1/2 Education and 1/2 Nightmare + I suck Writing in my blog

Well this is one of the first times I have updated my blog since I have been at sea, so I am trying to get better on the second half since half of the voyage. So this is what has been happening in Mauritius (our 5th port) and on the M/V Explorer. First in Mauritius, this is one of the shortest ports we have ever been in, we were there for a total of 8 hours!! In that 8 hours some of the worst things have happened while on this trip in term of binge drinking. We have been at sea a total 4 days from Cape Town and after Mauritius another 6 days until we get to India. So a lot of people decided to go all out on this trip and set up a booze cruise which was one of the most fun days I have ever had.
        I know a lot of you probably reading is like Travis you are an idiot for telling us about this stuff and it just sounds like a booze cruise all together and your not getting any education. Believe me. We got one hell of an education both about short port times and drinking too much. I am gonna try and talk about this next experience in a positive light and explain to you what I learned.
        While I took part in the booze cruise and probably around another 100 students, nothing happened to any of us except a few scrapes from slipping on the boat while it was moving (before we started drinking). This one kid which did nothing like a booze cruise ended up in the intensive care unit in Mauritius. When he got back to the boat he was foaming at the mouth, non-responsive, and could barely move. The crew automatically knew what was up, the kids he was with told them what happened and he needed care STAT. Apparently, (there have been many versions of this story floating around) he went on a ropes course trip and was out in the sun and salt all day (any island mates reading this you know what that does to you) He got 1 hour of free time and sprinted to the bar and drank plenty (on a empty stomach and little water). On the bus ride back he started to black out. He ended up in the ICU while the boat had to disembark due to port reservations and time schedules.
        The ship board community was completely shocked by this behavior because he was not the type of guy that was wrecked every night while in port. The staff was shaken up by the experience because this time last semester a kid died because in Vietnam and OD (over dosed) on heroin (watch American Gangster for more information on Vietnam drugs). Anyways, we got a call telling us that he was responsive and still living but he was about as close to death as possible. The community called a meeting and for once cut the bullshit and told us what was up.
        Some of the things discussed at this meeting was, how they have told us 1,000,000 + to not drink and they know it’s not gonna stop. This showed a prime example of how we need to watch out for each other and that did happen in this case. They wanted to use this as a learning example, because I have heard these reasons before and I see myself as a very responsible drinker. As for health care goes, we are entering Asia and guess what it’s not like America. Some of these places may have band-aids and gauzes but nothing to treat excessive intoxication. So it’s extremely important to watch out in Asia on this topic. The other learning example was when we are in out next short port Singapore. If you do anything such as spit on the side walk or be a dumbass your in prison.
        The attitude on the boat has changed a lot about this topic and we are rallying to bring back this student. The deans are listening because the only thing stopping them is grades and missing class so their looking at his academic record. I know some of you reading might also disagree but many will not understand this experience and the closeness it brings to people around you.
        Anyways on a less heavy note we are currently speeding towards India and we passed Diego-Garcia Island which is a huge US military base (owned by British though) and we had to drop a few people off there to get medical attention for unrelated reasons to Mauritius. I have never seen a more fortified island it was so strict. Navy seals had to come on board to search for drugs and what was funny was I have never seen men look at women like that before. It was like when the nerd looks at his crush and his friend pushes him to say something. They were all senior officers to which I found ironic according to stripes on their uniforms.
        This is about all I got to talk about so I hope no one is worried and I am having the time of my life (non drinking too). I will try and update this tomorrow on a less heavy topic and talk about ship life before I hit India. I will not update my blog for about 6 days while in India because ill be traveling all over hopefully meeting up with a friends who is over here now. Ill let you know how that goes.    

