To the right: Africa! To the left: Spain!

Yep, you read the title of this post correctly! Once in a lifetime sight :)

6/22
Today was the best. We saw land!! On our map test, one of the things we learned was the Straight of Gibraltar (Gates of Hercules) and it is 8 miles from Spain to Africa across this body of water. After class I was laying out on the deck with everyone and we have been patiently awaiting this sight! At about 14:30 you could see Africa, and then about 30 minutes later, you could see Spain on the other side at the same time! You could see trees and buildings, with no binoculars! When do you get to hear someone say they were on a ship and to the right was AFRICA and to the left was SPAIN?! So cool, I took a video!

Then I went to the workout place and ran a few miles/ took a yoga-mat outside and worked out a little more, while looking at Spain and Africa :) It still blows my mind that it is only 8 miles apart!
**If you are bored, or just curious, go Google “straight of Gibraltar" and you’ll see where I am! (Do it...)

Movies tonight: Pan's Labyrinth, Blood Diamond, Black Hawk Down, Nanny McPhee! If you were wondering :) I usually fall asleep to the TV or music because the ship can make some strange noises at night! Also, Shea and I think that there is a storage closet or something above us because every night at about the same time, we hear rambling and metal rolling around or something. We can't figure it out but it gets a little annoying!

Shea and I are in the room right now watching a presentation on the tv that is going on in the Union right now. It's so cold in the Union, so we do homework (and blog…) while we watch it! Pretty neat. They guy doing the presentation is our age and is from Spain. He works for a program where he helps travelers when they come to the port in Barcelona. We are just lucky to have him with us to share valuable information! We personally met him the other night and he’s fun to talk to. His name is Francesco and is super nice and helpful! He is telling us where to go, what to eat, how to get around, where not to go, and right now he’s telling us about the beach! I CAN’T WAIT! Wow he just said don’t go out until 1 because that’s when everything starts up (closes at 8am). People don’t get out of dinner until 12! I can’t begin to tell you how exited I am to start this traveling.
I have a group presentation tomorrow over a really long article I read with my group. It was about Moroccans immigrating to Italy and conforming to the new culture through language socialization. We made a PowerPoint and we have to lead the class into a discussion. It should be pretty simple! (I don’t know if I already wrote about this because I can’t see my blog!)

It’s about 1am I just got back from the party deck outside. It’s so much warmer than usual! Maybe because we aren’t in the middle of nowhere anymore and we are next to Spain and Africa! It was really fun and different, and I met about 10 new people, who I’ll definitely be chatting with by the pool with tomorrow! I have yet to meet a rude or mean person, and I truly don’t think I will! Everyone on this ship is so nice and welcoming to meeting new people and I’ve had great conversations/acquaintances. It’s just awesome. I can’t explain it better than that! I think tonight everyone was so excited and energetic because we finally saw land. We were all talking about Spain and who’s going where, and making plans to all hang out. YAY!

(Hi family!)
Oh, surprise- we are losing another hour tonight…
Goodnight!

"Sauna Sunday"

Ok, I was wrong, we didn’t lose an hour last night, BUT we are again tonight!....

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, DAD! Thank you for the wonderful opportunity for letting me do this amazing trip!

Today is the prettiest day outside that we have had so far! Lots of dolphins too. This guy Eric called today "sauna Sunday", because it was the warmest day so far and everyone was out there, haha.
I’ll give you one fact I learned in Global Studies today. When statues were beginning, the Romans made statues of horses on 3 legs, with one raised in the air, with a rider on the back. Other countries tried to repeat this challenging task by balancing all of the statue’s weight on 3 skinny horse legs. No other country to do this! One picture we were shown was a statue of a horse with a leg in the air, but it was resting on a ball underneath. They couldn’t be like the Romans!

After breakfast, class, lunch, snacks, and more eating, a few girls and I went to the 7th deck to lay out. EVERYONE was out there and it was so crowded, but so fun! Everyone had their laptops and homework etc. The weather is PERFECT!

Ok, this may be long... but it gives you a little idea of what we do when we are in the middle of (nowhere) the Atlantic:

Today Sunday June 20:
B Step Aerobics
Time: 1700
Location: 7th Deck Outside

Career Interest Groups
Time: 1730
Location: Union
If you're engineering, pre-business, international studies, or fine arts student, come check it out!

