It’s finally here – the ship will arrive in Norfolk, Virginia early tomorrow morning! I’ve decided that tonight will be my last blog post for the trip – I can’t believe it! It’s difficult to know what to even write in my last post. What can I say that can possibly sum up the summer? I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve spent about 45 minutes staring at my laptop (and also at the ocean!) trying to decide what to write. I keep starting and stopping because every sentence that I type sounds like something out of a Semester at Sea marketing pamphlet.
It’s also difficult to write this because anyone who knows me at all knows that I’ve been tear-ing up every five minutes over the last part of this voyage because I’m sad it has to end! In fact, in the last 48 hours, I’ve been choking up when anyone so much as mentions packing or the fact that we are getting off the ship tomorrow. As much as I am looking forward to getting home, it feels like I’m just getting started here and that there is still more to see and experience in the world! It’s hard to imagine that tomorrow, I will have to say goodbye to all of the people who have become a part of my SAS family this summer. This week of heading back to the United States has been a boat-load (literally!) of mixed emotions.
The past week and a half has flown by. I’ve been trying to jam-pack everything into these last few days on the ship! Turning in final papers, attending final receptions and meetings, waking up early to see the sun rise, soaking in the sun on the pool deck, laying out under the stars to watch a meteor shower, and saying final thank-you’s and goodbyes!
Also, because of how much I complained at the beginning of the voyage, you might be shocked to hear that…I have finally found my sea-legs! I actually have not been sea-sick AT ALL on the entire Atlantic crossing home! Not even kidding – I have been drug-free (from sea-sickness meds, of course) for over a week now! Can you believe it? After all this time! Who knew that my body would really adapt to life at sea? : )
So, because this is my last post, I want to say thank you to friends and family who have been reading along. I’m so glad that I could have shared a little about my adventures with you. Although it was sometimes difficult to find the time to write and I was ALWAYS about 2 or 3 countries behind in my posts, I am really glad to have kept writing throughout the summer. It was fun for me to share my experiences with everyone at home but it was also a nice way to reflect on my experiences in port and on the ship.
Some final thoughts to wrap this up…
I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn and experience so much in one summer. I know that I could write pages and pages of memories, lessons, and questions that I’ve collected over the past nine weeks, but I’ve instead limited myself to this rather-lengthy blog. : ) During my travels, I’ve been touched at the hospitality I’ve encountered. I’ve also been sincerely humbled by the understanding and humanity that I’ve witnessed in the people that I’ve met. It gives me a lot of hope and has helped me to see more similarities between cultures, rather than the superficial differences. I thought that I would be exhausted from this summer, but as I return to the US, I’m filled with a renewed sense of energy and appreciation. As much as I will miss my SAS family and all of the adventures, I’m excited to get back home! : )
What else can I say? It’s been an INCREDIBLE summer! I’ve loved every minute and will always fondly remember the summer of 2010!
With love,
Sarah
Monday, August 23, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Day 4 in Morocco: Casablanca (Tuesday, August 10)
Woke up early today and went to the Hassan II Mosque in Casa this morning. This was the coolest Mosque ever – mostly because I was surprised to find how modern it was – it started being built in 1987 (when I was born!) and was done in 1993. During the six years of construction, the team of laborers worked 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. It is my most favorite Mosque that I’ve visited on the trip…which is saying A LOT because we’ve seen a lot of beautiful places of worship! It’s a giant mosque and it has a large outdoor plaza as well. In total, the whole complex (inside and out) can hold up to 105,000 worshipers. That’s hard to imagine!
The Hassan II Mosque has HUGE lofty ceilings with a roof that is movable – it can open up in under 3 minutes and close back up in 2 minutes. The decorations and carvings on the columns and walls were all done by hand, which is incredible if you look and see how precise each design is. In addition, there are so many interesting details – the sound system speakers are built into the art design, so you can’t tell where they are when you look around. Also, the floors are heated so no one gets cold in the wintertime when the marble gets chilly (although it’s hard to believe that this country ever gets chilly). In addition, the basement of the mosque is a public bath – so everyone can have a place to wash before they worship. It’s a really interesting building and I’m so glad that I got a chance to see it!
After the mosque, we went to lunch at Rick’s Café – yes, like from the movie “Casablanca”! It was not where the movie was filmed, but the restaurant’s design is based on that famous café in the movie. Confession: I had never seen the movie “Casablanca” before last week when they played it on the movie channel on the ship! But it was still fun to go and see how they had translated the atmosphere in the movie to a restaurant. PLUS I had “Rick’s Special Burger” with yummy rosemary fries and THE MOST incredible fig and goat cheese salad. I can’t even begin to describe the goat cheese. So salty and creamy… with the sweetness of the fig… and a tiny drizzle of balsamic vinegar…oh my goodness. Best salad of the trip, without a doubt.
