I've been M.I.A...

Hi everyone!

I've been home safe from Ghana for almost 3 weeks, and I will post an update about my time in Africa very soon. Everything from being sick in the hospital to traveling to the amazing connections I made with the people of Ghana. 

Thanks for waiting!

S

In The Home Stretch! May 29, 2015

We are 42 minutes away from landing in Accra, Ghana! Last night I got a child's meal, because, come on, I'm still a child in an adults body! So, I got chicken nuggets, Mac and cheese, corn, animal crackers, and a water. 

My meal was definitely better than the adult meal! I got more things and the adult meal looked really gross. It was some kind of beef and chicken with pasta in a red sauce. Even my seat neighbor didn't eat much of it! If I didn't get a child meal, I probably would have gone hungry.

I took my medicine (and made sure to take the maximum dose of my sleeping meds) at around 8:00 eastern time (midnight Ghana time) and they kicked in pretty quickly! I was asleep by 1:30 Ghana time.

I was awoken shortly after due to turbulence, and it scared the crap out of me! I was awoken from a sound sleep and literally thought we were crashing! I didn't sleep well after that, because let's face it, sleeping on a plane in economy class is pretty much impossible. On top of that, my travel pillow is in the overhead bin, so I had to use the pillow Delta provided, which deflated (like Tom Brady's balls... Just kidding! Matt don't kill me for saying that...) whenever I layed on it!

I woke up around 7am Ghana time, and my spine hurts SO BAD!!! It feels like I have huge bruises on it. (update, I think it was actually from my backpack, not sleeping) I played a game on the TV screen, but I was so exhausted that it didn't work very well. Then I tried to go pee, but the line was so long, and breakfast was about to be served. So, I went back to my seat. 

I got the child's meal for breakfast, which was a good thing again! I had fruit loops, milk, and a banana, and I ate EVERYTHING (including the banana which I usually hate, but I needed the nutrients). The adult meal was a breakfast sandwich, which didn't look very appetizing at all! It was burned and the cheese was crusty. My seat neighbor only took 3 bites of it and then put it in the trash. They also had little crouton thigs with a cheese spread and a granola bar. My seat neighbor didn't want hers, so she was kind enough to let me have it. It was delicious!!!

Now there is 26 minutes until landing. Yay! Ghana, here I come!

Going... Going... Ghana! May 28, 2015

Today my father and I left the house in Sharon at 11am. We drove to New York City so I could leave from the JFK airport, and the drive went by surprisingly quick! We parked in the short term parking lot at John F. Kennedy Internationl Airport. We were planning on having lunch before I went to the gate, but unfortunately there were no restaurants until after security. We checked my bags at 3:45- one of them weighed 50 pounds and the other weighed 52 pounds. The lady was nice enough not to charge us $100 for two pounds! I hugged my dad goodbye and got into the security line. It took about 15 minutes total to get through security, but it would have taken longer if it was a normal security. This is the second time at JFK that I got lucky with this special security. You don't have to remove your shoes, laptop, or phone from your bags! All you have to do is put them completely full through the scanner and walk through the metal detector... It's SO easy and the line moves pretty quickly! Thank goodness it does because my bags feel like they weigh 2000 pounds! They even left marks on my arms and bruises on my shoulders!

After I got through security, I had to walk past 40 gates to get to my gate! I felt like I was going to keel over and die before I made it to the gate! It took me half an hour to walk from security to my gate, and I was walking pretty quickly. I stood to the side, and waited for them to call Zone 2. My mom called me while I was waiting, and told me that Michele and Kaylee had been trying to FaceTime me. When I was on the phone, I heard the gate attendant say that everyone needed a stamp on their boarding pass, which I didn't have yet. I quickly got off of the phone and went to the desk to get a stamp, and while I was waiting they called my zone to start boarding.

I got in line and got on the plane, and I was still struggling to carry my bags. When I got to my seat, a nice gentleman helped me put my 1000 pound bag in the overhead bin. I didn't even think my backpack would fit under the seat because it was so stuffed! Then I realized that there was someone in my seat. I told them that I was in 35G, and the lady in my seat pulled out her ticket, and it turns out she is in 35E, though I'm pretty sure she already knew that! The lady next to her then sat in my seat and I said again, "I'm in 35G" and she let me into my seat. She is from Ghana, but moved to Virginia 8 years ago!

