¡Hola España!

June 24, 2009

 

I woke to the rumbling sounds of the engine at 5:00am, and I peered out the porthole to see a small sliver of somewhat industrial looking land covered in construction, tall cranes, and smoke stacks under the pinkish-orange glow of a Spanish sunrise. This was not at all how I had envisioned my first sight of Spain, but it was surreal to finally see land at least. With not much worth seeing I went back to bed. My roommate and I woke up on and off for the next three hours with all of the random noises accompanied by the boat pulling into port. With one particularly loud noise we looked outside to see a small tugboat coming straight towards us. I thought it was going to hit the side of the ship! “The Practicos,” as it was called, pulled along right beside our window. We must be right next to where it attaches to the ship, and we watched it for a few minutes as it guided us towards the port of Cádiz.

 

Everyone was super excited at breakfast because we couldn’t wait to get off the ship. At the table we made plans to meet up with different groups throughout the day as everyone had different field excursions to work around. Around 10:00am I made my way off the boat with three friends and stepped foot on land for the first time in 7 days (168 hours-ish). I didn’t believe I was actually in Spain until I heard everyone around me speaking in Spanish. Everything around the pier looked pretty industrial and modern, but once we started into town, it started to look more like how most people envision a European city. The streets were more like alleyways; everything was so close together. The narrow pathways through the city of Cádiz were lined with tall, brightly colored buildings which boasted cute iron terraces, bold moldings and shutters, and occasional intricate sculptures.

 

We had no idea where we were going, or where we wanted to go for that matter. We were just walking enjoying the city. One of the girls had a map, and we decided on finding a market that was marked in the center of Cádiz. At first we tried to go by street names and find it ourselves, but eventually we knew the first verbal contact with Spaniards would need to be attempted by one of us. Since only one other girl in our group knew any Spanish, that dropped the odds to 50/50 for which one of us tested it out. I went into one of the shops and asked the old man inside, “Donde está el Mercado Central?” (Where is the Central Market?) Now, that wasn’t so hard. Luckily the directions were easy enough to understand. We had actually walked way too far past it. I guess Cádiz was smaller than we thought, or at least the streets were. Shortly we found the market, but it wasn’t what we had expected. It was a food market equipped with a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables and seafood along with other meats hanging everywhere. It did not smell good due to this high concentration of fish in one area.

 

After venturing through the market, we stumbled upon a large plaza lined by outdoor cafés and The New Cathedral of Cádiz. The cathedral was an enormous white stone building with two tall domed bell towers on each side and a large gold dome in the back third of the structure. When we walked inside everyone just said “wow” because the architecture was so incredible. The double doors leading into the building were about five times average size, and the walls were bordered as well as cross-sectioned with Corinthian-styled columns gauged into the wall (Check out my architectural terms now, thanks art history haha. This is a typical Roman style FYI.). These columns guided your eyes to the gorgeous vaults and arches of the ceiling. The central focus being the large dome which was located directly over the main sanctuary. This dome had rows of coffers (square depressions in the ceiling used for decoration) which became gradually smaller as they reached the highest point (the circular skylight at the center of the dome). This design made the dome appear taller than it actually was. This is another technique used by the Romans in the Pantheon. I’m going to have to use this stuff in one of my art history papers- haha. Netting hung about 10 feet below the ceiling to catch any pieces of stone that might randomly fall off of the old building. There were nooks lining the walls containing religious artwork and altars.

 

We found a stairwell leading down to the crypt, so we had to go down and check it out. It was very dark and creepy, just what you would expect of a crypt. There were a few paintings on the walls, gated altars, and a petrified body in a glass case. That was a little freaky. We also discovered that there was a serious echo down there, so we had fun experimenting with that.

 

After touring through the cathedral, we went to an outdoor café for our first meal in Spain. I had a ham and cheese sandwich with a glass of rosada wine. Spanish ham is more like prosciutto, a very thin bacon-looking meat. It’s so good though! Then, I had to rush back to the pier to meet up with my group for the field program.

 

I was going the Cádiz walking tour and archaeological museum. Unfortunately, most of the places we walked to were places I had already been this morning. The museum was interesting though. The Museo de Cádiz housed archaeological artifacts in the ground floor and a variety of paintings on the second floor. Cádiz is actually the oldest city in western Europe, founded by sailors around 3.000 years ago. There were two Phoenician stone sarcophaguses, examples of some burials, cold stone columns, sculptures, and a bunch of small artifacts found throughout the region. After wandering through the museum for a while, we made our way to the flower market in the center of town. I got some gelato (ice cream) and stamps from the post office to send some of the many postcards I had accrued. Then, we went by the same cathedral I had seen earlier in the day, and eventually made it back to the boat around 5:00pm.

 

I had been walking all day, but I still found the energy to go out in search of free WiFi. Apparently the pier was one of these free WiFi locations, but this was too good to be free. I ended up walking a few blocks, around construction, to an internet café where you pay one Euro per half hour. I attempted to call my parents on Skype, but that was a disaster due to the amount of time it took to download Skype and the ridiculous amount of background noise. I rushed back to the ship to change for my flamenco night field excursion.

 

I loaded the charter bus with two of my friends, and we drove for about 30 minutes along the coast to the countryside. When we reached our destination, there was already a crowd of fellow SAS-ers (Yes, that’s what we call ourselves) mingling outside of a mini bullpen. Upon exiting the bus we were greeted with our choice of either dry or sweet sherry manufactured in this region of Spain. Then, we all piled into the stands of the tiny bullpen to watch the show.

