The countdown

Firstly, I'd like to welcome everyone to my page. If you clicked this link (unless you somehow stumbled across this page) then you are counting on me to take you on the journey of a lifetime as I travel the world. If you haven't seen it already, I have created a website that shows a video about semester at sea, gives a brief bio about me and an itinerary as well (http://www.wix.com/jmurkey/followmeatsea). To save you some time, Semester at Sea is a program where about 700 students travel across the world via the MV Explorer (a ship), taking classes. During the Spring 2011 semester, we will be traveling to Nassau, Bahamas; Roseau, Dominica; Macapa, Brazil; Manaus, Brazil; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Takoradi, Ghana; Cape Town,South Africa; Port Louis,Mauritius; Chennai, India; Singapore Ho Chi Minh City,Viet Nam; Hong Kong, China; Shanghai, China; Kobe, Japan; Yokohama, Japan; Hilo, Hawaii and finally come back to the mainland to San Diego,California.

This will be my first time traveling outside of the United States, so I'm feeling very anxious, but am slightly nervous because I have no idea of what to expect. I don't know anyone that's going on this voyage, will have limited internet (125 free minutes and then .40/min after), and no cell phone. To top it all off, I've never even been on a cruise ship, but I do have some meds to take for sea sickness just in case. Though I'll be stripped away from the comfort zone that I've grown to maintain while in the US, I believe that this trip will allow me to grow as a person. It is not too uncommon to find people living their lives routinely, never having to step out of their comfort zones. I challenge everyone that's reading this blog to try something new by the end of this week. You only live once, so why not take a chance (we're not talking about life or death type of decisions here)? You'll either love the decision that you made, or learn that you don't like it. Either way, you've done something that you wouldn't have otherwise done during your routine lifestyle.

I've been planning for this trip since April of 2010, so there has been a lot of time put into everything, but finally it will be paying off, with only THREE days left until I fly out to Nassau (Sunday @ 6:35am). Today I finished the shopping for the additional things that I needed but I STILL don't feel like packing (any volunteers want to help?!). Ahh, I guess that I'll get to it. At least it won't be too bad packing a couple of bags because I do it all of the time flying to LA at the beginning of each school year. If I don't get to see you or talk to you before I leave, then I'll see you in April/May. If you want to keep in contact, remember that the information is listed on my website.