I'm on the ship (ship - not boat: very important). The weather has been kind of cold and the ship was really rocky especially the first few days. They said one of the crew has been sailing for 11 years and was seasick for the first time. I finally took off by seasickness bracelets last night and I'm not using the ship's meds anymore (they say non-drowsy but I'm not convinced). My room is (of course) right at the front of the boat - Room 4003. This means I have a mini roller coaster ride. I'm not bothered by it when I'm sleeping, but my roommate has spent the last 2 nights in her friend's room in the middle of the boat so she can sleep.
I'm taking 3 classes. Everyone on the ship (including all faculty and life long learners: aka non-college students) takes global studies. I thought this class would be more about learning about each of the places we're visiting but it is a little more historical. Plus the teacher wants to go in order of historical stuff so we are learning about Spain last. That would be fine except Spain is our first stop. Oh well. This class at 9:20 but breakfast ends at 8:30 so I'm still figuring out what the best way to do this is. Lunch is at 11:30 so if I miss breakfast that's the next time I can eat. So far I've been eating and then getting ready (what else can I do for an hour?). Today I saw girls wearing their pjs to breakfast so I might do that too eventually. Ok so then at 1:35 I have my social work in the global world class. This one seems really interesting. The teacher was a student on SAS so she's really understanding about everything. I'm so excited for our field work because it is going to visit orphanages. My next class is right after in the same room and it is beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors. This class seems good, too. There are no exams - just papers so that's nice.
A word out to UMass - I have friends from south Africa, and 2 other countries I can't remember. So when you tell students they can't do SAS because there isn't enough interaction with non-USA students, talk to me and then talk to people who go on your programs and only socialize with other students on that program and then compare. I win aka SAS wins aka let people do this voyage!!!!
Anyways.... I got some cute SAS clothes. They started selling out of stuff after the first day so one of my friends and I sat in line for over an hour and did work while waiting for the store to reopen (the sign said reopen at 4 - it was like 5 when the lady got out of the CPR training and back to the store). I know that sounds desperate, but we're in the middle of the ocean - there's not that much else to do. It's nice though because after dinner we studied outside on one of the decks by the pool. It is still a little chilly so I can't wait for it to be really nice so I can work on my tan (with plenty of sunscreen of course - no worries).
Ok so I have a huge range of people reading this (family, friends, teachers, etc.) so I'm not formatting it to anyone. Think of when you're really overtired and getting a little cabin fever and that's how I'm writing this (I thought I was doing okay until I told one of my friends that his compass probably doesn't work anymore because the cabins are made of magnets. Another friend agreed until he pointed out that they are not magnets - they are just metal. Oops, I knew that, really. Plus on our lunch announcements yesterday the asst. dean or whoever said it was Wednesday. It was Thursday. We think. It's very confusing. This is what happens when we lose an hour of sleep every night. Yup every night we push our clocks forward again and again.) Please excuse the rambling but it is whatever comes to mind.
I'm signing up for the rest of my trips today - hopefully I will get the ones I want. I also signed up to work with the kids on board (yeah yeah no surprise). They need to go through all the forms but I hope that works out, too. Ok time for lunch, I'll post more later. Check out my more exact location (although some tours of the bridge (captain's area) were cancelled yesterday because of navigation issues - comforting, right? I'm assuming they worked that out) and eventually slide shows from my voyage online at the link from my first post. Ooh also, they have a Dean's Memo everyday for info about stuff on e-mail, TVs, and paper. There's a quote of the day just like at TY, but one of my favorite parts is the rumor ranger. This lists rumors going around the ship and if they are not true. Yesterday's rumor:
"Today’s Rumors: The ship is currently traveling through an Atlantic storm that is expected to grow in intensity later tonight, complete with hurricane force winds and 50’ waves.
Response: False! The Captain advises the swells that we are experiencing are not uncommon for an Atlantic crossing. To give a sense of perspective, he rates these swells as a “5” on a 10 point scale (essentially, “moderate”). Further, the Captain advises we should expect a few more days of this type of swell and—fortunately-- conditions are not expected to worsen." (Dean's Memo, Semester at Sea, 6/17/09) (see look - no plagiarism: I gave the source)
Ok it's really lunch time. Ooh afternoon announcements are on (she got the date right today :)). Note to self (you know because I have so much internet to check my blog lol. Ok I should probably get some extra sleep and maybe go outside because I found that way funnier than you probably all will): set clocks back an hour tonight.
From the Atlantic ocean, Sharon
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