 

First, two women came into the center of the ring clad in red and black billowing dresses. They did some traditional flamenco dancing, and eventually a man led a large black horse out into the ring for the women to dance around. It was a little bit odd, and the announcer added to the oddness. He tried to make it way more dramatic than it needed to be. The girls did a series of about four dances before the mini bullfight started.

 

Bullfight isn’t exactly the right word. It was more like a baby bull being chased by a man wearing a really tight overall pantsuit and swinging a pink cloth from side to side. The bull was actually running away most of the time rather than charging. They did take it up a notch towards the end, and change the pink cloth to a red one which had a minor effect on how fast the bull reacted. It was fun though.

 

Then, they bused us over to a large building where we were greeted with again more sherry. Then we were seated in a room with large round tables covered with appetizers and sangria. It was awesome. Then the real flamenco show started. There was a guitarist, a female singer, three female dancers, and one extremely attractive male dancer. The women would do sets together and individually, and the man did a partner dance with one of the women as well as an individual dance. In the individual dances, their feet were moving so fast it looked like they were doing tap at some points. It was really cool. The partner dances were so in sync, and they were just awesome. At the end of the show each dancer pulled a member of the audience on stage to try flamenco, and my friend Brittany was chosen by the hot guy. Everyone was jealous. Eventually everyone was on the dance floor doing a combination of dances. It was almost like a mosh pit of flamenco, if you can envision that. At first I was doubting signing up for all the SAS field programs that I had signed up for back in May, but if they’re all like this, then it’s going to be an awesome trip. The flamenco night was definitely a highlight of the trip. Don’t worry, I took plenty of video and pictures. My memory card is already full.

 

I was exhausted by the end of the day and fell asleep on the bus ride back. When we got back on the boat there was a line of people waiting their turn to exit the boat because they were going to take advantage of this first night in Europe to go out and party. I was waking up early the next day to go to Sevilla and I could barely keep my eyes open, so I passed on that opportunity and hit the sack. It was a full day, but it was amazing. I’m liking Spain so far.

The Day of Siestas

June 23, 2009

 

Getting five hours of sleep last night put a strain on my energy supply for the day. I woke exhausted and feeling as though I was either catching a cold or (more likely) feeling the delayed effects of lack of sleep, not eating properly, and going full speed every second of every day. But breakfast was amazing and worth waking up for- glass half full. I guess they had been hiding the granola somewhere in the kitchen, but I finally had something to put in my plain yogurt this morning so I was excited. Those boxes flew off the counter the second they were put out, and there were “real” eggs (sunny side up, not those scrambled eggs made from a pre-made mixture). After this awesome breakfast which they saved for the last day before we made it to port, I went back to my room to take a 30 minute nap before Global Studies.

 

When I made it to my satellite classroom for Global Studies, my friend Ashley said she was going to go layout on the top deck after class until lunch. So I literally left class, since we were watching it on TV anyway, and went back to my room to change into my bathing suit. When I returned, 10 minutes had passed and the little man in the TV was just making his transition from the daily announcements to the start of the lecture. Halfway through the class my friend Claire suddenly looks at me and says, “Hey, is your shirt inside out?”… “Hmm…yes, yes it is,” I replied laughing. So that was entertaining. It was definitely one of those days. Haha.

 

The weather was perfecto (note the Spanish…Spain just can’t come soon enough) as we soaked up the sun on the 7^th deck. It was just the right temperature so that you were warm enough to be in a bathing suit outside, but you didn’t sweat at all. I took my second 30 minute nap of the day. A pattern was forming. At lunch we discovered the dining hall had been holding out on us yet again. A huge block of blue cheese appeared out of nowhere, and I made a nice big salad smothered with my favorite topping, cheese.

 

Ethnomusicology was interesting today as we studied the history of flamenco dancing and even watched some videos and heard some sound clips. Almost everyone in the class would be doing one of the flamenco field trips in Cádiz, so this was a good background. After class I took another 40 min nap. I even slept through my roommate and her friend, Amira, studying together on her bed two feet away from me…pretty impressive if I do say so myself. I felt like I had literally been sleeping all day long. This was definitely a day of “siestas.” I guess I was just getting in the Spanish rhythm.

*Siesta: For those of you that don’t know, in Spain there’s a certain time during the day where everyone just stops working and naps / eats. Everything just closes, and the streets are almost empty. It’s usually around 3pm and lasts for a couple of hours. Hard life.

 

In my art history class we finished up learning about Pompeii and Florence, and then he used the last 20 minutes of class to show us highlights of architecture in Cádiz, Sevilla, Córdoba, and Granada. Spanish-style dishes such as paella were served for dinner since we would be there in just a few hours. After dinner everyone filed into The Union for our pre-port discussion which covered what the crew called “vital information about the port and procedures.” This vital information included everything from the population of Spain (44.1 million), the weather (low 60’s to mid 80s), the name of our pier, the penalties for being late for departure, and the ship’s medical physician informing the guys to keep their “tallywackers” covered. Just to give you a mental image of the hilariousness of this statement: the physician is a 60-70 year old man from Mississippi with a heavy southern drawl. He went on for about 10 minutes about how the guys should keep from bringing any “unwanted Spanish souvenirs” back onto the boat. It was definitely entertaining.

 

To cap off the night, the dean’s memo for the day contained the following quote:

 

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” -St. Augustine.

 

It seemed appropriate for the day to come.

"French fries and ice cream.could this day get any better?"

