Log 17

Last night was the second round of Trident Trivia. The categories were Vietnam, economics, literature, and Semester at Sea. Then, just like last time, we had two bonus questions. If you recall, my sea won the last trident trivia. Unfortunately, Arabian sea won this trident trivia. So now they have points towards Sea Olympics as well.

This morning I noticed a rash on my leg. I decided to give it until the end of my first class, and if it doesn’t go away I will go to the medical clinic. I would have gone right in the morning, but the medical clinic is only open from 1030-1130 and another two hour shift in the afternoon.

I am also a little disappointed, because they just announced today that at 1100 we are casting a plankton net off the back of the ship. But I have a class during that time. The Marine Biologist in me really wants to skip class and go see the release. They said it only takes 10 minutes. But the scholar in me keeps telling me to go to class. I am very conflicted in this moment. I will mostly likely go to class, knowing myself.

In Shanghai, our Ships Captain, Brian, left us to go home to his family. It was his first sail with semester at sea, and he was a great captain who kept us up to date on weather and the swells in the ocean. But since China we have had a different captain. The thing is, we have no idea who this new captain is. We haven’t seen him, heard from him, nothing. We got his name in an email, but we don’t know where he is from. Needless to say, we all miss Captain Brian’s British accent giving us the weather report every morning.

Excitingly, tomorrow we will be in Vietnam. On the first day I will be taking a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, and I will have the chance to meet and talk to an ex-guerrilla, about his experiences during the war. On the second day, my cabinmate and I are going to go out and explore and in the evening we are going to get Pho. Pho is the Vietnamese national dish. Yesterday was my cabinmate’s birthday so I told her that we will definitely go get Pho for her birthday. Then on the last day I have a field class that will explore a mangrove forest, and go snorkeling. I am ecstatic to be able to explore one of the most unique, efficient, and significant ecosystems in the world.

Hopefully there will be WIFI in the cruise terminal in Vietnam like there was in Japan. Had I used the WIFI in China it would have been such an inconvenience, because I would have had to walk to either a Starbucks, or to the Hyatt Hotel which was a few blocks away.

Oh and when I post my pictures for China, there will not be many. By the end of the visit, the two days, the factories we back in operation, which resulted in a very smoggy atmosphere. Any pictures that I would have taken would simply be a screen of pollution.