I am not the world’s best traveler. I will get nervous, scared, and uncomfortable, but I will NEVER let those feelings hold me back. Some people can just go out into the world and not have any qualms about where they are going. I wish I could be a person that could do spur of the moment things in place I know no one. I am trying on this voyage of semester at sea to change my thinking and stretch what I think are my boundaries regarding travel. I want to learn that I can be alone (by alone, I mean with small groups of friends) and not have to rely on a tour guide and a bus driver to get me everywhere.
Now onto the fun stuff. I moved on to the MV Explorer on January 11th, a day earlier than most of the other students because I have a work study job. I was really happy that I was allowed to get on early because I got to settle down easier and learn my way around the ship before most everyone else. The work study students only had 2 thirty minute orientations before we were thrust upon doing our jobs and help move the 600+ students that were moving on the ship on January 12th. My job for embarkation day was to tell everyone the prohibited items. Some items I thought were obvious, such as weapons, but I received some crazy questions about the prohibited items. My favorite question was the student who asked about bringing his nun chucks on board. When I told him that he could not bring them on board he pulled them out of his suitcase and gave it to his mom. WEIRD!!
The second day was horrible. We had orientation all day in the Union, which is the rockiest part of the ship. I had a sea sickness patch on so I was feeling fine, but others were not as lucky. After a full day of orientation we had to do a writing assessment. It was SAT style with 25 minutes to do 35 multiple choice grammar questions, and then 25 minutes to right a short essay. Let me tell you concentrating on taking a test on a rocking ship is no easy task. After the assessment no one was feeling so hot. That evening we had an activities air and I signed up for a bunch of stuff. I signed up for Students of Service, Extended Family, One World Futbol, Yoga, and Kids Club. There are a bunch of kids on the ship since there parents are working as professors and faculty. As part of Kids Club I am going to tutor math to 6th and 7th graders and I am going to help run a theater club for the kids. I am very excited for the clubs I signed up for.
Today (the 14th) was my first day of classes. I had Global Studies, which is the class everyone on the ship (including faculty, staff, and Lifelong Learners) has to take. This class teaches us about the countries we are going to and about the effects of globalization around the world. This class, as well as my second class of the day, UN and Human Rights Law, are both in the Union. I feel like I am going to be spending my life in the rockiest part of the ship. The UN class is going to be tough, but I think I am going to learn a lot of interesting things from it.
I just realized I never talked about my work study job. My official job title is Student Ambassador working with alumni affairs. My job is really awesome. I get to work with alumni and help promote alumni activities. I also get to plan the Alumni ball, The Shipboard Auction, and the Shipboard drive. I also get to plan activities such as cookies and milk night, and spirit week. Our hope is to make the students who go on Semester at Sea to want to come back and give to back to the program.
Well, this is all for today, I will update everyone more as time goes on.
Peace and Love!
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