Insanity Work Out Class
Time: 1900
Location: Classroom 3

Global Studies Map Quiz!!
Time: 2000

Foreign Language Groups/Tables
Time: 2100
Location: Classroom 9

Interport Liaisons
Time: 2100
Location: Classroom 4

Bible Study
Time: 2100
Location: Classroom 9

Interfaith Discussion Group Organizational Meeting
Time: 2100
Location: Classroom 8

Student Activities Planning Meeting
Time: 2130-2230
Location: Classroom 2

Tomorrow Monday June 21:
Field Office Alternate Day!

Zumba
Time: 0700
Location: Union

International Students Meeting
Time: 1800
Location: Classroom 5

Insanity Work Out Class
Time: 1900
Location: Classroom 3

Hip Hop Dance Class
Time: 1900

Adjusting to Life on the Ship
Time: 1900
Location: Classroom 1 (in the Garden Lounge)

Explorer Seminar: Barcelona: A Planning and Architectural Appreciation with Dr. Warren Boeschenstein
Time: 1900
Location: Union

Explorer Seminar: Modern Spain a Clash of Titans with Dr. David Geis
Time: 2000
Location: Union

Explorer Seminar: Travel Sketching
Time: 2000
Location: Classroom 1

Travel on a Budget
Time: 2100
Location: Union
Come learn about making your dollar go farther during your time in port!

Academic Workshop Committee & Faculty/Student Social Committee Meeting
Time: 2100-2200
Location: Classroom #4
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So I just got back from taking the Map test, it was pretty simple and I was the first to finish in my room. That usually happens a lot and makes me nervous because no one else is done before me!

Before Shea and I went wandering around and hanging out with people, we talked about boys and relationships. She gives great advice and support! We are definitely are becoming closer, and I can’t wait for it to continue to grow!

Tonight we had ‘movie night’ with our amazing CARIBBEAN SEA yaa mon. It’s a great group and I love hanging with them! The ship has really, really good popcorn, and tonight for our movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), we had FREE unlimited popcorn :) This makes up for the fact that I brought popcorn but there are no microwaves. Great success. And I even took some back to the room for a snack tomorrow. Tonight’s movie choices on our microscopic-TV: Ulysses, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Moulin Rouge!

I’m definitely starting to miss certain foods, restaurants, my pillow, my guitar, my family and pets, friends, and Jared! It still hasn’t clicked to me that this is going to be one longgg trip. We aren’t even to our first destination yet and I’m already feeling like I’ve been here forever, and the days are all mixing together! Spread the words to everyone about Semester at Sea and tell everyone to do it if they can. There is such great chemistry with everyone, on this ship. You just know it, and I don’t know how else to explain it! Before, I read people’s stories and blogs about their trips with Semester at Sea and I wondered what they were saying or meaning; now I totally understand! And to think it’s only going to get better. :)

20:20:20

6/19
Tonight we are losing ANOTHER HOUR. This is the fourth time in a row that this has happened, and we still have 2 more to loose! :( The good news is that when we sail back, we will gain an hour every night for 6 nights, which will be much needed after traveling the Mediterranean :)

In my intercultural communications class this morning, we were assigned in to small groups of 4 people and got to choose a topic from a list. The topics are things we will individually discuss with at least 4 natives in each port we go to. The topic my group got was “games people play”. This is the one I put down for my top choice! Some of the other choices were house designs, holiday, heroes, nonverbal communication, and some other categories I don’t remember. I’m excited for this topic! We came up with basic questions on what to ask and how to compare answers from across the Mediterranean. At the end of all the ports, we do a 30-minute presentation showing the similarities and differences within each country. We were recommended to take pictures of the games if possible and get a picture with the people we talk to! This is going to be fun and I think it’s so cool how we get to actually apply ourselves in the real world, and get out there talking to real locals! What an amazing assignment for this amazing opportunity :) Another group assignment is to read an assigned article (about 30 pages) and lead a 15-minute class discussion, which we are graded on how well every one participates. I started the article this afternoon and it’s about a study done in 1990 about Moroccan adolescents moving to Italy with their family and how they socially integrate and adapt. In the 1980’s a few Moroccan men moved to a small town in Italy to look for a stable job and cheap homes. They found it and in the 1990’s, the rest of their families joined them! I still have about 15 more pages to read, then I have to write discussion questions for the class.
In global studies, we focused on Alexander the Great and conquerors of Egypt; pretty fascinating stuff! I don’t have a hard time paying attention to any of the classes because I’ll be seeing it all! I still can’t get over how cool this program is, learning about where you are going, which is fun, and getting graded for it, which should be easy because it’s very enjoyable!

