My apologies in not posting earlier…but everyone knows I’m terrible with keeping in touch. I keep getting hate e-mails telling me to update my blog so here it is. J It’s only been a week and a half and I feel like so much has happened. So I suppose I’ll start from the beginning…
I saw the Scituate reservoir from the plane, I was not expecting that but it was really cool. It took me a second to realize it was the reservoir. I think it looks like a flying eagle.
Despite some rocky turbulence in the sky, everything went smoothly on the way to San Diego. No lost luggage, which was my biggest concern. Our hotel room was under construction so they moved us to an awesome villa room. The place was filled with college kids (obviously all Semester at Sea kids) so it was easy to meet people. We had lunch on the board walk and met people until dinner when we ordered pizza.
I was on the first shuttle to the ship the following morning, along with all the other work study students. I met up with a girl I had met the night before who was also on her own. Our bus got through the border fine but the other bus we were with held us up for an hour. Julieanne said a man came on their bus and played music for them and sold them churros. After an hour wait on the side of the road in Mexico, we began our 3 hour drive. It was beautiful. The coast was lined with colorful houses and Jesus statues overlooking villages. I wish I had brought my camera on the bus because the best part was the mountain ranges. After an awesome drive to Ensenada, we arrived at our ship! Customs went pretty fast and so did the process of getting on the ship. Then again, I was one of the first people on so there were no lines. I had time to unpack my room and grab lunch before I was put to work directing the rest of the students through the check in process. We had dinner than night on an outdoor deck. I was surprised how good the food was! The view of Ensenada was incredible. The sunset was every shade of orange. It took over the whole sky and reflected off the ocean making our surroundings completely orange. After an hour delay with immigration, we were allowed to leave port. We were warned that there are usually some rocky swells when leaving ports, but there was no warning about swells that awaited us on the open ocean…
I waited for the following day to explore the ship. It was orientation day so there were no classes and just a few welcome meetings throughout the day. I’m on the 3rd deck so I’m pretty far from most things but I’m also paying a lot less so I’m absolutely fine with it. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th decks are all cabins with students and faculty. The 5th deck has the main dining room and the crew’s rooms. It also has Tymitz Square where the field office, student activities, and purser’s desks are. The 6th deck has a smaller dining room where you can eat outside, a library, piano lounge, student union, computer lab, and all the classrooms. And lastly, the 7th deck has the wellness center (where most people go to exercise) and a pool deck with a snack bar.
Leaving port was really pretty during the sunset and that night we had a meeting telling us the rocky seas would be over soon…but they lied. For the next week we had completely taped our room. Our drawers, refrigerator, TV, etc. were taped and if you wanted something on a surface (alarm clock), you had to tape it. We had everything on the floor because it would go flying off surfaces. But even on the floor, stuff went flying everywhere. We were one of the lucky ones to not have our drawers ripped away from the wall and sent across the room or have our TV smashed to the floor so we were thankful for that. Nobody slept for the whole week because it was impossible to. Not only would you wake up every 5 seconds to something else flying but if felt like you were sleeping on a see-saw. Constantly shifting to the foot of the bed…then the head of the bed…then the foot of the bed…then the head of the bed…and again…and again…and again…
But I will say that sleeping was not the hardest part, nor was controlling the room. Walking in the halls was very difficult. It was actually kind of amusing to see everyone slam into one wall and then a second later slam into the other. It was an interesting way to meet people none the less. The bookstore was closed most of the time because nothing would stay on the shelves…never mind the library. For the first few days there were desks in the classrooms but we kept falling over like dominoes every wave so they eventually took them out…at least in my classes. Walking horizontally was my favorite part. Sometimes it was rocking such that you physically could not walk forward no matter how hard you tried. But if you fought it…you couldn’t stop walking when it rocked the other way
We went 300 miles out of the way to try to avoid the storm but it didn’t seem to work. I will say that despite the rockiness, the swells were beautiful!! I have captured some pictures of them but the camera just doesn’t do it justice. Lots of people have seen whales and there’s flying fish everywhere. There’s been a bird that has been following us from Mexico. I wish him luck getting back. The water is SO blue!! I keep trying to explain what New England oceans look like but the contrast is difficult to understand. Hopefully I will be able to post a picture of it at some point. It’s hard to fathom that I’m in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I’ve always wondered what it looks like. We have yet to see any other ships, just us. I’ve been told it’s really exciting when you do!
My work study is going awesome. I was assigned to the Health and Wellness Promotion section of Student Life. I was the only student assigned to this area and I work alongside the coordinator named Rob. He’s awesome and is on board with his wife and two kids. I like that there are kids on board because it makes for some diversity. We basically run events, host groups (vegetarian group, weight management group, etc.), put together bulletin boards, etc.
Classes are amazing. I haven’t had teachers this good since Cushing. I’m happy that I picked classes that are relative to my travels. I am taking a literature class about the sea by a really young, passionate teacher. We’re reading really good (but old) sailor books that tie into where we are going. I’m also taking a World Religions class with an incredible professor. I had no idea how knowledgeable they would be. He has studied under two famous American Rabbis for 2 years which led his curiosity to Christianity so he studied in a Catholic seminary in Rome for a year. Then he went and lived for 2 years in Japan in a temple which led to his curiosity of Hinduism. So he went to live in India to study Hinduism which led to his curiosity of Buddhism so he went to live in China to study there. He has since then taught these religions in America. Another amazing teacher is my Peoples of Africa teacher. She is a really sweet old lady who has done it all. She is an anthropologist who volunteered for a year teaching in Nigeria, spent another year teaching in Botswana, and a third year living in Tanzania. After teaching at an American university for years, she retired and joined the Peace Corps for 2 years in South Africa. I am very fortunate to have such amazing teachers and I look forward to learning from them.
The seas finally calmed down as we approached Hawaii and the sun came out! The decks were packed in between classes with people reading in the sun and playing cards in their free time. Some people have an idea of what they are going to do in port but most are leaving it open for anything that comes along. That is basically what Julieanne and I have done. Everyone is so sea sick and sick of the sea so Hawaii couldn’t have come at a better time!
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