After lunch, I went with Sarah and Kasie into the Casa souk to spend the remainder of the dirhams. And guess what? I ended up getting my…very…own…TAJINE!!! I am so excited!!! Now I can make all of my favorite Moroccan food at home!!!! Horray!
Around 4pm, we headed back to the ship. As usual, I was so happy to get back to the cool, clean MV Explorer…especially in Casablanca – the pollution here was ridiculous. Our berth was right next to some sort of concrete factory and there was dust EVERYWHERE. It looked like a thick fog had descended on the port – it was so thick that the security guards for the ship were wearing those special surgical masks to avoid breathing it in! Yikes.
Anyway, after a glorious shower in my nice, clean cabin, I had dinner on the 6th deck and then went up to the 7th deck (aft) to watch us pull out of our LAST PORT OF THE SUMMER! AHHHH! I’m in denial!!! I’m not ready to leave! We still have ten days left to cross the Atlantic, but I know that they are just going to FLY by. I wish I could make time go slowly so that I could soak up every last second of the summer.
The Hassan II Mosque has HUGE lofty ceilings with a roof that is movable – it can open up in under 3 minutes and close back up in 2 minutes. The decorations and carvings on the columns and walls were all done by hand, which is incredible if you look and see how precise each design is. In addition, there are so many interesting details – the sound system speakers are built into the art design, so you can’t tell where they are when you look around. Also, the floors are heated so no one gets cold in the wintertime when the marble gets chilly (although it’s hard to believe that this country ever gets chilly). In addition, the basement of the mosque is a public bath – so everyone can have a place to wash before they worship. It’s a really interesting building and I’m so glad that I got a chance to see it!
After the mosque, we went to lunch at Rick’s Café – yes, like from the movie “Casablanca”! It was not where the movie was filmed, but the restaurant’s design is based on that famous café in the movie. Confession: I had never seen the movie “Casablanca” before last week when they played it on the movie channel on the ship! But it was still fun to go and see how they had translated the atmosphere in the movie to a restaurant. PLUS I had “Rick’s Special Burger” with yummy rosemary fries and THE MOST incredible fig and goat cheese salad. I can’t even begin to describe the goat cheese. So salty and creamy… with the sweetness of the fig… and a tiny drizzle of balsamic vinegar…oh my goodness. Best salad of the trip, without a doubt.
After lunch, I went with Sarah and Kasie into the Casa souk to spend the remainder of the dirhams. And guess what? I ended up getting my…very…own…TAJINE!!! I am so excited!!! Now I can make all of my favorite Moroccan food at home!!!! Horray!
Around 4pm, we headed back to the ship. As usual, I was so happy to get back to the cool, clean MV Explorer…especially in Casablanca – the pollution here was ridiculous. Our berth was right next to some sort of concrete factory and there was dust EVERYWHERE. It looked like a thick fog had descended on the port – it was so thick that the security guards for the ship were wearing those special surgical masks to avoid breathing it in! Yikes.
Anyway, after a glorious shower in my nice, clean cabin, I had dinner on the 6th deck and then went up to the 7th deck (aft) to watch us pull out of our LAST PORT OF THE SUMMER! AHHHH! I’m in denial!!! I’m not ready to leave! We still have ten days left to cross the Atlantic, but I know that they are just going to FLY by. I wish I could make time go slowly so that I could soak up every last second of the summer.
Day 3 in Morocco: Marrakech back to Casa (Monday, August 9)
When we woke up in the morning, we had a beautiful breakfast out in the courtyard of the riad. It was really special because no one was up yet and it wasn’t even a restaurant – it was just one of the owners of the hotel who set the table with beautiful deep red ceramics. We sat right by the pool and had tea, coffee with hot milk, freshly-squeezed orange juice, crunchy toasted bread, and piping hot crepes served with creamy butter and sweet apricot and strawberry preserves. It was SO simple, but definitely one of my favorite breakfasts of the summer. A funny thing that happened while we were eating was that the hotel employee who had been serving breakfast was doing some chores around the courtyard while we were eating…sweeping the ground, rearranging the furniture, etc…and then he goes over to a corner, picks up the pet TURTLE (which we had not seen before!) and proceeds to give it a little bath in the fountain before sending it on its way again. The turtle was so cute – and it just lives in that courtyard and gets a bath every day! Too funny.