June 22, 2009

 

Finally, it feels like summer. The sun is out and the deck crowded; there’s not a free lounge chair in sight. From about 10:30am-3:00pm the pool deck was at full capacity. As I was lying out in between Global Studies and Ethnomusicology, I heard some guys talking about renting a Ferrari to cruise around in when we get to Italy. I have to say, that would be pretty awesome. Throughout the day it was definitely easy to see who had spent the day outside based on their attire. Those in jeans had clearly not stepped outdoors. Sunscreen was apparently not an option for some of us…one girl had obviously fallen asleep outside without flipping over once because she was bright red on her front side and white as a ghost on the other, and there was a definite line down her sides separating the two ends of the spectrum.

 

If the warm and sunny weather wasn’t enough to make it feel like summer, the dining hall played their part by serving french fries (surprisingly a form of potatoes we had not experienced on the voyage thus far) and ice cream sundaes. The ice cream was perfect and definitely hit the spot. “French fries and ice cream…could this day get any better?” –that was my art history professor’s opening remark at the start of our class. He then went on to explain how Romans invented apartment buildings. Who knew?

 

Random funny story: I talked to a girl at lunch today who had been doing her homework outside on deck all day, and when she was two questions away from completing her Spanish take-home test it flew right off the boat- into the ocean, never to be seen again. She had to run her professor down at lunch to get another copy so she could finish before class. Lesson learned: Don’t do important homework on the deck of a boat, and “I swear, my homework flew out into the ocean” can be a legitimate excuse here.

 

Everyone is getting anxious for Spain now that we are 647 nautical miles and 44 hours from Cádiz. People are finalizing their plans, trying to find people to travel with, and researching hostel and train prices. While in the computer lab, I overheard people planning everything from flights to Barcelona to spending the day exploring Portugal. I have a city tour of Cádiz on the first day, two days free, and then a tour of a sherry production cellar and Carthusian horse farm on the last day in port. I’m trying to figure out what to do on those two free days. Most of my friends are going to Ronda, Córdoba, Granada, and Sevilla during our last three days in port, but I would have to travel from Granada back to Cádiz by myself on Friday. That’s one 5 hour train ride I didn’t want to endure solo. A lot of people are going to Sevilla at some point, so I’m looking into that. That means missing out on La Alhambra in Granada (a very cool old palace, citadel, fortress, and previous home to sultans), but I’ll have all spring to explore Spain. Later that night, one of the professors hosted an information session centered on Spanish cuisine. It was highly attended, as everyone was anxiously anticipating a break from the “ship” food onboard. Don’t say those last few words too loudly; you might offend someone.  ;)

 

I went to the gym that night and ran three miles on the treadmill before doing crunches on the side deck right around sunset. I left before someone started teaching a yoga class out on the deck. It was somewhat wavy during the day, but nothing too serious. I did read, however, in our daily dean’s memo that the ship actually has stabilizers which stick out into the ocean underneath the boat and “reduce up to 90% of the pitching and rolling of the ship caused by swells.” Now, those would have been useful the first couple days of the voyage. The memo went on to explain that “because they extend out into the water, they cause drag and cause us to expend more fuel. The deployment of the stabilizers is decided by the Captain, who does so whenever doing so benefits participants.” Hmmm…

Just Another Day at Sea.But Even a Bad Day at Sea is Still Better Than a Bad Day on Land

I heard my phone alarm go off, and even felt it as it vibrated underneath my pillow, but that didn’t stop me from quickly extinguishing the sound that interrupted my peaceful slumber. I figured I would just skip breakfast to get that extra 30 minutes of shuteye in before class, even though this was a huge sacrifice because breakfast is by far the best meal on the ship. Well, next thing I knew, my eyes fluttered open to see my roommate studying on her bed. I searched around the blankets for my phone. The clock read 10:45am; I had definitely slept through breakfast…and my Global Studies class. In fact, I had woken up just in time to miss every bit of class since it ends at 10:40. My body clock has pretty impressive timing if I do say so myself.

 

Then, I remembered that I had booked time at the gym for 11:00am. So I just got up and went straight to the gym to workout. It definitely felt better to exercise in the middle of the day rather than at 10pm, like my usual schedule, because while on the elliptical you can actually see the ocean through the window instead of just solid blackness.

 

For lunch I went out to the back deck hoping that the weather would hold up for 30 more minutes while I ate. It had become dark and dreary again outside, and the water went back to its grayish iron color. Maybe the Azores have their own little bubble of perfect weather, kind of like the opposite effect of the Bermuda Triangle. Rumor on the boat was that 11 foot waves were forecasted to hit later in the evening. I didn’t take that threat too seriously because last time the waves were really rocky the rumor was that they were 25 feet high. I, for one, being on the lowest deck of the ship, knew that was impossible because my window is only about 8 feet or so above the surface, and I definitely would have noticed 25 foot waves splashing against my window. Midway through lunch, it started to sprinkle, and everyone scattered under the shading and into the dining room.

 

I mostly did a lot of reading today, but there were a few things going on around the ship while I was stuck doing less fun school work. The boat has certain nights designated as “pub nights” where you have a drink card, and you are able to order up to two drinks (beer or wine) with dinner and I believe up to three more drinks after dinner out on the upper deck at the “pub.” These drinks are way overpriced, but they’re definitely still popular. It’s pretty funny because there are some girls taking it extremely seriously- getting all decked out in some “interesting” dresses and heels like they’re going to a club- when most people are just wearing whatever they wore to class that day (i.e. jeans/sweats). I wonder what state they’ll be in when we actually get to Europe and they don’t have a drink limit. P.S. the drink limit is strictly enforced because they don’t want anyone falling/jumping off of the ship, among other things. So this pub night was going on as well as a “rock the boat” dance. Not many people went though so I guess I didn’t miss much. I’m ready to get to Spain and not have to worry about classes for a few days.