In global music, we went to a storage room and were each handed a strange musical instrument from around the world. Not to my surprise, I recognized all of them and knew most of the names. There is one or two other musical people in there so we were naming them all and describing them to everyone, pretty cool! We passed them all around, determined what materials they were made from, then determined what country they originated in. About 30 minutes into class, the ship took a turn! Since this class is in the very back of the ship, the room was shaking so loudly that Dr. K. stopped talking because he was yelling. This loud rumbling and shaking went on for about 10 minutes then we got back to playing around with cool instruments. Tonight we have to read an article about a term that has no real definition, “duente”. I don’t know what it means yet but our assignment is to describe it to him tomorrow!
After music I made a PB&J and hid it in a napkin, and snuck it to my room. You aren’t supposed to take unpackaged items out, but I wanted to eat it while I studied my map for the quiz tomorrow!

At dinner, everyone ran to one side of the boat, and someone shouted “whale!”, but it wasn’t. It was a pod of about 50 dolphins! They weren’t very far away and a few were right next to the ship. Finallllly we saw some after all this dolphin talk!

I just looked at my watch and it said 20:20:20! Weird.

I’m sitting in the piano lounge in the middle of the ship with Shea. We are doing some reading and studying our map some more. I bought some gummy bears :) My favorite!
Time to go to the 7th deck!

Ok, back, We just had another party on the 7th floor deck, which has happened every single night and will continue! It’s like bar night at college, everyone stands around and talks! I’m still meeting new people each night with random connections! So fun.

Caribbean Sea- YA MON!

Blogging is how I entertain myself when it's late and I can't sleep or a strange/boring movie is on. I just had class then a burger and fruit smoothie while a few of us sat outside on a deck. The weather is so perfect! For the past 2 nights we have lost an hour each night and we're losing another one tonight... It's catching up and making me a little off on meals! I packed popcorn (those little yummy kettle corn mini-bags) but there are no microwaves :( I left some shirts on my bed this morning and our steward, Dante, a little Polynesian guy, folded them perfectly and color stacked them- how precious. He comes in and makes our bed every day, which is so cool! During the afternoons they don't play movies, I guess to get people not to sit in their rooms, which I'm doing right now! I'm listening to Thinking of You, while watching the TV map showing where we are in the ocean; I'll fill you in on what it says:
Latitude: 38 degrees 17.2N
Longitute 042 degrees 52.1W
Course: 82 degrees
Speed 21.3 knots
Time: 13:44:40
Date: Fri 18 Jun

Rumor has it that there are awesome stories on the backs of pictures in rooms. Shea and I just took a big, decorative picture on our wall off to look at the back. Everyone has been sharing stories of what is written on the back of their pictures in their rooms. Ours had a lot of tips and advice for ports and stuff, as well as hilarious stories/situations, we may add to it after the trip when we have something to write about!
I think I'll go to the lounge area now to hang and study my map for the quiz!

Today, while sitting outside, I saw a guy wearing a Cottages of Norman shirt. It looks the exact same as the Cottages of Lubbock one so he stood out! We started talking and he said that he goes to OU and works at the Cottages. I thought that was a funny connection, and his name was Marcus! Then Shea and I sat on a deck for a few hours reading and stuff right before dinner (which was delicious tonight except for the bread pudding dessert)

Each hallway is divided in half and everyone is in different seas. My hallway’s half is the Caribbean Sea and it is THE BEST! We are the most spirited and loud! Tonight, during our mixer, we walked around the entire ship with a stereo, dancing and clapping/being obnoxious, it was funny to see people’s reactions; they all want to be in the Caribbean Sea! Tomorrow we are doing a surprise stomp routine before the Global Studies class (which EVERYONE will attend and see us…) We went out on a front deck to practice so no one would see, it was hilarious trying to organize it (in the powerful, crazy wind) and make it serious and funny at the same time! Tomorrow, right before class, we are going to walk down to the front stage and surprise everyone with our awesome stomp routine. We also have chants/songs we sing randomly at dinner. For one, our leader Chela, shouts in a Jamaican accent "WE BE JAMMIN" and we all respond, "YA MON", it's great. Should be pretty interesting tomorrow!
After those few hours of fun, we went to another optional information seminar, for about 45 minutes. It was about the food in Spain; what to expect, when to eat, where to go, what words mean, etc. It was really helpful and there are seminars each night about the country we are headed to! Such a cool concept! After that we went to the room and got all cute and clean. We headed up to the top deck where everyone hangs out. Tonight I met a girl from UT that knows a ton of my friends at Tech and knows girls from my high school, cool connections! Then, for the most of the night, we hung out with 2 guys from Whitehouse, 2 of the nicest guys on this ship! We started planning out what we were going to do as a group in Spain and talked about making trips in other countries.
Tomorrow night is a “dance” party, nautical themed! Should be fun because now everyone pretty much knows everyone!
PS there are so many engineering guys on this ship! and so many people from Cali and Pitt! and lots of sorority/fraternity folks.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is on, so I’m going to watch it while I study my intricate map again!
Days are SO LONG but when I go to sleep at night, the day seemed so short! The days all mush together and it’s the best feeling because there’s no need to worry what day it is, the “voice” informs us at noon :)

