So, I finished all my work on time and everything. Now I think I’m still in denial about
Now, for the real reason I’m posting…to let you all know what I am doing in port over the next few days! Yay! So excited for
Something I realized tonight, is how weird it sounds when your teacher says things like “you’ll have an exam after
So, I don’t have too long, but I figure I should let you all know about the second half of my trip in
So, after getting back from Arcos and Ronda, I was so tired, so instead of going out and doing something I went back to my room and just sat around talking with some people before passing out. The next morning really early we ran to the train station (literally…we were late) and since I got my ticket that morning and the rest of the people I was with got theirs the night before, I ended up sitting in a different area of the train from them (they assign seats). There were multiple Sevilla stops, so when we got to the first one I had to ask someone in a panicked voice if I was supposed to get off here. Luckily someone nearby spoke a little English and told me it was the next stop that I wanted. For most of the day we were “lost.” I put that in quotes because we didn’t care that we were lost since the area was gorgeous and our only goal was to eventually go to the Cathedral (which is one of the largest in the world). After stopping for some lunch (where we saw more SASers), we headed off in a more direct route to the Cathedral, however, by the time we got there, the gates were closing…It was beautiful from the outside, but I am very sad we didn’t get inside. Instead we turned around and saw a large building that lots of people were going inside and decided to follow. It took us a few minutes to figure out what we had just gone into, but turns out it was the Alcazar palace (and I believe it was also a convent). In the rooms the walls and ceilings were all covered in mosaics. The gardens surrounding the palace were also some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. We ended up spending a few hours in there (partially because towards the end we couldn’t figure out how to get out of the gardens) and then it was time to head back to the train. We shopped along the way and I got a really pretty dress (which I posted a picture of me in it yesterday. This time we found the train station really quickly and found that if we had gone directly to the cathedral, it was about a two minute walk.
The train ride home was maybe my favorite experience in
Shortly after he left, though another slightly younger man came and sat down. We sat in silence for a while, but when I saw a sign outside that said
When we got back, we were all so tired that we took showers and Katelyn, another girl (Rachel) and I went out to dinner (Spanish style…which means at 11pm). We ended up to a restaurant outside of the Cathedral that had tables outside. It was absolutely incredible to be eating dinner and looking up at this massive building with the moon right behind it. Since we were all so tired, we decided we’d walk to the water, then turn around and head back. Sleep felt so good.
On the last day my plans changed so many times, but in the end I met up with Lauren (a girl from
Yesterday we began classes as usual, but the day was odd because for most of the day we were attached to a big ship which was refueling in the straight of
I also, realized I never told you guys about my “family.” At the beginning of the voyage we all had the option of signing up to receive a family. They are people that you can go to if you are having problems and occasionally you have family dinners. My family, by chance, is one of my professors and her husband and son, as well as 11 other students. We had our first dinner the night before
I hope the weather back home has been nice;
Hey, so I'm going to try really hard one more time to send pictures before I leave. I do not have much time before I have to be back on the ship, so I will not really post anything new right now. Here it goes…
Ufay (not sure how to spell her name), me and Stephanie, celebrating Stephanie's birthday on the deck!
Morning we got to port. The sunrise over the city of
Pulling into port. That is the Cathedral of Cadiz in the background.
This is the beach where a James Bond movie was filmed…I believe it was Die Another Day. It was beautiful though.
On my
In Sevilla at the Convent.
Me, Brittany, Kaitlyn and Carly at the convent in Sevilla
Last night at dinner we sat looking at the view of the Cathedral of Cadiz. This is me in front of it in the dress I got yesterday.
Dolphins we saw! 
Beautiful sunset off the back!
My room! Isn't it quaint!?
Bag pippers as we were leaving
Mom and I saying our goodbyes.Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap…I’m going to be in Spain in just a few hours!!
We’re waking up really early tomorrow to watch the sunrise over
Oh, more excitement (less exciting after that, but still good)! We saw whales today! The first group all you could see was the spouts, but after sitting outside reading for a while another group went by and you could see their dorsal fins! No clue what kind they were. The Oceanographer teacher didn’t know either.
Anyway, supper excited and really tired since my nap was cut short because the cleaning man had to clean my room (yes, they clean our rooms every day for us…it’s a little excessive). So, I’m going to go to bed. I’ll talk to you soon!! I’ll try to post some pictures soon if I can find an internet café.
