Today we arrived in Namibia. In a little while I’ll be leaving the ship and tomorrow I start a 3-day safari. This entry will be a summarization of everything that has happened thus far…
The SAS voyage officially started on August 29th. Along with many other students I had been staying in the Bahamas since the 27th. Most students decided it would be a good idea to get together before the ship set sail to get to know each other and get two days of fun in before any schooling could start. The hotel I stayed at was the Paradise Island Harbour Resort.
It was all-inclusive and something like 30 other SAS students were staying there so it was definitely a good choice for a hotel. My roommates were all girls who I’d never met (prior to the Bahamas I didn’t know anyone going on SAS). The Bahamas were amazing, I’m proud to say I actually got out of my resort and explored for a good amount of time. The first night I went to a bar called Señor Frogs which I would recommend to anyone visiting the Bahamas. The second night I went to the larger hotel on the island that had a casino. An older couple (late 20’s) I met at my hotel took me to the casino and gave me money to gamble with so it was a win-win situation, good times. The Bahamas in general was just good times. On the 29th I was actually the last person from SAS to leave my hotel. The line to get on the ship was long and everyone had to carry their bags in 4 foot intervals every time the line went up a little. I was one of the people that had all duffle’s with no wheels… good idea, right? So the first day was exciting. Everyone was just trying to learn names… even 20 days later everyone is still having trouble with names. I was kind of nervous about meeting my roommate because I’m always more likely to get along better with a girl then a guy but I definitely lucked out. We get along really well even though we probably don’t have anything in common, his name is Kurt. The first week was all about classes and learning how to live on the ship and blah blah. I’ll skip to Brazil. Of all the places on the itinerary, I was most excited for Brazil. It always seemed like a beautiful place to me and I was stoked to finally get to see it. The first day was mainly an exploration day. The beach was by far the best beach I’ve ever been to. My biggest regret about Brazil is not spending more time at the beach. The second day was my first SAS trip. My trip was called Lençois. It was a 4-day mountain climbing/hiking adventure. Lençois is actually the name of a village we stayed at in the center of all of the mountains.
It’s in Bahia, Brazil. If you ever go to Brazil I definitely recommend it. To date, Lençois is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. If I don’t live there at some point in my life I have to make sure to at least visit regularly. If the word Lençois translates to anything I’m pretty sure it would translate to “heaven.” All four days consisted of hiking and mountain climbing and then chillin’ in the village or at our amazing hotel at night. The hotel had buffet breakfasts and buffet dinners that were absolutely perfect. My friend Kelsey quoted me in her blog because I said something was made of “cinnamon and angels” haha. I’ll recap the best parts of the hikes. The first day we stopped at a pool that had something like a 10 to 15 foot cliff over it. The pool was so little that the scary part was avoiding the rocks more than the jump. It looked like a 4 foot wide black hole that you had to jump into from an unbalanced 15 foot jump. Good times. The rest of that day was all nice views and clean, beautiful air. The second day we went to a huge pool with a waterfall that had two cliffs you could jump from. The first one I ran up to was about 15 to 20 feet high and it was really cool to just fling yourself off of it into the pool. The second cliff was something like 40 to 50 feet high.
That one wasn’t as easy. It took me a minute but I jumped and it was epic! Oh and by the way, a professor that went on the trip that we all started calling “Papa Rosey” (his real name is Armin Rosencrantz) jumped from all of the cliffs and it was unbelievable. I don’t want to be insulting and guess an age but it’s safe to say he’s an old guy. After this pool the groups got split up a little. Myself and two others, Kress and Kelsey, tried to figure out how to get to the next stop which is noted as the largest natural rockslide in the world or maybe the largest one in Brazil.. I can’t remember. We got pretty lost and ended up bushwacking for a while but eventually we got there and no one died so yay! The rockslide was pretty sick. I fell down it the first time but it just made it more fun. 
The SAS voyage officially started on August 29th. Along with many other students I had been staying in the Bahamas since the 27th. Most students decided it would be a good idea to get together before the ship set sail to get to know each other and get two days of fun in before any schooling could start. The hotel I stayed at was the Paradise Island Harbour Resort.
