Classes at Sea

You may be wondering what it’s like taking classes on the ship. Well I’m here to tell you that they’re not easy. So often I hear that the classes students take during study abroad programs are pretty laid back...not so here at Semester at Sea. We have classes every day while we’re at sea (minus a few reflection and reading days), and that includes weekends. Days are divided into A and B days, instead of specific days of the week, which often leads to never actually knowing what day it is.

Here’s my schedule for the semester:

A Days
World Religions: 1455-1610
Music and Cognition: 1615-1730

B Days
Global Pop Culture: 0800-0915
Global Studies: 0920-1035

I love that my classes are back to back, but the 8am class I have on B days is a tough one to get up for, especially when we always lose our hours the nights before B days. And although my workload is constantly pretty heavy (I’m writing papers everyday!), I enjoy my classes for the most part.

World Religions is an introductory class into the study of religions. I love this class because without it, the religious practices of the rest of the world would most likely overwhelm and confuse me. So far we’ve talked about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism--as well as lesser known religions like tribal and native religions, Jainism, and Rastafarianism.

Music and Cognition is an upper level psychology class that delves into why and how the brain process music the way it does. The big question that we’re trying to form opinions about in this fairly young field of research is “Has music evolved as an adaptation of language or is it simply enjoyable cheesecake to the brain?”. Because this is such a new field of study in the psychology world, most of our work is speculation and critical thinking about the topic. This class is interesting but definitely work heavy. Preparing for class usually requires reading a couple chapters in our text book accompanied with several (rather long) scholarly articles and scientific studies. And then we have to write a two page reflection paper for each set of reading for every class. In addition to that we have field work and other papers to turn in along the way. Somehow I’ve been keeping up in this class, but to be honest, I have no idea how.

Global Pop Culture is a sociology class that focuses on the pop culture of the countries we visit on Semester at Sea. We focused mainly on advertising for the first half of the course, but now we’re on to working in groups on a big final project. My team is studying  music and nightlife. The class mainly focuses on attaining a sociological perspective and increasing critical thinking skills, which can sometime prove difficult since I haven’t taken any sociology classes back at Western, but all in all, it’s an interesting course.

Global Studies is a tough course to explain...probably because it tries to incorporate the topics and workload of about 4 different classes at once. Global Studies is our core class that every passenger aboard the MV Explorer is required to take. Global Studies is designed to provide background and insightful information about the countries we travel to, and boy do they try to pack in as much as they can. The class usually consists of a couple minutes of announcements, a regular lecture and then a guest lecture, and my favorite minute of B days: the geology minute. We have reading and attendance quizzes, a group project, and a huge comprehensive final to take before completing the course. What makes this class a lot of work is that in addition to the rather large amount of reading we have for Global Studies, we are also responsible to know all the information in the professors lecture powerpoint slides, even if he doesn’t finish the lecture (I’ve yet to see him finish a lecture). Global Studies is a standard experience for people who attend Semester at Sea, and to most--myself included--we have a love-hate relationship with the class. We do learn some valuable info about the countries we visit, and the geology minute--a brief overview about our geographical location mixed in with some geographical features of where we are--is always interesting.

I wouldn’t say that the classes here are any harder than the ones back at my home institution, but here’s what they don’t tell you in the brochures...the environment that we’re supposed to work is anything but ideal for schoolwork. First of all, you’re on a moving ship, which either makes you seasick or very sleepy. Seasickness is a completely valid excuse to leave or not come to class. Even professors have had to excuse themselves from their classes to compose themselves. Seasickness doesn’t discriminate. For those who never get it, let my jealousy be noted. Also, reading on a rocking ship is something you just have to train yourself how to do. The key is to take lots of breaks!

Second of all, the ship becomes a lot smaller than you think if you’re trying to find a quiet place to study. There are people hanging out all over the ship, because cabins are far too small for all of your friends to congregate there.  So it’s much easier to get caught up socializing with your friends, instead of tackling your ever-present homework.

Finally, because internet access is nearly slim to none while at sea, students are forced to travel backwards on the technological timeline and use--dare I say it--actual books in the library! Well in less you want to use one of our free online pages, Wikipedia, as a reliable academic source. Thankfully we also have access to the University of Virginia’s online sources as well, but that’s only if the internet decides to work that particular day. 

My intention for writing about classes on the ship is not to simply voice my complaints, but rather spark some empathy or compassion for the students of Semester at Sea, however brief it may be. We are all very fortunate to be apart of this incredible opportunity, but we have all worked extremely hard to get and stay here, and I think that should be commended.

