Off to Sea!

We have set sail, and have been at sea for 2 days now. The boat is really rocking! I tried to get away without taking anything, but after the first night, I decided that wasn’t going to work. So I’m using sea sickness patches. The rocking has been very soothing at night though, and I’ve been sleeping better than I have in weeks.

I met my roommate two days ago. We’re really different from each other, but she’s pretty laid back, so I think we’ll be able to live well together. I think we’ll both be very respectful of the other’s space. The cabins are pretty small, but there’s a surprising amount of storage area, so that’s good. We are all divided up into Seas based on where we live and who our Resident Director is. I’m on the Yellow Sea. Later in the semester we will have Sea Olympics and will be competing against the other seas. We had a fireboat drill before pulling out from Nassau. It was just long. Sunday night and all day yesterday we sat in orientation meetings. The captain and crew were all introduced, along with all the faculty and staff. All of us students don’t fit in the Union, which is where all the talks go on, so some of us have to sit in the other classrooms where we can watch everything on TV. I sat in a satellite classroom for one talk yesterday, and have decided I don’t really like it. I’m jut going to have to be sure to get to things early enough so I don’t have to.

In the orientation meetings, they really emphasized safety and how safety on a ship is different than on land. Fire is so much more dangerous on a ship than on land because when you’re out at sea, there’s no place to escape to. The also talked about how you shouldn’t be jumping into the pool or sliding down railings because of the boat rocking. And then there’s the obvious, don’t sit on the edge of the boat or you might fall over. They also have a zero tolerance policy here for things such as drugs, and will be having random drug testing. If caught, it’s automatic dismissal from the program.

Everyone on board the ship takes a Global Studies class all together everyday. That class started yesterday. We’ve started by going over the Bahamas and Caribbean, and today went over some information on Puerto Rico. I also had a chance yesterday to meet all of my professors. They all seem pretty nice. Everything is very informal here, and they tell us to use their first names. Last night I had dinner with one of the professors who is actually from Sherrill, NY (my hometown) and his wife. The professors all encourage a lot of student-professor interaction both in and out of class. All of our A Day classes started today. I had Religious Experience and Mysticism this morning. We have the next 3 days off because we’ll be in Puerto Rico, so my other classes won’t begin until Saturday.

Overall thing are going well. It’s sunny and warm here. Wandering around the deck you see people all over lying out in the sun doing schoolwork. It’s pretty awesome. That’s it for now!