Off to Croatia!

Well, I guess I’m not the best at this blogging thing…I will try to do better! To this point, we have been kept busy with classes and touring around Spain and Italy. Currently we are sailing around Italy toward our next stop in Croatia. We have one more day of class before we dock in Dubrovnik. The voyage has been awesome so far! We meet new people every day and the classes are definitely educational. The ship is really nice and strangely starting to feel a little like home.

To catch everyone up, we had 8 straight days of class while sailing across the Atlantic before we reached Barcelona. It was a pretty tough stretch for most of us academically since we don’t take any breaks for weekends. By the time we reached Spain, I already had taken two mid-term exams. We lost an hour 6 of the 8 nights which made us all pretty sleepy. That said; it was a really exciting time. We met new students and families everyday throughout the halls and at our meals. It seemed there was always something going on in the evenings. We were assigned to extended families which was a great way to meet new people. My extended family has met for numerous meals since  Meals have been really good for the most part. Breakfast is definitely the best.

I have to make a little confession…I know this probably doesn’t surprise my parents too much, but I had to invest in a new alarm clock. The office where I work changed the time when the Deans Memo is distributed from 17:00 in the evening to 7:30 in the morning. This meant my hours changed from 15:30-17:30 to 7:30-9:30. The room James and I are staying in has no windows and is pitch-black anytime the lights are off. This combined with limited sleep and a quiet alarm clock led to Brandon not always waking up on-time. Thankfully, the new alarm clock has worked magnificently since.
Barcelona was a really neat city! We got to spend 4 days in port. James, Trevor and I stayed on the ship each night and toured throughout the day. The first day we were there, I attended a lecture for my Freedom of Speech and Religion class. It was titled “Traditional Islamic Clothing.” There are some countries, such as France and to some extent Spain, which ban people from wearing a face veil. Though the face veil is part of the Islamic religious culture, some women are forced to wear it by men. On one side, banning people from wearing the face veil limits their freedom of religion. On the other, if women are forced to wear the veil, their freedoms are being oppressed. It was definitely an interesting debate.

After the lecture, we toured around Barcelona. We ate at a Tapas Bar our first night. Thus far, it is the best food I have had. Their calamari was incredible! We spent the next day exploring Barcelona. Gaudi’s architecture certainly stood out. His designs were truly unique, especially the Sagrada Familia. On our third day, we participated in a field trip called the Templar Medieval Experience. We rode a bus for two hours through the Barcelona countryside until we reached an old castle. Once there, we explored around for a while. After traveling to a second castle, we learned about the Knights Templar. After learning about their history, we got to reenact some of their traditions. By chance, James selected the Commodore card out of the hat. He got to play our fearless leader. Trevor didn’t have as much luck. He ended up being an infantryman. As for me, I really had the luck of the draw. I got to be the knight. I got to put on all the armor knights used to wear…over 60 pounds. I felt like a little kid in the candy store  The funny part was Trevor had to help put my armor on since he was theoretically of “lower rank.” It was great!
After our field trip, we came back and spent the night out on town. People in Spain don’t eat lunch until about 3:00 and don’t eat supper until 10:00. This made for some late nights. Most nights we didn’t make it back to the ship until around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. The last day we were in Barcelona, we went and found free wifi to upload photos, check email, etc. I also bought a piece of artwork. Since my house in Texas needs some decorations, I’m going to buy a piece of artwork from every port to help add a little color.

Once back on board, it was a short one day trip to Naples, Italy. During the day we were on the ship we had our Global Studies class. After class we all participated in various events for Sea Olympics. I made the championship table in poker but wound up fourth overall.
The next day in Naples; Trevor, James and I went to Pompeii and Herculaneum. It’s amazing how well preserved these cities were and to see how sophisticated the Roman architecture was by 79 AD. It’s hard to believe a volcanic eruption could cover that much land with ash. When we returned to Naples, we went out for pizza. The pizza in Italy is much thinner than in America, but it’s definitely delicious. The next day we went to a café for most of the afternoon where we Skyped our parents and grandparents. After that, we went shopping in some of the local stores. Trevor and I were running low on socks and underwear so it was out of necessity. That night we went to bed at a decent hour so we could wake up early to hike Mount Vesuvius.
The next day was awesome. We rode a bus part of the way up the volcano. Then we got out and hiked the rest. We were able to walk almost all the way around the rim. At the top, we could see for a really long ways. The Bay of Naples was really pretty! Mount Vesuvius is the most active volcano in Europe and certainly worth the hike. Once we got back to the ship, we had a 4th of July celebration on the boat while we sailed to Civitavecchia. We ate a ton of hotdogs and hamburgers.

The next morning we arrived in Civitavecchia. Trevor, James and I toured around the city for the first part of the day. After lunch, we found a beach where we spent the rest of the evening. The next day we traveled via bus to Rome where we toured the Coliseum and Vatican. They were both really neat to see. To be honest, there were so many other tourists there that it was not near as enjoyable as it could have been. After touring the Vatican, we went to check into our hostel. We spent the rest of the evening touring around the city with our friends Emma and Katie. I was really impressed by Rome. The ruins were really cool to see and the city was surprisingly extremely clean. We went into several Basilicas which were neat. One had an exhibit set up commemorating Galileo. I thought it was really neat since we have been studying him in my Freedom of Speech/Religion class. We also watched a guy paint a picture of the Coliseum which I bought to take home.

After one night in Rome, we traveled back to Civitavecchia the next evening. The following morning we participated in a cooking class at a nearby farm in Tarquinii. So far, it is one of the neatest things we have done. We got to make fettuccini from scratch! Mine didn’t turn out so swift, but with a little more practice I think I will have it down. After cooking, we got to tour their farm and vineyard which was educational. Then we headed back to the ship to sail to Croatia.

I believe that has hit all the major events to this point. It truly has been a great experience. My only complaint is there is no Dr. Pepper on the ship or in Europe . That will be my first purchase when I get back to Texas! Also, our laundry situation is a little iffy. They only do laundry when we are sailing. Since we have spent about two weeks in Spain and Italy; James, Trevor and I are about out of clothes. They collected laundry today so hopefully we will get ours back before we reach Croatia. If not, the three of us will be sporting bathing suits until we find some new clothes! I hope everyone at home is doing well and will write soon!

Cheers!
-Brandon