Onward to more studies!
Anna

Tips From Past Voyages

I’m going to let you guys in on a little SAS Top Secret. In every cabin on the ship is a painting or some type of artwork hanging on the wall. The secret is that on the back of this artwork is advice from the people who previously stayed in your cabin, written in permanent marker. Had my friend Kelli not told me about this find, there is no way I would have thought to look behind the painting, but I’m glad she did. It’s so neat to see something passed along from voyage to voyage. There some pretty good advice on the board, like how it tells you to be kind to your cabin steward and the rest of the crew (I love the crew, they’re wonderful!), but admittedly there is some pretty sketchy and risky advice listed too. Things like “go to a speed bar in South Africa” or “take your roommate to a strip joint in China” are just some of the bad things, but it’s all made in good fun. On my list there is directions to get into the kitchen at night to steal food and careful instructions on how to pass Global Studies without actually going to class, both helpful skills to attain. But most of all, the board warns against being a “SAShole” by having a bad attitude and taking this great opportunity for granted. As sad as I know it will be to leave this cabin, I’m excited to leave behind a legacy on the board to be passed down from voyage to voyage...or at least until they replace the artwork :)

Peace and Love,
Anna

The front of the artwork. 

The tips on the back.

Dominica

To be honest, I didn’t really have any expectations for the island of Dominica--not to be confused with the Dominican Republic (this is a completely different island in the Caribbean). First of all, I knew nothing about Dominica, like how the actual pronunciation is dom-in-ee-ka instead of di-min-ica. And secondly, I had absolutely no plans during my stay on the island, and I was so worried about not making any friends to hang out with while we were there because I’d only been on the ship for a few days and making friends in any situation takes time. So naturally I thought I wasn’t going to have any fun for the two days we were going to spend there. Boy was I wrong.

Day 1
My roommate, Amanda, was having the same doubts about Dominica that I was and didn’t have anything planned for the first day, so we decided to have a roommie-filled day and explore the town of Roseau together.  We arrived on Sunday, January 16th sometime around 7am. It was a foggy morning, but in the distance we could see forested mountains above and colorful buildings and houses below. Almost immediately I noticed a KFC to the left of the dock, and later I found out that Roseau also had a Subway and a Pizza Hut, which I found pretty interesting.

Amanda and I scarfed down some breakfast and took a short little snooze while the majority of people who had trips got off the ship first. After that, we walked down the gangway and onto the streets of our first port, only to be bombarded by taxi drivers offering to give us the best deal for a ride around the island. Shaking off the pesky taxi drivers, we walked down the main road of town just taking in the scenery. Since it was Sunday, a majority of the shops and businesses were closed while most locals went to church. Amanda and I headed up to the Botanical Gardens, a public park filled with exotic trees, flowers and fields, and we braved a steep trail leading up to a peak overlooking the town. The hike was a little more tedious than I had expected and it was incredibly hot (much hotter than the cold weather I had left behind in the states!), so by the time we reached the top I was drenched in sweat. Clearly my decision to wear jean capris and  a cute top were a bad idea.The view was well worth it though. From there I could see the ship, the place that was beginning to feel like home, snuggled in the beautifully blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. I could also see the colorful rooftops of the buildings in Roseau. After taking in the scenery and resting up a bit, we headed back down the trail to go back to the ship. On our way out we saw some children playing in a tree. “Should we go say hi? I want to meet them,” my roommate said. Of course, I was totally down for that. Amanda and I both have little brothers, so we were happy for some interaction with people not our age. We came up with a plan to ask the kids where we could get some candy, just to start conversation. There were three kids in the tree: Joesamine, age 6, Ash, who’s 8, and Amari, who’s 5. Joesamine first pointed--in way too many directions--to the location of the nearest shop. After that conversation flowed easily. The kids had just been to church and were climbing around in their Sunday best. We chatted with them for a while and then their father came over to greet us. They invited us to lunch but we would have been late getting back on the ship, but we agreed to meet up with them the next day for a play date.

