At sea- North Atlantic Ocean

06/18/09
It’s been crazy settling in on the ship. It seemed so large from the outside but, despite getting lost almost every where I go, it seems very small now that we are at sea with no land in sight. I got about 3 hours of sleep in Halifax on Monday night before boarding the ship on Tuesday morning. I was one of the first one because my name is towards the beginning of the alphabet, so I got to catch up on my sleep for a few hours before my roomie got here. I have an inside cabin towards the aft of the ship on the third floor. It’s not as small as I thought it would be and has a huge mirror on the wall opposite the door which opens it up a little. But it’s still a bit claustrophobic when I think about being in the middle and bottom of this ship. I’m sure I’ll get used to that.
There are 7 floors on the ship: 2,3 and 4 are sleeping levels with the hospital and random service areas also. Levels 5,6 and 7 have the dining areas, decks to bask in the (currently non-existent) sun, and the classrooms. There’s also a library, computer lab, spa, workout center (more on this in a bit), tiny swimming pool and multiple bars to get snacks and drinks from along with tons of lounges inside.
We had orientation yesterday so I got to get to know a few people in my small discussion group really well when we met for 2 hours in the morning to talk about Amartya Sen’s “Identity and Violence” book that discusses perceptions of people and culture worldwide, how we group people by religions and other classifications, and how we group ourselves. It’s a really good book and I recommend it to everyone! Our discussion group got a little into the discussion especially when we started talking about how to stop violence in the world and two of the guy were super vocal about how the only way the world will be a good place is if America stays in control as the leading world power with all the force and that if we lose that standing then the world is going to become a terrible place. It was hard for me to listen to people saying that along with some of their other views (such as a global economy being another critical way in which the violence will stop. I countered this with the local farmer who loses his life’s work when a huge company comes in with their genetically modified crops and offers a lower cost that the local people take because it’s a good deal. The guys said that this farmer could just go and work for the huge company. Sigh…I expressed concern at this, but didn’t want to get into an all-out brawl so steered conversation elsewhere). But I met a few really cool people in that group…one guy plays piano and can still play with a broken thumb; another plays soccer and snowboards; another is pursuing a PHD in kinesiology and was accepted to be a tumbler for Cirque d’ Solei (?) and Cirque d’ Mer when he was only 16!
I love my classes so far! I have Physical Oceanography every morning at 8 followed by Global Studies at 9:30 (I just stay in the same classroom and watch it on the TV b/c GS is held in the Union which is in the front (and very rocky) part of the ship. My PO class sounds really cool; I think I’ll learn lots of observational techniques and it will be interesting to see it applied directly to the areas we’re going through. My prof is this amazing, energetic guy who grew up surfing off the coast of California and as such uses only surfing pictures for example…he even talked for a while about surf photographers under the waves and how the motion of the waves permit this. Pretty sweet stuff. My GS prof is super into what he does, a history PHD, and is a bit flamboyant and very easy to pay attention to. At 13:35 I have Abnormal Psych taught by a prof who was born in England; he has a slight accent still.
It still is weird getting used to taking classes in a classroom that tilts all directions constantly during the lecture. And to having my PO prof looking out the window during the whole lecture when he’s talking about waves. I like it though.
My roomie is really chill. We’ve been hanging out a lot: you’d all love her! She’s from Connecticut, goes to Uconn, and is a Sociology major. She’s 22 and really friendly. Also…short and blonde….people think we’re sisters, ha ha.
The weather’s been kind of terrible since we’ve been on, but the sun’s out now, and for a while I felt allright, but then I got a headache so I put on a scop. Patch and I’ve felt fine since then! I’m planning on going out on the deck and lying on a chair and reading for my classes later this afternoon.
Probably the most interesting sea-experience I’ve had to far is running on the treadmill. It was fine for most of the time, but last night when it was very stormy outside (raining, biggish waves) and most people were sick, I was running on the treadmill and almost fell off a few times. I guess I’ll just have a very strong core body when I come back from trying to stand up straight all the time! When I’m walking down the hall it looks like everybody’s drunk b/c they’re staggering around every time a wave goes under the ship.
I spent the afternoon reading my text books for tomorrow’s classes, trying to catch all the sun I could while it was in between clouds.
That’s all for now from the middle of the Atlantic…miss you guys!