Crossing the Atlantic

1/24

Hello everyone! SEMESTER AT SEA IS AWESOME. That is basically going to be the theme of this post. The past few days have felt like a cross between a summer camp and a cruise. We get all the luxuries of a cruise (they make your beds and clean your plates for you) with the fun activities of a summer camp. We had swing dancing lessons and a talent show last night. The classes are so interesting too! I switched up my schedule a little bit. I dropped Religion and Politics of Islam for Biomedical Ethics, and I am thrilled I made the switch. Islam seemed interesting and pertinent to the world today; however, after only one class Biomedical Ethics may already be my favorite class. The teacher is Leslie Harmon, who is a dean of a law school. She is extremely articulate, and I think she will teach the class really well. It is technically a philosophy class, but because of her background in law we are going to read and interpret many cases. For example, we will be discussing euthanasia, the effect of the one child policy in China, and medical consent, while also learning about philosophers. The rest of my classes are going well, I have never taken Economics or Psychology, so I cant wait to learn disciplines of study that will be completely foreign to me. This is a voyage filled with new adventures!

There are between 20 and 30 students in each class, excluding Global Studies which is held in the Union (capacity about 400) and then broadcast on screens in all of the satellite classrooms. I have made a ton of friends! In classes, the dining rooms, and hallways it feels like its freshman year all over again. My roommate, Heather, and I are getting along so well. I think she is so cool; just last night we left our group of friends because we were so tired and wanted to go to bed, and then ended up staying up an extra hour just talking and giggling in our room. I get out of class at noon and A days, and 1:30 on B days, and the rest of the day I spend hanging out with friends. Currently I am sitting on the back deck studying with friends and watching the Atlantic pass us by. In the afternoon there are probably 200 students laying out and studying….

Speaking of studying (or not)… I took a dip in the pool and didn’t get a chance to return to my blog-post. However, its now evening, and I can continue! The extracurricular activities they have planned for us are spectacular. Last night we had an Open Mic, which was amazing! Twenty or so of my peers performed, doing everything from playing original songs on the guitar, to singing and playing piano, rapping, or dancing. It was really fun. After that, all the students disperse themselves throughout the common areas. I played dominoes last night; I also enjoy playing catchphrase, card games, and apples to apples. We have them all! There was also a Pub Night on the back of the 7^th deck. We are allowed 2 drinks with dinner, and 4 afterward; so while no one got wasted, responsible drinking is a good social lubricant. Although we hardly need it, I feel I have been in one interesting conversation or another since I got here. Today was also full of activities! The first meeting of the SCUBA club was today, and I am going to be the president. Hopefully we will arrange dive trips in each of the countries. Many of the people in it are going to dive with Great White sharks in South Africa. I am going on a wildlife safari in the Kwazulu Natal Game Reserve, so I will miss that trip. Hopefully I will be able to schedule dive trips for myself in Mauritius and Viet Nam (maybe even Thailand?). After the meeting, I ran over to the Union, where we had Salsa lessons. Hopefully I will be able to put those to good use in Spain. The Salsa lessons will continue for the next few days, so I may actually be decent when I attempt to dance in Sevilla!

I am also signing up for a few more activities. Many of the professors have families, so I signed up to help out at the preschool. There are 5 children between 18 months and 5. One of the boys, aged about 3 and all dressed up as a sailor, sang a song at the Open Mic last night. It was adorable! There is also a program called Vicarious Voyage. My partner Whitney, who goes to SF State, and I will be “adopting” a second grade classroom in Pittsburg, CA (in the Bay Area). We send them postcards from all the countries we travel to, and send three packets to the classrooms. They then base their curriculum on these countries, and use the materials we send to them to learn about the cultures! We are planning on emphasizing on the food and clothing of each country, so we will include things like menus, photos, and whatever else we find interesting.

Seriously, I have been so busy, and I am having a great time! Although I cant say it enough, I want to publicly thank my parents for this trip of a lifetime. THANK YOU SO MUCH! It is so great. Anyway, I’m being encouraged to come join a game of Catchphrase, so I gotta go.

P.S. I have been taking a ton of pictures, there was an amazing sunset tonight! Ill upload them soon!