Quick Update

It is Tuesday morning and we have just arrived in Guatemala.  We will be here for the next three days (two nights).  We are docked in the port-city Puerto Quetzal, which is on the Western side of the country in the Pacific Ocean.  Our 7 days at sea since Hawaii were very busy.  We had our final exam in Global Studies (which was cumulative and thus fairly difficult), as well as two study days with no class so students couple prepare for their other final exams.  The A-Day set of exams took place yesterday and after Guatemala we will have another study-day before the B-Day exams.  For whatever terrific reason, none of my three classes had a final exam.  In Public Speaking, we gave our final persuasive speech.  In Asian-American Fiction, we had a final essay and presentation about a story from Hisaye Yamamoto's collection of short stories, "Seventeen Syllables".  In my Strategic Management class, my team is compiling an "Annual Report" for our class's shoe industry online simulation that we have been competing in all semester.  By the way, our team ended up "winning" the simulation (was the most successful and promising company over the 20 simulated years). 

 

While in Guatemala, some friends and I (and pretty much all the students on the ship) are going to Antigua, the colonial Spanish capital of Central America.  It is about a 2 hour drive from our port.  There are a lot of ruins and cultural stuff to see as well as several volcanoes.  We are planning on taking a day to hike up (with a tour guide, of course) one of the active ones.  Also, we have been given safety briefings and updates for the last several days, and have been recommended not to go to Tikal (Ancient Mayan Ruins-requiring a flight) on our own or Guatemala City at all.  Antigua is supposed to be the safest city in Guatemala, so I'm not anticipating any issues.  Once we're back on the ship, its crazy to think that we'll only have a handful of days before we are in Fort Lauderdale.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!!! (but not excited for this journey to end)

-Ari