Semester at Sea Summer '09

My Classes:                              *** Drawing I ***                              *** Global Music ***                              *** Global Studies ***

Voyage Itinerary

                                                              Where?                                                      When?                                                                          

Depart Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada                       Tuesday, June 16th  1700                        

Cadiz, Spain                                                         June 24-27

Civitavecchia, Italy                                                 July 1-3 

Naples, Italy                                                          July 4-5

Dubrovnik, Croatia                                                  July 7-10

Piraeus (Athens), Greece                                       July 13-16

Istanbul, Turkey                                                     July 18-22

Varna, Bulgaria                                                     July 24-27

Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt                                       July 30- August 3

Casablanca, Morocco                                            August 9-12

Norfolk, VA, USA                                                  Saturday, August 22nd 0800

Monday, June 15^th -  Travel Day to Halifax, Nova Scotia

I have free internet tonight, so I have to take advantage of it!! 

***Well it was a hectic start to the trip… My flight from O’hare was at 7am and it was technically an international flight so I was supposed to be there at 4 or 4:30am.  Mom and I arrived on time and first attempted to check in on the computer, but oh shoot!- it only pops out my boarding pass to Detroit and not the ones to Toronto or Halifax.  We get in line and get my bag checked but problemo- because my connecting flights are United, not American, I have to figure out how to obtain boarding passes from them.. So we book it to Terminal 1.  Terminal 1 says go to Terminal 2 because my flight is technically United Jazz operated by Air Canada.  So this line doesn’t even move because no one is even a the counter! They didn’t start helping people until 5:30 so if the security line was long I could have been in trouble getting on my 7am flight!  Finally, we get helped only to be told to check in at the gate in Detroit.  Oof-da!  At least Mom and I know Terminals 1-3 like the back of our hands now!  I’m currently cruising above MI and realizing just how big our planet is. 

***The second flight was on a tiny plane with an open prop and of course I was stuck right next to it! ( This would be AFTER the 30 minute delay..)  The delay made me nervous, because in about an hour and a half I would have to get off the plane, take a bus to another terminal, go through customs, get my checked luggage, go through security again, get my boarding pass (and seat assignment I find out later on!) and nget to the pane!  Well.. I made it!  I’m sitting on the final plane right now ready to take off.  I also met 3 others from SAS, so some of the tension is lifter- they were really nice J 

***Instead of readingmy required book for the trip on this final flight, I took advantage of the free movies!  I watched Gran Torino, and really think Mom and Dad would like it..

Tuesday, June 16^th- Bon Voyage!

Position

21:35              43̊ 57.2N 62̊ 31.6W              19.3 knots

I woke up pretty early this morning because of the awkward Australian who got up around 7am and shuffled things around for an hour.  This would be after one of my roommates (whom I never met) staggered in around 5am and passed out (and was still out at 10:30 when we left!). I got up around 8 and headed to the art supply store and grocery store before my scheduled boarding time (1120).  I got to the art store too early, so I walked around Halifax far an hour and boy am I glad!  I checked out the harbor, walked up to the gorgeous park (Citadel) up on this massive hill and just walked the streets taking some pics.

We (hostel roomies) walked to Pier 21 to find a ridiculously long line awaiting.  It was after 1230 by the time I go on the ship- lost, confused, not really knowing anyone and nervous!  Seeing as I’m a V, I got last dibs on bed selection, so I’m in the side room of our quad without the window.  I’m actually REALLY glad though, because my roommate- Jon- rocks!  The other two are definitely unique but good in their own ways as well.  The food is pretty good so far and I’m starting to make friends.  The twin sisters next door seem really nice and a girl from Madison (one of 4 of us!) and her roommate are hilarious.

I’m in room 3161 which happens to be the LAST room on Deck 3… right above/next to the engines… I couldn’t help but laughing for a half hour about the noise and vibration when I first heard/felt it!!!  We compare it to a small airplane riding next to the propeller… with turbulence. I can see why our room was $1000 cheaper!  Also, I hopped into bed tonight and realized there is a leak/drip coming from the ceiling landing right on my feet… perfect.

