(Source: naniithran, via givemewanderlust)
- 107 days - 11 countries - 4 continents - 1 journey -
Our video entry for the 120 hour film festival onboard the MV Explorer… we drew the category silent film and it was required to include:
1) the phrase ” What are you waiting for?”
2) A yoga instructor named roger cousins
Its great to look back on the memory of making this short movie..
Although we only spent a few hours in Hawaii - I made a few friends and they were kind enough to lend me a surfboard so I could catch some waves .. couldnt ask for a better end to my trip.
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
- Dr. Seuss
The best ships are friendships
Ending the trip off on a great note by spending the day with close friends in Hawaii. If only I could take a break from finals every semester by hanging out on a Hawaiian beach… Spent the day soaking in the sunshine (and a few rain showers), playing ukelele and surfing with some locals..
“Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono”
Fun Fact
Studying for Finals.. I learned this fun fact:
“India is currently home to 1.2 billion people: one out of every six people on earth lives in India. The total area of India is only 1.2 million square miles, an area less than a third that of the United States”
This morning I woke up bright and early to go through US immigration. This is the first time in months an immigration officer has spoken to me in English. She asked me where I was from and what I was studying. Then she caught me off guard when she gave me a big smile and said “Welcome Home!” … woah.
I heard a strange ringing sound that was distantly familiar and then was overcome with confusion now that my cellphone which I have forgotten how to use works. Texting is foreign to my fingertips. My return to the USA is bittersweet as I feel odd without an exchange rate or language barrier. Menus, signs all in English? I can now fully communicate with the local people. When I go to an ATM my balance will unfortunately no longer show up in seven figures of Vietnamese Dong. I will soon be able to use the internet, drive a car (on the right side of the road?) eat with a fork and spoon instead of chopsticks or my hands, sitting on the floor. Public places will no longer require me to remove my shoes before entering and people probably wont ask for pictures with me or invite me to their wedding receptions for goodluck. Its odd everything seems just as I left it right before I hopped on a plane and headed for Nassau to start this journey.
As I look back at my pictures I cant help but think, “What just happened?”
Photo: The Whole SAS Spring ‘12 Crew (I didn’t know ANY of these people 4 months ago)
This morning I woke up bright and early to go through US immigration. This is the first time in months an immigration officer has spoken to me in English. She asked me where I was from and what I was studying. Then she caught me off guard when she gave me a big smile and said “Welcome Home!” … woah.
I heard a strange ringing sound that was distantly familiar and then was overcome with confusion now that my cellphone which I have forgotten how to use works. Texting is foreign to my fingertips. My return to the USA is bittersweet as I feel odd without an exchange rate or language barrier. Menus, signs all in English? I can now fully communicate with the local people. When I go to an ATM my balance will unfortunately no longer show up in seven figures of Vietnamese Dong. I will soon be able to use the internet, drive a car (on the right side of the road?) eat with a fork and spoon instead of chopsticks or my hands, sitting on the floor. Public places will no longer require me to remove my shoes before entering and people probably wont ask for pictures with me or invite me to their wedding receptions for goodluck. Its odd everything seems just as I left it right before I hopped on a plane and headed for Nassau to start this journey.
As I look back at my pictures I cant help but think, “What just happened?”
Photo: The Whole SAS Spring ‘12 Crew
This is a picture that lists all the time differences I have experienced during my trip.. Needless to say I cant wait to get back to Eastern Standard Time.
Ubuntu is a philosophy of African origin and I heard it spoken of and noticed its presence in many of the cultural practices in villages I visited throughout Ghana.
Literally translated Ubuntu means - “I am what I am because of who we all are.”
Specifically in Ghanian culture it was to me explained that it in practice Ubuntu allows people to understand what it means to be human, that we all can not exist without one another - that none of us would prosper alone.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu once spoke of Ubuntu saying, “It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”
When I was in Mumbai, we took a detour from the busy streets of downtown to check out Mahatma Gandhi’s house which is now a small museum dedicated to his various life works. Many of these involved changing Indian nationalism and influencing the world through practicing non-violent non-cooperation. I was surprised at how much I didn’t know about this huge international figure.
Before he made enormous social change in India, he was a practicing lawyer in South Africa working for Indian Civil Rights there. After he returned to India in 1915 he already had a reputation and began organizing farmers to protest discrimination and high taxation. Six years later he became the leader of the Indian National Congress and from there he went on to lead a number of highly recognized demonstrations.
Gandhi’s influence was so powerful that the Indian people changed the colors of their flag upon his request. Truthfully, Gandhi had no faith in Democracy as he had seen it practiced in various parts of the world. He believed the success of his nation would eventually come from self-rule with no state enforcing laws upon any individuals but individuals governing themselves. He practiced that violence was no applicable in any situation, even defense of ones self or nation. Interestingly enough, Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by an extremist who believed Gandhi’s policies were weakening India. His legacy lived on even after he passed away through movements which followed in his footsteps including those of Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
– Miriam Beard
While I was in Beijing I got the chance to visit Olympic park where the 2008 Summer Olympics were held. This was obviously a huge honor for China.. also it was sponsored by McDonalds which I think might have something to do with fact that there is a McDonalds on almost every street corner in Beijing.
There are 365 days in a year. In the life of a normal person. That is a person not traveling around the globe on a ship during a leap year. I have been losing hours throughout my voyage.. sometimes half hours (when we got to India).. All which have put me a total of 14 hours in the future from the East Coast of the USA.
Now at the end of my journey our ship is crossing over the international date line. This means we are going to have two full April 20ths. So for me today is April 20th and tomorrow when I wake up it will again be April 20th. When I factor in that this year was a leap year I will get to have three hundred and sixty SEVEN days this year, one of the most exciting years of my life.
