Ship Tour

Here is a amazing tour of the ship done Fall 2011 SAS style! This makes me so excited to be able to be part of the S12 group.

Did you “read” today?

Post Card Fundraiser

Hey  everyone!

I have been trying to think of ways to make this upcoming trip more interactive for everyone back home as well as a way to reach out to the community to help offset some of the costs from Semester at Sea.  I have also had a lot of people say that I need to send them postcards when I am away; hopefully, this be the easiest way to make sure that everyone who wants post cards gets them.

How it works:  Below is a list of the major trips (some minor) that I have signed up for or already made arrangements for.  This is not an all extensive list and I plan on doing other independent trips as they present themselves.   Please choose from the list a trip that you would like to hear more about and I will send you an individualized postcard about my experience.  To offset the costs of the postcards and to fund raise some spending money, Im asking for a donation of $5 per post card.

Click on the donation tab in this post or on the side of the blog.  Then, paypal will walk you through the easy donation steps.  Make sure that under comments you list your name and address, as well as the trip(s) that you choose. If trips are from the same country, I can easily talk about more than one trip.  Also, please email me at ehinkel@keystone.edu   (soon to be eric.hinkel.s12@semesteratsea.org)with the contact information as well.  Please choose post cards for future trips, not previous trips.

Please understand that international mail cannot always be reliable and I cannot ensure that each and every post card will make it to their owners.  I have sent postcards in the summer when I was in Thailand, and I did not have any problems.  Thank you for your support!  I really appreciate it!

Trips:

Dominica Republic	Snorkeling in Champagne Reef: Biology trip learning about the unique ecosystem of Champagne Reef
Dominica Republic	Middleham Falls Hike
Dominica Republic	Wonders of Waiti-Kubuli: Emerald Pool and River Tubing
Brazil	Amazon and Rio: 2 days spent in the Amazon Rain forest and 2 days in Rio DeJanero
Ghana	Tafi Monkey Village Tour- A 3 day trip with a variety of activities including a village and cultural homestay, a service project to over 300 school children and more.
Ghana	Bamboosero Bicycle company tour- Interational Managment class trip
South Africa	Bungee Jumping and Shark Cage Diving Excursion
South Africa	Kruger Safari- A 3 day safari staying in Tree Houses where many of the Big 5 safari animals are known wander through camp.
South Africa	Table Mountain- Hiking up the iconic Table Mountain
South Africa	Distributing Food throughout South Africa- Class trip
Mauritas	No trip planned- Mauritas experience
India	Tour of Call Center
India	Appelley Backwaters
India	Service Visit: SOS Children’s Village
India	Village Homestay: 3 days in an rural Indian village, helping out with daily chores and more.
Singapore	No trips planned: Singapore experience
Viet Nam	Cu Chi Tunnels-
Viet Nam	Ha Noi and Ha Long Bay
Viet Nam	Service Vistit: YMCA Headqurters
China	Global Business Development Communities of the Future- Possible Business session
China	Hiking on the Great Wall- 4 Day trip hiking various sections of the Great Wall of China
China	ERA Acrobatic Performance- cultural acrobatic show
Chna	Coca-Cola Plant Visit- International management class
China	Sunrise Tai Chi
China	Tasting the Daily Life of a Shanghai Citizen
Japan	Japanese Tea Ceremony
Japan	Mt Fuji, Hakone-
Hawaii	Coral Reef Ecosystems: Biology trip.

I look forward to sharing this trip with you all!

-Eric

SAS Voyage Prepararation: The Worst Distraction to the Full-Time College Student

  I, like many other future SAS’s have stated that our minds are just not in our current semester any more. It’s like senioritis all over again.  I am so distracted with excitement from semester at sea, that whenever I am around a computer, I can’t help youtubing Semester at Sea videos or staying up to date on SAS facebook discussions, trying not to miss out on any important information or travel arrangements. The amount of time that I have spent on medical arrangements, visas, scheduling trips, writing scholarships/applications and consultations with facebook and my advisors has almost equaled that of one of my classes. Voyage preparation should be a class!: VoyagePrep:101; if you make it on the ship, you get an A!. I may be exagerating a bit, but nonetheless, Final Exams are not in favor of me right now.  All in all, it is definately a time management challenge, but everything will work out! Almost 6 weeks until departure!  Well, its time to get back to final projects lol.

As always, keep “reading”!

Its about time I start a SAS Blog!

Dear family, friends, fellow SASers, and random people who happenstance upon this blog!, (longest salutation I have ever written)

I still have a lot more to set up, but on this blog I will be sharing my experiences throughout the world with semester at sea, which include voyage preparations (which is a lot in itself), all of trips, and anything else.  I don’t have much discipline as a blog poster, so bear with me!

I will be leaving Jan 15, 2012 for the Bahamas for a short prevoyage vacation and then we will depart on Jan 19!

Spring 2012 Itinerary

Destination	Arrive Depart	Day	Date	Time
Nassau, Bahamas	Depart	Thursday	January 19	1700
Roseau, Dominica	Arrive Depart	Monday Tuesday	January 23 January 24	0800 2000
	Amazon Entrance (Macapa) Saturday, January 28
Manaus, Brazil	Arrive Depart	Tuesday Friday	January 31 February 3	0800 1700
	Amazon Exit (Macapa) Sunday, February 5
Tema (Accra), Ghana	Arrive Depart	Monday Friday	February 13 February 17	0800 2000
Cape Town, South Africa	Arrive Depart	Friday Wednesday	February 24 February 29	0800 2000
Port Louis, Mauritius	Arrive Depart	Tuesday Tuesday	March 6 March 6	0800 2000
Cochin, India	Arrive Depart	Monday Saturday	March 12 March 17	0800 1800
Singapore	Arrive Depart	Thursday Thursday	March 22 March 22	0800 2300
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam	Arrive Depart	Sunday Friday	March 25 March 30	0800 0600
Hong Kong**, China	Arrive Depart	Sunday Monday	April 1 April 2	0800 2300
Shanghai, China	Arrive Depart	Thursday Saturday	April 5 April 7	0800 2000
Kobe**, Japan	Arrive Depart	Tuesday Wednesday	April 10 April 11	0800 2000
Yokohama, Japan	Arrive Depart	Friday Saturday	April 13 April 14	0800 2000
Hilo, Hawaii, USA	Arrive Depart	Wednesday Wednesday	April 25 April 25	0800 1800
San Diego, California, USA	Arrive	Wednesday	May 2	0800