dirty and you are only suppose to use your right hand for everything like eating, paying with money, etc.

            The other styles of food that were served was a yogurt salad which was a yogurt base with various vegetables, yellow pumpkin masala, potato masala, Avial which is a mixed vegetable dressed in a yogurt sauce with coconut and flavored with cumin. When eating on the banana leaf, everything has a place, so the additives go on the left side and the mixes go on the top and the rice in the middle. Everything was absolutely amazing! It was definitely spicy and my nose started to run because it was so spicy but the flavors were out of this world! I have never had something so flavorful and after being on this ship for so long with very few flavors my taste buds were in heaven! There is so much coconut that is made with every dish but it doesn't get overwhelming like you may think, with all of the other spices everything just works perfectly together.

            When you are done with your meal you fold you banana leaf in half and then put your utensils on top, facing down to show that you are done and make it for an easy clean up. Now for dessert! Nalini made a rice and milk pudding, which was made with steamed rice pancakes that are boiled in the milk, condensed milk and sugar. It was very sweet and very delicious. Nalini gave all of us a small cooking book that has a few traditional Kerala recipes that I will give you all a copy when I get back to the states! India has been an amazing place to enjoy the cuisine and I am so excited to see what the differences are between Kerala and Mumbai!

A few pictures from Myanmar/Burma