Field Programs!

After what seemed like an agonizing wait of postponements, the filed programs are finally up! I have to say that the extra time it took to put these together was well worth it. The options are better and cheaper than what I was expecting. I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but a lot of the things students expressed interest in on our facebook wall ended up being SAS field programs. The filed programs are basically the trips that SAS offers at each destination. Some are faculty led which we have to go on for our classes and some are led by local tour companies. We also have the option of booking our own tours or traveling independently, but I'm sticking to SAS tours for the most part.

One pro about sticking to the SAS tours is that they will do everything in their power to make them accessible. I know that pretty much all of the transportation is wheelchair accessible, even if SAS has to do some finagling to get busses with wheelchair lifts. Luckily, I can transfer so I won't be needing this, but it is nice to know. I plan on contacting the field program office this week to go over the trips I am interested in and to what extend they will be accessible. Also, most transportation and accommodation is air conditioned which will dramatically improve my endurance.

I am doing one trip in Africa that is not put on by SAS and I already see a potential problem. The trip is pretty awesome and will include touring a facility that raises cheetahs, tigers, and lions. Unfortunately the website states that people with disabilities are not welcome and if they find out you are disabled, they will keep your money and not let you participate. Supposedly it is for safety reasons, but placing a blanket ban on anyone with disabilities shows a huge lack of understanding. The moral part of me really wants to boycott the facility due to it's policy regarding people with disabilities, but the selfish part of me wants to go anyway. I have the luxury of having a mostly invisible disability so I could probably do this and no one would notice. Right now the plan is for me to participate and then talk to the manager of the facility afterwards about the unfair policy. I hope to show them that I successfully participated with a disability and in light of this perhaps they should change their policy.

There are so many exciting options offered by SAS and I would love to go into detail of exactly what I am going to sign up for, but that would result in a small novel of text and limit the surprise factor for later. :0) Here are some hi-light though:

A Safari near Kruger National Park! The tent style accommodation looks really fun and there is also lots to do in the area including visiting an endangered species rehabilitation center.

Many service visits working with local and international groups. The service visits include things like cooking meals for orphanages, volunteering for Operation Hunger, and providing activities for kids who are disabled.

A 6 day tour of TIBET!!!! and China. I have to admit I am worried about the altitude for some of the trip, but I won't know if I can do it until I try.

Lots of home-stays and village visits where local people will share culture, daily lives, and noms!

Coming back to the present (oh so difficult with sailing in the near future!), I am almost done with trip preparations. I went to get my vaccinations on Wednesday and ended up only needing typhoid, meningitis, and the flu shot. I still need to get my yellow fever shot, but that is posing a little bit of a problem. Since I have taken medicine in the past that would lower my immune system (and being sick in general tends to lower it) I try to avoid live virus vaccines. Unfortunately the yellow fever vaccine is only available as a live virus vaccine and I absolutely have to have it to get off of the boat in at least two of the countries. I did some research and decided to go ahead and get the vaccine (I don't appear to be at much more risk for side effect than anyone else). Since the travel clinic knows my medical history, I have to go to my internist and get a note from him that I can have the shot. It's quite a bit of hassle, but worth it to keep people safe. The travel clinic also gave me a huge list of potential hazards in every place I'm visiting. That combined with having taken a few infection diseases classes is enough to make even an easy going person a little paranoid. I will definitely be loading up on the bug spray with DEET, purchasing the insect repellant spray for clothing, and staying well away from wild animals. The last one will be difficult for me because I have a hard time resisting petting a friendly animal. (This may or may not be how I was bitten by a kangaroo...)


Danger? What danger?


I am still looking for gifts for my home-stay families, but I did order the popping thingies from the Oriental Trading Company which should arrive in a few days. I was also thinking of bringing pennies and nickels to hand out since it can be kind of cool to have currency from other countries.

Every day I just keep getting more and more excited!

Less than 60 Days to Go!!!!

