First Day

August 27, 2011

Fun Fact: Mosquitoes are the only animals that pollinate the cocoa plant. If there were no mosquitoes, there would be no chocolate. Do we forgive them for existing now?

            Wow. These first couple days on ship have been a complete whirlwind. I think I have had the exact same conversation with at least 50 people and I only remember the names of about 7 of them. “What’s your name? Where are you from? What are you studying? What deck do you live on? Chocolate or peanut butter?”  Okay so maybe not that last one, but if anyone wants it know I definitely vote chocolate.

I said goodbye to my family with several group hugs around 11am yesterday morning and went through security to get on the boat. Security and check in were much easier than I thought they’d be and in no time at all everyone was chatting as fast as they could and trying to get to know as many people as possible. My cabin (or room as you land dwellers call it) is on the fourth deck and has two little beds and a tiny bathroom. When I opened the door for the first time I could barely get inside because the contents of my roommate's six bags had exploded. I though a rainbow had vomited, but when I saw a smiling faced girl standing next to the bed I figured out it was just her piles of stuff. My roommate’s name is Mary and she is very friendly and outgoing and likes to wear a bandanna tied around her head so that it looks like she has cute ears on top of her head. I think we’re going to get along really well, or at least I don’t think she’ll turn out to be a total nut job so I call it a win. The two of us unpacked and somehow managed to shove all of our belongings into drawers and under beds…and probably some things in places we’ll never find again. 

                             Mary and I taking our first roomie picture

We had a safety drill right after we finished unpacking. Let me clarify. When I say safety drill I mean “safety drill”. We had to put on long pants, sleeves, closed toed shoes, hats, and our super sexy neon life vests (Chels I think you’d like them). We then were asked to go up on deck and stand around silently looking at life boats for thirty minutes while sweating profusely under the hot sun in our warm clothes. I do not feel entirely safe from that so I’m counting on the boat not sinking. They let us leave just in time to change into bearable clothes and head back out to the deck to wave goodbye to our family as our ship pulled out of the port in Montreal.  Goodbye North America! We then ate dinner and went to a very long orientation meeting with very little useful information. When we were released it was around 9pm and my roommate and some of our new acquaintances all headed up to the top deck to play cards under the stars. We were hoping to see Quebec City all lit up as we passed it, but we managed to miss it in the heat of our giant card game competition. When I say giant I mean a solid sixteen people all trying to gather around one table and pay attention. It was not professional to say the least, but it WAS tons of fun.

Today has been completely packed with slightly more useful orientation meetings. I think I’m going to need to make use of the gym when I have time tomorrow to make up for all the sitting and attempting to focus. Our ship has an entire spa. The gym is actually IN the spa. I think it is their plot to torture us with the thought of a nice relaxing massage while we’re working out. Any of us who use the gym often will only be able to hold out for so long before we spend all our money on pampering ourselves. Tonight we are signing up for clubs and there will be more bonding on the seventh deck, then classes start tomorrow morning! We also lose our first hour tonight so today is only a 23 hour day. The sleep deprivation starts early! It hardly feels real that we are traveling around the world. The motion of the boat makes everything exciting. Even as I sit typing this entry I still know something more is happening, every action is accompanied by the feeling of GOING SOMEWHERE.  How cool is that? It may feel less cool if I start to get motion sick but I’m hoping to put that off as long as possible.   

Montreal

August 25, 2011

*Note: due to extremely limited internet time, I won’t be able to post any pictures. Sorry!