That morning, Shannon and I split up from our other friends (who had to get back to Casa early), and went to see the palaces in the old city…they were amazing. Afterward, we spent all day walking around and taking in the atmosphere. There were markets everywhere and so much to see! We stopped for lunch around 2pm on a rooftop restaurant. We ate pastilla (like a savory baked pastry) with goat cheese and yellow peppers along with a lemon chicken tajine.
One thing that I’ve neglected to mention is that it was sooo hot during the day – someone told me later that it was 118 degrees in Marrakech that day. There was no escape from the heat because it was still at least 100 degrees in the shade. I don’t think I’ve ever been that hot in my life. I must have chugged like six big bottles of water throughout the day. It was almost unbearable. Egypt was hot, too, but in a different, dryer way – Morocco is hot and humid which makes it like a thousand times worse than Egypt. Ugh, I feel gross just thinking about it.
Shannon and I caught the 5 PM train back to Casa – it took almost 5 hours and by the time we arrive at the train station we were tired, hot, hungry, and in desperate need of a shower and some air conditioning. It took some arguing to get a taxi that wouldn’t rip us off on the fare to get back to the ship, which was frustrating, but we eventually made it! Too exhausted to do anything else, I had a quick dinner at the snack bar before showering, doing laundry, and collapsing into bed.
That morning, Shannon and I split up from our other friends (who had to get back to Casa early), and went to see the palaces in the old city…they were amazing. Afterward, we spent all day walking around and taking in the atmosphere. There were markets everywhere and so much to see! We stopped for lunch around 2pm on a rooftop restaurant. We ate pastilla (like a savory baked pastry) with goat cheese and yellow peppers along with a lemon chicken tajine.
One thing that I’ve neglected to mention is that it was sooo hot during the day – someone told me later that it was 118 degrees in Marrakech that day. There was no escape from the heat because it was still at least 100 degrees in the shade. I don’t think I’ve ever been that hot in my life. I must have chugged like six big bottles of water throughout the day. It was almost unbearable. Egypt was hot, too, but in a different, dryer way – Morocco is hot and humid which makes it like a thousand times worse than Egypt. Ugh, I feel gross just thinking about it.
Shannon and I caught the 5 PM train back to Casa – it took almost 5 hours and by the time we arrive at the train station we were tired, hot, hungry, and in desperate need of a shower and some air conditioning. It took some arguing to get a taxi that wouldn’t rip us off on the fare to get back to the ship, which was frustrating, but we eventually made it! Too exhausted to do anything else, I had a quick dinner at the snack bar before showering, doing laundry, and collapsing into bed.
Day 2 in Morocco: Marrakech (Sunday, August 8)
Today, I woke up early and caught a train to Marrakech – about a three hour train ride. Buying the tickets was very interesting because the man in the ticket booth did not speak any English (and I obviously do not speak any Arabic or French, which are the main languages used in Morocco). I went with a friend from Student Affairs at Sea, Shannon, as well as 3 undergraduate students – Sarah, Kasie, and Val.
After the long train ride to Marrakech, we jumped into a cab to get to the Medina, or the walled part of the old city, where our riad (Moroccan guest house/villa) was located. Because the same family owns many different riads across the city, the only address we could find for our particular riad online was “Various Locations.” (Does that seem sketchy? We thought so.) We had to call the owner and let him talk to the taxi driver in Arabic so that he would know where to drop us off. We ended up getting out just outside the walls of the old city because there wasn’t an opening for cars (in that part of the city walls). We waited there for a few moments before the riad owner came to get us and then we had a short walk into the Medina before he led us through a small door. When we stepped through, we were pleasantly surprised that on the inside, there was a gorgeous open courtyard. There were plenty of interesting plants, a beautiful pool, and places to sit and lounge. After seeing our rooms (which surrounded the main courtyard), the owner invited us to have some tea with him, so we sat down to visit for a while. My favorite part of the conversation was when he gave us the secret of making a truly fantastic pot of mint Moroccan tea, which you can be sure that I will be testing out as soon as I get home.