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Reviewing My Thoughts

So in the last few weeks since my last post a lot has been happening such as the biggest birthday bash of the year, spending great amounts of cash, and being extremely lazy. With being extremely lazy and slowly ordering things for Semester at Sea it gave me the great opportunity to listen to some new and old music which helped me review my thoughts. With it being break I have had my house to myself and it has been slightly lonely but nice. With being here by myself, I will listen to some songs on repeat and really try and understand the message in which they are saying. If you know me well enough I will make references to various artists about certain song in conversation. In every song someone writes there is some sort of meaning behind it weather it being ridiculous "I wanna fuck a dog in the ass by Blink 182" or serious "Mockingbird by Eminem." Some experience in their life caused them to write the song. I love listening to their experiences and being able to relate to them. Each one is a story either being about a shitty partner (most T-Swift songs are those) or a serious time in life about recovery from addiction or something else (mostly referring to eminem) which was the basis for his CD ironically called "Recovery."

Your probably all wondering what the hell does this have do to with Semester at Sea. While listening, I started to really get into MOD SUN (Movement On Dreams - Stand Under None) which I was introduced to at Sing It Loud's last concert at Station 4 in St. Paul (the bar I got kicked out of the time before, which is another story). Basically he is all about the positives in his life because he created a new genre of music known as "Hippy Hop" (positive hip-hop). The reason why I enjoy his music is because he is not all about smackin a hoe, ridin dirty on 40's, watchin BET, and hustling. There about his life trying to make it as a musician, influence others, and changing the world. The reason why I brought him into Semester at Sea blog is because of his one line on "I Do It" inspired me. His one line is:

"Before you go to sleep at night can you successfully say you were impacting the world in a good way?"

As I prepare for this trip, it brings questions to my mind such as who will I meet but more importantly who will I influence. I will meet a group of students who I am on a boat with for 4 months, some from America and other countries which is completely different then Minnesota and Wisconsin. Then people who I meet in the 11 countries in which I am attending just blows my mind.

This leaves me with one of my more serious blog messages, before you go to sleep tonight, can you successfully say you impacted the world in a good way? I'll try and do a less heavy topic next post and add a bit more humor. Hope you found this enjoyable to read, so happy new year, get wrecked (don im expecting a drunk dial), and I leave in 8 days crazy right.

Saying Cya & Skiing

Well this is my first blog since I have started this just a few weeks ago and I finally have time to actually speak my mind. This is whats been going on in my crazy life. With the end of the semester, I have had to say later to some close friends in my major which I have had every class with during the last 1.5 years. It been kinda hard because I have had a lot of fun with them such as: laughing at things in class, having late night sessions to finish projects, and bitching to each other about unclear instructions and work assignments. I will see these faces again soon enough because our upcoming adventures will allow us to cross paths and experience something new together again.

With finals being over I have finally gotten my grades and I did quite well this semester except for one D but I guess it happens. I still got a 3.2 which is plenty and I'm still quite proud. For this class, in which I got a D in I made a good video which has to do with a drunk bee which past out in the cop shop lawn on Halloween. In my opinion, I think this is one of my best works since I have been making amateur films, but check out my fb and leave comments on it so I can understand on how to make it better.

I am currently skiing in Keystone and Breckenridge and this has been one hell of a time with drunk stories and cool people I have met. I have been skiing out here for 4 days and this has been pushing my skills to the limit. I have not broken anything yet (knock on wood) so hopefully I will come back in one piece. I have had some great fun skiing some back bowls and fresh powder through the trees. Today I got the great opportunity to check out the "Dew Tour" in breck which allowed me to (almost meet) one of my favorite skiers Simon Dumont but I missed him by about 5 minutes while I was getting a picture with a yetti. Its all good, I'm still a fan on skiing and probably will never change to snowboarding because I find it important to stay true to myself no matter how lame some people think it is. After skiing, each day we went and hit up one of the best restaurants of the trip called "Dos Locos" and they have had some of the best wings I have ever had. Next time your skiing in Keystone check them out for happy hour.

Since this blog is called "SASer" I should probably start talking about Semester At Sea. Today, on the trip back from Breck I met some cool guys from South Africa (Cape Town) which is where I'm visiting in like a month for two and they were telling me about things to do and check out. They gave me some great local information which will make my trip more enjoyable and I'll probably email them later about it. So that brought my mind back to SAS and realizing it happening in like 20 days and I have not done any packing or any thinking about traveling because I'm focusing on Colorado. In the next few weeks, I need to move out of my house and put my life in a few suitcases and prepare for a trip of a lifetime.