Right now 60 days seems like an eternity, another lifetime away. I wish I could speed up time and be on that ship now!
Anyone got a Tardis they could spare? I'm trying to immerse myself in getting ready and enjoying the holidays as a distraction and I would say it is working marginally well. The getting ready part is quite a job actually. Since my parents had handled everything when we traveled in the past, all of the visas, vaccinations, reservation making, etc. is a huge wake up call for me. To make sure I stay organized I have a SAS to do list. Luckily, I am making some good progress. Here is what the list looks like:



I also check the SAS facebook group every day to stay caught up on news and "meet" people before we actually get to the ship. So far everyone seems really nice and excited for the trip. Someone even made a website for us that organizes our discussions and has lots of links to great resources.

Because I have an inborn tendency to create projects for myself, I guess it isn't surprising that several projects have sprung up around my trip. As I mentioned before, I'm making a picture book to help with communication. Here's a page from it:



I'll laminate the pages and then put them all on a flash card ring so they are durable and easily accessible. I don't plan on using it much but it would be nice to have in a pinch. (As I learned when my family's car broke down in rural France. Imagine trying to say you accidentally put diesel in a non diesel engine by hand gestures...)

I'm also working on hand-binding a leather journal that was going along well until I got my right arm casted (due to a wrist dislocation). Now it's sitting on my desk and patiently waiting until I can finish it. I'm modeling it after River Song's diary from Doctor Who and so far it looks pretty good.

I always like to bring little trinkets to give to people when I travel and am in the process of finding things to bring. So far I have sparkly bracelets for girls, those things that you blow into and the curly part shoots out, and some sets of marbels. I am thinking of also getting a large pack of popping balls for giving out to large groups of kids. That just leaves some gifts for my homestay families and I'll be all set. I'm having trouble coming up with what to get, so if you have any ideas, please send me a message!
What I mean by popping balls and the blowy party favors (they are surprisingly difficult to describe despite the fact that we all know what they are):



I think that's about it for now. :0) Just more waiting and getting ready for me.

TTFN

My First Post!

Even though I don't set sail for a little under three months, my Semester at Sea (SAS) journey really started over four years ago. I'll start my blog there to help put things in perspective. :0)



I first heard about SAS from another vendor at a study abroad fair during my sophomore year in college. As I was touring the various booths, the SAS brochure jumped out at me. I talked to the representative at the booth and knew within a few minutes that I would do everything possible to get me on one of those ships someday. The representative was really nice and gave me one of his last DVD's since I was so interested. I remember calling my mom later that evening and saying how much I wanted to go on the trip. I knew it would be a difficult thing to accomplish, but I didn't know yet just how difficult.



Four days after I first heard about SAS, I found myself in the emergency room with what I thought was a strange flu. After many tests and doctors appointments over the next few days it was discovered that I actually had suffered a stroke. As you can imagine, I was quite shocked since up until that point I was a healthy and energetic student and competitive soccer player. I found out that the stroke was due to a hole in my heart which I had closed through a fairly simple procedure on Halloween, 2007.
Though the procedure was a success and I have not had any more strokes, my health continued to deteriorate. At one point I was so weak and uncoordinated that I needed help to sit up. I remember watching the SAS promotional DVD and crying because I thought I would never be able to do something like that now that I was so sick.



Over the next several years (and MANY doctors/hospitals) I found out that I had a genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which causes the collagen in the body to not work right. This set me up for frequent injuries (usually joint dislocations) and vascular complications including the hole in my heart that led to the strokes. I also found out that I had a condition called dysautonomia which is where the autonomic nervous system does not work correctly. With the help of hard work and up to 17 medications a day, I saw an excellent recovery from the stroke. Within just four months of the stroke, I was walking short distances and had good enough coordination that hardly anyone would notice anything was wrong with me. The dysautonomia symptoms became my main hinderance because I felt like I had the flu or was about to pass out most of the time. I also began to have episodic weakness and seizure like episodes (I would shake but still be fully conscious.) Daily life was an enormous struggle, but I was able to back to school and continue my rehabilitation exercises. I was still in my wheelchair about 80% of the time when I left the house/dorm, but I did see slow improvements in my endurance and ability to stay upright without blacking out.