That afternoon, we walked around the maze which is the Medina for quite some time before admitting that we were hopelessly lost. We ended up jumping in a cab in order to get to the center plaza of the city. This was an amazing public space – there were street performers, snake charmers, fresh orange juice vendors, as well as big carts selling dried apricots, dates, figs, and cactus fruit. After having a delicious lunch of “taginia marrakechia” (a lamb specialty of the area) and couscous, we spent the afternoon walking through the souks. I completely underestimated the amount of time that I thought we’d spend there. It took about four hours to get through these overwhelming markets because the process of bargaining for your purchases takes so long! You have to express an interest in something, ask for a price, tell them heck no – you won’t pay that, you have to ask for special deal, then it goes back and forth until someone folds. An interesting observation that one of our deans shared was: you haven’t gotten a good deal unless the shop keeper has to run in the back to ask his mommy if the price is ok. I just thought that was pretty funny, because it actually happened to me once! Anyway, the point is that shopping takes a lot longer – I could have could have gone to Target and been in and out in 20 minutes if I were in the US. It’s just a different way of living – shopping is very much a social activity. While shopping around, I met a really nice Moroccan guy who was helping out at his uncle’s herb store. He showed me all around the shop to see the “black soap” Moroccans use for the haman (bath), a natural perfume bar made of jasmine, as well as a clay dish that you can mix a little water in and it becomes a type of lipstick. Apparently in Berber tradition (which is one of the regional cultures in Morocco), if a man gives this clay-lipstick thing to a women’s mother, it means that he is then engaged to the daughter. I’ve never heard of that…isn’t that interesting that the permission to wed lies with the woman’s mother, rather than the father?
We finally emerged from the souks around 8 PM and we were OVERWHELMED to find that the plaza had completely transformed. Sometime between 3 and 8 PM, over 100 food vendors had set up shop in the middle of the plaza. (For everybody in White Oak, think International Village times a bazillion!) There were rows and rows of food stands. Each stand was like a little outdoor restaurant with long communal tables. All of the places had huge displays of street foods – cold vegetable salads, fresh meats, grilled vegetables, soups, breads, etc. It was an amazing sight – it was like something straight out an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel, I’m not even kidding! I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s already been there. Of course, I was so excited to be there, because I just love adventurous eating!!! After much persuasion, I convinced the other people in my travel group to sit down at one of the stands. I had a hunch it would be a good decision and I was right! After squeezing between people on the long benches, we ate meat kebabs, bread with fresh cold tomato pulp, spicy marinated olives, grilled eggplant, and some potatoes. Everything was cooked to order and delicious. An interesting thing to know is that there was a little dish on the table (about the size of a tea cup saucer) that had a mix of spices and salt. You could add as much or as little of the spices to your dish! Ah. So cool. I felt so good about our dinner choice that I even risked the fresh squeezed orange juice on the street. It was completely refreshing and I didn’t even get sick! (Yay!)
After getting our fill of the madness of the plaza (there must have been over 1000 people crowded in there!), we got a taxi back to our riad. Our day in the old city had made me appreciate our riad even more. It was such a peaceful oasis from the hubbub of the city that I felt so secure once I got into our riad. I was so happy about the success of the day that it didn’t even matter that we found a COCKROACH in the bathroom before bed. Now, you KNOW I don’t do bugs, so I’m embarrassed to say that Shannon took care of it while I pretty much hopped around, waving the trash can uselessly while trying not to scream. (Why the trash can? Can’t say for sure, but it made me feel better - Jill and Kristin – I totally needed the Princess Flashlight!!! That’s my JOB!) Oh well…no pasa nada…it was a humorous end to a long day of new cultural experiences. : )
After the long train ride to Marrakech, we jumped into a cab to get to the Medina, or the walled part of the old city, where our riad (Moroccan guest house/villa) was located. Because the same family owns many different riads across the city, the only address we could find for our particular riad online was “Various Locations.” (Does that seem sketchy? We thought so.) We had to call the owner and let him talk to the taxi driver in Arabic so that he would know where to drop us off. We ended up getting out just outside the walls of the old city because there wasn’t an opening for cars (in that part of the city walls). We waited there for a few moments before the riad owner came to get us and then we had a short walk into the Medina before he led us through a small door. When we stepped through, we were pleasantly surprised that on the inside, there was a gorgeous open courtyard. There were plenty of interesting plants, a beautiful pool, and places to sit and lounge. After seeing our rooms (which surrounded the main courtyard), the owner invited us to have some tea with him, so we sat down to visit for a while. My favorite part of the conversation was when he gave us the secret of making a truly fantastic pot of mint Moroccan tea, which you can be sure that I will be testing out as soon as I get home.
