Domo Arrigato Mr. Roboto

Who's ready to hear about Japan!? We pulled into port in Yokohama (a suburb of Tokyo) around 8am, but because of customs we couldn't get off the ship till 11am. A group of 8 of us finally got off the ship and headed to Tokyo for 2 nights. After getting a bit lost on the Japan subway system, we finally made it to Tokyo and our hostel like hotel. That night we were trying to get to a bar called "muse" but of course with our luck we had to get lost first. After searching and playing charades with cab drivers around Tokyo for an hour, we finally made it to the underground bar with the help of my trusty Blackberry and Google. Thank goodness for technology! This next part gets a bit crazy...we decided to stay up till 6am and head to the world famous Japanese fish market. We were told it was definitely a site to see and well worth staying awake all night, and that it was! This was the market where restaurants go each morning to buy their fish, and let me tell you, this place was INCREDIBLE!! Giant fish, octopus, clams, shrimp....pretty much mass quantities of all types of seafood, and not to mention all the bargaining and hustle going on around us! We saw a fish so big, it had to be cut with a chain saw! As if seeing the fish market wasn't enough, our next goal was to taste the market. We soon found ourselves at a small sushi restaurant right next to the market eating the freshest and most amazing sushi I have EVER had...at 7am! Of course we passed out right after.

The next day we toured and traveled around Tokyo, and we saw the tech district as well as Hirajuku (anyone remember Gwen Steffani and her Hirajuku girls?!). Our third day in japan, we took the bullet train to Kyoto (my favorite of the 3 cities we saw). Kyoto is known for its traditional japanese buildings and temples. Unfortunatly it rained that day so we only got to see 2 temples before we were soaking wet and freezing. That's when we decided to try out the traditional Japanese public baths...that was def. An experience! These places were created for people who didn't have showers in their homes, but today they are mostly tourist attractions or luxuries for the Japanese. There were 2 separate sections, one for guys and one for girls. Basically it was 2 levels full of hot tubs, showers, and saunas! We talked to one woman there who said it was almost like going to the country club for some women because they come everyday! After that luxurious experience, we cabbed it back to the hotel and attempted to find sushi, but instead stumbled on a korean place where we proceeded to take full advantage of their beer prices :).

The next day we dragged ourselves to the train station where most of our group parted for Hiroshima, and Casey and I split off to venture to Kobe where our ship was "birthed" (as SAS likes to say). I was more than proud of mine and casey's ability to navigate the Japanese subways completely on our own to Kobe considering our lack of sleep and we had never traveled in Japan with just 2 of us.

Casey and I proceeded to pass out for the next 4 hours before it was time to explore Kobe's nightlife! 2 words....Great Success! We ended up stumbling on a bar called Philadelphia where the owner let us drink for FREE, and then we made our way to a Japanese reggae bar!

The next day 4 of us went on a mission to find the famous Kobe beef (2 points for anyone who knows the correct way to pronounce "kobe"!) We definitely hit the Jackpot and found a small hibatchi style restaurant that cooked the meat right in front of us. That was some of the best meat I've ever had! The scrumptious meal was a great ending to our voyage to Japan! Next stop....CHINA! Be on the lookout for a new post in the next few days! Love and miss ya'll lotsssssss!

greetings from the deep blue

For those of you constantly checking my blog and sending me dirty emails to update it (cough cough mom)...here's a quick update:

After Hawaii we sailed the ocean blue to Japan for 11 days. While in japan, I rushed around like a crazy person to see as much as possible in 5 days. After japan, we only had 2 days at sea to recover before we made it to China. Those 2 days were def. Not enough recovery time considering we still had class, we had to unpack from Japan, pack again for China, somehow sneak a little homework in on the side ( at this point I've almost forgotten the meaning of the word "homework"), and although sleep is a priority it seems to be geting lower and lower on that priority list. For the past 5 days we've been traveling ALL over china and still probs havn't seen even a tenth of the country. So as you can see I have been super busy, and basically I just havnt had time to sit down and write for my blog, but there are def. 2 (1 for Japan and 1 for China) posts soon to come! Love and miss ya'll lots!

a day in the life

For those of you pondering what a day in the life of a student at sea is like.... I wake up, go to one or two classes depending on what day it is, have lunch, lay out by the pool, have another class, then dinner, and then just hang out with friends for the night. Typically at night we'll hang out on the top deck and play games while drinking our allotted 3 glasses of wine or beer for the night (this is what the ship likes to call "pub night", at IU, pub night def. involves more than 3 drinks!). We only have classes when we're at sea, and when we're at port (usually for about 5 days) we are free to travel and sight see. It's like having spring break every other week :). Right now we are in Japan and I'm sooo happy to be on non moving ground! We were at sea for 11 days! In other news: the captain told us we had diverted 190 nautical miles during our 11 day journey(anyone know how many miles is in a nautical mile?) because of a storm. We were also told to secure our belongings because the seas would be REALLY rough for 24 hours! those were def. the roughest seas yet! It was like the scene in Along Came Polly when they're sailing through a huge storm and the waves are just crashing uncontrollably and shaking the ship like crazy! Also for your information: we crossed the international date line on our way to Japan and we are now a 15 hour difference from Nashville. Hope all is well and I miss and love you all lots!! More to come in few days after Japan!