And we're off...

January 20, 2009
Local Time: 6:37pm/1837

Sitting in my cabin just over 24 hours into this adventure! It was a gorgeous day in Nassau yesterday as we all waited in a steamy hot line to register and get our bags checked. Right before it was time for parents and students to say goodbye, I ran into a girl I had met the night before (we were all easy to spot in Nassau—backpacks, parents, general looks of nervousness). By this time, we had our name tags displaying our room numbers and it turns out we were places together! I’m so glad, because we have gotten along incredibly so far. Her name is Kara and she is from Arizona but goes to CU-Boulder. CU-Boulder has the most students on the ship with us so Kara has recognized many people.  She’s already introduced me to some really nice students.

Ma and Pa Zack were sad to see me off I believe, but mostly because they weren’t going instead! We embarked at 5:00pm, local time and I stood at the back of the ship waving uncontrollably at everyone on the dock.  In the Bahamian sunset, no less. The girls around me on the railing and I were showing each other our parents.  Kara’s parents and I have already met, thanks to a lot of made up signing and mouthing of words. They were standing near each other on the dock. We got a text from her mom saying they all went out for a drink and we’re both thrilled!

The ship. It’s called the MV Explorer. Captain Jeremy is our master captain and so far the staff seems great.  I’ve met my professors—2 of the 3 are married and I can’t wait to have class with all of them. My cabin is bigger than I expected (I should’ve brought that pair of sweatpants, after all!) and everything is spotless and gorgeous! After we were out of the Nassau port, we all realized how hungry we were but we stayed out of deck 7 to watch the sunset anyways. How often do you embark off into the Bahamian sunset?! The first day was a lot of meeting new people and trying to find our way around the sets of stairs, different decks, various nicknames, and dining halls.  Eventually, you get where you need to go (it’s a big ship, but not that big!) and if you end up in the faculty lounge they kindly tell you that you don’t belong there.  I wish you could all be here with me, though, as I woke up completely surrounded by ocean, the sunrise coming through the window. As far as I know, that was my moment…when it finally hit me and I realized that I’ll already be sad to say goodbye to some of these people in 3 ½ months and I’d be happy even if I never got to step on land in that time. 

For all of you who placed bets, I have NOT gotten sick yet! Some girl threw up in the Union during our first gathering in there (that means that everyone was in the same room).  And there were a few others that I know were down and out for the night. I’m very proud of myself! It’s great to watch everyone sway in the hallways and get embarrassed because of an accidental boob graze from bumping into each other. As for me, the waves rocked me to sleep last night and I’m so very thankful for that.

The day today was orientations and meeting many more people again. Luckily, there are already a few people that I have coordinated with that have become comfortable people to hang with. My lovely roommate being one of them! Also, there is a group of girls and guys from Chapman (coasties!) and a pair that were random roommates as well.  Evidently it’s a shock I don’t know that “Berks” and “Rainbows” are types of shoes.  There are a lot of students that are originally from California..

Since we are traveling from west to east, we will lose an hour every couple of days.  For this first long stretch we switch the clocks every night. That means for 5 days we lose another hour of sleep every night. 

We have a few more days at sea until we arrive in Cadiz, Spain.  I think it’s a great way to get accustomed to life out here: the rolling of the ship and all.  Running on a treadmill was interesting. I think it’s a safer bet to go on the elliptical, stationary feet.  So since I’ve started writing this, it has become January 21, 2009, 9:07am at home, 11:07am here on board. The weather is in the mid 70s, very humid, but I’m sitting on Deck 6 outside in the sun.  Although some other people have, I haven’t seen any other boats in the distance yet. We’re all hoping for whale and dolphin sightings!

I love you all! I’ll keep you updated on the next week and Spain as soon as I can.

p.s. We got to watch the inauguration yesterday live via satellite.  What a day in history.