Halloween... Trinity Style...

Liz and I at the party in the penthouse

So I was a little late... Liz took this and posted it on my door to make me feel bad!!

Apple Picking with Andrea

This past weekend my friend Andrea and I went to Abbotsford to go apple picking. After making our apple crisp we went out to enjoy the beautiful fall colours of BC. Here are a few pictures from our adventures!

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

Since my last post about a month ago little has changed in the life of Cherie. I have been pretty busy during the week with 18 semester hours and on the weekends I have been fully embracing my Spartan pride and have been going to all the Spartan home games. I made a goal at the beginning of the semester to be more involved around campus and to go to more events. So far I have been doing pretty good... I have even been to my fair share of Titan (Trinity's club team) and Bomber (Trinity's Church league) hockey games as well ! Whoo hoo! I'm still waiting for my day to break out and actually go to a professional game... if they just weren't so much money!

Anyhoo, I decided this year since I probably won't be getting a turkey dinner for American Thanksgiving that I would use Canadian Thanksgiving as a replacement. One of my Canadian friends, Liz, was not able to fly home this weekend to celebrate so her parents told her to take some friends out for a nice dinner and they would take the bill. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun! We went to a local restaurant called The Bedford House. Its just a quaint little place on the river in Fort Langley. We all got dressed up and had a blast!

Well, that's about it from me!

love love love

Cherie

Ps. This is a pic of me and Liz after our night out!

Back at "real" school...

So I have been "on my own" for a week now and... well, lets just say its been interesting. I am no longer in dorms which means no more caf food/meal card which also means Cherie has to cook for herself. HA! Yeah, some of you are probably laughing right now if you know me at all. Last night was my first attempt at an "extravagant" meal which consisted of some kind of chicken-bell pepper-onion fry type mixture. I thought it was a GREAT idea but when I actually got myself in front of the stove... nothing happened. Anyhoo, to make a long story short, after my frantic screams from the kitchen my friend across the hall graciously bailed me out and pretty much cooked the whole meal for me!! Sweet, hey? Oh, and if any of you know any EASY recipes that you think I would be able to make, send 'em on over! I would LOVE it!
Classes started last Thursday and I think I am going to really enjoy all of my classes this semester... well, except my philosophy course - my professor is pretty much one cookie short of a batch if you know what I mean - should be a hoot though.
Hope all is well in the US of A!
love love love
Cherie

So long, summer time...

Wow! Where has the time gone? In many ways this summer has been the most challenging for me. Between the, shall I say, huge adjustment home from SAS, and all the different regular struggles of life it has been a summer that I could stand to forget... Although, there have been a few moments of sanity including this past weekend. I was able to go back to Washington DC to visit one of my good friends from SAS. She was chosen for the White House internship so I was able to help her get ready for her first day and also learn more about the internship as it is something I have been looking into! We had a lot of fun exploring the city and seeing the sites. We went over to Georgetown on Sunday, initially to go to church but ended up having quite the experience. It began before we even got to the metro after leaving Anna's apartment. We had dressed a tad nicer because we were expecting to attend a church service on the other side of town. Within the first 5 minutes of walking Anna was complaining of blisters on the back of her foot. She perserviered through the pain until we arrived in Georgetown and had NO clue where we were going. We eventually found the direction we were supposed to be going in thanks to a police officer. There was a big crack in the sidewalk and in an effort to make fun of Anna and her problemed foot, I told her to watch out... not 2 seconds later I was almost on my face from tripping over the crack and ended up breaking my flip-flop. So there we were, walking down the street looking like who knows what - and im pretty sure quite a few people thought we were drunk... Anyhoo, we later found a place to get some new shoes and were on our way back to DC.
I leave to go back up to Trinity on Friday and I am STOKED!! I haven't seen my friends from school in about 9 months and its about time. I'm excited to get going with classes and try to figure out what I want to do with my life... it should be an interesting semester to say the least.
This semester I will try to keep this updated as much as possible.
Hope all is well!!
love love love
Cherie
PS. These are some pics from my trip to DC.

My Semester at Sea Conclusion...

The following paragraphs are pretty random/rough. I wrote what I felt when I could for the past few weeks and this is what came of it… enjoy!

