Kira Over Seas

I am so sorry that this has taken my forever to update. My service in the past couple of countries has been very questionable and hasn’t allowed me to work on my laptop.

Dubai is a place that took me by surprise. I would consider myself a well travel person however, the middle east was far from anything I had experienced before. My initial reaction of Dubai was that it was not much different than other big cities, modern, impressive sky-scrapers, taxis everywhere, huge malls, etc. The longer I was there, it continued to prove me wrong. While the city is undoubtably advanced and very cool in a modern way, what I found even more appealing was the Arabic middle eastern culture. My favorite thing we did in Dubai was our desert safari. We got to go dune dashing, ride camels, eat ethnic food, and sand surf. It was such a unique experience that I will hold close to my heart forever. 

Food: I was surprised by how much of this culture through food is covered up by the big city of Dubai. I once asked our Uber driver where we could find an authentic Arabic restaurant, he responded with “we don’t have those”. I was taken aback by this. In Dubai everything is engraved by other cultures, a shocking amount of Turkish foods and desserts, Thai snacks, even American and European stores were more dominantly found than anything else. That being said there was still Arabic accents on foods. Dates! Dates! Dates! They are everywhere. In cookies, garnishes on meats, in teas, served as offerings, you name it and it probably has some form of dates on or in it. Because of this I found myself actually enjoying the taste of dates. They are much sweeter in the middle east than I have ever had in the US. I also found myself drinking lots of Arabic coffee, it was never clearly explained what Arabic coffee actually is, but it tastes like a caffeine shot mixed with an herbal tea. Very interesting and only ever served in small glasses. I tried middle eastern kababs for the first time in Abu Dhabi which was seasoned amazingly. I noticed all of the seasoning here are so much richer than in the US. I expected them to be stronger and foods to be spicier but the flavors were more complex than anything else. 

There were some parts of the cultural difference that I expected, such as not being allowed to show your shoulders or knees in places or having your hair covered in religious places. That being said I was surprised by many other aspects of the culture, I educated myself a lot before this trip but still did not know many things. One of these things before personal space is practically non-existent. Walking through crowded areas it is more than accepted, possibly even encouraged, to bump and shove people to get around. This can get quite aggressive quite quickly. I also was not expecting women to be as taken care of us they are. They have specific cabs that are women driven and only for women, women get fed in some settings in a separate line and before the men, and women continuously would be pulled up to the front of lines or crowded areas.

Overall, I really liked Dubai. It is a place that took me by surprise but in a good way. I would suggest that every person needs to visit the middle east at least once. 

Favorite memories of Dubai:

• Ringing in he new year watching fireworks off the Burj Khalifa
• Desert safari sand boarding
• Going to the Atlantis Resort (very nostalgic for me)
• Making new friends
• Wandering through the old souks, everyone called me Shakira which I found very ironic
• Seeing the ship for the first time
• Trying new spices and foods
• Riding a camel for the first time

24 Hour Travel Day

Hello Everyone! I am currently sitting in the Seattle airport on my way to Dubai. I still can not believe that this is real. Leaving this morning was one of the hardest things that I have ever done. My family wrote me letters to open at specific times which will be comforting to have, being so far from them. Dubai is 12 hours ahead of Nevada so there is a significant time difference.

I had a little Bon Voyage party two days ago to be able to say goodbye to all my closest friends. It was so nice to see all of them, but also made me sad to realize all the people I am leaving behind. Someone told me at this party that I am leaving everything and everyone I know to do this program and go into the unknown. This didn’t resonate with me quite as much until I now. I am sitting here in the airport looking at the planes going by and realizing how unknown my next couple of months will be. Even though that should be scary it isn’t. I have comfort in not knowing what the next day will hold. I am more excited than anything else. I have this whole adventure and experiences ahead of me and the world to see. I have dreamed of traveling the world my whole life and by doing this program I can achieve this goal. I know younger me would be so proud.

I currently am booking my excursions for India which is very exciting! I am planning on doing the golden triangle of Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi. This will be our first semester at sea port and one that I am most excited for. In this tour we will visit the Taj Mahal which will be the second wonder of the world. I also have one excursion planned for Dubai already, but outside of that I will be doing whatever feels right that day!

I am beyond grateful to have this opportunity to live on a ship and travel to 11 countries! Could not do this without my family!

With Love,

Kira ❤

Pre-Embarkation

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Holy moly! I am officially one month out from embarking on the M.V. World Odyssey. It is surreal to be this close to starting the adventure of a life time with semester at sea!

I have always known that I wanted to study abroad at some point in my life. I first found out about the Semester at Sea, also known as SAS, program when I was in middle school. I had totally forgotten about the program by the time I graduated high school because you know, life happens. I started looking into study abroad programs the second semester of my freshman year at UNR. It was at this point when a friend of a friend was on the voyage at the time and sparked my memory of the amazing program.

I started looking into the future voyages that SAS was offering and the spring ’23 voyage was the perfect fit! Without really telling anyone, I applied to the program and my specific voyage in April. Two days later I was accepted! I could barely contain my excited when I got the email. I told my mom and brother that I got accepted by getting a box of chocolate covered strawberries for each of the months I will be gone.

I am a bit nervous about prepping for this experiences and every thing it brings. That being said, I am SO beyond excited. I am counting down the days until I leave, it is coming so much faster than I was expecting it to.

Things I am most excited for:

• Living on a ship
• Visiting the continent of Africa
• Experiencing different cultures
• Trying food from all over the world
• Going on my first safari
• Visiting my first wonder of the world: Petra
• Independent travel after disembarkation
• Meeting my roommate
• Pool days on the upper deck
• Sea Olympics
• Crossing the Equator at (0*0)
• Seeing the Taj Mahal

With Love,

Kira ❤