 

Falling asleep that night was an interesting experience. If I thought the waves were bad the first two days, it was nothing compared to this. I had been sitting up so long doing work that I didn’t notice how rocky it had gotten. The second I laid down I felt like I was on a rollercoaster; it’s such a weird feeling to be laying down stationary but feel the whole boat rocking you forward and backward. I woke up a few times because I could hear things moving around in our drawers and closet. The bathroom door kept rattling too. It was so creepy! And a few times the waves splashed up to our window. I guess that rumor about the waves had some truth to it after all. You know those dreams where you feel like you’re falling, and then you wake up with a jump? Yeah, I did that like 10 times that night, except I was actually moving. Haha.

 

Today was my catch-up day. I did a lot of reading that I had been neglecting, and I also tried to send out some emails and get this blog up to date. I’m still two days behind on posting these blogs. This post is actually about my day on June 21^st, but in reality I’m writing it at 10:47pm on June 23^rd, and I’m trying to catch up on posting these before I arrive in Spain TOMORROW! Yay land! And good food!

 

Travel Necessities: Water Bottle and Chapstick

The time changes have become ridiculous. All I want is one full 24 hour day…is that too much to ask? Haha. We’ve lost an hour every day we’ve been on the ship, and we still have 2 more time zones to go through. Everyone here has jetlag (or should I say boat-lag). It’s impossible to go to sleep at a decent hour because my body clock is all screwed up. I’ve been going to sleep at 2:00 or 3:00am and waking up around 8:00am – no fun. Naps are very popular on that boat…in the room, in class (especially Global Studies), on the deck, and even on some of the couches in lounge areas around the ship. I saw someone in one of the lounge areas catching a few Z’s while sitting straight up, book open, and pen still in the locked and loaded writing position in his hand .

 

Everyone was definitely in a brighter mood today because the sun had finally come out and you could hardly feel the waves at all. I felt weird not having to constantly grip the side railings or keep my balance while walking through the hallways. Since it was so nice out there was a rush to get the best tables out on the deck for studying and at mealtimes. When I was sitting out on the back deck reading for my Art History class someone started pointing out into the water and yelling “whale!” I didn’t get to see it, but they said it came up for air and that it looked pretty big. I should really keep an eye on the ocean more often because I’m sure you can see stuff like that all the time, if you pay attention.

 

Because the waves had gotten more under control, I felt like it was safe to take off my sea-sickness patch that I had been wearing since we left Halifax. It’s one of those little round Band-Aid looking things that you wear behind your ear that constantly releases medicine to control motion sickness. Now, here are a few random side effects of these patches that you might not be aware of. They really dry out your body. You feel dehydrated ALL the time because the medicine makes your throat and mouth really dry. I felt like I was getting a cold or something because I would wake up and not be able to talk because my voice sounded hoarse. My water bottle has become permanently attached to my palm because I never feel like I’m hydrated enough. I don’t know if it’s a combination of the cabin air, salt water, and the medicine, but I can put some water down like nobody’s business. I bought a SAS water bottle the first day on the boat. It holds 750 milliliters of water, and I drink around 5 of those a day (not including drinks at meals)…so that’s about 3750 mL a day. That just can NOT be normal! I feel like I may be drowning myself or something. If it’s possible to overdose on water, I must be dangerously close to the breaking point. Another random fact about the medicine-boatlife combo: it makes your lips soooo chapped! It’s crazy! I put chapstick on like every 20 minutes. I’m definitely going to run out before we make it to shore. Oh and there’s more- the patches make your pupils dilate too. So everyone just looks like these freaky people with big black eyes, chapped lips, and chugging water like there’s no tomorrow. Who knew boatlife was so random!

 

The amount of reading that the professors have given us is just impossible. There literally isn’t enough time in the day to do everything. I don’t think I’ve had to go to class for 7 days straight ever, and the classes don’t even alternate days. You have all three classes everyday, so there’s no option to put off homework to the next night because you’re just going to have that class again in the morning. I’m definitely way behind, but luckily the topics seem to overlap because all of my classes are about the Mediterranean. I just realized today that out of the 68 days that I’m on Semester at Sea, only 22 of those days are class days. The rest are spent in port. So that’s a semester’s worth of work in 22 days…ahhhh. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much to read for school in my life. Most of it is interesting, but it’s hard to stay focused when so much other stuff is going on. There’s information sessions, class time, meals, working out, meeting new people, student clubs, enjoying the deck, planning trips for Europe. It’s hard to sit in your room and stare at a book when you could be whale watching on the deck.

 

A group of my friends and I were enjoying dinner out on the deck when everyone started crowding around the starboard side of the boat (That would be the right side of the boat…aren’t you impressed with my nautical terms? :) Haha). We went over to see what everyone was looking at, and the first thing I saw was a big green blob sticking out of the now sapphire-blue ocean. We hadn’t seen anything like it for four days…it was LAND! One of the islands of the Azores to be exact. The Azores are a group of islands owned by Portugal located in the middle of the Atlantic. We could actually see two of the islands in the distance. I remember one was called Flores, but I forget the name of the other. But everyone was flipping out because they were so excited to see land. It was so funny, and people were snapping pictures like crazy. When we were all out on the deck a few pods of dolphins decided to swim along beside us too. There were about three different groups of them. One group was right by the side of the ship, and they were so close to the surface that you could actually see them while they were swimming underwater. I got a really cool picture of about six dolphins all halfway jumping out of the water in the distance. I heard some people saw sea turtles too, as well as another whale.  