We were then waiting for the grounds crew to fill up our plane with water. The captain came over the speaker and told us that we were ready to leave.

Not even 2 minutes later, he came over the speaker again and told us that U.S. Customs pulled a passenger from the plane, and that his 5 bags had to be found and removed fr the belly of the plane. It has been over 45 minutes and they have only found 3 out of the 5 bags!

The sights and sounds around me are fascinating. I see so many beautiful African people. I am one of less than 10 white people on the flight!

I hear English and another language (I'm guessing Twi) being spoken. I hear the lady to my left singing a song in that language. I can't wait until I'm in Ghana to see and hear even more new things!

It is now 6:26, when we were supposed to leave for Ghana at 5:05. I hope IVHQ is tracking my flight since we will definitely be arriving late. 

They just passed out immigration forms. 

We are finally leaving! I'll write later today!

Goodbye to Miss Kaylee for 11 weeks...

Ummm... I leave three days from today? What is Happening?!

This past weekend I went camping with my fiancé, mother, and her friend for Memorial Day weekend. My sister and my niece, Kaylee, were supposed to come camping too, but unfortunately they weren't able to come. Today I am saying goodbye to my niece for 11 weeks, and I am extremely sad. My niece is my world and it is going to be so hard to be away from her for that long. I'm sure that I will make some new friends at the orphanage that will remind me of Kaylee, and they will be my niece in spirit!

To My Love, Kaylee Lynn:

Nay Nay is leaving to go to Ghana to help some kids that need some love. I am going to miss you so much, but I will be thinking of you everyday while I'm gone. Maybe someday when you're older, you can come back to Ghana with me and meet my new friends! I'm sure they would love you and that you would learn a lot. If you miss me, just give the pillow I gave you a big squeeze and I will feel your love all the way in Africa. I love you so much baby girl, and I will never forget about you. 

Love you so much,

Nay Nay

Ten Days... Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink!!!

Pink is the Color of Love!

My mother, Jenna, and I got our placement for our Ghana trip yesterday! We are placed in the Pink Program (IVHQ has different colors for each program) which is in Dodowa, Ghana, Africa! We are so excited because this is the program we requested and we couldn't be more thrilled about being able to be in this program! 

The orphanage that we will be working in is called Potter's Village. It is about a 5 minute walk from our volunteer house, which is not bad at all! Other programs you have to pay to take a trotro to and from the orphanage every day. It adds up, so we are very lucky! There are about 90 children living at Potter's Village, ranging from the age of 1 all the way to young adults. 

The volunteer house, my home for 9 weeks, is actually not too bad. There are 3 bedrooms with bunk beds in them, a living room area, a bathroom (without running water... bucket flushing and bucket showers for the win!) with two toilets and a shower, a dining area, and a kitchen. We do not have to cook for ourselves, as we have a cook living on site! The difference from living at home to living in Ghana is a drastic one, and will take some getting used to. But, I will make the best of it, and it will be rewarding living like the Ghanians do!

Click here to see a video of what the volunteer house looks like (it has been updated a bit since this video was made).

I am SO EXCITED to be in Ghana, but I am also very nervous. I am nervous about missing my family and my fiancè, Matt. I'm nervous about being in a foreign country all alone. I am nervous about getting malaria or another sickness. I am nervous that I will not like it there, and I will be very homesick. I am nervous about being hit on by multiple Ghanian men (I read in my Ghana guide book that Ghanian men love to hit on white or "obruni" women and will profess their love for them and propose). I am nervous about not getting along with the other volunteers and there being drama there. I am nervous about not liking the food, and being hungry the whole time because of it. I am nervous about not liking the water sachets and having to spend a ton of money on bottled water. I am nervous about getting lost while traveling. I am nervous that the kids wont like me. I am nervous about having to get up so early to bathe and feed the children, that I will be asleep by 8pm.