It was all-inclusive and something like 30 other SAS students were staying there so it was definitely a good choice for a hotel. My roommates were all girls who I’d never met (prior to the Bahamas I didn’t know anyone going on SAS). The Bahamas were amazing, I’m proud to say I actually got out of my resort and explored for a good amount of time. The first night I went to a bar called Señor Frogs which I would recommend to anyone visiting the Bahamas. The second night I went to the larger hotel on the island that had a casino. An older couple (late 20’s) I met at my hotel took me to the casino and gave me money to gamble with so it was a win-win situation, good times. The Bahamas in general was just good times. On the 29th I was actually the last person from SAS to leave my hotel. The line to get on the ship was long and everyone had to carry their bags in 4 foot intervals every time the line went up a little. I was one of the people that had all duffle’s with no wheels… good idea, right? So the first day was exciting. Everyone was just trying to learn names… even 20 days later everyone is still having trouble with names. I was kind of nervous about meeting my roommate because I’m always more likely to get along better with a girl then a guy but I definitely lucked out. We get along really well even though we probably don’t have anything in common, his name is Kurt. The first week was all about classes and learning how to live on the ship and blah blah. I’ll skip to Brazil. Of all the places on the itinerary, I was most excited for Brazil. It always seemed like a beautiful place to me and I was stoked to finally get to see it. The first day was mainly an exploration day. The beach was by far the best beach I’ve ever been to. My biggest regret about Brazil is not spending more time at the beach. The second day was my first SAS trip. My trip was called Lençois. It was a 4-day mountain climbing/hiking adventure. Lençois is actually the name of a village we stayed at in the center of all of the mountains.It’s in Bahia, Brazil. If you ever go to Brazil I definitely recommend it. To date, Lençois is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. If I don’t live there at some point in my life I have to make sure to at least visit regularly. If the word Lençois translates to anything I’m pretty sure it would translate to “heaven.” All four days consisted of hiking and mountain climbing and then chillin’ in the village or at our amazing hotel at night. The hotel had buffet breakfasts and buffet dinners that were absolutely perfect. My friend Kelsey quoted me in her blog because I said something was made of “cinnamon and angels” haha. I’ll recap the best parts of the hikes. The first day we stopped at a pool that had something like a 10 to 15 foot cliff over it. The pool was so little that the scary part was avoiding the rocks more than the jump. It looked like a 4 foot wide black hole that you had to jump into from an unbalanced 15 foot jump. Good times. The rest of that day was all nice views and clean, beautiful air. The second day we went to a huge pool with a waterfall that had two cliffs you could jump from. The first one I ran up to was about 15 to 20 feet high and it was really cool to just fling yourself off of it into the pool. The second cliff was something like 40 to 50 feet high.That one wasn’t as easy. It took me a minute but I jumped and it was epic! Oh and by the way, a professor that went on the trip that we all started calling “Papa Rosey” (his real name is Armin Rosencrantz) jumped from all of the cliffs and it was unbelievable. I don’t want to be insulting and guess an age but it’s safe to say he’s an old guy. After this pool the groups got split up a little. Myself and two others, Kress and Kelsey, tried to figure out how to get to the next stop which is noted as the largest natural rockslide in the world or maybe the largest one in Brazil.. I can’t remember. We got pretty lost and ended up bushwacking for a while but eventually we got there and no one died so yay! The rockslide was pretty sick. I fell down it the first time but it just made it more fun. There was a cool little outdoor café thing that the three of us stopped at to get a drink. There was a guy playing guitar and stuff... it was real chill.
The next day we climbed a mountain. It was really high so the wind was pretty forceful but there was immaculate views. The last day we went to another huge natural pool with all kinds of waterfalls and cliff jumping. The nights in the village were just as cool as the hikes. My favorite place was this bar we went to on the last night in the village. You go in the bar and there are stairs to a section that’s more like a restaurant with a tree in it and above the tree there is no ceiling, just the stars. We spent all night in the bar playing music with the locals and just chillin’
with them for hours. I spent a lot of the time laying out on hammocks and getting to know people. I swear I contemplated not going back to the ship because I just wanted to live in Lençois. I miss being there. The people who did that trip with me are all real cool and I still hang out with a few of them. Kelsey, Kress, and Emily more than the rest. Kelsey is a first year to college and she doesn’t hang out with many other people than me because her sense of humor is beyond the capacity of most people but she’s good times. Kress is super modest but if she isn’t considered a pro skier then I’m going to just say she’s semi-pro, she’s pretty chill. Emily is super sporty and the ultimate social butterfly. There are other people I chill with on the ship like these girls Alissa and Nina who go to New Hampshire University and they’re both good times. So that was Brazil and since then has been a ton of schooling and a whole lot of fun. I’m in a few groups and clubs. In one of them we planned an open mic night that was a lot of fun and last night there was a “So You Think You Can Dance?” event that was really fun. I’m going to go explore Namibia now but I’ll be back to post in a few days. Thanks for reading!
The next day we climbed a mountain. It was really high so the wind was pretty forceful but there was immaculate views. The last day we went to another huge natural pool with all kinds of waterfalls and cliff jumping. The nights in the village were just as cool as the hikes. My favorite place was this bar we went to on the last night in the village. You go in the bar and there are stairs to a section that’s more like a restaurant with a tree in it and above the tree there is no ceiling, just the stars. We spent all night in the bar playing music with the locals and just chillin’ with them for hours. I spent a lot of the time laying out on hammocks and getting to know people. I swear I contemplated not going back to the ship because I just wanted to live in Lençois. I miss being there. The people who did that trip with me are all real cool and I still hang out with a few of them. Kelsey, Kress, and Emily more than the rest. Kelsey is a first year to college and she doesn’t hang out with many other people than me because her sense of humor is beyond the capacity of most people but she’s good times. Kress is super modest but if she isn’t considered a pro skier then I’m going to just say she’s semi-pro, she’s pretty chill. Emily is super sporty and the ultimate social butterfly. There are other people I chill with on the ship like these girls Alissa and Nina who go to New Hampshire University and they’re both good times. So that was Brazil and since then has been a ton of schooling and a whole lot of fun. I’m in a few groups and clubs. In one of them we planned an open mic night that was a lot of fun and last night there was a “So You Think You Can Dance?” event that was really fun. I’m going to go explore Namibia now but I’ll be back to post in a few days. Thanks for reading!