Back on the ship, we got changed, ate, and then met up with a group of other SAS-ers that wanted to explore the city with us. One of the guys that had gone on an SAS trip earlier had talked to a guy that drove an open tour bus who said he would take us to three local hot spots: Ti Tou Gorge, Trafalgar Falls, and The Hot Springs for about $10 US. We boarded the bus and headed up into the mountains. The views were beautiful as we kept driving higher and higher, but I was a bit worried sitting on the far side of the bus because the roads are much more narrow in Dominica and at times I was scared that I was going to just fall over the edge. But we just kept climbing higher and higher into the mountains. Closer to the top, we all noticed the temperature dropping slightly. Finally, we get to the gorge. It’s a little hard to explain, but Ti Tou Gorge is some kind of rock formation, like a cave, that has water in the middle that you can swim in and a waterfall at the end of it. There’s a scene in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie that was filmed at Ti Tou Gorge, so I’ve swam in the same waters that Johnny Depp has *swoon*! I guess I was feeling adventurous that day because I jumped about 30 feet down into the gorge. It was a really cool experience. It felt like nature had swallowed me up and I loved every minute of it. Next we headed to Trafalgar Falls, where we hiked a little ways to the foot of two adjacent waterfalls. There are these huge rocks that you have to climb up to get to the waterfalls though, which proved a little difficult. I’m surprised no one twisted an ankle climbing around on those slippery rocks. After that, we headed to the hot springs, which are these pools of mineral water that locals sit in to “feel 10 years younger”. They feel like hot tubs. So that was nice to sit in for a while.

Then it was back to the ship to get ready for our first night out on the voyage. Some of the bar owners in town got wind of the fact that 700 students were on the island looking for some night-time fun, so they opened up a bar called J.R.’s and a club called Crazy Coconuts. I went to both and danced so much! Just like the Black Eyed Peas predicted, it was a great night.


Day 2
The next day I got up and headed to an internet cafe down the street. It was a beautiful day and the cafe was open and breezy. Sipping a rum punch while on my computer on such a beautiful day in Dominica felt luxurious to say the least. Back on the ship for lunch, I waited for Amanda to get back from her day trip so that we could meet up with or little friends from the day before. Sadly we ended up getting to the gardens too late, missing our play date. So instead we went to the markets in search of snacks for our room. We came across a grocery store and came out of it with Pringles and Canadian Chocolate Chip Cookies. They seemed to have a lot of Canadian products on the shelves, and they also had a Canadian bank on the island, so I sensed that Dominica has some sort of relationship with Canada.

On our way back to the ship we stopped to sit in the shade of a drink stand and met some more young kids working on homework. We talked to them for a little while and then it was time to get back on the ship to leave. I loved Dominica, so it was a little bittersweet to leave, but as we pulled away from the port I realized that my journey had only just begun.

Until next time,
Anna

Getting Back on Track/ ?The Voice?

So, admittedly, I haven’t been journaling and blogging as much as I should. I extend to you my deepest apologies. The only excuse that I have to offer up is that life aboard the MV Explorer is extremely busy, and any internet connection is extremely slow. But don’t fret, from now on I have every intention of doing better about documenting my journey around the world. By now I’ve already been to Dominica and Brazil (how weird is that?!?! I’ve already been to those places). It just proves that this voyage can fly right by without even realizing it. My game plan from now on is to either discuss an aspect of life here on the ship in every blog post or talk about my time and experiences in ports. For today, I’ll talk about “The Voice”.

Throughout the day we get several sets of announcements. Whether they’re about club meetings, time zone changes, or administrative business, announcements happen pretty often here. And most of them are given by The Voice. Preluded by a short ding-dong, The Voice fills us in on all the things that we need to know over the intercom system. We call her The Voice because....well we just do. Her real name is Marty, our Assistant Executive Dean. But we also receives messages from our very own Captain Jeremy. He’s the one that administers all of the pesky, but necessary, safety drills on the ship (all with a charming British accent).

Announcement usually sound a bit like this:

Ding-dong
Ah-tention shipboard community. Ahhh-tention shipboard community.
Take note that we shall lose another hour this evening.
Also, this is a reminder to please keep your feet off of the furniture.
That is all.

OR

Ding-dong
These are today’s announcements.
Please read the Dean’s Memo.
That’s it for the announcements.

Ok, so those might be silly examples, but no matter how excessive our announcements can get, I still enjoy them. Listening to the announcements is an experience that we all share aboard the ship. Announcements are really just used to reinforce the information posted in the Dean’s Memo, our daily newsletter. I'll post a picture of that later.

Until next time,
Anna



Setting Sail!

Greetings from the middle of the ocean! 