No matter how nervous I am about all of these things, I am even more excited to have the opportunity to make a difference in these orphan's lives! I am excited to meet the children. I am excited to be loved by so many kids at once. I am excited to make friendships that will last a lifetime with other volunteers. I am excited to learn how to be on my own. I am excited to learn about the culture and history of Ghana. I am excited to try new foods. I am excited to travel to places that I have never been. I am excited to go to Mole National Park and possibly to see elephants! I am excited to see if I have the strength to be on my own for 6 weeks. I am excited to go to the markets. I'm excited to experience church in Ghana, even though I am not very religious. I'm excited to have clothes made just for me, from cloth that I pick out. I am excited to possibly have a drum made for me (thanks Jenna for the awesome idea!). I am excited to be able to experience this with my mom. I am excited to be able to live like the Ghanians do, so that I can be grateful for everything we have in America.

T minus 10 days until my life is changed forever!

Things to Remember on a Cruise to the Caribbean...

Things to Remember on a Cruise to the Caribbean

Last month I went on a 5 day cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel on the Carnival Paradise. I did a ton of research before leaving and found some very useful and handy tips that I shared with my family... It still didn't prepare some of my family members enough. So, here are some quick tips on what to bring and a few things to do in Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

• Do NOT forget your Passport/Birth Certificate & I.D!!!- Picture this... My fiancè, niece, and I have just arrived into the cruise port in Tampa, and we are waiting for my sister and mom to get there on the next shuttle from the airport. *buzzzzzzz* My phone rings, it's is a call from my mother. 
• MOM: Hey, do you have Michele's Birth Certificate? 
• ME: Ummmm, no..... Why would I have her Birth Certificate? I gave it to her a few weeks ago... 
• MOM: Well, she doesn't have it.

• So then when they finally get to the port, we are basically forced to wait in this small closed off box until someone from customs comes over (aka 10000000 minutes), and talks to my sister. She was not going to be allowed to board the cruise ship, so she calls her school and has security break into her dorm room and search her room for her birth certificate. Just don't do it.
• Do not leave your phone in the stroller in the hallway!- My sister left her iPhone 6 in the stroller and it got snagged by someone passing by our room and was never returned.

Unusual but Useful Things to Bring Along

• Duct Tape- Just bring it, I guarantee you will use it for something! My sister posted signs on our door trying to get her phone back, and used the duct tape to stick them on. You never know what you'll need it for, but it won't take up too much space in your bag!
• Highlighter- We used it to highlight things on the "Fun Times" paper (the paper that has all the activities for the day on it) that we wanted to do that day.
• Clothespins- The shower curtain blows into the shower and sticks to your soapy body. Clip clothes pins onto the bottom = Problem solved!
• Small Pouch on Clip or Lanyard- I went to Walmart looking for a lanyard to put my Sail & Sign Card (a card you use to make all onboard purchases on carnival) in. I found a lanyard on clearance that had a small pouch on the end, and it proved to be VERY useful! I put the Sail & Sign Card on the outside where an ID would usually go. Inside the zipper, I put my driver's license, the schedule for the day, a small map of the ship, and if it was a port day, I put the cash I wanted to bring with me off of the ship. Put the pouch on a lanyard or clip (then clip it to your belt loop) so that you won't lose it!
• Magnetic White Board- Put it on your cabin door and ask people a question (ex. How many cruises have you been on? What is your best cruise tip? etc.). People will answer!
• Sticky Notes- We used sticky notes to tell other family members where we would be and stuck it to the mirror in our state room.

Fun Things to Do in Cozumel and Grand Cayman

I would suggest that if possible, always do an excursion on your own and not through the ship. The cruise line gets a chunk of the cost of the excursion, so they charge extra to customers going through the cruise line. Our excursion in Cozumel was not offered on our sailing (but is offered on other Carnival sailings), so we booked directly through the company. It saved us $20 each, for a total of $80 savings!

