One Down... 12 To Go

So tired. I woke up after getting only 3 hours of sleep. I haven’t been this sleep deprived in a long time. I’ve slept an average of four hours in the last 4-5 days. But the crazy part is that that is not bad compared to some people. My roommate hasn’t slept for three out of the last four days, which is unreal and I have no idea how he is still functioning properly. This was the first time seeing him and many others in the last 3-4 days. It was great to see many people again since the ship has been like a ghost town since we arrived in Spain. Now there are actually people walking around the ship. After waking up Ben (who got even less sleep than me), we headed out to get some souveigner shopping done: I needed stamps for postcards to my family, a Spanish flag (I’m collecting one from each country), and the blue FIFA World Cup Uniform for Spain. Since getting to Spain, I have had the most difficult time trying to find the last two. I don’t know why it is so hard to find a medium sized flag; all the ones I’ve seen so far have either been massive monsters or tiny babies. There’s like nothing in-between. Also I’ve been finding red Spanish jerseys everywhere, but the blue ones have been almost impossible to find, especially one for Iniesta. The postage stamps were a synch to find: tobacco shop right next to the city hall and 78 euro cents each. Then began the adventure of finding the other two. We wandered the Plazas, through sport shops and tourist gift shops and couldn’t find either. When we reached the central Plaza we stopped for lunch at a restaurant (I got a pizza margarita, which tasted so good until it got cold). People in Spain really take their time serving and eating: Dean David says that the average Spaniard spends around 2-3 hours eating and socializing during lunch and dinner, which is absolutely ridiculous for us always-on-the-move Americans. But the Spaniards take their time, which is a relaxing and healthy thing to do. Afterwards, we continued with the roaming around random streets, maybe we would get lucky and find one in a random street. We walked through the Central Market of Cadiz, which was centered in an old/ancient building with authentic columns and decorations. The center of the market was mostly meats, especially seafood (we saw a shark and swordfish carcass), and was surrounded by vendors selling various fruits and vegetables. Ben and I left the market and began just going down random streets and within 5 minutes we had no idea where we were. When we got to a crosswalk, we would just say “Left” or “Right” or “Straight.” It was actually great to wander the parts of Cadiz I hadn’t seen yet. Finally after about 30-40 minutes of wandering, come to a certain crosswalk. And I’m thinking to myself, “screw this, I’ll just get one of the huge or tiny flags and then buy one of the red jerseys. I give up.” But Ben said, “Come on, let’s take a left, last one.” With a deep sigh I complied with his request, and we walked a bit further down, when we came upon a sketchy looking store that was selling Rock’n’Roll, Metal, and Punk shirts and items. And in the very corner, I noticed a Spanish Flag.... but this was medium sized. Elated, I walk inside and asked the store clerk, who gave me a new one for really cheap. And it was the perfect size. Hooray. That success just got my hopes up, and I was feeling good about things until a bird thought that it would be funny to take a dump on my head. That was not funny at all, and I rushed to the nearest restaurant to get some napkins and get the feces out of my hair. That certainly made the day “different,” I mean it’s not everyday that something like that happens to you. Although the finding of the flag got my spirits up, I still had to get that jersey, and so decided to just get the red one. But then again, we were lost. We walked up and down many streets after that, using the sun to get a general direction of where we were going, and found ourselves in the Central Plaza (it’s scary that every time, I somehow end up here or the Cathedral Plaza). We made our way for a sports store to get the jersey, when I noticed an African man selling some jerseys on the side of the street. And he had a blue “David Villa” jersey. I pounced on it because it was also my exact size, just perfect. That really made my day because I got everything that I wanted, even though I had low hopes of finding it all. When I got back to the ship, Ben and I and two others decided to go running. This however was not the best idea for me because I am from California and I am used to 75 degree year round weather. And it was 80+ and humid in Cadiz. After running for 20 minutes, I got a very serious cramp and started feeling dehydrated. I also knew that I have a tendency to fall sick when I exercise after a long time, so Ben and I called it quits and headed back to the ship, only to leave again after a quick shower in order to get some last minute internet time. Unfortunately, many other SAS students were doing the same thing, so the internet was so slow that I barely checked my Gmail before we had to go back so that we could beat the re-boarding crowd. Back on the ship, we sat on the outside of Deck 6, and enjoyed the weather, which had become very pleasant, before eating dinner. It was great to watch some last minute people, booking it on the port in order to get back on the ship on time. The entire crowd on the outside deck cheered for the last person who was just sprinting back since he was almost just perfectly on time. I hung out with some friends on Deck 7 where I saw Desmond Tutu in basketball shorts. He then waved to me, and chatted with me for a little, and right before he left, he poked me in the stomach. I was like, “Oh my God, Desmond Tutu just touched me!” My goodness, he is such an amazing person. Around 8:20, our ship undocked from the Port, and we left Spain for good. It was a really weird feeling because even though it had only been 5 days, it felt like it had been like a week or two. It felt like the end of an era. However this was only the first port. We still have 12 more to go. We aren’t even 10% done with the trip yet, and I’ve already been having the time of my life. In only 5 days in one port, I have learned so many things about traveling independently, met a lot of new people, and just had a really memorable time overall. I will miss Cadiz, but there is so much to look forward to. We will be getting to Morocco the very next day around 2pm. So within 18 hours of leaving Europe, I will be in Morocco for another 5 days of fun and craziness. Also, after 5 days of little sleep, I am looking forward to catching up with sleep tonight, as are a lot of others. An added bonus is that we are gaining two hours tonight, so two more hours of sleep before an early morning 2 hour long pre-port presentation for Morocco tomorrow. So the fun never stops, and looking forward to recovering tonight and Morocco. Let the second round begin!!!
-Nimish
September 8, 2010