 

Later that night I went to one of the featured information sessions about Spain. We learned about all of the false stereotypes of Spain, and the history of some of the cities. The professor even went through a list of the coolest things to see in each of the cities that we could get to. All of the regions seem so different, and each of the little towns has it’s own history and set of sights to see. I’m definitely looking forward to Spain, and next spring I’ll have even more time to explore the country when I’m living there to study abroad.

 

After the Spanish information session, I went to the library with one of my friends to check out some travel books on Spain so that we could research where to go and how to use the transportation and everything. The books weren’t too helpful because they weren’t very specific to Cádiz, but we found a couple good maps. As we were sitting at one of the tables, I looked up and instead of seeing the horizon out of the window like usual, I saw a huge mountain. One of the Azores was right outside. I didn’t realize we would be sailing right by the islands, or that they would be so close. I thought we would just see them from a distance. So I ran down to get my camera, and my roommate and I took a ton of pictures of both of the islands because there was one on each side of the boat. It was sunset so it was perfect. I was really surprised to see a bunch of houses and little towns on the islands. For some reason I figured no one lived there because they are literally out in the middle of nowhere. There’s nothing but the Atlantic for thousands of miles each direction. I could not imagine living there; it’s so secluded from everything! They were really beautiful though. We could see the lights of the towns late into the night even though we had been sailing for hours after passing them, but I guess there really wasn’t anything on the horizon to obscure our view.

Random Facts About Living On A Boat

I’m now in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, about halfway between Canada and Spain. There is a three hour time difference between the boat and Eastern Time, and I haven’t seen land in three days. Haha this kinda sounds like the story of an abandoned pirate. It has been pretty dreary outside since we left Halifax, and the brackish waves create a sea of iron outside my porthole. It’s always chilly, windy, and usually drizzling when I go out to one of the upper decks. I’ve finally learned my lesson and started dressing appropriately for the cold weather though.

 

The second day of classes made me feel a little better about my Ethnomusicology course. I’m glad it’s pretty similar to anthropology. We actually did a mini fieldwork experience today in class where we had to go to a crowded spot on the ship and observe students while taking notes of what kinds of activities they were engaged in, what they were wearing, the setting, and the overall feel of the area. I definitely felt like a creeper staring at people, but wearing sunglasses would have looked even more odd, so I just accepted the creepy factor.

 

I learned more intricate details about Greek architecture in Art History, and decided to change part of my itinerary for Greece after hearing about some of the sites. We learned about this place called Delphi which was the sanctuary of Apollo (the god of music and art) set atop Mt. Parnassos. The legend states that Zeus wanted to find the center of the earth, so he released two doves to find the central point, and the two doves eventually met at Delphi. The site consists of a winding path called Sacred Way which is lined with a series of temples and structures leading up to a huge amphitheater and stadium at the top of the mountain. The views are supposed to be spectacular.

 

There’s a few random facts about the boat that might be entertaining to you guys. First of all, we are pretty much waited on hand and foot by the crew onboard. Like I don’t even have to make my own bed, it’s ridiculous. The stewards come into our rooms every morning while we’re in Global Studies and make our beds, vacuum, replace our towels, straighten our toiletries on the sink counter, and even fold any clothes that might be strewn around the room and place them neatly on our beds. It’s really like living in a hotel. At mealtimes they walk around asking everyone if they want more water, coffee, juice, etc. so we don’t actually have to get up to get them ourselves. Also, there is no tray-return area because they clear your table as soon as you are finished eating. They actually get mad at you if you try to put your plates up yourself. It’s really strange.

 

The food onboard is not so great. At first I thought it would be ok, but then they started serving almost the same things at every single meal. Guaranteed at every lunch and dinner there will be diced potatoes, some kind of bland pasta, a vegetable mix, rolls, some form of vegetable soup, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and salad. They only really change the type of meat, and it never really looks like the kind of meat the label claims it to be, aka mystery meat. I feel like I’m overdosing on starches (if that’s possible). I’ve kinda been living off peanut butter sandwiches, but one of my friends is deathly allergic to nuts and chocolate so I usually have to sit farthest away from her at the table because I almost always have one of those two foods haha. For breakfast and occasional lunches I try to sit with random people so that I’ll get to know more people on the ship, but I always go to dinner with the same group of girls.

 

At lunch they made an announcement over the intercom that the captain had to make a slight change in our sailing course, but didn’t say why. Later, I talked to this guy who was taking a tour of the bridge that morning, and he told us the real reason that we had to change directions. While he was on the bridge, another boat radioed our ship and said they spotted an iceberg slightly north of our current path. Supposedly the navigation crew started freaking out and called the captain down to the bridge. The students on the tour were like taking pictures and stuff the whole time so they made them leave, but the captain told the crew to take precautions by moving the course marginally so we wouldn’t risk being anywhere near the iceberg. It’s so Titanic! It’s crazy! I didn’t think it was that cold here, but I guess it takes a while for icebergs to melt.

 

The waves were wreaking havoc later that night, which just happened to be the night I decided to try out the gym. This is what I’ve learned from living on a boat…running on a treadmill with ridiculously huge waves rocking the boat = most difficult experience of my life! It didn’t even occur to me that running would pose a challenge, but once I turned on the treadmill and started jogging I almost flew right off. The treadmills are positioned lengthwise with the boat so when a wave hits, you can’t help but tip from side to side. I felt like I was running sideways. I literally had to hold onto the handlebars the entire time, which killed by arms. It’s so hard to run while keeping a death grip on the bars so you don’t slide straight off. Luckily there are mirrors in front of machines, and I found that focusing on the label on the center of the treadmill helped me stay in the middle of the belt. I had to make sure I was always lined up in the center which left no room for daydreaming/zoning out on nights like this. Haha. The elliptical was a lot better because you actually have constant contact with the machine.

