didn't get off till 7am the next morning because we had to do
face-to-face immigration with the local officials. We started
immigration at 6am and it got done so fast we got off an hour earlier
than we were supposed to (which was 8am).
It turned out to be a cruise, hot, annoying, and disappointing
day.....all in one(or I should say half day). To say it was an
embarrassing day for Semester at Sea is an understatement. My day along
with Ashley, Daniela, and Jessey was spent walking into town from the
ship, finding their local market which had everything from souvenirs, to
freshly prepared foods and juices, and to fresh fruits and vegetables.
We bought little souvenirs, ate a cut pineapple and eaten like a
popsicle. Daniela got some white drink and it tasted like milk with a
whole lot of vanilla ice cream with it. After walking around the market
for a couple of hours we headed farther into town to find the bank to
get some local currency. Mauritius accepts US dollars and by then some
of us didn't bring enough money. We explored around and stumbled upon a
park while trying to find their handicraft center and it had huge
banyan-like trees with statues of past leaders. Caudan Waterfront which
is the newest waterfront built and is like the tourist center of
Mauritius was still closed. We took a little break there and ended up
leaving Ashely and Dani there and joining up with a couple of other
girls to find another market nearby. The other markets we went to were
not what we were expecting and mostly clothes and fabrics. We headed
back to the waterfront and quickly ate salads, wings, and other
appetizers for a quick lunch at a place called Black Steers which
actually a restaurant chain from South Africa.
By then, we saw many SASers have a handle of alcohol that they would
share with each other and taking swigs with a coke right after it. They
were just sitting at the waterfront the entire time we headed to the
other markets and were still there when we came back to eat lunch. There
were also many taking shots at the bar beneath the restaurant we ate at.
People yelling and screaming to the loud music could be heard at 11 in
the morning while we ate a light lunch. Heading to the water taxis to
cross the small man-made bay to get to the ship we could see fellow
SASers holding drinks and even heard a girl slur a little that she
needed more rum in her drink. We were the first to board out the boat
and many intoxicated (some drunk) followed afterwards, stumbling into
the boat, and not paying attention to the driver who was trying to
collect $2 from every person for the ride. The four of us kept rolling
our eyes at each other and in disbelief how loud, obnoxious,
disrespectful, and intoxicated some of these people were. The boat
finally got moving and we made it to the ship at 11:20am. On-ship time
was at noon and the four of us couldn't chance getting dock-time for
being late, we hurried in line to get our bags checked (for prohibited
items) and to swipe our ID cards at the security check-point. While in
line, a lot of people were very loud and yelling each other and asking
how their time was. Most people headed to the beach in Mauritius, but
not before stopping at a liquor store and stocking up on cheap alcohol.
Some people in line (I saw mostly girls) were still in only their
bikinis and were all sandy and had to be told by RDs that they had to
cover up to be let on the ship. Some girls had to be helped when putting
on their clothes. As we were about to board enter the gangway, we had to
move aside as a couple RDs helped a girl stumble onto the ship and to
the doctor's office to be put in the drunk tank.
We made it on the ship! It wasn't a long wait because the security was
very efficient and got us on at about 11:35. A little while after,
Ashley told me that there were about 20-30 people that are puking and
some are already in the drunk tank. It was ridiculous how many students
were drunk and Ashley and I were talking about how soo many people are
stupid for going that far. For the past few days that's all the faculty,
staff, and students have been talking about. How the faculty is
disappointed in the students, the Assistant Dean of Students (my
supervisor), has been busy for the past couple of days giving points to
people depending on how long they were on the drunk tank for. Points are
not a good thing btw. If you have 10 points it leads to expulsion from
the entire program which means you're off the ship and finding your way
home from whatever country we're at. I heard that you can get about 6-8
points for a good amount of drunk tank time. Another really
disappointing thing is one of my friends told me that they went to Flic
en Flac beach where most SASers went because it's the closest beach to
the ship (about 20 minutes drive) and the beach was trashed from all the
SASers. Trashed with beer bottles all over the sand and in the ocean. My
friends tried to clean up as much as they could, but there was just so
much from the hundreds of students. SAS does have that reputation of
being a booze cruise and being drunk around the world kind of program
because of those people that chose to drink excessively and are
irresponsible with their trash. It's sad that it's partly true and sad
that some people in the ports see us as those drunk college students
just taking a trip around the world. =/ I guess I have an idea of who to
stay away from though.
That was Mauritius! Yet another surprising port for this crazy journey.
>_< Now it's on to India! Hope we make a better impression in our
future ports compared to Mauritius
Miho
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