Semester at Sea MayMester 2011

In a couple of days, I will be off to my third semester at sea voyage - this time t0 7 countries in 26 days (well with training and a couple of days off at the bahamas, a total of 30 days). Our voyage itinerary can be found at

http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/itinerary-calendar.php.

I hope to be able to blog a bit or at least put up some pictures of our voyage. This one is unlike any other (what SAS voyage is anyway?) but we hope to do some really good work in all of the countries that we visit. Our goal is to be engaged, to work with the locals identifying and solving critical issues that will enable them to have better lives, and like other voyages to learn how to be better members of our global society. I'll miss all of my family and friends "on land" and of course August and our Rafa! Feel free to email or to write notes on the blog -

Graduation Weekend

At Casa 425 i Claremont Enjoying the beautiful sunshine, fantastic weather, and busy with graduation activities. More info and pics to come as I celebrate and then pack up for the next adventure - Semester at Sea Summer Short Term Voyage 2011 that starts in less than 5 days!

just another Champaign weekend

It's amazing how there is so much to do (and how much we can d0) in a small city such as Champaign (and her twin city Urbana). Seeing a "broadway" (ok, off broadway but Ave Q and Cabaret were fantastic) show, eating at good restaurants with great and innovative food, and having at least one great bakery (thank you Mirabelle's) makes this a good place to live. And we even host a marathon!

Now if I can only learn how to do things like gardening :-)

chi-town

It's been over a year since I moved from Irvine to Champaign. It's been a great time and i've had fun exploring the "middle" as I affectionately have taken to calling the midwest. Chicago is beautiful (ok, i'm talking about fall,parts of spring and summer) and tasty - so much to do and see! 

Chicago

A Whole New Voyage

The fall 2007 Semester at Sea Voyage has finally ended. It has been almost two months since we disembarked as a community on December 7th (yet another reason for me to not like that day I suppose) in Miami. Some of us (admin team, other volunteer staff) ended up staying on the MV Explorer for final work meetings and projects. It was sad and eerie to have the ship to ourselves. In a way, it was good to have the quiet time to think of the voyage, to wander around uninterrupted and remember all the wonderful times we shared throughout the voyage. However, it also made the separation harder because in looking at the places and spaces once filled with students, colleagues, friends now empty, I ended up missing them terribly.

Rebounding from this voyage was harder than my previous one...I don't really know why that is....Perhaps because the extra month we had on this voyage vs. the shorter summer months made us bond even more. In any case, I grew a lot from the voyage and despite our few bumps on the road, I am a much better person because of the things I learned from everyone I met on the voyage. Thank you semester at sea fall 2007 voyage - I truly will cherish the wonderful memories we created together...

And now I move forward to another adventure!

Mezquita - Cordoba, Espana

August and I loved Spain. We decided to stay in the Southern part and went to Cordoba, Granada, Sevilla, Jerez de la Frontera, and Cadiz. We can't wait to go back again.