That afternoon, we walked around the maze which is the Medina for quite some time before admitting that we were hopelessly lost. We ended up jumping in a cab in order to get to the center plaza of the city. This was an amazing public space – there were street performers, snake charmers, fresh orange juice vendors, as well as big carts selling dried apricots, dates, figs, and cactus fruit. After having a delicious lunch of “taginia marrakechia” (a lamb specialty of the area) and couscous, we spent the afternoon walking through the souks. I completely underestimated the amount of time that I thought we’d spend there. It took about four hours to get through these overwhelming markets because the process of bargaining for your purchases takes so long! You have to express an interest in something, ask for a price, tell them heck no – you won’t pay that, you have to ask for special deal, then it goes back and forth until someone folds. An interesting observation that one of our deans shared was: you haven’t gotten a good deal unless the shop keeper has to run in the back to ask his mommy if the price is ok. I just thought that was pretty funny, because it actually happened to me once! Anyway, the point is that shopping takes a lot longer – I could have could have gone to Target and been in and out in 20 minutes if I were in the US. It’s just a different way of living – shopping is very much a social activity. While shopping around, I met a really nice Moroccan guy who was helping out at his uncle’s herb store. He showed me all around the shop to see the “black soap” Moroccans use for the haman (bath), a natural perfume bar made of jasmine, as well as a clay dish that you can mix a little water in and it becomes a type of lipstick. Apparently in Berber tradition (which is one of the regional cultures in Morocco), if a man gives this clay-lipstick thing to a women’s mother, it means that he is then engaged to the daughter. I’ve never heard of that…isn’t that interesting that the permission to wed lies with the woman’s mother, rather than the father?
We finally emerged from the souks around 8 PM and we were OVERWHELMED to find that the plaza had completely transformed. Sometime between 3 and 8 PM, over 100 food vendors had set up shop in the middle of the plaza. (For everybody in White Oak, think International Village times a bazillion!) There were rows and rows of food stands. Each stand was like a little outdoor restaurant with long communal tables. All of the places had huge displays of street foods – cold vegetable salads, fresh meats, grilled vegetables, soups, breads, etc. It was an amazing sight – it was like something straight out an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel, I’m not even kidding! I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s already been there. Of course, I was so excited to be there, because I just love adventurous eating!!! After much persuasion, I convinced the other people in my travel group to sit down at one of the stands. I had a hunch it would be a good decision and I was right! After squeezing between people on the long benches, we ate meat kebabs, bread with fresh cold tomato pulp, spicy marinated olives, grilled eggplant, and some potatoes. Everything was cooked to order and delicious. An interesting thing to know is that there was a little dish on the table (about the size of a tea cup saucer) that had a mix of spices and salt. You could add as much or as little of the spices to your dish! Ah. So cool. I felt so good about our dinner choice that I even risked the fresh squeezed orange juice on the street. It was completely refreshing and I didn’t even get sick! (Yay!)
After getting our fill of the madness of the plaza (there must have been over 1000 people crowded in there!), we got a taxi back to our riad. Our day in the old city had made me appreciate our riad even more. It was such a peaceful oasis from the hubbub of the city that I felt so secure once I got into our riad. I was so happy about the success of the day that it didn’t even matter that we found a COCKROACH in the bathroom before bed. Now, you KNOW I don’t do bugs, so I’m embarrassed to say that Shannon took care of it while I pretty much hopped around, waving the trash can uselessly while trying not to scream. (Why the trash can? Can’t say for sure, but it made me feel better - Jill and Kristin – I totally needed the Princess Flashlight!!! That’s my JOB!) Oh well…no pasa nada…it was a humorous end to a long day of new cultural experiences. : )
Day 1 in Morocco: Rabat and Welcome Reception (Saturday, August 7)
So, the rough seas were not too bad last night – we were definitely rocking more than we normally would, but it wasn’t too bad at all. False alarm…whew!
Early this morning, we docked in Casablanca. After a diplomatic briefing, my friend Christine, and a few other students from the ship (Sarah, Rochelle, and Denny) rushed down the gangway and jumped on a train to get to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. It was about an hour train ride away and only cost about 70 dirham ($9) round trip! Rabat was an interesting city – not necessarily a tourist destination – but it was a nice way to ease into the Moroccan culture. We walked around inside the Medina, went to the Kasbuh Café overlooking the ocean for our first mint tea of the trip! It was really hot outside, but the hot tea actually seemed to stabilize my body temperature somehow…I’m still not really sure how that works…
We spent the afternoon walking through the Souks – there are so many stores and everything is for sale everywhere you look. The people in Rabat were much more laid back than the people at other markets we’ve been to this summer – we could look around at the goods without being mobbed by sales people (or hit on, to tell you the truth)! It was nice! It got busy around 3pm, so we had lunch in a restaurant that looked like a hole in the wall, but actually had some delicious Moroccan food – I had a tajine (a special Moroccan cooking thing – basically a clay platter with a cone lid). My tajine had chicken, vegetables, and lemon…YUM.