Good night.
Shortly after posting that last one Stephanie, a girl who was studying in the same room as us, and I went outside to the upper deck to celebrate her birthday with cheers and small party horns. Also, we attempted the jumping picture, but failed. The pictures we got are pretty awesome though. You can be sure that I will post them when I have that ability. I went to bed last night feeling really good about the amount of work I had done since I was able to get a little ahead on some of my readings.
Today was beautiful. It was really hot out (the first time all trip that it lasted more than 2 hours). I spent most of my time outside on the deck reading. While I was out there, though, it seemed I attracted all sorts of faculty and staff to my table. The spiritual coordinator started off my interesting conversations. A few professors sat down occasionally. It was very interesting, but a bit odd. I guess once you let one of them sit down, they all decide to. Later on at class the teacher told us that the reading that she was going to have us do for tomorrow, she actually wasn’t going to have us do until after Spain and that the reading for after Spain was due tomorrow…which means that although I was ahead, it still meant that I wasn’t able to spend time hanging out tonight. Things were, however made better with cake at dinner. We ordered a cake for Stephanie which she was very happy about. The cake wasn’t great, but it was just really nice to do something out of the ordinary for a time.
Shortly after dinner we went to another lecture by David Geiss on
That’s all for tonight. I’ll try to post tomorrow, but I probably won’t have time to post about
Excitement heightened today on board the Explorer when students not only realized that there was only two days until port, but also that we would not have to push the clocks forward again tonight! This means some of us may actually get a normal amount of sleep. Classes have now completely taken over our lives on board. I wasn’t expecting that my day would only consist of reading, classes, eating and sleeping. I wish I were exaggerating. I am learning interesting things, but this is a ridiculous amount to be shoving into such a short time. Students are starting to realize that the only way to have any sort of social life onboard is to slack in at least one class. Last night a few of us did slack and watched Cars and hung out discussing what trips we were going to take in
Tonight onboard there was a dance, but most people were busy studying. I felt sad at first that I wasn’t able to go, but felt better when I walked down the hallway in search of brownies which were said to be in the dance room. The halls were filled with people, not partying, but reading. Everyone is so desperate to not have work to do while in port that we are all rushing to get it done now. This, along with the pile of brownies and double chocolate cookies that I brought back with me made me feel much more comfortable. I know that once we get to
And the time changes have not helped. Losing an hour every day has been rough. Sadly, that time has been taken out of sleeping, rather than out of elsewhere. Also, the rocking of the ship seems to be sort of calming and most have agreed that it makes us even sleepier. We are all rocked to bed every night. My plan for tonight is to get a bit more work done and then head to bed by 12. Hopefully I will be able to do something fun tomorrow evening. I’m going to try and relax and watch a movie tomorrow night.
This post may have made it sound like I am having a terrible time, but in fact, the reading has not been bad reading. Also, the classes have been interesting enough to make me want to do the reading. We tend to take long meal breaks just to talk and have fun. Tomorrow is Stephanie’s birthday (someone I’ve been hanging out with a lot), so we ordered a cake to be brought to her at dinner tomorrow night. Also, once we get to warmer areas, we will actually be able to hang out on the deck and maybe go swimming a little. I am also hoping that I will start to manage my time a little better soon.
Tonight at dinner we talked to our resident
Lastly…turns out that they are going to be performing the Vagina Monologues on the ship on the way back…and, being me I signed up. And here I thought I was never going to be in them again. I am going to see if I can do the one I did this last year, since I still have it memorized. Rachel Levy would probably think I was entirely insane for doing this, but if she were in my situation, she would too.
Anyway, I’m going to go get some reading done and then possibly sit out on the deck for a bit before heading to bed. Have a great night!
Only two days!!!
This was possibly one of the most exciting days at sea, but you’ll have to wait for that one until I talk about yesterday.
Yesterday the seas were rough again, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the last rough day. We got to spend a little bit of time outside before it got too bad, but mostly it was just grose. Classes were interesting though. I spent most of the night studying and reading, trying once again to catch up. I am now done catching up, but there is so much reading!
