10 Days at Sea

I’ve already started slacking at keeping this updated – so I will try my best not to do that. For the first few days I didn’t really want to update at all because nothing had been happening. There are over 700 students stuck on a 600ft boat and excitement to finally be underway was defiantly the feeling for the majority of students. Emotions run high on the ship as there are people of all ages. There is the awkwardness of trying to get to know people in extremely short amounts of time and the added pressure of being back in classes.

The first 2 days of sailing were spent getting to know the faculty and staff of the MV explorer alongside what seemed like endless briefings on expectations and regulations for the entirety of the voyage. Sitting in 9hr session meetings and talks and discussions really isn’t as fun as it sounds. My roommate and I not so surprisingly slept through the first half of the day sessions. See, we live in a bat cave. We’re on deck 2 inside so we have no window and when the lights are off we have absolutely no sense of time. We also apparently have issues setting alarms with the constant time changes. We were among many who only sat though about half of the sessions.

As Sunday approached – we all anxiously awaited our first sessions in classes. Global studies is the only class that the entire shipboard community takes. We’re split into 2 sections and I was lucky enough to get the morning class. Trying to deal with the 6hr time difference was incredibly difficult for me as I dozed off in that first section, and I wasn’t the only one. To follow, my intro to World Theater was a bit livelier as our professor started us off with a Lady Gaga video.  Incredibly upbeat and very into his subject Drew Kahn has a way with students that could make anyone want to change into becoming a theater major. Part of the experience that I wanted to gain was learning from new teachers with different perspectives, and as my first theater class of any sort I couldn’t be happier with the way classes have already started out. The last class of the day, an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology wasn’t able to keep me awake as I’d hoped but as the class days have gone by I’ve found myself really enjoying the topic and the teacher. Tracy Ehlers has done a lot of study and case work with women in Guatemala and brings a lot of her personal research into her class teaching which really gives us personal perspective and connection to a topic that the majority of the class is taking to fulfill a general education requirement.   

Believe me when I say a solid 8 days of classes is hard; especially when you’re starting on a Sunday. For the next 6 days of the voyage we also lost an hour of sleep a night starting our day earlier and earlier until I was ultimately on a 12hr time difference from when I had originally started my voyage. This program makes it incredibly difficult to miss class whatsoever because of the lack of actual class time we get. Of the 66days we’re only in classes for 23 of them, so attendance is mandatory.

Dining on the ship is always interesting. There are always new people to talk to though many find cliques right away. Frat/ Sorority life is strong among the students so they tend to stick together. But what’s interesting about eating on the ship is the ability to sit and eat and talk to the faculty. They’re always interested in the schools you attend and what it’s like where you’re from. Everyone comes from very different places so there is never really a lack of conversation. Even more interesting to talk to than the faculty are the life-long learners. Many of them have traveled all over the world. When you ask why they’d want to be stuck on a ship with a bunch of college students, many of them laugh and reply “why not?” There are also several life-long learners who are alumni or have traveled on multiple voyages. There is a woman on board who has been on over 24 semester at sea voyages. It’s incredible.

Emotions fluctuate on the ship. With a guy to girl ratio of 1:20 (give or take) people get land sick. Many people long for home and the familiar as well as contact with anyone other than the limited few on the ship. Then there are people who are so amped on the chance to partake in this journey.  There are people who walk on eggshells trying to get a feel for everyone’s emotions and temperaments and not fully ever being able to get to know someone. However, there is a silent understanding that these are the people you’re going to be spending the next 66 days with, growing and learning and traveling with them so you let them in and let them know how you’re feeling about the voyage about classes and you take in the experience together.

The days at sea were… interesting. We’ll just have to see what will be in store for the rest of the ports.  The internet is also considerably slow – so, the updating process is taking a while and its not all my fault! :)

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