I haven't posted in a while, so let me catch up:
6/15
Today at 8, we began checking in students. The line to board the MV Explorer stretched outside the pier and wrapped around the block. Although the boarding times for students were in alphabetical order, most students arrived much earlier. Unfortunately, some of the students’ luggage got lost in transit. Others did not label their luggage and it did not make it from the pier to their cabin.
When all of the students boarded, we began our lifeboat drills. All of us put on life jackets and stood in front of our corresponding lifeboat. They look watertight and sturdy, like they could take on any weather. I guess that’s a sigh of relief. The captain told us this was the best evacuation drill he’s ever seen on the MV Explorer! Soon after, it was time to disembark. Many parents, previous staff, and SAS alums waved goodbye to us as the anchor lifted. When we started heading out to the Atlantic, we had dinner followed by a community meeting and our individual sea meetings. Instead of floors/decks, we have seas. I am a program advisor for the Arabian Sea and all of the students are so excited to be here.
6/17: Long day of orientation. We learned what to do in emergency situations like having a man overboard and the captain also advised us not to try and hang out with our fingers in the door jam. Rogue waves have been known to hit and many fingers have been amputated. The day started at 0800 and did not end until 2200, the end of our second sea meeting. We played Apples to Apples last night....that was fun! Bad news: we are entering a new timezone and must wake up an hour earlier tomorrow.
NOW.....THE CURRENT HAPPENINGS!
Today is 6/17 and we just had our first day of classes. The unfortunate part? After all the excitement of sea/community meetings, we entered a new time zone and had to wake up an hour earlier to get to class on time at 0800. To top it off, we all woke up to a roll so hard it knocked all of our belongings off the desk and shelves. My roommate and I had a good laugh because I was brushing my teeth in the background and she woke up to the crashing and me stumbling out of the bathroom door with a toothbrush in my mouth saying "oh crap!"
I had breakfast with my professor this morning. She used to live on a sailboat and still suffers from occasional seasickness. She advised me to put a "barf bag" in my back pocket just in case...when we hit rough seas, I almost had to use it! Luckily, the infirmary has free mecklizine (sp) outside of their office for students. It works really well!
Class is awesome. It is difficult for me to pay attention sometimes because I'm still on Cloud 9 from this whole experience and looking outside. She is holding on to the podium to keep herself stable, but we got through class one successfully. This class will demand a lot, but the ship is very accommodating to various study techniques. I hung out in the faculty/staff lounge today at the front of the ship sipping coffee and reading the texts. There is a beautiful view of the ocean in front of us. Whenever the ship would take a hard roll to starboard (as it seemed to do every now and then), this young teacher next to me and I would giggle. A new friendship started at that moment and we got together for lunch in the aft of the ship. She just graduated with her masters in education from Teachers College (Columbia U) but currently teaches hockey. She used to play for UVM. She even lives in Russia for a while to coach their team.
(I realize this next passage is in past tense. I don't feel like modifying it so please just bear with me. )
Tonight we had 2 optional lectures to attend. One lecture featured a ton of information about things to do in Spain/Barcelona, the other had to do with a disturbing video on alcohol that was shown during orientation. For my job, I attended the alcohol one. Afterward, I went to the observation deck at the front of the ship where a professor showed us how sailors would navigate the stars. The captains turned the outside lights of for us.
Dinner today was awesome. We sat on the outside deck to watch the ocean and the wake, but we saw DOLPHINS!! They couldn't keep up with us though....we must have been traveling at 20 knots. It is not uncommon for students, faculty, and staff to just gaze out at the ocean and take it all in. Sometimes I will just stop in my tracks to look at the view. I have NEVER seen an ocean this blue. I wonder if I will ever have the chance to travel this far again on a ship to see the Atlantic shift from brown/green to a beautiful blue.
This bring me to where I am presently, so yes: this is in present tense. I am sitting in the faculty lounge sipping a mojito and hearing about the many previous SAS voyages from the environmental science professor. This is his 17th voyage! A good deal of my seahort is surrounding me (as well as my roommate) and we are finishing up our reading.
We are setting our clocks forward another hour tonight since we are about to pass another time zone. This means I should probably go to bed soon....
Holly.
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