tam biet, viet nam!

(goodbye, vietnam!)

this morning, at 0600, we began to make our way down the saigon river and back out to sea. i did not wake up that early, but i did enjoy the river as i ate breakfast and peeked out the windows inbetween class. i love port, but i realized how much i missed the open ocean. the sparkling blue all around, i'll surely miss the mesmerizing sea when i'm back on land.

back on the ship, and its difficult to get back into the school routine. plus, its only a teaser (just two days) before we get to china. the time is FLYING by! its crazy! its hard to keep the countries straight! they are such a blur; i kept referring to vietnam as thailand.

today is a massive 'get things done' day. i plan to organize my room a bit, as my clothes and drawers are in serious disrepair after thailand and vietnam. also on the list is uploading photos onto my computer, organizing my school work, studying, and typing out some blogs. we will be losing an hour tonight, though we are almost to the international date line (two easter sundays on the ship, april 12) and then we'll be gaining hours! sounds so wonderful! there is also cultural pre-port for china tonight, which should be interesting. i am also going to try and pack for china; where it may snow! quite the climate change, vietnam's sweltering summer to bejing's chilly spring.

last night i used my pre-paid sim cards to call home & it was so wonderful to just use up the entire card and to not worry about running up a huge bill! $5 usd for 45+ minutes of talk time! :) it was so great to hear voices from home, especially nani and grandma. can't wait to see you all again soon! the semester is flying by! i'll be home before you know it and i'll be able to show you all of my photos! (so far: 3,000+)


i'm off to clean my room & get to work, hope everyone is sleeping well!