Christine and I had to leave Rabat far too soon to get back to Casa (that’s what we call Casablanca now…it makes me feel like a local!) for our evening FDP trip to meet with Moroccan university students. We got on these scary little vans/buses and drove about 45 minutes through the city. The reception took place at a country/tennis club outside of the city. We sat down at big tables and had mint tea, cookies, freshly squeezed orange juice, and this special spicy Moroccan soup (it had big chunks of chicken and meat and plenty of chickpeas – mmmmm….). It was a nice, chill evening because we got to sit down and chat with a few local students. It was funny – I ended up sitting with Kathy, my professor, along with Greg, Kestral, and Christine from my Student Affairs at Sea program. We were so interested in asking about the student’s education and their experience in college, I think we may have overwhelmed them just a bit. The conversation was interesting and at one point, we found out that one of the students we had been talking to was a poet so she read us one of her pieces. Kinda random, but cool, I guess. : ) Headed back to the ship afterward around 10 PM for an unusually early night in port.
Early this morning, we docked in Casablanca. After a diplomatic briefing, my friend Christine, and a few other students from the ship (Sarah, Rochelle, and Denny) rushed down the gangway and jumped on a train to get to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. It was about an hour train ride away and only cost about 70 dirham ($9) round trip! Rabat was an interesting city – not necessarily a tourist destination – but it was a nice way to ease into the Moroccan culture. We walked around inside the Medina, went to the Kasbuh Café overlooking the ocean for our first mint tea of the trip! It was really hot outside, but the hot tea actually seemed to stabilize my body temperature somehow…I’m still not really sure how that works…
We spent the afternoon walking through the Souks – there are so many stores and everything is for sale everywhere you look. The people in Rabat were much more laid back than the people at other markets we’ve been to this summer – we could look around at the goods without being mobbed by sales people (or hit on, to tell you the truth)! It was nice! It got busy around 3pm, so we had lunch in a restaurant that looked like a hole in the wall, but actually had some delicious Moroccan food – I had a tajine (a special Moroccan cooking thing – basically a clay platter with a cone lid). My tajine had chicken, vegetables, and lemon…YUM.
Christine and I had to leave Rabat far too soon to get back to Casa (that’s what we call Casablanca now…it makes me feel like a local!) for our evening FDP trip to meet with Moroccan university students. We got on these scary little vans/buses and drove about 45 minutes through the city. The reception took place at a country/tennis club outside of the city. We sat down at big tables and had mint tea, cookies, freshly squeezed orange juice, and this special spicy Moroccan soup (it had big chunks of chicken and meat and plenty of chickpeas – mmmmm….). It was a nice, chill evening because we got to sit down and chat with a few local students. It was funny – I ended up sitting with Kathy, my professor, along with Greg, Kestral, and Christine from my Student Affairs at Sea program. We were so interested in asking about the student’s education and their experience in college, I think we may have overwhelmed them just a bit. The conversation was interesting and at one point, we found out that one of the students we had been talking to was a poet so she read us one of her pieces. Kinda random, but cool, I guess. : ) Headed back to the ship afterward around 10 PM for an unusually early night in port.
Bunkered in Gibraltar (Friday, August 6)
Today was an odd day because we were “bunkered” in the bay by Gibraltar (between Spain and Morocco). It was strange because we were anchored all day for “refueling operations.” Another ship came to refuel us while we just bobbed in place all day.
These past 3 days have just FLOWN by…there’s been a ton of stuff going on, but I’ll just give you the highlights:
On Wednesday (August 4), I ran around like crazy trying to get caught up with everything…but also somehow found time to volunteer to help with the Alumni Ball registration which will take place on one of our last nights on the ship. The theme is going to be “A MED-Summer Night’s Dream.” So adorable, I know. I also helped to proctor the ship-wide Global Studies exam at 8 PM in the union. Later that night, we had a Mediterranean Sea Bronze Medal Celebration! We had chips and salsa to eat which was a huge hit (you would not BELIEVE how much I have been craving some good Mexican food…I need to go to Don Pablo's/Chevy's asap when I get home!). I also made everyone a “bronze” medal out of paper and yarn so that everyone could remember their awesome performance at the Summer 2010 Sea Olympics.
One interesting thing that happened on Thursday (August 5), was that we had an awesome guest lecturer in the Global Studies class named Ruth Sutton, professor and author, who has written a piece called “Living Between the Question Marks.” She was an excellent speaker and she explained all about what happened to all of the Jewish people who had been living in Morocco and in the Mediterranean area. The Global Studies class is taught from a “conqueror” perspective (which is a pretty controversial topic in itself), so it was nice to (finally) hear about a culture which has struggled to exist in this region of the Mediterranean. It was an interesting lecture and quite moving when Ruth talked about her roots as a Moroccan Jew.
