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.