 

The gym is tiny for how many people are on the boat. There are two treadmills, five ellipticals, three stairmasters, two stationary bikes, and a small set of free-weights and weight machines for the 750+ people on the ship. You have to sign up for the machines 24 hours in advance, and you can only sign up for 30 minutes on each machine. If you show up more than 5 minutes late for your assigned time you have to give up your spot. They put out the sign-up sheets at 7:00pm every night, and people must stalk the gym because within 5 minutes two-thirds of the spots are filled. I usually resort to going late at night so it’s not as crowded. The gym is right next to the spa (yes, there is a spa onboard), and within the first day people had already signed up for massages. They do everything there- massages, facials, pedicures, manicures, body wraps, haircuts, hair color, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s not too expensive, but I’d rather just save my money for the other countries.

And So The Classes Begin...

I woke up this morning and started freaking out because I thought I had slept through my first class because it was so bright outside. I figured it had to be at least 10:00, but no it was only 5:30am. I guess I never realized it gets bright that early. My roommate and I woke up around 7:00 to get up and ready for the super early breakfast buffet. Breakfast was nice and relaxing as we sat out on one of the back decks overlooking the ocean. It was definitely still very chilly, and again I wore shorts, neglecting the fact that I was in the Northern Atlantic. I guess in my mind I just associate cruise boats with the Caribbean, so needless to say this assumption was wrong, and I rushed back to my room before class to change into some more weather-appropriate clothing.

 

There are 750 students on the ship, and everyone has to take a required course called Global Studies (basically a history of the Mediterranean and information about the ports we’re visiting). Now, this is another example of a good concept gone wrong by Semester at Sea. Instead of having this class at different times throughout the day in smaller groups with more interaction, we all filter into The Union (huge auditorium…aka seasick heaven) for lecture from 9:20-10:40am. When the auditorium seats fill up, you can either stake out some prime floor space or go to one of the satellite classrooms throughout the ship that show the lecture and powerpoints on TVs. Because I felt it necessary to get a SAS hoodie from the bookstore before all of the smalls were gone, I was late and one of the unlucky few who braved the floor of The U. *Side note: it is extremely uncomfortable to sit on the floor for an hour and 15 minutes. I've never had a class experience like that so it's going to take some getting used to. At Rollins I've never had more than 30 people in my classes, and here I am sitting next to about 500 of my fellow students in one lecture hall. It's definitely a strain to read the powerpoints when you're 500 people back. There’s no student-professor interaction, no questions, no pop quizzes, and no taking of attendance…therefore, there is little motivation to be fully prepared for class. I haven’t talked to one student yet who has read all of the required chapters for this class, and quite a few have already completely slept through the class (both in their bedrooms and in The Union haha). Global Studies is followed by my two smaller classes later in the afternoon.

 

From 1:35-2:50pm I have Ethnomusicology with about 20 students or so. It seems like an interesting class so far, but it might be somewhat difficult due to the fact that I know nothing about music and have never had a music class…playing the clarinet in middle school isn’t really helping me out much because I don’t remember anything. Luckily this class is going to be more like the anthropology of music, so in other words, how people interpret music and how/why different cultures use it in their daily lives. We’re learning about how to do on-site fieldwork by listening and participating in local music as well as interviewing people about their views on musical culture in each country we will be visiting. The professor seems really interesting and excited about what he’s teaching, so it’s fun so far. The best part is that he breaks everything down into simpler terms for those of us without musical backgrounds. He’s pretty laid back and knows that we don’t always finish (or start for that matter) all of the reading. On the first day he told us all to let him know if it was too much work and he would just lessen the amount of reading that we were required to do. So that’s pretty awesome.

 

From 4:15-5:30pm I have Art History: From Cadiz to Casablanca. I feel like this is going to be my favorite class on the ship. I’ve never had an art class before, but this stuff is really interesting. It’s mostly about the architecture and history of each country on the itinerary. The professor is awesome; he knows every minute detail about all of the buildings of ancient Greece and Rome. It’s crazy. In class he basically shows us picture after picture of ancient buildings and points out all of the architectural techniques, from the kinds of materials used and the positioning of the building to the history behind specific statues and engravings. It’s cool because we’re actually going to see all of these places in a couple of weeks so we will know what to look for at the ruins as well as know a little background about each site. I feel so cultured now that I know some of this stuff. Haha.

 

That night was pretty much a mingle-fest. Everyone just lounged around in groups around the boat (mostly playing some type of card game or board game). I played a pretty intense game of “spoons” last night. If you don’t know what “spoons” is- it’s a card game that you play with a bunch of people in a circle. Each person has four cards to start and you keep passing the rest of the cards from the deck around the circle until someone gets four of the same number. There are spoons in the middle of the table, and when you get all four cards of the same number you grab a spoon. The slowest person, who doesn’t get a spoon, is out. You keep playing until one person remains. Now, this is the traditional version.

 

We stepped it up a notch and played with about 10 people in The Union, and instead of spoons we had to use sugar packets. To make this into “extreme spoons,” we decided to hide the sugar packets throughout the auditorium so that you had to go retrieve them rather than just having them within arms reach in the middle of circle. Let’s just say that it got pretty intense with people running into each other, a couple tackling cases, and other hazards provided by the swaying of the boat. We were playing in the rockiest part of the boat, as I mentioned before, and if you jumped at the right time you could catch some serious air. It definitely brought the game to a new level. Staving off boredom on the ship is going to have to get creative. Haha.

 

Oh P.S. I won the extreme spoons challenge…go me. Haha.