               

Montreal! What a beautiful city. As far as I can tell, it has all of the advantages of a Western European City without many of the pitfalls. For one thing, almost everyone is attractive. I find this important as a tourist because it means that when I get bored of looking at architecture, I still have plenty to sight see. There are beautiful cobblestone roads, no one seems to be in a hurry, and the food is delicious. The French language bounces joyfully through the air in every direction but this isn’t France, it’s Canada, so if I were to choke on a peanut or say be allergic to gluten (god forbid!) everyone can speak nearly flawless English and come to my rescue. The language is a fun mixture. When I walked into the coffee shop this morning I was greeted by a smiling barista with a peppy “bonjour-hi”. I keep on wanting to speak French and realizing that the only other language I can speak is Spanish. I’m now constantly restraining myself from talking in Spanish. This is new to me because my Spanish is terrible. Unlike France, the roads are actually wide enough for two lanes. This doesn’t really make a difference though because we have already seen a car parked half in the bike lane and half in the road. There happened to be a very nice and real parking space right next to it. The people here have been friendly for the most part, though they are slightly more aloof than the people of Boulder. I am just pleased that everyone is aloof but no one is a loofah because I would feel uncomfortable talking to a shower scrubbing accessory for too long.

               

The family and family to be (aka Chelsea) drove up from Vermont yesterday afternoon after saying goodbye to our wonderful relatives. We checked into our hotel around 3:30pm and decided to go for a walk around old Montreal. This may not have been the best idea because all of us had the “I’m hungry and tired” grumpies. No one handles this well. Little kids cry until they get what they want and adults try to ignore it while bickering with anyone close to them and generally hating everything. We finally all agreed to get lunch at a place with a cute courtyard. There were vines crawling up the walls and cast iron lizards randomly placed everywhere. There was also the wafting smell of dumpster and a bird shat on my dad’s menu…this was terrible before lunch and trivial after. We finally all cheered up with full bellies and were ready to do some touristy shopping things. We walked passed the port our ship will leave from tomorrow. It wasn’t there yet, but it will get here sometime today. My parents get to see the boat before I do because they have a reception and tour on it tonight. I’m anxious to see it but I guess tomorrow morning will get here soon enough and then I will be stuck on it for four months.

Today we had planned on biking around the city but it is currently pouring rain outside. Chels and I are currently sitting in a coffee shop and people watching. We have concluded this:  If you are a woman and risk getting caught in a downpour, either bring an umbrella or wear a very padded bra.  Our plans have shifted from biking to museuming of some sort. A bunch of fellow students who will be on the ship with me are meeting at an Irish pub tonight. Someone arranged for us to have a VIP room so I can’t wait to get there and start making friends in style! There’s also a Burlesque show later, so after the pub I’m going out with Eric and Chelsea. Then tomorrow morning I’ll be waking up, packing, saying goodbye to the family and getting on the ship…wooohoooo!

The Beginning

AHOY MATIES! Welcome to my blog. I've provided a link for you in order to get you into the sea faring spirit . I've been told it's a very accurate depiction of ship life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM

If that's not enough information for you then here's the 411 on Semester at Sea. I'm on a cruise ship with 500 other students and our professors. We're sailing to fourteen countries in the regions of Africa, Asia, and Central America and were doing it in less than four months. Every day we're on the boat we have class and every day we're in port we are free to adventure. So there you have it! But before you and I get to start this adventure I want to talk a little bit about how I got here.

The Preparation: I woke up one beautiful morning and was overcome by a wave of inspiration (wave, get it?) I was going to sail around the world! My mind was flooded with images of treasure, people shouting "land ho," drinking margaritas, backpacking through thick jungles, riding on camels, and star gazing over the open ocean. Then reality hit. Some

people actually enjoy organization. These people make their beds every morning and make sure to always wear matching socks. Despite my best efforts, I am absolutely not one of these people. The very word 'organize' makes my stomach roll over and I recognize a certain unpleasant emotion: terror. Knowing this, you can imagine my horror then when I saw the paperwork. I had to fill out 39 (39!!!! I counted) different forms, not to mention my passport renewal, visa applications, vaccination appointments, scholarship essays and orientation meetings. Everything had a deadline and it was all mandatory. It's a miracle I ever got this far. I am so excited to start this voyage and i am so happy I'm done with paperwork! I've been drowned in a sea of applications and now it's time for a brand new sea that I can actually swim in. Next time I write to you I'll be on my way! Here's another song for good measure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pWPg2DXcHA&NR=1      (okay so this might not happen, but everyone loves the muppets!)