So, for today. The most exciting thing happened since two days ago when we saw a boat off in the distance! At dinner tonight someone yelled that there were dolphins outside, so everyone jumped up and ran outside to watch. It was so beautiful. I did get a picture of one of them. It was funny having everyone leave the dining room to run outside to watch. The deck was full of people. There was also a really cool looking ship off in the distance which looked like a huge old maritime trade ship. I doubt that it was, but it was really cool. I got a picture of that too, so I will share them when I get back. On my way past the library I looked out the window and spotted LAND! Turns out that the captain had changed our route so that we would be going between two islands. This was the captain’s notes from today for those of you who have a map in front of you and you can check to see what islands they are:
At noon today the Explorer’s position was…
Latitude: 40 degrees, 12 minutes North
Longitude: 033 degrees, 56 minutes West
Distance Made Good: 1399 Nautical miles
(Since
Distance Made Good: 345 Nautical miles
(Since Noon)
Distance to go to the next Port: 1332 Nautical miles
(
Average Speed: 15 Knots
Currently a bunch of us are taking a break tonight from studying and watching Cars (which is today’s movie) and talking about what independent trips we are going to do. I’ll let you know sometime what we are planning on. I should go to bed now because we have to move the clock forward again tonight which means it is now 12 am. Good night. I hope to post more at some point in the future. Enjoy!
Hey everyone. Yesterday I began my journey! My mom came to see me off, but sadly couldn’t really see me because of how far away she was since security is so high right now. Just like most important things in my life, there were bag pipes. They stood on the docks and played songs that I have heard thousands of times and don’t know the names (except
I have not gotten sick yet, but the waves do make certain things difficult. Like walking in a straight line, trying not to run into people or poles, showering, and putting on pants while standing up. When sitting out on the deck you don’t realize that the boat is rocking so much, but once you go inside, it’s so weird. I have run into multiple poles and not any people yet…but give it time. Sleeping last night was a bit weird since we were in a rougher patch at the beginning of our sleep. My roommate and I stayed up late (not on purpose) occasionally saying “whoa!” due to the rocking.
Today we had to talk about the book that everyone on the boat was supposed to read. My group leader seems very nice. He is the poetry professor onboard and looks like he dropped right out of the late 70s. We had a meeting this morning in the union before heading off to our designated groups. The union happens to be in the front of the boat and therefore the bumpiest. Today the seas are rough, so when we were all standing up, the bow came out of the water and slapped against the waves making everyone scream and sit back down or grab onto something. My group meeting was on the deck above which meant it was just as bumpy. Many are feeling ill, so we ended it early. I did, however realize that my room is really near the front which is why it is so difficult to walk in our room.
It is beautiful though. Last night I sat with some people at dinner and we watched as we slowly could no longer see land. This morning I sat by a window during breakfast and watched the rough seas go by underneath. It’s too cold outside to spend much time out there, but we are assured that it will get warm soon.
I’m going to go try to take a nap before we have another meeting. I hope you all are enjoying life on land. The sea is a bit dizzying and makes an intellectual conversation difficult. I miss you all! I hope to post back again soon. Bye.
The deck of the ship. That is an empty pool
Some piano room.
A classroom
A classroom with a parent pretending to study.
View from the deck
Not sure, looks like some sort of eatery.
lounge of some sort
Dining room
random corridor
The side of the ship
Me sitting with the pirate ship in the background.
Who watched this cartoon? Apparently the cartoon was based out of Halifax, so when it was canceled someone made a replica and now takes people out on tours!
Isn't it awesome!
1. The men who work at the airport wear kilts
2. The people who work at the airport are very friendly
3. My bags arrived with me
4. According to a man in a kilt, Halifax is very similar to Vermont
5. In the airport there are tons of recycling bins
6. In the hotel there is a tiny recycling bin (it is adorable)
7. They have a constant supply of cookies for free in the lobby of this hotel (they are tasty)
8. The seafood chowder was incredible
9. They had sweet potato fries in the restaurant
10. In the room they have a very comfortable chair that has its own brochure about how comfortable it is
11. There is a tiny thing of mouthwash in the bathroom
12. This Internet is free
As you can see, I have not seen much of Halifax yet. Mom and I will be going out tomorrow to explore a bit. Tomorrow night is a dinner with some of the people who I will be sailing with. I met a few of them in the airport earlier and they seemed nice enough. One of them hadn't gotten her bags yet. I really hope she gets them...that would really suck. Not much else to post about. I may post tomorrow if the next hotel has free Internet as well. If not, I won't until I get on the boat. Enjoy your evening!
. I am good.
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