I’ve successfully completed my first days and nights at sea. I’ve watched my first sunset on the ocean...eaten my first meals on board (which haven’t been that bad). I’ve experienced the feel of the waves rocking my ship, and along with that I’ve experienced my first taste of seasickness....So much has happened in these few days but I’ll try to recount as much of it for you as I can. 

As the time drew closer to head to the Bahamas, of course I was getting more and more nervous. It was about a week before my sister and I were scheduled to fly out and I still hadn’t packed yet. Thankfully one of my best friends, Becca, came down to visit and save the day. She helped me decide what to pack (and we got it all done in less than 2 days!) and her visit gave me some time to just chill out, relax, and enjoy her company for a little while. It was the calm before the storm, quite literally. There was a huge winter storm forecasted to hit Atlanta the day we were supposed to leave for the Bahamas. Officials were predicting record-breaking snowfall. And if you’re not from Atlanta, or the south in general, a couple inches of snow can shut the whole city down, especially the airport. 

So Angie and I went to bed that Saturday night (January 8th, 2 days before the flight) deciding to play it by ear and hope for the best. Little did we know that our travels would begin a day early. My sister shook me awake around 7am and quickly explained that she had been up looking for alternative flights and there was one leaving that morning around 11:30. She also explained that we wouldn’t be charged for switching because the reason was weather. “Do you want to do it?” she asked. I mumbled something back along the lines of, “Sure, I guess we should.” Then, the sleepiness subsided and it hit me what that decision meant. We had to get ready, and we had to get ready now.  

At that point my sister hadn’t even begun to pack yet, and I had little things left strewn around that I needed to throw in a duffle bag. I don’t know how we did it, but we we’re on the road to the airport with everything packed (and nothing important forgotten) in about an hour. At the airport, I received the pleasant surprise of finding out that the bag I had thought would be considered oversized and overweight was in fact, not. So I ended up paying way less money for baggage fees then I thought I would. Everything about that day pretty much worked out in our favor. Soon, I was on the plane flying over the ocean for the first time! 

My time spent in the Bahamas with my sister was pretty awesome. The island of Nassau is beautiful and I enjoyed having more time to relax before the semester started. I’m incredibly grateful that Angie came with me down to the Bahamas. Her support means a lot to me, and the whole time she was there reassuring me that this semester would be a great experience and that I would do well and have fun. 

Finally Embarkation Day arrived. I woke up that Wednesday morning not really knowing how I felt. I was a little nervous but not very much. I guess I was in disbelief of what was going to happen that day. I didn’t really know what to expect. We checked out of the hotel and made our way into a taxi that would take us to the dock. Once there I saw the boat for the very first time...and the crazy long line I had to wait in to get check in and get on the ship. But after I found out that I would have to say goodbye to my sister right at the door at the very front of the line, that crazy long line got a lot smaller. I thought I would have had time to get off the ship again once I checked in and be able to spend a little more time with her, but that wasn’t the case.  So saying goodbye was rough. I did better than I thought I would though. I only teared up a little bit. 

Next, I proceeded through the checkout process, passing a mountain of confiscated curling and flat irons on my way through security. As I took my first steps on board the MV Explorer, I realized two things: 

1. The ship looks so clean and new and wonderful! 
2. I had no idea where I was going. 

Some helpful souls where able to point me in the right direction to finish up some more check-in things, and then on to my cabin. My first thought as I entered the room where I’d be staying my whole semester was “Woah, this is pretty small!” But after being in it for a little while I realized that it wasn’t that bad. The huge luggage and stuff cluttering the bed and the floor would soon all find it’s rightful place under the bed or in the drawers and closets, with some room to spare. Semester at Sea has definitely gotten me used to being comfortable with less stuff than I’m normally used to. 

Next, I met my cabin-mate for the semester. Her name is Amanda and she’s really cool. With so much to think about going into this voyage, I never really worried about the possibility of having a bad roommate situation on board. After meeting Amanda I know that I won’t have to worry. She’s from California but she goes to school in Canada, which I think is the coolest (why didn’t I think to go to school in Canada?!?). So I think it’s interesting to see how we come from such different backgrounds. 

Unpacked and somewhat acquainted with the ship, it came time to set sail and leave the Bahamas. Although my sister wasn’t there to wave me goodbye, I was comforted by the crowd of parents and friends that were cheering us on as the boat slowly pulled away from the dock. That particular moment is indescribable. That moment was the payoff for all the hard work and long hours that I put into getting to Semester at Sea. The voyage of a lifetime has begun!

More later, 

Anna