Today is my second full day on the ship and I am just getting the hang of things. As I mentioned earlier I only decided to participate in this voyage about a month or so ago. It has been nonstop chaos but I think things are finally about to settle down. Moving in day was exhausting and busy. After waiting in line in customs and hauling my 5 huge bags through the machines I boarded the ship and came back off to eat lunch with my family. Everyone had to be back on the ship by two and then we attended a few meetings and the ship took sail at five. I was in my room and looking for my key so I missed waving by to the parents on the ship decks. I had been rushing and really been looking forward to that moment so when I reached the deck and could only see land in the distance I was extremely upset ( I actually almost cried.. time to grow up I guess). I called my parents and they told me how they saw me about 5 times and kept waving.. as I was holding back tears explaining that I was caught up and missed the whole thing. This ship is the siza of a small cruise ship with only enough room for about 1,000 people. Since ths ship is much smaller the rocking due to waves is much more noticeable. I have been feelign sick and taking medicine for sea sickness but it makes me extra drowsy. I am hoping I will get used to it.
I met a lot of people already. I met a few people at the bars in Halifax, Canada before boarding the ship and a lot of other people in classes and meetings. There are people on the ship from all over the world and its really interesting to find out where they are from and what they want to see in the different ports. Initially I wanted to sign up for bungee jumping, shark diving, sky diving and all the daredevil things they offer in the different ports ( I mean you only live once right?) haha I know my grandmother is thinking yes you only live once and you want to make it past twenty.. Its okay grandma I keep it as safe as I can. But, then my sister (who took this trip in Spring 09) explained that you really want to do things where you can meet the people and experience their culture and the way they live. She has a good point, while we have so much diversity and culture in the U.S. we are extremely sheltered. This trip offers a lot and I want to make the most of it (and do some daredevil things.. sky diving.. sorry grandma.. I’ll take pictures for you tho.. I’m sure you love seeing me falling from the sky.. haha miss you).
Anyways if you are a bit confused about how this trip works I’ll briefly explain. I am on a ship (a floating university) which includes tiny cabins used as dorm rooms, a library, a computer lab, classrooms, dining halls, a union, piano lounge, garden lounge, store/gift shop, places to buy food and snacks, a bar, gym, salon, and a few other places I haven’t check out yet. The ship is surprisingly accommodating, minus the size of everything. Every room and area on the ship is nice, but the are small. The rooms used as dorms are extremely tiny, the library is tiny and so is the gym.. but hey at least we have those things. I was in the gym and running on a treadmill is not exactly easy on a rocking ship. I will probably stick to jogging and the elliptical. Okay now besides for the layout of the ship each student must take at least four courses and a few take five which I refuse to do because I would rather spend time seeing the world than writing papers about it. Semester at Sea offers prepaid trips that students can sign up for. They offer a large amount and they include tours through different areas or trips to different places. A lot of the trips are pretty interesting, but students also have the option of setting up independent trips. When we are in port we basically have all the freedom in the world.. We just need to stay in the country that the ship is docked in. I have not signed up for any of the larger trips through semester at sea but each course requires students to sign up for day trips and the reflect by writing a paper relevant to their class. So far I am signed up for two trips one in Japan and one in Viet Nam which I’ll explain in one of my later blogs.
The ship has alcohol and since we are overseas and not in the U.S. we are all allowed to drink, but the ship only offers alcohol on certain nights (pub nights). Last night was a pub night and the rules are that you are allowed to have two drinks at dinner and then two drinks at upstairs bar later that night. The ship only sells wine or beer and dinner ends at 7:30 and the bar upstairs opens at 9 (yeah its crap I know). So basically at dinner I got two beers and poured them in a water bottle so I could drink them around 9 when I could have the other three. Smarttt. But I prob won’t get away with that at other pub nights because later in the night they got strict and didn’t even let people bring bags near the bar.. We’ll see. I chose to drink beer instead of wine because a wine hangover on a rocking ship did not sound appealing to me. Anyways for all of you who make fun of drunks at two beers, it was fantastic for me last night. I didn’t get wasted but at least I didn’t waste money on alcohol for no reason. It was a fun night and no hangover so no complaints. Class at 9:20 wasn’t fun but it was manageable.. I guess that’s it for this blog.. I won’t write everyday, but I’ll try to cover every ports.. Thanks for reading.. eventually I’ll add some pictures. First stop in Spain in a few days.
Oh yeah, for those of you who have my number and email.. I can get bbms, emails, and facebook updates on my phone but it has been slow so you might not hear back from me. I don’t advice texting me cause it will be expensive and odds are I won’t text you back unless it’s important.
