Today, I boarded the MV Explorer and begun the trip of a lifetime. Eight Countries, 66 days. One ship, 1000+ passengers. Two classes, one internship. Could I possibly TRY to squeeze more adventure out of one summer?!
Yesterday (June 13), I arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I flew in from Philly and was reminded yesterday how much I hate the Philly airport. It seems as if I never have any luck there at all. My flight was delayed about four hours and since I arrived 3 hours early, I literally sat in the airport at gate F5 all day long! The good news, however, was that while I was waiting, I met several other students who were going on the Semester at Sea voyage – Christine and Katie (from St. Thomas, Minnesota), Haley (from Philly – Drexel), Colleen (from Columbia Teacher’s College and New Jersey), and Christina (an undergrad from Florida University). All of them seemed really nice and I am glad that I wasn’t traveling (aka waiting) alone!
When we finally boarded the plane, we had to sit and wait while the crew sorted through and discarded luggage because the plane was “overweight.” Not even kidding. So after they decided this, they wouldn’t let some people board the plane. We had to wait while their luggage was discarded from the plane to make it lighter. The silver lining in all of this, though, is that 1.) I made it on the plane and to Halifax safely and 2.) my LUGGAGE made it as well! Horray!!!
So once in Halifax, we had to clear customs despite the complaints of several American passengers (“but it’s only CANADA for goodness sake!”). I made it through and somehow managed to manipulate my 125 pounds of luggage to a taxi-van with Haley, Christina, and Colleen. I am still amazed that ALL of our luggage (about 4 bags per person) PLUS all of us humans fit into the one van! We rode 45 minutes to the hotel (Four Points Sheraton) in Halifax where we met Erin. Erin, Colleen, Haley and I, went to dinner (with Christina and her roommate) to a pub on the waterfront and then the four of us shared a hotel that night. It was nice to hang out with them all – I’m glad that I got to connect with them BEFORE the voyage. It made me a lot less anxious about finding everything! Ah, the magic of facebook….
Today (Monday, June 14), we went to a cute little diner in downtown Halifax called “Cora.” I had eggs Benedict – served over an English muffin, brie cheese, and mushrooms with a side of roasted potatoes and fruit! It was so good and I definitely ate every bite! We walked around town for a bit afterwards, hit a drug store for last minute shopping, and then carted all of our luggage out of hotel storage into a taxi-van (again, I don’t know how exactly it happened!). The ride to the port of Halifax was about 5 minutes total, but I am SO glad we didn’t walk! It would have been ridiculous with all of those bags!
Once we unloaded, it took us about an hour to get through the tight security of the boarding area. They scanned and went through all bags and we were put though a series of metal detectors. They kept our passports at the boarding area, which surprised me a little. I guess they don’t want us to lose them? Or they want to make sure that we don’t try to leave the country? I don’t know…but I felt like saying…please don’t lose that, mister! Just in case they forget.
I met up with several of my cohort (aka seahort) mates when we first got on the ship (deck five – reception area). One of them was my friend, Greg Fink, who I met at Previews last year – in Vermont and again at PSU). I’m so glad he’s on this voyage. Surprisingly, he is the only male out of the 16 students in my program! Lots of pressure on him to bring the “male” perspective, I suppose! It is common for study abroad participants to be mostly women – in fact, 75 percent of students on this voyage are women.
I spent the afternoon exploring the ship with my seahort mates. The ship is huge! It has everything you need for a micro-community! Library, gym, lecture halls, bars, pool, basketball court, spa, computer lab, union, cafeteria, and tons of cabins. Because I am considered a “life-long learner” and not just a measly undergrad, I have access to the special (and very exclusive) faculty/staff lounge on the 6th deck. In addition, I have more internet access than others – students only get two free hours before they have to start paying! Yikes! They are giving us grad students 50 hours for the entire summer, which means I’ll definitely have to cut down on my facebook surfing, but should be able to get my research done.
My room on the ship is SMALL. And I mean SMALL. Not to mention, I am sharing it! It is on the 3rd deck and we are a part of the “Mediterranean” Sea. Instead of dividing the cabins into “floors” as they would in a traditional residence hall, they separate the different areas of the ship into “Seas.” I think it is pretty cool that I got the Mediterranean Sea – because that’s where we are sailing! It has two little beds, a mini (mini) fridge – which holds about 2 cans of pop, a narrow desk, some closet space and an efficient little bathroom. It is very clean, however, and all of my STUFF fits in here somewhere, so I guess it will work out just fine. No window, unfortunately, but I hope that I will only be sleeping here anyway. My roomie is Erin, who is very nice. She’s a little older, lives in Boston, and works at a Study Abroad provider company. She is also a student at Drexel – although it is interesting that they’ve never met because all (yes, ALL) of their coursework is done online. Crazy, isn’t it?
This afternoon we went to the grocery store right near port where I got a watch, so I will know what the heck time it is (without my phone), and some ginger ale to settle a potentially upset stomach. I felt a little whoozy when I got on the ship, so I put on a sea sickness patch and things started to get better only a few hours later. Tonight we had a brief meet and greet, had dinner on the deck, unpacked, and then went to the parent’s reception (good food, lots of wine). I missed Mom and Dad so much. I really think that they would have loved the program – especially Dad, because the speakers were cracking really corny jokes. : )
During the parents program, a few parents talked about how their students’ Semester at Sea experiences had changed their lives. One parent gave a testimonial and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! I can’t help it. I’m a weeper. That stuff always gets me. I’m not even kidding, they showed a video that documents the voyage, and when people were saying goodbye at the end of the trip, I started crying like a baby. I mean, I only met a few folks this afternoon, but I know that this trip will bond us in unimaginable ways. I am so confident of that I was literally sad (and crying about) leaving on the first night. Unbelievable!
The student affairs grad students and the learning-living coordinators had a meeting after the reception to talk about duties for embarkation day, tomorrow (June 15). Apparently 711 students will be boarding tomorrow morning before 2:30 pm. Yeah, I feel like it is going to be a hot mess. Especially since it took us over an hour today and there was barely any line! Oh well, it was so nice that we got to come on early to get settled before the madness of tomorrow commences.
That’s it for now, Erin’s asleep, so I’m shutting down. Love always.
No comments:
Post a Comment