An excerpt from a fellow SASer’s letter:
How many seconds does it take to not answer the question, “how was semester at sea?” It takes as long as a blank stare takes. As long as it takes to let every country and ocean and mountain and conversation and dream and lesson and laugh and tear and embrace and souvenir and friendship and memory to flash before your mind before you respond with an empty, “it was good.” What will you feel when you stop feeling the rocking of the ocean. Why can’t you sleep? All you want to do is sleep. Sleep away the missing. The fatigue. The anxiety. The sadness. The depression. Sleep away the reality of being on land for more than six days. Sleep so you can dream. Dream about the past. Dream about the future. Dream about your friends who are all so far away. Dream about your cabin bed. Dream. Just Dream. Any dream other than the awakeness of reality.-

The evening after I disembarked from my home, the MV Explorer was probably one of the hardest nights in a very long time. I had never felt so alone, so out of my comfort zone (a weird thought since I was, afterall, in my home country). I was desperate to find an SAS friend, to find someone who understood what I was going through. I ended up journaling into the night about what I was feeling. These are a few excerpts:
“we arrived in Miami today. It is weird to say the least – to be back for good. I had to say goodbye to my best friends which was not fun at all. I felt like I just wanted to cry but at the same time I couldn’t because I was/am happy to be home (right?)…”
“the letter that the lady gave me pretty much sums up how I am feeling right now. No one understands and I think that’s why I feel like I’m pretty much going to explode. I feel like I have so much to say and so much to tell but no one cares or wants to hear or finds any worth in what I’m saying… I find it really hard to connect with/explain stories that I tell family and friends – no matter how hard I try, they just won’t get it which sucks on both ends because they won’t fully understand, and I can’t fully share with them because of that difference.
“I just want somebody to understand, I want somebody to get it, I want somebody to relate to.”

The night before we arrived in Miami the shrinks on board had a debriefing time where they warned us of everything that we would face coming back to life on land. To be honest, I really did not feel any need to go. Me, being the "mature" person that I am, I knew how to deal with everything and besides the whole weirdness of being home was NOT going to happen to me… there is no way! However, since I have now been home for some time, I can assure you that I was a complete idiot for thinking that way and I really wish I would have prepared myself better for this huge change. Being back in Porterville, is, as you can imagine, a HUGE let down after travelling the world. However, I completely saw myself bouncing up and down to be home and see everyone again.

With none of my SAS friends around me to talk to and to share experiences with, I have found it very difficult to… live. The ship, the crew, the countries, the friends, the ocean has been my life for the past four months and I am not sure how to go back to this so called “reality.” To me, the past four months were reality. The poverty in India, the disease in Africa, the orphanage in Mauritius – to me those ARE reality. I struggle with the fact that when I explain to someone what I have been doing for the past 4 months they implement the word “cruise.” Sure we were on a ship and did sail around the world (like ships do) and some people might still say it was a cruise. I however, see it as an experience in which my life was forever changed. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I have learned about each country, each culture, the world, the ocean, my friends, and most importantly myself. The knowledge that I have attained in the past four months is one of the best gifts I have ever been given. One of the greatest lessons I have learned however, was not from any classroom, or any country specifically. I have simply learned to live. LIVE. Second by second, century by century. One world, a world apart, just live.

I can honestly say that my experiences on Semester at Sea have truly changed and moulded me into the person I am now. I have a new appreciation for my country, a new knowledge and attachment to all the countries I have visited, and, as you might have imagined a passion for travel. As I finish this final SAS blog, it is nearly a month after my disembarkation… and life goes on. I still have my days where I just want to be in cabin 3066 or cabin 4131 with Anna and Kelli. There is no doubt that I will always miss being able to have dinner on the 5th at 6 or go lay out after class or be in one county today and another in 2 days… but those crazy memories are what keep me sane. I couldn’t have had a better time. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity!
Love love love
Cherie
PS. You never know what I might do next… this blogging thing… I kinda like it! :)

SAS Spring 2008

-26,605 Nautical miles (30,616 statute miles) on a voyage around the world

-734 students

-109 days

-13 countries

-4 continents

-1 life changeing experience

Pictures from Miami

These are some pictures that my friends dad took from the MV Explorer pulling into Miami. See me?? Im the 3rd from the front!
Kelli, Anna, and I
Anna, me, Andy, Kelli, Porter, and Zach

My home!! I miss it!

Home is where the heart is... right??

So, I'm home and I know some of you are waiting for my response to being home... and to tell you the truth I don't know how I feel yet. Hence my writing - I am hoping to write a "debriefing" and how I am recovering from being on land for more than 6 days - as of right now, I'm not a huge fan, not gunna lie! Anyhoo, just know that I am going to write soon so don't de-favourite me/my blog yet!! HA! You never know, I might just keep this blogging thing up! ;)
love love love
Cherie

Costa Rica and Beyond...