Through all this, I still kept studying abroad in my mind. I signed up for a summer program in London but was not able to attend due to complications from a digestive surgery. This was a huge blow, but a few months after I would have been studying in London, I began to casually look into other study abroad programs. I emailed and called countless offices inquiring about the accessibility of the program. Only one program got back to me with a response other than, "You can't participate in this program," and that was Semester at Sea. I learned that many students with mobility impairments and health conditions have successfully traveled on the ship in the past and that the shipboard lifestyle would work well with my limitations. For months I was going back and forth with the decision to apply. On one hand, I knew that it would be the trip of a lifetime and probably the only chance I would get to see some of these places, on the other, my doctors did not think I should go and my parents needed much convincing. I looked up to the later group as the people who got me through the last few years so it was very difficult for me to not just go along with what they suggested. I finally made up my mind that I would go and submitted my application last summer. It was a huge relief that the decision was made and I set about giving myself every opportunity to be successful on the trip.



One of the avenues I pursued to make my health more stable was looking into cutting edge medicine for my conditions. Not long after I applied, new research was released that suggested that most of my more frustrating symptoms could be caused by defects in the veins in my neck. I already knew I had the defect mentioned (formerly called chronic cerebrospinal insufficiency or CCSVI) so I scoured the internet looking for doctors who were treating this. I was lucky enough to find such a doctor almost in my own backyard. I sent him my medical records and he agreed to take me on as a patient. Two days before my 23rd birthday I had the appointment where he told me that the CCSVI could be causing all of my problems (except for the underlying genetic disorder) and that I could see a great improvement in my health if I had the surgery to fix the veins. I of course opted for this experimental treatment and had the surgery within a month on October 14, 2011.


This brings me to today where i can say that the surgery was an enormous success. Within two days after the surgery I was better off than before, even though I was still technically recovering. I have enjoyed spending the last couple of weeks with greatly increased energy levels and ability to remain upright. My wheelchair has been collecting dust unused in the back of my Mom's car. Though I was already committed to making SAS work, this new improvement will allow me even more opportunities. I still am not completely healthy but I have the next three months to continue to improve and am determined to use the adaptability that I have learned from the past four years to successfully travel with SAS.



Just the process to apply and get ready for SAS has been a thrill and a bit stressful. As the trip gets closer and I get more excited, I wish time would speed up and get me on that boat!



Too Long Didn't Read Summary: I got REALLY sick four years ago. I'm healthy enough now that I will have the amazing opportunity to travel the world via Semester At Sea. My health and mobility impairments will provide challenges, but I know that I am ready to take them on.



I also want to thank many people who have made this trip possible. I'll do my best to not make it sound like an acceptance speech...actually I don't think there's any way around that. haha I want to thank my family, especially my parents and brother who have encouraged me to pursue my dreams (once I convinced them that I would be safe). Without them I would not have gotten through this illness, let alone have the confidence and means to travel with SAS. I also want to thank the generous donors who have provided several scholarships that makes this trip possible. I want to thank the wonderful doctors and health care professionals who have treated me and helped me through some pretty rough times (especially Dr. Madej, Dr. Banks, Dr. Brown, Dr. Dake, Dr. Driscoll, Med Stop Urgent Care in San Luis Obispo, and the team at Mayo.) I want to thank the wonderful people who I have met through International Club (and Honors Program) at Cal Poly who inspired me to be a citizen of the world. I want to thank the Cal Poly Disability Resource Center (especially Jennifer) who not only helped me get through school, but also helped me research study abroad options and taught me how to be a strong advocate for myself. I want to thank my professors who went above and beyond with accommodations to help me get through school. Finally, I want to thank my amazing friends, spoonies, and DYNA family for always being a positive influence in my life and cheering me on. Without them I wouldn't be where I am today. (Which is a pretty awesome place, by the way.)