Here is Semester at Sea’s blog, which has more detail about what goes on overall!
http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyage-blog/summer-2010/the-past-isn-t-dead.-it-isn-t-even-past.php

Rockin' and Readin'

This morning (June 17) we woke up at about 7:00am to the ship rocking. It has been the most extreme rocking that we have experienced so far! All of my stuff on the night table flew onto the floor, the room was creaking, and the drawers were opening and slamming shut every few seconds! It was crazy, and not the best wake up call. We lost an hour of sleep last night so my alarm didn’t wake me up, the rocking did.
Today was the first day of classes. After waking up late, I ate a cliff bar and Shea and I headed to out Intercultural Communications class. It is a pretty small class, about 50 of us, and it doesn’t seem like it will be rough, thankfully.  Since we were close to being late to class, the only seats empty were in the very front row, where we had to look up at the teacher. Hopefully that won’t happen tomorrow ☺ Next, we went to Global Studies, the class everyone is in together. Our teacher is so funny and has a dry sense of humor and great stories. He sings in random languages and it’s just hilarious. To start off, we have a quiz over the Mediterranean map (which is a great idea because that’s where we will be going!) and he lectured a little bit. We learned about the Greeks and gods. A lot of stuff that was mentioned today I learned in my Intro to Poetry class last semester, so I felt pretty comfortable. We learned about “The Mediterranean Memory” and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. He told us the story about Minotaur and how and why he was trapped in the labyrinth. We talked about certain battles and events that occurred in the places we are going. I think that it ‘s way more interesting learning about something that you are going to get to see. In regular college and high school, you learn about history from other countries that you may never go to, so it can be a bit boring. But since we are going to the place of birth of many things we learned about today, it keeps me interested and excited. For example, in Istanbul, there is a metal column called The Serpent Column. It was made by victorious Greeks who took it and placed it in their city for decoration and dedications to the gods at Delphi. It is metal and looks like two roped twisted together, standing up tall. . Lastly, I went to Global Music. It is about 30 students and I’m most excited about this class. Our teacher majored in ethnomusicology (Dr. Kaloyandies) and specializes in Greek music. Ethnomusicology is defined as the study of music in a culture. World music is defined as musical fusion from many cultures. He said that the objective of this class is to become open-minded about musical types and to overcome the judgments of certain music. In each port, we have to take notes on how we saw music and even how we engaged ourselves into musical performances. During class (which is going to be really fun and entertaining) he played a type of Greek music called “Rebetika”. It is said to be the music of the criminals and is referred to as “blues from Greece”.  We will get to see people performing everywhere! As he played this really odd sounding, but pretty, music, he danced a certain dance and it was fun to watch. He seems very into this class and he seems like a great teacher. I’m most excited for this class!
Now that my classes are over (8-12pm), I just had lunch with a girl from TCU and one from Carnegie Melon. They live in my hall! I’m about to start studying my little map for the quiz and then read an article for Global Music. The article is about the first musical instrument ever found, a flute, 35,000 years ago!! After that, Shea and I will probably wonder around and just hang out with everyone. It is so fun here, like a vacation with 700 new friends. Maybe I’ll go get some chocolate ice cream or a fruit smoothie, YUM!

Bon Voyage!

