Back at sea..

Sorry this is coming so late, there was much to do in Honolulu. It is about 4:50 on Friday and I have just finished my classes for the day. I spent my first day in Honolulu at Pearl Harbor. I traveled with Matt his friend Udie (that’s how its pronounced, I’m not sure how its spelt but I did bring a Jap to Pearl Harbor ahaha) and my friend Rory. It was a very humbling experience and I’ll be interested to compare it to Hiroshima when I visit in Japan. We saw everything but the airplane museum which included the USS Arizona memorial, the USS Bowfin, and the USS Missouri and a museum about the war heroes. It was a lot of information to take in but I was really glad I went. On the Bowfin we got to see what life on a submarine was like. I got to lie in the beds and see the kitchens and offices along with where the missiles were launched. We all had our picture taken in front of the Missouri and I bought it along with the frame, all proceeds went to veterans. For buying that, I received free dog tags! I had R. Lindquist, Semester at Sea Pearl Harbor USS Missouri written on it. I received a call from Kena while I was on a tour of the Missouri which was comforting, but I did miss some of the information. From what I understood, the surrender of WWII took place on the Missouri and Canada signed on the wrong dotted line hahaa. We got to stand where those same leaders stood and signed the document, very neat! It was also the first time I had to find/use public transportation in a foreign city—trust me Hawaii is foreign, I was just lucky it was in English. I picked up postcards and sent them to family members, but didn’t get enough stamps so Gret, Joe, Trine, Damon and Kena I’m sorry I just sent one big one to mom and dad. I also got a Rosie the Riviter t-shirt which I’m proudly wearing around the ship today. They had her everywhere, which I thought was interesting—also there were TONS of Japanese tourists. Everything in Honolulu was in English and Japanese, which is very different from English or Spanish hahaha. Along this trip Matt Udie and I began to plan our trip to Tokyo, Udie’s home city. He talked with his mother and she said that it was around 40 degrees there! A great change from the wonderful weather we’ve been having. Udie also taught us some Japanese words and history and we teased him the whole time about being responsible for Pearl Harbor. He took it all great and I have a feeling Matt Udie and I will be great friends in Japan.

That night my friends Andrea Brittney and I went to dinner at an outdoor restaurant with some great live jazz music. I got the southwest egg rolls which were delicious and spicy! We met some tourists from Canada that bought us drinks and joined our dinner. Great fun and they are now following my blog! Hi Mike!! We then attempted to find a place 18+ for Andrea and I only to fail and come back to the ship and watch Sex and the City ahahah.

The next morning Matt and I had errands to do so we got a cab to Office Max, Borders and the mall and also got some lunch. I was able to get my external hard drive which I will be setting up tonight! I also got my computer that morning!! So I went to that same restaurant as last night which had free WiFi. Unfortunately I couldn’t get Skype to download quick enough and the ship would have left without me!! But I did get to IChat with Greta which was nice and I will have more time in Japan to figure it all out. My friend Dave gave me full access to his music and movies and I uploaded my pictures I still had left from this summer and the ones I have taken so far. It’s starting to feel like my computer again!

Today in Global Studies I wish Grandpa had been there to hear it. It was all about climate change and global warming…some things I’m sure he would have had a few words to say about, so I was thinking of you and your experiment Grandpa ;)

I’m feeling a little under the weather today. I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m back on the sea again or not but I’m very tired. I’ll spend the rest of the day working on my journals due in class for Creative Writing and Digital Story telling and watching some of my new movies.

I miss you all, and I’ll be back on land in 10 days!

Bigger than the sky….B