Semester long dream nears end

By: Brendan McNamara

Posted: 4/24/09

My name is Brendan McNamara, and I love dreams. This entire trip has been like one big dream. But, as often is the case with dreaming, if you aren't careful, your dreams can suddenly become quite strange.

If I learned one thing from Asia, it's that being white can actually be considered exotic. Japanese people will pull you off to the side in order to get a picture with you. Being in Japan before, and desperately wanting a picture with skirt wearing school girls, I figured that getting one would be a lay up, until I realized a flaw in my plan: other white people. Semester at Sea was full of them. I would no longer be the unique snowflake. I had to one- up them. If the Japanese wanted a picture with an American, then by God I would give them a picture with an AMERICAN. I would have to wear my cowboy outfit.

Now, as my fellow Texans may know, I am no cowboy. I am a shallow wannabe cowboy. But the Japanese don't know this. And that's all I need. I wore a black cowboy hat, snake skin boots, a snake skin belt, faded jeans and a western style graphic tee. I was going to either look like a cowboy or a homosexual. I figured either would get me a picture.

For once in my life I was right. Within hours I had school girls fawning over me and begging for pictures. This extended to old people and businessmen as well. Each picture is an example of jarring culture contrast. A Tokyo Cowboy. You just don't see that.

That night my friends and I figured that we should celebrate my photographic success by going out clubbing. We walked into this one bar where I heard a guy hollering about my cowboy outfit. I talked to him and found out that he was the bartender, and he was from San Antonio. He missed being able to dress like a cowboy. I told him that the highway construction wasn't done yet. He wasn't surprised. I asked for a jager bomb. He got a beer glass and filled it to the top with jager and handed it to me. Love that ex-pat bonding. I chugged the glass, thanked him, and headed out. An hour later I stopped remembering things.

I wake up in my boxers and cowboy hat with a hangover and an enticing mystery. Where are my clothes? And where am I? I look around and deduce that I am currently laying on a beanbag in some plastic tube. Alright. Good start. But like "Lost," this raises more questions than answers. I see my camera. Twenty new pictures on it. They all consist of me with swarms of drunk Japanese people. Hmmm. I push away the bamboo mat that covers my tube and poke my head out. Before me is a space aged catacomb. There are hundreds of tubes such as mine lining the walls. I feel like Neo waking up in the Matrix. All the tubes are empty. I crawl out, put on my cowboy hat, and walk down the deserted hallways. The hardwood floor creaks. The speakers are playing creepy lullaby music. Who plays this s***? I must be on the set of Dollhouse. I turn around the corner and see a disturbing site.
The worst part about dreams is when they turn into nightmares. In front of me are six naked Japanese guys. Well this is peculiar. Maybe I died, and now I'm in hell? Figures, I guess. I turn around because I deduced that whatever is on the opposite end of the hall is better than this side, when I run into my friend. He is clothed (thank God). He explains that last night they checked us into a so called capsule hotel which was connected to a spa. In these hotels you store your clothes in lockers. Apparently I refused to surrender my cowboy hat. Mystery solved.

This trip has been like a dream. As soon as I think I understand how things are going, I find myself in a completely different situation. As the ship sails towards the States I realize that eventually I will have to wake up and face the real world. T.S. Eliot once said, "We shall not cease from exploring. And at the end of our exploration, we will return to where we started, and know the place for the first time".

I'll see you guys at Trinity.

Junior Brendan McNamara is from Basking Ridge, N.J. and is currently participating in Semester at Sea.