First Day at Sea!...A Rocky Ride

The first day at sea was jam packed with a number of seminars and activities for our orientation. It was probably a good idea that we didn’t have classes that day because living on a boat definitely took some getting used to…

 

Sea sickness- So I pretty much feel like I am tipsy/drunk all day because you feel like you are constantly swaying back and forth. You don’t even notice the boat is moving until you start walking somewhere and somehow end up stumbling or hitting something that you don’t remember even being close to. Like I have run into some walls and poles…and even some people haha because you end up walking zigzagged through the corridors. Whoever though to put up railings lining every wall of the ship was either the smartest or the most evil person ever. When it gets really rough you basically have to hold onto the rails or at least be touching a wall to keep your balance, but those railings also stick out and have sharp corners, so to me they are dangerous. I’m definitely going to leave the ship with some bruises. The rocking hasn’t made me physically sick though; it’s just funny. I really want to just sit and people-watch to see everyone stumbling around. Haha.  

 

We had orientation pretty much all day, which involved sitting through multiple lectures/discussions about safety, how to use the library and computer services, processes for the field programs in each country, and meet and greats with the professors. This was a good idea, but they should have picked a better location for all of these programs to take place. The Union (called “the U” onboard) is a large auditorium, which would have been used for theatrical shows or bingo nights on a normal cruise, but is instead the largest classroom on the ship. It’s at the very front of the boat, on the 2^nd highest deck of the ship which equals the most turbulent part of the ship. We had to be in there ALL DAY LONG and the movement was ridiculous. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster while I was sitting in my chair. To avoid a headache I really just had to sit there with my eyes closed for a while. When a large wave would hit the boat you could hear it, loud! Things would start shaking- like the ceiling tiles, hanging stage lights, and the crystals in the extravagant chandelier in the center of the room. Every time they dismissed us for a meal or free time I swear the waves got worse. As soon as we would start to stand up a huge wave would come and everyone just kinda almost fell on top of the people in front of them. The speakers had to hold onto the podium to keep their balance while giving the presentations. People were leaving the seminars left and right because it was making them so sick. One of my friends actually passed out at dinner and had to go to the infirmary. 

 

Later that night we had a kind of involvement fair where we learned about student activities on the ship. Some of the clubs/activities include: yearbook, student event planning, intramural sports (volleyball, basketball, soccer, ping pong), career building, tutoring, working/playing with some of the kids on the boat, and some other interest groups. Apparently there will be a Sea Olympics at some point, so I’m excited about that. I might try to play some soccer and tutor for the lower level Spanish courses. I’ll probably submit some of my pictures to the yearbook as well.

 

We all just went to sleep after all of the orientation programs because classes started the next day, and breakfast is only served from 7:00-8:30am on the dot- so you have to get up if you want food before 11:30. At that point the time difference was just that we were two hours ahead of eastern time so when it’s 1:00pm there it’s 2:00pm here. Every night before we arrive in Spain we lose one hour, and that’s one precious hour of sleep time- not cool.

Day of Embarkation

This morning I woke up pretty early because I had to get my stuff together and be at the pier by 9:00 am to board the ship. It still didn’t hit me for a while that I was actually going to be on a ship for 68 days, and it really hasn’t sunk in yet. After standing in line at the pier, while toting 2 gigantic bags and an overstuffed backpack, for about an hour I went through a few check-in stations on the boat.

I was preoccupied the whole time because I found out while I was in line at security that you’re not allowed to have hair straighteners on the ship unless they have automatic shut-off and hair dryers were also off limits. I was not about to have 70 bad hair days so I was fully prepared to fabric some explanation for how my straightener would shut itself off. Luckily when it went through the x-ray machine the guy didn’t stop the belt right away so he couldn’t tell which bag it was in. He mentioned something about a straightener, and I just grabbed my bag like I didn’t know what was going on and did a little speed walking to the ship. Haha. Success!

The boat was huge! It looks just like a cruise ship on the inside except the casino was converted into a library (very tragic) and there are a bunch of classrooms throughout the top deck.

I walked in my room and was pleasantly surprised to see that I had a window! I was originally supposed to have an inside room, but somehow I now have this cute little porthole. I thought it was just a mirror when I first walked in, but then I looked up to see the ocean and a lighthouse outside- picture perfect. I’m on the lowest deck so our window is only like 10-15 ft above the waves, and sometimes the waves get so high they splash above the window and make the room dark for a second. I'm going to freak if a whale or something splashes against our window one day. haha! The room is pretty small, like a cruise ship, and the bathroom is tiny! But surprisingly there’s enough storage space for everything that both my roommate and I had crammed in our bags. There’s even a small refrigerator and TV in here.

My roommate is from California, and we get along great, thank goodness. We went up to the deck to watch our ship pull away from the pier. We said goodbye to Halifax, North America, and land as the MV Explored started its route to Cádiz, Spain.

I’ve met a LOT of people so far. It’s so cool because most people came into this not knowing anyone, so we’re all literally “in the same boat” –haha oh puns. Everyone just smiles and says hey or introduces themselves when you walk by, and then you end up hearing people’s life stories. I love it.