Other highlights of the day:

Bagpipers upon departure

Doing a 720̊ spin in the harbor before actually deciding which way the ocean was

Realizing I didn’t bring enough warm clothes (my small group which is one of the maybe

8 that meets outside appropriately named ourselves “Goosebumps”)

Playing BS out on Deck 6 after dinner

The Deans knowing that nobody actually read the book and coming out with a posted

summary we should read “just in case”

Wed (oops, the ceiling just peed on my computer) nesday, June 17^th- Brr, Bore, Barf Day

Position

0652                42̊ 58.14N  58̊ 53.0W             17.3 knots

1637                42̊ 1.8N 55̊ 27.90W                       17.0 knots

The day started at 0645 because we (Jon and I) wanted to workout before hitting up breakfast.  I slept like a baby and the room is completely dark without a window, so I could actually sleep in here! We used the outdoor weights on Deck 7, ate, took a “hot” shower and headed to our ridiculous small-group discussion on the book we were supposed to read.  My leader is pretty cool and knew we didn’t read it (he’s an engineer too!) but we had a nice discussion about the main idea for 2 hours in the freezing cold. (you could see your breath!)  The rest of the day basically held orientation/dirtywork/information.  The first meeting was in the union and within 15 min. at least 20 people had left.  At first I wondered why and thought it was really rude, but then it hit me too- seasickness.  The waves are terrible today! Apparently, a crewman of 11 years who has never been seasick is sick today and they say this is pretty bad compared to normal seas.  Hopefully storm stories doesn’t come ture, but we are in a system which is supposed to last 2-3 days.  I had to get up and hobble to my room to lay down and was just about to puke over the toilet before snapping out of it and sleeping a while. 

I made it to lunch and felt great!  I ate with the neighbors and really feel like I’m making friends now.  Another tidbit out my room- because of the 77% female 23% male student body, the closet male cabin to us is at least 6 doors down! (haha, no worries Julie :) ) We sat through 3 hours of boring stuff in a satellite room (too many students to fit in the union so we watch on screens) and went to meet my Art teacher after that.  It was less than 10 min. in the Union before feeling sick again.. The U is at the front of the ship which bobs a ton compared to my back-40 thunder-hole now appropriately named The Lair)  I feel fine everywhere except for that room.

There is a book of student-taken photos given to every student (in color too!) at the end of the trip, so my goal is to get ONE of my photos into that and maybe help out if possible.  I also signed up for the extended family because Aimee told me too… even though it sounded cheesy!!

The rest of the night we started chillin’ in the hallway to make new friends and met the next girl down from the twins (Hillary) and her two friends, so that was fun.  We ate 2/3 of the 2lbs of Jelly Bellies!!!

Thursday, June 18^th- C1

Position

0852                40̊ 30.24N            49̊ 59.9W 19.3 knots

1424                40̊ 18.96N            48̊ 9.13W 15.1 knots

Classes began today, which seemed REALLY weird.  About 10 min. before my first one (Global Studies) it hit me that we are actually going to be busy with these and that there are College classes with 10 weeks of material covered in 3 weeks of class-time.  I popped a Dramamine right before because class was in the Union, and died right at the start!  I made it through all three, but my schedule sucks, because I have classes when lunch is served, so in 15min I have to snag something, unless I can find a bagged lunch somewhere.

Global Studies would normally be really boring with all that history, but the professor is young and fun, AND we will learn about the region of travel- however not in order and not really modern culture which I am REALLY bummed about.  Global Music is definitely not what I expected… it is more like musical anthropology, so there is a lot of reading, but also very interesting and we will cover fundamentals as well- today I learned about harmonics so that was interesting.  Expanded Drawing will be an experience!!! The instructor is sooo scatter-brained.  The 600-feet of thread I had to bring will be used on our first assignment- “draw the ship” with that… hmmmm…  Her examples:

1-     the ship is 597’ long, string it from front to back (well, that would be nice but we can’t even get NEAR the front… and that’s ridiculous)

2-     form the shape of a life-ring we can throw overboard (well, that would be nice but we would be shot for throwing something into the ocean- that’s like the biggest rule!)

3-     string it around the deck wherever you go (um… about that…)

She also gives us a book-assignment from the ONE copy of the book she has on ship and we had to scan pages on the ONE scanner (which is now broken because of this)  of our favorite drawing.  It is finally warming up a bit though (high 60s) and the sun poked out for the first time.

Tonight we (Jon [roommate], J&J [twin neighbors], Tim [roommate]) started planning a trip to Santorini, Greece.  Before you knew it we had 10 people wanting to go and ready to book!  The group is so fun, and if you haven’t seen pictures of Santorini, look it up!  It used to be a giant volcano that blew up and has beaches, beautiful water, white houses, volcanic activity, nature, cliffs, etc.  We were all so excited after planning that Jon & I stayed up until 2am making a pretty little calendar like the twins had, so now I’m all organized and know exactly what I’m doing when.  However, the 2am is a killer, time changes are a killer! This is the 2^nd lost hour in a row and tomorrow is another!