Grand Cayman: We went on an excursion through our ship to the Turtle Sanctuary, because we did not have a lot of time, and we wanted to make sure we got back to the ship on time.  It was absolutely amazing! The bus driver picked us up from the port and gave us a hilarious (and free!) bus tour of the island! It was so great, and so funny! We got to hold baby turtles (a lot bigger than we expected), snorkel with turtles and fish, swim in a chlorine pool that had a fun water slide, feed exotic caribbean birds, look at nurse sharks and other fish, and watch the sharks being hand fed! They also have a package where you get lunch included (we didn't do this, but some people on our bus did) if you wanted to do that. This was the highlight of our trip and I would recommend it to anyone going to Grand Cayman!

Cozumel: I got a AAA travel book for Mexico and the Caribbean, and I read about an awesome ranch, Rancho Buenavista, that offered tours of the Mayan Ruins on horse back. I really wanted to go, but it was not offered on our sailing. I ended up calling them and booking directly through the ranch. It was $70/person that way instead of $90/person, which was the price they offered on the ship. The ranch is amazing because they treat the horses SO well! The horses do only one tour a day and other than that, they get to roam freely on the ranch! When our tour was done, we got off of the horse, and then the horse just went on its way with the saddle still on and went into the pasture without even a staff member leading them! We ended up getting our own private tour with just the 4 of us, which was really amazing! First, we had a quick lesson on how to ride western and how to control the horse. Then we went and got our helmets and went to get our horses. The tour was about an hour, and we got to see tons of Mayan Ruins (not huge ones, but things like pots and pans and some statues). We even got to go into a cave that the Mayans used to hide from enemies. It had a ton of ruins in it, many that were still fully intact! After the tour was over, we got to chose our complimentary soda or water. Then we were put into the bus and went to a nice beach that had hammocks and chair swings. We got some authentic Mexican guacamole and salsa with homemade chips. The beach was not good for swimming because it was rocky and the water was rough, but it was nice to relax!

I had so much fun on my cruise, and I hope I helped you a little bit on deciding what to pack and some things to do!

Umm... How Do I Do This?

Umm... How Do I Do This?

My First Blog Post

Hi everyone! My name is Shannon Rogers. I am 21 years old and LOVE to travel! This year alone, I have traveled/am traveling to Grand Cayman, Mexico, Ghana, and New Zealand. I figured I would start a blog to document my adventures, and to help other travelers who are going to some of the countries I am going to or have been to!

Let me tell you a little about myself. I am from the Boston, MA area and I am a college student in Wellesley, MA. I have been stuck in a community college for almost 4 years because I am dumb and goofed off for the first 2 years. I am very close to graduating and transferring to a state school to get my BA in Psychology and eventually my Masters in Social Work. I want to work in a school as a School Psychologist or an Adjustment Counselor... It's so hard to decide!

On another note, I am engaged to be married on August 6, 2016 to an amazing man named Matthew Silvia (Matt for short)! We have been together for over 2 1/2 years and it has been the best years of my life. We are having a rustic/country wedding in a barn in Holliston, MA. It was the first venue we looked at and we fell in love with it (and the price)!! We already have 140 guests on the list and the venue can only hold 100. It's going to be hard to make the list smaller because it's virtually all family and literally 2 friends. Anyways, enough about that!

I have a 3-year-old niece, Kaylee Lynn Rogers, who is my world. Before she was born, I was going through a very rough time with a major life decision that I was forced to make, and that I regretted so much. When I saw Kaylee's beautiful face and got to hold her for the first time, my whole perspective on life changed completely. I was brought out of the deep depression that I was in and on that day, I vowed to myself and to her to be the best Auntie I could possibly be. Recently my sister, Michele, moved to Pennsylvania with Kaylee and I am still so heartbroken. I only see her one weekend a month, when I used to see her at least twice a week. It has been 5 months that Kay has been gone, and I'm still so lost. I am missing out on so many things that she is doing... She is growing up so much and I am missing it all. The only good thing, and I mean ONLY good thing, about it is that when she sees me she is so much more excited than before, and she doesn't want to leave my side. No matter how far away she is, I love her more and more every day.

That's all for now, folks! Look for my next blog post titled "Things to Remember on a Cruise to the Caribbean!"