Random side note about Canada: Canadians do have accents, and it’s really funny! They say “Eh?” a lot and just pronounce stuff weird- like they pronounce scallops as “skull-ups,” pasta as “past-uh,” and about as “a-boat.” It is really pretty cold up here! And it’s freezing on the deck of the boat! I was definitely not prepared with my wardrobe…time to buy a Semester at Sea hoodie. :)

Monday in Halifax

On Monday I found my own running route through town and just snaked through the streets so I could see all the shops and go down by the boardwalk. It was much more pleasant. Halifax has a ton of different restaurants from all over the world. There were Greek places, a lot of Thai and Chinese places, Italian, too many bars and pubs to name, and way too many Subways. I swear they have one on every other corner. I guess Canadians like their sandwiches. Oh and they had a Pita Pit! That’s the only other Pita Pit I’ve ever seen besides the one in Winter Park. I was really excited, I actually stopped and took of picture of it with my phone. I had breakfast on the boardwalk. Nova Scotia has these awesome pastries called “Beavertails” which are similar to funnel cakes I guess except it's just a long, flat piece of fried dough with different toppings. I got a maple butter Beavertail since I was in Canada –with Canada being known for their maple syrup-- and it was amazing. I am in love. They had other flavors like apple-cinnamon, strawberry, and chocolate hazelnut.

Later, I met Dawn (a woman I work with at the Office of International Programs at Rollins) to do some more sightseeing. She had actually been on the Semester at Sea (SAS- I’m going to abbreviate that from now on…it’s just too much to type) boat since last Friday and is staying on the ship with us until we dock in Cadiz, Spain. We took a tour bus out to this place called Peggy's Cove which is a really small fishing village with a cool old white lighthouse with a red roof. Wooden lobster traps were everywhere! It was so cute. It looked like a postcard. I froze, however, because I wore shorts. Stupid me, I'm in Canada, I should know better. The wind was uncontrollable. I learned a massive amount of information about lobsters on that tour so if you ever need some lobster facts let me know. Example: Someone once found a half-albino hermaphrodite lobster in the ocean and kept it to be displayed in one of the local aquariums. There was a line right down the center of its body so that it was half white, half green, and had male and female parts---talk about having problems haha. After all that lobster talk, I ate lobster linguini for dinner, yum. Dawn and I found a cool restaurant out by the water to get our seafood fix.

Someone had planned a facebook event for everyone from SAS to meet at a restaurant for a meet-and-greet so I went to check that out. It was packed, but I met some cool people- prob the girls I'll mostly hang out with on the boat. Some girls were on a mission and managed to get a club that was closed on Mondays to open up just for SAS if they could get 100 people to show up. That wasn’t a problem because there were like 500 of us in Halifax that night. I met some more people there too. It was just like freshman orientation all over again with introductions.

Sunday in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada)

On Sunday I woke up and decided to go for a run so I could better explore the city of Halifax and know what I wanted to check out later in the weekend. I asked the concierge for a good running route around the city, and he pretty much gave me the worst directions ever. He sent me towards a park called Point Pleasant Park which I would have enjoyed...if I didn't get lost, if it wasn't 3 miles away (that makes 6 total to go there and back), and if the route was actually scenic. He basically led me into these random residential streets with weird futuristic looking houses (like what you would see in Japan or something) and then I missed the right turn and ended up going ever farther than the park. However, I did see some cool railroad tracks on my way that were in this great divide looking thing with cliffs on each side. It looked like in a western movie. The park was really beautiful though, and if I could have driven there and then ran all through the park that would have been nice because there were awesome views of the ocean and a few old forts. The smell of pine was overwhelming on the trails. So as I trudged on back to my hotel I was dying of hunger so I stopped at the first place I saw that had breakfast food. Luckily it was Sunday and a bunch of places had brunches. I had eggs benedict in a old-timey-looking bar whose sole patrons were five elderly couples. It was so random.

Later on I went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which was super cool because I'm a nerd and I feel like I know stuff about sailing now that I took that one little sailing PE class. They had a bunch of old wooden sailboats, tugboats, a Titanic exhibition, and an exhibition on the Halifax Explosion (which is really depressing by the way).

History Lesson: The Halifax Explosion was the largest man-made explosion before the atom bomb and was almost as deadly. Basically during WWI one small boat collided into a large munitions boat carrying TNT, gasoline, and gun powder (pretty much a sailing bomb) and the friction caused a spark which set both boats on fire. Then a few minutes later, when all the people in Halifax were outside watching this huge burning ship, it exploded with almost the force of an atom bomb killing 2000 people instantly and wounding over 9000. People would be blown like a mile away and not realize what happened to them until they walked back to town. Some people would be asleep in bed and wake up with their house blown away, with only their bed remaining. One boy had all of the clothes he was wearing blown off by the blast, but somehow his backpack stayed securely over his shoulders. They’re all pretty crazy stories. Almost the entire town was destroyed, but the city of Boston came to save the day by supplying them with medical supplies and helping them build the city back up. Now, Halifax donates a giant Christmas tree to the city of Boston every year for all of their help.

Sunday night I really wanted to meet some Semester at Sea people that were already in Halifax so I just went to the lobby of my hotel hoping to go to dinner with someone. Luckily there was a group there that was going out so I ate dinner with them and then we all went out to an Irish pub later that night. At dinner one of the guys asked for beer in a to-go cup when we were paying the checks, and then proceeded to say "but it's Canada" when the waitress refused...priceless. So I hate beer, but I tried whatever Canadian beer this guy had and it was GOOD! They had fruit flavored beer such as apricot and apple which did not taste like beer at all. P.S. The drinking age in Canada is 19. After meeting a few new Semester at Sea people at the pub, I headed back to the hotel to get some sleep for sightseeing the next day.

This is a pic of the lobster traps on a bay at Peggy's Cove- a little fishing village outside of Nova Scotia.










View through a lobster trap.

This is the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove (the most photographed lighthouse in Canada.

EMAIL!

Send me email at kajones@semesteratsea.net !!! That's going to be like my main form of communication.

Night Before Departure

So tomorrow I will be at sea. I just made this last minute so I'll actually add stuff tomorrow when I have time. But it's a cool way to keep ya'll updated. I'm on a boat! :)