Just a few thoughts on this first few weeks on board the ship - MV Explorer. I have met some great people. I've made great friends with people my age and with the students. All the students I've met are fascinating and inspirational --- informed and educated global citizens who will be running the world soon- if they are not already. Hooray!
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So what is life all about here......... In the beginning and even now, for me, it was like being in kindergarten and in some ways it still is: starting first with meeting all new people and trying to remember their names, then it was the challenge of adapting to shipboard life--the rolling of the sea, the different levels of the decks, and the multiple locations of the classrooms, working to mitigate the chill in my cabin, finding a pubic toilet, filling out forms, getting the schedules strait, learning how to transition into A and B days instead of the 7 traditional days with normal 7day weeks, then remembering what is A and B day...... and finally, finding the dining room, the union and the lounge. All the different decks are not solid levels so discovering how to get from aft to stern and then come back again to another spot is a challenge.....wow. Still after two weeks, I forget which deck has the classroom I need to get to and whether it is accessed by the aft or stern stairway.
I set the alarm for 6 but often I am too tired to get up just then. I try to get out of the cabin by 7 and have some coffee, bran cereal and yogurt to start the day. After that I have a class on A days. Usually I am on the right floor --6-- after breakfast so I trundle over to Classroom 3 and sit down for an hour and one half. After that I either have Global Studies in the Union or an hour break and then another class. By lunch I have completed the classroom part of my day. B days are similar. No one ever knows what day of the week it is, or the date--- except the Captain who writes a message every day and posts it.
Around noon I head back to the cafeteria and have a salad and water or iced tea. Then, after lunch I usually have to work on my ongoing computer and Internet issues and I try to get to my emails and do some work on my blog. Although I have addressed some of these issues with help, not having Microsoft Office has been a major problem. Many of my class assignments include power point presentations held on the SAS Intranet which for me are inaccessible as the SAS Intranet was built to connect to Microsoft Office software systems.The ship is attempting to be paperless. So I am a bit behind on resources. Mostly, I do my readings/homework after dinner (which is about the same as lunch food-wise) or don’t get to it at all. There is usually a program or discussion after dinner in the Union at 8PM.
It seems like everyone is always in catch-up. And today I had a test in one of my art history classes--- yes, I took it..... but was not very well prepared. While the ship carries a cell tower, its Internet service goes on and off all the time. There is so much use I was told it is overloaded. But sometimes we are just out of touch- surely that was true crossing the Atlantic. So to complete my email message and/or even view my Inbox or to post anything on my blog is a challenge. I am constantly logged off before I can enter or logged out in mid- sentence. When this happens I lose the whole email......so it is a long process just to get one off. It's hard as well just to get on to view incoming messages. And, a real bother, I have no spell check on the SAS email program.
We are about to reach Ghana in a day or two. Everyone has begun malaria medications and we have the Deet ready.
I am excited to be going to the Ashanti country to see some of the mountain craftsman and their wonderful work. I will be in touch after this adventure.