On a lighter note, one of the cool things that happened on Thursday night was the much-anticipated Crew talent show. It was so awesome! A ton of the crew worked really hard to put a bunch of acts together and the union was PACKED. There were dance routines, vocal acts, and musical instruments performances. It was crazy to see the crew out of their uniforms and in “real clothes.” The dance routines were the best, because you think you know someone’s personality when you see them every day, but you really have no idea what they will be like on the dance floor! I cheered especially loud for my cabin steward, Achilles – he is the absolute best and can really shake it on the dance floor! Another memorable performance was from Allan (who’s a part of the dining room crew) doing a bartending/bottle twirling act (of all things). He was really good, though, and I think he should sign up to be on those competitions that they have on the Food Network. : )
Today (August 6), the coolest thing that happened was that I was eating lunch with some friends in the dining room and I saw dolphins right outside the window! (Ok, so at first I saw one and THOUGHT it was a shark, and yelled “SHARK!” but it was actually a pod of dolphins! Oh well…) Dolphin sightings have actually been pretty common this summer (REALITY CHECK PLEASE!), but this was the first time that I had been the first one to spot them! Usually, someone yells “DOLPHINS!” and everyone jumps up and trips over everyone else running to that particular side of the deck. It was soooo cool. They are adorable – they just look so happy to jumping through the waves. : )
Tomorrow, we dock in Casablanca. It’s definitely bittersweet because it’s the last port left before home! I’m excited to see everyone again soon, but there’s no way I am ready to leave this ship!
Everyone is saying that there are rough seas ahead this evening…YIKES! Before I went to bed, I saw the crew tying ropes across all the books in the library to secure them to the bookshelves. Hmm…I’m going go out on a limb here and say that’s probably not a good sign… Not to mention, Tom (the assistant dean) made an announcement before bed saying that everyone should take things off of their shelves and put everything in drawers/closets if they are not secure...Oh boy…I think I am going to take some Dramamine as a preventative measure. I want to be ready to go tomorrow morning in MOROCCO!!!
These past 3 days have just FLOWN by…there’s been a ton of stuff going on, but I’ll just give you the highlights:
On Wednesday (August 4), I ran around like crazy trying to get caught up with everything…but also somehow found time to volunteer to help with the Alumni Ball registration which will take place on one of our last nights on the ship. The theme is going to be “A MED-Summer Night’s Dream.” So adorable, I know. I also helped to proctor the ship-wide Global Studies exam at 8 PM in the union. Later that night, we had a Mediterranean Sea Bronze Medal Celebration! We had chips and salsa to eat which was a huge hit (you would not BELIEVE how much I have been craving some good Mexican food…I need to go to Don Pablo's/Chevy's asap when I get home!). I also made everyone a “bronze” medal out of paper and yarn so that everyone could remember their awesome performance at the Summer 2010 Sea Olympics.
One interesting thing that happened on Thursday (August 5), was that we had an awesome guest lecturer in the Global Studies class named Ruth Sutton, professor and author, who has written a piece called “Living Between the Question Marks.” She was an excellent speaker and she explained all about what happened to all of the Jewish people who had been living in Morocco and in the Mediterranean area. The Global Studies class is taught from a “conqueror” perspective (which is a pretty controversial topic in itself), so it was nice to (finally) hear about a culture which has struggled to exist in this region of the Mediterranean. It was an interesting lecture and quite moving when Ruth talked about her roots as a Moroccan Jew.
On a lighter note, one of the cool things that happened on Thursday night was the much-anticipated Crew talent show. It was so awesome! A ton of the crew worked really hard to put a bunch of acts together and the union was PACKED. There were dance routines, vocal acts, and musical instruments performances. It was crazy to see the crew out of their uniforms and in “real clothes.” The dance routines were the best, because you think you know someone’s personality when you see them every day, but you really have no idea what they will be like on the dance floor! I cheered especially loud for my cabin steward, Achilles – he is the absolute best and can really shake it on the dance floor! Another memorable performance was from Allan (who’s a part of the dining room crew) doing a bartending/bottle twirling act (of all things). He was really good, though, and I think he should sign up to be on those competitions that they have on the Food Network. : )
Today (August 6), the coolest thing that happened was that I was eating lunch with some friends in the dining room and I saw dolphins right outside the window! (Ok, so at first I saw one and THOUGHT it was a shark, and yelled “SHARK!” but it was actually a pod of dolphins! Oh well…) Dolphin sightings have actually been pretty common this summer (REALITY CHECK PLEASE!), but this was the first time that I had been the first one to spot them! Usually, someone yells “DOLPHINS!” and everyone jumps up and trips over everyone else running to that particular side of the deck. It was soooo cool. They are adorable – they just look so happy to jumping through the waves. : )
Tomorrow, we dock in Casablanca. It’s definitely bittersweet because it’s the last port left before home! I’m excited to see everyone again soon, but there’s no way I am ready to leave this ship!