The Resort

Toruga
Jet skies
Me and Kelli on the jet skies

Coffee in Costa Rica

Me and Kelli on Tortuga
Playing with crabs
Jet ski time!

Me, Anna, and Kelli crossing the Panama Canal.
My Birthday decorations!
Happy Birthday!
Me and Adam from Georgia
My Super cool gifts from the guys

Pulling into Miami - Im the 3rd person from the very front.
Mamma, sister, aunti... waiting for me in Miami!
See us in the window??
Panama Canal baby!

Costa Rica and My Birthday!!

Since classes and finals ended just before our arrival in Costa Rica we were FREE for the rest of the voyage. Costa Rica was probably one of the, shall I say, more ghetto ports of call. The city we docked in, Puntarenas, was on the dull side of things - nothing to do/see/eat - the three staples of travel. The first day in Costa Rica I had an SAS trip to a coffee plantation planned. It was really cool to see the full process - from harvest, to roasting, to packaging, to marketing. I also left with way more than my fair share of coffee... but, I'm sure my mom will be thrilled. After our tour we ate at a restaurant and an American lady in the restaurant asked where we were all from, and we said Semester at Sea. She pretty much started freaking out because she was hired to be the librarian on the fall 2008 voyage. We told her she is in for the voyage of a lifetime!! After some shopping we headed back to the ship where my friend Kelli and I were supposed to meet some friends for dinner. That ended up not working out so we just ventured into the city alone to find an internet cafe. The search really did not last too long because you can pretty much walk through the entire city in about 5 minutes. Anyhoo, found an internet cafe stayed there for a LONG time, posted some pictures on the blog, talked to some friends, you know, the usual... After 3 hours there we were off to find some food - WITH GUACAMOLE. However, that is quite the problem because there is no guacamole in Costa Rica... WHO KNEW!? After a sad, sad walk back to the ship we settled for a Luna bar and apple sauce for dinner and were hoping for something spectacular for my birthday!! My birthday was on Sunday and my friends and I wanted to make it special... only problem... location. Where are we going to go to have some fun adventures in a town with... nothing. Well, you go to the local Double Tree Hotel and get a $45 day pass and eat all you want, drink all you want, and lay out all you want!!! YES! Aww... to be westernized once again. At the hotel there is a place to rent jet skies and go out the Tortuga - the island where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean and Jurassic Park were filmed. It was the perfect place to celebrate my birthday with some amazing friends! It took us 45 (long, painful, bumpy, sand in areas it should NOT be) minutes on the jet skies to get to the island. We stayed there for a while, ate some fruit, played with a crab, laid on the beach, and then headed back to the mainland. After that we hung out at the resort for a few more hours before heading back to the ship. It was quite sad going through security for the last time and swiping our card for one of the last times. We got on the ship and were off to Miami before we knew it - but not before going through the Panama Canal. That was probably one of the coolest things ever. Being able to say you have sailed through the Panama Canal is not that common and I get to say it - pretty much awesome!
My friends threw me a birthday party on the ship a few days after Costa Rica and we had a blast - I even got some gifts from Andy, Adam, and Zach... an empty jar of peanut butter, mouldy jam, lost sunglasses, a random pillow, and a comb - sweet, hey? I know, they love me!
I am actually writing this from my house in Porterville... I got home a few hours ago and am pretty much in "culture shock" if that’s what its called... I feel rather out of place and I don't know what I'm going to do with being on land for more than 6 days at a time. Its going to be an adjustment to say the least but I can't wait to share all my experiences with you all soon.
love love love
Cherie

Explanation

So I'm in Costa Rica right now and found an internet cafe... finally! Here are the pictures that you all wanted! You will have to forgive me... they are out of order... but you get the point. Hope you enjoy!! I will be back in the states on May 9th...
Tomorrow me and some friend are hopefullly going to rent a catamaran and sail around for the day to celebrate my birthday!! yay!!
see you all soon!!
love love love
cherie

more pics...

YES!!!

You guessed it
You know you want those HOT suits!!
The skydiving group
me and anna

My host family!
look its me!
Kobe
me and anna in kobe
Kobe

MMMHHHMM
Dinner in Osaka...
Just some karaoke
home stay get together!!
me in a kimono

Temple of Heaven

Olympic Stadium
Me and my luggage... :)

OLYMPIC STADIUM!!!
Tiananmen Square
Forbidden City

Our super cool acrobatic show!!