This morning (June 15) I woke up around 6:00 and said bye to the cute cottage I’ve been staying in with my family in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia. We packed up and drove about an hour (got lost, we missed Exit 0… go figure) to Halifax, to board my new home!
My time to board the ship (not “boat”, they stress this in humorous ways) was 9 but I didn’t get in line until around 930. The line was all the way down a street, in the cold, strong wind. It was funny because we all said they should move the line to the other side, where it was sunny. My parents and brother waited in line with me for about 30 minutes then they had to take my dad to the airport to fly back home. In line, I met a girl, whose name I forgot but I’m sure I’ll see her again, who is a Pi Phi at the University of Colorado. Interesting fact: 39 students are from U of Colorado on this thing! We waited in line together for about 2 hours. We joked that when we got to the front to go through customs, the workers would take a break. And then, as we were next to go through, a lady put a sign in front and said the workers were going on a “union break” for an hour! We sat and chatted, then got on finally! I got so lost on this huge ship, but there were helpers on every corner directing you to where you needed to go.  Then, Shea and I sat in the room trying to figure out where to put everything. This room is so small but I have a feeling we won’t be in it much! It’s half the size that my dorm room was! Next, we had the emergency evacuation drill, where we stood in the dining room in bright orange bulky life jackets while the captain walked around and checked it all out. Once Shea and I settled in and unpacked, we wandered around, met some students, and ate dinner. While eating a fresh salad, chicken soup, and delicious mahi-mahi, we sat at the table rocking back and forth. It is a very weird feeling that may take a while to get used to! It’s easy to sleep through because it’s relaxing when you close your eyes. But, when you are walking down the hall and trying to drink hot coffee, you have to focus on what you’re doing; it’s a challenging task! After dinner, we met in groups and the Dean and some other teachers and staff talked about what to expect etc.
75% of the students on board are female, and the most populous state on here are students from California. It is a very interesting mix of people (708 students)! The faculty seems so great here. They all connect and seem very reliable and easy to talk to. I know that this is going to be an amazing, unforgettable experience, and this is just the first day!
There is a really funny guy who does all the announcements. He sounds like a robot then he will make a joke and it catches you off guard, making it pretty entertaining. “Hey. (long pause) Are you hungry? (long pause) Dinner is….” and he just says funny things in monotone. Earlier he said a meeting was cancelled and we thought he was done talking, and then we heard, “You’re welcome.”
So now it’s 22:39 (yes, we are learning military time) and I’m probably going to bed soon. It’s been such a long and exciting day!! Tomorrow breakfast is from 7-830, hopefully I’ll have an appetite that early, then we begin lots of fun stuff that I’ll write about later!
Ciao

June 16

I've finally got my e-mail set up and so I write an e-mail to this blog account and it posts it for me so I don't use internet minutes! This morning it was very strange waking up in a dark room, expecting the sun to wake you up. We went to breakfast around 8:00 and then meetings started around 9 and I'm just now getting back to my cabin at 5! The meetings were teachers and staff talking about codes of conduct, safety, and they provided us with some funny entertainment. The teachers and staff are all really good people and you can tell that they are full of humor. I'm starting to get my "sea legs" and I'm beginning to feel better when I'm sitting in a chair, rocking side to side, feeling a little off. Lunch was fun, Shea and I met a teacher and his family from Irving and we also met her art history teacher. We ate with a few guys and I think we've met them all (because they only take up 25%...) and next is dinner! The food is alright, but I'm still hungry after each meal (yes, after 2 servings of lunch and dessert). Luckily I have cliff bars and snacks in my cabin. Ok dinner soon, time to wander around the ship and watch the beautiful blue waves with a sunset and a sparkly reflection on the Atlantic water!

Halifax tonight, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean tomorrow!

I HAVE INTERNET! I'm in Halifax in Shea's hotel room using her internet/laptop.
Nova Scotia has been so beautiful and I've had a great time traveling with my family! I've taken way too many picture already (wait.. too many? no way!) The first day, we got a rental car (bright blue ghetto dodge charger..) and drove about an hour to our beautiful rental home outside of Halifax. It is surrounded by a bay on both sides with a great view of sailboats and other boats docked in the bay. There are ducks and seagulls everywhere! The neighborhood looks like a postcard and is very quaint! We've eaten great crab, lobster, and seafood chowder every single day :) Yesterday we went to ride the tidal bore (one of the 7 places in the world to do it) it's basically river rafting, but wayyyy different. It is very hard to explain it, but it was a once in a lifetime experience! Then, we went to a place called Peggy's Cove (We never found out who Peggy was...) and it is a breath taking lighthouse on the edge of Nova Scotia where all of the artists and photographers go. I wish I could upload photos but.. can't. There is so much more I could go on about but I think this is all the time I have! Tomorrow morning I get on the M.V. Explorer (which I saw a few hours ago, my stomached dropped, exciting!) and then sail away! In a week I'll be in Spain, crazy! I look forward to meeting so many people and just havin a good time with my cousin! And it allll begins in the morning :)
I miss everyone! Hopefully I'll write again soon!