Everyone is saying that there are rough seas ahead this evening…YIKES! Before I went to bed, I saw the crew tying ropes across all the books in the library to secure them to the bookshelves. Hmm…I’m going go out on a limb here and say that’s probably not a good sign… Not to mention, Tom (the assistant dean) made an announcement before bed saying that everyone should take things off of their shelves and put everything in drawers/closets if they are not secure...Oh boy…I think I am going to take some Dramamine as a preventative measure. I want to be ready to go tomorrow morning in MOROCCO!!!
Friday, August 13, 2010
More BUSY days at Sea! (Tuesday, August 3)
Yesterday was the first “back to reality” day – or as close to reality as you can get on this ship, anyway. I spent pretty much the entire day writing papers for my classes.
Today, after my early morning classes, I hit the gym before lunch and then attended a job search in Student Affairs workshop at 2pm. The assistant dean, Tom, did the presentation and it was really helpful to think about all of the things I’ll need to do in the upcoming months.
In the afternoon, I met with a man named Randy Lewis. He’s been on SEVEN Semester at Sea voyages (as faculty and in the dean positions). He was really helpful in answering all of my questions about the Institute for Shipboard Education. Randy also had some horror stories about stuff that has happened. He told me about a time where they had to jail a student who got violent on board and another time when the ship lost power and they had to use 400 students to help set the anchor so they wouldn’t drift ashore! Crazy stuff. Knock on wood, but we’ve had a really safe voyage this far – we’ve been really lucky that there haven’t been any major issues.
That night, the deans hosted another reception in the super-sweet faculty and staff lounge. The theme was Indian food! Yum. No, we are not going to India on this trip, but the rationale was that the fall voyage will be going there, so we are pretty much supporting the people on the upcoming fall voyage. Or, the deans were really just craving Indian food. One of the two. It was really fun though. It’s so nice to get dressed up a little and hang out with all of the older adults on the ship. Plus, the vino is an added bonus. : )
For dessert, there was a birthday celebration for one of the LLC’s (living-learning coordinator), LaCona, after the reception. Have I mentioned that the ship makes some awesome ice cream cakes?! Yum again.
That evening, I helped attended the 8 PM talent show in the union. It was so much fun to watch – there was singing, dancing, a light show, a harmonica performance, a magician, and the deans (John and LaVohn) even did an interpretive dance to the “I’m on a boat” song! SO funny. The talent show made me feel like I was at summer camp or something. It’s nice, though, because somehow (magically) in the past few weeks, this group of students, faculty, and staff has begun to function like a big family or community. It’s such a unique environment to be a part of – one that I think rarely is possible to have on a land-campus – and one that I am so fortunate to be a part of!
Today, after my early morning classes, I hit the gym before lunch and then attended a job search in Student Affairs workshop at 2pm. The assistant dean, Tom, did the presentation and it was really helpful to think about all of the things I’ll need to do in the upcoming months.
In the afternoon, I met with a man named Randy Lewis. He’s been on SEVEN Semester at Sea voyages (as faculty and in the dean positions). He was really helpful in answering all of my questions about the Institute for Shipboard Education. Randy also had some horror stories about stuff that has happened. He told me about a time where they had to jail a student who got violent on board and another time when the ship lost power and they had to use 400 students to help set the anchor so they wouldn’t drift ashore! Crazy stuff. Knock on wood, but we’ve had a really safe voyage this far – we’ve been really lucky that there haven’t been any major issues.
That night, the deans hosted another reception in the super-sweet faculty and staff lounge. The theme was Indian food! Yum. No, we are not going to India on this trip, but the rationale was that the fall voyage will be going there, so we are pretty much supporting the people on the upcoming fall voyage. Or, the deans were really just craving Indian food. One of the two. It was really fun though. It’s so nice to get dressed up a little and hang out with all of the older adults on the ship. Plus, the vino is an added bonus. : )
For dessert, there was a birthday celebration for one of the LLC’s (living-learning coordinator), LaCona, after the reception. Have I mentioned that the ship makes some awesome ice cream cakes?! Yum again.
That evening, I helped attended the 8 PM talent show in the union. It was so much fun to watch – there was singing, dancing, a light show, a harmonica performance, a magician, and the deans (John and LaVohn) even did an interpretive dance to the “I’m on a boat” song! SO funny. The talent show made me feel like I was at summer camp or something. It’s nice, though, because somehow (magically) in the past few weeks, this group of students, faculty, and staff has begun to function like a big family or community. It’s such a unique environment to be a part of – one that I think rarely is possible to have on a land-campus – and one that I am so fortunate to be a part of!
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