Hawaii, the High Seas and Japan Preview!

Hello from somewhere off the coast of Japan! We’ll be arriving in the morning, and I’ll be traveling throughout Japan for the next 5 days with a couple friends. The itinerary we’ve planned includes Yokohama, two days in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto and Kobe. Should be incredible! The second day we are in Japan is Rosh Hashana, and I’ll be attending Chabad services at the Tokyo JCC.

Well it’s been less than two weeks since my last update, but it feels like forever; so much has happened! Ship life is great, I’m making more friends every day and we’re finally starting to develop a sense of community on board. Tonight we had a talent show (in which I sang of course), and it was amazing to see how supportive everyone was of each other, despite the occasional… lack of talent… The population onboard is definitely not what I was expecting, but I am finding those like-minded individuals to hang with.

My classes are also excellent. I am learning more about anthropology than I have in all my courses at GW so far combined, but in addition, I am realizing how solid of a foundation I had already acquired from my anth courses. It feels good to start developing a sense of expertise in this social science. In particular, I feel I am learning a ton about field and research methods. You would think that learning how to perform the science would be a central component of the major, but unless you elect to take the singular field methods course at GW, you don’t learn a thing about the practical aspect. I’ll be doing research for all three of my anth classes in each port, and that promises to be both fascinating and challenging.

Hawaii was incredible, not because of the gorgeous beaches (which I’d seen before on a trip with my family), but because I went SKYDIVING! Absolutely one of the most, if not the most, incredible experiences of my life. I am terrified of heights, but somehow I forced myself to do it, and I’m so glad I did. The scariest part of course was the anticipation. Once the parachute was open, it wasn’t scary at all, just gorgeous. We were dropped over the ocean, and had a view of 3 sides of Oahu as we descended. I CAN’T BELIEVE I JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE at 14,000 feet! Something I never, ever expected I would do…

Well, I have tons of incredible pictures and some videos to share (including footage I took with my camera while skydiving!), but internet is expensive and incredibly slow while in the ocean, so I’ll be posting those from an internet café as soon as I can locate one. In the mean time, here's a pic of us in our harnesses about to skydive:

Stay tuned…