Friday, June 19^th- Santorini Planned!!  Bye, bye seasickness!

Position

0053                40̊ 40.5N  44̊ 48.5W 15.6 knots

1538                40̊ 37.6N  40̊ 14.3W 13.8 knotsà became VERY rough again and had one wave that knocked picture frames over when I was in the room! But I haven’t been sick since that one day :)

Class-day two.  Since I stayed up late, I didn’t get up to workout and slept until 15 min. before breakfast ends.  I waiting for Jon whose alarm didn’t go off so we missed it by TWO minutes! Ahhhh! I had a few pretzels, but had to scarf down only a half of a sandwich and an apple in 5 min. at lunch.  Classes were extremely interesting today, I “drew” the ship, which didn’t go as planned.

First I drew the outline of the ship, put all these staples through on the corners and planned to wrap my 600’ of thread around to form an outline.  But first I had to measure out 600’ because I had too much so I wrapped it around the table and chair in my room 70 times to do that! Well, it got tangled and went to Plan B and just took pictures of the wrap-job which after editing turned out pretty sweet!

Jon’s Mom wrote about Santorini and there actually is a flight so we rounded up the troops at 2030 to book tickets.  Well, with slow internet (and on the clock… STRESSFUL), we worked around the two sites that didn’t work, worked around the lack of round-trippers, and successfully booked the last two days of Greece.  Wed.-Thurs., July 15-16 for $300 after Euro conversion.  We figured this is the most gorgeous island so it was worth the splurge, but I’m a little nervous on money, I’ll have to be cheap the rest of the time!  We’re hoping to get a hotel room and all crash in the same room so save money.. so far we have 7 with 3 more interested- we are all soooooo excited!

It turns out Jackie (neighbor) is more into photography than I am, so I can’t wait to get some pointers/ have someone to take pictures with without feeling awkward, and possibly even try out her $1000+ camera!  We hung out in the hall and it actually felt like summer (one of the few times I have had that feeling so far this summer!), but now it’s 3am with the time-change… BED!

Saturday, June 20^th- Beautiful Blue, Meditate, Enjoy

Position

0153                40̊ 27.52N            36̊ 50.2W 15.2 knots

1513                40̊ 3.2N    32̊ 51.3W 15.4 knots

It’s so weird to say that this is Saturday! These days just blend together.  It’s also extremely weird to say that we have only just reached the midpoint to the FIRST country!  It feels like I’ve been gone for so long!  Today is supposed to be spontaneous, crazy, or fun day according to Julie’s letters, which hasn’t quite happened yet, but I’ll keep ya posted!! 

I went to run on the treadmill (VERY difficult at sea, but I managed 3 miles at about a 7:30 pace still, but made sure to have the emergency stopper on!!) and then sat out on Deck 7 away from the people and took my first ME time.  I sat for about 20 minutes just thinking, admiring, meditating, while listening to music:

Chairlift- Bruisesà thanks Jules, this is my temporary favorite and have listened

to it at least 10 times!

John Butler Trio- OCEANà  I cannot believe this is the first time I’ve played this! I do not have the Federation Square version which sends chills down my spine every time, but it is still a version of the best song ever written, and is especially effective while physically looking at the ocean.  It really got me thinking, here are just a few thoughts:

1-     WOW! There is so much water… you would never physically grasp how much until you sail through 4 days of it with no visuals of land. 

2-     I do miss home a bit!  I’m not much of a home-sicker, but there are a few things I know I will be missing!

3-     The trip is already a success and I haven’t seen a single country yet! (minus Canada)

4-     I miss me time and will be taking more of that!  I really came to thinking about home, how lucky I am to be here, how beautiful it all is (and the sun JUST came out for what looks like a while!!!), how crazy this whole trip is, and how out of my element I’ve felt a majority of the time, yet how much stronger it is making me…

I’m not the most outgoing guy, but this is like starting college again with NO ties to home, so I’m much more confident already about talking to random people..

Even though I’m not taking Engineering Classes, I feel like this is such a growing experience than I will confidently be able to talk about it in an interview.  Just seeing the world in a different way is refreshing and inspiring.  I’m sure I would have written a song already if I had my guitar, no doubt.  But then again, there just isn’t enough time in the 23-hour day.

Sunday, June 21st- Bridge Tour