Exploring Halifax!

Hello again, everybody! I was originally going to post something yesterday, but I decided that no one really wanted to read about airports and traveling logistics, so instead you can have an entry that is (hopefully) more interesting. The one thing of note I will mention about yesterday is that I met several other students who will be participating in Semester at Sea as well (in fact, my entire room at the hostel save for one are girls who will be boarding the boat tomorrow), and one of them and I hit it off pretty well, although she boarded the boat a day early so I couldn’t grab her for my adventures today.

As for today, it was much more interesting. I spent it exploring Halifax, Nova Scotia’s capital. My first stop was the drug store, since I needed some detergent and a few other things I had forgotten to pack. I stopped at a random coffee shop on the way back and grabbed a small cup of soup and a sandwich for lunch, since I was starving at that point, and that was the cheapest food I could find. Once back at the hostel, I bought a lock from the front desk and borrowed A Small Place (a book we have to read before boarding the ship that I unfortunately lost before I had a chance to finish it) from one of my roommates, which I quickly finished before heading off once more.

My first stop was the SAS ship, since I wanted to see it before I got on it. Unfortunately it was mostly hidden behind a shopping center, so I didn’t get a picture. I did, however, stop in the shopping center, although it didn’t have much of interest. After that, I hopped on Fred (or is it the Fred? I’m not sure), the free bus system, but I got off after about 2 stops because it was so crowded. That ended up being a good decision, because I got to walk along the water that way, and the view was quite nice. Along the way I stopped at Tim Horton’s, a Canadian food chain, for an iced cappuccino because one of my Canadian friends is always going on about how great they are. It was, in fact, quite good, and small sized drinks at Tim Horton’s are, indeed, small.

After that, I thought about getting the supposed “world’s best ice cream” at some place that started with a C that I can’t remember, but decided that I’d had enough cold and calorie-filled treats for one day, so I went to the Maritime Museum to spend some time instead. The coolest part was the Titanic exhibit, which had deck chairs, a cabinet, a little kid’s shoes, and some random other stuff from the ship on exhibit. I didn’t read all the signs, but apparently Halifax was really important in the rescue effort following the ship’s unfortunate crash, and I guess three cemeteries in the city are the final resting places of several of the people who were onboard. Another completely unrelated but interesting fact I learned at the museum was that the setting for Theodore the Tugboat (which I remember watching one episode of as a kid and hating because it wanted to be Shining Time Station, but failed) was Halifax harbor. Oh, and apparently the explosion of the Mont Blanc in Halifax in 1917 was “the largest man-made explosion before the atomic age,” according to the pamphlet I got at the museum.

So after killing a half hour or so at the museum, I proceeded to get back on Fred (which was much less crowded this time) and this time got off at the Public Gardens, which were really quite nice. My first thought was that my dad, a horticulturist, would have loved it. Actually, I think a lot of my family would have liked Nova Scotia, and three things here quite distinctly reminded me of three separate family members. The weather today was warm but overcast all day, and it started lightly raining on and off toward the evening, so my mom would have liked that. My French grandpa would have liked the Maritime Museum, since he used to be a sailor. And as previously mentioned, my dad would have liked the gardens, which brings us back to what I was talking about in the first place. Right.

While in the gardens, I walked around admiring the flora and taking Myspace-type photos of myself throughout them, which made me feel really awkward and pathetic. I shoved aside my pride and did so anyway because I figured I should take some pictures with me actually in them. I hope by the time I get to Spain I’ll have made some friends to take pictures with and wander around with. At any rate, if I ever get a connection that lasts more than 2 minutes, I’ll upload the pictures I took today for your enjoyment.

Anyway, after my romp in the gardens, the weather started getting worse, so I headed back to the hostel, which is where I am right now. Once I post this, my plan is to grab some dinner and then attempt to get on the Internet again. If that fails, maybe I’ll play my PSP, and if my roommates come back anytime soon I might join them in whatever it is they’re doing, but for now I am just going to post this…if the Internet ever decides it wants to work. Until next time!

P.S. – I’ve decided it would be really cool if I took photos of license plates from every country I’m visiting, so I got a picture of a Canadian, Nova Scotia-specific license plate today. Hopefully this is the beginning of a cool collection!

Preparing!

Hello, all!

My name is Nathalie, and in 2 days I am flying to Nova Scotia to begin my epic journey around the world through the Semester at Sea program. Basically, during the span of one hundred and some days, I am going to be taking classes on a giant floating university and occasionally getting off at select ports around the globe to experience the local cultures/broaden my horizons/hopefully improve the world's view of Americans (the last one is probably somewhat unlikely, though I think we can all safely say that isn't my fault). Right now I'm finalizing my packing list/ putting everything I might possibly pack in one room before I start actually putting things into suitcases and doing other important things such as fitting as much Internet time into the next 48 hours as humanly possible (apparently Internet access is very, very expensive on the MV Explorer...) while also packing and buying everything I still need and setting up this blog.

Speaking of this blog, I have no idea how often I will be able to update it due to the expensive Internet. I'm hoping once I'm on the boat (which is actually a ship, but I seem to have gotten in the habit of referring to it as a boat, most likely because of a certain pop culture song that revolves around being on one) I'll figure everything out but for now I can not promise anything in terms of how often this blog will be updated. Still, I plan to share as much of my journey as I can with you all (whoever that may be), and I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures.

Well then, until next time!